Event 7 - Atheeswarar orphanage home

The 7^th jaunt of our group was to Atheeswarar orphanage home in mudichur. It was children's day, the birthday of our beloved chacha pandit Nehruji and God's grace, in the form of spell of rain was showering heavily on us, the chennaites. The very first vista we had was; kids school dress soaked entirely in the heavy downpour. The situation of the home is so miserable that they are not in a position to dry their clothes indoor also. The home constitutes only two small sized rooms. As we entered the orphanage, we saw the kids having blissful time with Samuel vasanth and his friends who came before us. When it was time for them to leave, we saw these kids sending them warm heartedly. The kids where Looking forward for their visit in next year as well.

Once Samuel and his friends left, it was our roll to spend time with them. The children went to change their dress to have their lunch. The elder girl children were helping the younger ones. The children were so photogenic that they wanted us to capture their each and every, priceless expression. They also wanted us to show them the snaps as they wanted to admire themselves in the picture .Some boys also wanted to use our camera to capture the photos of their brothers and sisters.

After changing their dress all of them sat for their lunch together. We served them the lunch and found that their consumption of food was very less. The children were thirsty and to drink water they didn't have enough tumblers and had to take turns in using the tumblers. We could even see the kids fighting for the tumblers. They hurriedly ate whatever they could and went to play. They started playing inside the home as it was raining heavily outside. These kids had sweet tooth, as all rushed to have their share of payasam which was prepared on this special occasion.

A sudden small accident also took place as due to the cold condition and the cracks in the floor, an abrupt outburst of colony of big black ants followed. The innocent children were playing around the ants and the scared ant's in order to protect themselves bit a girl child and the bite was so strong that we had to struggle to pull out the ant and blood was oozing out. The home was out of stock with the ant powder too.

To talk about the children's education they are studying in near by government aided school. There are more than 30 children in that home of various ages.

We could judge on seeing this that they are struggling to meet their ends and we were correct, as we heard the volunteers staying there. There are four volunteers who take care of the children. They get funds only form the philanthropists visiting their home.

What they Dream………

As sooner than I drift off to sleep, left alone with my thoughts, my mind ponders over various stuffs; and many a times the subliminal part takes over the conscious part of the mind; giving nativity to some deep down deliberations. The same happened the last night and the thought which sprang up to life was: As I recollect my days event and think of upcoming plans…. What an Orphan would be thinking????????

Whilst the darkness wraps the planet in its arms, perching each night on the millions of Orphans all around the world; I wonder what they think about. Besides this, quite a lot of of them are not even in orphanages; they are on the streets. Their thoughts scamper around the lines similar to:

“I survived today; I hope I be able to subsist tomorrow. Perhaps I will be able to perceive tomorrow's Dusk and the Dawn…..Or ….wonder where I am going to sleep tomorrow night. I doubt if I will find anything no matter what, to scoff.”

But, wherever they may be, their only feeling is that how arctic and insecure, they are. Who is there for them?

As they drift off to sleep, every so often their minds are filled with fear. The tiny tot's fear of – spiders, snakes, wild animals – but the orphans’ fears are based on certainty, not imaginations. The younger kids may fear the older kids. The older kids fear that as they get close to aging out of the orphanages, what and where their future is.

Their fear is life. How am I going to survive the … LIFE…? ... TOMORROW…..?

And what more, their closed eye shows them is a deep sense of Craving….. Craving to be cared for, longing to be held close to heart, yearning for love from someone. Longing to see their parents, even if they are deserted by them. They want to be a part of family…. a loving, caring, secure and permanent family.

Alas! Many don’t even dare to think of this, as it is beyond what they can Hope or Dream…!

Blessed are we, to get parents to nurture us and give us all what we wish for….

At this point I reflect that how much we grumble about the things which are provided to us, but we don’t akin to. We love to find the lapse with the things which are just not of our taste, and cast off them as shortly as possible; not even thinking once that these are the very things which can make someone's life easier. These are the things which someone can never even dream to get. We should be thankful to God for all the things which we get before we desire, and should come up to lend it to those who require…

Understand the difference between require and desire……!

The desire can be left discontented at times, but requirements are the necessities…...!

Come to join in the rivulet of supporting and providing these orphans nights where they can sleep serenely and dream of the stuffs which we are dreaming… parents, family, upcoming plans …. Their future..

