Earth Saviors' Foundation

I volunteered for an organization called the Earth Saviors Foundation. It is basically a rehabilitation centre for the destitute. The inhabitants range from MRs ( mentally retards ) to rape victims,AIDS patients and many others. My duties involved teaching the children of rape victims who were also HIV positive, catering to some admin responsibilities and performing gap analysis.

As I took to teaching the children I was literally shocked to realize the level of ignorance these children were living in. They were physically and mentally weak due to infection. They didn't even know that they lived in a country,  which comprises of various states. Their geographic knowledge was limited to the fact that the people with the different skin (foreigners, UN delegates, international scholars etc) come from some place far away. Their behavior clearly showed that they have never been taught even the littlest of things. It was quite a challenge to manage these children and make them sit quietly and listen, let alone teach them anything.  I couldn't have imagined such a living had I not witnessed it.

I also had an "encounter" with one of the infected mothers who was mentally unstable to the extent of being abusive and even violent. And the scary bit was that they looked so normal,  one wouldn't detect their state until they would do something very disturbing.

BUT the most out of the world encounter was with a blood cancer patient and one of the inhabitants,  Justice Avikar Raj(see pic).  He claimed to be the adopted son of the bachelor bureaucrat Dr VK Krishnamenon, also known to be the second most powerful man in India after Jawaharlal Nehru, once upon a time. Justice Avikar's biological parents died in a car accident in London shortly after they had moved there. He was a kid back then.

According to Justice Avikar Raj, Dr. Menon ensured that Avikar, as a child, got the best of education. Avikar did his undergrad from London School of Economics and graduated from Cambridge University on United Nations Scholarship to become a barrister in London. He also proudly named some of his alums such as Rahul Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Salman Rushdie. He talked in a perfect British accent and it was hard to doubt him when he said that he was the member of eminent organizations like Delhi Gymkhana club by invitation.

After listening to him for almost a hundred hours, i finally dared to ask him how on earth could a person as qualified as himself land up in a rehabilitation centre?! He gave the most unconvincing answer that he wanted to work for the noble cause of running the Foundation with Ravi Kalra, the founder of Earth Saviors. The authorities had a different story though. They told me that he did not get the citizenship of London over the service of many years and had to come back to India where Dr. Menon had passed away, leaving no family or assets to Avikar. His Kerala roots had faded off long back. So here, he failed to establish himself in anyways, lost whatever he owned, and now suffers from blood cancer, with no family or friends to look after him. Now he is the angry old man with immense superiority complex which ends him up in quarrels and even fights with the rest of the inmates. He talks endlessly of how a third world country like India does not have any standard education or infrastructure of even people of international class.

I googled him but couldn't find much. The story is unbelievable, most of it makes no sense. But when i was in the moment, listening to Avikar Raj, at least a part of it sounded very,very real. I was baffled at how destiny can subject one person in his little life span to possibly the brightest and darkest shades of life! 

waaassup??

This is an attempt to write a post when i really don't have anything in my head that i wana write about. Whether m gonna publish this post is something that i'll decide on later :P

So tomorrow is rakshabandhan and i am home for the festival. I have been home for a lonng weekend, i am fatter than i was 4 days ago and i am looking forward to my cousin's and paternal aunts' visit which is due tomorrow morning. 

I feel really lucky for even at the age of 24 i get to have so much of family time. That's because i work in Delhi which is at a 4 hour drive from my home sweet home and owing to the small distance, i come home every friday. Its like stating the obvious but, the best feeling in the world is when you know that everyone you love is safe and sound, is around to talk to, to watch tv with, to fight with. Home endows you with a peace of mind which can not be attained otherwise.

Its ironic that back in childhood, such times seem to last forever and now they have become a luxury for most of the people in my age group. I mean at present i know some of my friends and cousins who have not spent time with their entire family since as long as an year! Thats true, in some cases life engages one so heavily in making a living, and in other cases, one chooses to be away for fun or whatever reasons, that family time just becomes a thing of the past, of the so called good old days. 

I never want to use the phrase- the good old days, i hope life does not drift me away from my family. Although i have plans for further studies, i'll not be away for the long haul. Ill get over with the padhai shadhai asap and will be back here, in my room which i share with my devilish twin siblings, who often blackmail me with the 'teko ma kasam! maggi bana de' at 2 am in the night. And i would know that ma pa are sleeping in the next room and that i must shut down my lapy and call it a day before 4 am coz that's the time when grandpa wakes up! These times are very precious and ill not let go of them.

