A day in the life of Saraswati

This sunday when we went to Saraswati Ashram we were greeted by the some new members of Saraswati Ashram. These puppies were the new addition to the Ashram. Surprisingly they didnot mind our presence at all,infact they posed for photographs with much elegance and dignity. Probably they have seen the movie "Air Buddies" and were all set to create a mayhen in the Ashram

Suddenly we found the Ashram to be empty and we were wondering where are the kids gone.In a few minutes we discovered that they were mesmerised by the Karizma.It seems the bike lives upto its expectations.

Soon the volunteers of Khwaab got into serious business.The first priority was to ensure that the present Class X students go through the Maharastra board exam.Accordingly we sat down with the Ashram kids to workout.

We soon found that these kids of class x needs so help from us. We had decided that we will try our best to make them score well in board exam so that they can move ahead in life in a better way.Aashish(back-in red jacket) was as serious as ever.He satdown with the Vaibhav and Rohit to see at which level of preparation they are in. His revelations were a cause of concern for us as these kids were not upto the mark for board exam.We finally decided to provide them with extra teacher and ensure that some of us follow up with their progress in the coming months.We also talked on the action plan for class-IX students.

The last look at the Air Buddies before departure.

Visit us at: www.khwaab.org

A letter from an Indian cricket fan

Dear Honchos of BCCI,
It seems you old men are ardently bent at creating an young team India. I welcome your move. The system should try and look towards future. I remember some guy called Greg Chappell tried the same..but eventually when he reached that future he fumbled like a pack of cards. I hope you are not looking at such a future?
It seems from reports that Dhoni and Yuvi has played a hand in eliminating Dada and Jammy. Well since when the BBCI heads started listening to guys who have just began their career. One of them is trying to be a test player and another is trying to be a decent wicket keeper. Oh I am sorry they are the captain and vice-captain of the team. That sounds like reason to listen to them.
Yesterday one of your member Rajiv Shukla said that BCCI has done the right thing and that the Australian pitches requires young stars and we should look toward the future. I guess that’s what you can expect from a failed bureaucrat who’s knowledge of cricket is questionable but still thanks to your immense support he is enjoying his life on the money of tax payers of the country. But who cares that in a country where Shahrukh Khan payes a tax of 15 crore.
But when he gives reason to humiliate great players it seems that the country has gone to the dogs. According to biological theories parasites evolve in places where the climate is suited to their procreation activities, similiarly such guys will thrive around the worlds richest cricket body sucking its wealth for their own mean and crush the basic ethics of sportsmanship.
The question is how do you end the career of a great cricket player? Every country has its own way of doing it. In cricket you try to copy Australia in every aspect except two areas, their selection procedure and the way they handle great player. I guess that’s why you know why Don Bradman was an Australian and not an Indian? No country has such humiliating procedure to end the career of great players except Pakistan. So is it true that you are loving your neighbor as yourself??
Lets look at the two players you have left out. Jammy and dada’s contribution to Indian cricket will surpass the capability of the present captain, vice-captain, selectors and other honchos of BCCI combined. A T20 win have made you so arrogant that you have humiliated the two greatest players of the country. What if the team fails in impress in Australia(As a cricket fan I obviously don’t want that)? I know then you will recall these two players giving some silly excuse. And if they succeed I am sure you will felicitate them by making them occupy the second row of the felicitation dais. I know you cant allow them the first row because the Shuklas and Pawars and Modis and Shahs have better mass appeal and photogenic face
Sourav Ganguly is a poor fielder. I agree he is not a Jonty Rhodes. But he never was a Jonty Rhodes. From the very start of his career he was labeled as a bad fielder. Suddenly after 16 years that becomes a criteria to leave him out of the cricket team. Oh come on you guys can give better reasons! ? Just for a second you forgot he was one of the successful batsman last year and has made India win 9/32 matches he has played single handedly. Now this certainly overshadows his fielding glitches isn’t it. Your new fielder player will probably save 30-40 odd runs but I would love to see how you win matches because of this??
Both Jammy and Dada will surely have lucrative contracts with ESPN STAR sports as commentators. I surely feel they will do a great job. So you see they do not need the money that you offer them, they can do better than that. They play for the nation. Over the years they have batted through worst times to give Indian cricket the platform on which the Shuklas and Pawars and Shah’s are ruling today. They have conquered challenges across the world to give the respect that Indian cricket is getting today. I donot disagree to the Idea of putting in fresh blood in the team but make plans for suitable transition across the generations. Donot gamble too much because the only thing that will suffer loss will be Indian Cricket!
I want to see the Indian Team get the glory that they are looking for. Probably that will keep India buoyant with hope and pride. Billions of people look ahead to the greats of cricket play in their blue uniform. Millions of young Indians dream big about this sport. The Gangulys and Dravids have been role model of a generation. So all you can do for these people is to keep this game away from clutches of politics. Politics have already eaten through the heart of the nation so please at least save its soul.
Hope you will understand what cricket lovers feel about this.

