Sarva Jana Hitam

OBJECTIVE and ACTIONS

During a visit to a mental Hospital, a VIP visitor asked the Director what is the criterion that defines a patient to be institutionalized.

‘Well,’ said the Director, ‘we fill up a bathtub, we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask the patient to empty the bathtub.’

‘Oh, I understand,’ said the VIP, ‘A normal person would obviously choose the bucket as it is larger than the spoon.’

‘Hmm....No,’ answered the Director. ‘A normal person would pull out the plug of the tub.

There is a difference between an objective and actions!

Unless you understand your objective, you will be wasting your time in your actions.Know your objective first.

-- Swami Vivekananda

Snapshot of ''In Search of Ramanujan''

Introduction:
Most of the underprivileged children land up in blue collar jobs just after their X Std or XII Std. Most of them cannot even dare to dream of entering a College due to their constraints though they possess the potential. Through our Nurturing the Genius activity, we aim to give an opportunity to the underprivileged talented children to expose their talent and pursue higher education and frame their career on what they are best at. By doing what they are best at, they not only change their lifestyle but inspire as role models and instil hope and direction to their peers and future generations.
As a first step, we had launched the In Search of Ramanujan (Nurturing the Genius – Maths) project to identify and nurture the Maths genius hidden in the rural areas and underprivileged sectors.
With the required support in terms of
·         free coaching
·         useful reference books
·         transport charges
·         Talent search exams registration fees and travel expenses to the venue,
These underprivileged yet talented children can bring their dreams of higher education and a career in Maths to reality.

Speed Lover?

Sanjay, a rich guy, loved fast cars and he did have a few in his possession. He loved to speed and could not be bothered about breaking speed limits. Many a times he was caught by the cops and speed radars, fined, but still he never bothered until one day as he was driving at a very high speed as usual, he saw a cop following him. The cop overtook him finally and asked him to stop and checked his license. He then took out his pad and started writing, and then handed over the sheet of paper to Sanjay.

How much was this one going to cost?!!!

Wait a minute. What was this???? Some kind of joke? Certainly not a ticket. Sanjay began to read:

"Once upon a time I had a lovely daughter. She was six when killed by a car. You guessed it - a speeding driver's car. A fine and three months in jail, and the man was free. Free to hug his three daughters. I only had one, and I'm going to have to wait until Heaven, before I can ever hug her again. A thousand times I've tried to forgive that man. A thousand times I thought I had. Maybe I did, but I need to do it again. Even now. Pray for me. And be careful, my friend, my son is all I have left."

Sanjay turned around in time to see the cop's car pull away and head down the road. He watched until it disappeared. A full 15 minutes later, he too, pulled away and drove slowly home, praying for forgiveness and hugging a surprised wife and kids when he arrived.

Don't Drink and Drive

I went to a party,
And remembered what you said.
You told me not to drink, Mom
So I had a Sprite instead.

I felt proud of myself,
The way you said I would,
That I didn't drink and drive,
Though some friends said I should.

I made a healthy choice,
And your advice to me was right,
The party finally ended,
And the kids drove out of sight.

I got into my car,
Sure to get home in one piece,
I never knew what was coming, Mom
Something I expected least.

Now I'm lying on the pavement,
And I hear the policeman say,
The kid that caused this wreck was drunk,
Mom, his voice seems far away.

My own blood's all around me,
As I try hard not to cry.
I can hear the paramedic say,
This girl is going to die.

I'm sure the guy had no idea,
While he was flying high,
Because he chose to drink and drive,
Now I would have to die.

So why do people do it, Mom
Knowing that it ruins lives?
And now the pain is cutting me,
Like a hundred stabbing knives.

Tell sister not to be afraid, Mom
Tell daddy to be brave,
And when I go to heaven,
Put "Daddy's Girl" on my grave.

Someone should have taught him,
That it's wrong to drink and drive.
Maybe if his parents had,
I'd still be alive.

My breath is getting shorter, Mom
I'm getting really scared.
These are my final moments,
And I'm so unprepared.

I wish that you could hold me Mom,
As I lie here and die.
I wish that I could say, "I love you, Mom!"
So I love you and good-bye.

Difference Between Focus on Problems, and Focus on Solutions

When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity. (Ink won't flow down to the writing surface) In order to solve this problem, they hired Andersen Consulting (Accenture today).

It took Andersen one decade and 12 million dollars to develop a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, under water, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.

The Russians used a pencil...

SLOW DANCE

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you ask How are you?
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say,"Hi"
You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

A Snapshot of ''Have fun with English''

In rural areas, the children are taught in their native language. To be specific, in rural areas of Pondicherry, the rural schools follow Tamil medium. Guess what is one of the fundamentals that brought you to where you are now? Yes, the one what you are reading in - ENGLISH. This language opens the door to prospective careers, computers, web resources, technical books, magazines, foreign education and career opportunities and what not. (Atleast in India, that's the case) To peep throught the door of such avenues, these less privileged children need English. We had launched a career counselling programme for the rural children in Abishegapakkam on Februrary. Since they were Tamil medium students, we conducted the whole programme (Test, reports, counselling) in Tamil. That is where we identified the need for English. Furthermore, our plans of "Professional coaching for competitive exams", "Fun filled camps on subjects such as Maths, Science, Computers" and "Nurturing the genius" are not able to take off as basic knowledge of English is required.

A Snapshot of "Career Counselling"

Now we see a lot of career counselling done in schools. This is easily available for an urban child. Apart from the other hurdles they face, the rural children do not have the right orientation for what they are best at. Lot of children just pick up some profession what they are exposed to or just leave the choice to the fate. If this situation has to change, the individual should atleast know what direction of career and education would be best for him/her. Having this in mind, we set our steps to provide career counselling.

A Snapshot of "Athletic Training"

One guy called Subramani, who is a Marathon athlete from a poor family background approached us for sponsorship for his food and athletic training. That led us to ponder further into the state of talented athletes in rural areas. We found that the students of Zone 3 and Zone 4 of Pondicherry which comprises the rural areas of Pondicherry were not able to compete with the students of zone 1 and 2 (town areas of Pondicherry) for the following reasons: