So B asks him – ‘Why are you saying that?’

A says ‘Because that is what I ACTUALLY HAVE’…..

Of course this is an old story..I was reminded because when Sushil Kumar won Rs. 5 crores I did an article in yahoo finance – and there were upwards of 3500 comments on that article. Most of them, if not all of them said ‘He should do some charity’.

When I said “I am looking for a publisher” people said ‘do an E-book and give it free’.

Amusing thoughts.

How many of the people making these suggestions will work for free? Maybe just or a week…or a month?

It is so easy to be charitable when it does not belong to you, right? I may be doing charity or may not be doing charity – either way  it is my business, is it not?

I do a lot of paid content work – as well as free content work – but even the free content may have a hidden cost or a hidden benefit.

So those who want to do charity can go to www.akshayapatra.org and do so….I will do what I want – that is my business.

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Once in a while it is nice to see above and tell HIM…thank you, you have given me a lot. Like a Jew would say ‘Dayenu’ (please Google to see what this wonderful Jewish prayer means – and read the translation, the physical  and the philosophical meaning of the same).

So just look at these kids – and see how they are thankful for one meal a day. I am ashamed I cannot even keep a fast – FULLY KNOWING WHERE MY NEXT MEAL WILL COME FROM…and these kids ARE forced to live on ONE meal a day…shame on myself for not doing ENOUGH to alleviate poverty in this country. So as usual here is a link…go and donate Rs 10, or 10,00,000 – after all every rupee counts, does it not?

By the time you read about all the kids….your eyes should be moist. If it is not, go for a heart check up.

http://www.akshayapatra.org/stories-children

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India, of course, has many more hungry children (who can’t go to school because they are hungry)…so here is a request to all of you ….visit that website and open your purses to them. And talk about them to all your friends , their friends, their friend’s friend’s friends,  their…… their friends etc….and let us make Indian children literate. It is just the power of compounding. It reminds me of a nice old story. There was once a poor woman. Being poor there was no charity that she could do. When any beggar came to her she would just point her index finger towards a temple – which did poor feeding. When she died her finger turned golden….so even if you do not give, at least point. This organization has many admirers from Mr. Narayanmoorthy, Nandan Nilenkani, Barrack Obama (you can see his letter on the website)…..and has many such achievements. The biggest if you ask me is to even think you can create an organisation that can feed 1 million children (or like they say One Million and still counting…).

Another friend runs a chotta school for tribal kids. When I asked them are they learning. He said, “Frankly, I do not care. There is a kid who walks 3 hours a day to attend school. If I think he is coming for the learning, may be I will be disappointed. But if he is coming for the food, I am happy that he thinks school is a place where he will be fed.” that is all. My friend is a great soul. And this statement is simple.

Gandhiji said once “God dare not appear before the hungry man, except in the form of bread”. So if kids come because of akshayapatra food, and they learn something, I think we should be happy.

Let Annapoorna lead them to Saraswati. After all both are forms of MOTHER, are they not?

Come on guys…give your hearts out. Incidentally you can surely get tax breaks….give for whatever reason, but give.

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I have no clue as to how many of the readers of this blog are from India. However, Bihar has had a major calamity – and I am sure most of the readers of this blog are sensitive – one reader has pledged Rs. 1.25 Lakhs to akshayapatra (www.akshayapatra.org). So here is another appeal:

Bihar has been hit by a terrible flood. It is one of the worst disasters to strike the country.  It is worse than the Tsunami, worse than the Gujarat Earthquake.  Several million people have been affected.  Entire districts – villages and towns – have been washed away.   The number of people dead is not even known. 

There are over 6 lakh people living in 200 relief camps.   In Saharsa district alone there are 2 Lakh people in 68 relief camps.  Similar numbers are living in camps in Madhepura, Supaul, Araria, Purnia and Katihar districts.   And many more (those who are better off and have relatives and friends outside) have fled these districts.

This is NOT the usual Bihar flooding.  Usually the Kosi river overflows its banks and floods the villages nearby.  The people in these villages are prepared for it. 

This year, the Kosi completely changed course – sweeping across several districts.  Thousands of villages that never had experienced flooding before are now submerged in water.  The people living there were completely taken by surprise.  Many have died.  Others have lost everything – they are without clothes, food, homes, money.

The scale of the disaster is much bigger than the Tsunami.   But because it is Bihar and people think this is like the usual annual flooding, there has been very little coverage of the flooding and very little support pouring in for relief.  There is an urgent need to inform people about the nature of this disaster and to mobilize support.

For a week now, AID INDIA’s Bihar team has been on the field organizing rescue and relief efforts in the affected districts.   So far we have been able to organize some rescue operations and have provided food, milk for children, and medical support for children in several camps.  But this is not enough – the scale of the disaster is very large and the need is a lot more.  Pratham teams in Bihar have also started working with us and we will now be scaling up the relief efforts significantly.

“You do not fix the problem, till you define it” said John W Snow.

After the initial shock, the government has been taking a lot of steps to organize rescue and relief operations.  The army has rescued people from most of the places.  The immediate focus needs to be on food, clothing and health needs of the people in relief camps.  Some food is being provided at the camps – but there is a severe shortage and lot of rioting to get at the food.  Children are the most affected.

Our immediate focus is on children – there are about 2 lakh children in all the camps.  Milk, biscuits and food for children is the first priority now.  We are trying to ensure that milk and food reaches all the children in all the relief camps. 

