tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9076641666788793212024-03-05T00:02:35.261-08:00The Good Samaritans - Agents of ChangeAparna Parinamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807313684218498350noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907664166678879321.post-456132436416916702015-02-25T19:23:00.000-08:002015-02-25T19:23:13.762-08:00The ‘true’ hero!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><b>Mr Harakhchand Sawla - the 'true hero'</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 13.5pt;">Today I came across a wonderful article forwarded by a good
hearted person: Shurik Menezes (who happens to be my brother’s friend), which
was originally posted by a noble soul: Rekhaa John on Facebook. I thought of
sharing this with all my readers. Please see the brief description about the
good deeds of </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #141823; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 13.5pt;">Mr Harakhchand
Sawla – the true hero!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A young man in his thirties used to stand on the footpath
opposite the famous <b>Tata Cancer Hospital at Mumbai</b> and stare at the crowd in
front- fear plainly written upon the faces of the patients standing at death's
door; their relatives with equally grim faces running around.. These sights
disturbed him greatly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Most of the patients were poor people from distant towns. They had no idea whom
to meet, or what to do. They had no money for medicines, not even food. The
young man, heavily depressed, would return home. 'Something should be done for
these people', he would. think. He was haunted by the thought day and night. At
last he found a way-</span></div>
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He rented out his own hotel that was doing good business and raised some money.
From these funds he started a charitable activity right opposite Tata Cancer
Hospital, on the pavement next to Kondaji Building. <b>He himself had no idea that
the activity would continue to flourish even after the passage of 27 years.</b> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
activity consisted of providing free meals for cancer patients and their
relatives. Many people in the vicinity approved of this activity. Beginning
with fifty, the number of beneficiaries soon rose to hundred, two hundred,
three hundred. As the numbers of patients </span><span style="color: #141823; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">increased,
so did the number of helping hands.</span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">As
years rolled by, the activity continued; undeterred by the change of seasons,
come winter, summer or even the dreaded monsoon of Mumbai. The number of
beneficiaries soon reached 700. <b>Mr Harakhchand Sawla</b>, for that was the name of
the pioneer, did not stop here. He started supplying free medicines for the
needy. In fact, he started a medicine bank, enlisting voluntary services of
three doctors and three pharmacists. A toy banks was opened for kids suffering
from cancer. </span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">The 'Jeevan Jyot' trust founded by Mr Sawla now runs more than 60
humanitarian projects. Sawla, now 57 years old, works with the same vigour. A
thousand salutes to his boundless energy and his monumental contribution!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;">There are people in this country who look upon
Sachin Tendulkar as 'God'- for playing 200 test matches in 20 years, few
hundred one day matches, and scoring 100 centuries and 30,000 runs. But hardly
anyone knows Harakhchand Sawla, leave alone call him 'God' for feeding free
lunches to 10 to 12 lac cancer patients and their relatives. <u>We owe this
discrepancy to our mass media!<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></u></span><br />
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<span style="background: white;">Crores of devotees hunting for 'God' in Vithoba
temple at Pandharpur, Sai temple at Shirdi, Balaji temple at Tirupati will
never find 'God'. <b>God resides in our vicinity</b>. But we, like mad men run after
'god-men', styled variously as Bapu, Maharaj or Baba. All Babas, Maharajs and
Bapus become multi-millionnaires, but our difficulties, agonies and disasters
persist unabated till death. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="background: white;"><b>For last 27 years, millions of cancer patients and
their relatives have found 'God', in the form of Harakhchand Sawla.<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;">As you forward interesting jokes and poems
instantly, do forward this message. Mr Sawla deserves his fair share of fame!</span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Aparna Parinamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807313684218498350noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907664166678879321.post-19176518488197558302014-01-23T01:51:00.000-08:002014-01-23T01:51:06.441-08:00Seva Cafe Serves Generosity on a Platter<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"></div>- <b>by Smita Pranav Kothari, syndicated from forbesindia.com, Apr 29, 201<i></i></b>3 <br />
