Tag Archives: children

SHORT STORY: POVERTY

July 6, 2015causerie, column, short story, snippet, spiritual, storychildren, concern, curse, destiny, feelings, garibi, hunger, karma, parents, passenger train, poverty, railway station, short story, spiritual, story, tea vendor, unicef, warmthshravancharitymission

Once upon a time, there lived a poor and elderly couple that without fail used to visit the railway station of a small town every morning, as well as in the evening. There, they used to wait for a particular passenger train that used to arrive at six in the morning. The same train used to return at seven in the evening. When again, they used to wait for its arrival, and after the train left they used to return to their home empty handed.

But in the five minutes that the train halted the couple used to go into a tizzy. They used to go in opposite directions. One towards the engine and the other towards the end of the train. As if looking for someone, and day-after-day they used to call out the same name.

In the same platform there was a tea vendor who had had his tea stall there for many years now. He used to light his gas stove at 5 in the morning to make tea. His first customers used to be the ones out of the same passenger train, for which, this elderly couple, used to come and wait each morning and evening.

The tea vendor had watched the couple quite attentively for years every day while doing his brisk business. The passenger train was rarely late. And after midnight it used to be the first train in the morning.

One morning when the train arrived. The elderly couple as usual went in opposite directions, calling out the same name. But as the train trickled out of the platform. They came and sat near the staircase trying to catch their breath.

The tea vendor who used to watch them from a distance each day could not hold his inquisition that day. He walked up to the elderly couple and asked,

‘I have being watching you both, coming to this platform, without fail, for years now. What do you come here for? Are you looking for someone?’ He asked in a concerned tone.

Embarrassed, the couple looked at each other when the elderly man in a hesitant and guilty tone said,

‘Babuji some fifteen years back. In the same passenger train. We had left behind, three of our children, because we didn’t have money to feed them. So we come here looking for them. We shout for the elder one. Who was six then, thinking he might remember his name and respond, but till date we have not met with any success.’

This is poverty at its worst. It is a true story. In this life we often are upset over minor things, even when God has given us everything. Remember, destiny can be extremely kind to some, and extremely harsh to some others. So thank God, for each iota of goodness that you have in your life.

Posted by Kamlesh Tripathi

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

Share if you like it

Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases. Should you wish to donate for the cause the bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(Archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. Book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

(CAN BE BOUGHT FROM ON LINE BOOK STORES OR WRITE TO US FOR COPIES)

*****

NGO ACTIVITY ON 21.5.15: BRING SMILES

May 21, 2015Uncategorizedbrain tumour, cancer, children, donate, poor, treatmentshravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

Once again in the pursuit of smiles on the two young faces we visited Apollo hospital and handed over two cheques to the Parents/Elders of these children for cancer treatment. We spoke to them for a while. May God bless them.

Master Tarif, Age 12 is from the family of farmers. He doesn’t have a father and his treatment is being taken care of by Aas Mohammed his uncle who is a marginal farmer with very low income from Hayana. He is suffering from Brain Tumour. We wish Master Tarif all the the best in life.
Miss Mehak Misra, age 9 is suffering from CNS Lymphoma. Her father works for a private job. Mehmak is a bright student and wants to do great things in life. We wish Mehak the very best in life.

A small contribution from you can change the lives of these poor Unfortunate children:

For net transfer:

Name of account: ‘Shravan Charity Mission’

Bank of India account no: (680510110004635)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

Name of account: ‘Shravan Charity Mission’

HDFC account no: (04801450000140)

IFSC Code: HDFC0000480

You could also send us a cheque in favour of ‘Shravan Charity Mission’ at the following address:

Shravan Charity Mission, c/o Mr Kamlesh Tripathi, Arihant Ambience, Sapphire-002, Crossings Republik, Ghaziabad-201009

our e-mail id is : shravancharitymission@gmail.com

#SHRAVAN #CHARITY #MISSION-MANDATE- #donate to help #poor #children suffering from #cancer

May 1, 2015article, articles, book launch, causerie, column, ngo activity, short article, short article on cancer, short story, snippet, spiritual, spiritual article, story, tributes, Uncategorizedaadab lucknow...fond mempries, apollo, cancer, charity, child, children, donations, donor, gloom behind the smile, hospital, india, One to Tango ... Ria's odyssey, poor, refractions from the prism of god, SHRAVAN, shravan charity missionshravancharitymission

Dear Friends,

Shravan Charity Mission was started in the memory our late son ‘Shravan.’ He was diagnosed of ‘Brain cancer’ when he was only two-an-a-half years old. And after a long and well fought battle he succumbed tragically when he was sweet sixteen in the year 2009. It was a very arduous journey for us and since then we decided to help ‘Poor Children Suffering from Cancer,’ and the NGO was registered for this purpose.

