Wednesday, July 31, 2013

A Book in Every Child's Hand!


Once when my Dad and I were shopping, my eyes stumbled upon a white hardcover book of animal stories. And there at that moment the  five year old self of mine wanted that. And that day my Dad bought me my first ever story book, not knowing that this was just a start. That book took me to another world, a world of animals. I was excited about what I read and saw, and that excitement turned to love. My first love. Love for books.

A reader lives a thousand lives while a man who never reads lives only one” – George R.R Martin. Books contain worlds some have never even believed of imagining.  Books take to another world, a world where you can be whatever character you want.

A beautiful book with lots of colors and pictures is every child’s dream. Even if he didn't turn out into a avid reader, holding a book close to heart is moment of joy of childhood. But can every child in India get that privilege? Does every child get a chance to read at least some books to decide whether they like to read again? Is every child as fortunate as us so they could curl up into their bed clutching their favorite book? Definitely No! In a country like India where education itself is huge issue in some places, getting a story book is like a far fetched dream. Every child has their right to enjoy their childhood Almost all of us are here in this blogosphere is because of their love of books and words. Can you imagine a childhood without fairy tales, Noddy, Enid Blyton and comics?

When a child learns to read but never gets a chance to practice, he will not learn to read fluently. And that affects his performance in his academics and gradually that creates a dropout. This realization initiated Pratham Books- a not-for-profit publisher. Been a nation with 300 million children, 400 languages and almost 2000 dialects and with only 25000 books published annually and that too mainly in English and Hindi (Figures are approximate), getting a book in every child’s hand is not so easy task. Pratham made books accessible to children at a very low price. Till date, they published over 215 titles in English and 10 other Indian languages. That’s over 1500 books, most of which are priced below Rs 25. They have printed over 8.5 million books, over 10 million story cards and have a readership of 25 million. Their vision is to reach 200 million children in India, and they hope to someday put ‘A book in every child’s hand’.

Pratham books have put almost 300 of their books in Creative Commons. This allows any individual to read online, download, print and share, distribute without any copyrights. This allows more books to reach more children.

When I heard about Rohini Nilekani, Founder of Pratham books, the first thought that came to mind was, What can I do for this or about this issue? I have a group of friends in Trivandrum, Kerala, who takes classes twice a month for kids in rural area and they have decided to include a half an hour story telling session in their teaching schedule. And they will be given a book that day which should be returned on the next class to get another one and this repeats. For that we are going to use the Creative Commons license advantage of Pratham books. I too believe that, if we can share the privilege of what we enjoy, then that’s something we can do for others.


Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light. 
– Vera Nazarian





Check out this speech by Rohini Nilekani delivered at the event where Franklin Templeton Investments partnered the TEDexGateway Mumbai in December 2012. 




 

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Tring Tring...


Tring tring... the phone rang...

It might be him. "Gosh! I can't stop the scooty in the middle of the road to attend the call."... She thought.

She was supposed to meet him before one hour, but at the last moment some guests came and jeopardised her plans and she got stuck. And when she informed him that she'll be late by one hour he was not that happy. He never liked changes in plans.

And now she's on her way to him.

He might have reached and would be fuming impatiently coz of her delay. She grinned to herself imagining his face.

She stopped to the side of the road and checked the missed calls. Yea, it was him! She dialed his number and waited.

"Hello"...  A strange voice.
"Huh.....hello... who's this? "
"I am the police officer from the local station. The owner of this mobile met with a car accident and is taken to the medical hospital".....

She felt as if life just flew out of her body. Numbness crept through her. When she regained her composure she hurried towards the hospital, praying that nothing wrong should happen and all her wild thoughts should remain as thoughts itself............



(This post is part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda)

And this post got picked by BlogAdda.com as one of  the "WOW" post of the Week.

And Bhavya.... Thank you ;) 










Monday, July 22, 2013

Best Decision Ever Taken.


Seeing her daughter as a bride Priya felt her life complete. Her Pari has grown up and is off to built her own family.

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Twenty years ago, when Priya first stepped into Shishu-Bhavan she was not sure about what she was doing. All sort of questions and doubts were pondering in her mind. But the moment she laid her eyes on the beautiful two year old with twinkling eyes and a naughty smile nothing felt more right.

And after some hours of formalities, Pari became her daughter. And Priya in course of time bloomed into a beautiful mom under the shadow of her child's smile.


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Wordless...




Saturday, July 20, 2013

The Lesson Learnt.


Life itself is a great teacher. No school or uni or MNC's could ever teach you, what you learn from real life experiences. Whoever is happy with their life have learnt their lessons properly and passed the test with flying colors.  

My life is a humpy bumpy ride and I think not only mine but all of yours too. It got all the elements a movie demands. And was fun and at the same time hectic to live till date. And during this journey I did learn couple of things  which I want to take to my grave. 

I always wished someone told me or rather convinced me that making mistakes was part of life and not the end of the world. I understood that making mistakes is human and just have to pick yourself from there and move forward. By making mistakes you discover who you are. They teach you to forgive yourself and helps you to let go of your fears and make you realize that mistakes were just stepping stones to happiness. I learned all these, but only after I did my share of mistakes. 