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The milieu at Shantivan, a garden in Mumbai’s Malabar Hill area, on February 17 was like a hangover from Valentine’s Day. Placards displaying messages like ‘Love is all we need’ were tied to tree branches and hearts were chalked with bounty throughout the green sprawl. Except that it wasn’t an ode to Cupid. The occasion was the second monthly lunch hosted by Seva Café. <br />
Omnipresent at the venue was a bespectacled man in khadi kurta-pyjama. He, along with other volunteers, was welcoming the guests and explaining the concept of the café—here, patrons aren’t charged for the food they’re served, instead they are free to pay whatever they want. Or, they can walk out without shelling out a single penny. <br />
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Meet Siddharth Sthalekar, who was orchestrating this “generosity enterprise” with ease. About three years ago, he was the co-head of the derivatives trading desk and the head of algorithmic trading at Edelweiss Capital. A typical day for this financier then would begin when the gong woke up Dalal Street at 9 am. That was when he would appear on CNBC, dressed in a crisp, formal shirt and tie, and share his expertise on accumulating stocks. <br />
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On one such morning in 2010, even as he was offering investors advice on what stocks to buy and sell, Sthelekar had the hint of a smile on his face. So much so that the cameraman asked him what’s brewing. Little could he explain to him then that the decision that he had taken—to throw it all away—had lit up his poker face that morning. <br />
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For some time, the 31-year-old Mumbaikar had been contemplating quitting his cushy job to explore if there is an alternative to the premise of accumulation that seemed to drive individuals in the corporate world. When he finally took the plunge, he set out to travel across India with his wife Lahar, a freelancing interior designer who graduated from the Center for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT) in Ahmedabad. Over the next six months, as they visited several non-profit organisations, they woke up to the concept of gift economy where goods and services are extended without any formal quid pro quo. This motto formed the cornerstone of Moved by Love, an incubator at Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, which carries out various projects. <br />
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One such project, Seva Café, was in hibernation. Sthalekar, an IIM Ahmedabad graduate, and his wife became its core volunteers and helped reopen it in September 2011. Seva Café practises giving, the antithesis to accumulation. At the café, volunteers cook and serve meals every week from Thursday to Sunday for free. <br />
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What is Sthalekar’s takeaway from the experiment? The proof that customers have kept the café running by paying up even when they could have got away without it. That there are enough people not governed by greed—something he had set out to test in the first place.<br />
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However, Sthalekar admits that the transition in his mind from market to trust economy did not occur overnight. “Initially, I used to put price tags on customers as they walked into the café,” he says. That’s in tune with the rationale of profit maximisation that business schools teach and the corporate world practises. So, Sthalekar often spent more time at the table of a potential Mr 3,000 compared to the table of a tea-stall owner, who was in his perception Mr 100. Then, his “noble friends”, including his wife and other volunteers, stepped in and pointed out the flaw in his approach, prompting a course correction. <br />
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However, running the café till eternity is not the objective of this entrepreneur. In fact, it’s quite on the contrary. Sthalekar says the ultimate aim of this gift-economy project is to shut it down. “If the aim was to keep the café open forever, we would have gone with a presentation to the Bill Gates Foundation and asked for a corpus.” <br />
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The idea, he says, is to trust the assumption that every individual, irrespective of his economic standing, can be generous. Seva Café provides a space for people to practice generosity by recognising the selfless giving of the volunteers. But, in the long term, Sthalekar hopes that people will develop the habit of being generous even outside the café—in all environments and circumstances. When this would happen, Sthalekar would lock the doors of Seva Café and put the sign ‘Mission Accomplished’ on it. “When there will be enough generosity in the world, there would be no need for the café,” he says.<br />
