Sunday, July 27, 2008

A report on Meeting with Dr.APJ Kalam at Raj Bavan

Dear All,

Thanks a lot to all the friends who wished me the very best. Even before I start describing about the meeting, I would like to thank Mr.Srinivasan from IndiaVision for giving us the rare opportunity of life. As I mentioned in my earlier email the meeting with Dr.APJ Sir went on really well. I am trying my best to bring it in words so each of u can have the feeling of "having been there".

A few warnings:)

a) It is gonna be a very bigggggg report.
b) My language would certainly do NO justice to the humbleness of the great man. He is very very very polite. So read the discussion assuming that humble tone of the great man.
c) Mistakes [ spelling and grammar] are very much part of such a big report. My apologies to you all and also to friends who were there if I had missed reporting anything.

The morning of 24th our friend Shiva from IV messaged me that we would meet Dr.APJ Sir at Raj Bavan and asked us to be there at 9. I reached Raj Bavan at 8.30, the security personnel were surprised to see someone coming at 8.30 for a 10.30 meeting :-) When I told them that coming early is just to make sure that it doesn’t become so that sir reaches early and we late, they smiled and asked me to wait just opposite to Raj Bavan road. Very soon, Shiva reached the place and as we were discussing, Suyam friends reached as well. Very soon Srinivasan sir also joined us and in a few minutes we had all those were to meet Dr.APJ at Raj Bavan.

Time passed by as we used the opportunity to get to know each other. Our DI friends Parthy and Eswar wished me in person and phone respectively and gave some inputs on what to ask etc :-) Around 10.15 PM, the security personnel called us in and after making sure we had everyone around, we were asked to enter Raj Bavan towards the guest house where we were to meet Dr.APJ sir. As expected the security check was done and we were asked to sit in the waiting room. [ Here I have to mention this, the security people did NOT allow our personal camera man inside with the camera. It is only because of Srinivasan sir's call to Mr.Ponraj, the PS to Dr.APJ Sir, we could have him inside].

We were served tea and biscuits by the Raj Bavan people. We had many VIP's like the last PA to Mahatma Gandhiji, ex and current Vice Chancellors of Anna University etc in the waiting room with us. Ours were the second appointment and there we were in waiting room with the excitement of going to meet "The Man" who made us start this meaningful life. Srinivasan sir said, " I have done the job of taking the horse to the pond, now it is up to you people to drink water using your skills" :-) Time was well past 11 by this time, the appointment was for 10.30 :-).

As we were discussing about what and how things would go, again we were asked to reach the waiting room in first floor. As we sat there comfortably, Srinivasan sir introduced us to various other VIP's who joined us in a few mins. One of our friends had a book "Kalam effects" written by Mr.P.M Nair, who was the PS for Dr.APJ Sir during his 5 years presidential term. Let me tell you, the book is simply awesome. I was so engrossed in reading it that Jayasri [ friend from India Sudar] started complaining that I was not interacting with anyone :-) I assure you that once u start reading the book, you would never want to keep that away without reading it completely. Mr.Nair makes a mention about Dr.APJ sir's punctuality [ I leave it for u all to find ] and I started laughing at once. It was almost 12 by then :-)

Around about that time, the people waiting for first appointment were called in. The heart beat started increasing by now and my goodness we started counting the minutes as well. By 12.15 we were asked to enter the room. Siva was kind enough to let us all in first inside the room. As I entered in, Dr.APJ was asking " Ellarm Saaptacha?" = "Have u had your dinner? I am sorry for making you people wait". This very instance is enough to tell volumes about the humility of the great man. After making sure we all had dinner, Dr.APJ sir asked us to be seated. When we asked Sir to sit, he said " Naan inga utkarnthukren, neenga ellam inga irrunga". == " I will sit here, you all please take your seat".

A few of us sat on the sofa while Ravi, Siva, Jayasree and myself we sat comfortably on the carpet. Our Srinivasan sir took care of introducing each of us to Dr.APJ Sir. Mr.Arvind, MD of Matrixview solutions explained Dr.APJ Sir about his inventions and also the charity work they are doing at various villages in South India. Dr.APJ sir and Mr.Arvind discussed various technical parameters about his invention. Dr. APJ Sir even told us about some of his work related to the invention by Mr.Arvind.

