Moving Ahead



Source: Ahead's Notice Board Student's Art



 

It was just fever initially, during Christmas in 2013 and that lead to hospitalization, tests, learning about good cells and bad cells in our body, that if the bad cells increase, hemoglobin count invariably goes low and it is called Cancer. When I had watched Rajesh Khanna in Anand or Jaya Bhaduri in Mili years back, it was very different then learning about cancer, however when you know it is your own mother – one who single handedly raised me and my daughter till she was almost 17 due to the proximity of my father’s and in laws house, took care of my father who suffered from Parkinson for years, managed the domestic chores all by herself and was my support system all my life – my world collapsed.

As I was grappling with this reality unable to share this with her and constantly lied to her about her illness, it seemed like my father who was fully dependant on mother for his daily needs, was annoyed being taken care by my husband and me, as mother was often in hospital for transfusion – and he was clueless why. Two weeks into 2014, one day just after breakfast, he passed away. I looked at him, took mother to hospital as her hemoglobin had dropped to 5 while he lay in his room with everyone around him mourning and he waiting for me to return from the hospital to do the last rites. How dramatic! Did he leave us so that I can focus on mother? It so seemed like that. As I was back from the funeral that night, my cousin sister called me from Bangalore.

Being single with no sibling, I was close to this cousin who was just one and half years older to me. I choked when she called but managed to say – “Chole aay na” (Come) – as I wanted my mother to be surrounded by relatives in this hour of crisis. Against all odds, she managed tickets and came to Kolkata two days before my father’s 13-day ritual. The day she reached, as she combed my hair, she spoke about a lot of things – the world is an extended family, rebirth, natural laws, God has a reason – I had heard other versions of these lines several times since my father’s death – none of which made sense – but was soothing nonetheless. She was very positive about my mother’s health and showered me with names that fought cancer.

It is strange, even as my mother was in the hospital on 19^th Feb with convulsions, abnormal heart beat, losing sense every 15 minutes, she rushed to the nursing home and continued to tell me based on some faith healing that mother will survive. I almost believed her only to be shattered the following morning. The minute I saw her after mother passed away – I screamed at her “Tui Bole chili Bhogbaan Ache” (You told me God is there) – and I cannot recall what else I told her almost triggered by insanity having lost both my parents in a span of one month.

My maternal uncle works for an NGO AHEAD in Golf Green dealing with Autism. My cousin told him that she wanted to visit the center. We both went there, met the teachers and students, saw their classes in progress, the auditorium etc. My cousin was glad that I joined her to visit the center and I had also started reading her books for spiritual initiation. She asked me to blog my experience how I was trying to move ahead after the vacuum that was created in my life.

My uncle had been working in AHEAD for over two decades and I never visited the center. Just one day before my mother’s 13-day ritual, we did and when one of the students with autism sang for us and demanded we clap and cheer her, our smiles merged to make the most of what we have rather than what we don’t. After all, the world is indeed an extended family. I continued to argue with God and still do, to take both my parents away unless my mind got gradually diverted to place called Brotochary Ashram for old people in the vicinity of my residence. Do we need a permanent setback in life to think of the world as an extended family and other seniors as your own? God forbid!! Believing in a social cause is not a fashion statement for me any more. Its existence!

Soma Manna is a resident of Kolkata with 17 years of corporate experience.

Happy Birthday Ramosara!!

Our Foundation is a year old now. While we are still crawling, and not on our feet yet, we have covered some distance -

§        We had to unlearn many myths to learn basic truths about running an NGO. We know it is far easier to click ourselves teaching poor children in sheds, visible in social circuits, corporate reach, spam social media sites to create awareness and the numbers will do good to our reports- we opted to stay in our shell preparing ourselves to be part of something different - to make everyone have a desire for social change that is in their capacity, in whatever way possible – true to our motto – blend and transform lives.

§      Our blog was the only channel to reach out to our well wishers. We did not want our blog to be influenced by a social media strategist. We are people oriented so we reached out to Film stars, writers, professional be it senior leaders or entry level resources, NRI etc to share their views about Ramosara, its objectives, motto, Dementia, financial support system for proposed old age home while we guided them with an outline regarding what we want to say the world.