Let us all aim to contend their basic necessities…

Let's endeavour to reinstate HOPE in their life.

Let's give them a Life with AMBITIONS and VISIONS to chase…..

Let's make them sense LOVE and SECURITY…….. Let's give them a FAMILY..!

- Khushboo Singh

All work and no play makes jack a dull boy

This article of mine is about a topic which is very close to my heart. Through this Hastadharan blog, I would like to share it with you people. I am a left hander by birth and, have heard people saying that left hander's are in nature inclined to sports. I don't know whether it is a universal truth, but it is true that I am a great sport enthusiast. I love watching all kind of sports and, do try playing it whenever I get chance.

I am writing this to awaken the dead to the world mob, to apprehend the worth of sports and furthermore the worth of a kids reverie to be an athlete. There are scores of reasons why our people have not been competent to achieve or exhibit their sporting talents and, awfully the worst is that they fail to identify the apt position "Sports" deserves.

Ever since our independence, the government which comes in existence; gives step motherly treatment to sports. This is very much perceptible from the budgetary allocation done every year. There never had been a single 5 year plan or 1 year plan to perk up the sports infrastructure in our country. Government do give away awards and cash to the players and teams who have managed to won accolades for our country. We people too have rejoiced these rare feats. Stare at the word RARE; pause and consider if the government supported the sports fraternity more, we would have had ample chances to applaud.

But the Government alone is not liable. The sports associations which run sports are the real culprits for the dire situation of sports today. The majority of associations are run by politicians who are interested in eating these meagre too. We have outdated policies, hampering the growth of sports and sports person in India. The recent incident being that of Koneru Humpy case. Due to the age old policy of the chess federation she is not able to take along her coach who is her father too.

These Associations in such state of affairs should pull up their socks and act in the meticulous way to promote sports. They need to change policy as and when required. They should build infrastructure like grounds, training facility, sports speciality hospital, colleges offering degree in sports, conduct national and international level tournaments to identify and nurture prospective talents.

Even the people who are pursuing sports professionally also need to act conscientiously. Many sportspersons get contented once they get job through sports quota .Even worse is the attitude of cheating and indulging in unlawful activities to attain fame and money. They are the icons for the upcoming generation and they must keep the sprits high.

Besides all these the most appalling reason for lack of sporting culture in India is that the hefty majority of people are not fascinated by sports. Our Parents have this frame of mind that pursuing sports professionally will ruin the future of their kids. Despite having loads of booming stories before them, parents are reluctant. Parents ought to value sports and support their children in presenting his/her sporting flairs.

Finally I call every single to promote sports in our country in all the probable ways. Unearth the talents in children's and encourage them .Let the children's bring glory to our nation.

* Adarsh *

adarshv@maveric-systems.com

Secrets to Success

Create a plan: It is essential to know what you are going to do before you do it. Doesn't it make sense? Yes, it makes a lot of sense, yet so many people every day do things not knowing what they are doing. They start building a house without a firm foundation. If you asked any of the richest personalities in the world how they became so successful, I am very sure that a part of their answer would be that they had an effective plan of action. In other words, they knew everything they had to do to get what they wanted.

Set deadlines to accomplish what you plan: Besides creating a plan, it is also very important to set deadlines to accomplish each one of your goals described in your plan. In other words, you should always assign final dates to the different goals that you have and not let anything interfere in the completion of these goals by such dates. This will allow you to avoid a mental "disease" that every human being possesses: Laziness!!! That is right. Laziness is a mental "disease" that affects even the richest man in the world. This is why setting deadlines is so important. It is extremely important that you complete them and accomplish them on time. This will determine your success.

Do not waste time: It is important that from this moment on you start accounting for your time. You should consider every day as if it were the last day of your life. Why? Well, if you do this, you would not want to waste any time on things that are not worth spending time on. Do you get my point? Each and every minute of your life should be used in the wisest way possible. Very often I hear people saying that they have no time to do anything other than work and pay the bills. When I hear something like this, I know for sure that they are wasting their time. How do I know this? Very simple; I used to be like them. I used to work 16 hours a day. I did not have any time to do anything other than work, pay my bills, sleep, and have a little family reunion once in a while. Nobody would think that a man working 16 hours a day could be wasting his time. Neither did I. But in reality I was. I was actually wasting 16 hours a day. I was throwing away 16 hours of my life every day. Now I work between 5 to 7 hours a week; the rest of my time is free time. And you know what? I am not wasting any second of it and I am making 300 times the money I was making when I was working 16 hours a day. This is what I mean when I tell you not to waste time.

