A Book Exchange activity that is now viral

By Sangeetha Sekar and Siddharth Mohan Nair

Social networking sites have been used for a variety of good causes; the latest instance where it was put to great service was the relief work carried out by scores of Twitter and Facebook users to help people stranded in Chennai floods. In the recent past, these social networking sites have also been used to raise resources through "challenges" like the Ice Bucket Challenge, Rice Bucket Challenge, etc. They have also been used for fun discussions like #BreakUpIn5Words, #YourLoveIn5Words.

This time around, some person, of whom we have no clue yet, has started a wonderful "ACTIVITY" called the Book Exchange. It lets a bibliophile connect with others of his creed, gift a book to some person (perhaps even a complete stranger) and then get book(s) in return. The activity involves a person sharing a post asking people to buy and send one book to a person and get 36 in return!

How it works 

The activity is simple. For a moment let us keep the figures aside.

1. The person, say X, who posts this is contacted by people, say A, B and C, who are interested in taking part in the activity. 
2. A, B and C are sent a message which contains the name, age, and address of a person to whom they are supposed to send a book. Also included in the message would be the interests of that person to whom the book is being sent, just to ensure that he gets books that he likes reading. 
3. Next, A, B and C are asked to share the original post of X so that the chain isn't broken. X's address and interests are asked to be shared by A, B and C to all those who contact them, say M, N and O, wanting to join the activity. They are supposed to send books to X. 
4. M, N and O are part of the activity now. To those who contact them, they share the addresses and interests of A, B and C. 
5. Thus every person in the activity buys and sends only one book but, quite likely, gets more in return.

But what is to be kept in mind is that there is no guarantee of minimum or maximum number of books that one may get in return. Plainly, it is based on luck! Yet, the idea is brilliant. Kudos to that unknown person whose brainchild this is.

On reading about this incredible activity chain of buying or sharing books, one cannot help but compare this to the other book sharing platforms and networks. Fierce bibliophiles do follow bloggers who write book reviews and websites like goodreads which suggest to you the next good book based on your interest. There are other book sharing platforms like bookmooch.com where people can join the network for free and share books they no longer need in exchange for books they may like to read. Similar desi version is an application called Clapshare started by a couple of IITans from Bombay. This application offers its members a book sharing platform, minus the hustle and worry if your book will reach safely or get lost because of some careless delivery guy. Your book is completely safe with them and you can even track your book.Their first delivery is free after which they charge Rs 25 for every delivery which is alright to pay in exchange for a book. But they are currently operating only in Mumbai.

Ms Apoorva Mandhani, a law student from Pune, who is really excited about this online book exchange activity has already done her part. She has sent a book to a person who is a complete stranger to her. She has sent 'A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption' authored by Ms Laura Hillenbrand. Though she hasn’t read the book herself, she said that she did some research going through book reviews to select the best book possible. To her, the whole idea of selecting a book for a stranger was exciting and she is hopeful that the person likes the book. 

"I also sent a small hand-written note along with the book.  It reminded me of the days we used to have pen pals. Well, the feeling is mutual and we hope everyone in the chain finds a pen pal from the most unassuming of places," said Apoorva.

However, the activity isn't completely free from criticism. Mr Nikhil George, an engineering student from Thiruvananthapuram is of the opinion that this is "scam." He compares this to a pyramid scheme and opines that this is impractical and is akin to cheating people. "Thirteen levels deep, you’ve already surpassed the entire human population on earth. But usually such pyramid schemes fizzle out long before hitting such numbers. One reason being is that at some point, your friend circle is going to overlap and get saturated. The second reason being that your scheme will run out of people who are interested in participating," he says in his blogpost.

He explains it as a geometric progression of the number of people and says that as the progression progresses (excuse my pun) the people at the bottom of the pyramid are simply left without people who will share books with them or just run out of people in general, and thus as the chain expands the people who join later in the chain are left out and don’t benefit from the activity.

But not all think in the manner Nikhil does. Many book lovers simply turn around and say, "We love books more than anything. We do not see this as a scam or an act of cheating, it is just that it involves a bit of luck. Those who buy lotteries do not always, or hardly, get the prize."

The activity, apart from giving and getting books, involves thrill, a thrill in sending books to complete strangers like what the Apoorvas enjoy, a thrill also in getting books as gifts from strangers or friends. It also helps in making new friends. Completely worth a try!     

When an MP replied to a WhatsApp message in less than 10 minutes

Faith in our elected representatives increases manifold when they respond to us promptly, even if their reply may be in the negative. Getting a quick hearing by our representatives is in itself a matter of pride for we people of the world's largest democracy. Few days back I experienced this, and it was really very encouraging.  

