Srijan Foundation

The three temples  are near one another and can be comfortably covered within two hours.   (between kottakkal & kuttipuram on Mangalore  – Cochin rd ‘ 19 km from kadampuza ).

Ed visited these temples in June 2011.

PS: Roads in Kerala have innumerable turns , bends , forks, and junctions. Of course there are no sign boards where you need them. However people are helpful enough.

Thirunavaya : Nava Mukunda

Vishnu Kshetram on the banks of Bharatha Puza.

It is approximately 19 Km from Kadampuza. On the bank of the river steps have been built and maintained for convienence of pilgrims. Pitru Karma and kria ceremonies are conducted here, and many who are unable to go to Kashi or Gaya come here. You will also see many ladies performing ‘ tarpanam’, an unusual site, as normally it is the men folk who perform these ceremonies.

Navamunkuda Temple, believed to be constructed by Nava yogis on the right bank of Bharathapuzha, is an important Vishnu temple of Kerala. Pitru Tharpanam is a ritual, held here on the day of Amavasi in Karkidaka (July).  Balikarma is offered by people in their wet clothes, after a dip in the river, for the salvation of sins and to appease the manes.

There is a seperate sanctum for Lakshmi. The story goes; when Adi Sankara visited this spot he found that people of the area were arrogant on account of the vast wealth they possessed.  He saw that the reason was living in the vicinity of the idol of Laksmi whose right hand with an open palm facing downwards was below the hip  level. This ensured that any one who prayed to her was showered with wealth, deserving or not. So Adi Sankara prayed to the mother goddess to revert to her normal abhaya hasta, which she did. This ensured that undeserving persons did not get wealth.

Across the Bharatha puza is a temple for Brahma. However there are no boats or bridge to cross over for a darshan of Brahma.

Trippadam ;

Trikanangode ; Siva Ksehtram; Markandeya Moksha Sthalam

Markandeya was destined to live for only 16 years. When he found his parents sad and unhappy on the last day of life on earth he went to Trikanangode , the abode of Paramasivan, for help. He was chased by Yama dhootas and fled towards the shrine. The AAL in front of the temple split and gave way and allowed him to pass.

Markandeya entered the temple premises and in to the sanctum sanctorum and embraced the the Linga and prayed. The Yama dhootas could not enter the area and went to complain to Yama who himself came on the scene and summoned the young lad to come out.  When Markandeya refused Yama who by then had grown angry and frustrated bloated as he was with the power he wielded over all beings, threw the the pasak kayaru at the boy. The noose wrapped around the boy and the the Linga. When Yama pulled the pasam the Siva Linga was displaced and out came Lord Siva himself , angered by the the action of yama who had dared to take away the life of his bhakta.

It is said he covered the distance to Yama in three steps, and slew him with his trisulam. Then he went to the temple pond and washed away the stains . There is a temple at the original site and the three small temples depicting the three steps taken by Siva, near the present  main temple.

The main pujas in this temple are : Japa of Mritunjaya Mantram’, Uma Maheswara Puja ‘& Maha Rudra Yagna

Rama Temple at Althiyoor

(12 Km from Tirur)

It is a temple for Rama but over a period of time Hanuman has gained  pradhanam. There is a separate enclosure for Lakshmana.

Here one will find a strange looking Hanuman idol, with hands folded and head tilted as if listening carefully. The sthala puranam Rama spoke to Hanuman personally and in confidence and gave him some special signs by which he could identify himself to Sita  as the special dhoota of Rama. He related to Hanuman incidents not known even to Lakshmana, who was standing at a distance. Hanuman with folded hands is listening carefully to Rama. The sight of Hanuman with folded hands and attentive demeanour cannot but bring tears in to ones eyes.

Residents Welfare Association of Sector  A Pocket C, in Vasant Kunj has given space in their office premises since over seven years for running classes for under privileged children. They have also supported group activities and ensured participation of children in all RWA functions, especially functions on  the Republic Day .

