Masala, Memes, and Memoirs

Financial Planning Lessons from Republic & Independence Days

2012-01-29T00:27:00.000-08:00

India obtained its independence from British Rule on 15^th August 1947. India became independent and wants to develop and prosper with its own decisions.

Constitution

Though we became independent, we did not have our own constitution. Without constitution it is difficult to take the right decisions for growth. So we needed our own constitution which will be the principles and guidelines, based on which we will be able to take the right decisions at the right time. Constitution also deals with the procedures and methodology of taking decisions.

Republic Day

The Constitution of India came into effect on 26^th Jan 1950 which we call it as Republic Day. Since 1950 we were able to continuously grow with the guidance from our Constitution. Without an effective constitution, this exponential growth could have become impossible.

Amendments

So far we have made 96 amendments in our constitution in the last 62 years. Amendments make the constitution more dynamic and implementable in the changing times.

Financially Independent

You will be financially dependent on your parents till you complete education. Once you get a job you will become financially independent. You can take your own financial and investment decisions. You may want to financially grow and achieve financial goals like buying a car, buying a property, children education and marriage, and having a comfortable retirement.

Financial Constitution

Do you have your own financial constitution? That is you need to have a set of financial principles guiding you to take the right financial and investment decisions. Without these guiding principles it is difficult for one to financially grow and achieve financial goals. This financial constitution or financial plan details the step by step procedures and methodologies of taking sound financial and investment decisions.

Illustrating a Case:

Rahul would like to retire in 25 years. He would like to have (when retiring) investments which can generate lifelong, the equivalent of Rs.50000 per month and additional Rs. 2 lacs per annum at today’s costs.

A Mediocre Approach:

Rahul may choose invest now and then. He may contribute Rs.3000 in one month, Rs.15000 in another month. He may skip investments at times. So his financial picture will not be very clear. He will not know how much he will be accumulating when retiring. He will have insecurity throughout.

Financial Planning Approach:

Financial planning approach has got some principles and guidelines. These principles and guidelines are like a light house for a ship. They give you the right direction at any point in time.

Investment Principles and Guidelines in Financial Planning Approach:

A good investment need to generate a decent inflation adjusted return.
Not investing in risky avenues like stock market is also riskier.
When doing trading, you are not investing.
Asset allocation is a proven strategy to reduce the overall risk of the portfolio. Periodically rebalancing the assets will enhance the potential of wealth creation.

In the financial planning approach, the situation will be detailed with more facts. As you have well established procedures and methodologies in financial planning, you will be able to do a sound plan and course of action to be taken to achieve the financial goals.

Present Age	30
Retirement age	55
Life expectancy	85
Expected Annual Income (Post Retirement in today’s value)	800000
Inflation	6%
Pre-retirement return	12%
Post-retirement return	8%
FV Expected Annual Income	3433497
Retirement Corpus	79582501
Required Annual Investment	596866
Required Monthly Investment	49738

If Rahul is able to invest Rs.49738 per month, he will be able to accumulate the retirement corpus easily.

Alternatively Rahul can start with Rs.22000.per month, and increase the contribution every year by 10%. Even in this method he will be able to accumulate enough towards his retirement.

Amendments Vs Review:

Financial planning reviews are what amendments to a constitution. When there is a change or deviation from our original plan, we need to do a review to control the change. The reviews of financial plan accommodate the changes and deviations and make the whole plan achievable.

When celebrating the Republic Day of our country, why don’t you create your own financial constitution /financial plan for a better prosperity?

Long live Republic.

The author is Ramalingam K, an MBA (Finance) and Certified Financial Planner. He is the Director and Chief Financial planner of Holistic Investment Planners (www.holisticinvestment.in) a firm that offers Financial Planning and Wealth Management. He can be reached at ramalingam@holisticinvestment.in.

Actor Radha Talks about Importance of Education

2012-01-21T17:30:00.000-08:00

Smoke-Free Bhogi Rally at Nageswara Rao Park on 13th Jan

2012-01-12T22:45:00.000-08:00

Special children of AIKYA, parents, special educators, Team Everest volunteers, Lions club members, Mylai police, and Chennai Social Service volunteers participated in a walk in Nageswara Rao park, Mylapore on 13th Jan at 7:30 am. Everyone carried a placard that had slogans about the ill-effects of burning old things on Bhogi day.

Devarajan, Lions Club President (of Chennai &Padi) and Rajkumar, Secretary of Team Everest, flagged off the walk. The participants shouted slogans and walked the entire stretch of the park. As there were several enthusiastic health freaks walking in the park, the slogan " Burn your calories, Do not burn trash" was very apt.

This is the first activity of the Social Responsibility Cell(SRC) of Serve India as well as AIKYA. The police, Ms. Parvathy of AIKYA, Kartheeban and Rajkumar of Team Everest spoke a few words about volunteering and bad effects of air pollution. Prema of Team Everest had taken great pains (cycling included!) to make the placards and flags at the last minute. Overall, it was a very successful and happy event for one and all.

Who said Books are Dead? Wake Up!

2012-01-07T23:41:00.000-08:00

Huge crowds thronged the Book exhibition at St.Georges School in Chennai. All types of books and discounts available.

Zha ...ழ...coming soon ;)

2012-01-02T22:30:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year 2012

2011-12-30T18:47:00.000-08:00

Volunteer Once a Month 12/365 ~ Team Everest

2011-12-29T16:26:00.000-08:00

Visit Team Everest website to know more about how you can volunteer.

How to be Proactive on Your Potential Financial Problems?

2011-12-28T00:29:00.000-08:00

Most of today’s problems are yesterday’s challenges overlooked. It is always considered a wise thing to perceive problems before they arise and attend to them at the earliest. By doing so, you will be spared from the trouble you may have to undergo in the later stages. Here are few pointers to assist you in identifying the problems related to your spending and saving patterns.

Potential problems related to your spending habits:

You are finding it difficult to repay your debts.

Potential Problem: You decided to splurge in on your salary and went ahead purchasing everything you ever wanted on monthly installments and did rest of the shopping on your credit card. A few months later, you come to terms with reality not being able to service all your debts.

Possible Solution: You must take into consideration the fact that all your loans combined should not go beyond 30-40% of your salary. It is imperative that you bore this fact in your mind before taking any new debt.

You find yourself in a tight financial corner every next month.

Potential Problem: You spent a little too much on your vacation and are now feeling the pinch for not being able to pay up for the insurance premiums that you are required to pay the next month.

Possible Solution: In order to deal with such a situation, you need to monitor your accounting constantly on a monthly as well as annual basis to see how the cash flow is. This will help you to manage your cash flow in an effective manner.

You are unable to determine what you really need and whether you can afford it.

Potential Problem: You probably got a little too excited when received your bonus amount and made up your mind to purchase a big and brand new refrigerator or an advanced split air-conditioner to tackle the summer heat or a car to swing along the countryside. But, what you failed to assess initially was whether you would be able to meet up with the increased electricity or petrol bills generated in your monthly budget.

Possible Solution: You can deal with such problems by planning well-ahead and deciding firmly on entities you regard as relevant to your needs. You need to assess before you buy whether the recurring expenses of the equipment you’re going to buy in fits into your monthly budget.

Potential Problems related to your investment habits:

You are unable to contemplate or relate to the product you’re in possession with.

Potential Problem: You have decided to invest in the real estate sector after seeing your peers make good returns, especially when the prices were rising. However, nobody explained to you the fact that your money could get bottled-up in there in the absence of a good deal. In the same way, you may have five insurance policies but not enough life insurance coverage.

Possible Solution: It is important that you know the purpose of buying a financial product is it will help you solve your financial problem. Not all products in the market will solve your required needs. By setting yourself goals, you will be able to zero in on the perfect asset choice.

When you need Money, your Portfolio is in Negative:

Potential Problem: You worked hard and even managed to save up regularly cutting away all your unwarranted costs. Yet, when you come close to meet your goal (say buying a property), you realize that your portfolio doesn’t support your need.

Possible Solution: Before deciding to go in for the kill, you need to choose your assets wisely keeping your goals in mind. For example, it is quite risky to keep all you money in equity in case you are aiming for a short-term goal. As a result, your capital may get exposed in the event of the market falling.

You Focus your Investments in only one Asset Category:

Potential Problem: You made huge returns from the stock market last year. So you decide to concentrate your investments only in stock market. You have suffered in the 2008 crisis or 2000 technology bubble burst and incurred major losses and are quite suspicious if things would work out; and decide to stick just to debt investments. It must be noted that neither of the strategies will pay off.

Possible Solution: You may decide to go by your instinct, but it is not always advisable to blindly invest everything you’ve got in a single asset class. In order to reduce the risk factor and still be on the charts, you are required to broaden your time horizon of investment. Also you need to diversify across various asset classes to reduce risk.

You have understood how to be proactive on your financial problems. Unimplemented knowledge is a burden. Our problem is not ignorance but inaction. You can be different from others by being alert to your financial problems well in advance.

The author is Ramalingam K, an MBA (Finance) and Certified Financial Planner. He is the Director and Chief Financial Planner of Holistic Investment Planners (www.holisticinvestment.in) a firm that offers Financial Planning and Wealth Management. He can be reached at ramalingam@holisticinvestment.in.

Christmas Spirit in the Air

2011-12-23T07:04:00.000-08:00

Why this Exam Very Hard Dee ~ Kolaveri

2011-12-21T19:15:00.000-08:00

Gold Mining in Australia

2011-12-21T05:13:00.000-08:00

Winning over Cerebral Palsy - Banker Siddharth of Chennai

2011-12-21T00:36:00.001-08:00

Free Carnatic Music Classes by Dayananda Sisters at Karpagavalli School - A Team Everest Initiative

2011-12-17T21:24:00.000-08:00

The Dayananda sisters Darshana and Sowmya inaugrated free carnatic music classes for children of Karpagavalli school in Mylapore. The event took place on 14th December, 2011. The Dayananda sisters will be teaching music to the kids two days a week.

Darshana sang a song by Thayumanavar, Aara Amudhe Arase Anandha Vella Thenarey and the kids joined her. Though 21 kids were selected for the classes, Darshana asked all the kids to join. Sowmya was ill and could not make it to the inaugration.

Team Everest volunteers Prema, Ramesh, and Manoj organized the event along with Ms. Latha of Karpagavalli school. Mr. Goplan, correspondent of the school was very co-operative and made it to the inaugration too. Team Everest plans to start a Social Responsibility Cell (SRC) in Karpagavalli school.

View the video here. Good luck Team Everest!

Source: Prema of Team Everest

Storytelling at AIKYA on 17th Dec - A King Cobra's Summer

2011-12-15T04:28:00.000-08:00

Are you ready to listen to the adventures of Kaala the King Cobra. It is not just a story. You will learn and know all about a cobra as the story unfolds....

Are you excited? Then be there at AIKYA Centre, 2/9 Karpagambal Nagar Main Road, Luz, Mylapore Chennai-4 on 17th December from 10 am to 12 noon. Bring along your friends and have fun. Come on, let's hissss........

Now for a few snapshots of A King Cobra's Summer

Anna Hazare's Chennai Visit on 18th - Need Volunteers

2011-12-13T20:43:00.000-08:00

Anna Hazare is visiting Chennai on December 18, Sunday. He will address 10,000 - 40,000 people from all over TN at Pachaiyappa College grounds from 3-6 PM.