I have been selected for the 2015 Jagriti Yatra (JY), a 15-day, 8000 km long train journey with an aim to build India through enterprise. Organized by a non-governmental organization Jagriti Seva Sansthan, the Yatra's mission is "to nurture 1 Lakh entrepreneurs by 2022 and create 10 Lakh jobs in this process." It provides a platform for the youth to meet and interact with change makers, social and business entrepreneurs of the country. Yatris are selected based on their application scores and the deserving candidates are also given part/full sponsorship as per their scores. My application got selected and I got a part sponsorship.

To ask if there was any fund at the disposal of the Member of Parliament of my constituency, Palakkad (Kerala), I messaged my MP Mr M.B. Rajesh in WhatsApp. In less than ten minutes I received a reply from him! Though he said that there wasn't any fund which could be allotted for this purpose, the fact that my MP was so accessible, even through WhatsApp, encouraged me and strengthened by faith in our Democracy. What made me feel even more great was the man's humility. "Really sorry that I could not help you," he said in his reply!

Belonging to the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Mr Rajesh had comfortably retained his MP seat for the second consecutive term in the 2014 General Elections. During his first term in the 16th Lok Sabha he was praised by many for having secured 95% attendance in the Parliament, and also for having secured a second place in terms of the number of debates participated.   

 May people of his tribe proliferate! Jai Hind!

Disclaimer: Mr Rajesh does not have my phone number nor does he know me; in my message I introduced myself stating that I am a person from his constituency. Nor am I a member of the CPI(M), the party to which he belongs. 

A techie who quit his job in Australia to become a full-time farmer in Coimbatore

One day as I was working in my office in Australia, a thought struck me. I asked myself if this was what I really wanted to do in life. I shut down my laptop and started pondering. A seven-figure salary and an air-conditioned office were no longer giving me happiness or satisfaction. I applied for leave and came home. On reaching Coimbatore, the sight of the lush green trees made me decide to take up farming...

This is the story of a software engineer who graduated from Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Tamil Nadu, did a masters from the University of South Australia, and worked for five years in a software company in Adelaide, Australia and later returned to become a farmer.

Belonging to a Coimbatore-based agricultural family, Suresh Babu Palaniswamy had grown up seeing two generations of his family — his grandfather, father and his uncles — tilling the land. Though he used to work in the fields lending a helping hand in his leisure time, farming was not something that he had in mind to take up as a profession.

Just like most students of his time, he too opted for the IT sector when it was at its peak. 

"Back then my aspirations were to get a well paying job and settle in a foreign country. I was able to achieve it. I was so happy when I was in Australia that I even took up its citizenship. But it was not long before I came to realize that this was not giving me peace," he said regretting his decision of taking up Australian citizenship. 

Taking leave from work and reaching his hometown, he met local farmers, did some research about the market conditions, took inputs from government agricultural departments and the state agricultural university (TNAU), and purchased a few acres of land at the foothills of Marudamalai in the Western Ghats. 

"My father already owned some land there but it was left barren because of the persistent attacks by elephants and wild boars. I learnt that electric fencing could solve this but the problem was that the state electricity board did not have power lines till here." 

Soil erosion was also a reason why farmers hesitated to cultivate in that region. Besides, it took two years to get an electric connection. However, Suresh Babu was not one to wait that long. He invested in solar photovoltaics and set up a solar-powered fence for his 9.5-acre farm, using which he operates a 5 HP pump. 

Suresh has planted areca-nut and banana in his fields and is trying to practice organic farming. His father has a dairy farm from where he gets cow urine which he uses in his farm along with neem leaf extract as an insecticide. He also gets fish waste from the local market which he mixes with jaggery and stores in airtight containers for almost a month to get liquid fertilizer. To conserve water, he has set up a drip irrigation system.

Yet he says that a completely organic farm in that region is almost impossible given the drastic decline in soil fertility because of top soil erosion. 

After having switched to farming full-time, 32-year-old Suresh Babu is a very happy man now. He was recently awarded the ‘Young Farmer Award’ by a farmers' collective in Chennai.

His message for young minds who wish to take up farming is this: "Farming is a very honourable profession and one must proudly say that he is a farmer. For young people to get into farming, money is a very important factor. I would suggest them to work for a few years, save enough money, and then take this up. Credit facilities are available but there is a risk involved in agriculture for it is still dependent on external factors. What crops you cultivate is also important; it is not that you must cultivate what the majority are doing. Government departments and agricultural universities are of great help in giving advice. I am really thankful to them for giving me good advice."

(The article first appeared in The News Minute)