§       Our Ambassador:  Deepti Naval, Actress and Author trusted us even before we started our work and that little support gave us huge momentum.

§       An Open Library Model in residential complex with no infrastructure cost, no reading charges, just a nominal fee to add book collection and create Tagore’s Santiniketan in every residential park to inculcate reading habit and take care of their cyber well being.

§     Our Volunteers: Our website is up now and the volunteer is a web designer who did not charge us a rupee. Other volunteers write blog, share an article on Dementia, and ring us with an idea to raise funds or connect with people. Our volunteers are our support system who back up our belief – we will not let this effort die – even when things are slow.

                                                

§        Our Membership drive, have connected people across geography who believe in the cause and want to make a difference, who shared their personal trials on our blogs. It is our members who have merged their vision with ours and could see what is still blurred and that faith means a lot.

§       Our Tie ups were either to promote “Sale for a Cause” or “Celebrate with a larger family” is just the beginning.

§        Our Free Services Life skills and Career Counselling, Spoken English is available for free and will soon be a structured offering

§        Revenue Generating Models: Corporate Leaders are being encouraged to develop revenue generating models with support from governing body members to generate funds to promote RSF objectives. An outcome based learning program will soon have all stakeholders contribute 10% of their fees to RSF.

Every time someone asks us how our project is doing, we want to thank that person. We want to be asked more frequently so that we have more to say. And we will have a lot to say in years to come.

                                                             

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Where Is The Party Tonight?

The birthday ritual still continues. It might have metamorphosed from simple cakes, candles to elaborate beach parties. The Y Gens are such spendthrifts, I say. Our generation is relatively better. Aren’t they?

We still plan with childlike enthusiasm – which food joint to try, what gift to buy, what picture to upload on Face book on our Birthdays and Anniversaries – the larger the group the cooler the party, the costlier the venue, the more glam our FB albums (That’s right - our Gen so desperately tries to be cool)

The more satin ribbons opened tied across gifts (Yes, we still do that knowing it is crazy), the happier the subject of our attention is. I liked it once upon a time and yet, I am slightly sick of it now – not guilty, just sad – not bored, just sick. I am being a hypocrite here as I was part of these occasions for several years – not for a pump of adrenaline, just to avoid being a spoilsport.

Without sermonizing and patronizing my friends, recently I proposed to celebrate a friend’s birthday having lunch with orphan kids, the initial responses made me the hypocrite and social outcast I am today – so I still continue with these outings and secretly lament it, wishing to do something else (Don’t be such a bore; it’s a good thought; we will do that some other day; ok fine we will go this time and the next minute, all are discussing yummy chicken or dessert - including me)

We want to lull ourselves to sleep that we have come a long way from the caves, the Stone Age, Charles Darwin’s survival of the fittest to the digital era. The evolution has been only materialistic however just scratch the surface - we are still the same – self-seeking, self centered, self – absorbed. Did we really evolve?

If people out there dread that you will be labeled a social outcast or you will receive peculiar glares from your friends just for wishing to feel good about yourself on your birthday by sponsoring a few kids have a nice meal with you, contact us.

It takes just INR 1000 to feed 20 children for one full day. Ramosara ties up with Abhisharayam to support their orphanage in Kodigehalli and will be glad to encourage more such social outcasts and make them feel pampered not just on their special days but the whole year ahead. The only gift we guarantee you on your way back home is their smiles.

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Are you an Associate Vice President (AVP), Vice President (VP) or Senior Vice President (SVP) now in the corporate world?

Entrepreneurship, trying something new is a state of mind – Working with start ups, building a start up or even supporting an innovation in a bureaucratic environment, chasing an idea to reality is a kick factor for many. However a startup or an entrepreneur born out of a saturation point in the corporate world could be a major disaster, leaving the person dissatisfied in both worlds as the basic foundation/ motivation to move focus was not strong enough, in the first place.