Are you willing to be a volunteer from 11 AM - 8 PM on December 18th? Click the link

http://bit.ly/annachennai to register as a volunteer.

Please forward the info to your friends and family and also spread the message on Facebook etc. Invite your friends to the Event using Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/323426961020201/

Vande Mataram!

Dr Prahalathan KK

9894209741

http://about.me/prahalathan
http://bhumi.org.in

"A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history." - Mahatma Gandhi

WE First

2011-12-12T05:05:00.000-08:00

Mouna Raagam with SPB on 11th December - Kamaraj Arangam

2011-12-05T21:54:00.000-08:00

When Costumes Dance ~ Kamaal Hai!

2011-12-04T14:49:00.000-08:00

eJeevika - Free Training & Placement at TITAN EYE +

2011-11-30T15:56:00.000-08:00

eJeevika is an optometry course run by an IIT-M graduate in alliance with Titan. It is a one year programme. Titan provides free accomodation and stipend. Location is in Bangalore. Titan promises guaranteed job after completion.

During the first year Rs 3000 is given as stipend.

For more details see the brochure: http://www.scribd.com/doc/74324452/eJeevika-Training-and-Placement-at-TITAN-EYE

Source: CIOSA

Are You Guilty Of Financial Infidelity With Your Partner?

2011-11-27T17:55:00.000-08:00

Stories of Financial Infidelity:

Mahesh, a successful upcoming software engineer’s life was in a real mess; it is good he realized it at least now. He had come to meet me for financial advice and plan. He started doing online trade after learning that his colleagues were making a lot of money. But he had lost heavily due to his ill-luck, inexperience and lack of knowledge. He indulged in tactics of taking loan from one to repay the other and taking loans from another to repay the earlier loan. Mahesh was in debt to the extent of 20 lacs, and his creditors were pressurizing him to pay back loans given. So far he has not disclosed all these things to his young loving wife, Lekha.

Mahesh believed that Lekha was no good at finances and was just home bound. He also believed that he had to support her, but had no moral obligation to reveal anything else to her. Lekha was shocked to know that Mahesh was deep in debt. She was sensible and thrifty and thought they would soon lead a comfortable life, but her dreams were shattered and she was forced to sell all the jewelry and some of the household things that her parents had given her in marriage. They found that affording the rent of their flat was also too much, so they had to move to a smaller flat.

Lekha was happy for she knew at least now and could keep a track of Mahesh’s finances, but she lost faith in Mahesh as he hid vital financial information from her and decided that she had to start earning also to feel financially secure in their relationship. Mahesh’s financial infidelity has broken the very foundation of their marital life that is based in trust, confidence and open discussion of all vital issues.

Financial infidelity could go further in various other respects like the case of Ankit that hid vital information about the salary he earned and the increments he got, the loans he took, and the number of credit cards he used. He died of a severe cardiac arrest at the tender age of 32, and this was a shock not only to his wife and children, but also to his parents and in-laws.

Ankit’s wife Anila believed that he had taken sufficient insurance to protect the family in case of his death. She also believed that he had enough savings. But Ankit a poor money manger had huge credit card dues, as he had borrowed for family expenses. Also he had a sizable amount of car loan and home loan. He had the habit of paying only the minimum due on credit cards. Besides he had defaulted payment of premium on some policies.

Anila was shocked and disposed off their flat and car to close the loans. She was left with very little from the insurance Ankit had. She only wished that Ankit had told her everything so that she could have set aside enough for the family and not had to send their son Amit to a government school and have no finances for his future education.

Recognize when there is Financial Infidelity:

Mutual Trust:

As the couple ties the knot and takes the marriage oath, it seems so pleasant, but I would say trust and respect for each other need to be for life. The break of trust and respect in major financial matters amounts to financial infidelity. I would say that transparency in marital relationships is very important and could help save situations that are irrevocable.

Financial Openness:

This applies to revealing the number of bank accounts a partner has and the nature of transactions made. You need to have an open discussion with your spouse on the financial matter like the number of credit cards you have, loans you borrow, investments you make, tax you pay…

Family Support:

You need to inform all your family members and dependents about your financial and debt status. Then you will be able to take decisions with much more clarity. Moreover, if your family members know about your debt, they will also change their spending habits and support you in getting out of debt faster

Equal Weight:

You could definitely be not guilty of financial infidelity if both your partner and you consider that equal weight should be given to both views in financial affairs. This is also necessary for the strong foundation of your relationship and family.

Spirit of Compromise:

It is true that mutual trust and respect coupled with compromise can do a lot to remove financial infidelity and save the extreme situation that we have seen in the case of Mahesh’s and Ankit’s family. A spirit of compromise could definitely save financial infidelities that have their roots in selfishness on the part of one of the partners. This also apples to relationships that is emotionally vulnerable with one partner feeling inferior or being terrorized emotionally.

Lastly I am sure you would all refrain from the guilt of financial infidelity that could not just ruin the financial position of families and their overall peace, but could also cause certain devastating relationship issues that could not heal even in a lifetime.

The author is Ramalingam K, an MBA (Finance) and Certified Financial Planner. He is the Founder and Director of Holistic Investment Planners (www.holisticinvestment.in) a firm that offers Financial Planning and Wealth Management. He can be reached at ramalingam@holisticinvestment.in.

Nee Nenaindal - Shankar Tucker's Version

2011-11-27T01:45:00.000-08:00

Revolution 2020 by Chetan Bhagat -- Book Review

2011-11-25T20:43:00.000-08:00

I wonder if all the book reviews i write are more like book summaries. Anyways, let me attempt again! I love to sleep. I surprised myself when i was awake till 1am in the morning with Chetan's R2020. Yes, the story was very interesting and i could not put the book down without knowing the flow and end!

The story of Revolution 2020 revolves around three main characters Raghav, Gopal, and Aarti. Raghav is a studious guy who pursues journalism inspite of getting a BTech from IIT. Why did he waste an engineering seat that many people slog to get and sometimes even miss the bus? Gopal is from a poor family who never gets an engineering seat. Gopal's father asks his son to attempt the entrance exam again. Inspite of slogging at the coaching centres, Gopal does not make it in the second attempt and is slapped by his father. Maybe, people like Raghav and Gopal's father would have fared well if they had 'Life Skills' training from a very very young age.

Aarti is a rich girl who travels in her father's official car and goes to foreign vacations. Aarti and Raghav are in love. Gopal loves Aarti. Aarti does not encourage Gopal to have 'feelings' for her. But she goes to boating with him, rubs his arms after rowing, goes to movies with him alone, does not tell Raghav about her outings with Gopal, and flops in a hotel bed when Gopal is around. And so confuses Gopal. When Raghav does not give her enough time and attention, she sleeps twice with Gopal. And decides to marry Gopal too. Arrgh it is! Chetan seems to tell us that platonic friendships can exist only if enough distance is maintained! Otherwise, Harry meets Sally!

Apart from the love triangle that is brought out very well, Chetan dwells on the rampant corruption that exists in education system in India. Especially, private engineering and management institutes. The colleges bribe school headmasters to recommend them, bribe HR managers to visit them for campus interviews, and use politicians and muscle power to get what they want.

Raghav starts a pink-colored, one page, A3-sized newspaper named 'Revolution 2020' that highlights corruption. When his printing machine and computers are broken by politicians, he writes his articles with a pen, takes photocopies and circulates R2020. He envisions a revolution in India in 2020, with many revolution command centres operating in different parts of India. Maybe, we can think of game zones and wonderlands in India that mimic R2020 command centres :)

And who would look nice playing the lead roles in R2020 movie? For me it is Abishek (Gopal), Farhan Akhtar (Raghav), and Trisha(Aarti).

Who did Aarti marry? Did Raghav continue with R2020? Did Gopal come out of his evil ways? Read R2020 to know more. The book costs Rs.140 and has 296 pages. Great book and a must read for all Indians. Well done Chetan Bhagat!

Book Launch of R2020 in Chennai

Anitha Sang Ovvoru Pookalume at AIKYA Advithiya Awards Event

2011-11-23T18:21:00.000-08:00

AIKYA's Advithiya Award Function Today - 23rd November

2011-11-22T20:42:00.000-08:00

AIKYA will honor achievers with Special needs on 23^rd November at Tattvaloka Hall in Chennai. Ms. Kannegi Packianathan, IAS, Secretary for Dept of Welfare for Differently Abled will be the Chief Guest. People with special needs such as Autism, ADHD, Down syndrome, LD and Cerebral Palsy have a social stigma attached to them. Society and employers always have a doubt about how the special people will perform in a job.

AIKYA plans to honor around 30+ people with special needs who are graduates and/ or work in a steady job. These are people who have made a mark in society against all odds. The government now gives 3% reservation to disabled people. Persons with Disabilities (PWD) who get benefits are hearing impaired, visually impaired, and persons with orthopedic impairment. Through this event, AIKYA plans to request the government to give a 1% reservation to the four categories of disabilities namely AUTISM, MR,CP and Multiple Disabilities recognized by National Trust ( a wing of Social justice and Empowerment) .

There are many advantages of employing people with Special Needs:

· Low employee turnover – Loyal employees
· Manpower willing to do repetitive work without getting bored
· Honest, Sincere, Hard working, and Reliable employees
· Customers would love your Social responsibility.
· Government recognizes your Goodwill with certain benefits.

AIKYA also runs a work centre that trains young adults in making products such as garlands, towels, fancy jewels, incense sticks, areca leaf plates, xeroxing, lamination, computer skills and more. The trainees learn filing and skills reqd for an office assistant. Soft skills like communication, socialization, and grooming skills are also taught. Prospective employers can source trained manpower from AIKYA’s work centre too. Look forward to see you all at the function that starts at 5:30 pm.

View the invite http://www.scribd.com/doc/73087485/ADVITHIYA-Award-Function

Shakira Promotes Girls' Education in India

2011-11-21T21:06:00.000-08:00

Aww...Five Years in Blogland Now....

2011-11-20T17:53:00.000-08:00

I wrote my first blog post on 21st Nov, 2006. A big Thank U to all readers and people who directly and indirectly help my writing....#hehehe

Club le Mabbu le by Hiphop Thamizha

2011-11-19T22:45:00.001-08:00

20 Years of AIKYA - Annual Day - A Recap of Bliss

2011-11-17T21:51:00.000-08:00

The Annual Day and 20-year-service celebrations of AIKYA on 11/11/2011 went on very well. Kids of AIKYA danced with karagam on their heads, guitars in their waist, and colorful cloth in hand. They recited numbers 1-10 with different props like water bottles, caps, and flowers. They sang songs. And also did a fancy dress competition and dressed themselves as carrots, cows, and more.

Singer Sudha Raghunathan was the chief guest. When she spoke, she asked the audience to give a standing ovation to the founder and teachers of AIKYA. She sang the Bharathiyaar song "Chinanj Chiru Kiliye Kannamma" and became emotional in the end. She also gave chocolates to AIKYA kids. She promised to do a charity show for AIKYA also.

AIKYA founder Ms. Parvathy told that the growth of special children and their parents is the growth of AIKYA. Anitha presented a summary of 20 years of AIKYA's contribution to society. Sudha Raghunathan gave prizes to all the kids. The parents were very jubilant and took photos and videos as their kids performed.

