This is a weekly blog that puts forward my thoughts, and my point of view.
You may agree with some. And probably disagree with most. And we can agree to disagree. After all, wouldn't life be boring if we all thought the same way.
Earlier this week I traveled from Mumbai to the US. Again. And started reflecting about travel. And I did what I always did when I start reflecting. Google the subject.
And that's when I came across an extremely interesting experiment. Not something that most of us could do, but definitely things we could get inspired by.
On Thursday Claudian and I drove to Ahmednagar to visit Snehalaya. Our host Shashikant Satbhai, a volunteer. We were given a tour of the place and none of the reading I had done on the project came anywhere close to what we saw. It was unbelievably amazing. http://www.snehalaya.org/
And if that was not enough, Shashikant would tell us the background story of the people we would meet. Each incident moving, every single person a hero in the true sense of that word.
The most inspiring story was of one of the beneficiaries of the program. An elderly lady who had been rescued by the program had used her 2nd chance to make a living by selling vegetables and continued to assist and volunteer at Snehalaya.
A few years ago, she inherited a prime plot of land in Pune city worth over 20 million rupees. And instead of using her good fortune to retire and have a well deserved comfortable lifestyle, she donated the land to the organization to start a center. In spite of efforts to get her to change her mind, she did not relent. She wanted her good fortune to be used to give 2nd opportunities to others, just as she had got one.
And as if all of this was not enough, we got the opportunity to meet the founder Girish Kulkarni at his modest home. Prof. Kulkarni is a professor at the Ahmednagar college. As soon as we entered we were informed by his wife that the reason he was home, was he was just discharged from the hospital a couple of hours back and she refused to let him leave home. The reason he was hospitalized, Exhaustion from Overwork.
The story of his life is summarized well on the Snehalaya website.
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At 14-years old Girish Kulkarni turned up to his school friend's home. He did not know until he arrived that his friend and her mother were living and working in a brothel, in shockingly violent conditions. The brothel keeper was displeased by his visit and in a rage, inflicted indescribable abuse on the girl and her mother, making Girish stay to watch. Appalled by the brutality he had been forced to witness, the young Girish made a promise to himself. He resolved there and then to devote his life to ending the atrocities faced by trafficked and enslaved women and children in India.
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And that was the beginning of Snehalaya.
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Snehalaya means 'Home of Love', and was founded in 1989 to provide support for women, children and LGBT communities, who have been affected by HIV and AIDS, trafficking, sexual violence, and poverty. We operate in Ahmednagar, a town and district in the agricultural region of Maharashtra, India, and provide services to over 15,000 beneficiaries.
We are more than an NGO, we are a strong and passionate family, united in the belief that no one should stand alone. Many of our staff first came to us as beneficiaries to use our services. We understand that resilience - the desire to survive - is an extraordinary force. A sense of belonging and compassion can nurture even the most destitute and fragile people to not just survive, but to thrive in life. We welcome everyone with an open heart and without prejudice.
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This 10 minute video on Snehalaya beautifully highlights the work of the organization.Its a must watch.
The Extraordinary Family Of Snehalaya. A Home Of Love Narrated by Seema Sharma
The visit to Snehalaya and the meeting with Prof. Kulkarni was truly humbling. It highlighted to me how little most of us had done to make a difference. And inspiring leading me to make a commitment.
All of us may not be able to do what Prof. Kulkarni and Snehalaya have done. However we can definitely support these amazing organizations with our time and money.
Earlier this week on the 11th, we celebrated Dad's months mind. We started the day by visiting his final resting place, decorating and praying not for Dad but to Dad.
Later in the evening, there was a beautiful service with an amazing 1 person choir that was attended by over 100 of Dad's family and friends. We had a small get together at which Mabel made a moving speech.
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Good evening, I on behalf of Mummy, Stephen, Don and Frank would like to thank each and every one of you for being here with us this evening.
Mummy’s siblings having seen them at close quarters believed Dad and Mom had the perfect marriage. We kids love to believe they had the perfect kids too. So Rony uncle got married on the same date as them June 5th. Then when Vincy, Mom’s youngest brother was getting married he too wanted to get married on June 5th.
That’s when Stephen informed him that that’s a great date to get married. He will have a great marriage but with 4 kids like Mom and Rony uncle. Rony uncle had a son, then a daughter and then twins. Vincy quickly changed the date to June 6th.
Dad was always up to a challenge. Don the fittest in the family thought all of us, other than him and mummy were overweight. He challenged us to lose between 5 kg to 7 kg within a year to reach our ideal wt and we had to maintain the lost weight for an entire year. The bet money being all of 5000 dollars. Dad though he loved eating took up the bet seriously and won and maintained his weight ever since. Such was his will power even at 70. He was highly competitive and hated losing. Stephen won too while Frank and I just cried that we need more time and are yet to lose our weight. Frank maybe now we should win the bet to honor dads memory.
I would like to relate a small incident which to me best portrays Daddy. Whenever Daddy felt ill, which was very rare, he would tell Mummy, Don’t worry Mummy. NO RISK. In the last few weeks of his life just once he mentioned to Mom ‘Mummy my guarantee is over’. Those words were the only indication Dad ever gave any of us that he knew his time had come.
Even then, every time a family member or friend came to see him, in spite of his illness, he would first inquire about their health and well-being. And when they checked how he was, he would simply say ‘I’m fine. God has been very kind to me.’
For him others always came before self. To us Dad was the epitome of simplicity, humility, caring and chivalry. All we kids and his grandchildren are and will always be proud to be known as Mr Ignatius Lobos children and grandchildren.
My sincere prayer today is that ‘May all of us assembled here be blessed to lead a life as beautiful as his’.
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RIP Dad
And do look after Mummy, your kids and grand-kids from up there as you always did.
After Dad's passing away, I have been looking at cancer in a whole new light.
And have been doing a little bit of reading and viewing on the subject. And I'm constantly amazed with the number of talented people working on solving this problem. Until I was completely blown away by a TED talk I saw.
In the highly competitive field of Medical Research, there was this young man and a small research lab that went Open-Source. Yes, Open-Source. Which means that they shared all of their brilliant findings with the rest of the world.
I'm sure you'll enjoy Jay Bradner describe the experiment in his own words.
Today is Gandhi Jayanthi, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. Here are my 10 favorite Gandhi quotes.
And my most favorite one which applies to us and if enough of us followed it, the world would be even more awesome, not only for some of us, but for all of us.
