Need ur support

Dear Friends

 

 

As India stands at the threshold of being an economic superpower, it is certainly time to dream many a dream for our country.  But can we truly reap the benefits of our ‘demographic dividend’ or are we looking at a potentially more divisive country?

 

·      43% of our youth believe that it is alright to flout rules because the penalty is low 

·      41% believe that girls have no option, but to accept a certain degree of violence.

·      65% students believed that boys & girls of different religions should not be encouraged to meet

·      49% college students believe that domestic workers cannot demand basic minimum wages and other facilities

 

Clearly, no country can be a truly developed country, if this is what the youth believes!

 

An attitudinal shift is the need of the hour and that is the work that CMCA does in over 300 schools in India, impacting over 17,000 children.

 

CMCA's unique, year-long programme sows the seeds of 4 basic democratic values needed for every citizen –

 

Concern

Cooperation

Coexistence

Confrontation

 

We encourage children to BELIEVE that change is possible, to ACT upon it and then INFLUENCE others to change too! 

 

Have we succeeded?  Here are some examples:

 

·      Over 300 children have called up the Municipal helplines and got civic problems fixed - from potholes on roads, to broken pipes, to open manholes, etc.

·      For the last 8 years CMCA children have participated in the beach clean up after Ganpati Visarjan in Mumbai & saved our beaches.

·      Laavanya from Tumkur District encouraged her parents to build a toilet in their home, with the help of the Gram Panchayat. This inspired 60 others too, to build toilets!

 

These are just a fraction of the inspirational stories that I have shared.  The heartening fact is that all these changes were made by CHILDREN.

 

If only we can reach this Citizenship & Democracy Education that we do, to millions more in our country, surely, we will be able to see the magic that children can create, to make India a truly developed country!

 

 

Our efforts of building a stronger nation need the support of people like you.  Donating is easy, as I am participating in the Mumbai Marathon of Jan 17, 2016 to raise funds for our cause.   

 

You may donate online on the following link

http://www.unitedwaymumbai.org/scmm-fundraiser-4075

 

Alternately, you may send a cheque in the name of United Way of Mumbai and send it to me at my address below.

 

With every stride that I take in the Marathon, I am sure you will have a sense of pride that you are contributing towards the creation of a greater nation!

 

If you wish to know more about CMCA, please visit www.cmcaindia.org

BAN ,BAN and BAN....where is democracy lost....

          India is the biggest democracy that is what I have always learnt in school and that is what I teach my children , but suddenly I wonder are we really the biggest democracy? What does democracy really mean . I always thought democracy means total freedom of speech,thought,movement and life. A government chosen by the people ,for the people and of the people.

           Democracy a word that I very proudly said and felt,but lately I wonder am I really living in a country that said "I have total democracy". Everyday I see some rights of the ours taken away for some reason or other. We live in a country where we struggle for our basic necessities daily ,be it water ,electricity, fresh air ,good roads, clean environment ,everyday every Indian is struggling for it, and if that was not enough now the word 'BAN' has  made sure that many more rights be taken away from WE THE PEOPLE.. Ban of beef ,ban of meat , ban of this and ban of that. Honestly think about it we have no right to even decide what we can or cannot eat, we cannot even decide where we stay as in recent times the building  decide if a vegetarian or non vegetarian family can live in the building or not,flats are sold or given on lease on religion basis. Colleges and schools decide admissions on reservation basis, politicians decide what clothes are decent or indecent, moral police decide if we can fall in love or not. So honestly speaking how do we call ourselves a democratic country? When everything is decided by our leader who are  chosen by us the people. 

       When I voted I did not see if I am voting for a Hindu ,Muslim ,Christian ,Jain or any other religion,I did not vote on reservation basis. I voted for an Indian whom I thought would take good care of my country. I voted for someone who would help India become the best developed country. But what our leaders are busy doing is slowly and steadily taking our rights away, and we the people are forgetting our democratic rights and living our lives with a chalta hai attitude. What  type of country are we going to give our generation next ,a country where they won't be allowed live life the way they want, where they won't have the right to speak up ,coz the generation before them decided to let their democracy be taken away without any hesitation.  Gandhiji fought the British to give us freedom and democracy ,and today it is taken away from the people ,by their own people..and we silently are letting them do it..... seriously this can happen only in India .Mera Bharat Mahaan.

