Can We Have A More Fashionable Cause To Support?

What is more fashionable – Painting the school walls or Global Warming; planting trees or women empowerment; Cancer aid or going viral on mental health?

We have not started our corporate touring to raise funds for old age home yet.  As a business man for over two decades, many corporate have been our clients and my interaction with them is limited to closing deals. I learn from my contacts who work in corporate what happens in the name of CSR activities and how an NGO or school or cause is identified to disburse funds meant for social uplifting. 

The fundamental question is what is more important – The right cause or building company’s brand? How do you want people to remember your company – someone who paints school walls one year and gives sewing machines the second year and desktops to unemployed youth the third year? Caring for the community is a strategy for business and yet, the human connect is the God of all strategies. 

With all your community initiatives, are you able to connect with the community?

Do not shop for causes as it is not only immature but it defeats the purpose. Connect with a cause, not because it is a fashion but because of how passionately you think about it.

Two years back, when my school friend suggested registering a society to create awareness on Dementia, I jumped in. We did not do a survey then to check if this cause was good and fashionable enough. We do market penetration for commodities, not causes. The whole point was - we saw the need to create awareness on Dementia because most of us were clueless. We had a task in hand.

In my capacity in COMPASS, when I sign a check to support children with Autism,  or as a father plan to celebrate 15^th August with orphans or one of us from Ramosara runs for Diabetes – our actions speak louder than words for what Ramosara Foundation’s fundamental and principle philosophy is:

Every cause is important.

Human Life Cycle Care (HLCC) is one of our themes that broaden the horizon for you and us to add value to people’s lives wherever we can, in any cause you feel connected to.

Just get the motives right! And we can claim to be God’s children doing God’s work in our own individual way.

Look forward to read more about our Alternate Living Model under HLCC wing or connect with us to know more.

Author profile

Anup Agarwal is a Physics (H) graduate with a degree/ diploma from Annamalai University and Apple. A successful entrepreneur and has been in Business for close to two decades. He is associated with Lion’s Club for several years. His family trust sponsors Hospital Beds in Malda. He is also aligned to social activities for COMPASS i.e. Computer Association for Eastern India. He is life member of compass. He is a key member of Ramosara Foundation

Coffee, Sizzlers, Dosa, Fun, what else?

Image Source: Office.com

We three were placed in different parts of Kolkata –With forthcoming exams, responsibilities in office and home, prior engagements during weekends - our meeting seemed impossible. Finally we decided to meet on a week day promising each other we will wind up in one hour. One had to pick up her daughter, I had to return home and pick up my new lap top that day and the third one had a son preparing for his Higher Secondary exams.

It all started with wow how we looked, what we were doing to stay fit, what the rest of our school friends were doing, and gradually the discussion went on to something else – There were so many ideas popping up as we spoke that I had to use the tissue paper to scribble and work on those actionable thoughts and suggestions that my friend who is the director of an NGO kept pouring incessantly.

Even after two rounds of order – Masala Dosa, Vada, sizzlers and two rounds of coffee, our discussion continued and it lasted for close to three hours. The daughter got picked up by the husband. The poor son had to study on his own. The laptop really had to wait till 8 PM. What did we talk about after all?

·         Workshops for Caregivers to Dementia patients including training from Psychologists

·         Newspaper Campaign to support Dementia patients

·         How to handle learning disability in children and parents?

We had fun meeting our old school friends and some great exchange of ideas. The point is – let us have fun, an active social life, party hard, dance like crazy, have fun all the way!

Are we having fun with a sense of responsibility?

In your next party at home or family picnic outside, before you give that one big Biryani order for forty people, ask yourself if you would like to increase the revenue of an established outlet or the widow who runs a food joint around the corner whose son is in class V. You heard that her food is great, from many who have tried. What is stopping you to order - Is it your fetish for brand, your image in the online universe or hygiene or quality?

Bill Gates rightly said - there are three kinds of wealthy people – one who owns everything - yacht, island and half the world, one who invests in business to make more for the world, one who donates to charity organizations to make a difference to the world.  (May be not those exact words, that is the essence though)

Have Fun! Do we need to be brand conscious morons when we have a choice and the power to lift someone else?

You are wealthy, now get rich! No, they are not the same thing.

Author Profile: Kakuli Nag

You Are Doing Great Things And Going Places, Just Wanted To Know – Are You Happy?

Image Credit: RSF

Here is a subject that is close to my heart - It is close because it is a lesson I learnt after living over three decades of my life. The lesson was taught by our very own teacher called time.

To me being happy means:

·        Do everything that gives us a feel good vibe.

·        Refuse to do anything that does not feel good, no matter what the pressure is

·        Not to give ourselves permission to do something that will hurt another living being (even if it gives us good vibes due to some quirky sense of humor)

It is simple but not easy. All we need to do is let go of our nature to compare ourselves with others, to judge others without actually being in their shoes or living their lives and that nagging fear of making wrong choices or our anger when we do make those mistakes.

In other words we are human beings and we will always try to validate ourselves with our known benchmarks. For us it is a natural thing to do. How can we overcome our shortcomings?

 “Acceptance” - Accepting ourselves as we are, loving ourselves even when we made wrong choices and living life as it is meant to be lived - one day at a time!

Be happy as that is the key to your mental health. What gym is to your body, being happy is to your mind.

You look depressed after viewing those hundred odd photographs of your friend’s world tour or Scuba diving or that handsome hunk or the glass cut beauty in their engagement albums.

Go back to bullet no. two, before you add weeds, mess with your mind and stay depressed rest of the day. Happiness is not something you create - it is a state of mind. Only you can own that.