Two parents and one grandparent spoke about AIKYA. They told how they had changed their kids to 3 or 4 special schools before they came to AIKYA. After their kids joined AIKYA, they showed a good improvement in social skills, arithmetic, and were eager to go to school. So, 11/11/11 became really special for everyone at AIKYA.

Six Financial Planning Misconceptions - Demystified

2011-11-15T19:18:00.000-08:00

Let’s start the useful exercise:

Finance may mean different things for different people. Some assume that they need no financial planning as they have very little finances. Still others believe that once they have invested their savings for future their task is over. In addition some pre-conceived notions that company we work for, pays our medical and hospitalization expenses so we need no reserve, combined with the notion that a life insurance policy takes care of death, disability and accidents.

The need for no financial planning is complemented with the myth especially among the young that their retirement is far away and they could easily plan for it just a few years in advance. To further complement this myth that our ancestors would leave behind estate and property for us to enjoy with a will.

Well dear friends financial planning can never be overlooked as finances invested well today could provide for good financial resources in future. It is true that a person who helps himself succeeds best in having financial stability in life.

Have a look at the myths of financial planning:

“I have life insurance to protect them in case of my death.”

My hearty congratulations for taking up insurance policies to protect your family needs in case of your death. But the question is do you have adequate insurance to look after your family needs for a lifetime. In addition it is worth considering if you have enough to look after your children’s education and marriage needs considering the rate of inflation. Also it is worth considering if your family would be financially secure if they have to repay loans taken by you after your death.

“I just make both ends meet, where is the need to go in for financial planning?”

You may be right, but if I were to tell you that we all need to provide for financial contingencies would you say financial planning is unnecessary? So all of us have to plan to make their hard-earned money to work for them, and this applies more so single income families. Financial planning makes sense not only to repay loans taken but also to get continuous supply of money for our needs. So we need to have a strict look at our expenses and find ways to minimize them. A small example could be to forego a pack of cigarette a day to save and invest in viable investment scheme.

“My financial planning is done as I have invested in different schemes.”

I appreciate you for taking the first step towards financial sufficiency, however believe me this is just the first step to the 1000 miles towards lifelong financial stability.

All you are investments are really supporting your financial goals or not? Is the schemes in which you have invested is really performing or not? Is the maturity value from the schemes is sufficient to meet the goals or not?

A financial need analysis to cover various short term and long term needs could be best accomplished with a financial expert’s advice.

“Youth is to enjoy, retirement is far away. It will look after itself.”

Let us face this myth headlong with analyzing that retirement is not a contingency, but a necessity that is to be provided for right from the time one starts earning. It is advisable and much easier to start saving when young, as savings become difficult with additional expenses.

Saving for retirement starting from youth through retirement plans seems much easier when the amount to be put aside for the corpus is much less every year and it is also possible to save through various investment avenues. Starting to invest for retirement when young gives one the advantages of compounding of savings. This would also help take care of inflationary tendencies.

“I have enough health insurance, and my company gives me coverage too.”

Being covered with health insurance and medical expenses at work is great, but this would not cover all your health expenses. It is always good to take additional coverage and provide for unforeseen contingencies like critical illness that would not only involve expenses on treatment, but also on maintaining the lifestyle of the family till one is ready to go to work.

Being young does not prevent you or any of your family members from getting a critical illness with the present lifestyle. With fresh insurance coverage over the age of 45 being tough it is best to save for this period.

“I do not have to worry as I will inherit from my parents as my children will inherit from me.”

Inheritance has neither been a cake-walk, and a will is very important for inheritance. Financial planning involves the making of a will to avoid disputes between the heirs. Making a will is not about how big your property or estate is, it is more about necessarily making a will about the inheritance.

Financial planning is not just the forte of finance professionals alone, but is judicious and smart planning of finances for a lifetime. Lastly financial planning is not an end but a means to an end of financial stability and security.

(The author is Ramalingam K, an MBA (Finance) and Certified Financial Planner. He is the Director and Chief Financial Planner of Holistic Investment Planners (www.holisticinvestment.in) a firm that offers Financial Planning and Wealth Management. He can be reached at ramalingam@holisticinvestment.in.)

Murali's Mouna Raagam hosts Ananthu's One Man Music Show

2011-11-14T22:20:00.000-08:00

It was great to see all music stalwarts and stars on a single stage - Dr. BalaMurali Krishna, M.S.Viswanathan, S.P. Balasubramanyam, Shankar Ganesh, S.P. Muthuraman, Y.G. Mahendra, and of course Ananthu and Murali. Ananthu has been working with MSV for close to 17 years. Singer SPB recalled that MSV used to personally train all singers for a song. But after Ananthu came, MSV used to just give the tracks sung by Ananthu and ask the singers to practice. YGM recalled that for a music program he organized, SPB recommended Ananthu for the song " Unnakena Mele Ninrai" and told that Ananthu will do a better job.

Dr. Bala Murali Krishna sang the song "Thanga Ratham Vanthathu Veethiyile". Everyone emphasized the importance of "Sangeetham and Ingidham". A big call was made to the central govt for honoring MSV with an award. Ananthu garlanded everyone with AIKYA garlands. Music director Dheena and Singer Unnimenon also came for the show. Fathima Babu compered the show.

Happy Children's Day

2011-11-13T20:27:00.000-08:00

Karagam by AIKYA Kids - Celebrating 20 Years of Service on 11/11/11

2011-11-11T18:07:00.000-08:00

Invitation to AIKYA's Annual Day on 11th November

2011-11-07T20:05:00.000-08:00

AIKYA centre invites you with family and friends to celebrate their 20 years of service and Annual Day on 11th November at Ragha Sudha Hall. Padmashri Sudha Raghunathan has agreed to be the guest of honor. AIKYA children will dance and sing. Please share the invite with everyone. All are welcome.

Mouna Raagam sings Kamal Songs

2011-11-07T17:40:00.000-08:00

The music show on 7th November started with a instrumental piece of the famous Illayaraja number "Thumbe Vaa." Then the singers sang excellent but rare Kamal songs. When Murali announced a song from the movie "Raja Paarvai", everyone thought the song would be "Anthi Mazhai Pozhigirathu". But singer Ananthu mesmerized the audience with the song "Azhage. Azhage Devathai".

Murali conducting the Orchestra for Thumbe Vaa

Abaswaram Ramji was the guest of honour. He recalled his 40-year-old friendship with Kamal. When people ask Kamal why Raja Paarvai did not do well commercially he used to joke, " That's because Ramji comes in the first scene!".

The other numbers were Vai Raja Vai from Panchatantiram, Naan katil Mele Kanden Vennila from Neeya, and Irumanam Konda Thiruman Vazhvil from Avargal. The mimickry for the Avargal song was excellent. "Tere mere beechu mae" in a female voice from Ek Dujhe Ke Liye was again excellent.

Vai Raaja Vai by Murali, Mukund, and Super Singer Prasanna

Ms. Parvathy Viswanath, Director of AIKYA, gave the invitation for the 20th Annual Day to Murali. AIKYA thanks Murali for purchasing 20 white beads.

AIKYA Director Parvathy Viswanth meets Murali

How Cognizant Outreach was Born?

2011-11-05T22:04:00.000-07:00

At the Social Media Summit 2011, it was interesting to know how the Cognizant (CTS) Social Outreach wing was born. Ms. Archana Raghuram, Head of CSR at CTS, told how the story started about five years back. The management decided to have internal blogs for CTS employees. The employees could write about anything under the sky. The blog named Channel -1 (is the name rite?) was nicknamed the "Virtual Water Cooler" at CTS. Remember how we exchange gossip and good news near the real water cooler in our offices.

Reading the blog posts, CTS management was amazed to know the amount of social work and volunteering that employees of CTS were engaged in. Employees were helping a boy selling samosas to pursue engineering as he scored very high marks. They were helping a old age home with goodies. If more finance and administrative support was given to this socially conscious employee pool they can do wonders and expand their horizons. As a result of this thought, the CTS Outreach was born. Now the Outreach wing has grown and a competition between 12 internal groups for the best social program is going on. They also have an internal Twitter platform C-weets. Great going indeed.

Blogologues - Entertainment at its Best at SMSin2011

2011-11-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

The play by Blogologues was a fitting finale to the Social Media Summit 2011. Trendy songs, different styles of dance, awesome expressions, rib tickling dialogues, commonsense, live music with real instruments, good pace, and great editing. What else do the audience need to keep laughing throughout the play and give a standing ovation in the end?

Lines like," Frankly Speaking, Arnab Goswami is the only one speaking." were funny. Because Twitter has "Followers" it was termed a bit communist. And they took a dig at Facebook "Likes" too. But the debate turns into a friendship when Google+ wants to join them! And throw in a bit of Mr. Bean antics, Poonam Pandey, Shiv Sena strikes, love, and philosophy, and you have an enchanting drama!

The Great Indian Blogologues is a collabration between StrayFactory and IndiBlogger. Indiblogger is a network of 21,000 Indian bloggers from all over the world. StrayFactory is a theatre group that adapts blog posts written by Indibloggers to the stage.

Mathivanan Rajendran, the lead guy at StrayFactory, told that Blogologues either do a Blog Stich ( combining two or more related blog posts), Blog Flesh (add creative spins to a blog post), or Blog Bricks( combine acting with mime or more).

The Rented Christmas - Mellow Circle Musical at Museum Theatre

2011-11-01T07:41:00.000-07:00

Mellow Circle will host the Christmas play with choir for the 12th year in succession. There will be four shows of the dramatic musical "The Rented Christmas" at Museum Theatre, Chennai. John Dale, a confirmed bachelor wishes to relive the taste of 'A Family Christmas.' The dates are 25th, 26th, 27th of November. A special show for school kids will be held on 25th morning.

The proceeds from the play will go to Prathyasha - Home for HIV infected children. Hope to see you all at Museum Theatre.

One Version of the Story - The Rented Christmas: John Dale, a middle-aged bachelor and prominent businessman, has a challenging job for Anne Weston, proprietor of the local rent shop. He wants to rent a Christmas, not just with a tree and Christmas carols, but complete with a wife, a family and all of the happiness for which he has been secretly longing. Anne believes she has creatively solved the problem of a Christmas family by calling the actors guild, but when the young actors come down with the measles, her last hope is to turn to the local orphanage. Still, the guild can't locate a mother for the part, so Anne steps in at the last minute to play the role herself. A "rented" Christmas soon turns into a new life for all concerned, which makes this a very warm and special holiday treat. Beautiful medleys of popular Christmas carols along with delightful original music are the perfect accompaniment to convey the sentiment of the season.

Online Chat with Psychologist Parvathy Viswanath about Special Children

2011-10-30T17:14:00.000-07:00

You can chat online with Lion. Parvathy Viswanth over Skype or Gmail chat on Special needs of children with ADHD, AUTISM, and Learning Disabilities. Ms. Parvathy Viswanathan is the Founder-Director of AIKYA – Centre To Integrate the Different, an NGO that has been serving special children for 20 years now.

You can discuss about behavioral problems in children with ID, Early intervention, vocational training, and/or parental guidance. And cover the entire spectrum of queries about people with Special Needs.

