Weaving Magic Through Social Entrepreneurship.

The word magic takes us all back to fond memories of childhood, of magic shows, circuses and the like, but when someone decides to bring magic into the lives of those who are less fortunate, it is a beautiful story to be retold several times. The magicians here are Dr. R.V Ramani, founder and managing director of Sankara Eye Care Institutions in India and his better half Dr. Radha Ramani.  What started as a small clinic in Coimbatore is now a chain of nine community hospitals across India with plans for more such hospitals coming up in the near future.

The driving force behind these hospitals is that they work on a ratio of 80:20 free to paid patients model and their only focus has been providing quality eye care since their inception. The doctors across all these hospitals perform at least 500 free eye surgeries a day and work tirelessly to achieve the aim of Vision 20:20 by the year 2020 and they seem to be well on target having performed the millionth free eye surgery in the month of March 2013.

The institution boasts of an enviable surgery success rate of 98.8%. Dr. Ramani was invited by the Government of India to be one of the members of the National Vision 2020 team constituted by the government. Dr Radha Ramani has been a personality to reckon with in her own way. Recipient of many prestigious awards from the rotary and ladies circles, she has worked tirelessly in the rural areas to improve healthcare among women, children, and also improve sanitation standards in villages.

Inspired by the Sankaracharyas of Kanchi, the couple established the Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Medical Centre in the year 1977 to provide primary healthcare to the needy population which has mushroomed into a number of state of the art eye hospitals across India. They haven’t restricted themselves to hospitals alone. Medical camps are organized on a regular basis where patients are screened in rural areas and if needed referred to one of the hospitals for treatment. Healthcare is one good that emerged from  this initiative but the institution has given people from remote areas more sources of income and they are no longer solely reliant on agriculture. 

For such a gigantic cause an external arm is always needed to give that extra push and provide the necessary support in its initial years to every hospital before it’s established and can be self sustainable. This support is rendered by its non- profit fundraising arm, Sankara Eye foundation, USA. The foundation has a huge presence across different states in United States. The same ethos with which Dr. Ramani built hospitals in India drives volunteers here to further the cause and make sure the hospitals get all the help they need. Organizing walkathons, religious festivities, concerts and many other similar events is their forte.

 The latest in the offering is a series of Volunteer and Donor Appreciation Dinners being organized throughout the United States in places such as San Jose, Austin, Houston, New Jersey and New York to bring together all visionaries who have worked tirelessly to inspire more people to contribute to the cause. The reason why these events stand out among a host of other events being organized is that the founders themselves will be gracing the occasion  to talk of their journey that helped them give vision to millions back in India.  How can you and I benefit from this? The dinner is an opportunity for thousands of us to be able to meet the visionaries in person, to listen to a story that has been no less than a fairy tale, to understand that all it takes to bring about a change is the will to do so, the steely determination to carry on despite obstacles. 

 If one day we are asked to not see things it’s an unimaginable situation. It takes courage and enthusiasm to carve out some time from our busy life to work towards bringing a change, to do something that will benefit someone sitting thousands of miles away.  One does not have to move mountains to make an impact. It could be a skill that one could help with, volunteer with teams at various events being organized, or donate some money that will go towards building state of the art hospitals across India. A couple of hours from your life, a little bit of your hard earned money will help someone see this beautiful world. It’s never too late to start.  All the information that you need to get started is available here: www.giftofvision.org .

   

Travel Lore- Stories in Motion

The love for travel grew onto me at a very young age. Though opportunities were limited but just the idea of outdoors excited me. Picnics, a small visit to grandparents' home always made me smile. Train journeys became more and more about stories , food , meeting people and less and less about reaching a destination. This bug that bit me at a very young age has followed me well into my adulthood and I found a partner in life who loves it more than I do. My love for travel led me to the modern day Panchtantra of travel - Bruised Passports. Quite a weird comparison, but a perfect name.  For me articles on this blog are fables of travels, stories in motion that take you around the world, dive into their local cuisines, give insight into the culture that is so intrinsic to every country. These are not just articles but your virtual guide to planning holidays or should I say the most exciting road trips. What's exciting about them ? There are hundreds of travel sites that do just the same, give you reviews, places to visit etc etc. This is not your regular, boring travel site. This is a virtual story book that inspires you  to travel, to dream, to be able to make choices, to let go.

This story unfolded in 2013 with Bruised Passports coming into existence, though the travels had begun much earlier. Its interesting how the blog got its name. The contributors both Indian nationals now reside in London, where they have their regular jobs. Their love for travel brought to realisation the fact that travelling on an Indian passport is not easy. A visa is needed to travel to most countries and they are now on their sixth booklet, courtesy extensive travels and hence the name.

A first look at their page and you'd think that they travel for a living, but no they do not. They have their full fledged jobs in London, while Savi is an academic , Vid is a business analyst.  It was a conscious decision by both to take up relatively less stressful jobs so that they could travel as much as they wanted to.  Being in London gives them quite a cushion to venture out. (140 holidays a year including weekends and other public holidays in enough for a travel enthusiast.) They pay for every single vacation of theirs and occasionally when they have been given a complimentary stay of a night or two, they have been gracious to give the hosts due credit for the same. 

 The fact that its not a paid travel show or blog makes it authentic and more appealing. If reading about their travel experiences wasn't a treat enough, Savi also blogs about the latest in fashion. Clothes that will perfectly compliment your holiday, things to buy, clothes suited to the weather of a particular place, shoes, bare essentials, name it and she has it covered. If you think, you have a question even after the exhaustive detailing, shoot them an email or a message on Facebook and they will reply.

A story book has never been more interesting than this one. A story book that not only gives me stories to read but also  the vision to travel, to dream,  to have fun and while doing that having someone who has done exactly the same things, been to those places and is willing to answer every query. They are not a regular run off the mill  travel website and do not confuse them with one. But if you love travels and you love stories, this blog will surely inspire you to write your own guiding you as you prepare to fly. They did inspire me.

One look at the page and you will never turn back.

http://www.bruisedpassports.com/
https://www.facebook.com/BruisedPassports

Safe travels and happy story writing!!

The Mango Man and his Theatrics !!

India's political scene is a canvas so vast that artists from all walks of life, all age groups and ethnic backgrounds have tried to create a M.F. Hussein on it  and the story leading to the end results has been rigged with politics, drama emotional wave and the like. The current political scenario is abound with such stories that have divided the nation into loyal supporters of one of the many parties. Most of them have become self appointed public relations representatives for these and are doing everything in their power to see their leader through these national elections. 

Of these many leaders, one of them is the leader of Aam Aadmi party , Arvind kejriwal. His rise in political arena was meteoric. In just a year he was successful in defeating a sitting chief minister. Not only did he win, his party too rose beyond the number  pandits had predicted for the party in its debut election. He came into the limelight while supporting  Anna Hazare, who went on a  fast to get the the Jan lokpal bill passed and later separated from him  to form his own party. Currently Arvind kejriwal is fighting the Lok Sabha elections and hoping to recreate the Delhi magic again. His journey has been marred by controversies, promises not fulfilled (though the loyal supporters will like to believe otherwise) doing things he vehemently criticized his supporters for, sat on protests when he was supposed to be fulfilling his duties as the newly appointed chief minister and so many more. His theatrics have turned many of his loyal supporters into his opponents and they have every reason to doubt his capabilities of running the nation.

 He vowed the nation with startling facts of corruption in the highest corridors of governance, of evidence that major business houses were linked with wrong doings in the present government, promises to end  the menace if he was brought to power. His simplicity caught most people's attention. His resolve to not use government houses to stay in, to not use beacon cars and not have security at all to guard him, even after he became the chief minister of Delhi got him thousands of undying supporters.  My question is, are these the real problem areas facing the nation today ? Is the one Jan Lokpal  bill he promises to bring to existence, going to solve all of India's political woes? And can his honesty be the only factor or reason for his election to the central government? 

He was given a chance to govern, to prove his mettle, and took the first gate out blaming it on the congress and bjp. These two parties are the reason, he rose to power. People wanted a change, someone who could give them a chance at a well defined, hassle free life for their day to day affairs. And if he believed they were going to stop him  from achieving his goals which they were, he shouldn't have wasted those 49 days, he shouldn't have collaborated with the congress to form the government in the first place. How many days out of those 49 did he actually work and not sit on protests , campaigned against those major parties ? His only reply to this is the people should realise and give us a clean majority. Its only then we can function. Well India has been following a coalition government system at the centre for decades and while we too would love to witness  a miracle but promising to work only if his party wins clear majority is a violation of our trust and faith that we have placed in him. 

His antics have made loyal supporters like me least bit hopeful in him. I do not care if you are travelling in a red beacon car, what I care about  is you travel for work , to visit constituencies, to put our taxes to good use.  I do not care if you stay in a government appointed house or your own, what I care for  is you make sure all government servants allotted these houses do not misuse them, and those staying in these homes do what they are suppose to do.  I do not care if you go for a security cover or not, what I care about is you reduce security cover where not needed and utilize the budget for better reforms and facilities for the forces. What I care for is that every minute is accounted for, that time is not wasted on protests but on working to reform the system, I care for a leader who has the courage and the backbone to stand up for us even in the midst of a strong opposition and not run at the first chance he gets. I want a leader who has a plan B if plan A fails and you clearly did not have one. A leader who is true to his word and talks more about work than his simplicity. 

This criticism is directed at you  because you have disappointed a supporter at every level and made a mockery of the whole system. I wish for a scenario with no drama and all work, which with you being at the helm of affairs clearly seems like a distant dream.