Another lesson I learned from life is to 'let go'. Letting go of someone or something is a big heart break for me. Till date like many, I have seen broken friendships, love, death, fights, misunderstandings and what not. And I am someone who could never forget the words of a person whether its good/bad. And if its something negative it just gets engraved in my mind. But off late, I came to my senses and embraced the art of letting go of the negatives and insecurities in my mind. Intentionally and unintentionally people hurt you or come to your life and go off too quickly, but they shouldn't affect you beyond a point. And I learned or still learning how to let go of 'Not-so-happy incidents, words and relations' of my past, present and future. 

P.S. Life is a journey, with problems to solve, lessons to learn, but most of all, experiences to enjoy.

God Blez. 

      -----------------------------------------------------


This post is also in response to The Writer's Post blog hop #86. The host is Suzy from Reflections of my Soul. And her chosen prompt is "The Lesson".




Monday, July 15, 2013

Every Night in my Dreams!



Saw a music post in Preetilata's blog during ABC Challenge. Now Bhavya's Kuch Khaas Hai triggered me to do this. Do check out these two awesome blogs, they do have some writings to grip you.

This is something which should be written while completely immersed in the world of music.



Four simple rules to it.

1. Put your Music Player on Shuffle mode.
2.For each question press 'Next' button to get your answer.
3. You must write the name of the song no matter what it turns out to be.
4. And No Cheating. ;)


1.   If someone says "Is this okay?", you say

                  Pari pari hai ik pari
                  Aasmaan se aa giri
                  Saamne mere khadi
                  Mujhe usse pyaar ho gayaa


2.   What could best describe your personality?

                 Idazhin oru oram sirithai anbe
                 Nijamaai ithu pothum siripai anbe


3.   What do you like in guy/girl?

                 Mar jawan mar jawan
                 Tere ishq pe mar jawan
         

4.   How do you feel today?

                 Soyi soyi palko pe chalke
                 Mere sapno ke khidki pe aa gaya
                 Aate jaate phir mere dil ke
                 Inn haathon mein woh khat pakda gaya
                 Pyar ka.... lafzo mein rang hai pyar ka

                 Bahara.... Bahara.... :D


5.   What is your life's motto?

                 Lat Lag Gayeee ....

                 Hey...
                 Baimaan dil bada baimaan
                 Hota nahi aasaan
                 Ise hai samjhana


6.   What do you think of your parents?

                What actually came up was a bgm from Deva Thirumagal -  Life is beautiful!


7.   What do you think about very often?

                Ethrayo janmamayi ninae njn thedunnu
                Athramel ishthamayi ninneyen punyame

(My all time fav... It's a mallu song!)

8.   What is 2+2?

                Bikhre toote tukde saare jud rahe hain dheere dheere
                Haule hauley
                Betuke se sur woh aare mill rahe hai dheere dheere
                Haule hauley


9.   What do you think of your Best Friend?

                Sun raha hai naa tu
                Ro raha hun main

                                  (Aashiqui 2)

10.   What do you think of the person you like?

                Let it be, let it be
                Ab jaane de
                Ro liya hai
                Zara muskuraane de
                Itna toh hak banta hai
                Mujhe ek chance
                Toh dede zindagi


11.  What is your life story?

               Life is a dream you can't explain
               Love can chase the bidding of your heart
               Like the sunshine in the rain
               Love can make your whole world fall apart
               But I want it now
               I just wanna spent my life with you 

                          (Blush Blush)

12.  What you want to be when you grow up?

              Tu hi toh jannat meri, Tu hi mera junoon
              Tu hi to mannat meri, Tu hi rooh ka sukoon
               ..............
              Tujh mein rab dikha hai
              Yaara mein kya karu


13.  What do you think when you see the person you like?

              Har ghadi badal raha hai roop zindagi
              Chaav hai khabi hai dhoop zindagi
               ............
              Kal Ho Na Ho

14.  What do your parents think of you

              Main hoon gumsum tu bhi khamosh hai
              Sach hai samy ka hai sad dosh hao
              Dhadkan dhadkan ik gham rehat hai
              Jaane kyu phir bhi dil kehta hai
              Jee le zara, jee le zara

15.  What will you play on your wedding?

               Surkhwala, sauz wala, Faiz wala love
               Hota hai jo love se jyada waise wala love
               Ishq wala love

16.  What will they play at your funeral?

               Heer heer na akho adiyo
               Main te sahiba hoi
               Ghodi leke aave lejaaye

17.  What is your biggest secret?

               Challa ki labh da phire
               Challa ki labh da phire
               Yaaron da ghar kheda
               Lokan toh pucha phire


18.  What do you think about your friends?

              Chali re, chali re
              Junoon ko liye
              Katra, katra lamho ko diye
              Pinjre se uda dil ka shikra
              Khudi se maine ishq kiya re

              Jiya jiya re jiya re
              Jiya jiya re jiya re

19.  What should you post this as?

               Every night in my dreams