Parvathy Viswanathan has won several awards such as the Woman of the Year 2000 award from American Biographical Institute, Who's Who Professional and many more. She was nominated as a board member of the Tamilnadu Welfare Board for the Disabled in 2007. She has presented many papers at national and international conferences. She has authored books on ADHD and Autism. She is advisor to many special schools.

She has organized job fairs and marriage engagement ceremonies (Naveena Suyamvaram) for the persons with Disabilities. She has conducted Special Olympics for the children with Intellectual and developmental disabilities. And two events have entered the Limca Book of Records.

So, never miss this chance of your lifetime.

Date: 19th November, 2011

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm IST

Chat IDs: aikyachennai@gmail.com (OR) parvathy.aikya (Skype ID)

Connect soon with Ms. Parvathy with the chat IDs given for an audio chat.

Social Media Summit ~ SMSin2011

2011-10-29T19:07:00.000-07:00

Mouna Raagam celebrates Kamal's Birthday on 7th November

2011-10-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

AIKYA will display products at the venue.

சென்னையில் ஒரு மழைக்காலம்

2011-10-24T20:59:00.000-07:00

Rains before Deepavali - a part of Diwali fun!

Can You Join Eureka Run 2011 for Quality Education on Nov 12th near Marina?

2011-10-23T04:40:00.000-07:00

‘Eureka Run’ is an event for people of all ages and levels of fitness who can run/jog/walk a 5km distance along the Marina beach to show support for the cause of quality education in the state. In its second year, the Eureka run hopes to raise enough money to support the education of 1,500 children in some of the poorest hamlets of Tamil Nadu, but more importantly shed light on the desperate need for change in the quality of education the poorest receive.

Date| Venue| Time : 12th Nov, Saturday | Gandhi statue, Marina Beach | 6:30 am onwards

Call Selva on +91 9790951652 or email Sitara: sitara@aidindia.in about any questions you have.

Register online on: http://www.eurekachild.org/run2011/

Registrations cost Rs. 250/- each and come with a T-shirt. Students passes are also available at Rs. 100/-

Eureka Run 2010

A "Eureka Run" was organised in 2010 on Children's Day to raise awareness about the quality of education the poorest in TamilNadu receive. A total of 1,500 runners aged between 2 and 75 years showed their support running the same 5 kilometer stretch. The money raised at this event has transformed the lives of 500 children.

Social Media Summit 2011( 4 - 5th Nov) - AIKYA Will Display Products

2011-10-22T22:54:00.000-07:00

Social Media is no more a buzz word in India. It is now the most crucial word for businesses that look forward to secure their Business Communication's future. SMSin2011 is a 2 day International event organized by EchoVme in collaboration with M.O.P Vaishnav College (Department of Commerce).

The growth phase of Social Media is augmenting rapidly as we see more than 200% usage of Social Networking Sites year on year since 2004. India has emerged as one of the leading Internet user in the world and Forrester estimates that India will soon be the 3rd largest Internet using country in the world.

Social Media Summit 2011 is a forum for some of the top marketers, entrepreneurs and businesses in the country to congregate and learn the scope of Social Media from experts that will help them get the sharpest edge. So, AIKYA felt that SMSin2011 will be a good event to showcase their products and spread awareness about service to special kids. Thanks to EchoVme, Sorav Jain, and MOP Vaishnav College for their cooperation.

Venue | Date : MOP Vaishnav College for Women | 4-5th November 2011

Click here to read the Agenda (Speakers, Topic, Time) of the Social Media Summit.

Sapnon Se Bhare Naina Song - Shankar Tucker's Twist :)

2011-10-21T04:48:00.000-07:00

Online Groomers - Kids Beware

2011-10-20T21:33:00.000-07:00

Online Groomers are online do-gooders who stalk with nearly 300 different names on the Web. They befriend children on the net and then use them for their sexual gratification. SMS, Facebook, and Online games are the meeting points for these groomers. Often, these groomers target kids from troubled families or the ones who look for a companion.

Online groomers are manipulative and meticulous. They become what their victims need -- a best friend or a kindly father figure. Suppose a kid is in need of a father figure, then the groomer takes on the role of the father, and convinces the child that going to bed is a sign of love.

One such pedophile, lured his kid victim to a virtual hotel he bought with his credit card. Within a short time he moved his virtual victim to a real world hotel too.

Net Nanny is an internet software that filters the websites your kids visit. Try it!

Source: Reader's Digest Oct 2011

Udhavum Ullangal celebrate 14th Anandha Deepavali

2011-10-19T19:02:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, October 16, 2011, 1414 children from 26 organizations celebrated the festival of lights at Krishnaswamy Kalyana Mandapam in T. Nagar. Each of the children received:

A Sweet Box
Crackers
Special Lunch and Dinner
New Dress

Introduction to Instructional Design - Training Programme

2011-10-16T19:03:00.000-07:00

Instructional Design is the study of designing learning content or training material. After a learning or training event, the learner is expected to exhibit a positive change in knowledge, skills, and/or behavior. Keeping this positive change or learning objective in mind, an Instructional Designer has to design and then write content. Instructional Design is an art as well as science.

Are you familiar with the names Bloom, Gagne, Robert Mager, and Ruth Clark? They are people who proposed several important theories and principles for Instructional Design. As a teacher, special educator, trainer, content developer, or instructional designer, you need to know the principles behind designing and developing learning content.

After completing this course on Instructional Design, you will

· Define Instructional Design
· List Bloom’s Taxonomy and Bloom’s Verbs
· Write Learning Objectives
· List Gagne’s Nine Events of Instructions
· Define Instructor Led Training(ILT), eLearning, and Blended Learning

Date|Time: Saturday, October 22, 2011 | 10:00 am to 01:00 pm

Venue: 2/9, Karpagambal Nagar Main Road, Luz, Mylapore, Chennai – 4

Course fee: Rs. 300

Contact: 9444960643, info@aikya.org

Did u Sight the Moon on Karva Chauth Today ?

2011-10-15T06:56:00.000-07:00

R.I.P Dennis Ritchie - Creator of C and Unix

2011-10-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

I made a living for few years teaching C and Unix at IT Training Centres and at a city college. Strange, how a person you have never seen in your lifetime and who lived miles across the planet was the source of your Bread and Butter. I was thinking of Dennis Ritchie who passed away a couple of days back. Though i never got a hang of 'pointer to pointer to pointer' and Binary Trees, i was good with Linked Lists and Doubly Linked Lists! And used command line parameters and accessed the kernel of Unix using Shell commands. Few of my friends turned towards Java and Power Builder as they were afraid of "pointers" in C language.

Ironically, many C language enthusiasts in India practiced C using Yashwant Kanetkar's book "Let Us C" rather than Kernighan and Ritchie's book "The C Programming Language." It was again a good example of the difference between the writings of a good writer/teacher and a Subject Matter Expert (SME).

R.I.P Dennis Ritchie and Thank You!

Shankar Tucker Magic Again - Manmohini Morey by Aditya Rao

2011-10-12T04:18:00.000-07:00

AIKYA Exhibits Products at Kamarajar Hall

2011-10-10T05:40:00.000-07:00

AIKYA exhibited products made by special children at Kamarajar hall on 9th October. This display was during the music show of Murali's Mouna Raagam. The troupe performed A.R.Rahman numbers from the movies like Uyire, Sangaman, Roja and more. AIKYA met few prospective buyers at the show. Thank u Mouna Raagam Murali.

His Living Will

2011-10-06T18:02:00.000-07:00

Pooja Celebrations at Alphonsa Library of Advesa Trust

2011-10-05T18:55:00.000-07:00

Forty kids attended Pooja celebrations at Mathur Library on 5th, October. Kids told lot of stories. Advesa Trust founder Dr.Shanthi told the kids that knowledge is the only wealth that never perishes or leaves us. Blogger Anitha sang two devotional songs and told Pratham Books story "Subbu, the Signal". Sweets and Pori was distributed to all the kids.

Dr. Shanthi speaks with the kids

Story telling, Prayers, and Packing Pori

Sharing Pori with Koi Fish

Murali's Mouna Raagam present A.R. Rahman's 20 years on 9th October

2011-10-03T20:52:00.000-07:00

Blood Donation Camp at St. John's Catholic Church on Oct 2nd

2011-09-27T23:10:00.000-07:00

Hi Friends,

St. John's Youth Association is conducting a Blood Donation Camp in Our Church on October 2nd. Please come to donate blood to save a life.

Ask your friends to join us. Please call us for further details:

Date: 2nd October 2011 (Sunday)

Place: St.John’s Church, 110 Seniamman Koil Street, Tondiarpet, Chennai-600 081.

Land Mark: Apollo Hospital Backside

Time: 9:45 am to 1:30 pm

Contact: 9710297044 (Praveen Raj)

Can You Paint on the Walls of Sri Arunodhayam?

2011-09-26T21:08:00.000-07:00

Sumangali, a Eureka volunteer and worker writes, "This Sunday i took my daughter and 2 of her friends to a school for disabled children, Sri Arunodayam at Kolathur. A girl called Swarupa who works for the magazine, Parent Circle, has taken up the project of painting the walls of this school. They need volunteers to help them finish the work. If anyone on our volunteer data base can make the time it would be great.

The address of the school is 35, Sivananda Nagar, Kolathur and to reach it you have to go to Villivakkam, then get on to the Red Hills road from the huge circular flyover, and then after the DRJ hospital signal, look out for a Hotel called Jack and Jill on the left, and the left immediately after that. the bus stop for Senthil Nagar is also exactly opposite this left turn. The school is a few houses down this road on the left side.

Swarupa and her team work there only on Sundays from about 11 to 5, so if anyone is interested they can contact Swarupa at +91 90031 09914 or mailswarupag@gmail.com

Personally i can vouch for the fact that its good fun painting :-) if necessary the team will arrange for pick up and lunch as well."

So if any of you think you can make it individually / as a group to the place kindly reach out to Swarupa.

Art Tools Workshop at AIKYA on 8th October

2011-09-25T18:48:00.000-07:00

rt Therapy helps to improve the emotional well being of a person. Art Therapy is a form of psychotherapy. The process of creating or making different forms of art is therapeutic. So, it is "Art as Therapy."

There are simple tools to practice Art Therapy. The common ones are Mandala, Magazine photo collage, Masks, and Art Journal. Anyone can learn or practice Art Therapy. There is no minimum educational qualification or drawing skills that a person needs. The client needs to understand the techniques and learn to use colors and other art aids to express themselves.

Entry Fee: Rs 300

Contact : 9444960643, info@aikya.org

Venue : 2/9, Karpagambal Nagar Main Road, Luz, Mylapore,

Chennai - 600 004

Story Telling for Children on 24th @ AIKYA

2011-09-22T05:36:00.000-07:00

To celebrate International Girl Child Day on 24th September, Pratham Books' Champions will conduct a storytelling session. The story is being written today and tomorrow by four women authors and it is about a girl who goes Ulta Pulta. What happens when she is walking around like a bat? A lot of excitement. Don't miss this beautiful story unfold in front of you in a live session. And many other stories too.

Venue: AIKYA - Centre for the Different

Date | Time : 24th September, Saturday | 1.30 pm onwards

Address: 2/9, Karpagambal Nagar Main Road, Luz, Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004. 9444960643/9791172475

Pratham Book Champion: Anitha.S

Entry is free and ALL are Welcome.