If you have any contact with negative people, you are going to have to shut them out: There is nothing more frustrating to me than to have a conversation with negative people. They have a negative response to everything I say. Fortunately, I have learned that the best way to deal with them is not to deal with them at all! That is right, and you should do the same. From now on, whenever you notice any negativity in anybody you speak with, get away or simply tell them that you are sorry but you can no longer have any kind of contact with them. It may sound kind of harsh and rude, but believe me, negative people can and will bring you down only by talking to you. Have you ever bought a pair of shoes that you thought were the best, and all of a sudden after some friend of yours tells you that they look really bad, you do not wear them anymore or you feel some kind of shame when you do? This is just a minor example of how negative people can influence you. Imagine what they could do if you let them influence you in your financial life. From now on, do not let negative people get in your way to success. Shut them out!

Stop listening to people unless they are doing better than you: A long time ago I got this idea of getting involved in the stock market. I did not know anything about it (I still don't know much) and therefore I decided to consult a financial advisor whose number I had found in a newspaper. After we talked for a while, he got me really excited! He said that he knew a way of getting $500,000 with just a $125 investment in stocks, but it would cost $2,000 for him to reveal that secret. I found that very strange because if he knew the "secret" to make $500,000 with only $125, why would he be working in a old and ugly office, driving a real mess of a car, and wearing really discolored clothes? I mean, it seemed to me like he was going through a lot of financial difficulties. Anyway, I decided to give it a try. I tried several times what he had told me but it did not work at all. A few months later, I went back to his office. As soon as I got there, I found out that he had closed it because he had gone broke. He had actually filed bankruptcy! Today, I remember that experience and I admit that it was all my fault. I mean, what was I thinking? His office was terribly abandoned, his car looked like it was ready to be thrown away, and yet he was offering me a secret to make $500,000 with a $125 investment. From that day on, I promised myself that I was not going to listen to anybody unless they were doing better than I was. And let me tell you something, it has worked wonderfully! This is the reason why I have included this personal lesson as one of "The Ten Steps To Success." From now on, do not listen to anybody unless they are doing better than you! You can get their opinion, you can hear what they are saying, but you cannot let them influence you. On the other hand, if they are doing better than you, then they probably know a little bit more, they have a little bit better attitude, and they probably have a little more experience.

Have fun: Enjoy what you do. The probabilities are that right now you do not enjoy what you are doing to make a living. To me, that is understandable because I do not believe in working for a living; I believe in working for the fun of working. Does that sound crazy? I am sure it does. Let me explain it to you. Years ago I used to work for a living. I hated it of course, but I had to do it otherwise I was not going to have any food on the table. Today, I work for the fun of working. Sure there are other reasons other than fun (reasons like recognition), but to be honest, if it was not for the fun, I would not work at all. I would probably be traveling the world all year long. But no! Even though I do not need to work anymore, I still do it because I have fun doing so. I am very sure that once you stop working for a living you will realize what I am talking about. Of course to be working for the fun of working, you need to be doing something that is fun doing. This is where the "$ecrets 2 $uccess" come in play. You will soon learn that work can actually be fun! Also, before going to the next step, I would like to tell you what I do to have fun in life: I make it a game! It may sound silly, but if you make life a game, you will have fun at it. If you think of life the same way you would think of a tennis match, you will have great fun at it. I guarantee it!

I know that you are used to the hard life, and the long hours of work. This is why this whole idea of having fun may sound like nonsense to you. Again, do not worry! Once you start experiencing the easy part of life and the 5 to 7 hours of work per week, you will surely realize what having fun in life is all about.