I am kinda feeling grateful and happy and hungry.. i guess ill just publish this one before i grab something to eat from the kitchen.

Goodnight all. Sweet dreams! And Happy Rakshabandhan, i hope you'll all have an awesome time.

Over n out!

Nayi Raahein continued!

Guys, the response to my previous post has been overwhelming! THANK U! I could not touch upon the most amazing aspects of the school in my last post. So here it is.

Nayi Raahein has been doing phenomenon work and we have been experimenting a lot at the school. Thats perhaps the best part about having a small system in one's own home town! Its easy to implement your ideas, and you get faster results, at least that's what happened here!

Now, we have been lucky in the initial phase as we did not have any funding constraints. But donations are like monsoons,they dwindle with recession, wedding seasons and what not! We wanted to inculcate a feeling that each one who is able has a duty towards those who are not.

We started holding seminars in other schools telling the kids about this venture. We even brought the monitors of every class to Nayi Raahein to interact with the children. Then we insisted the Students, who belonged to well off families, to bring their previous day's newspaper from home and submit it to their class teachers.

The students were so involved that within the next one month, we had sold a lot of scrap. This was so much better than donations for the students now valued their state of being more, they knew that there were others far less blessed. But then over the weeks, the collection kept on decreasing. We had to device some way to keep students motivated, and we wanted to involve the parents and teachers as well! This is what we came up with:

A Weekly Newsletter! This two page newsletter contained the class photograph of most consistently involved class and original articles/paintings/drawings of the children from that class along with some tips for the parents like how to proactively know if your kids is into bad company, best practices n all that.
It also acted as a free publicity engine for the school.

The results were better than expected. Not only did students bring newspapers regularly, the school invested the best teachers in editing the articles. We eventually decided to run such campaigns in all schools of Hisar to reach out some 15000 school kids. The campaign is still on the run. I hope the ideas shared will help budding ventures in fund raising.

Thanks for all the encouragement! Have a great time! Bbye!!

Nayi Raahein

No m not posting any shayari stuff here. Neither m i in a preachy mood today!
Nayi Raahein is the name of a school which provides education to the underprivileged children in my hometown. This post is a simple straight depiction of the awesome stuff that led to Nayi Raahein. For those of you who already know how much i am fond of it, inconvenience is NOT regretted! :P

The school was established to benefit genuinely deserving cases and recruit extremely motivated and dedicated teachers who could empathize rather than discriminate.
Luckily, Bhargav Uncle, a well renowned visionary and philanthropist among the education community of the city,has been around forever! Thanks to him, Nayi Raahein is infra-structurally sound. So the challenge was to get things going.

For every application that came in, we visited the homes of applicants, to verify the genuineness of information provided on the forms, mainly their affordability. The most common reason due to which the families could not afford their child's education was alcohol addiction.

After shortlisting 50 children, we had to recruit teachers. The first gem that we found was the remarkable Mrs. Bhateri Devi. She comes from a lower middle class background and has faced ample hardships herself in her pursuit of graduation. The idea of teaching children of Nayi Raahein enthralled her and, though she is not very well equipped with communication skills and a vast experience, we hired her on the basis of her zeal. It was a unanimous decision to appoint Umesh's Mom as the principal. Right, i have not introduced Umesh yet.. Umesh is an engineering grad of GJU, the most popular university in Hisar. He hates the corporate, and is by far one of the most courageous people i have met. He is gifted with some entrepreneurial genius. Lemme finish with the Nayi Raahein story n ill tell you more about Umesh's awesomeness!

The school is not affiliated to any centralized body, so we freely finalized on the course material, engaged publishers of Bhargav School, outsourced the development of website, (check it out- http://nayiraahein.com), decided on the uniform, got blackboards and benches as donations etc! Umesh did most of the running around, and i just kept bossing him around :P

One fine day, in a kitty party, someone from our circle talked about Nayi Raahein. The Aunty jis took a positive interest and some thought it would be a good idea to treat the kids at Nayi Raahein on their children's birthdays. Eventually, an unanticipated LOT of donations started coming in.

Finally, 50 kids, dressed in their brand new uniforms were dropped by their working mothers to school, most them reluctant, some of them ready to burst into tears almost any moment! Bhateria Devi, the Jhansi ki Rani Part 2, lined them up for the morning assembly, sang prayers with them and for them, made them clap, bend, turn around, laugh! A new institution had been born!

I felt exactly like those reluctant children, i didn't wana go back to the corporate...
Wait up for the next post. Thanks for reading. Bye for now!

