UDAY 2011

UDAY is one of Aashayein Foundation's annual events, which provides a platform for students of Government/Government aided schools to showcase their cultural talents.

Quite a few people I've come across have argued that UDAY is not inline with our vision, which is to provide quality education to underprivileged children through monetary/non-monetary support, and that a lot of volunteering effort goes waste, which could be put to a better use streamlining our projects. All I have to say to those people is, 'All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy.' and read ahead!


UDAY '11 was held at Udaipura, a remote village near Channarayapatna (CR Patna). students of 4 government schools competed in dance, drama and vocals to win the coveted prize for their respective schools. All through the event, I was witness to the enthusiasm of children, aged between 6 and 12, eager to compete and win. Yes, to win! Which many grown ups today have lost the appetite for! On Jan 29th 2011, these tiny tots came out in their best attires, put on their best smiles and gave it their all. Ever wondered when was the last time you did the same, and for yourself?

I tottered around near by villages to get children from 3 other schools to Udaipura. The kids were eagerly waiting at the afore mentioned spot, to be picked up, wearing the colour of their uniforms and badges given to them. They cheered as the bus arrived and wished us, 'Hello' and enthusiastically shook hands. So proactive, I thought! And this was how every volunteer of Aashayein Foundation was welcomed, with true spirit. I again wondered, whether they needed us, or we needed them more. I was humbled by their gestures and upright attitude.


There's an enormous gap between students of government schools in villages and those in metros, in terms and attitude and gratitude. The former are well-behaved, eager to learn, easy to coach and refrain from fights, jealousy or insecurity. The students are a close knit unit, which I believe comes from the way of village life, where all families lie on the same social strata. Village life is simple, indeed.

UDAY, was a humongous experience! I learnt a lot from the young guns, but I also realized, why India is still a developing nation, 60 years after independence. 70% of the Indian population resides in villages. No, that's not the issue. The issue is the standard of education available to these lots. I'm proud that we, as an organization, we have ventured into villages. This innocent talent needs to be tapped and nurtured, else they wont stand a chance in main-stream society. I hope the innocence of these minds is not shattered in the process.

An Awkward Silence

Divya had never looked so beautiful. Infact, she had never known that she ever could. She had started to admire herself in the last 15 minutes. Afterall, some eyeliner and kajal brought out her tiny eyes into a new world out of the old groove. She had picked up a pair of 'musical s' shaped earings after much ado. She had always thought of them as her best buy for 10 bucks during her first year of Engineering. She had worn a black spaghetti which ran upto her knees and a blue scarf around her neck which was tied up in a knot on her left side. It was 7.00pm and the cab would arrive any minute.

Divya had snoozed the alarm for the 5th time that morning. She didn't want to turn it off in case she fell asleep again. She had to wake up in time for the 10am Top Gear repeat telecast. She pulled herself out of the bed when the phone rang. It was Deeph calling in after a week. They were good friends, until she had fought with him about not trying to keep in touch. He had dismissed it as a silly arguement and had hung up on her. Divya had been in love with Deeph for over 6 months now. She had dropped clues at times, but Deeph had never picked them up.

The cabby had arrived. Divya locked her apartment and ran down the stairs. While she got down, she peeped in to check up on the gift she had got Deeph. She got into the cab and for the first time in the whole day, she leaned back and gave a rest to her thoughts.

The phone continued to ring. "Deeph!", she said to herself. Random thoughts crossed her mind as to why he had called. The phone went dead.She had almost picked the phone up when it buzzed again. She whispered a"Hello!" into the phone. There was a long silence and then a voice spoke. A voice, unlike the one which she had known for 2 years now, unlike the one she had longed to hear. "Hello!", Deeph replied.

"Mam!, we are there", the cabbie mouthed. She had almost fell asleep. Her mind had been working, contemplating and analysing since that call in the morning. She had made a reservation. She had deliberately delayed the cab coz She didn't want to reach on time and wait, as she always had to. Not today. Today was supposed to be her day.

"Are you alright? You sound low!". Divya was now concerned. "You sound low too!". Yeah! Divya was not in her usual spirits. She would have usually answered the phone with a "hellooooo!". "No! nothing", she dismissed. "Can we meet? I feel like it's been weeks that we have met!". She wanted him to add on to it, make it sound more romantic. She only spoke after a pause. "I missed you!", she said. There was a longer pause on the other end and then Deeph spoke, "I missed you too!"

Divya tried to find a familiar boyish face in the Restaurant crowd. She noticed someone walking towards her. The two eyes glistened when they met hers. There were tears in his eyes. She was devastated. He pulled her to a hug. He was shaking and Divya could feel it. Deeph then held her hand and walked her out of the room to the parking. She followed without a word. Then, they drove back to his house.

It was a villa on the beach side. Few rooms were lit up but a majority of them were dark. They hadn't spoken a word from the time they had met. Divya wasn't sure of what was going to happen. She was sure, but didn't want to accept that it was not going her way. "I love her", he said. It looked as though she was ready for it. She knew that things had not worked for him with someone she would come to hate after a while. Right now, she had to calm down. But she thought there would a life time for all the hate and disappointment. She took a long breath, walked to him, held his hand and said, "Let's go for a walk".