Have a good attitude: A good attitude is worth a billion dollars. Have you ever heard that expression? You should have a good attitude towards anything that you do in life, even towards the things that go wrong and towards your mistakes. Yes, a good attitude even towards your mistakes. I am sure you have been told that you should learn from your mistakes. Have you been told this? Or at least, have you heard this? Well, it is very true. And this is true to anybody in the world. Let me explain something to you. On your way to true wealth, it is very likely that you will make some mistakes. But who doesn't? We all do; we are all human beings; the key is to have a good attitude towards them and to truly learn from them. Personally, I make mistakes everyday, but because of my good attitude, they do not affect me at all. What I try to do is to make a lot more accurate decisions than mistakes. When this happens, I literally feel like I have done everything perfectly even though I have made a few mistakes. This is also what you should do. Once you have this kind of attitude towards life you will notice the change! This is why I urge you to have a good attitude. But do not start tomorrow, or the day after; start RIGHT NOW!

Take care of your health: I am sure you realize how important your health is. Without it, having all the money in the world would be worthless because you would not be able to enjoy it. I have heard so many stories of people who work so hard to accumulate money, and once they become wealthy, they die of a heart attack, or cancer, or are condemned to live in a hospital for the rest of their lives. This is not what you want, nor what I want for you. As I said before, true wealth is about having all the money that you could possibly want in a lifetime along with the time to enjoy it. This is why you should take care of yourself. Do healthy activities; exercise; eat healthy food. I know that you probably do not have the time right now to do all these activities, but hopefully soon you will have it. When you do, please take care of yourself. I know that you and I do not know each other personally, but believe me, the last thing that I want to happen to you or anyone in the world is to get harmed. This is why I urge you to take care of your health and the health of your loved ones.

Stop thinking job: Most of us are taught since we are kids that the rule in life is to have a job. Most of us go to school, then we go to a university or college, we get a degree, and finally we get a job for the rest of our lives (others simply jump from school straight to a job). Are you one of these people? Probably. Do you think this is the right way to live life? If you say yes, you are Wrong! Life is not about a job. There is no way you are ever going to be truly happy with a job; I do not care how good it is. I am sure of this because you cannot be happy when you are working for someone else; you cannot be happy when you have to get to your office or place of work every day at 8 o'clock in the morning or otherwise you will get fired; you cannot be happy when you have to ask your superior for permission to take a week off. I mean, what kind of life is this? Where is the freedom? Where is the happiness? I have to get you out of this way of thinking and living. Believe me, you will not find true wealth with any kind of job, I do not care what it is. The only way you will ever find true wealth is if you are the owner and judge of your actions, and this is only achieved when you become the owner of your business. Stop! I know what you are thinking. You are probably saying: "I need a lot of money and time to have my own business." Relax! The kind of business that I am talking about is not that kind of business that you are used to. It is actually very different and revolutionary. It is a new concept that you probably have not heard of before. As I have been saying, you will have the opportunity to make at least $5,000 a week, week after week, and you will have the opportunity to accomplish this in just 30 days. But I am not going to get into details right now because I am going to tell and teach you in the upcoming chapters everything you need to know about it. For now, I just want you to stop thinking job! You want to be able to go where you want when you want to; you wa nt to be able to work wherever and whenever you feel like working; you want to have the freedom to decide what to do for the rest of your life. There is no way you can do all this if you are stuck to a job. I guarantee it. Therefore, from now on: STOP THINKING JOB!

Do for others: I decided to leave this "step to success" for last not because it is the least important, but because it is the most important of them all. When I help other people, I feel good about myself. Right after I do something for somebody else (it does not matter what it is) and my help is actually effective, I get a feeling of satisfaction and completion almost the same to that feeling that I get when I solve one of my own problems. It is unbelievable! I am not saying this to look good or to impress you. No! That is not my intention at all. I am telling you this to let you know that in order to be able to have a lot of money and be very wealthy, you do not have to be stingy and self-centered. See, some people believe that to become wealthy you have to keep every dollar that you make. They say that selfish and tight people are the only ones with the capacity to become rich because they only care about themselves and no one else. Well, this might apply to some wealthy people. I am not denying that. But I assure you that a good majority of them are not happy at all. They are probably grouchy and mad about life. I can tell you for sure that they do not know what true wealth is all about. You do not want to be that way, do you? Of course not! You want to do for others. And when I say "do for others" I am not only talking in terms of money or possessions. Doing for others could be as simple as helping your neighbour fix his car, or giving a hand to a friend of yours who is moving to a new apartment. Simple things like these could make a great difference in your life. I assure you that your life will be 10 times better.