A new room in the Community centre has been also allocated for holding the classes of children.

Acrylic Painting

Srijan Foundation is thankful to Col Kain, President of ARWA, Mr MM Agarwal Secretary, , Dr Usha Mukerjee and all members of RWA for their unqualified support.

Photographs of children who participate in these functions have been placed on our website earlier.

Srijan Foundation has been funding many of the children’s activities over the past decade.

Since last one year members of DEEP Foundation have been associated . They have commenced taking additional classes for children once or twice a week, and also preparing children for group activities.

We thank them for their selfless service. Ms Aparna Mathur has been active in teaching the children spoken English and general knowledge. She has also been teaching painting techniques to the kids, acrylic painting on fabric etc; and some of the paintings done by the children are placed below.

Sujata Suri  has been training the children in dance ,and choreographing their dances for presentation on various occasions. Ms Sujata has also arranged for almirahs and books for the children’ library which has been set up in the Room given by RWA. Pictures of the library are also placed below.

Mr Gaurav has been teaching Science, maths and GK. He has also been helping in identifying colleges to which our children passing High School examination can join.

Mr Nareshwar Prasad is continuing to teach the children from his home ,due to the onset of summer.

We are grateful to Mr Subash Dewan & Rahul Dewan for their unstinting support to Srijan activities.

31 Jan 2010

Rotary, Delhi South West,  had arranged fora Poster Painting Competition for children Civil Services sports Ground.

Rotary South – West organizes this event every year for  motivating the children.

Our Children from Vasant Kunj also participated in the event.

It was a wonderful sight to see hundreds of children from 4 years to 17, in colourful dresses, and cheerful faces, engrossed in painting pictures. Their enthusiasm had to be seen and felt, to be believed.

Rotary DSW deserves all praise for the opportunity they have provided to the children of Delhi. Many of the children were under privileged and for them it was really a lifetime opportunity to be provided with so much care and attention, to meet and mingle with other children on an equal footing.

About 2200 children participated in the painting Competition. Also there were about 1000 teachers, parents & guardians who brought their children with them.
There were Four Age groups & Topics

1. Pride of Delhi, 2. Conservation of Resources3. Social Crime4. Social Responsibilities

Children painted beautiful posters in all age group.

The entries were evaluated by a panel of eminent judges headed by Mr Surya Sadan, Montreal based artist from Canada.

Smt Kiran Walia, Minister of Health & Family Welfare gave away the prizes to winners.

All Children were given the participation certificate.  Lunch/Snack,  Mineral water/Cold drinks etc were also given to each participant. To entertain & thrilled children there was magic show  & Jokers too. There was a stall of Dhyan Foundation educating children & adults on Sanatan Kirya & Miracles of Yog.

Rotary Club’s District Governor Ashish Ghosh Rotary South West President Mr Ved  Chandna, Secretary Mr Lalit Vohra,  Mr Ranjan Chopra  Event Chairman &  Mr Pankaj Agarwal Event Co-Chairman , many other Rotarians & their family members actively participated in the program.

Municipal Corporation of Delhi had in the biting winter cold  in a most heartless manner broken up a night shelter occupied by over one hundred homeless poor.

Delhi Catholic Archdiocese, St. Michael’s School, stepped into help the hapless poor.

And not for the first time either.

A School Turns Classrooms Into Night Shelter

Ambika Pandit | TNN

New Delhi: After being severely reprimanded by Delhi High Court, MCD erected a night shelter in a park near the Pusa Road roundabout on Thursday night but its heart didn’t melt. The structure was devoid of all necessities. But the poor people who would have spent the night there on the coldest day of the season found a helping hand stretched towards them.

Delhi Catholic Archdiocese stepped in and opened some classrooms in St. Michael’s School for the night. A statement issued on Friday said: ‘‘In the wake of the recent demolition of the temporary night shelter at the Pusa Road roundabout by MCD, St. Michael’s School on the same road, run by the Delhi Catholic Archdiocese, has decided to help the victims of the demolition.’’