AIKYA initiates Newborn Screening Program

2011-09-17T18:14:00.000-07:00

AIKYA inaugurated the newborn screening program along with MediScan and Lions club Dist 324-A5 at Mylapore on 17th September, 2011. Lion Parvathy Viswanthan, Pediatrician Dr. Sudha from MediScan and Lions club Governor Mr. Nandagopoal spoke during the inauguration.

Lion Parvathy Viswanath introduces the program

Newborn screening is done by taking four drops of blood from the heel of a newborn using a special syringe after 48 hours and within seven days( 1 week) after birth. The consent of parents to conduct the test is very important. In India now 5 disorders are found using newborn screening. MediScan is currently doing newborn screening in 17 hospitals in Chennai and one in Ooty. Dr. Suresh of MediScan is the pioneer in India for Newborn screening.

Lion Governor Nanadagopal inaugrated NewBorn Screening

MediScan offers to test adrenalin and thyroid levels in newborns at the rate of Rs. 750. Testing for all five disorders costs Rs.1200. Adrenalin disorder can lead to problems in genitalia developments and usually occur due to marriages within same family. This symptom is prevalent in the Nellore-Tamilnadu border. Thyroid related problems can lead to mental disorders, slow learning, bloated body, memory loss and more. This symptom is prevalent in the Vandaloor belt. Early detection can cure an abnormality or atleast reduce the impact of a disease.

Dr.Sudha spoke about New Born Screening

In USA, they test for 41 disorders. In USA, 1 in every 4000 children test positive. In India, 1 in every 1000 children test positive. In India, you need to increase and spread awareness about Newborn screening.

Video: Excerpts of Speech by Nandagopal and Dr.Sudha

Let us know if you need to address a crowd of 25 to 30 people about NewBorn screening. AIKYA can arrange for the event. Mail info@aikya.org or call 9444960643.

Library of Damien Foundation at Chetpet

2011-09-14T23:41:00.000-07:00

Damien Foundation Library has a lot of books on Leprosy, Tuberclosis, NGO related topics, and newsletters. You can visit the library to read books and also borrow books free of cost. Contact : Tel No : 28360496 , email: damienin@airtelmail.in

Damien Foundation
14, Venugopal Avenue,
Spur tank Road,
Chetpet,
Chennai - 600 031

Kids and Fair(y) Mischiefs

2011-09-13T19:56:00.000-07:00

How do you expect kids to listen to their parents when Tarzan lives half naked, Cinderella comes home at midnight, Pinocchio lies all the time, Aladdin is the king of thieves, Batman drives at 300 mph, Sleeping Beauty is lazy, Snow White lives with 7 guys and Lil Red Riding Hood disobeys her mom too? We shouldn't be surprised when kids misbehave, they get it from their storybooks.

நாளை நமதே சிறுவர் மலர்

2011-09-12T06:58:00.000-07:00

நாளை நமதே சிறுவர் மலரை மாபோய் பௌண்டேசன் மாதம் தோறும் வெளியிடுகிறார்கள். 12 முதல் 18 வயது நிரம்பிய சிறுவர்கள் படிக்க இலவசமாக இந்த புத்தகத்தை தருகிறார்கள். அறிவியல், வாழ்கை கல்வி, பொது அறிவு மற்றும் பல சுவாரிசயமான துணுக்குகள் நிறைந்தது இந்த மலர்.

For magazine copies contact prasanna@ciosa.org.in

Rabbits munching Cabbage

2011-09-11T18:02:00.000-07:00

AIKYA Founder Parvathy Viswanathan Speaks about AIKYA

2011-09-10T16:34:00.000-07:00

Parvathy Viswanathan, Director of AIKYA, speaks about the philosophy of AIKYA and their work with thousands of special children. AIKYA, an NGO, has been serving special children close to 20 years now. Parvathy Viswanathan has won several awards such as the Woman of the Year 2000 award from American Biographical Institute, Who's Who and many more. She was nominated as a board member of the Tamilnadu Welfare Board for the Disabled. And she considers it as a great honour. She has organized job fairs and marriage engagement ceremonies (Naveena Suyamvaram) for the disabled. She has conducted Special Olympics for the disabled.

Lion Parvathy organized two events that entered the Limca Book of Records. The first event was at Nehru Stadium were 11,000 special children gathered and did Yoga and Painting. The second event was on World Service Day were a mega size cake was cut in front of 1000 children from orphanages.

TheShruthiBox - An Awesome Music Channel of Shankar Tucker

2011-09-09T17:07:00.000-07:00

Shankar Tucker is a clarinetist and composer.

Battle of Buffet - Fundraising for Special Children of AIKYA

2011-09-08T17:08:00.001-07:00

AIKYA is delighted to invite you to participate in the Battle of Buffet. This event, sponsored by Oriental Cuisines offers you a lavish spread of mouth watering dishes from Chennai’s top 5 star restaurants on 9th October 2011. It will be held at the Nandambakkam Trade Center.

Chefs of leading 5 star hotels and their teams will put together their best buffet and throw it open to the city. Close to 4000 Chennaities are expected to attend the event. Leading musicians and famous artists from the cine industry will entertain the audience.

Buy a ticket for Rs. 5000 to participate. You will help a deserving child at AIKYA !

About the event

A gala evening of fun, food and entertainment completely sponsored by the Oriental Cuisines.

Music programme with Sri SPB Charan and Smt. S.P. Sailaja and orchestra.

Sri.S.P. Balasubramaniam may participate.

Smt. Suhasini Manirathinam has agreed to be the MC for the event. She plans to bring T Shirts signed by Sri Rajni Kanth and sarees from leading cine stars to be auctioned at the time of the event.

Many Cine stars and other celebrities have been invited to the event.

For more details on donor passes please contact 9444960643 / 9791172475 . May we also request you to kindly help us to promote our cause amongst your friends and corporates. Please spread our message through Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, and Blogs and support us.

For tickets and more details contact :
Tel: (O) 91-44-24612668
Mobile: 9444960643
E-mail: info@aikya.org
Website: www.aikya.org

Deiva ThiruMagan - Tamil Movie Review

2011-09-07T18:39:00.000-07:00

The pleasant locales of Ooty is the first thing that captures your attention in Tamil movie Deiva Thirumagan. Actor Vikram makes his tongue act a lot to depict a mentally challenged person. And he looks really really handsome when he dresses like a King for the song "Kadha Solla Poren."

All the songs have been pictured well with lot of graphics/animation work. And the tunes by G.V. Prakash are peppy and aptly fit the movie situations. Jagada Thom song needs a special mention.

Oh, actor Amala Paul's eyes are so big and beautiful. Actor Anuskha enacts the role of a lawyer with a tough profile. But she also mellows when she has feelings for Vikram. The dream song of Anuskha "Vizhigallil Oru Vananvil" is very beautiful. Singer Saindhavi's melodious voice adds lot of life to the song.

Cute actor baby Sara shows a range of emotions with ease. Her scenes with Vikram are poetry in motion.

Can a mentally challenged person be a good father and bring up his daughter as a good and successful citizen? Even when people have love and affection for a mentally challenged person, can a challenged person fulfill all his roles in a family and society? Deiva Thirumagan movie says No! Can a mentally challenged person do only mechanical work like cutting chocolates in a chocolate factory? It is a debate question.

I was moved to tears in the final court room scene. Few points irk me though. What happens to Anuskha's feelings for Vikram? How did Vikram easily accept his old friend in Ooty who planned to ditch him?

Deiva Thirumagan is an excellent movie with good performances by Nasser, Y.G. Mahendran, Santhanam, and all the actors who are part of the scenes in Ooty. Ofcourse, Vikram lives his role. And Anushka and Amala Paul emote well. Must watch once!

சாதனை பெண்மணி பார்வதி விஸ்வநாதன்

2011-09-06T02:46:00.000-07:00

ஐக்யா என்னும் சிறப்பு குழந்தைகளுக்கு பள்ளி நடத்தும் பார்வதி விஸ்வநாத், தன் மகன் பிரபாகர் பற்றி சொன்னது....

டிசம்பர் மாதம் மூன்றாம் தேதி, டெல்லி விக்யான் பவன் அரங்கில் தேசிய விருது வழங்கப்படும் நாள். பிரபாகர் பெயர், நேஷனல் அவார்ட் என்று அறிவிக்கப்பட்டதும் நாங்கள் அடைந்த சந்தோஷத்திற்கு அளவேயில்லை. இந்த விருது, சர்வதேச ஊனமுற்றோர் தினத்தன்று இந்திய அரசால் வழங்கப்படும் மிகப்பெரிய விருது.

இந்த விருதுக்கு தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட, பல படிகள் தாண்டி ஸ்டேட் கமிட்டி ( மாநில மந்திரி உட்பட பலர் உறுப்பினர்கள்) , மத்திய கமிட்டி (மத்திய அரசால் நியமிக்கப்பட்ட உறுப்பினர்கள்) போன்றோர் தேர்ந்தெடுத்து அனுப்பிய பட்டியல்!!!

Role Model (ரோல் மாடல்) என்று மனவளர்ச்சி குன்றியோர் தரப்பில் தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட பிரபாகர் என்னென்ன தகுதி பெற்றிருந்தார்? மனவளர்ச்சி குன்றிய நிலை என்று டாக்டர்களால் 28 வயதுக்கு முன்பு சொல்லப்பட்டார். டௌன் சின்றோம் (Down Syndrome) என்று தான் பேசி கொள்வார்கள். இது ஒரு விபத்து. எப்போது வேண்டுமானாலும், யாருக்கு வேண்டுமானாலும் ஏற்படலாம். ஏழை, பணக்காரன், படித்தவர், படிக்காதவர் என்று பாகுபாடு இல்லாமல் ஏற்படக்கூடும் என்பது யாருக்கும் தெரிவதில்லை.

பிரபுவை சாதாரண குழந்தையை போல வளர்த்தோம். எல்லா வித உணவு பொருட்களையும் கொடுத்து பழக்கியதால் உடலின் எதிர்ப்புசக்தி பலப்பட்டது. இரண்டரை வயதிலே தானே சாப்பிட குளிக்க பழகி கொண்டான். எல்லா வித விளையாட்டும் விளையாடி வந்தான். அவனுடன் அவன் அண்ணனும், அப்பாவும் விளையாடுவார்கள். இது அவன் பெரியவனாகும் போது மிகவும் பலன் அளித்தது.

படிக்க, எழுத, பள்ளி என்று வந்தபோது மறுபடி பிரச்னை. அந்த காலத்தில் 6 வயதுக்குமேல் தான் பள்ளிகளில் சேர்த்து கொள்வார்கள். ஆனால் 0-6 years தான் மிகவும் முக்கியமான பருவம்.

பிரபாகர் எப்படி வாழ்கையில் வென்றார்? இதோ அவர் தாயார் பார்வதி விஸ்வநாதன் என்ன கூறுகிறார் என்று கேட்போமா?

Breathing Exercises and Carrot Salad making at Advesa Trust

2011-09-04T15:51:00.000-07:00

Advesa Trust conducted a workshop for nine kids at Don Bosco youth center on Sep 4th, 2011. Children learnt breathing exercises. One of the girls performed a "Surya Namaskar" she learnt during a summer camp. All the kids enthusiastically participated in making a Carrot Salad. The kids took turns in grating the carrots. They also planted coriander seeds in the nearby garden.