article by : Bill Bartmann

Contributed by : Jegan

In my life I have seen so many child beggars and even I used give something to them. But I never thought about them or never spend some time to think how they become beggars .In fact I never bothered about them until I saw slum dog millionaire. The movie showed how child beggars are formed in a pretty realistic way. Many of our prominent film makers criticized ‘SLM’ for portraying India badly. But because of the movie , many of the NGO’s , activists started thinking about the kids and started taking at least some steps to rehabilitee them(e.g.: Delhi government).Its a big shame that our own media never exposed it , even though it is such an crucial thing. I won’t say ‘SLM’ is the best movie I have ever seen. But I appreciate the movie for the thought provoking theme and making us aware about the dark sides of the slums. I strongly feel our own media should have brought this issue to public attention long time back.

Anyway it is the high time for government to think about the child beggars, tackling organized child begging, tracking the rackets behind them and rehabilitee those unprivileged kids. It is a fact that the criminals are made by the society. So probably without proper education and morals, these kids will be tomorrow’s quotation fighters, chain snatchers, robbers, terrorists or any other anti social activist. So the government should frame a strong rule to take action against the root of this evil cause. Even if their parents, relatives or whoever is responsible for it, they should be punished properly. It is governments, society’s duty to help those kids to escape from the clutches of that dark side.

I feel one major solution for discouraging child begging is like, we should stop giving money to them and instead of that we can buy something for them to eat or we can provide some used clothes to them (if u feel like giving).Anyways it is a known fact that they will not be getting those money, it will clearly go to their ‘care takers’.

And it is a high time for government, missionary’s so called social workers and NGO’s to do something for this. Probably government can bring a country wide ban of child begging like as they banned child labor long time back. It is so heartening to see the Delhi government has started a new initiative to rescue child beggars. Next time if you see a child beggar in Delhi, just dial 1098 and inform the officials about it , if you are feeling like to rescue him or her. On getting a call, the Beggar Squad will come and pick up the child and take him to the Child Welfare Committee. The child is then counseled and in some cases sent into rehabilitation. And if it is possible they will send that child with the parents and the kid will be under supervision of an NGO which sees to it that the child doesn’t get back to begging. Now it is the turn of media to bring this issue strongly in other state governments attention. So that they can also follow this and who knows one day our country will be a child begging free country as we cleared out child labor

Today’s children are tomorrow’s future. Like our kids, they (child beggars) also deserve a better life and better education

PS: Dial 1098 when next time you see a child begging (if you are in Delhi) and so that could help rescue him or her.

Anish thomas

http://anishthomas.wordpress.com

Image courtesy : Google

Event 6 - Mahalakshmi Foundation, Avadi

Hastadharan has crossed a milestone in its endeavor in joining hands to help the needy, yes Hastadharan celebrates 6th month of its existence ।This event 6 had been a very special and close to our heart। We dedicated this visit to our friend Miss Lekha in fond memory of her। We chose to visit an orphanage on her birthday and thus we visited the Mahalakshmi Foundation located at Avadi। This home extends its sheltering arms for the children who have no one to call as parents and those children who have single parents but are financially very poor to even support their own children। This orphanage shelters 35 children from the age group of 5 to 15 years of age. The children are nurtured in a surrounding that is full of values and discipline and imparts good education to all its inmates. Apart from that every child is given special training in yoga and other activities like singing scriptures and poems from legendry poets. Bhakiya, a 6 year old child from the orphanage was the center of attraction for us she recites the 1330 thirukural by heart apart from that she knows many poems and songs devoted to the Lord Almighty. Few of the children are trainined in Keyboard and Drums. Every weekend we have a kind hearted soul from the near by locality who comes to the orphanage and teach English and Maths to the children. The most surprising fact is that we have 4 important celebrities in the home, they are karupa, vella and Tony (Dog) and muthalagi(cow). The amount of care the children take for this pet is really appreciated and awesome to see. The type of affection these animals have on the children is also a notable one.

The orphanage is registered under the Government and is exempted from tax under the law. The children have their school done in a nearby Government school for which the funding is provided by the outside donor and from few other donors in the same locality. It maintains its financial support from kind hearted donors who visit at regular intervals to share their valuable time and resources. The basic support for the orphanage is from the monthly income of their incharge and his wife, who work as Ayurvedic doctors. Many personalities visit this orphanage for their important ceremonies and festival and enlighten the kids here by providing food and other resources. Some IT companies have even taken the kids on a one day outing and spent time with them.