After Mr.Arvind, Mr.Periasamy was introduced and he explained how he chose the path of Ahmisa after following the path of violence for major part of his life. He was very active in "political politics" [ u wud soon find what it is] and later chose this path. He is doing a tremendous job by conducting night schools for underprivileged children in almost 60 villages. If my memory holds me right, it was at this point of discussion, some mention about family came up and I told our Dr.APJ Sir as follows:" Sir, in your book you have mentioned about youth of India being the next generation of your family, you are seeing those youth here today in front of you". Sir smiled and we continued with the discussion.

The meeting was more like a chat with a friend and a superb discussion. I am giving all the messages from Dr.APJ Sir at the end so that we do not miss them. These messages were given by Sir during the briefing by various members mentioned below.

Mr.Kaartheban from team everest briefed about their group which was followed by Mrs. Uma from Suyam charitable trust. Later, Mr. "Kalam" Nagappan, [ yeah, he changed his name] briefed about Young Helping Minds. Following this Mr.Saravanan from Manam Malaratum briefed Dr.APJ Sir about their group. Jayasree [ her own ] and Mr.Arvind [ his mom's gift] gave the superb poetry they had written about Dr.APJ Sir.

After this...... yeah it was the time we all want to hear about :-) Yes, Srinivasan sir introduced about DI to Dr.APJ Kalam Sir. I gave the one page document prepared by Varun and Janaki with the website name and my contact number on it.

Dr.APJ Sir: Is this your website?
Me: Yes Sir, www.dreamindia2020.org

Dr.APJ Sir: [ looking at the name on Top] Good, you name is Nagarajan........ryt?
Me: Natarajan Sir.

Dr.APJ Sir: Oh...Natarajan..[ looking at paper still]...hmm.. where is your email address?[I gave the DI card and Dr.APJ Sir looked at it...] Here I see it. Yeah, please tell me about DreamIndia.
Me: Sir, we friends were posted at TCS Mumbai. Three of us we started teaching slum children nearby and very soon all my friends joined us. And we wanted to keep a name for it and we thought "DreamIndia2020" would be the best as you are the one who inspired us to start this. We also have centers in Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore part from Chennai. We conduct classes for poor children and almost all members are professionals.

[ Someone interrupted during this period and Dr.APJ Sir after listening to it, again asked me, please tell me from beginning. This clearly showed that Dr.APJ Sir was very sincere and really wanted to know about all of us ]

Dr.APJ Sir: Very nice work. I am very happy to know about you all.
Me: Thanks a lot Sir.

[ Dr.APJ Sir collected the one page sheet and visiting card from me ]

Me: Sir, could you please sign this for me?

[ Dr.APJ Sir signed " Greetings", APJ A...]

Me: Thanks a lot Sir.

After this Ravi and Siva briefed Dr.APJ Sir about India Sudar and the good work they do. After giving us all the time available, Mr.Srinivasan sir explained Dr.APJ Sir about India Vision2020 team and partner groups. All our friends got autographs from Dr.APJ Sir. Time was almost 12.55 AM by then. :-)

I would like to mention the messages [ that I recollect ] given by Dr.APJ Sir during the course of discussion at this point:

a) To a question related to imparting good values to children: Sir responded: It is why I keep telling the importance of moral science class. We should have moral science class for an hour every week from 1std to college level. Those days we had such classes and it really helps one to learn the real values of life.

b) About vocational training: Sir himself said at one point, " Many of our children reach till 10th or +2 [ he refers that as 10+2] and then stop continuing the education. So we should make sure skill based training should be given from 5th standard." We mentioned about vocational training and sir said, yeah that should be the way as it help them earn. [ Sir, looked at my eyes while explaining this for almost a minute or two, I was actually wondering all that was happening was true really:)]

c) About politics: Ravi asked this question. Should youth enter politics. Sir said, "yes very well. We need people like you to be in the parliament. Only then we would be able to see a developed nation". At this point, I asked, " But Sir, in today’s politics people use force to even kill us if we want to do good". Sir responded, " When we are a group, we can certainly do it. See, there is two kind of politics, one if “political politics” – to build your party, do it 30% of time and other is “developmental politics “ – this one is for the nation and should be done 70% of time. Unfortunately, it is in the reverse now. Already I have seen that there are 30% MP's are graduates. So you people can certainly do it. Always believe you can do it".