Although Sthalekar doesn’t know when this will happen, he says he is optimistic as he is coming in touch with more and more people who are generous. The other situation in which the café would close, he says, is if it does not receive enough support from volunteers and/or customers. This has not happened for seven years, even from before he joined the project. <br />
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In the beginning, Sthalekar confesses, he could not fathom the motive of gift-economy projects. Given his background, it was a huge deviation from the aim of multiplying revenues manifold. He recollects that when he was at Edelweiss, he used to entertain clients with lavish dinners and alcohol at five-star hotels to extract the best deals from them. He doesn’t deny that he enjoyed the high life and his work per se, but instances like those made him question the morality beneath his work. “The contradiction of charging my corporate card for an expensive bottle of champagne when I knew there are hungry people on the street did not align with my values,” he says. <br />
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That led to a constant struggle in his conscience. At one level, he was carrying the stern face expected of a financier. But the realisation that the efficiency which money provides is skewed took him closer and closer to the decision of moving on. “It was brewing inside me,” he says. He found moral support from some unexpected quarters—his boss at Edelweiss. When he told him that he would quit, his seemingly-capitalist boss opened up to him about a secret desire that he nurtures in his heart: He wanted to build an ashram for old people. This reaffirmed his conviction that people are generous by nature, but they act in correspondence with the space they are in.<br />
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There are days when he has his doubts about the choices he has made. “On some days, I do feel ‘what I am doing here, travelling on a train when my friend owns a BMW?’” he says. Nevertheless, his experiment of living on people’s generosity affirms to him that it is possible to sustain oneself by giving. “The litmus test of this experiment is that if I create value for the society, the society will support me,” he says.<br />
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Even though Sthalekar’s ultimate dream is to shut down the café, for now, he wants to open more Seva Cafés across the country. It pops up once a month in Pune and Bangalore. In January, he decided to try his luck in Mumbai. He was apprehensive, unsure of how the financial capital would react to a pursuit completely non-material. “We decided it would be a one-off experiment. But because the response was overwhelming, we served Mumbai in Feburary too and are scheduled to hold another gathering in late-March,” he says. <br />
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On both occasions, Seva Café served about 100 guests comprising an eclectic background—from professionals to slum children. Although they had anticipated serving about 60-70 patrons, the participation of a dozen-plus volunteers from the city came as a bonus and helped them enhance the scale of hospitality by a notch. <br />
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However, for Sthalekar, opening more cafés is just the means to the end: The day when people will make giving a way of life and these spaces will become redundant. It is hard to believe that the images of Sthalekar Google juxtaposes are of the same person: One clad in a loose khadi kurta, sporting a French beard and wearing a hearty smile; the other a snapshot of him in the CNBC show. Ask him and he’ll tell you that maybe they aren’t the same person. Today, if Siddarth Sthalekar were to appear on the CNBC show, he would advise investors to give all their stocks away.<br />
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You can visit Seva Cafe online at <a href="http://www.sevacafe.org/">www.SevaCafe.org </a></div><br />
<i>You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.<br />
Kahlil Gibran <br />
<b></b></i>Aparna Parinamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807313684218498350noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907664166678879321.post-68390102355538844712014-01-23T00:16:00.001-08:002014-01-23T00:16:35.943-08:00Seva Cafe ?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Imagine a restaurant where there are no prices on the menu and where the check reads Rs.0 with only this footnote: "Your meal was a gift from someone who came before you. To keep the chain of gifts alive, we invite you to pay it forward for those dine after you." <br />
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<b>That's Seva Cafe, a experiment in 'peer to peer' generosity. </b><br />