The second need is clothes.  Most people left their homes with what they were wearing.  We need children’s clothes, saris for women, undergarments, lungis and lots of blankets. Disease outbreaks are becoming a serious threat and we need medicines.

After the immediate phase, the need will be to focus on health, education, shelter and livelihood needs.  But at present, given the scale of the problem, getting past the immediate relief and survival needs are the most critical issues to address.

AID INDIA and Pratham field teams need a lot of support at this time.  We need:

1. Funds:  You can donate online at www.eurekachild.org/biharflood or you can send a check payable to AID INDIA (mention Bihar Flood Relief) to:

AID INDIA

Post Box No: 4903, Gopalapuram, Chennai – 600086, India.

Phone: +91-44-42636125/ 28350403

1. Food: Milk Powder and Biscuits

1. Clothes:  Children’s clothes, saris, lungis and blankets

1. Volunteers:  To raise awareness and mobilize support, help with collection and packaging.  We also need volunteers to work with our relief teams at the field (but for that you must spend at least 10 days in the affected areas and must be very healthy and ready to work in difficult circumstances.)

To keep everyone updated on what’s happening at the field level, we have set up a separate website for the relief efforts: 

www.eurekachild.org/biharflood

Please direct your friends and others you know to this site.  We will keep posting new updates, reports, photos and other information from the field at this site.

For more information please contact: eurekachild@gmail.com or

Chandra:  +91-97909-20752(chanvish@yahoo.com)

Prabha: +91-98403-51132   (prabha.balaraman@gmail.com)

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I am posting this because in case you can get together a few of your friends, a couple of us here at Mumbai would like to come and talk to your group about having a well fed and educated Indian kids – all of them by a specific date!

Thanks in anticipation….

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So when I started writing about akshayapatra.org

I met the people involved, and the enormity hit me. They were then feeding about 900,000 children in schools – the latest count as I have it is 932,000. I found it inspiring and hair raising. Even as I write my eyes turn moist.

A friend who studied from IIM Ahmedabad did some rudimentary research into akshayapatra and has decided to donate Rs. 12,000 (feeding 10 children for a full year) on 10 occasions a year. That makes it Rs. 120,000 a year. More than the amount, I am thrilled about the multiplier effect friends like this can create. Let us say he writes about this in his blog, or his children talk about this in their class, or his wife talks about this with her friends. Or he just tells his kids “everyday when we pray, let us pray to make Indian children well fed”. I guess every thought, every rupee, every prayer, will help akshayapatra help make all Indian kids well fed, and well educated.

Imagine, if you are about 40 years of age – you have seen shortages of milk, food grains, sugar, – and to think that ALL INDIAN children will be fully fed and eduacated in the next 20 years, is that not an inspiring thought?

Come, lets make it.

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India, of course, has many more hungry children (who cant go to school because they are hungry)…so here is a request to all of you ….visit that website and open your purses to them. And talk about them to all your friends , their friends, their their friends….and let us make Indian children literate.

Another friend runs a chotta school for tribal kids. When I asked them are they learning. He said, “Frankly, I do not care. There is a kid who walks 3 hours a day to attend school. If I think he is coming for the learning, may be I will be disappointed. But if he is coming for the food, I am happy that he thinks school is a place where he will be fed.” that is all. My friend is a great soul. And this statement is simple.

Gandhiji said once “God dare not appear before the hungry man, except in the form of bread”. So if kids come because of akshayapatra food, and they learn something, I think we should be happy.

Let Annapoorna lead them to Saraswati. After all both are forms of MOTHER, are they not?

www.akshayapatra.org

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That is why it was easy for EID Parry to give a temple all the sanitary fittings. Now akshayapatra (see www.akshayapatra.org) is planning to enter Maharashtra. Thanks to the link to this site many of my readers have visited the site and made a donation. Of course I do not have a counter to know how much is the amount – but frankly it does not matter to me. I am just trying to spread the word (see giving what i have, not the money!). However some of the people who have donated some money have told me that they have done so. Like a friend who donated 12k. Obviously he was in a mood to give – I should thank him for directing it to akshayapatra. I do not think I can make a person donate – but hopefully i can give it a direction.

Akshayapatra will now need volunteers (always), some space to operate, vehicles (trucks), ..so obviously here is an appeal to all my readers!

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When we asked her what name to put on the cooler – she said its Gods’ grace and I am lucky to be a tool for quenching thirst. I do not want to lose all the pleasure by putting my insignificant name. She then told us this nice story.

Kabir was a great poet. Everybody knows this. What is not very famous is that he was a big donor for human betterment also. However, whenever, Kabir gave away something, he would look down and give. Many people did not understand this.

So one day one of Tulsidas’s disciple asked Kabir “You give so much of donation, but whenever you give, why do you look down and not look at the eye of the person who is taking the donation ”

Kabir smiled and said “HE is sending all this day and night – mistakenly people give me credit for the act” I avoid people’s eyes so that I do not accept the credit which actually belongs to HIM”.

I thought my friends’ mom was amazing and the Kabir-Tulsidas was worth repeating. Later on I heard this story in Anup Jalota’s Bhajan.

So when you give…give like there is no tomorrow. Whether it is a charity of your choice or www.akshayapatra.org just give.

In fact, Gandhiji says if you really want to test your giving, try giving to a cause which you think is just, but you have no involvement – like helping children (a cause in which you believe) but belonging to a different caste, religion, color, …etc. like sending money today to China or a Mayannamar.

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