The kids were asked to teach the breathing exercises to family members and friends. And to practice breathing atleast twice a day!

Events and Happiness

2011-09-02T19:36:00.000-07:00

Events are the language of the Universe

Events are events, things are things, situations are situations - neither happiness nor stress is contained in things, events, or situations. You can choose your reactions to them.

For example, say you are watching a soccer match. One of the team wins the match. Match winning is just an event. But the crowd which supports the winning team is happy and the one which supports the losing team is sad. So, the same event causes different reactions and emotions in different sets of people.

No happiness or unhappiness is contained in the event itself. Each spectator might hold some loyalty to a team or might have a financial interest in the outcome, pride in one of the players, or allegiance to the school or city the team represents. Those attitudes produce the response to the contest and to the outcome, not to the event itself. It is our conditioning and preconceived notions fed to us from birth that make us react the way we do.

So, where is the true source of happiness: The true source of happiness is within each of Us!

A Cure for Dandruff - Shatone Scalp Tonic

2011-08-31T14:22:00.000-07:00

When i was young, I fought a long battle with dandruff. Lost tufts of hair, tried out all sorts of ayurvedic oils, and applied seeyakai powder -- my hair management was a big mess.

Not after i discovered Shanaz Hussain's Shatone. Shatone is a non-sticky transparent hair tonic. After applying Shatone for a couple of weeks, dandruff disappeared without a trace. Hair loss also stopped. So, Shatone scalp tonic was a miracle cure for dandruff. A bit costly but worth it!

A Timetable for Dresses

2011-08-31T07:07:00.000-07:00

Call it heights of tardiness or of being finicky or OCD! I had a timetable for all the 30 odd churidhars i used to wear to college. I never purchased a dress for myself till i was 22+. It was my mom who did all shopping for me.

My timetable went something like this:

13) Blue with white dots - silk
14) Bright Orange with brown flowers
15) Green and yellow pathik work

If i got a new salwar with say Violet and yellow designs, then i had to squeeze that it in my timetable without similar colors coming consecutively. So, my timetable will be

13) Blue with White dots - silk
13 A) Violet with Yellow designs
14) Bright Orange with brown flowers
15) Green and Yellow pathik work

Having a timetable freed me from thinking what color dress to wear on a particular day. I would just go by my timetable. I followed this style well into my working days too. Not now though :)

I never made a conscious choice to buy cheap clothes. Simple clothes were easy to maintain and wash. If you bought clothes with lot of embroidery, glitter work, or special material, you had to take pains to wash these clothes separately. So, that would become a separate time consuming chore! Ciao :)

Eureka 15 at Music Academy - 28th Aug 2011

2011-08-28T07:35:00.000-07:00

Eureka 15 function, celebrating 15 years of work in education and health by Eureka went on well today. The auditorium was filled with Eureka Teachers(ETs) from many Tamilnadu villages, children, and many Eureka volunteers.

Everyone took a pledge in English and Tamil to promote quality education in the state. Eureka volunteer coordinator Selva told that they plan to setup 20 SuperKidz centers in Chennai.

Eureka Staff Mangai, Damu, Gayathri reading the pledge

The audience repeating the pledge

Dr. Balaji Sampath, founder of Eureka, spoke about the15 year journey by telling stories of important people who were part of the various phases of the Eureka progress.

Dr. Balaji Sampath with his 15-year team

A flag to reiterate the dream of 1000 Eureka SuperKidz villages was revealed by the team. The function ended with a Panel Discussion by eminent educationists like Vasanthi Devi. Many speakers emphasized the importance of volunteers in scaling and sustaining an NGO like Eureka.

Panel discussion on Eureka and education

Eureka kids did a "Silambattam" and audience asked for "Once More." Other speakers were Food King Sarath Babu and Donors Banca Sella.

The video contains excerpts of speech by Dr. Balaji Sampath, Bharathiyar song by Eureka staff Smitha, talk by Food King Sarath Babu and other event photos.

A Penstand Memento from CIOSA for Speaking at TDD

2011-08-27T18:10:00.000-07:00

Add caption

Thank u Prema of CIOSA.

Table for Four by K.Srilata - Book Review

2011-08-26T21:22:00.000-07:00

Awesome is the word to describe the book 'Table for Four'. The deeply moving and enticing narrative, softens you, alerts you , and entertains you. It has been a long time since i read a book fully. Had started reading around five books and just managed to read half or three-fourths of the story. But, i could not put down 'Table for Four' and read it fully.

Three students Maya, Derek, Sandra share an apartment for four years in USA. Prithvi Uncle is the owner of the house who communicates with post-it notes. Other inmates get to see him in person only once in a year. Strange! Sandra is sometimes glued to Orkut for two weeks without food and communication with real people. Derek is studying History and Maya is studying Creative Writing.

During the course of their stay, Maya falls in love with Derek which she knows will never be reciprocated. Just when the time comes for all of the three inmates to complete their studies and leave the shared apartment, Prithvi uncle calls them for a dinner.

The dinner is served on a turtle-shaped Nikolai table. And Prithvi Uncle coaxes everyone to narrate their life stories. "There are layers, aren't there, to you girls?" he continued after he had sat down once more. "So many layers - like Draupadi's saree...And unknown to you, these layers have influenced your relationships, colouring them in ways you would have never imagined."

Sandra starts with her story in an orphange. She continues to stay in the orphanage as other new babies are adopted. This is because Sandra's twin sister has a disease 'Spina Bifida'. Her sister's head bloats and water has to be drained from her head. And twins had to be adopted together. So, Sandra continues to live in the orphanage with no idea of the joys of the world outside. How fate separates the sisters and the subsequent Orkut hunts of Sandra form part of the remaining story. So, Sandra's Orkut addiction did have a reason. Do people do anything without a reason?

Next Prithvi uncle tells his story of being an elf and how he manages to attract poeple by becoming an intent listener. He marries a woman pregnant with another man's kid, teaches in a school, and lives a not so ambitious life. His chance meeting with a tatoo-etcher Michael changes Prithvi's thoughts and so his life. The remaining story of Prithvi is about how a firangi falls in love with him and they wed and move to the USA. Does Prithvi Uncle have a reason for using post-it notes? Yes.... his layers reveal that.

Derek does not come for the dinner. But Maya recollects his life in war-ridden Afghanistan as a journalist. And his chance meeting with an Afghan errand boy Hamil. Once Derek confesses his love for Hamil. Maya wonders if Derek is gay. But we never know!

Is Maya's story just as interesting or is it more dangerous? Why is Maya afraid of the ocean? Does Maya manage to tell the others her story? Is Maya a murderer? Read the book to know.

The four main stories have a lot of sub stories. Sometimes, a small story starts and ends within a paragraph. For the first time i read that writing can help in expending calories. A book 'The Yellow Wallpaper' and a poem collection 'Staying Alive' are mentioned in the story. The 'Table for Four' story emphasizes that writing your own life story or telling your story and listening to it is like doing Yoga. It has a therapeutic and healing effect. Grab your copy today. It costs Rs.250.

Author Srilata with her book Table for Four

Chennai Fried Chicken (CFC) at Madurai

2011-08-26T05:13:00.000-07:00

Pinned Up Dupattas

2011-08-24T19:17:00.000-07:00

It was convenient to take classes if you pin up your dupatta like a school girl. So, that seemed a obvious choice for me when i worked as a faculty. But, my pinned-up duppatta style invited a flurry of not-so-positive comments.

One of the counsellors said, "Why do u pin up your dupatta like a cheapie? Grow up. Don't pin. Just keep adjusting!"

Yet another female colleague of mine told, "I thought you were a fruit (pazham) when i saw u fully covered with a pinned-up duppata. (Ennada ippadi porthikittu varangannu nenaichen!)"

Yet another male muslim colleague of mine advised, "Are students asking too many questions? Just remove your dupatta when you take class. Students will not ask any doubts."

So much for a piece of cloth that has now become a fashion accessory!

Invitation to Celebrate Eureka 15th Year Anniversary

2011-08-23T19:05:00.000-07:00

AID INDIA has turned 15 years! We are holding an event to celebrate our 15th year anniversary on August 28th, 2011 at The Music Academy, TTK Road from 3:00 to 7:00 pm. It is a time for us to share our experiences and achievements with all those who have supported us and been part of this effort.

View invite from Eureka founder Dr.Balaji Sampath here

The afternoon begins with “Eureka and You” session where we would like to share our future plans and how YOU as a volunteer can be an integral part of the path ahead. We will also be honoring several of our field people whose hard work and dedication has made these 15 years memorable. This will be followed by a presentation on “The Eureka Journey” by Dr. Balaji Sampath and a panel discussion by eminent guests on “Quality Education”.

We do hope you will be able to attend the function and share this day with us.

Also feel free to share this with your friends and family!. We will be really glad to see you on this memorable day!.

Visit the Facebook Eureka 15 Event to RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=106790319423630

Interface between Media and NGO - CIOSA Event

2011-08-20T08:08:00.000-07:00

The Tamilnadu Development Dialogue about 'Role of Social Media in NGOS' went on well on 20th August at Mafoi conference hall in Poonamalee, Chennai. Nine NGOs participated in the event. One of the speakers joked that only a seminar on "Fund Raising" pulls more than 40 NGOs. Other topics usually get a lukewarm response!

The first speaker was Ram of Catalyst PR. Ram said that a PR consultancy can act as an interface between NGOs and different type of media mediums such as print, electronic, and broadcast. Ram said that any brand name gets registered when a person hears it for atleast 36 times!

Ram of Catalyst PR

Ram's client MGR Janaki college planned to celebrate Pongal. Catalyst PR gave a lot of ideas and asked men to wear dhothi, women to wear half-saree, stage a bullfight, and set up 'sandhais selling elantha pazham'. So, the event became very colorful and all papers splashed the colorful photos in their Pongal news. But u need to celebrate Pongal or Deepavali few days before the actual festival date. Then only the news will appear on the festival day in newspapers!

Catalyst PR also promoted Harvey Heart Charitable Trust event. The publicity for the event increased when cricketer Krishnamachari Srikanth auctioned his bat for 1 lakh rupees. However, the focus on Srikanth did not go down well with the charity staff.

But Ram emphasized the high marketing value of film celebrities and government celebrities. Government celebrities such as IPS, IAS officers are trusted to give authentic news. And so the demand! Agaram foundation gets very good exposure because actor Surya is a member/founder.

NGOs need to constantly keep in touch with media people. They need not give only news but also views. Say, they can give their views about a new bill that the government plans to release. Ram also told that NGOs must not switch off their mobile phones when there is a bad news about them. They have to communicate, apologize, and clarify the situation.

Ram receives a memento from Prasanna of CIOSA

The next speaker was journalist Aravindan who has been reporting for 22 years. Aravind quoted a very interesting example of how NGOs can capitalize on current hot events that may or may not be associated with a cause. For example, old people in theVishranthi home for the old fasted one afternoon and sent the Rs.2000 saved to soldiers of Kargil war. Though the act was genuine, there was a lot of press coverage because of the link with the happening Kargil war then.