<i>Driven by volunteers and operated by modest staff, our meals are cooked and served with love, and offered to the guest as a genuine gift. To complete the full circle of giving and sustain this experiment, guests make contributions in the spirit of pay-it-forward to those who will come after them. In keeping this chain going, the generosity of both guests and volunteers helps to create a future that moves from transaction to trust, from self-oriented isolation to shared commitment, and from fear of scarcity to celebration of abundance. <br /></i><br />
About Seva Cafe<br />
At Seva Cafe, they serve with the spirit of <b>"Atithi Devo Bhava"</b> which translates to <b>"The Guest is God," </b>a deep and ancient Indian view that honors each guest with reverence. All are used to the concept of offering a meal to family or a friend who visits our home, but at Seva Cafe, they extend this generosity to a stranger they don't even know. The guests are told we trust them to accept this gift and pay forward the generosity so that this experiment can continue. <br />
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When you dine at Seva Cafe, you are not viewed as a customer, but instead as our treasured guest, as part of our family. <br />
Seva means service. When immersed in the heart of Seva, one finds a pathway to the Divine, and it’s this connectedness to which we ultimately aspire. Volunteering at Seva Cafe is a conscious exercise in staying tuned to that deep and true space of genuine service. <br />
As more participate in the joy of giving, the more the experiment thrives. It begins with a single gift: first given, then received... multiplied, and given again, in a growing chain of kindness and care. We hope this Circle of Giving leaves you feeling more nourished, and inspired to carry the experiment forward. <br />
All costs and income are made transparent, and 100% of any profits are used to support social service projects! <br />
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<b>Living is Giving has been the motto at Seva Cafe.</b><br />
Source:<a href="http://www.sevacafe.org/"> www.SevaCafe.org</a></div>
Aparna Parinamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807313684218498350noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907664166678879321.post-79505937136135552252013-11-06T04:10:00.000-08:002013-11-06T04:10:39.542-08:00True Youth Icon !<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"></div>Once upon a time, there lived young <b>Krishnan </b>all of 29, a Maduraite. He trained himself in Hotel Management and culinary skills. He worked in a Five Star Hotel and got a lucrative job offer in Switzerland. It was a dream come true. He decided to visit Madurai to bid farewell to all. But fate had other plans for him… The sight of the old and uncared for, starving was not new to Krishnan. India was full of such sights. Sleep deserted me that night as the old man’s image kept flitting in and out of my mind.” What is this human nature! It gets moved by such sights never to be forgotten. You would expect Krishnan to now sigh and say, ‘Ah, but what difference can I make after all..’ and continue Swiss-ward. But there you will be mistaken. His Swiss journey never happened. He HAD to act to orient himself to change the plight of these people. <br />
The destitute. <br />
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</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><b>Starting by cooking in his mother’s kitchen, and distributing food packets to the starving, mentally ill across the city he had to sometimes wash and bathe them, and feed them three meals a day. Literally. </b>India has one quarter of the world’s hungry population and is facing an acute shortage of proper food resources. In such a scenario, N. Krishnan has taken the lead to change things in Madurai, to begin with. With a Maruti van that was donated by a well wisher, he reaches out to 120 people across Madurai giving them clean and home cooked food, never compromising on quality. With potable water filled in used plastic bottles collected from hotels, and steaming hot food, Krishnan brings a smile to the faces of the destitute. Some recognize his face, acknowledge the service, and even await his arrival. While some are in no condition to recognize him. He still goes on, hoping he can make a difference. He sure does. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">With an estimate of 500 mentally ill people roaming the streets of Madurai, he strives to reach out to as many as possible while his perennial fear is that even if he fails to go one day, these people would start eating out of garbage again. Run entirely on donations from well wishers who contribute for the meals, his family chips in to make ends meet. He also puts his culinary skills to use by running a catering service that can serve 500 people. The profit from this serves to meet the needs of Akshaya Trust he started in 2002. Dismay of parents turned to supporting every stage of his growth and today he has been recognized in a few forums for his excellence and dedication to humanitarian service. He also won the CNN Heroes award in 2008. Success rests lightly on his shoulders however, as he works incessantly for his cause. Hunger is one of the most agonizing human experiences. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Deriving his energy and drive from the need to end the misery of Hunger in humans, he continues undaunted. Today he plans to establish a home for the mentally deranged women and feed, care for them. And so, many of the poor and hungry breathe easier, thanks to committed individuals such as these. <b>With conscious action by every individual in their limited capacity, a difference can be made. Ask Mr. N Krishnan. </b><i>Akshaya Trust can be contacted at 91-0452-4353439 or 91-98433-19933 or www.akshayatrust.org. </i><a href="http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2010/07/and-he-did-it-n-krishnan-a-true-youth-icon/"></a></div></div>Aparna Parinamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807313684218498350noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907664166678879321.post-29393141567828760322013-04-02T03:38:00.000-07:002013-04-02T03:38:12.453-07:00A Design For Jobs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><strong><u>RURAL CALL</u></strong>: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In 2006, veteran techies Dipak Basu, his wife Radha and a group of social entrepreneurs set up Anudip Foundation in West Bengal to provide employment to villagers through IT.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The idea was to provide market-aligned skills,set up training centres in IT and English, and empower young people, says Radha. Farmer Atanu Mondal of Ashurali village in the Sunderbans is just one beneficiary. I have worked on transcriptions and on other projects in India and the US, he says. <u>Since 2009 Anudip has set up district level outsourcing centres employing their own graduates to execute global and local projects</u>. The road ahead is tough. It requires changing the work ethic of rural people and the mindset of urban employers, says Dipak. That’s Anudips biggest challenge !</span></div>
Aparna Parinamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807313684218498350noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907664166678879321.post-89538928036072558572013-04-02T03:06:00.000-07:002013-04-02T03:06:43.976-07:00A Light Touch !<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">SOLAR CITIZEN: </span></b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /><br />Just outside Bangalore, J Gajendran runs a small business enabled by his solar panels.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">His neighbours, who have mobile phones but don’t have access to electricity, pay him Rs 5 per hour to plug their phones into his solar-powered batteries. <em><u>This is possible, thanks to Magsaysay Award - winner Harish Hande whose <strong>Selco Solar</strong> creates solar energy products such as CFL and LED lamps, heaters and cooking stoves. <o:p></o:p></u></em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">They are currently being used in 1.3 lakh households in Karnataka,Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar and West Bengal. It is extremely important for Indian enterprises to balance social, financial and environmental sustainability. <strong>That is the only way the social fabric of the country can be stable, says Hande. <o:p></o:p></strong></span></div>
<a href="http://www.selco-india.com/">http://www.selco-india.com/</a></div>
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Aparna Parinamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807313684218498350noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907664166678879321.post-88028759166659486012013-04-01T23:53:00.000-07:002013-04-01T23:53:33.184-07:00Little Drops Of Life !<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">He thirsts for transformation !<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">That simple vision came alive three years ago in Hyderabad as Waterlife and has now spread across eight states.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9JW2KpnVXb64W9XhYzjwAL5K3BQy-AbVoYB8HHTwX73xDbIqsXMSUEAnTBOQKafcLmwLHngfu28VZBLzoh5PdG9jXIBI7zEH6WSJmMkS96SbJwMxXAicCFkKgkUKPwey8mnQdcBKSE0A/s1600/dr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="251" mta="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9JW2KpnVXb64W9XhYzjwAL5K3BQy-AbVoYB8HHTwX73xDbIqsXMSUEAnTBOQKafcLmwLHngfu28VZBLzoh5PdG9jXIBI7zEH6WSJmMkS96SbJwMxXAicCFkKgkUKPwey8mnQdcBKSE0A/s400/dr.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Explains Ghosh: Rural population is increasing by the hour.Complete dependence on government for safe drinking water is not practical. The solution is to use technology and distribute water in small zones. Waterlife’s biggest test came in West Bengal when at least 50,000 villagers were saved from arcenicosis, a waterborne disease that leads to skin cancer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Life-saving steps like this make Waterlife confident of delivering safe water to all Indian states by 2020!</span></div>
