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

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