d) Library: One of friends mentioned this idea about setting up libraries, Sir responded: This is a wonderful idea and even I have this mission. We should certainly do this. I have given my books to 30 or 40 libraries as well. [ apply warning b here ]

e) About parents and teachers at one point [ guess at the time of "Kalam" Nagappan briefing, Sir's first question to him was, "What did your father tell about changing the name?"]: One should always go by parents words. Father, Mother and Guru are the one we should respect all through our life.

After the briefing of all the groups, Dr.APJ Sir said the following.

Dr.APJ Sir: All of you have given me a lot of home work. [ referring to the documents we all gave and the details], I will read them and for sure we will work together definitely. I am very happy to have met you all today.
We need 1000 young people like you, we can definitely make India a developed nation. Next time around, I would like to spend one complete day with you people. Now tell me, you people have done all these things for me, what should I do for you guys? :-)

All of us: [ would be hard to believe, but true ] We just need your blessings Sir!

Dr.APJ Sir: God bless you all. [ at this moment, almost all of us took his blessings by touching his feet. Now u know why I chose the carpet area;) ] I want you all to repeat something with me...can we?

All: Sure Sir, [ we had taken print outs of the seven point oath of Dr.APJ Sir for students and I gave it to him]

Dr.APJ Sir: [ reading through it ] this also can be said, but I have another one as well. Will u repeat this hymn? ok, come on...[ we all repeated ]

"Where there is righteousness in the heart

There is beauty in the character.

When there is beauty in the character,

There is harmony in the home.

When there is harmony in the home.

There is order in the nation.

When there is order in the nation,

There is peace in the world."

[ at this point, I had to fight hard not to shed tears thinking of the 3 and half years journey. The very fact that we got the chance to offer DI at Dr.APJ Sir's feet, to whom all it belongs, made me shed happy tears. It was pretty emotional moment to be quite honest. There I was at the great man's feet repeating the hymn]

[ After the hymn, by this time the security personnel were requesting us that it has been almost 50 minutes already]

Mr.Srinivasan: Sir, what is the message you want to convey to India Vision2020?
Dr.APJ Sir: [ I got this golden chance of holding the microphone to record Dr.APJ Sir's message, thanks to Srinivasan sir! ]

[per se]

"The youth of the nation have a mission, the mission to bring smiles to the faces of one billion people. How to go about this mission? One should have following four qualities.

1) Very high ambition
2) Acquire the knowledge
3) Hard work and
4) Perseverance

By having high ambition and acquiring the knowledge by hard work and perseverance one can achieve this mission. This is the message I want to give for India Vision2020".

Me: [ In Tamil ] Sir, one last question. Whom do you think is the reason behind all your success and made you what you are today?
Dr.APJ Sir: It was my school teacher in 5th standard, Shri. Sivasubramanya Iyer. He is the one who made me [ the security people lost it completely as it was almost 1.05 A.M and said, please sir enough]

Me: Thank you sir.

[ Parthy and I, we got a chance to listen to this recording today, thanks to the kindness of Srinivasan sir]

After this, all of us thanked Dr.APJ Sir and he once again wished us all the best and mentioned that he was very happy to have met us. Again, Dr.APJ Sir promised that we would work together. With this, we all walked out of the temple with no heart to leave the darshan.

Post meeting:

It took a lot of time for us to realize what has happened. To be honest, none of us expected it to be a discussion like this. Dr.APJ Sir was like a friend to all of us and listened to each and every word of us sincerely. All of us thanked Mr.Srinivasan sir who made it all happen. The appointment was given only for sir, but he was so kind to give us all an opportunity of life. Also, one interesting point to note, actual time we were allotted was 10 minutes and the personnel mentioned, if Dr.APJ Sir likes the discussion, it would be for 15 mins max. But what happened was a 50 to 55 minutes discussion, which Dr.APJ Sir did not want to end at all :-)