On Staying Connected

 

Infinitely i danced to a rhythm divine, 

and drank life as it had come like wine

So far i had come from my shrine, 

yet a voice called out and i knew it was mine

i followed it into endless time and space

my body faded to an outline, a dim trace

i became a shapeless flow of happy light

as i rediscovered the secret of ineffable delight

all through,the farmer who nourished the roots

is the one who has reaped healthy fruits

one who judged his crop by seasonal flowers

has lost it all to few heavy showers

life may have brought us far from our shrine

it takes just a while to look up the line

keep the flowers and but do nourish the roots

So life shall wither just to give way to fruits

Mood handlers

As i have started blogging recently, i guess its natural to feel a bit anxious about how the readers are perceiving me. But after talking to a friend and after going through some of the blogs that i have liked, i have decided to be completely carefree here and enjoy writing my posts.

 Over the last 24 years of my life i have discovered a few things/activities which hold the power of affecting my moods and spirits in a very positive way. so whenever i feel low or disturbed with just about anything i know how to work it up. The following is my list of to do's in the event of a bad mood:

1. Solitude- its amazing how spending time with urself, getting inside ur own head and analyzing a situation can bring about so much clarity and peace of mind. Going on a long walk or drive, taking a moment to calm down and think mostly sorts it all.
2. Bhawna- talkin to her is like talking to the sensible me. she has bin my bestie forever and a small chat is bound to cheer me up no matter what the situation b

3. bournville/jalebi - i have a huge sweet tooth but these two things hav an exceptional,almost magical calming effect on me. in case none of them is available i would eat just about anything delicious, it helps for sure!

4. Babies- i lovvve babies! And nothing to brag about but i am great at handling babies. Their little anythings make me happy. Being around one distracts me completely from the worries at hand and a healthy break is sometimes all u need.
Thats about it.  I feel everyone could have a similar emotional first aid. If some of u already do then i wud luv to know wt all is there on ur list.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day

My association with HelpAge India bagged me a chance to attend a conference at the India International Centre on the occasion of  World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. HelpAge was to report the findings of a survey conducted in many cities across the nation to bring out the true state of elderly. The revelations were rather disturbing.

A massive 23% of the elderly, which implies almost every 5th senior citizen of the country is a victim of elder abuse which is prevalent in the form of verbal, physical and even sexual abuse! Not only this, a high percentage of abuse occurs in well educated and well off families residing in developed cities. The causes of abuse are property, maladjustment within the family, and high medicare and attention requirements of the elderly to name a few. The leading perpetrators of elderly abuse are the daughters-in-law, the sons being the first runner up. Several other disturbing facts and figures were revealed by Mr Mathew Cherian, the CEO of HelpAge.

I remember my childhood days, when every morning, me and my siblings would leave for school only after taking the blessings of our Grandparents, albeit in a rush! Dawns and dusks were drowned in Grandma's hymns of 'Om Jai Jagdish Hare'. Every little festival in the hindi calender, every birthday/anniversary and during my college days, even every visit home, was marked by special traditional dishes like doli roti, churi k laddoos, maalpuras etc made by Grandma and extra long prayers led by Grandpa.

The problem of elder abuse has seeped into the urban population to an extent that one may easily conclude the decay and nearing demise of Indian family traditions and the joint family system on the whole. At the conference, it was disheartening to hear the dismay of people living in various old age homes.

The audience were mostly people working for the cause or the victims of elder abuse. I was among the very few not so senior a citizen in the audience. The guest of honor was Former Chief Justice Leila Seth, who is also the mother of Vikram Seth, the author of 'Vikram Seth- A Suitable Boy'. It was amusing to see the all so intellectual Leila Seth carrying a bag that read-"A Suitable Bag". At 82, she addressed the issue from a very practical and young perspective. For instance, on daughters-in-law being projected as the typical saas-bahu serial vamps, she pointed out that its a mental block and we need to take the son's responsibility into consideration. On the rise in number of elder abuse cases, she boldly put forth that no person is bad to the core, its a two way road and the elderly need to understand the challenges faced by the youth as much as the youth needs to understand the problems of the elderly.

At high tea, i got a chance to exchange a smalltalk with Justice Leila Seth. But i would say the real high was to watch the elderly, by which i mean the REALLY ELDERLY guests from different old age homes, challenging their digestion by munching on cholle bhature and pastries and chocolate ice cream.

Later that evening, we were walking by the notice board when a couple of guests caught our attention.