Aravind emphasized that small acts like giving buttermilk to traffic police, and making slum kids collect plastic from beaches can propagate a NGO cause.

All NGOs need to maintain a soft copy or hard copy of the activities/news of other NGOs around the world. Some NGOs may not prefer publicity. But when you write about your service, ideas for process improvement, new tools, or a time and cost effective solution can come from any quarter.

Aravind told you need to appreciate and encourage writers whose articles constantly appear in magazines and newspapers. People in NGOs must not have personal egos or stakes and must not take disagreements to their heart. Aravind also urged NGO staff to become resource people or experts in their field of work.

Senior Journalist Aravindan

The next speaker was blogger Anitha. She spoke about the advantages of blogging over traditional media. A single article or a blog post can have any number of words, photos, and videos. This no upper limit on content is a great advantage of blogging. Anitha introduced various applications like Blogger and Wordpress. She also told how NGOs can capitalize on the 20,000 member strong Indiblogger network. A handout about the different type of social media methods was distributed.

The video below contains interesting excerpts of speech by Aravindan and Ram.

Meeting with Prema of CIOSA

2011-08-16T08:22:00.000-07:00

Met Prema of CIOSA and Selva of Eureka over a cup of juice at Fruit Shop on Greams road. The interesting discussion veered towards the bottlenecks NGOs face with external and internal stakeholders.

Selva of Eureka and Prema of CIOSA

* City police refuse permissions for charity runs, marathons, and other NGO meetings in public places. Police also cancel the programs at the last minute. Hope the upcoming meeting on this 20th August between the city police and NGOs will help resolve issues between the two groups.

* Volunteer coordinators sometimes travel 3 hours, only to find that no volunteer has come for the proposed meeting! Sigh!

* Many NGOs do not reply to e-mail communication and respond only when a phone call is made. The motivation to reply to an email has to increase amongst NGO staff.

* Internal communication between NGO staff about policies, programs, and other critical data has to improve. NGO staff do not have time for knowledge dissemination and transfer.

Ideas about how CIOSA can leverage Social Media for "Connecting the Concerned" were also explored.

Do U Think U are Free ? by Purba Ray

2011-08-14T18:32:00.000-07:00

Author Purba Ray

The weekend ahead looks promising. On Saturday most sisters will be rushing to their brothers to renew the lifetime protection warranty. Independence Day on a Monday is an added bonanza. It seems all these years of singing Just another manic Monday Wish it were Sunday has finally borne fruition.

Many of my friends are planning a weekend getaway to a nearby hill station and for the rest of us it will be an excuse to shop some more and eat some more. An extended weekend is like a windfall so why not make the most of it.

But what many of us will not do, is ponder upon the historic relevance of a day which marks the birth of a free nation.

In our country we don’t exactly celebrate our Independence. School kids are herded to Red Fort and made to sing patriotic songs in the searing heat.... a lacklustre speech by a Prime Minister who prefers silence to action and does a Dhritashatra to the misdemeanours of his colleagues.... It almost seems hypocritical to celebrate 64 years of emancipation from British rule only to have most of our elected loot the country’s resources and empty its coffers. It’s tough to be a proud citizen of this country.

Which brings me to the question – what does freedom mean to you? When I asked around, I got interesting responses. To be able to drink straight from a carton of milk.....freedom from accepted norms of how I should behave....to be free of control that others exert on our life....to be capable enough to course the chart of my life without having to depend on anyone for help...to be able to throw my wet towel on the floor.

Freedom is how we perceive it; each of us interprets it in our unique ways.

Now let me ask you another one – do you really believe that we were born free? As children our parents make decisions on our behalf and decide what our priorities should be. We let them because we think they know what’s best for us. We meekly submit to the roles assigned to us and struggle to prove ourselves worthy of the crown of expectations placed on our head. The odd rebel is applauded only if he achieves success else he remains the family’s best kept secret.

So as emancipated citizens of a liberated nation, how many of us can claim that we are truly liberated? How many of us feel free enough to speak our minds without the fear of repercussion... to pursue our dreams and live our life the way we want to. Freedom maybe our birthright but it is not bestowed upon us, it has to be achieved. It may be as trivial as the length of a skirt or make others accept the choices we make. We need to have the conviction to stand for what we feel is right and live by it.

Freedom is a tricky thing and comes with its baggage of responsibility. The mistakes we make are ours alone and that’s why the triumph seems sweeter.

If you ask me what freedom means to me – it is a journey that begins with unshackling our minds from prejudice, bias, negativity and insecurities that plague us. Independence is the freedom of our soul, sensitivity of the mind and a feeling understood only by the heart. Only when we sensitize ourselves to conditions around us can we be the change that we seek to see around us.

India, for all its faults, is unique in all facets of its collective entity – with different faiths, many cultures, many cuisines, and many thoughts that co-exist. Where we enjoy Chhole Bhature with Dhokla and see a Bong woman dance to Bhangra beats. You will come across radical views on life. Intellect has a left and a right. Agreed we need a World Cup victory to unite us, but what a celebration it is when 1.2 billion of us come together and rejoice! The skies light up with crackers and excitement feels like a pleasant jolt. We worship our celluloid stars however dumb they maybe. We value love and treat our family as sacrosanct. We cry when a city burns, fight for justice for the wronged and go all out to support a frail old man when he demands that our leaders be made accountable to the public. We may feel disenchanted but we will never give up hope that there will come a time when India will lead the world.

Till then let us seek freedom for ourselves. Free your mind, the rest will follow. Any takers?

Visit Purba Ray's Blog: http://purba-ray.blogspot.com/2011/08/do-you-think-you-are-free.html?spref=tw

City all set for Raksha Bandhan on 13th August

2011-08-12T08:20:00.000-07:00

As soon as you think of Raksha Bandhan, the colorful band or Rakhi will come to your mind. Raksha Bandhan is celebrated every year on 'Shravan Purnima' (Full Moon Day of the Hindu month of Shravan), which generally falls in the month of August. In 2011, Raksha Bandhan falls on 13th of August. A girl(sister) ties a Rakhi to any guy she considers as her brother. The guy gives a gift to the sister.

R . A . K . H . I

R : Relationship

A : Affection

K : Knitting together

H : Him (Brother) & Her (Sister)

I : Interminably

Put them all together, they spell " RAKHI". Happy Rakhi to all you brothers and sisters!!!

The ritual of Raksha Bandhan essentially includes tying of sacred thread (which is called 'Rakhi' or 'Raksha Sutra') by the sisters, on their brothers' wrist. Before tying Rakhi, the sisters would perform an aarti, apply tilak (by mixing rice grains and roli) on their brother's forehead and then offer them sweetmeat.

After the ritual of tying Rakhi is over, the brothers would give their sisters some gift or money and promise them to help them when ever they need and protect them throughout their lifetime. In fact, offering gifts to sisters is a tradition of Raksha Bandhan.

Taj Palace Hotel offers Livelihood Support to Two Women

2011-08-11T21:55:00.000-07:00

TAJ Group of Hotels had announced that they would support donations of material for livelihood projects and called it building livelihood. The recommended candidates and applications from CIOSA members were forwarded to Taj Palace Hotel HR, who in turn short listed 5 candidates. They selected Rajeshwari and Durga and supported them with livelihood materials on Aug 4th, 2011.

Rajeshwari with her Power Sewing machine and Inter Locking machine

Ms. Rajeshwari hails from R.K.Nagar Sangam, North Chennai District; Rajeswari is member of differently abled welfare association R.K.Nagar branch. She was a candidate referred Tamil Nadu Handicapped Federation CharitableTrust -TNHFCT .

As for her social and economical background, Rajeswari is the wife of a rickshaw puller and parent of 3 children of who Sankar, the first child is mentally ill and the next 2 young daughters are at school. She has not been able to develop a livelihood on her own due to very poor social reserve and was not able avail bank loans as she was unable to produce support documents required by banks. Mrs.Rajeswari has been having tailoring shop and selling ready made cloths on a very small scale.

At this juncture, it was a very heartening gesture from Taj group of Hotels to take the initiative to help such under privileged people like Rajeswari to develop a sustainable livelihood and offered to help in kind, the high power sewing machine and interlocking machine worth about Rs.25,000/- to her. Rajeswari was overwhelmed by your gesture and had tears of joy and said she would set up a tailoring shop and climb the ladder of success soon and has invited all our orders!

Durga with her Idli Kitchen Set

Durga is another beneficiary of Taj Palace Hotel’s Livelihood project. She hails from Kanaginagar, Kancheepuram District. She is a person with disability resulting from post polio paralysis. Durga is member of differently abled welfare association Chemmancherry branch. Durga has not been able to develop a livelihood on her own due to very poor social reserve and her disability. She was Not able avail bank loans as she was unable to produce support documents required by banks.

She lost her husband who was a severe alcoholic, thus pushing her down the ladder of social positions. She has been running a roadside petty idli shop (on the platform) selling food and snacks at night. She wanted to expand her business as there was a demand for her food items, but she lacked finance, materials and infrastructure to expand.

At this juncture, Taj Palace Hotel stepped in to help her with a livelihood project and procured her required material for setting up the shop. They procured the materials needed for setting up an idli shop - like gas stove, 10 plastic stools, 2 plastic dining tables, grinder and a mixiee and some vessels worth Rs.20,000/- and offered to support of training her at Taj Palace hotel.

Rajeswari & Durga were very happy and full of gratitude and said these will help them earn their livelihood with great dignity and live with confidence. The involvement & Joy of giving by the Taj Palace Hotel staff was very much visible as each of them contributed their time in screening process like visiting the candidates, correspondence with CIOSA, short listing application., personal interview of candidates, visits to candidates house (surprise check), selection and procuring the material and ultimately arranging a distribution event . The time each individuals staff had volunteered and contributed to this support was commendable, we hold gratitude in our hearts for ever.

We were informed that the funds for this support came from amounts charged to the guest on any breakage (after deducting the actual cost) that was interesting, hope to have many more guest breaking plates!! This generosity and involvement will make a difference in the lives of Rajeswari & Durga and many more to come. Hope for many more offers of such help for our members. Request all our members to make use of our call of applications for any support as this and respond to circulated emails as it would make great difference in lives of people of your NGO and leave you with fulfillment. We are trying more ways to be connected with all of you, please do keep in touch and keep calling. Thanking all the CIOSA members for their cooperation.

Tamilnadu Development Dialogue - Role of Social Media in NGOs

2011-08-11T02:20:00.000-07:00

The power of social media is transforming the way in which non-profits accomplish their missions. Although NGOs have started to experiment with social media applications, to many it is still limited and in most cases not part of a broader strategic approach.

However, traditional NGO activities such as fundraising and advocacy will directly benefit from the availability of a wide range of affordable online services and applications. Social media play a very important role to advertise their work, and promote participation amongst the community.

Topic: Role of Social Media in NGOs

Date: August 20^thSaturday

Time: 3 to 6pm

Speakers: Mr. Ram of Catalyst PR, Ms. Kavitha Murali of The Week, Anitha Jebaraj - Blogger

Venue: Ma Foi Management Consultancy Centre, Nataraja Bay Citi Centre, New no 306 (Old no 197), Poonamalle High road, Kilpauk, Chennai - 600 010 Phone: 044 – 6622 7000 (Landmark: Above Maruthi showroom and near Pachiappa’s College)

Entry Fee:The participation fee is Rs.200 for members and Rs.300 for non-members. Students who are pursuing Visual Communication, Journalism, PR, Sociology, and Psychology can also attend the event at a nominal entry fee of Rs.100.

