by Gayatri Nair

Independence Day is not just another holiday for software engineer Dheeraj Kumar M. He wants to celebrate it by planting 300 saplings and restore some green cover in Bangalore. On Saturday, Kumar along with volunteers, will plant 100 saplings in Marathalli and another 200 in and around HMT Layout. Kumar said, “Trees are being felled to make roads and other infrastructure. The City has almost lost the Garden City tag. Hence, I want to compensate by planting more saplings.”

This is not the first time he’s planting saplings. On July 11, he planted about 500 saplings in the Vishwa Santhi Ashram in Nelamangala. Kumar added, “There are many benefits of planting saplings. It strengthens the soil and obviously reduces pollution. And what better way to celebrate Independence Day.”

Joining Forces

Saturday’s spot for planting saplings was recommended to Kumar by his colleague Apoorv Jain, who lives in the apartment complex SJR Spencer on Varthur Road, Marathalli.

The place chosen is a small plot of land behind the apartment complex. Planting is taking place from 8 am with the children of families living in the apartments taking part.

“Later when the children will play in the garden they will see the plants and remember to water them,” added Kumar. Residents of the apartments are extremely supportive of this initiative.

All the saplings for Saturday’s planting are provided for free by Isha Foundation, said M Rajesh Kumar, a software engineer who works with it.

Dheeraj has also started a blog www.grow-trees.blogspot.com to create more awareness about planting.

Five Questions: Andrea Daley

Andrea Daley, the owner and operator of Restoration Specialist located at 253 Fourth St. in Troy, is on a mission to have all of the historic doors in the city restored to their original glory.

Q: How would you describe this mission of yours?

A: My mission is to bring awareness and attention to all the magnificent entranceways that Troy has, and I need to do that in two ways: by teaching others and by just being out there fixing them. It doesn’t have to just be old doors. It can be any entranceway that needs attention. If people don’t do something with them then eventually they’re going to get to the point of no return and be replaced with metal and plastic doors — things that are just so out of character with these beautiful homes.

Q: How did you get into the restoration business?

A: I started by doing porcelain restoration, which my mom taught me, and object art restoration. For the most part, I’m self taught and took airbrush courses, as well as other little courses I found interesting, in addition to my background as an artist.

Q: Why did you choose to become so active with the Little Italy neighborhood?

A: One of the reasons was that I bought a home in that area and also have my showroom there as well as my studio for teaching. The people there are just so great that they are really starting to bring life back to this area.

Q: What made you start writing a book about your restoration of doors in the city?

A: The idea for that came from the education that I take called landmark education, which focuses on making you stretch and go beyond your comfort zone to help make a difference in the world. It puts you out there in your community and anyone who takes this type of education really ends up doing great things for their community.

Q: What do you do in your free time?

A: My free time is taken up with 21 grandchildren, 10 of which are under 10 years in age, and six children of my own, so every couple weeks there is a birthday or parties to go to.

JBSLNSFCT is a trust established by karthik’s parents, uncles, aunts and cousins to carry forward the charitable work of the family over the last 300 years into teh 21st century, under the blessings and guidance of Karthik’s great-grandmother Lakshmi Narasamma. The trust is actively involved in educational, spiritual and health related activities in Jalamangala village.

The leaders of the project were Geetha (Karthik’s mother), Indira (Karthik’s mother-in-law), Lalithamma (Karthik’s maternal grandmother), Anantha Lakshmi (Ramya’s grandmother) and 8 women from Ladies society. They were supported by Ramachandra (Karthik’s father), Nagaraj (Ramya’s father), Usha (Karthik’s aunt), Rashmi (Karthik’s sister) and Sowmya (Ramya’s sister).

Early, on the morning of the 9th of March, a team of 12 women from Bangalore, including the above leaders, visitied Jalamangala Village. As part of their visit, they started the day at the 300-year old home built by JBSLNSFCT’s ancestors. The event was organized at a local community center built by the JBSLNSFCT for use by the villagers. Following a prayer meeting at the local temple for Lord Ganesha, constructed by JBSLNSFCT, the meeting started.

About 120 women of the village participated in the event and were brought together by 9 different “Stree Shakti” (Women Empowerment) groups. The event focused on bringing together the team from Bangalore, including Lalithamma (Karthik’s grandmother), who spent her childhood years in the village, with the women of the village and provide an opportunity for both the groups to get related to each other.

The event proceeded to discuss the lifestyle of the women of the village, what’s important for them and their hardships and issues. While financial support was not found to be an important requirement, support with healthcare and small-scale industry product marketing was found to be in need.