After wishing each other, Srinivasan sir ensured everyone of us found a means to reach home safe. Mr.Arvind dropped me on his way home and I took the street for a 5 minutes walk to home. Nothing to hide here, I was totally lost and could not believe what had happened. [ It is continuing still ] Couple of policemen, they had seen me walking, came to me in a bike and asked me, " Is everything ok sir, you are talking to yourself. Where are you going?". I was all smiles and told them that I am coming from Raj Bavan after meeting Dr.APJ Sir. They asked me to reach home safe and left. Even after speaking to Parthy and Eswar the excitement level did not come down. Finally, I slept around about 4 without even me knowing it:-)

24th night, technically July 25th, 2008 Friday, I should say is "THE" moment of DI. The flower that blossoms every second in each and everyone of our heart, the one in our blood and breath was offered to God's feet!

now to relive the moment: http://picasaweb.google.com/natadreams/MeetingWithDrAPJKalam

Still living on thoughts of July 25th,
Natarajan
DreamIndia
www.dreamindia2020.org

"Hesitating to act because the whole vision might not be achieved, or because others do not yet share it, is an attitude that only hinders progress." - Mahatma
http://di2020.blogspot.com/

Friday, July 25, 2008

Report on Visit to SV Orphanage home and New life

Dear All,

Last weekend Parthy, Ravin and myself, we visited couple of homes in Chennai : Sarojini Vardapan Trust Orphanage [ Referred by Rajender ] and New life charity home.

SV home:

To those who are from TN, Sarojini Vardapan is the daughter of ex CM of the state Mr.Bakthavachalam. They are running this school and the orphanage is a part of that.

We started around 7 in the morning to make sure we reach the place before traffic takes heavy toll. We reached SV home around 9 in the morning. The in charge of the home, Ms.Kamala welcomed us and explained the operations of the orphanage. Most of the children residing in the orphanage do not have their father, cases like father leaving the family alone were there too. Around 15 out of 90, I guess are orphans.Later we saw the rooms in which the children stay and other facilities as well. Later, we distributed the chocolates we had got for the kids and gave the rest of the snack items to the in charge.

In the mean time, I had a casual chat with 10th and 12th standard students. They are all from various parts of TN and the conversation gave us complete trust in all that Ms.kamala mentioned. Overall, the requirements of the home looks very genuine.

Important points:

a) Home is funded 80% by government and 20% by the trust. This gives Rs.225 for each children every month. This includes the salary of the teachers as well.

b) Attached report explains the complete requirement of the home. Kamala madam was more concerned about a need for a teacher. She was repeatedly telling us to help in for the education of the kids.

New life:

We reached New life around 1 PM. Lalitha madam was kind enough to arrange for the school van pick us from Sri Perumpadur. Sri Vidhya is one of the students whose education we support through IS. Her mother works in new life. I spoke to her mom and found that Sri Vidhya was studying very well. However, the other student Ms. Nithya whose fee we paid for nurse training has discontinued the course and is married now. It is important to note here that this student Nithya was the one who tried committing suicide for want of fee for the course.

Later, we had lunch at new life along with other volunteers. We also met one of the teachers Mr.Loganathan deployed by IS and saw the computer center set up by IS as well. After collecting the requirements of the home [ in the attached report ] we left for home around 3.30.

We can discuss further and decide on the support we can extend.

Snaps:

http://picasaweb.google.com/natadreams/SarojiniVaradapanTrustAndNewLifeVisit

Requirements:

Sorajini Varadappan Girls School Trust Orphanage:

90 students, right from 1std to 12th std. Each kids are getting Rs.225 [ 80% welfare society and 20% Management]

+2 - 6 students [ 4 pure science, 1 vocational course and 1 History group ]

10th - 8 students

1) Teacher - English, Maths and Science [ 10th and +2]

2) Gas - 7 gas required, 1200rs each, then would come around 7200rs.

3) Vegetables - Fridge second hand

4) Uniform and plates - already done by someone.

5) Tour arrangement - Should be okay.

6) Kitchen - extra building reqd.

7) Paper - [ english and Tamil ]

8) Computers for school

What we can do?

a) deploy a teacher - 1500rs to 2000rs per month. Pay post dated check for 12 months

b) Paper - [ The Hindu and Dinamalar ]

c) Fridge - Second hand or first hand slightly damaged.

d) Gas - may be one cylinder

e) Arrange for tour later.