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Aparna Parinamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807313684218498350noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907664166678879321.post-2464933996424043072013-04-01T23:40:00.000-07:002013-04-01T23:40:00.959-07:00Mobile Medicos !<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Healthcare is a buzz away, thanks to a venture that links patients with doctors by leveraging India’s exceptional mobile phone penetration. mHealth Ventures India, co-founded in 2010 by techie Gautam Ivatury and Dr Ajay Nair, has been used by 10,000 families across India so far. </span></div>
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<a href="http://meradoctor.co/"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri;">http://meradoctor.co/</span></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCvtM06Ht2SOWrRA_cdvBgRxNnO50As2viuPmJDGwwt8H4I0ZP0p5kcr-ZPaSTntSCMT106fWBrC4nmUIM54Bp9mqk4GwwgfPjQrQOb_mqzAhiucwcgJKXofwMIZ7YrdYlutomKGBw_x0/s1600/dr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="340" mta="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCvtM06Ht2SOWrRA_cdvBgRxNnO50As2viuPmJDGwwt8H4I0ZP0p5kcr-ZPaSTntSCMT106fWBrC4nmUIM54Bp9mqk4GwwgfPjQrQOb_mqzAhiucwcgJKXofwMIZ7YrdYlutomKGBw_x0/s640/dr.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gautam Ivatury and Dr Ajay Nair</td></tr>
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Aparna Parinamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807313684218498350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907664166678879321.post-64946394450261269952013-04-01T23:27:00.001-07:002013-04-01T23:28:50.887-07:00 Saving Little Lives - Life Saving Embrace<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><strong>HEATING TOUCH</strong>: Around 8 million low birth weight babies are born in India each year. About 1.2 million of them die, many because of lack of access to a simple resource—heat. It’s this problem that Bangalore-based Embrace addresses. Started by four Stanford students—Jane Chen (in pic), Rahul Panicker, Naganand Murty and Linus Liang—the enterprise produces lightweight, portable Thermpod that performs the same function as a traditional incubator, albeit at 1% of the cost and a fraction of the power. “It was essential to create a product that did not depend on uninterrupted electricity and was not intimidating,” says Panicker, who saw too many donated incubators lying unused in hospitals for lack of technical know-how. <em><strong>Despite its size, Embrace is one giant step for the little ones !</strong></em></span><span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuo89AOG1KsEYAc7JeVh5oASB_6Xkvqa3yjmKAf8Cl5cPNd_J72Q3Jo1Sp_50Quehab_hl31iNzKMUNcho_VdeuEQvNhnk_XKAeT-p-dTnTTAOqJu9CWmYd-f_NO0Z1NuBsNQqoQON1_E/s1600/getimage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" mta="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuo89AOG1KsEYAc7JeVh5oASB_6Xkvqa3yjmKAf8Cl5cPNd_J72Q3Jo1Sp_50Quehab_hl31iNzKMUNcho_VdeuEQvNhnk_XKAeT-p-dTnTTAOqJu9CWmYd-f_NO0Z1NuBsNQqoQON1_E/s320/getimage.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">WARM-UP EXERCISE: Rahul Panicker and Naganand Murty with the low-cost incubator </span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiskDkB6oUVnENwudj2dx23inCbRfB9uCo-XzT0BdVJ0nI2estxKR0oHz5X-NGRT-gkQMN78GHd2T6IaaS-m0mWMCs9EajJKkmx4-4ttLhgggPk59BxwPdiZOBLRivsMhKvBr59uvLeduk/s1600/Embrace1-Main_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" mta="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiskDkB6oUVnENwudj2dx23inCbRfB9uCo-XzT0BdVJ0nI2estxKR0oHz5X-NGRT-gkQMN78GHd2T6IaaS-m0mWMCs9EajJKkmx4-4ttLhgggPk59BxwPdiZOBLRivsMhKvBr59uvLeduk/s320/Embrace1-Main_0.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Bangalore-based start-up Embrace has created a low-cost infant warmer that promises to save the lives of premature babies who lack access to expensive incubators. <br /> In 2007, four students of Stanford University came together at the Institute of Design at Stanford, informally known as d.school. They were from different educational backgrounds and disciplines: Jane Chen was in an MBA programme, Rahul Panicker was working on his PhD in Artificial Intelligence, Naganand Murty was earning an MS in management science and engineering, and Linus Liang an MS in computer science. All they had in common was that they belonged to Stanford University and shared a love of design. <br /><br />Together, they created something wonderful. It started as a class project for a module titled ‘Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability’. <br /> The challenge was to create a low-cost infant incubator. Initially, the group worked to create an inexpensive version of the incubator used in hospital NICUs, that cost between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 13 lakh.