Later that day, the women visited the village of Talawadi where the ancestors of JBSLNSFCT had built a temple.

The team from Bangalore has planned on taking on the following next steps in the coming months in Lalamangala village:

1. Organize a women’s health camp that includes guidance on Gynecological and Pediatric care.
2. Create an event with experts in small scale industry product marketing from Bangalore
3. Work with other local NGOs to support the critical causes in the village

Acknowledgements

• Lakshmi Narasamma and JBSLNSFCT for providing an opportunity to cause this event
• Indira Nagaraja and members of her Ladies Society for generously contributing their time and views
• Women of Jalamangala village for participating and being open to contribution at this event
• Katie Lynn and SELP Team at Landmark Education, San Jose for providing a platform for this project to start

A Crusader for a Safe Environment

He has a vision and a mission. He is V Shankar, who organized a project last Tuesday on the ‘Importance of cleanliness in daily life,’ with the slogan ‘Small actions make a big difference.’ And for this project he took support from the students of Chinmaya Vidyalaya in Indiranagar.

Explaining the idea behind the project, Shankar said that most people dump the garbage on the road, where people walk, or on vacant sites; they do not put it into the designated bins, nor do they hand over it to the contractors employed by the corporation. Obviously, this leads to the pollution of the environment, affecting the health of all living beings, mainly to children and weak persons.

Again, many people just dispose of food particles, napkins and diapers in the toilet and flush them out, without realizing that this causes blockage of drainage pipes, making dirty water to ooze from manholes. This also results in mix-up of stagnant water with the well or borewell water, leading to serious health problems.

All this leads to a ‘freeze situation’ as he called it: Absence of attendance by children in school due to sickness; foul smell in the atmosphere; huge civic expenses on pipeline and drainage repairs. And, of course, loss of industrial productivity.

Shopkeepers these days sell their goods wrapped in plastic bags which are not biodegradable. He suggested that instead people should carry their shopping items in their own cloth or jute bags and give plastic covers back to the supermarket for recycling. “The public must discourage the use of plastic bags,” he asserted.

Finally, roads and surrounding areas are made dirty those who take their pets out for walk. This also pollutes the atmosphere. Shankar said that he wants to address these problems to all concerned. They should help make the streets of our city the best and not the worst. “Small actions by each one of us can make a huge difference in the whole society,” he said.

“Stop dumping garbage on the road; instead put it in the designated bins. Avoid putting food waste, napkins, diapers, etc.  in the toilet. Stop using plastic bags. Take your pets for a walk to a place that does not cause nuisance to others,” he advises to the residents and the public.

Principal Rema Nandakumar  of Chinmaya Vidyalaya gave an introductory speech, in which she emphasized the need for safe environment. She told the audience, “Please support the cause; stand for the community and take action, however small, right now for a healthy life, fresh air, reduced pollution and safe environment.”

Rural connect

By Niveditha Rao, Bengaluru

Language binds people together, but the lack of it definitely creates a rift and this is evident in the bridge between students in rural areas and city kids. While the city kids speak in English fluently, rural kids struggle to learn the basics. When they come to the city, they are alienated from the rest of the world and the adjustment period is harsh. This is what Prabhakar K., a software engineer from Tamil Nadu went through when he joined Cisco.

“I am from a non-English background and the first few years were a struggle for me here as I had to learn the language and fit in with my peers. This is what prompted me to start English in Paddy Field. A group of my friends have volunteered and we go to government schools and teach kids English. The purpose here is to educate them with a tool that can help them communicate better. I want to provide that connect between rural areas and the city and English is the key. With this exposure, I aim to inculcate growth of rural languages too. Local language medium students learn local language well but because of poor quality English lessons, they struggle. Imagine when a Local language medium student is competent in English and knows Local language as well. Is he not better than those English medium students who don’t even know their mother tongue?” asks Prabhakar.

Prabhakar wants to keep these English lessons like a sports period. “There will be on exams, no attendance and no compulsion. The course will contain videos, stories, activities and audios, all in all, a fun-filled activity. There will be a permanent structure or system in all the schools to continue this fun forever. Students and teachers will be supporting themselves after the completion of this project. Sutdents, who go out of the school, will support back thi in their school. We are looking for volunteers who are adept at the local languages and English to teach these kids, along with visual designers who can design audio and visual content for the presentations,” says Prabhakar. Those interested can contact him at admin@extra-extraordinary.com.