New Life Chairty home:

1) One student requires B.Tech education support. [ partial payment ]

2) Other requirement:

Long size unruled - 150
Small size ruled - 200
Pen - 250
Ink Pen - 2 dozen [ Ink Bottle ]
Pencil - 10 dozen
Sharpner - 5 box
eraser - 5 box
Black Board - 200
White sheet - 3 realm
Geometry note - 50
Record Note - 25

Thanks,
Natarajan
DreamIndia
www.dreamindia2020.org

"Hesitating to act because the whole vision might not be achieved, or because others do not yet share it, is an attitude that only hinders progress." - Mahatma

Education aid for Balasubramaniyan

Dear All,

Recently, there was an article about Bala in one of the Tamil newspapers. Thanks to Ravi, our friend from India Sudar who brought this to our notice. [ Student Bala scored 1106 in +2 and secured merit admission to Govt college of Engg at Tirunelveli. Wanted support for college fee as family manages their daily bread by making matchbox]. Ravi had collected almost all the information that one would require. I spoke to the headmaster Mr.Periamsamy as well and armed with a few more information required, we took a DD for Rs.14,980 and sent that for Bala.

Later I spoke to Bala as well, he promised me NOT only to support his family but also another poor family like his once he completes his degree. Bala's admission was done on 23rd and chances are ripe for us to meet him in Chennai soon. Let us hope and pray that Bala would become another jewel in DI crown.

Thanks to Ravi and all friends.

Regards,
Natarajan
DreamIndia
www.dreamindia2020.org

"Hesitating to act because the whole vision might not be achieved, or because others do not yet share it, is an attitude that only hinders progress." - Mahatma

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Borivali Updates

Hi all

The Borivli classes are going fine post summer vacation.

After the dance-n-drama + comp stint in vacation, its back to acads now :) I went to class this sunday after some time ..and was pleasantly shocked to see 5-6 new students !!! I guess the 'thanks-giving' meet organized by Gawarikar sir has reaped immediate results in this !!! The good thing about Sunday was that there were four of us - Prabhakar, Sharvari, Gawarikar Sir and I -- after a long time ...so it was easier to manage the kids :))

But, we surely miss Kiranbala's presence. She is recuperating well and we hope to have her realllllly sooooon :)) Also, unfortunately, havent been able to get in touch with Sundaram Sir (the ex-military man, who taught computers) ...he hasnt been around for a long time now, but I cant reach his num -- his residential address isnt known :((

Well, there has been one major update too -- Suraj and Chandan have been now admitted to the Municipal English medium school - though one grade lower. It has been a long story ... we were on the lookout to admit Suraj in a private Eng med school nearby. (the prime reason being that the education imparted in his current municipal hindi med school is very much below par and isnt something to look forward to.

Also, since Suraj is a bright child, his potential wasnt really tapped in his school) Padmaja and I went around the various schools, but with no luck. One school - J.B.Khot School - was very supportive though. They were willing to admit him 2 grades lower (in 3rd std instead of 5th) ..we thought about the prospect of losing two years, but finally agreed since the school is a very good one (i can vouch for it since I studied in it !!) Suraj had to give an exam for that - which comprised English, Math and EVS of std 2. We had around 2 weeks to get him ready and tried our level best for that. But, unfortunately, the reality struck us hard. In his exam, Suraj was way below expectations in English and EVS; Math was quite good.

And Suraj was one of our very good students -- so this clearly showed us the amount of work to be done and the efforts to be put in by all (including students). Anyways, the principal of the school was still willing to admit him inspite of the performance but we both felt that it would do him more dis-service. The basic problem would to be adjust to all English suddenly and that too where others are ahead of him. So, we discussed and came out with some solution -- that we admit him to a municipal Eng med school for this year -- so that he gets accustomed to the English culture and also we can work with him to improve his English further in mean time --- and next year again we can try admitting him to J.B.Khot school, if we feel he has made good progress.

So, the end result is that both Suraj and Chandan have been admitted to local municipal eng med school, one grade lower (Suraj in 4th and Chandan in 5th). Its now 2 weeks since the have been in the school and are enjoying it :)) We will see how it goes from here and then think of the action plan an year later !!!