Background: I have served in big corporate companies for over 36 years across India and at senior positions. But, I now pursue the cause of cancer. I am also a writer, author and a freelance journalist. I also run my own blog as detailed below. Through this blog we cover activities of our NGO where we make direct financial interventions for treatment of poor children; and we also write domain articles and also article of general interest. Currently we are working with Apollo Hospitals in their poor children’s ward, with Dr Amita Mahajan, Pediatric oncologist.

My wife is an educationist and works as a Principal in a B-Ed college and my elder son and daughter-in-law are both with corporate companies.

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

I am also giving below some other URLs with a brief introduction of what it stands for as it will help you in understanding our activities even better:

http://goo.gl/uZ26An Shravan remembrance day advertisement in the newspaper on 24^th February.

http://goo.gl/m6AbCF NGO Activity: Distributing toys to poor angels suffering from cancer.

http://goo.gl/4XqeQI Another way to remember #St #Valentine: #NGO activity on 14^th February 2015

http://goo.gl/XmtzoQ NGO activity #Caring for #poor #child #cancer #patients.

Dr Amita Mahajan, Apollo Hospital handing over medical assitance cheque

http://goo.gl/lpjcb1 NGO activity in the hospital on 25.4.15

http://goo.gl/vIGUIY #Nepal #Quake- 25.4.15, 2015. Short article on a lifetime of tragedy.

http://goo.gl/dNl0wZ HOW I DE-STRESSED MYSELF – IN A REAL LIFE SITUATION. the ultimate stress buster is your mind (Spiritual and real life)

http://goo.gl/D1mSOr TRIBUTE TO SUNITA TOMAR- THE #ANTI #TOBACCO #CRUSADER AGAINST CANCER

http://goo.gl/oHCcOz Lucknow Observer- Interview

http://goo.gl/ei8Fpa #Liquid-biopsy being tested in the US may soon be a boon for cancer treatment.

http://goo.gl/zztfto When even your critics come to see you off- Lucknow Boy Tribute to Vinod Mehta

MY PUBLICATIONS (Earnings go for the cause of poor children suffering from cancer)

http://goo.gl/eWuIS0 ‘#Book #review ‘Gloom behind the Smile’- A real life #story of a #child #cancer #patient (story of Shravan that you could purchase from us or an ebook from online stores – read the url) Book is archived in libraries of the US including the biggest library of world- Library of Congress, Washinton DC.

http://goo.gl/a1sUPH ‘#Aadab #Lucknow … fond memories’ is a book on Lucknow’s #culture (in novel format) of #Hindu-#Muslim #brotherhood. E-book is available in amazon.com and flipkart and some other stores. Print copies available with us. Book was launched in Lucknow Literary festival last year.

http://goo.gl/O3FgDY ‘One to tango … Ria’s odyssey.’ Is a #Story on #SINGLEHOOD about a #Delhi girl. The book is now archived in prestigious Connemara library of Chennai. In case you require a copy you can find in any online store or write to us.

Short stories for sale (Earnings go for cancer patients)

http://goo.gl/yCyImD ‘WHO SHOT THE #WILD #BOAR?’ Is a #short #story on #wild-life written to aid poor children suffering from #cancer. Price Rs 100 for a PDF copy

http://goo.gl/88UVzd ‘ ALLURING MIRAGE OF Raj estate-Ludhiana’ – a short family story written for the cause poor children suffering from #cancer. Price Rs 100 for a PDF copy.

FOR DONATIONS OR PURCHASES KINDLY MAKE A NET TRANSFER AS PER INDIVIDUAL URL OR DROP A CHEQUE IN ANY OF THE ACCOUNTS AND SEND US AN E-MAIL ON shravancharitymission@gmail.com AND WE WILL DESPATCH THE BOOK/SHORT STORY TO YOU

Account name: Shravan charity mission

HDFC account number: (04801450000140)

IFSC code: (HDFC0000480)

Account name: Shravan charity mission

Bank of India ac no: (680510110004635)

IFSC code: (BKID0006805)

Account name: Kamlesh Tripathi (for overseas $ transfer)

ICICI account no: (008301504072)

IFSC code: (ICIC0000018)

NGO ACTIVITY- 25.4.15

April 25, 2015Uncategorizedapollo hospital, cancer, children, poor child patientsshravancharitymission

It was sterling moment once again when we met Manjit Singh a class nine student diagnosed Osteosarcoma. He happens to be the son of a priest in a Gurudwara at Ramnagar in Nainital.

We spoke to Manjit for a short while and found him to be a confident young boy with a lot of courage and zeal. And, there is no reason why he won’t bounce back; as God believes in testing a noble soul even if he happens to be the son of a priest.

Manjit, has a positive attitude and this all that matters in treatment of Cancer.