<br /><br /> “We started making a cheaper glass box,” says Rahul Panicker. “But we realized something was wrong. We stopped in our tracks and asked ourselves: do we need a cheaper glass box or something that will save babies’ lives?” says Naganand Murty. <br /><br />They went back to the drawing board, and started with the fundamental fact that low birth-weight babies need warmth. “Premature babies are born with very little subcutaneous fat. Most weigh less than 2.5kg, some only 850gm, and basically need to stay warm so their bodies can finish developing,” says Panicker. <br />The team developed a lightweight, portable device that worked just as well as an electricity-intensive incubator. The final product consists of three main components: a snug sleeping bag in which the baby can be wrapped, a pouch containing a patented phase-change material and a heater (running on electricity) in which this pouch can be heated and then inserted into the sleeping bag unit. <br /><br />At 1% the cost of a traditional incubator, they had created a device equally good at saving vulnerable infant lives. <br />They won rave reviews on campus and many plan and design competitions, but there came a time when they had to decide what to do with their product. “We could have walked away from it but we didn’t have the heart to,” says Murty. <br /><br /><b>PRODUCTION FOR THE MASSES <br /></b>So they returned to India and started versioning the product. Today, the Bangalore-based team runs a 30-member organization called Embrace, and launched their patented low-cost infant warmer in April 2011. <br />They conducted clinical trials across Karnataka and in rural areas of other states. “It was essential to create a product that does not depend on uninterrupted electricity and is not intimidating,” says Panicker, who reveals that in hospital after hospital, they saw donated incubators lying unused because there weren’t enough people who had the technical know-how to use it. <br />In comparison, their product can be used even by an unlettered mother — it just involves inserting the heating pad into the heater, warming it for 20 minutes, and placing it in the sleeping bag. Their best moment was watching a new mother in a Sargur hospital confidently operating the unit, says Murty. <br /><br />Once the pad is heated, the charge lasts a minimum of four hours, and one heater can serve a single location. “Eventually, we plan to create units that are not dependent on electricity, using pads that can be heated by hot water,” explains Panicker. <br />They’ve placed about 50 units across hospitals in Bangalore and Karnataka and their manufacturing unit has the capacity to roll out 2,000 units in a quarter. Each unit is priced at Rs 11,000. <br /><br />The team’s biggest challenge was cracking the distribution network. Now, they’ve forged a partnership with GE Healthcare to distribute the product in India and abroad. <br />Their vision is to make the product available in developing markets, and requests are pouring in on their website from countries like Peru, Bangladesh and the Philippines. That’s not all. In an interesting turn of events, researchers at Stanford University are working with Embrace’s product to see how it fits the needs of hospitals in the US. That’s the future. <br /><br />Given the fact that 8 million low birthweight babies are born in India each year, and around 1.2 million of them die, this is a truly life-altering idea !</span><span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />Source: The Times of India.</span></div>
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Aparna Parinamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807313684218498350noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907664166678879321.post-91512608866970458442012-09-08T21:09:00.002-07:002012-09-08T21:10:35.648-07:00Agents of Change !<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">Dear Readers</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Welcome to the first post of this blog. I would like to share with you all the stories of the persons who have made a difference to the society, those who dared to dream differently and live their dreams. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Everyday champions -women and men, heroes and heroines (terming it in the Indian Hindi style) who chose to follow their heart:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>- for a social cause, with an aim to give back to the society</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>- for the upliftment of the lesser priveledged/ differently abled people</strong></span><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: large;">- for contributing towards a greener planet</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Please subscribe to this blog to receive timely periodic updates.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><em><strong><span class="huge">'Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat' - </span>Mother Teresa<br /></strong></em></span></div>
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Aparna Parinamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807313684218498350noreply@blogger.com3