We spent some quality time with the kids by playing with them and watched them perform and exhibit their talents. Then we provided lunch at their place and distributed sweets and other snacks. We had our
hearts filled with a sense of gratitude and happiness that we spent some quality time with the less fortunate kids and our presence there sure brought about great joy to those kids also.

Morals of Education

In this acquisitive world of today, people have blemished the meaning of education. Today people give significance to the degree that one merits and not the ethics and morals he learns through education. So gradually the Ethics based education has lost its credibility. Today children are not given education to become virtuous humans, but to get a job to keep them going in this world.
Earlier in Gurukulas, the sages took the students along with them, wherever they went, and taught them without abiding to any incessant schedule. Education was not expensive that time, but yet fathomless. It was the divine blessing of Guru to the students for making them an honorable human on earth.
These days education is a big business and not the Principle. Education is time bound, with specific subjects for acquaintance. And the Educational institutions are the Enterprises of the countries yielding Dollars and contributing heavily to national GDP of a country. These establishments are just "Cash Cow" now; and countries compete with each other to gross dollars. Dollars are what these institutions are in quest of rather than molding the character of the Students.
Today’s education is a cultureless education. Education without culture is like a dark room. Our hearts have become dark rooms and hence many animal qualities find their way into them. Yes, animal qualities have found their way into us. Today we hear news about teachers; who are considered the first God and our second parents, brutally raping students. Student battering and shooting their own peers. We listen to bulletin about robbery, murder, rape, communal violence, terrorism being reported at an alarming rate.
I feel that the current education system is the reason for the downfall of quality of life. The contemporary education system might help us earn great moolah to buy thing with which we can pamper our lives but if we are not able to lead a safe peaceful life what is the use?
Governments have been fighting blindly to stop this ever growing menace in the society। According to me they are not identifying the root cause of all these problems. People who are representing us are solely interested in building parks with their name statues so as to be remembered in the future. To these people I have only one thing to say- "if you want to be remembered in the future, do something remarkable for the society. Give the children, our future, education; education through which they can experience bliss from within. Education which is blended with culture will shine forth as true education. The kind of education which shuns the darkness of our heart and enlightens the soul; which helps us scrap the evils prevailing in the society".

- आदर्श वर्मा

EVENT 5 - CHRIST FAITH HOME FOR CHILDREN

Hastadharan’s fifth episode was a stopover to a 23 year old orphanage home called CHRIST FAITH HOME FOR CHILDREN, situated in Manapakkam, Chennai.
Christ faith home harbors boys and girls below age of 17. It also cherishes destitute women and handicap children. The orphanage has a school attached to it. The tots who have been brought up from their infant age are given education in this school. The other Kids, who joined the orphanage at the later age, are put into various other schools in the nearby vicinity.
The orphanage home is providing shelter for more than 100 orphans now, and the number is still increasing. For the past two years the boys and girls are living in separate places, with the girls staying in Manapakkam, a place near by Porur; and the boys staying in Guduvanchery. The special occasion brings them all together for a day or few.
The orphanage home arranges adoption of these children for couples. The home also allows single parents to sponsor studies for the Kids. The children are being adopted by foreigners as well as Indians. These families send money whenever possible, which is used by the orphanage to manage their expenses. They also get aid from many philanthropists for the same.
The day we visited the home, was a special day, as they conducted free eye check up for poor people of that vicinity. The camp was organized and funded by the foreign doctors, who came forward to help the home to help the poor's. They distributed free spectacles after the eye check up. The home also provided monthly pension to old age people as well as the widows.