Your NGO handed over the contribution towards the treatment of this bright young star Manjit Singh.

We wish Manjit the very best in life.

To donate :

1. Name of account: Shravan Charity Mission

HDFC account no (04801450000140)

IFSC code: (HDFC0000480)

2. Name of account: Shravan Charity Mission

Bank of India account no: (680510110004635)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

Article: ARE RURAL SCHOOLS PLAYING WITH THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN AND INDIA?

January 28, 2015article, article on feedbackachievement, annual status of education report, arithmetic, aser, children, education, gaon, household, india, kids, ngo, poor children, pratham, rural children, rural schools, schoolshravancharitymission

NGO Pratham has done well in bringing out an outstanding report called the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER 2014). ASER is an annual household survey to assess children’s schooling status and basic learning levels in Reading and Arithmetic. It is the tenth such survey facilitated by Pratham. This is the largest and most comprehensive annual household survey of children in rural India. It surveyed 16,497 villages located in 577 districts across India covering 341,070 households and 569,229 children.

POSITIVES AT SCHOOL LEVEL:

India, would love to hear, that enrolments in schools, are at a level of 96% and that too for the 6^th year in a row. So, most of our kids are now at least, sauntering down the school classrooms. And, to toast the occasion there are regular mid-day meals, to take care of their nourishment and over 80% of our schools have improved infrastructure. And the buck doesn’t stop here, as 75% of rural schools now have provision for drinking water, while 65% even have toilets, which is significantly higher than about half a decade ago.

NON-ACHIEVEMENTS AT SCHOOL LEVEL:

So, while we have made steady progress on the infrastructure side of our schools, what still remains deficient is on the teaching side – how well are these schools teaching their pupils? In depth details are available online. But here are some disturbing points:

Almost 50% of the kids in class 5 cannot read simple sentences that are taught in class 2.
50% of the kids in class 5 cannot do basic two digit subtraction which is taught in class 2.
And half the kids in class 8 cannot do even simple division that is taught in class 4

So then what is going on in these schools? As half of our school children after having spent more than half a decade in school cannot read basic sentences and do even simple arithmetic; when they could have learnt this in 2-3 years of urban education or in any private school. So do these teachers employed with these schools have any accountability?

SO THEN, WHERE ARE HEADING TO?

Are these schools responsible for creating a talent pool in our country or are we just to rejoice over enrollment numbers and mid-day meals and forget the core issue of educating our children. In the literacy chain of India this could be the weakest link. For what is literacy anyway? Is it just being able to write your name or learn the bare minimum skill of being able to read and solve those basic arithmetical problems. A skill that you will require lifelong. Or is it something much more than that.

Basic skill of reading and arithmetic is vital for survival in today’s world; as life in any form will require these skills. And if the basics are not strong. No matter how much of education you add in later years will only go for a waste. As the data explains adding number of years of education to such laggards will be of no use. And, also, such laggards though counted in enrollment will never get educated.

And, mind you the percentage of such students is very high, and at a staggering fifty percent. India could have lived with a miniscule percentage of such students but because it is half our students, it depicts an applecart failure in our education system.

article: SHOULD TEXT BOOKS BE AVAILABLE, BOTH IN PRINT AND E-BOOK FORMAT FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN?

December 5, 2014article, article on career, articles, book launch, column, interesting facts, short article, short article on business, short srticle, snippetarticle, children, college, e-reader, ebook, ebooks, education minister, hrd minister, kindle, manish shishodia, PMO, political parties, rss, school, school books, smriti irani, students, syllabus, teachers, text books, textbooksshravancharitymission

SHOULD TEXT BOOKS BE AVAILABLE, BOTH IN PRINT AND E-BOOK FORMAT FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN?

Every day when I go for my morning walk. I see innumerable school children and some very young, carrying their heavy rucksacks filled with books up to a bursting point. Many out of them are even unable to walk in the normal manner because of the weight. Some even walk sluggishly and at times are helped by their nannies or their young parents or even their old grand parents. To, be on time for their school bus or any other mode of conveyance that they take. And I am more than sure this must be causing a great amount of unspoken dissonance in these children. Considering, the matrix and size of India. I consider this as an important issue to be looked at seriously. When it affects 52% of our population. The hypothesis finds more ground when we dig into some relevant statistics as given below.

