THANKS KARTIK (JAIN)

Kartik Jain a budding photographer is a friend. I met him first at Samira's place. I really can’t go into who Samira is because that will probably take the entire blog in short she is my childhood friend. I grew up with her. She is that person who has always been around. A friend who I wouldn't be able talk to for 2 straight years yet when we do catch up seems like the two years changed nothing! Mira Kuhn-best friend, soul mate, sister, my partner in crime!
Anyways this is not about her this one is about Kartik!

Thanks for the amazing photographs you took.

BACKGROUND
The Latika Roy Foundation played host to 7th graders from Woodstock School. The students were here from November 3 to November 6 and on the last day we organized an inclusive activity for students of Woodstock, Karuna Vihar and trainees from CVT at Latika Vihar.
The students were divided into groups of 4 and they were given bed sheets, paintbrushes and lots of paint to unleash their creativity! And unleash they did! Now how Kartik got to know about the activity is another story.

SCENE 1

Neha Joshi (yes, there is another Neha Joshi at the Foundation!) and I were traveling back from Delhi. We were very excited as our tickets had been upgraded and we would be traveling in style AC 1 Tier!!!
Anyways so we bumped into the kiddo at the station and what do you know he is traveling in style too! So there we were sitting in our cabin with an elderly couple, Kartik, and the two Neha Joshis. Two people from Latika Roy Foundation and they don’t talk about it, not possible. So we began rattling about what we do and about the Woodstock visit yada yada yada.
That's when Kartik tells us that he had come to Delhi for a photography workshop and we pounced! "Why don’t you come and shoot some pictures for us Kartik?" He agreed!
CUT TO SCENE II
The mayhem begins!!!
The children poured in at Latika Vihar at 11 am on Friday, November 6 and Kartik strolls in at 11:30. With paints and children everywhere I could see Kartik maneuver his way around trying to take photographs.
These are some of his photographs. I must say WELL DONE KARTIK!

That's ME!

Helping a friend.

What one group made!

The other Neha Joshi-hmmm now I can give Picasso a run for his money!

A splash of Colour!

Hema Di(The force at LV) and Me(the chotta force at LV)

The 3 Musketeers (Neha J, Neha J and Priyam -my sister from another mother)
Having fun together

Now that was FUN!!! Thank You to the whole team...

Rambling

Yes I feel like rambling...
Sometimes life seems like a rock rolling down the mountain...its moving too fast downhill and gathering momentum with every minute. Damn the law of gravity...
While all I’m hoping for the time being is a little break. Just a tiny little break.

Where is it heading, why and for whom?

Somewhere down the line I have forgotten who I am living this life for. I feel like somewhere in this life of mine I have no time for me.
This is everyone’s life but mine...

Rambling that is what I am doing, probably because life’s moving faster than I am. I’m growing every single day and everyday I am challenging myself, my own beliefs and my own decisions.

Every single day, it’s more about me, every single day it’s less about me.
I am no longer me and I do not know who I want to be.

Something has changed but I feel like holding on to what it was. The change is growth and I love growth, it’s eminent, essential yet somewhere down the line I want it back to what it was...
But I no longer know what it was like….

What I once held dear no longer has any value.
What I once thought inconsequential now suddenly holds significance.

I’m losing myself in this search for myself.....

But, Who am I?

Am I what I think or what you think?
Am I what I see in the mirror or what I want to see in the mirror?
Am I my dreams or my reality?
Really, who the hell am I?

Whose life is this? Whose questions are these?
Not mine.
Yes Mine.

Here I stop.
Here I begin.

Just a thought

A moment of joy is better than a life time of sorrow....

A friend once told me its okay to be random!

Taking your advice. 'Get it'. And this thought came across while talking to another friend, Sood that's you if you didnt get it!

To both of you - Thank You!

Back with a Bang!

Chaotic control that’s the best way I can describe the last two months! It has been ages since I wrote but I do have a very good excuse! Since my last post in September we have had 2 melas, 3 small productions and 1 film meeting! Well so as you can see I have been busy! The melas were great fun! As I was saying chaotic control.... hmmm now how do I explain that to you? Okay so we started with a Janamashtami celebration and a big Independence Day celebration (all of this is there on our site http://www.latikaroy.org/). Both these celebrations were marked by performances by our children. A dance by our lovely Radha Krishna devotees and a play on the gallant Rani Laxmi Bai (for the uninitiated - she was the Rani of Jhansi, one of India's first female freedom fighters). One of the photographs in my last post (one with the green turban is from that day!). It was a last minute goof up. One of our actors Arjun decided to not come on the day that he had the play! So there was Neha Didi trying her best to control the children from panicking while deep in her heart she was the queen of paranoid panic!!!So at the last minute I decided to wear a turban and be a man!

Now as they say it’s only the beginning. Things never truly end when they are meant to 2 days after the chaos Merrow, our Volunteer from Cambridge University put up her production with the children at Latika Vihar. The play was one of my favourite fairytales Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and we had an extremely talented Snow White who didn’t deter to say other actors dialogues if they forgot to say them! (What presence of mind!) To cut it short it was a HUGE success. It was the first time many of our children spoke in English and they were astonishingly perfect!

Once the Latika Vihar events got done and over with (at least for a while) I got down to what I am being paid for! Work on the website and the Resource Centre!