While they walked on the beach, neither of them spoke a word. Divya felt excruciating pain. She had never seen Deeph so devasted. She had forgotten about her own disappointment. They both looked either ways, so as to not look into each other's eyes. As they walked for a while, Deeph relaxed. He was holding her hand in a firm grip now. He had stopped walking. He turned to her and looked straight into her eyes. Divya was puzzled. He looked entirely different now!

"It's you dumbo!", he said with a smile.

Our first step

‘Actions speak louder than words’! For all of you who did read my first blog about ‘Aashayein’ and wanted to be a part of it, this one will tell you as to what we have achieved as an organization in a month. I wouldn’t call it a big feat, but it was encouraging for sure and I congratulate the members for the same. This is what we accomplished in a month

1. Aashayein Foundation was registered as an NGO in the 2^nd week of May
2. Two book distribution drives in 6 schools(600 students) over 2 weeks (June 9^th and 16^th)
3. Fund collection at Bosch, Bangalore for 4 days (June 11^th to 14^th).
4. Sunday breakfasts on full swing with huge participation.
   

This was our first step, but we consider it a huge leap in our enthusiasm to get the better out of ourselves, work harder and intelligently and learn from the feedbacks and difficulties faced. We will grow together and as Joy puts it ‘WE ARE HERE TO STAY’.

The Fund collection at Bosch was a huge success. Stalls were put up in the Bosch campuses at Koramangala, Bomanahalli and Naganathapura. We sold kits instead of just collecting cash. One kit sponsored for a student for half a year and had 4 note books, 3 pencils, 2 pens, an eraser and a sharpener and the whole bunch cost 50 bucks. This way, people contributed for one or multiple kits. The idea did work big time. My whole hearted thanks to all Boschlers for being so generous.

And all those who want to participate or contribute, you’ll can write to me at ruthvika.angadi@gmail.com with subject as ‘Aashayein’ until the website is posted on the net. We are having difficulty in opening a bank account because all 5 core members are not able to assemble on a single day to make it happen. If you want to keep waiting until the bank account is opened, you can do that, else contact me. We have a temporary unused bank account into which money can be transferred. Now! You need to trust me on this at least!

PHOTOS will be added ASAP.

AAshayein - NIMHANS visit

This Sunday, May 13th, 2007, we visited ' Home for mentally retarded men ' , one of the many stay homes at National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences(NIMHANS) campus, Bangalore. Aashayein had sketched plans for breakfast and distribution of clothes for over 100 inmates at the institution.

We started off at 8.30am with the special breakfast comprising dosa, sagoo, chatni and son papdi. The institute also housed few women, all around the age of 60. Men were basically between 18 and 60 years old. After the break fast, we distributed clothes, collected throughout the week by all of us. We had over 120 sets.

We distributed the remaining clothes at 'Home for mentally retarted boys'.
















People here have huge appetites, coz they don't realise that they have eaten enough to fill their stomach. They are 'mentally' not capable of it. The care we take here is to serve them only 3-4 dosas, even though they keep asking for more.

9 new people visited us at NIMHANS to get the feel of our work. I request everyone of you to spare 2 hrs on the coming sunday to come have a look at what we do here, at Aashayein. Please post in your email id at ruthvika16@rediffmail.com. I will intimate you the place and time of our coming visit, latest by thursday.

'LET'S MAKE A DIFFERENCE'

Aashayein- A ray of hope

Hope is the ability to hear the music of the future. Faith is having the courage to dance to it today. And at Aashayein we dance to the music of the smiles on the faces of people we serve.

Aashayein has set out to spread this music around among people who are in need of it. We started in March 2007, without a name for the organisation, but only a purpose - 'to make a difference'. And in a week, Aashayein will be a registered NGO. We have grown in strength too - starting off with 20 people and now we have 50 enthusiastic members.

Till date we have been serving breakfast on sunday mornings at ashrams, orphanages, oldage homes and Home for Blind, Mentally retarded children and women. We used to share the breakfast expenses between us. Now we have atleast 50 people contributing for the cause. So we decided to make it big. Register our organisation as an NGO and give a name to it.

Today, we still serve breakfast at these centers. And our short term goal is to identify 3 schools to be provided with note books and taliors to get uniforms stitched as they have lack of funds to get it done themselves.

This is a simple request from me. We plan to carry out this activity before the beginning of next term(June, 2007). Please contribute for the cause. Any querries keep me posted(ON THE BLOG). Any comments, please dont hesitate to pen them down(ON THE BLOG). You could help by contributing cash, by making your own donations-example, donate 100 books at the cost of 8 rupees per book , cash etc.

The official website for Aashayein is on its way and will be launched as soon as it is registered. Many of you might be already be donating funds to a trust, but collectively, we'll have a greater impact.

We are a young group, just out of college set out to make a difference. And if you had thought of giving back something to the society, you can be 'ONE OF AASHAYEIN'.

Interested people can contact: ruthvika16@rediffmail.com