Event #4 - Sri Saradha Sevashram

After three visits to these orphanages, suddenly the truth has dawned on us; we visiting these places not to help them but rather to get help from them! We may be just filling them with money for food; but they are filling our hearts with love and lessons to LIVE.
On August 15, 2009, We realized that people who create opportunities are more happy and successful than people who are born with them.
This time we visited Sri Saradha Sevashram, where there is just one more than two a dozens of children. These children are between 6 to 20 years. They are taken care by Sadhu Yoga Kumar who is a yoga teacher and a follower of Shri Rama Krishna Paramahamsa. His living is simple and beautiful as like the children there. In the absence of the yogi, these children are being trained by his student who has been training under the yogi for the last 5 years. He is a third year student of diploma in electrical & electronics in Balaji polytechnic. The yogi goes to Himalayas twice a year and during these times the children are looked after by yogi’s parents

The children are brought up with an attitude which every one would love to posses. We reached there around 11am in the morning and stayed there till 4 in the evening. In this course of time they taught us lot about living. The beautiful lesson they taught us included “how to live simple”, and “Healthy mind in a healthy body” through the Yoga performance they gave.
Their daily curriculum follows like this, they get up at 4a.m in the morning, do ashram activities followed by Yoga, and then they have breakfast and move to their respective schools and colleges. The children up to tenth are sent to a Mannivakkam Government school and the children who are in 11th and 12th are sent to Perungudi government school In the evening once they return from the school they involve themselves once again in the ashram activities and do yoga for 30 minutes. This is followed with the study time for an hour and finally the dinner. Their routine is disciplined, their characters are plain and their attitudes and living is superb.
A girl named Swathi pursuing her B.Com, is the eldest of all , and takes care of others treating them like her brothers and sisters.

The homes gets monthly donation from the philanthropists nearby and also from the yoga class he takes in HCL technologies. The children along with their master and yogi are arranging an exhibition in Madambakkam on 30th August 2009.

Lastly to say this is a place worth a while to visit to lighten your hearts and to learn.

Who is helping whom ??

Nature has its own rule of balance. It creates deficiencies in one place and provides abundance in other
It distributes everything unevenly and scattered… have you ever questioned why??
The answer to this is very simple… It wants us to follow the rule of sharing… the give and take rule….It teaches us that the abundance is always to negate the deficient… and the surplus should always come up to counter the scarce…


Our Life is also like that; we have many things to give and at the same time there are many things that we crave for..We are blessed with something in abundance, to help those who are scarce in it. And here what we can count upon is that in many a ways we are financially strong to help those who need it for survival….for basic needs; food and shelter.

The approach we had began with going the orphanages and spending our day with them is a small step taken towards it. We try to help them financially to bring them up and fulfill their basic needs. The only thing where we stand ahead of them is the "Money", but when we see deep down into it, they are the one who are sanctified more than us.

At this very tender age they know what affection is, they know how to care for others and they know what there responsibilities are. They possess much more understanding of life than what we have; they really know what life is…..

They have struggled for the very cause of their existence, from the time when they were left in pits and bins to be turned into carcasses. They have faced the naked truth of life with all the adversaries and yet they are there with that huge grin on there faces to teach us that however tough the life maybe, don't quit, fight back.

We see these kids bouncing and with enthusiastic face, which fills joy in every pore of our body, we receive positive vibes from them. These kids make us understand that "life will smile back at you if you smile at it" They always look so lively that makes us really change our outlook towards life.

They fill us with unconditional love, which in this busy life, we miss somewhere and somehow, and enrich us with the attitude for life, the 2 F's (Face and Fight). They give us love, they give us their attention, they give us their time, they give us a new outlook to life, and they give us themselves…..truly themselves….

They are the one with surplus, they are the one outstanding, and it’s we who are in scarce, and we who are receiving from them.


"Think of it- Are we helping them or they are the one helping us"

- Khushboo Singh

Event # 3 - Jeroham Children Home

With two visits to our kitty , The hastadharan team got yet another opportunity to reach out. 18th July saw the hastadharan at the Jeroham children home at Pallikaranai, located in the outskirts of Chennai.

“Jeroham” literally means “Cherished and one who finds mercy”. This home was unique and very diverse than our previous visits, it had children of all ages and from different states. It is managed by a pastor of a church with his wife and some voluntary care takers. The Jeroham has a sister home in Nepal. Currently it shelters some 30 odd children picked up from desperate state of unwantedness, abandoned and orphaned for no fault of theirs. The home believes in its calling to help these abandoned children and show them that motherly love so that they don’t feel the pinch of loneliness in their hearts. The home keeps its door opened always for the destitute children who are otherwise left to die in open drains and on the railway tracks. Many a tiny tots stood testimony for the state they had come from. The home strives to impart basic education in their own possible way by enrolling the kids to the nearby schools. They even went beyond the basic education to provide career related courses to those who were interested in earning a living to start standing on their legs. The home finances the study for four boys to do their AC mechanic courses. The kids are brought up with a reverence for God and made prayers and church meetings a regular practice.