Kothaligad #Peth fort...journey begins.....

                August 15 Independence Day ,the day whole india celebrate our independence,we wanted to celebrate Independence Day differently thought lets go for a trek and so we did though many of our friends could not come ,but 2 of us decided we will still go and meet Trekkers there and so the journey began.Dhiraj his few friends and me decided to go ahead with our plans. 

                 We left Mumbai early morng for Karjat. What a beautiful drive whole way was soo green , the weather was sooo amazing . Though it  was not raining which worried us a little bit but we said never mind we will enjoy irrespective of no rains. "Nothing was going to stop us".. Was our motto that day...

                We had some lovely home made cheese sandwich and chutney sandwiches ,the tasty sandwich and the beautiful scenery and in the background some truckers playing patriotic song boosted us more. We reached Karjat around 10:30 am. Met a group of Trekkers and started the climb to kothligad with lots of confusions and laughters. The climb to the main village was all uphill but thanks to our marathon training, we didn't find the walk difficult. And the breath taking view made us forget all our tiredness. It took us over one and half hour to reach the village ,the view up there was something that just makes one forget everything ,the huge mountains the lovely waterfall and peace mesmerized us... Whenever I see the mountains it makes me feel so protected and suddenly all my worries look so small. After spending some time down in the village we started our climb to the fort,oh my god it was quite a difficult walk luckily the weather God was good to us ,it  was cool and it rained too , coz of  which the path had become mucky and slippery, but fun ,each trekker held each other's hand gave each other support during the climb and made the difficult climb easy and fun, at that time I felt the true meaning of unity , each trekker there had no reservations each one was just supporting each other. Each one was encouraging the other which was the fun of it. We reached the second highest point, what a view if the village view was breath taking than this was something beyond that. We spent some time there checked out the cave saw some lovely carving, the water reseviour, and a canon made by British I guess for it had some English words. And after spending some amazing time there we started climbing to the top,this walk was from inside the cave with lots of steps ,the  steps were soo high and steep, so a little difficult to climb and the crowd was there too so it took a little while to climb . Huffing and puffing we reached the top ,what an achievement each one of us felt , each person were just soo happy reaching the top and the view around was something my eyes experienced ,but my lips can't express . We just sat there taking in the fresh air and the breath taking view. We had some lovely home cooked pulao and home baked chocolate cake  yummy. We sat there for sometime ,met some people shared experiences . Sometimes it fun to meet strangers talking knowing each other. After spending some beautiful moment there we started our walk down.

                   My friend dhiraj says when we come for trek we should explore every part of the trek , so following him like a true friend we decided to do the most difficult part of the trek the circle round the mountain. Prayer in our heart and holding the mountain for support and making sure we don't look down we started the journey ,oh wow ...what an experience. Lovely breeze and view made us forget all our fright. We were so mesmerized with view that we forgot to click photos too. But memory of that is printed in my mind for ever. That experience was something that I can never forget . Thank you dhiraj for encouraging us . After that lovely experience we were in a hypnotised state ,the whole walk down we were just laughing smiling happy and talking abt that amazing experience. The down hill was a cake walk,maybe we were soo happy so we didn't feel the walk down difficult at all. 

                  When we reached down we had some lovely tea and the villager told us to check out the dam ,they said it is a beautiful spot to go. So we went there ,honestly speaking we didn't like the place much coz of the way people had littered and spoilt the place, we were about to leave when we meet this uncle,  Nivruti  kaka  soo sweet man he lived there and gave us some history about the other fort bhimashanker which has a shiv linga what a mountain, he told us when the rains are good u can see wonderful waterfalls and he spoke to us about the temple there. He was such lovely person ,filled with life and peace. There was so much innocence in him which made us fall in love with him. After biding him good bye and promising him that we would come back again we left the place , we freshened up in a small hotel and started our journey back home. The whole way back the fresh air and silence and the mountains covered with fog kept us mesmerized totally, till we reached the noisy city .

