Salam, Dr. Kalam!

On the dot of 10 am, we met him... The man who enthralled the audience with his very presence as he smiled and waved at everyone with a humble demeanour. I was overwhelmed when I met him face to face. I'm looking at the ex-President of India I reminded myself when his humility presented me with his smile.

"We are honoured to have among us today, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam..." and that was all it took for the crowd to roar with appreciation! "I know that this college, Mount Carmel College is known for showing their appreciation and happiness (loud cheer from the audience)... in here as well as in the area" he teased while he addressed the gathering.

He spoke of a vision he called 2020. One in which he believes that India would be referred to as a developed country by the year 2020. He said we must take inspiration from the likes of Mother Theresa, Vangari Mathai and Sister Antonia.

He said we must emulate from Mother Theresa for her loving, caring and giving nature, for as she had worded it in her acceptance speech, "when you learn to share with the others, you will learn to love. When you learn to love, you bring peace." Dr. Kalam quoted her and added, making us echo his words,

"When there is righteousness in the heart, There is beauty in the character,
When there is beauty in the character, There is harmony at home,
When there is harmony at home, There is order in the Nation,
When there is order in the Nation, There will be peace in the world"

The second person he referred to was Ms. Vangari Mathai from Kenya. She was an ordinary woman who made an extraordinary change with a simple idea of planting tree saplings. The record for planting close to 41 million tree saplings, through her Green Belt Movement, was felicitated with the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for Intellectual Understanding in 2005. "Planting a tree, is planting an idea" he quoted her saying.

He added that if 300 million youth in our country can plant 2 saplings per person, then 1500 million trees would be of existence... "Even if your generation can not benefit from it, at least the next generation will. "So each one of you will plant trees, OK?"

The last person he spoke of was of a courageous woman. One who walked calmly in the middle of a ferocious prison riot in Mexico, held her hands out while police forces sprayed bullets at the prisoners and yelled for order. And order she got. Sister Antonia was renouned for her work at the prison in Mexico. She devoted her entire live for the betterment of them.

All these woman have done great things and have changed the lives of several lives by simply being compassionate. Dr Kalam quotes from Everyday Greatness(a book he recommends), "Leadership with compassion is required" be it in any field, be it for a teacher, a student...or even a politician.

He concluded by saying that everyone should be proud to be an Indian, must be courageous to forge through life's obstacles and to help the society. After all when you help your society, you've helped several people, including yourself!

Suggested related articles:
www.hindu.com/2009/08/30/stories/2009083052220500.htm
Visit: http://www.indiavision2020.org/
Picture taken from Times of India, Bangalore.

Many a paper & cloth bag

Nanny(Keerthi) calls me one day saying that we probably have someone who might be able help us with Our 'No Plastic' Drive in college. ' Belaku Trust' , a support group for women( in the villages around Kanakapura ) who make a living by making Gorgeous, simply Gorgeous Cloth and Paper Products.
For Green Shield i think this was quite a big (yet mini) project in many ways. You see it was the first time we were interacting in a very business-like manner with an NGO. Up until now it was all through phone or email , very informal throughout. But here it was suddenly making it to meetings on time,visiting their office in JP Nagar, giving them dates well in advance, placing orders , talking in terms of stock & money ...and well i think you get what I'm saying.
So Rosh, Nanny & i go for our meeting (2pm-4pm slot as Ishviene called it) at Koshys. We (I,for one) expected to see a strict woman in a suit, drumming her fingers on the table impatiently (because nanny said she had been engulfed in the Corporate World for more than a decade!) ...instead however we found three women giggling away to glory( over something Barb said i assume) at a corner table .
The above mentioned name , Barb .. should give you a picture of a really ADORABLE 50 yr old hilarious Australian volunteer(she insists on not being branded a 'tourist'). She along with Malavika (Graduate in CBZ from Christ College, another clown , if i might add. Newly recruited to the Belaku Trust as Coordinater) and Ishviene( the Head of them all).
We spent a good 2 hours discussing all that had to be discussed and even radiating to other (totally irrelevant) issues, starting from the teeth grinding traffic in our city, to a typical day in Dubai.
We struck a deal, they were willing to keep a stall in our College for 4 days during the Cultural intra college fest "Cul Week". The stall would be open to all , from students and teachers, to parents and random visiters. The products which included Notepads, books, files, pens , greeting cards AND shawls, bags, belts scarfs and many such things would be sold at a Special College Discount.
Two weeks later , it was Cul Week. I as always started panicking!! well i had every reason to, we hadn't made any posters or divided the stall work (like we had promised the Belaku peeps) but again as always, everything worked out Perfectly!. We made a grand total of Rs 27, 600 over a period of 4 days, in the process making many college goers happy , spreading our message of saying NO TO PLASTIC ; to switch to cloth and paper instead , spreading social awareness and also having fun in the process (PLENTY PLENTY!!!!).
Not to forget making great friends at Belaku, with whom we hope to work with,
on many occasions in the future.

Big hug , going out to our Green Shield Members - Keerthi, Roshni, Katya( the posters u made in barely 3 seconds were great!) meghna (with your publicising antics), Madhu (who bought so much from her own stall..ahah!), Sapna (our dearest accountant!) Natasha , Aishwarya (for being a stupid and yet smooth seller) Yogi!
So repeat after me,
"Plastic ain't my bag!!"
To see the Catalog of Belaku Trust products, click!
www.belakutrust.org

Chet.