Well, thats about it ... been really an interesting month or so :)

Smiles,

Aniket

Planned visit to Sarojinivaradhappan girls higher secondary school

Dear Friends,

Our friend Rajender informed us about the school at Poonamalle, Chennai. Ravin, Parthy and myself we have planned to visit the orphanage this Saturday, July 19th, 2008 to gather the requirements. We are planning to start early in the morning to beat the traffic. In case if you wanna be a part of this, please contact me at 99406 75570.

Today morning, I spoke to Ms.Kamala, the in charge of the home. Details below should give you a brief idea about the home.

a) School being run by 50% funds from Trust and 50% from welfare board.

b) As of now, they are getting funds like Rs.200 for food of a kid per month which is really less.

c) They have some more requirements for classes as well.

Keep watching the space for more details.

Regards,
Natarajan
DreamIndia
http://www.dreamindia2020.org/
"Hesitating to act because the whole vision might not be achieved, or because others do not yet share it, is an attitude that only hinders progress." - Mahatma

Updates on Srinivasan Results

Dear Friends,

Srinivasan called me last night to inform about this results. He has cleared all his back logs from the past [ the only person in his class to do so]. In the last semester, he cleared all the papers but for one [ Probability and statistics ].

His aggregate percentage is somewhere around 60%. I know it is not something that we would desire for, but he has the challenge of working as well studying which is not easy.He has another 4 semesters which would be on only his core subjects and he is very confident of making the aggregate percentage around 70%.

Moreover, Parthy, Ravin and myself, we are in touch with him to make sure he gets the confidence that is required. I promise you that he would do good and make us all proud.On behalf of DI, I conveyed our best wishes and support to Srinivasan.

Regards,
Natarajan
www.dreamindia2020.org

"Hesitating to act because the whole vision might not be achieved, or because others do not yet share it, is an attitude that only hinders progress." - Mahatma

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Medical camp at Thane, Mumbai

On the 5th of July DI Thane conducted a General Health Check-Up Camp in Tikujiniwadi, Thane. The camp was held at construction site of Cosmos Lounge and catered to the laborers there. We had brought in doctors from DY Patil Hospital, Nerul. 150 construction workers were treated in the camp.

Mr. Mahesh Patil, the in-charge at the site had made very good arrangements including tables, chairs, curtains, wash basin, etc. He also ensured that all the workers come in an organized manner and maintained a uniform influx of workers, which enabled us and doctors to work smoothly. It was observed that while most of the patients had general problems, there were some cases which will need to be looked into at an urgent basis. These include cases in which doctors have suspected serious conditions/ailments like HIV, TB and night blindness amongst others.

Dr. Ram, Sanket and Dr Karuna, your inputs and guidance right since the beginning of efforts, helped us a lot. Thanks! A detailed and consolidated account along with photographs will follow shortly.

Regards,

Ujjaval Gupta

Volunteer, DreamIndia - Mumbai

Monday, July 14, 2008

Updates on Srinivasan, B.Tech Anna University student

Dear All,

As most of you know already, we have been supporting Mr.Srinivasan for the past 2 years to pursue his B.Tech course at Anna University, Chennai.Last week, we gave a DD for Rs.13,330 towards his 5th semester as well. Srinivasan has been a very dedicated and hard working student.

Also in addition to paying the fee, Partheeban and myself, we have started conducting spoken English course for him as well. We wish Srinivasan all the very best for a bright future. Thanks to Udhay [ India Sudar ] for introducing Srinivasan to us.

Regards,
Natarajan
DreamIndia
www.dreamindia2020.org
"Hesitating to act because the whole vision might not be achieved, or because others do not yet share it, is an attitude that only hinders progress." - Mahatma

Friday, July 11, 2008

Visit to Kaakum Karangal old age home, July 9th, 2008

On the day of KK visit, we had talked about visiting the home more frequently as this one is near by the place of stay for many of us involved in the project. Not the one to be satisfied only with words, our DI members Elavarasi and her friend Aarthi decided to step on action. On 9th of July, they visited KK home again. They spent good quality time with all the inmates and bought bananas for them as well. They have plans to visit the home again in the near future. Please write to us at admin@dreamindia2020.org in case if you wanna know more about this project.