                   Let me share some information about Kothligad #Peth fort. It's one of many forts Shivaji had . The height of the fort is 3100 ft. With many reservoir ,caves ,where they hid their weapons, and kept a watch on their enemies . When climbing this fort u wonder how Shivaji and his warrior climbed these forts , and once u climb the fort you realise why Shivaji was called the best warrior. It was a perfect Independence Day for all of us...

Peth fort

Earthquaked and the world crumbled down.

           Last May was our family holiday time ,and we spent it in Nepal . Though to be honest I won't call it one of my best holidays but yes the beauty of Nepal has hypnotised us . The mountains ,the jungles ,the temples,the rivers the lakes everything kept us mesmerized. What impressed us the most were the people ,they were so innocent and loving. Though nepal was not one of our best holiday ,but we still talk a lot about  it ,as we had a near to death experience there,but luckily all my family members came back safely ,but today Nepal is crumbling,the people out there are not safe. It really makes my heart sad to see the innocent people of Nepal suffer,and the sad part is its a natural disaster we can't blame it on anyone .

         When nature does something like this it always makes me wonder that ,1minute we are all happy with the world we built around us ,and the next minute we see that same world crumbling down right in front of our eyes , it hurts to see that beautiful magical world we created getting destroyed and we human just cannot do anything about it. At that point we understand Mother Natures strength,if she can give us this beautiful world she has the strength to take it away also, in front of her we are absolutely helpless little creature,though many times we think we are stronger than her coz we have technology ,science, and nuclear energy with us but everything is destroyed when nature shows her strength .we have absolutely no power to withstand her warth. 

         Yesterday after the earthquake the only thing that I could think  was about those innocent people who saw there world destroy around them ,they must have been looking around helplessly wondering why were they suffering like this? Whom should they blame this tragedy on? But somewhere in everyone's heart each one knows they can't give up ,they have to build their world again,build their dreams again.start life all over again that is what life is all about. Never give up. Dreams never leave us they are always with us in form of that little hope that gives us the power to work hard and build our dreams again and again.

         I pray to lord to give the people of Nepal the strength to raise above the disaster and face life again ,build their world again and dream again. Our prayers are with them . When nature causes disaster she doesn't see which country ,what LOC ,what colour ,rich or poor ,big or small at that point nothing matters to her when she strikes everyone are equal. So when nature strikes even we human should stand together and help each other and pray for the ones who are suffering.

        My prayers are with the people of Nepal hope God gives you the strength to face this calamity.

       Nepal will alway be like this for me.....

       

Son of India.........

        Latest discussion that I hear every where is abt the documentary "daughter of India". Honestly I didn't like the documentary coz I felt it gave a chance for those horrible culprits to glorify themselves. He must have felt like a hero, it was his moment of fame and he showed it through out the documentary. So , I don't want to even discuss that man coz he is nothing but a mad dog ,who should  be put to sleep immediately ,exactly how we would do when a dog goes mad, but our system says he should have a fair trial . I wonder do we do the same ,when a dog goes mad ,will we give it a fair trial ? I don't think so , when a dog goes mad it is a menace to the society , and so are these rapist ,they are nothing but a menace to any living being but our system insist our tax money should be wasted on these anti social elements.

       My actual problem is with the sons of India , especially the 2 learned men in that documentary ,the well read ,highly educated defence lawyers. I always thought education made us human more sensible,  it teaches us to differentiate between the right and wrong,but here what I saw was totally different . What I heard these lawyers talk shocked me so much that now I wonder what change are we looking for when our learned people have such opinion about woman, what those culprits said didn't affect me much ,for ,such talks is expected from an illiterate man who has been bought up in totally different  world ,maybe he has always seen a woman in his family treated badly so he has learnt what he saw , but I wonder what was the circumstances in the house of these so called educated men that even education couldn't make them a human being ,they still remained a MAN.....when Mr Singh claimed he would burn his daughter if she was seen with stranger roaming around at nite, it really made me wonder , what type of environment is he bringing up his daughter ? My heart goes out to her. During the debate he said a good character person is the one who respects his elders , so is he telling us if these rapist treat their parents with respect than they are people with good character who just went astray that too because of a woman. It was shocking to learn about their right and wrong which in my opinion is sooo very wrong .This documentary made me think  how many educated men in our country maybe having this same view as these lawyers. This video was actually an eye opener where I learnt about our educated man's  mentality. By banning the video what are we going to achieve , instead of banning it , shouldn't we be thinking of finding a solution for this issue. But instead we hear everywhere is how bad is BBC work ethics , how badly india  is shown, etc . But I would like to know , what india is going to do abt this issue ? What we the people want?