‘‘The school has decided to open its gates to people suffering in this extreme weather without proper facilities given by the MCD,’’ the statement said.

Speaking to Times City on behalf of the Archdiocese, Father Dominic Emmanuel said that after reading about the high court’s intervention and the condition of the people living in the park near the Pusa Road roundabout on Thursday morning in TOI, it was decided to step in.

The school will be providing them with blankets for the night. The homeless will, however, be asked to vacate the classrooms by 6.00 am so that the school can commence its daily routine.

The principal of the school, Father Vincent D’Souza, was asked to write to the MCD and the state government’s education department to inform them of the decision of the school management.

Eight years ago, St Columbus School on Bhai Veer Singh Marg had opened its doors to the underprivileged who suffer in the cold winter nights. The school continues to run that night shelter. ‘‘The church authorities hope that this step of theirs will bring some solace to the sufferings of the poor in the city,’’ said the statement.

THAT’S THE SPIRIT

She Helps Those Lodged In Jail

Sruthy Susan Ullas | TNN

Bangalore: While others are pondering over how to celebrate Christmas and New Year, Sister Adele Korah is busy contemplating what to gift her 5,000 friends for X-mas, all of them in the Central Prison, Bangalore. Sister Adele Korah works 24 hours for this neglected section of society.

For those appearing for exams, she is a tuition teacher helping them out with spoken English. To the sick, she is a nurse, attending to them like a mother caring for her child. She treats them, brings fruits for them and tries getting medicines that the government doesn’t provide.

She runs institutions like Karuna Ashram for the terminally ill so that their last years are peaceful and well cared for. Another area where Sister Adele, a nominee for the Namma Bengaluru awards, concentrates is helping the repented get out of prison.

While a prisoner is serving his/her term, she also makes sure that the person’s family is taken care of. She helps in admitting their children to good schools and sees to it that they don’t suffer. All this with the help of 35 other volunteers.

For Sister Adele, it is all about redemption and reformation. “Even the most hated criminal in the world is precious before the eyes of God. He would have erred in a moment of frustration. But my duty is to free them from the world of unforgiveness, hatred and anger,” she says.

It was after her retirement in 2004 that Sister started serving the prisoners fulltime. Till then she was principal of a teachers’ training institute, where she worked for 35 years. She joined the Sisters of Charity as a nun when she was 20.

“I don’t know much about awards. My greatest joy is to see a human turned away from darkness towards light,” she said. Indeed, hands that serve are holier than the lips that pray for this nun.

SMALL GESTURES SPEAK VOLUMES

Differently Abled Man Assists Motorists On Narrow Stretch

Aarthi R | TNN

Bangalore: In these times of infuriating traffic gridlocks, Salman, 25, is a blessing for late-evening commuters at this busy junction in Benson Town. The way this differently-abled young man does it puts many able-bodied men to shame and surprise.

Though cramped by limb deformities, he’s very active, supporting himself with a stick, wielding a sharp whistle and ensuring there’s no chaos at this narrow junction. Nothing stops him from being there between 6.30 pm and 10 pm, trying to bring some order to the vehicles as they squeeze through the connecting road.
A resident of Jeevanpalli on Tannery Road, Salman has been doing this for almost nine years.

“I’ve seen the traffic grow by leaps and bounds. Initially, it was a bit difficult to handle but now it’s part of my daily life and helps me support my family,’’ he says. Earlier, he worked at a parking lot at the nearby Haj camp.
When he was 11, he lost his hands and a leg while flying a kite from a terrace. He slipped and fell on electricity wires. But that hasn’t deterred him in his chosen work. Some residents have also nominated him for the Namma Bengaluru Awards instituted by ABIDe. He is thrilled: “It feels good. I didn’t realize people would recognize me for this. With the whistle in my mouth, I’ve never felt disabled.’’