How many of us wonder when we see these thirty something VPs, forty something SVPs regarding what will they do next? They are young, achieved great heights in their career already and still have another 20/25 summers to live in the corporate world. I myself belong to that cadre.

They may or may not be Chief Executive Officer material and may or may not aim for executive board, would they remain specialists in a particular field for the rest of their lives?  Their expertise got them here in the corporate world, now with humble beginnings on those much forgotten non-corporate and amateur skills – tutoring, painting, cooking or writing combined with their years of experience in corporate environment, could they not try and make a mark again? Second Innings in an alternative field and play it equally well!!

As part of our Skill Enhancement or Training Programs, Ramosara will provide the infrastructure in terms of space and ready project estimate with a high level ROI for senior officials from the corporate world to own end to end and make it a viable business model within an agreed time frame with the support of a key member from the governing body. Take the challenge to leverage all the expertise you gathered in the corporate world - of people management, market connects, sales calls, deal closures to make revenue for these units and as a reward to your efforts, you are most welcome to take 40% of profit while the rest of the revenue will be used to run the home.

In case your association with your company does not allow you to engage in any other additional revenue generating avenue for yourself, we will be more than glad to donate your share in any community initiative you propose as a token of our thanks.

The following are the initial projects.

Karigar:               Boutique for handicrafts created by SHG/ output of RSF tailoring Unit, Mithila paintings

Kul:                        Tutorial, Training, Cooking Classes, Life Skills, Library & Finishing School

K-Square:            A Café (On Job Training for our students)

Write to Ramosara.foundation@gmail.com to know more about these projects/ Opportunity. Terms and conditions apply.

The author is an Associate Vice President of a leading insurance company

Why should I volunteer for Ramosara?

I pondered on that for a long time.

My mother is a key member of the foundation, however that is not reason good enough for me to automatically devote my time as well. Either ways the domestic chores get filtered to me – the easy ones remain with my elder brother, like buying chicken, groceries and the serious ones like finding a plot to buy, hunting a house etc piles on my plate. Every time I complain about being dumped the tougher share of work always - my mother has a ready response from Guru Dutt’s times – Kya Maa apne bacchon ke saath fark kar sakti hain? Not in that many words actually, in fact not in Hindi either but that’s her implication more or less.

I was asked to find quotations for Solar Heaters for Vridhashray to be inserted in their estimate list which I surfed and shared standing at a bus stop waiting for my bus. I was asked to call the event Manager for first level discussion to organize a fund raising event with celebrities, which I comfortably forgot and got reminded two weeks later. By now, I was already being called an official volunteer, with my name being exchanged in MOMs.

I had no clue volunteering for Ramosara was that easy! Now I have my reasons:

·         Giving back to the society is so much not like me, blame my age for the sense of aloofness and yet I was doing this with inexplicable ease.

·         I hear someone is volunteering with web designing, and the Foundation has taken an oath almost the same time the Karnataka Chief Minister swore in the name of Truth (instead of God) not to pay the web designer.

·         There is this prevailing guilt of indulgence, every time I shop something expensive and this voluntary thing for Ramosara, is such a psychological relief, I swear!

·         I keep telling myself, I will donate when I have the real money, but as of now I am saving for Galaxy S4. And yet, deep down I know, I owe a little bit of selflessness to my old man.

·         I can skip a buffet organic lunch for me and my friend to pay the individual membership fee of 1000/- which the foundation is collating to build the home but I will not as I am volunteering in other ways.

RSF never want the volunteers to pay any money, membership fee, not even the cost of a brick. A contact here, a call there, a story line for a blog, a reference, the official CSR’s name, an introductory note, cafeteria space, word of mouth, share their link on your social media profile, like their page to create awareness and they truly count upon such voluntary actions, more than anything else. One could even assist with a PPT or excel, a drawing in Auto CAD and how much time would that take, anyway?

Are you in?

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The author is a Health care professional in her early twenties.

Write to Ramosara.foundation@gmail.com to volunteer.

A Chance Meet And A Journey Begins........