Thanks
An Indian Cricket Fan

Khwaab -Inspire the Dreams

Not many of us had thought that Sunday can bring such a huge change in our lives. When i met Mukul,Aashish,Pradeep,Shipra,Saravana at MG road i had rarely imagined that the next few hours will be so meaningful to all of us. Its not always we get a chance to see the effect of capitalist society whose one side we have been enjoying to the brink. But we got a chance to see it from a very close quarter.
It was through Mukul that I came across www.khwaab.org which is an organization whose main aim is to see that our so called ‘social work’ actually reached the people intended at. Unlike other organization it was not asking for donations and money and other stuff, instead it seeked our active support to make sure the people that need support actually got them.
As a first step we traveled to Saraswati Ashram and Niradhar Balsangopan Orphan Home today to find out the problems faced by the little ones who lived there. While traveling through the bylanes of slums where people are struggling to get their daily wants met, I felt like a blessed human beings. It may be may be philosophical but unless we see the other side of life we rarely appreciate the side which we enjoy.
On reaching Saraswati Ashram we were greeted by smiling little boys and girls whose smiles and curious looks on seeing us was the most warming welcome one can expect. It was a different world. A world far away from the world we live in. A world which had made these little fellows gel into a big family and they have no other family of their own. I guess the proverb “One for all and all for one” stands true to this day. Now sitting back I can barely remember their names, but those smiling faces still hover in my mind.
Our main aim in Saraswati Ashram was to find out how we can help the students studying in the standard IX, X,XI to achieve their goals in life. It wasn’t an easy task to begin with. They had funds and place to study but what I felt they lacked was the zeal and motivation to study and be someone in life. One can’t blame them as they are never given any glimpse of the future that awaits them if they complete their studies well .Then we traveled to meet their private teacher,Mr Ramesh Powar to find out what was exactly going wrong with the kind of education that they were exposed to. It didn’t take us much time to realize that these fellows lacked a vision of a good future and probably they needed good jobs once they go through their education life cycle. If only we can help someone from them to be an established person in life they might get motivated from that success story. We took down our observations and went back from there to the Ashram.
Then we went to Niradhar Balsangopan Orphan Home. It was beside Saraswati Ashram. The two storyed structure was the “Home Sweet Home” for many little children. Unlike Saraswati the age group living here are very young but full of life. Taking to the owner of the Orphanage about the stories of these kids I felt a pang in my heart. Not everyone deserved to be there. But ironically luck has probably played they greatest trick that have made this place home for so many of them, otherwise how you can describe a mother deserting her baby to an orphanage after she is born?? Well I guess the easiest way to run away from reality is to be an escapist. Anyway returning back to the main topic, we talked with the Orphanage owner about the problems faced by them in their day to day activities.
It was the time for us to start back to our lives. The whole evening was spent just finding out what we can do to make a difference to a few lives. I know all six of us have our own views about the evening we spent there but one thing was for sure….all of us were determined to make some difference to the lives of these people. The understanding phase is over now. It’s the time to act. The coming few weeks may prove to be very much activity packed. We need more people to help us out but that’s not going to boggle down our high flying spirit. We are determined to convert our findings of today into reality.
It’s a blog that I am writing after a long time ,but this time it has a purpose. The purpose is more important than the writing. If you read it then join us at www.khwaab.org or be our orkut community member at http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=46200218 .If you are living in Pune then be an active member of www.khwaab.org and lets make few dreams fulfilled.