उनको अच्छे से देखा है

ये सिर्फ कविता नहीं, ये मेरा लोगों के साथ का यथार्थ में अनुभव है। हमारे समाज का कटु सत्य है। अच्छे पढ़े लिखे लोगों में छुपि ये पुरानी सोच जिसके अन्याय के अस्तित्व से वो खुद भी अवगत नहीं हैं। ऐसी हस्तियों के यहाँ लड़कियों को नवरात्री पर पूजा तो जाता है मगर अपने घर में एक से ज़्यादा लड़की के पैदा होने पे मन ही मन में  रोया जाता है।

Let's admire the Wildlife

"Look at it's skin. Isn't that magical and beautiful?", said Navpreet as I stood looking with a gaping mouth at her desktop in disgust. It had a wallpaper of a creepy looking Chameleon at full zoom. "This is ugly. Please change it to something actually beautiful." She shrugged and gave me a bewildered look, "Try to appreciate the beauty of nature, Roohi!" as I wondered what kind of species was my friend?

Why Car Seats For Kids Should Be Mandatory In India

This post have been published in slightly different version on The Huffington Post.

Just like many Indian couples, till now my daughter, now 2.5 yrs, would sit in my lap, as my husband would drive the car. And so, it was unusual for her to see Momma driving and her restlessness was disturbing to me.

A Successful Community Effort

This article also got featured in The Better India and The Huffington PostThe Huffington Post

The ladies in the picture by the side, appear to be kitty partying but they are doing far more serious work, a work which all of us might ignore but which makes a huge difference to the world we live in.
These are passionate women who are making a difference to the world we live in by actively doing their bit. They are the definition of the new-age women who apart from managing their households, families and even jobs are taking pains to make everyone in their community realize the importance of each one's participation to maintain a clean, healthy & sustainable environment. 

This is why I hate travelling by train early morning.

Travel by a train in India early morning and it becomes impossible to look outside the window. For instead of enjoying the beauty of a rising sun or admiring the hues of trees and fields, one gets to witness our fellow citizens adding fresh ingredients to national manure. India still has 597 million people defecating in the open. It is not a funny sight but one which make our heads hang in shame. More than 60 years of Independence and still our India is not literate and capable enough to provide our women, children and people right and dignity to proper hygiene and Sanitation.

credit: healthydunia.com

Literate? Yes, because the problem is not solely about awareness and poverty. But something else too.

We do have lack of sanitation facilities and the lack of hygiene amenities are the reason for feeble health, a rise in ailments like cholera, diarrhea as well as incidents of rape cases. Lack of setup is a big hindrance but another lesser known yet prevalent factor is - Indian households are not willing to have the lavatory at their homes thinking it will impure their houses where they place the idols of their deity as well. They believe defecating in open far off field keep their home and surrounding area clean. Some households that do have the sanitation facility have members who still prefer going outside. So apart from providing the infrastructure, a shift from superstitious and ignorant thinking is required.

Illiteracy, population and poverty form a vicious circle and can be eradicated with initiatives like - 'A toilet for Babli' by Domex. I even appreciate the recent campaign ads by Vidya Balan stressing the importance of having Toilet. This level of participation, celebrities are expected to showcase instead of just posing with a broom for shutterbugs. I hope these messages reach everyone who is unaware of the harms of defecating outside.

The Domex Toilet Academy

Domex, HUL’s flagship sanitation brand, currently runs the Domex Toilet Academy (DTA) programme. Domex Toilet Academy was launched on 19th November 2013. It aims to become a sustainable and long-term solution to provide sanitation that benefits the local community and helps stimulate the local economy. The Toilet Academy makes toilets accessible and affordable, while promoting the benefits of clean toilets & good hygiene. Their effort has resulted in bringing the change in the villages of Maharashtra and Orissa and it aims to build 24000 toilets by 2015 in rural areas faced with the problem of open defecation.

You can bring about the change in the lives of millions of kids, thereby showing your support for the Domex Initiative. All you need to do is “click” on the “Contribute Tab” on www.domex.in and Domex will contribute Rs.5 on your behalf to eradicate open defecation, thereby helping kids like Babli live a dignified life.

Hats off to Domex for a meaningful and much needed campaign!

This post is written as part of the Domex #ToiletForBabli campaign in association with indiblogger Happy Hours.

Children's day with a Difference

I had a chance to touch the lives (through a very very small gesture) of few less fortunate kids by associating with two organization in Bangalore working toward this goal of extending help to destitute, orphan, abused, abandoned children. Though I want to write a separate post about each, still on Children's day I would like to share some of my experience.

      

Visit to ThayiMane : ThayiMane establishes and operates children's home that provides home based on a family model to destitute children, orphans, less fortunate and those who are abused. 
A visit to Thayi Mane was organized by SoftwareAG 'Make A Difference' group (MAD) on Saturday Nov 1. These are the posters we mailed to call for volunteers.

We organized ‘Lemon & Spoon’ race for kids. Everyone enjoyed playing and when the results were announced, it was nice to see their sportiness to encourage the winners. Sometimes we may really need to learn a lot from the small angels. Later kids showcased their talent by singing and dancing. The show went on and on, our SAG volunteers joined them to dance and we had to force our self to stop the program. It was a pleasure seeing smiles and happiness while we served them special lunch. With all the kind donors from SAG, we were able to raise substantial donation and sponsored some essential items needed by the home. 

I was deeply moved by my meeting with the founder Mr. Thayimane Keshavamurthy and his wife, a very simple couple who considers this as a noble task and do not mind any difficulty coming his way. I liked the simple and peaceful surroundings and hats off to the real-life hero Mr. Keshavamurthy for dedicating his life for such children. Though may IT companies, as part of CSR, have come forward time to time to support Thayi Mane but such mission needs constant backing. 

The Minchu Gift Program: Through one of the resident in my apartment I participated in fulfilling wishes of two less fortunate kids. 4 government schools have been picked from the villages around Sarjapura Road by Minchu. Minchu is strictly a Non-Profit, Non-Government organization that solely works towards the individual happiness of underprivileged children across the city of Bangalore and its rural suburbs. One of the programs they run is a "Gift Program". 

·  Their volunteers go to schools for underprivileged children and take a wish from each child. 

·  These wishes are then written on a card with the child's name and other details. (Most of the wishes are very simple - a sports t-shirt, a badminton racket, a dictionary, a dress, etc.). 

·  You can pick a card, buy the gift that the child has wished for, gift wrap it and hand over the Minchu team. 

·  They will then pass it on to the child along with your special note, and make the child's wish come true! 

·  The whole transaction does not involve any payments to the organization - the child tells you what they want, you buy the gift and the organization delivers it to the child. 

·  The gifts are typically restricted to a value between Rs.300 and Rs.500, so that there is no large discrepancy across gifts to different children.

I got the privilege to fulfill wishes of cute Bhoomika (7 yrs) and brainy Bhaskar (8 yrs). Here are their wishes card:

It was a delight to buy a coloring set and a fully loaded pencil box for Bhaskar and the preferred beautiful Pink suit for Bhoomika. We are planning for joining the team for gifst distribution tomorrow and let Pihu meet her friends over there. I will surely write an exclusive post about my experience and the pics :)

After becoming a mother, just the thought a child not having parental love and basic need make me cry. No childhood should go unloved. I hope I can be of more help in future and request all my readers to celebrate Children’s day by helping needy children in best possible ways. Acha lagta hai :)