(Source: MITHILAsmita Website)

We just brush each other, smile, a casual question, and begin a whole conversation on paintings. She was on her way back to her gallery in J.P.Nagar, after saying few words on social entrepreneurship in Yahoo office and I was typing my blog for our NGO, sitting in a Volvo Bus.

Her response to my ‘What do you do?’ intrigued me – ‘We preserve Art’.  MITHILAsmita, her organization directly connects with the artisans of Madhubani paintings, also popularly known as Mithila Paintings and creates a market for their art form, ensuring the heritage of this art is preserved and reaches true patrons of original painting in India and across the world.

In this whole exercise, the exploitation of middlemen, if not eliminated is reduced to a large extent, who most often dilute the dignity of the art, by compromising on the content of the art to commercialize it, little realizing that this self serving attitude, could actually lead to extinction of the art form, which is not only our country’s pride but a reliable source of income for many households in the villages of Mithila.

One serious dive into its history tells us, how this ritual function which is primarily a women’s tradition, has evolved in the past decades. The earth quake in early 1930s and severe draught in the late 1960s compels the women to take this art form from their house walls to paper, which not only got them public attention and recognition but also generated income for their families.

Ramosara Foundation has been working on revenue generating models and exploring avenues to run their old age home and this chance meet had a world of possibilities. Immediately, the journey began to join voices, hands and walk the way together.

Every purchase of Mithila painting from MITHILAsmita, J.P.Nagar will support the cause of Ramosara Foundation, in the construction of Vridhashray and running the home.

Karigar, Ramosara Foundation’s extended arm to showcase art, handicraft and products prepared by both artisans, folk artists from lower economic classes and established painters from across the country aims to be a creative mind’s abode and will display Mithila paintings as well. More about this project to be shared on this blog and website soon!

With every purchase of these aesthetically rich paintings or any other product from MITHILAsmita, multiple social causes will be served, preserving Art, supporting the artisans, saving the heritage and meeting RSF’s objectives.

To experience the satisfaction of being part of this, join us in this journey!

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Each One, Reach One, Teach One

When I was asked to blog on Dementia by the Secretary of RSF who was a contributor in my writing portal for Indian writers, my immediate reaction was – Research and write. I hoped to get more traffic directed to Ramosara Foundation blog and let the projects be known that will assist them in seeking financial support.

Fortunately I did not have any one in my family who suffered from Dementia, so while I wanted to assist RSF, I was not quite clear how, except pay the membership fee for constructing the old age home Vridhashray, which I felt is a noble cause, and I agreed.  She insisted I write whatever I can, absolutely confident about my competence on writing, and not considering the fact that Dementia was new to me and I had very little command on the subject.

I asked her who is backing the projects financially. Without a minute’s hesitation, she replied – “No one! We only have a piece of land to build Vridhashray and that is our first big milestone.”  I went one step further and asked how many members so far. “Just the Governing Body”, came her prompt response.

I was a little amused at the juvenile approach. I was actually not prepared for that candid response. I was hoping to hear some influential names, mention of some big donations, and some big projections for the future. I wished her luck in the venture and began my research on Dementia, my sincere effort to assist the project.

What I completely missed, in this exercise, was how easily she made one more person aware about Dementia – Me! Thanks to Ramosara Foundation, and I'm sure many people can be made aware of it.

By now I realize, that was RSF’s primary objectives – to create awareness on Dementia, and now I already know something by finding out more details about it - its first symptoms, how we can identify people with Dementia, the various stages, already keen to research more and write about it in multiple blogs – Through me and my blogs, the reach will be much more.

At times this works better - Each one, reach one, teach one – instead of conducting seminars, dwelling on books, Google to glory on a particular subject which is highly critical for everyone to know  - just letting one person have an informal chat can bring more relevance, importance and attention.

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About Lakshmi Menon

Lakshmi is author of “The Second Choice” and several children’s books. Her Malayalam Novel “Veendum Yatra" was serialized in a reputed weekly back home, in the late eighties. She is the founder of a writing portal www.industwomanwriting.com that is popular for encouraging young writers showcase their creative writes.