One old aunty g asked the old uncle g :-"Ap konse old age home se hain?"

Old uncle g:- "G main..main batata hu muje zara ek minute dijiye.."

He tried to recall for a few seconds, then with an embarrassing shrug he struggled to fetch his phone from his pocket and then struggled further to open the drafts in it.

Finally he said, passing his phone to the old aunty g:- " G ye wala"

To this the Old aunty g smiled :-"Oh fir to acha hai. Baat ye hai ki main yahaan afford nahi kr sakti..."

Perhaps its time we, the youth, set our values right and work to provide for the dignity and ability of the silver-haired head, which according to the Bible is a crown of glory, the glory of having seen the world a tad longer. After all, its just a matter of time, we shall have to wear the same crown, and see this world which is our own creation, through meek, wrinkled eyes and a blurry vision.

Sailing Through The High Tide

The storm is heavy in the dead of the night,
the oceans hover me as i steer for light
i've steered for hours but the mist doesn't clear,
i hope against the hope that my ship will persevere

The waves have brought upon unanticipated fear,
my heart only prays that the land be near

I have lost my direction, yet a path i trod,
for i know this path is directed by God.

ill not crib nor will i quit,
for life is a voyage that unfolds bit by bit,


the best things are worth the struggle and the wait,
and if they don't come then be it my fate.

to value sunshine, one must see the rain,
to value happiness, one has to feel the pain
surrender i shall not to the storm's might!
i will for the least put up a good fight!

An Evening With Captain Aditi

 

It had been a while since i last satiated my wanderlust. I was trying to talk my little brother(well, .... not so little) into accompanying me on a short wandering, but i should have known better of the brothers with THAT attitude!So i decided, ill venture on my own. I put the Nano to ignition and before i knew it i was a TCP 2 of the Hisar Military Station. 

At the security check, (thnx to my idiocy) i was blatantly denied the entry as it was a mandate to have an acquaintance on the inside of the station.I couldn't have given up this easy though. After a painfully long couple of hours and some 30 calls, i got in contact with my cousin's friend's friend from the army. N That's how kids, i met Captain Aditi! :P :)  She helped me through and instructed the jawans to guide me to her office. And after finishing with her day, she literally took me for a talk to remember! 

The campus was a wonderland in itself with lush greens, carefree kids cycling around, senior officers jogging, and the clean wide well lit roads. As it was time for the evening PT at the station, i met many handsome officers in shabby white shorts and tshirts!

Walking across the tanks and the men, i could feel the Captain's aura,(or maybe i imagined it) She had the reputation of being the fittest one, the fastest runner, the lady captain on her regiment. The passing  jawans greeted the captain "Jai Hind Saab". 

As we got talking, she talked her heart out about life, aspirations, the transformation from JNU grad to the Indian Fauji (as she liked to be called), the SSB experience, the grueling training year at Chennai, etc.  I was fascinated, keenly listening, putting up few questions here n there.

There was an unmistakable awesomeness in her spirits when she talked about her family. Her father is a retired SPG officer. The Special Protection Group or SPG is an executive protection agency which is responsible for protection of PM, Chief Justice of India, Supreme and High court Judges and other top officials. Happily she went on to entail the anecdotes surrounding the impacts of Indian Army on her life. Many of them ended with "Papa to Papa hi rahenge captain ban jao ya major". When asked about her spouse, a Major with the Indian Army, she riposted with a chuckle,"Vo to mujse b bada fitness freak hai!"  Normally, the officers are posted to stations for two years. She hopefully told that her next posting would probably be the same as that of her spouse.

She added that, just like in corporate, the happiest moments of a Fauji's life are when his leaves get sanctioned. The Officers in Indian Army are entitled to a massive 80 annual leaves. But seldom is one able to use them all. 

When asked if there was any disappointment that she had to face after joining the army, she described one. Indian Paramilitary Forces are a section of the Indian Army wherein the army men are made to undergo extreme physical training for tracking  paragliding , rafting and other adventure sports.  Being an adventure enthusiast , she had wanted to be a part of the Para Forces, and her candidature and recommendations were more than apt. But even in an organization as honored as the Indian Army, at times we get to see the existence of a mental block that females are "weaker" when compared to their male counterparts. Her application was rejected on similar grounds in spite of her repeated requests. 

Finally we clicked a picture(though it was prohibited :P) and had the most refreshing lemonade. As i drove back in the dark of the night through the beautiful station roads, i felt happy to have spent a meaningful evening which bagged me a new friend.