His father Sheikh Hyder was a fruit vendor but now laid low by lung infection. Mother Zarina is a homemaker. His younger brother is married and lives elsewhere with his wife. Salman earns anywhere between Rs 150-200 a day to around Rs 3,000 a month or even more. He earns more during Ramzan, but cold December and rainy days are lean. “The traffic police also pay me Rs 10 a day, that’s only if they pass this way,” he says.

The only thing he feels handicapped by is lack of education. He’s never been to school. Initially fluent in Hindi and Urdu, he has now picked up some English and speaks a few words. he also manages to understand many words as he interacts with commuters.

SOME PLANS
“I want to get married. First, I need to get a decent and regular income so I can support a family,” Salman says.
toiblr.reporter@timesgroup.com

There are over 100 children in two villages, with 3 teachers, who get together for 2 to 3 hours a day, learning Oriya, arithmetic, English, GK etc. They also learn poems, songs and play games.

These photos were taken in Nov 09.

This is a part of Srijan Foundation’s Literacy Campaign for the under privileged children,

NGOs start activity centres for child domestic workers

M Ramya | TNN

Chennai: After the case of 10-year-old Rameshwari Jadhav being beaten and scalded by her employer — a small-time TV actor in Mumbai — came to light, the labour ministry is trying to curb the practice of employing children as domestic workers.

But not many people are interested in children like 15-year-old R Ragini, an orphan living with her brother and sister, who has been working as a maid in a house in Rajapillai Thottam in T Nagar for 12 years.

Ragini dropped out of school when she was in Class III, and can’t even write her own name. If she had been discovered a year ago, legal action could have been taken against her employer for hiring a child in hazardous labour, but now the Child Labour Prevention and Regulation Act (CLPRA) cannot help her since she is over 14 years.

An ongoing survey of child domestic workers in the city by two NGOs, Save The Children and Arunodaya Centre for Street and Working Children, shows that there are 35 children being employed in households in Kodambakkam, T Nagar and Choolaimedu, and 22 children in T P Chattram, Anna Nagar and Aminjikarai, many of them between 14 and 18 years.
Programme manager of Save The Children in the state Sandhya Krishnan says, “Though child labour has been included as a hazardous form of labour under the CLPRA, it states that only children under 14 cannot be employed in hazardous forms of labour, leaving those aged between 14 and 18 years (who are also children under Article 32 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children) without legal protection.”

Many of the children in this age group grow up to become poorly paid unskilled domestic workers. Extra-curricular or recreational activities or learning vocational skills is out of the question. To change this, the NGOs are setting up six contact and activity centres across the city. There are three centres in the city — two in Kodambakkam and one in T P Chattram.

It gives children the opportunity to play games and learn vocational skills such as tailoring and beauty techniques. Where such centres are not possible, the organisations are talking to resident welfare associations in apartments to allow them to use parking areas to give the children vocational training.

E Mala, who handles the centre in Rangarajapuram in Kodambakkam which caters to 23 children between 15 and 17 years, says, “Children can express themselves, increase their self-esteem and have fun. These are things that they never seem to have time for.” Mala, who started working as a domestic help when she was 10, is now studying second year BA History in Quaid-E-Millet College for Women and wants to become a social worker.

Through these centres the NGOs hope to have many success stories like that of Firoza in Kolkata, who successfully completed a six-month beautician course. She has since left her employer and returned to her family in Joynagar, from where she commutes five days a week to Kolkata where she is a practising beautician and to continue her training. Firoza is Ragini’s idol.

“I just learnt how to apply mascara. Next week I’m going to learn how to shape eyebrows. Soon I’ll be working just like Firoza akka,” she says.

FES

FESTIVAL TIME: The faithful converged at the Annai Vailankanni Our Lady of Good Health Church in Besant Nagar for the annual fest. It is held as part of the birthday celebrations of Mother Mary. The celebrations began at the church on Saturday with the hoisting of flag. The annual fest begins with a 9-day Novena to the Mother on August 29 every year and culminates on September 8th, the birthday of Mother Mary