When you have a senior person in your house suddenly talk about his childhood, live in those days as if he is in college or just married, address people with names of that time – it probably does not occur to you that the man who looks physically fine and healthy is displaying one of the early symptoms of Dementia.

You can’t take charge of your mind when it is already affected, be responsible today! Be happy – that is the surest way to take care of your mind.

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Author Profile: Kalpana Mahalingam

Kalpana has always been inclined towards betterment of children's welfare, supporting upcoming entrepreneurs/ boutique managers with financial contribution to support their cause. She is an artist, conversationalist, fluent in German and currently dwelling on her French and guitar classes. After several years in Corporate, she is now on her own entrepreneurial journey.

The Last Few Years

Lord Richard Attenborough’s death is still reeling in our minds – The 1982 magic with Gandhi and all those Oscars, his appearance in dinosaur blockbuster Jurassic Park, his work as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF and other humanitarian causes – He is so fondly remembered, for everything he was, everything he did. RIP.

How did this man survive his last few years? I will touch upon this in just a minute.

Many are not sure if DADA (Dignified Aging and Dementia Awareness) one of the key themes of Ramosara Foundation will fly off. Would anyone actually want to switch to an old age home willingly? Sell their house to plan retirement in a Home? Would anyone in their thirties plan and save to live in an old age home after a certain age? That is exactly the idea Ramosara Foundation is promoting – Old Age Home as a Life Style Option. Is that not against our culture and belief system? Hold on to that doubt too.

Yet deep down, many will want this idea to work. There is no guarantee about our physical health and how long we will live – how well our minds will work? As you age, this gradual dependence on others is the painful part - particularly when you find your family member’s course of lives change only because of you – A son unable to take that international assignment as he is worried stiff about you - Whether they let go of that opportunity gladly to accommodate you or not so gladly, you do have your pangs of guilt.

DADA is just to bring a tiny round of awareness in you for such possibilities of dependence in future, encourage you to plan well in advance to live with dignity without disturbing any other family member’s space. Make it a personal choice. A conscious choice! To move!

The whole concept of DADA is to say, you really do not have to be pitted against a wall or be constrained by circumstances to decide moving to an Old Age Home - just plan for it as one of your options like you plan other things in life. If people can buy life insurances, why not buy a nice cozy room with food, attendant and health check up services for your later years too?

Through DADA, we are fast-forwarding you mentally twenty to thirty years from now to allow you to visualize possible realities. Wishful thinking is fine however a reality check is better any day. There is more to this age, than just financial security, health check up and medicine. If you lose that sense of belonging with your family, you lose it all!

Lord Attenborough was confined to wheelchair after a stroke in 2008, in March last year he moved to a home for elderly, his wife Sheila Sim, 92 a year older than him who suffers from Dementia had been in that home since middle of 2012. Both assisted to found and fund the home to ensure it runs well.

If someone of his magnitude, who was known as ‘Titan of British Cinema’ by BAFTA, some one who had connects with the royal family, an amazing actor and brilliant director - could live his last years in an elderly home, you never really know! Life is unpredictable.

Exercise your choice now. If you want to know more about DADA, please reach out to ramosara.foundation@gmail.com for more details 

And the winner is..

One of our initiatives under the scope of BLESS model to impact and transform people’s lives, reduce stress levels is to engage them in meaningful activities – morning walks, learning culture and healthy competitions.

In the recent art competition that was conducted in our residential complex, who is supposed to be the winner?

Is it the group who made an intricate, well thought design of actually creating two human shapes? It can be relatively easy with pencil and brush but not powder. The powerful message being - it is not we humans who consume the cigarette but the other way around and they hammered a simple question into our minds – “When we know it, why we do it?”

Heights of creativity was to have a real cigarette bud stand tall in the cigarette bud portion of the art.

Or should this group be chosen as winner who prepared Lord Ganesha’s entire form with rice, suji and dal wanting to tell the world that in every morsel of food, there is God – Don’t waste food. Thirty minutes after the competition, every thing that was used, was back to their respective containers to be consumed.

Another participant all by herself, true to the essence of rangoli, used only powder and an art typically with dots to finish her piece in just half an hour while the allotted time was a hour with a few minutes of grace period

Or should the group of teenagers be applauded who were in the game not really to give the adults a stiff competition but with a spirit of celebration as this competition was organized on ocassion of New Years and Sankranti. A huge flower with beautifully colored petals beyond the four by four feet space that was allocated to each contestant stood testimony to that spirit of togetherness.

Or is it that solo participant who decided to participate inspite of a lingering foot pain and who could not keep her legs folded for too long, just to respect the efforts of the organisors and the mood.

Or finally a lady nearing seventy who, ten minutes before the final buzzer, drew a pair of cup and saucer to drink tea and coffee just to represent neighborly exchange and wrote the following message on the ground – Happy New Year Good Luck! What would you be doing when you are at that age?

The standard line in every reality show we watch says, all are winners and then the award goes to someone in particular. The judge was Harish from Anekal town who owns the page Bannada Baduku (Colors of life) in Face Book said something in those lines.

Here is a small trivia, for you to judge now.

A young mom who just came to the venue as a viewer, jumped into the competition to assist the lady with foot pain, seeing her struggle, before it became severe so that the art can be completed within the time frame and she can be relieved. And another neighbor who was passing by with a lollypop in her mouth assisted the teenagers, who had obviously done an art too large for them to handle in one hour.

Now you know who is the winner. The young mom and the helping neighbor, right? And not to forget that old aunt wishing luck.

It was never about the art or competition or winning, it was only and only about people.

To know more about BLESS model and if you are keen to introduce this in your complex write to Ramosara.foundation@gmail.com