           Well what I would like to do is educate these educated men more, first of all we women don't want to be flowers, nor mithai ka dabba, nor diamonds , please stop treating us like helpless commodity.  Please stop thinking man's job is to protect women .Please do us a favour and resign from that post. The only favour that a man can do for a woman is by letting her be and not give us so much unnecessary attention seriously by just doing this you will be solving 90 % of woman's  problems, and the other 10% we are strong enough to handle that. Also we women need to educate ourselves that by treating man like god we are just creating more monsters. We are causing more problems for ourselves by behaving helpless . Our culture says women is Shakti ,it's time to show them that. Its time to show few of these Men who believe India has a beautiful culture ,where women is nothing , that this countries culture is beautiful only because of the strong woman who held it together. Our country will only change to better when ever person believes they are equal in every way. When man and woman stand together as equal only then we will be a powerful country. When that happens we all can dil se say "India is my country and I am proud of it". But right now it's going to be like what my friend says " I love my country ,but I am not proud of it".

  

                  

SCMM is here again........

        Standard chartered marathon is here again , we train ourself like crazy for this very day. Whole year we are dreaming about this day ,The day for the most awaited run is here tomorrow , and I can actually feel butterflies in my stomach. I never understand why , I have already run  3 marathons this year but every marathon that I run I feel I am running for the 1st time. And funny thing is I am sure all runners are feeling the same . Each one is wondering how will my run be? Will I complete my run with good timing ?will the weather be good? Hope I don't get cramps . Which tshirt shd I wear hope my shoes is in good shape. Am I drinking enough water. Soooo many questions are running in our tiny little minds.

      Running is a passion which I know each runner who runs long distance understand. When I started running I started it just to make sure my husband gets into some form of workout. But I don't know when this workout became my passion. It changed my life in many ways. Running gave me sense of self confidence , I started totally believing in myself , I loved that ME time, I get when I am running. I don't know when the group I run with became my best friends , we became each other's support system. We loved sharing our happiness our sadness , our fears and ever feeling we felt. The best feeling is each runner is encouraging each other before ,during and after the run. When we see someone giving up during the run,some co-runners will give us a word of encouragement and you are back in action. Each runner is looking out for each other. We don't care if we know each other or not, but once we start running we all become a different breed of people who share a common passion, and that passion we call is RUNNING . It's wonderful to see people who get up early in the morning to stand on the sides of roads to just cheer us runners, making sure that we get enough water , fruits , sweets and best of all lots of love and encouragement. We runners feel so proud when we hear so many people cheering for us ,it's that love that helps us during the most crucial time of the run. Running is truely a mind over body sport. After 14 -15 km when our body starts giving up its this cheering we hear around us makes our mind active and our heart happy which actually helps us to complete our run.

        When we reach that finish line the hugs and the applauds we get gives us a high that you can never imagine it is feeling that can be only understood when it is experienced.  Honestly ,I think it's that high that makes us come back for run again and again and again.

      So before I go back to checking my tshirt and shorts, checking my bib number yet again, and seeing if my shoes is still in its place let me take this opportunity to thank my coaches suhas sir and samson sir for giving me this confidence and training me for my run, Sushma and Nitin for introducing me to running, to all my running friends who have become my closest friends, to the traffic police and mumbai police for making sure we runners are safe , for standard chartered for this wonderful experience, to my family and friends for their support . Last but not the least the people out there who get up early in the morning to just cheer us, without all your support the run would never be complete.......now let me check my bib again..... Thank you all .