One of the initiatives of AID Gurgaon (a branch of AID - Association for India's Development) is to find sponsorships for education of underprivileged children.
During this time of the year, they are looking for the yearly sponsorship of a few deserving students. The yearly education cost for each student (including tuition, travel, books and uniform) is about Rs 5000.
Now, it may seem a large sum for some people especially if one person has to pay it in one go.
But how about 18 people contributing Rs 5000 for a year??
This is what my group of friends (we call ourselves, Nomads) is doing. We're each contributing equally to fund a child's education for a year - doesn't make a hole in the pocket and doesn't affect people who're already donating money to other causes. If the progress is good, we hope to help this child complete her education by funding every year.
Now, if each one of us contributes this one drop, we all can make an ocean of change!
Note: If anyone wishes to sponsor a child's education (in part or whole), please leave a comment and I'll contact you.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Google SMS Info in India
I got to know about this interesting Google India service from a friend of mine.
http://www.google.co.in/mobile/default/sms/
This is what the webpage says:
http://www.google.co.in/mobile/default/sms/
This is what the webpage says:
"Get cricket scores, Indian Railways train schedules & ticket status, horoscopes, movie showtimes, restaurant information and more ...all through SMS on your phone.Best of all, you don't pay a premium charge for any of this, just the price of a standard SMS.
Try it out! Simply send your search query by SMS to 9-77-33-00000 and we'll send you results back by SMS immediately.
Of course, don't forget to save 9-77-33-00000 to your phonebook for quick and easy access to Google SMS in the future!"
The website has an interactive demo to try the help and all the features. I especially loved the weather report, definitions, flight and railway status.
Some interesting queries, as listed on the webpage, could be:
"5000 inr in usd", "1 kilo in pounds", "weather gurgaon", "define blogging", "75F in C"
Now, one doesn't need an internet-enabled phone to get such basic information :)
Google zindabad!
Monday, February 16, 2009
The Upcoming Indian General Elections
What do you think about the upcoming general elections?
It's one of the most important events this year and concerns most of us Indians, I'm excluding NRIs :)
On the blogger world, I can see many people vouching for Arun Shourie as BJP's PM candidate although Advani is the current one.
Check out:
http://www.deeshaa.org/2009/01/15/draft-arun-shourie/
http://lifeandsomething.blogspot.com/2009/01/brief-case-for-shri-shourie.html
What are your thoughts about these elections or who you would want to be the PM?
I'm personally against Congress, especially, since the only politics they've played till now (for the last more than 60 years) is minority appeasement, communalism and dynasty politics - none of which are progressive.
It's sad for a democracy of a billion people with no other deserving candidates in the foray.
There are many good grassroots level social movements/activities going on but those are so scattered and unrelated that we don't see any united, political movement coming out of it, at least not in the near future.
My idea for the political scenario in India to change is to introduce honest, ability-based politics (maybe in a very dilute form) in educational institutions (of all kinds, private, public, govt, in rural and urban areas). Also, introducing compulsory community work in all schools would make the children aware of the real issues and the surroundings. Because the only way to affect the future is to do it through the future generation so that it values commitment, hard work, honesty etc.
This way we could also see leaders emerge from among the youth. Currently, most Indian parents and hence the children are just concerned with academics (required for white collar jobs), no one even thinks of entering politics.
This could also make the future voters aware about what qualities they should look for while voting.
I know many would have reservations about this idea saying a lot of Indian population is illiterate and many children don't even attend schools. Well, that's where the grassroots level organizations would come into play :)
Wishful thinking, is it really?
What would you (want to) do for the politics in India to change in the long run? Any ideas on how to enable the educated, deserving people to enter Indian politics?
Or if you don't care, why do you think you are not concerned (apart from the usual "Chalta hai; It doesn't affect me directly; I earn enough and I'm happy; Nothing's going to change; Politics is always dirty" etc) ?
It's one of the most important events this year and concerns most of us Indians, I'm excluding NRIs :)
On the blogger world, I can see many people vouching for Arun Shourie as BJP's PM candidate although Advani is the current one.
Check out:
http://www.deeshaa.org/2009/01/15/draft-arun-shourie/
http://lifeandsomething.blogspot.com/2009/01/brief-case-for-shri-shourie.html
What are your thoughts about these elections or who you would want to be the PM?
I'm personally against Congress, especially, since the only politics they've played till now (for the last more than 60 years) is minority appeasement, communalism and dynasty politics - none of which are progressive.
It's sad for a democracy of a billion people with no other deserving candidates in the foray.
There are many good grassroots level social movements/activities going on but those are so scattered and unrelated that we don't see any united, political movement coming out of it, at least not in the near future.
My idea for the political scenario in India to change is to introduce honest, ability-based politics (maybe in a very dilute form) in educational institutions (of all kinds, private, public, govt, in rural and urban areas). Also, introducing compulsory community work in all schools would make the children aware of the real issues and the surroundings. Because the only way to affect the future is to do it through the future generation so that it values commitment, hard work, honesty etc.
This way we could also see leaders emerge from among the youth. Currently, most Indian parents and hence the children are just concerned with academics (required for white collar jobs), no one even thinks of entering politics.
This could also make the future voters aware about what qualities they should look for while voting.
I know many would have reservations about this idea saying a lot of Indian population is illiterate and many children don't even attend schools. Well, that's where the grassroots level organizations would come into play :)
Wishful thinking, is it really?
What would you (want to) do for the politics in India to change in the long run? Any ideas on how to enable the educated, deserving people to enter Indian politics?
Or if you don't care, why do you think you are not concerned (apart from the usual "Chalta hai; It doesn't affect me directly; I earn enough and I'm happy; Nothing's going to change; Politics is always dirty" etc) ?
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