Merrow and Ashleigh our volunteers had come up with a brilliant fundraising project called B.U.I.L.D.E.R. The project would involve students from across the city in our fundraising drive. In my personal opinion it’s a well thought out, creative and productive project. What it entails is that we approach schools speak to them about our work and our needs. We then let them decide how and if they want to support our cause. The project allows the children complete freedom to use their own creativity to fundraise through events like school marathons, yard sales, dance shows etc. All the ideas, planning and work is done by the children. The project helps them in understanding a company structure as it would require a proper work division and demarcated responsibilities. The aim is to train the children in a possible career in events and fundraising. The qualities that they need for this project and the qualities that this project would enhance will help them in the future for college applications, job interviews etc. the process also spreads awareness about the cause of disabilities. Great project huh Ek teer se teen nishane! Thanks Merrow and Ashliegh! We are still talking to schools on the same project and have my Alma Mater Welham Girls School on board!

Now we had Yvonne from Birmingham, England who started something called The Wall at Latika Vihar (yes Welhamites it’s exactly like the Wall in school!). Children think of a theme and write articles, do research, take interviews and put it up on the board.
But one of the most important thing that Yvonne did for me was plan, plan and plan some more! You see I love ideas and I’m ever ready to do things at the drop of a hat! My agenda in life would promote a shoe company very well, Just Do It! Yvonne on the other hand brought the control to the chaos!
We had two Melas, Dusshera and Diwali and did I have fun pulling her leg about her habit of putting everything down on paper! But thanks to those papers I never forgot anything!!!
The Dusshera mela was great fun we had dances, food and the burning of the Ravana!

But you know what the best thing was? The involvement of the children, you should have seen some of the older kids who stayed back to make the Ravana!

Those who practiced diligently for the dance and others who tried their best to make little decorative pieces for Latika Vihar!

We than celebrated Diwali in grand style (phew we really don’t leave any festival alone now do we?). Just a few pictures of the rangolis by the staff and children will show you the effort that went into this mela!

With the diyas burning bright the centre looked beautiful.

Now the movie! Well it’s a bit of a surprise so I should not spoil it. All I can say is we are in the process of making a small film which I hope will be appreciated by all those who care about the cause and want to learn more about it. The movie is being made by a group called Xebec Film Team who had done an amazing job with our previous film. Here is the link to that film http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC2ncbi_U4w

Phew! To be honest this is still not the end.... there was much more and will always be more....
Here's looking ahead to November.

PS: that was just the work front!!

Photos Courtesy: Yvonne, Merrow & ME!

This is what I Do.....

Here is a little glimpse of what I do on a daily basis!

Giving a word of encouragement

Last minute change in plan...I get to act!!!!

I even get to conduct prayers, give prasad and put tikka on people!!
Anchoring for a show!

This is just a part of what I do. But there is more, a lot more!

The Perfect Child

Have you ever heard of the story of a man who tried to create the perfect human being but instead created a hideous monster who destroyed his creator’s family and life? Yes, Frankenstein did not want to create a monster, he wanted to create the ‘perfect human’, a dream that turned into a nightmare.

It seems we never learn from our mistakes, Hitler had an idea of the perfect human and in order to achieve that perfect world he destroyed everything that came his way, including his own life.

No, we never learn.

God could not have created something that was more pure and beautiful than a child. Their carefree laugh, innocent questions and zest for life have always amazed me. Children are a gift from God, a gift which we should accept graciously and with love. But we humans are incapable of even that. All our lives we have exploited and disregarded his gift with great callousness. Children across the world bear the burden of their parent’s expectations. Through our children we want to live our unfulfilled dreams.

We are obsessed with our children being perfect.

And why wait till they are born lets make him perfect even before they see the world. You want your child to have deep blue eyes or maybe jet black hair or would you rather have a child who is athletic or one which is smart? No problem we are working on that! This is still at a developing stage some people may say I am getting carried away because this is merely science fiction and not a fact.

Well then let me give a few facts, take a child with down syndrome in many countries down syndrome is considered a good ground to abort a child with this disability. In Germany alone 90% of all children that were prenatally diagnosed with Down syndrome were reportedly aborted. True a child with Down syndrome is different, he may have a lower IQ than other children his age and other limitations but they can and do live a complete and wholesome life and who knows that better than us, an organization that works for people with disabilities whether its Sakshi or Sana our children have proved all those who believe against them wrong.

When Sarah Palin decided to not abort Trig, there was a huge outcry by people who considered her decision unethical. Trig was not ‘normal’, she knew he would suffer all his life due to his disability and therefore she should have had an abortion to save him from all the trouble. This would have been the right ethical choice.

In a somewhat similar case in India a girl with a mild case of mental retardation was raped and when the sate found out she was pregnant they on her behalf decided to get the child aborted. She wanted to keep her child, but the state decided she had no right to take the call, she was mentally retarded, she can not possibly think for herself and what if the child was mentally retarded as well? No, it only made sense to abort this child this was the right ethical choice. This decision was for the benefit of the child, the mother and the society at large.

Both the children did not deserve to be born, they were not normal nor would they ever be like the other children and therefore they had lost their right to live.
The question is not whether they will become ‘normal’ in life, the question really is do we have a right to take a life? Who are we to decide what is normal or perfect?

A child that is happy and loving, one whose laughter lifts up your spirits, a child who is gentle and kind hearted, that is my idea of a perfect child. What is yours?

The New EIC

Hello! We are back!

This is what our new home looks like..

It's pretty isn't it?

For a while we had to stop playing but we are back at what we do best!!!!

Come visit us anytime

55 B, E.C. Road, Near Dwarka Stores

+91-35-6458540