We recently celebrated Madhav's 1st birthday. Singapore being a place where NRIs are socially very active - we had to host a party for folks we knew.
We were keen, however, to do things differently this time. The level of materialism and self indulgence (esp amongst rich NRIs) can sometimes leave you wondering if there are even aware that 40% of the chronically hungry kids in the world live in their homeland.
We also had recently come to know of a wonderful organization called Akshaya Patra which (based in Bangalore)provides nutritious mid-day meals to underprivileged kids in school. This is a proven incentive for parents and kids to keep children in school ( otherwise drop-out rates are very high). It is a professionally run orgnztn that now providea over 1 million mid-day neals in a day across a few Indian states. It has Directors from Infoys on its board, and conducts regular research to test the efficacy of its programs. It has recentle received commendation from Obama for running the largest mid-day meal program in the world. Please visit www.akshayapatra.org
So what we did is to tell all our invitees to NOT gve any gifts but to give cash instead - that we would then put together and donate to Akshaya Patra.
We collected around SGD 850 which is upwards of Rs. 25,000. How wonderful !
We would, otherwise , have returned wth a stack of gifts that Madhav may or may not have played with - instead we will be able to feed about 100 children a good lunch for over 3 months. What could be better ? :-))
And with Dhruv looking thougtfully at our message on the invites and all the positive comments we received from the folks we called - we hope this will have a ripple efefct and lots of folks will follow suit.
We just thought we must share this experience with you.
Cheers !
Thats really a very neat thing to do.
ReplyDeleteIts really so important to get away from teaching kids the need to "possess" all the time. In fact birthdays do it in a very inadvertent way. It takes a conscious effort to change that.
Good!!!You given me ideas for Arundhati's Birthday :-)
At last. The family blog is stirring, with comments and main postings are becoming a sort of Norm.
ReplyDeleteThe gesture of donation to Akshaya Paatra, is just beautiful. When I had in the past tried to bemoan the fact that in our so called quest for "nirvana", service to fellow human beings had never been highlighted as much as it should be, and this formed an undercurrent in some of my pieces, which has not been either noticed or commented upon. In the last piece to Dhruv, in the 5 duties, service to others is listed, and since it came from from an Upanishad this was more than satisfying.
You have just given it a huge shape; such gestures should qualify equally, (if not more) in the evolution to "self realisation" as the tradional worship of Gods, and other rituals, is my belief.
Keep it up. And may God bless you.
Love Vichu
Swati -Thanks dear :-) Love to your little babies. When is Krishna Kutti's b'day?
ReplyDeleteChittappa, Many thanks for your kind words. They mean a lot especially to me. Suresh, of course, is heavily into traditional worship as well- but for me - this path of "helping others less fortunate" has always been a big draw. And I have wondered if this is also a legitimate path to " nirvana" ( or atleast thereabouts :-).So to get a stamp from a true blue scholar like you feels good.
The puritans like Jinji, Umashankar's view is awited. I am embarassed to be counted as a blue scholar.
ReplyDeleteVichu
Sorry Madhuri/Swati Pl excuse this old man as I am in a mood to talk. This is to Swati. While it's not difficult in Madhava's b'day, Arundhati who is grown up may be actually expecting a lot of gifts!! We may have to really balance this a bit, child's expectation and need to get out of the "to possess" attitude. Madhuri's gesture has roped in a lot of others in their venture, and repeating this with a grown up kid to that extent I feel, is difficult. Vichu
ReplyDeleteChittappa - I respectfully disagree. If Swati just gets ger the 1 or 2 toys she has been really wanting and then explains why she will not get any more gifts from everyone at the party - I think Arundhati will understand. Kids are amazingly adaptable and dont hold grudges.
ReplyDeleteSo Swati - I'd say go for it :-)
Thanks. Dealing with kids much more, you would know better. It really wasn't my case that Swati should not try this, but only pointing out that there was a possibility of this being more difficult.
ReplyDeleteMy case was also that the kids desire had to be at least partly factored in since she is just 4~5 yr old. Again I must admit that you would all know better.
The temporal world is not as bad as I perceive it to be.
May God bless us all beta, is all I can say. I am impressed.
Love - vichu
Gosh, thanks very much both of you for spending more time and effort planning Arundhati's birthday than I have :-))
ReplyDeleteI must admit that I share the forebording Vichu chitappa has, with the implementation of such a noble scheme on the birthday of a 6 year old. Knowing Arundhati, I very much expect her to feel disappointed at not recieving any gifts. But I still do not want to give up on the idea.
I think I will have sensitize Arundhati first to the fact that there are a lot of children her age who cannot have birthday parties, because they are probably too hungry to remember them in the 1st place. I think over time if she is made to understand this aspect of reality, that we have so skillfully shielded from her, I think she should be ok with the idea. Besides, like Madhuri says, I can always promise her the toys she wants most, so her insecurity is handled.
I think the tougher thing is to ask people for the money. A lot of people find it easy to buy inexpensive gifts or pass on what their kids have recieved on their birthdays (I do that a lot :-)))). To ask them to shell out a decent amount might be the challenging part!!!
Beta, main thoda jyaada hi emotional hoon. the mention of hungry kids is heart rending, thoda roya.
ReplyDeleteAchha likte ho, imandari se likhte ho, again like I mentioned to Kanchu, in a totally different context, amma se kahalvake najar utharvao.
Lest I forget, Madhuri, the original trail blazer should be thanked for bringing out the nicer parts of us. If these are not "services to God" then what is?
Love to both of you, and keep stirring our souls. Vichu
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ReplyDeleteA comment on MODs question "... I have wondered if this is also a legitimate path to " nirvana" ( or atleast thereabouts :-)."
ReplyDeleteAppa once told me about a question that either he or Chella paati asked Achariyal about what they could do, being a part of this material world, to make definite progress towards the ultimate goal. Achariyal after a brief pause said
1. Paropakaaram
2. Eshwar Aaradhani
in that order.
"Paropakaaram" (service/compassion for others), in my opinion, is practice for the Ultimate "self" renunciation.
"Eshwar aaradhanai" (prayer to the higher being) comes next.
Madhuri - We absolutely love the idea of channeling money/energy that we spend on birthday celebrations anyway. Away from consumption for ourselves or our kids and toward giving away to those that might need it more than us.
ReplyDeleteThe concept is not new, but the initiative to step forward and implement it in our own lives is.
All -- excellent discussion, befitting of a good, living, breathing blog!
Kalyani