MIX OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

India has approximately 113.8 million children attending primary school and another 88.5 million attending secondary. While PE (Primary Education) covers an age group of 5 to 14 years, SE (Secondary Education) covers children in the age group of 14-18 years. PE is up to class 8 and SE spills over to class 12 and beyond that is the HE (Higher Education)

Now, if we were to analyse the demographic structure of education in India in the table below, we would find:

	DEMOGRAPHIC STRUCTURE IN EDUCATION 2009
AGE GROUP	EDUCATION GROUP	POPULATION IN CRORE	PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION

0-3		7.5	6.50%
4-6	Pre Primary	7.9	6.80%
7-11	Primary (I-V)	14.4	12.40%
12-14	Upper Primary (VI-VIII)	8.5	7.30%
15-18	Secondary (IX-XI)	9.7	8.30%
19-24	Higher (XII+)	12.6	10.90%
	Population	60.6	52.30%

The population in the age group between 4 to 18 years, which comprises of Pre-Primary to Secondary level, is around 40 crore and around 35% of our total population; which is sizeable. So, at no cost can we condone their issues, especially when they are not adults and cannot speak for themselves. The existing state of play, where they use printed text books may not be that convenient, both for them and their families, but then they have no choice.

SOME MAJOR DISADVANTAGES OF PRINT TEXT BOOKS

Bulky and heavy to carry and the weight only increases as you go up, the classes.
Often these books are out of print especially when the text is modified or when a new session starts and are even sold at a premium.
Print books are subject to wear and tear.
Expensive as compared to an e-book, and with the rise in paper, print, labour and transportation costs the prices will only increase.
May not be readily available at multiple locations.
In many areas we don’t have regular electricity supply or have long power cuts, when you can’t read these books and this is a great disadvantage, during times of examinations and even routine study. Whereas, an e-book can be read in the dark.

INDIAN PRINT TEXT BOOK MARKET

If we take the Indian text book market it is at a level of $ 1.2 billion, with an addition of $510 million of supplementary books. However, private publishers have access to just 60% of the market. Given the monopoly of state boards and NCERT in 95% of the school text books. And a large chunk of schools are vernacular with local languages; and often out of print.

BENEFITS OF E-BOOKS

If Finland can say good bye to ‘cursive handwriting’ by 2016, why can’t India move towards e-books. When the advantages are so many,

Except for a onetime cost of purchasing the e-reader the recurring costs of purchasing text books will reduce substantially. Government can incentivise purchase of e-readers.
It will always be available, both in India and globally. And never out of print.
You can even read in the dark.
Very light to carry and not bulky.
Will give even a rural child a sense of advancement in life.
One book for many books: e-reader.

WAY FORWARD

The government should introduce e-book as a parallel option for children. To assess the ground reality the project could be piloted in a particular district or a state. It could even start with a particular subject. E-books could be readied out of print books and loaded in to simple e-readers, with white paper technology. The project can be launched in identified schools where it could be monitored by an IT instructor of the school along with teachers. And I am sure with this even our rural child will go global.

By Kamlesh Tripathi

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

Share if you like it

Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases. Should you wish to donate for the cause the bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(CAN BE BOUGHT FROM ON LINE BOOK STORES OR WRITE TO US FOR COPIES)

*****

ALLURING MIRAGE OF RAJ ESTATE-LUDHIANA, A SHORT STORY BY KAMLESH TRIPATHI

October 12, 2014book launch, casual causerie, column, short story, snippet, storycanada, cancer, chandigarh, children, daddy, donate, family, jasvinder, joint family, ludhiana, mandeep, nri, old age, papaji, parents, pgi, pressures of life, short story, story, story from punjab, sukhbir, tamilian, UKshravancharitymission

Purchase the short story to contribute for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases.

Price Rs 50 only

ALLURING MIRAGE OF Raj estate-Ludhiana

By Kamlesh Tripathi

Published by: Shravan Charity Mission

Few lines for flavour:

‘Papa ji, my friend who recently went to Toronto was telling me around ten to fifteen lacs, when his Parents are still supporting him till he finds a job. O-O Daddy ji, it is very, very tough these days.’ replied Mandeep.
Soon the ambience at home deteriorated. Fun, cheer, smiles were replaced by gloom and suspicion. Rapid degradation followed in interpersonal. The boisterous evenings that saw all the three brothers clanging their glasses, nibbling rich snacks in the lawns of the Kothi had turned turtle.
Mandeep, had married a girl of Canadian origin without informing his Parents. Jasmeet invited Jasvinder and Sukhbir for his wedding to a Tamilian software engineer but they refused to attend.
A gloom had set in around the clan. Rajs were now past sixty … senior citizens. Some even had health problems. Banto, had recently informed Gurdeep that Upinder and Lovely had visited PGI Chandigarh a couple of times. Perhaps, between them someone was not well.”

PRICE RS 50 (It takes just thirty minutes to receive a PDF copy of the story after remitting the payment) Write to us after making a net transfer, on the blog itself or on our e-mail id: shravancharitymission@gmail.com and we will mail the copy to you.

FOR NET TRANSFER DETAILS REFER THE FOLLOWING ACCOUNT DETAILS;

Name of account: Kamlesh Tripathi

ICICI account no: 008301504072

IFSC code: ICIC0000018

Thanks & Regards