Contact Persons: Please send in your confirmation by email at the earliest to prema@ciosa.org or prasanna@ciosa.org.in or call us to confirm at 044- 65515921 Mob: 8608590071 / 9282339070.

Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=250593951627458

Confederation of Indian Organizations for Service and Advocacy (CIOSA) is a Non-Profit member based organization located in Chennai. It serves as a facilitative platform where NGO's, companies and individuals with social concern come together for mutual learning, sharing and the collective espousal of social causes. Please log on to http://www.ciosa.org.in. for more information . CIOSA organizes the Tamilnadu Development Dialogue (TDD), a unique program to foster better understanding, cooperation and working relationship among various stakeholders in the non-profit sector. Resource people are called from various donor agencies, resource organizations, corporates, technical agencies, support service organizations, government departments, etc which are actively working towards social change. This program is usually held on one of the Saturdays of the months from 10 am to 1 pm or evening 3 pm to 6 pm in chennai.

Schizophrenia

2011-08-11T01:36:00.000-07:00

கை நிறைய சம்பாதித்தாலும் தனது தாய் தந்தைக்குச் செய்ய வேண்டிய கடமையில் கணக்குப் பார்ப்பவர்கள், கல்கி, ஜக்கி, பங்காரு போன்ற போலிகளுக்கு, தீட்சை, பூஜை என்ற பெயரில் கணக்கில்லாமல் கொடுப்பதைப் பார்க்கும்போது பற்றிக்கொண்டு வருகிறது!

DonBosco Children's Library is One Year Old

2011-08-08T02:57:00.000-07:00

Advesa trust conducted the first annual day events on 7th Aug, 2011 at St.Joseph's Technical Institute in Tondiarpet. The children recited poetry, sang, danced, and read GK snippets and quizzes. The lines of the Tamil poem were very touching and endearing. It translates to something like - "We carry the burden of books at school, and the burden of family fights in our home. But just give us a chance, we will show you what we can do and who we are."

Ajit, trustee of Advesa, gave a message to the children about 'Friendship Day'. A video on 'road safety' released by Rotary was screened at the function. After the show, the kids answered all the questions about road safety.

Free notebooks and story books were distributed. All the kids were given a pack of Brittania Milk Biscuits. Advesa Trust looks forward to your continued support to the Advesa children libraries. You can donate at http://www.advesa.org/?q=node/434

Librarian Sushma, Managing Trustee Dr.Shanthi, Trustee Ajith Subramaniom

The Benefits of Charity - A blog post by Seth Godin:

Everything we do, we do because somehow it benefits us.

We go to work for the satisfaction (I hope) and because we get paid. We smile at a stranger because it feels good to be nice (and perhaps we'll get a smile in return). We pick up litter when no one is looking because telling ourselves a story about being a good person is worth the effort.

Some people have figured out that charity is an incredible bargain. For the time and money it costs, the benefits exceed what could be attained in almost any other way. A bargain compared to chocolate, or an amusement park visit or buying a shiny new car you probably don't need.

For some, the benefit is in the way society respects the donor. Hence buildings named after Andrew Carnegie or Bill Gates. For many, though, hidden charity is worth far more, because the incentives are purer. A donation earns you peace of mind.

I'm fascinated by people who see no benefit in donating to charity, who, in fact, see a negative. My hunch is that for these people, the worldview is: if charity is important, I better give more. If that's true, the thinking goes, then whatever I give isn't going to make me feel good, it's going to make me feel worse... for not giving enough. Easier to just avoid the issue altogether.

I think marketers of causes that do good have a long way to go in selling the public on the core reason to give... don't give because you get a tote bag, or a prize at the charity auction or even a plaque. The scalable unique selling proposition is that being part of the community is worth more than it costs.

Live Webcast of Samsung Galaxy Tab Blogger Meet in Bangalore, Aug 10th

2011-08-04T20:44:00.000-07:00

Indiblogger has organized a blogger meet with Samsung. Watch out this space for a live webcast on Aug 10th, 2011. Or check the Samsung Webcast Page here.

Tiny Skills for Tiny Tots @ Advesa Trust

2011-07-31T06:49:00.000-07:00

Today, Advesa Trust organized a workshop on making vegetable salad and gardening for the kids of Alphonsa rural library in Mathur. Around 15 kids attended the workshop.

First, the kids made vegetable salad. The children used carrots, cucumber, beetroot, cabbage, tomatoes, onions, lime, pepper, and salt to make the vegetable salad. The kids participated with a lot of enthusiasm, cutting and grating vegetables. The importance of eating raw vegetables to gain the full nutritious value of vegetables was emphasized. The children were advised to make and eat vegetable salad atleast once a week. All the kids ate a handful of the final version of the vegetable salad.

Next, the kids planted coriander and fenugreek seeds in the garden. The children first dug the mud to make it loose. They strew the seeds. Again covered the seeds with mud and then sprinkled water. Hope this activity creates an interest in gardening for the kids.

The children were eager to have another workshop the very next week!! Very encouraging indeed :))

The kids with Trainer Anitha

A Story about Vegetable Salad:

Chef Cinderella wanted to make a low fat but healthy snack for her kids. She decided to make a vegetable salad – no oil but full of vitamins and minerals. She opened her fridge and was thinking about which vegetable to pick. “Pop” jumped Cathy Carrot.

“I am rich in Vitamin A and I’m good for eyesight”, said Cathy Carrot. So, Chef Cinderella pulled out two carrots from the fridge. As she was watching, she saw Trim Tomato rolling down towards her. Trim Tomato winked and said, “I am rich in Vitamin C and help to remove toxins from the body.” Chef Cinderella smiled and picked two tomatoes.

Cushy Cabbage danced and plopped herself into Chef’s hand. “I have lots of Vitamin B1 and Potassium.” Otto Onion, Brisk Broccoli, Chatty Cucumber, Silky Spinach, and Cozy Corn also joined the fun.

Elite Eggplant moved towards Chef Cinderella. Chef hesitated because of the Egg in the Eggplant. But Elite Eggplant told that she had Egg only in her name and had no connection with the Hen’s Egg. So, Chef Cinderella picked the vegetable Elite Eggplant. She cut and chopped all the vegetables. And added salt, pepper, coriander leaves, and lime juice and passed on the delicious salad to the kids. The kids enjoyed the wholesome and colorful vegetable salad.

Stories, Song, and Magic for AAA2011 of Nalandaway

2011-07-30T08:40:00.000-07:00

Story Teller Geeta Ramanujam, Ola Henriccson, and the Burrantino puppet team from Sweden entertained kids in the Egmore Museum Theatre on 31/7/2011.

200-year-old Puppets from Moscow

Geeta Ramanujam tells an Animal Story

Magic Magic: King became Queen, and Queen became King

Ola Henriccson

Thank u All :)))))

எந்நாளுமே துதிப்பாய் பாடல்

2011-07-28T21:44:00.000-07:00

Magdalene Jeyarathnam Talks about Art Therapy

2011-07-23T03:28:00.000-07:00

Magadalene Jeyarathnam, Director of East West Center for Counselling and Training , speaks about her experience in using Art in therapy. She talks about how the LGBT group expressed themselves through art.

Nalandaway's AAA2011 Starts with a Bang

2011-07-18T09:21:00.000-07:00

Nalandaway's Children Festival Art, Arattai, Aarpattam started on 18th July with a mellifluous music confluence at the Museum Theatre, Egmore. Anil Srinivasan, Naresh Iyer, Unni Krishnan, and Navin Iyer performed poet Bharathiyaar's songs about Kannamma. Unni Krishnan started the show with the song "Ninnaiye Radhi Endru." Navin Iyer's "Theertha Karaiyinile" on the flute was marvelous. Naresh Iyer got the whole audience clap in sync for his song "Munbe Vaa En Anbe Vaa." Anil seemed to enjoy his rapport with all the other performers as his fingers moved deftly over the piano.

A collection of stories written by children for the AAA2010 story writing contest was released as a book titled "Hey Akka, Keladi." A cartoon book written by Lakshmi Devnath about singer M.S.SubbuLakshmi was mentioned.

Anil Srinivasan, Unni Krishnan, Navin Iyer, Naresh Iyer

Excellent Performance of Poet Bharathi's Songs

Anil speaking with the audience

Art Therapy Workshop by Melba Thorn

2011-07-16T05:54:00.000-07:00

Today (16th, July), East West Center for Counselling and Training in Chennai started a two day introductory course on Art Therapy. The trainer Melba Thorn has been using Art Therapy for several years in Los Angeles.

Melba Thorne making her Presentation

Art Therapy uses art to improve the emotional health of a person. You can draw, paint, dance, and sing to practice Art Therapy. Today's session focused on painting, sketching, and drawing using crayons, oil pastels, magazine photos, glitter glue, stickers, color paper, charts, clay, and color threads. Software Apps like MS-Paint, Polyvore, and 'Flying Colors' by Magic Mouse can also be used.

First, the participants created a Mandala as a warm up for the sessions to follow.


Warm Up Mandalas

Next, Melba asked the participants to create a Magazine Photo Collage(MPC) with images.

Magazine Photo Collage of a Learner

Next, Melba asked the participants to make a Mask. The mask will have an Outer side and Inner side.

The Outer Side of a Participant's Mask

The day ended with Melba asking the participants to maintain an Art Journal. An Art Journal is a notebook where you will paint/create a picture at the end of every day.

East West Centre Director Magdalene Jeyarathnam Miller making her Art Journal

In the video below, Melba Thorn talks about collages. The other art work done by participants are included.

All participants signed a confidentiality agreement.

The second day of the Art Therapy workshop started with a recap and Magdalene told some real life experiences of Art Therapy with her clients. The first exercise the learners did was establishing boundaries without talking.

Two Samples of Maintaining Boundaries as well as doing Team Work!

The next exercise was 'The Sunny Side Up' - bringing humour to any life crisis.

Melba Showing her Sunny Side

The next exercise was Clay Modelling - for stress relief and moulding your thoughts.

Clay Models

The next exercise was 'Coat of Arms' - all your defense mechanisms laid out on the shape of a shield.

Coat of Arms

All participants did the Art Journal at the end of the training session. Lot of learning and lot of fun! Don't miss this Art Therapy workshop :)

Nalandaway's Art Arattai Aarpattam is Back!

2011-07-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

The kids of Tamilnadu will have lot of fanfare from 18- 31st July, 2011. Nalandaway Foundation has joined hands with Eureka Superkidz to organize the Art, Arattai, Aarpattam cultural extravaganza for 50,000 kids in 1000 villages of Tamilnadu.

In Chennai, the Museum Theatre at Egmore will be the hub of all activities. Entry tickets are at nominal rates of Rs 300, Rs 150. And entry to the semi-classical music concert by Naresh Iyer, Anil Srinivasan, and Unnikrishnan at 6:30 pm on 18th at the Museum Theatre is free!

Visit http://www.nalandaway.org/aaa2011/index.htm to view the list of movies, shows, lectures, and arts carnival of AAA2011.

Google+

2011-07-14T20:53:00.000-07:00