The home was originally located at a spacious place at Adambakkam but due to recent assembly election, made the home wanting for place and was left to operate at the current place as a temporary arrangement. This home lacked a proper accommodation presently as a new building was being built. The home makes its ends meet with the kind hearted donors who support regularly and it was interesting to know some noted people from the cine industry made it a point to help this home at regular intervals. Occasional visits like ours made bring cheer to the children and helped them lighten their financial burden to some extent. There was one interesting thing we noted with this home, a group of young people from the TCS took time in their busy schedule every week to come personally to this home and helped the children with their studies and prepared them for exams.

We, as the hastadharan team of 13 landed up at the home at 10 in the morning with joy in our hearts to share. We spent time interacting with the kids and had good time playing with the smaller kids, clicked picture and played cricket with the elder boys. We arranged for a special lunch from a nearby hotel and served the children. The post lunch we interacted with the bigger boys and shared some thoughts, the younger ones had a good time with our team members and sure they felt lots of happiness that day. Towards the evening, we left behind huge smiles on the faces of all the kids and we were laden with a heavy heart and a thankful heart for God giving us the opportunity to be a channel of blessings and happiness for those little kids of Jeroham.

" A Heavenly Feeling "

July-18-09, it was an eventful day, a day we can never forget in our life. That day we got an opportunity to visit Jeroham orphanage. It was good to see a bunch of 28 kids from different cast; creed, region and age group living under same roof. We got a warm welcome by kids. Initially they kept a small distance from us. But how long, can we stay away from those sweet innocent angels .Soon we all become so friendly; they treated us like they had known us closely for ages. It was such a good feel. we played cricket, pranks to each other. We were surprised by their discipline and sharing mentality.

Even though they were abandoned by their physical parents and relatives, they were never seen sad. They were happy about what they have. As the little shekhar said, the other kids were his brothers and sisters and God almighty is their father and mother who provide and fulfill all their needs. We were surprised by their hope and the way they care about each other.

It was indeed a great eye opener for all of us who attended it and also reminded us, how privileged we are. Unlike them we have got everything in our life, like good education, good clothes, caring parents, sibling, relatives, and job. Still we are never satisfied in our life; in fact we grumble and complain to god about even silly problems. Those five hours taught us a lot of things, may be it was some of the best moments of our life.
yeahh!! It was an eventful day, an awesome day with the sweet innocent angels of heaven……

- Anish

" Joy of Service "

There are many wonderful things, but nothing is more wonderful than “Man”. The very life, as a human being, is a blessing bestowed upon us. We, as human being, are graced with the ability, to love, care, express, feel and more over to understand and help others.
The life led by each and every individual on this earth has its own purpose. The realization of our purpose as a human being is very essential. We are here in human race, for the sole reason of helping those who are in need and thus work towards the divine cause of uplifting the mankind.
The Lord made us special by giving us the virtues of love and kindness-the magical expressions, so powerful that, both the receiver as well the giver feels really wonderful .God made us fortunate enough by giving us the ability and also the opportunity to extend our hands to help the destitute to bring smile on their face and happiness in their life. God chose us as a medium to send his love and blessing to them through us.
Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround every day. So let us all take up the initiative and grasp every chance that comes our way, to show an act of kindness and love, which can give at least one soul on the earth, a reason to smile and feel “Truly Alive”.
The deeds we do may not be great to be appreciated and recognized, but the way we think and act really matters. What we do may not be enough, but still what we do has its own contribution in its own way .We, ourselves may feel that what we are doing is just a drop of ocean, but the ocean would be less because of this missing drop.
Believe that you can make a difference.

“You can make a difference with small things you do
The future is entirely left to you
The changes you make may not always be seen
But perhaps you can give someone a chance to Dream”

As we expect to pass through this world but once; Any good things therefore that can be done or any kindness that can be shown to any of fellow creature; Let us do it now; Let us not defer or neglect; Let us get our soul enlightened by the joy of service; “For we shall not pass this way Again”.

“So, get to work and may WE find
A small solution to help Mankind”

- Khushboo Singh