Regards,
Natarajan
DreamIndia
www.dreamindia2020.org

Monday, July 7, 2008

Updates on Dinner at Kaakum Karangal, Chennai

Dear Friends,

As planned earlier, on behalf of DI, we took care of the dinner for all 43 inmates of the Kaakum Karangal Old age home in Thiruvamiyur, Chennai last night. Elavarasi and myself, we reached the home around 7.15 along with the food packets from nearby hotel. Ravin, Parthy and Hariharan joined us at the home in a few minutes. As we had sometime left for the scheduled dinner time, we interacted with a few inmates and got to know about them.

Around 7.30, the scheduled time for dinner, we started off with a prayer session. The gentleman in charge of the home recited a few prayer songs. The entire home wished all DI members the very best to all our efforts towards the community during the prayer. After the prayer, we started serving idlies, vada and a sweet packet to each of them. As per the feedback from them all, the most pleasing aspect of the entire event was the fact that we served the food going to each of them in person. This allowed them to ask us what they wanted without any shyness and serve them better. All of them were very happy and completely satisfied with the dinner. After serving them all, our friends too swallowed :) couple of sweet packets in the name of tasting food ;) After making sure all of them ate well, we put the remaining a few sweet packets and side dishes in the refrigerator to be used by them.

Later, for almost 30 mins we all spoke to various inmates and listened to their stories. Couple of them wanted to buy some medicines that were not available in the home's medical shop. Ravin bought those medicines for them. Elavarasi made a donation of 1000Rs on behalf of her friend to the home. We booked the slot for dinner again on August 3rd, 2008. We also took feedback on what they would need next time apart from usual stuff. Many of them wanted Parathas, Uthappam, ice creams etc. [ It's worth mentioning this here: I read in a Tamil Magazine that, when parents become old, especially Mom, the best thing to do for her while eating is to let her serve for herself making sure all the items are there at her reach. This would give them the freedom to eat what as per their wish. All through their lifetime, Indian mom's always make sure their children and husband eats completely satisfied, even if it means they have to eat less or nothing at all. I am sure you all would agree with this. They sacrifice their wishes and small desires for us. When I heard the feedback from them for Parathas and Uthaapams, the food which would be difficult to digest, I could only realize that what I read in the magazine was true. ]

A few of us have planned to visit the home regulalry and spend time with them all. Overall, the evening was really wonderful to say the least. The stories of the inmates also made us to think about the trivial stuff we all worry about in this world and NOT to forget the 1000's we spend on treats every week. In short, a visit to place like this would make sure one always stays in touch with ground realities and not get carried away.
Snaps:

You can relive the event at http://picasaweb.google.com/natadreams/KaakumKarangal Will upload a small video of the same in Youtube soon.

Last but not the least, 10 members of our team contributed for the cause. Thanks to them all. In case if you wanna contribute towards this cause, please do write to me.

Regards,
Natarajan
DreamIndia
http://www.dreamindia2020.org/
"Hesitating to act because the whole vision might not be achieved, or because others do not yet share it, is an attitude that only hinders progress." - Mahatma

Friday, July 4, 2008

Latest update on Ponni: Scores 76.4% :-)

Dear Friends,

It is with great pleasure I write to you to inform that our Ponni has scored 76.4% in her 3rd semester. She called me just a few hours ago to inform this good news. She has scored first mark in one of the subjects. Getting over the setbacks and challenges she faced in the first semester, past two semesters she has scored very good marks. You can see her results at http://ns3.annauniv.edu/cgi-bin/result/result.pl?regno=91406104055

Thanks to Mr.Kalyan and Mr.Murali who along with DI pays her fee every year. I would also take this opportunity to mention the hard work being done by Ramya, Janu and Parthy. They keep in touch with her regularly, taking care of all her educational needs. The result what we see today is the combined work of all these people. Also sincere thanks to Ravi and India Sudar for introducing Ponni to us.

On behalf of DreamIndia, I have conveyed our heartfelt congratulations to Ponni. By God's grace, the day she would make us all proud is not very far.

Regards,
Natarajan
DreamIndia
www.dreamindia2020.org

"Hesitating to act because the whole vision might not be achieved, or because others do not yet share it, is an attitude that only hinders progress." - Mahatma