Vishwa Samvad Kendra, Chennai
PANCHAAMRITAM 231
Pancha is five in Samskritam, Amritam is nectar
Poornima / Kali Yugaabda 5113 / Kara Maasi 25 (March 8, 2012)
ONE
It was 1 AM on February 29, 2012. Smt D Rajalakshmi (41), her two daughters D Jayapriya (20) and D Sivaranjini (18) were asleep in their house at B Udaiyur near Bhuvanagiri in Cuddalore district (Tamilnadu, Bharat). Two robbers managed to enter the house. One of them entered their grocery shop adjoining the house while the other tried to steal valuables from the house. Rajalakshmi woke up when the robber snatched out her seven-sovereign gold chain. As she raised an alarm the robber attempted to assault her. Her daughter also woke up on hearing their mother scream. As Sivaranjani turned on the lights the robber tried to attack her with a kitchen knife. Sivaranjani acting swiftly threw a blanket on his face blinding the robber. Rajalakshmi hit him on his head with a spade inflicting bleeding injuries. In the melee the other robber escaped with the gold chain leaving behind his accomplice. Alerted neighbours rushed to the house and secured the robber. They alerted Bhuvanagiri police who came to the village and arrested the robber M Murugan 41 from Manalmedu in Nagapattinam district. Inquiries revealed that Murugan was wanted in several robbery cases across the state. Police have launched a hunt for his accomplice. http://tnpolice.gov.in/News_Archives.php , March 1 2012.
TWO
While most engineering students are bogged down with the weight of heavy textbooks and are confined to a tight academic schedule, here is Niveditha V who chose to live a different life. The final-year engineering student at Yellamma Dasappa Institute of Technology, Bangalore, (Karnataka, Bharat) has been actively involved with the NGO, Youth For Seva (YFS) for the last six months, trying to make the society better. "In my sixth semester I saw a banner of YFS inviting volunteers. At the same time, I saw around me a society that was in need. I felt dutiful to approach the NGO and become a volunteer," says Niveditha. She takes computer classes at local government schools. According to her, the best part about her relationship with YFS is that it never compromises with her engineering studies. "The best part is that I can choose programmes that are near my house, so it is never a problem. Besides, I believe that if you want to do something, you will make time for it," believes Niveditha. Niveditha is also doing a stint with Saksham, an NGO that facilitates audio recording for the visually-impaired. "I help blind students record themselves, and also process the recorded material," she says. While social service is not a potential career option for her, she is firm that volunteering for various causes would continue. "Even after I start a professional career, I want to take time off to volunteer. I am confident of that," says Niveditha. Based on a report by Shri Bharath Joshi in THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS, February 19, 2012. (http://expressbuzz.com/education/seva-for-a-better-society/364784.html)
THREE
Smt G. Renganayaki is determined to give meaning to the lives of children with muscular dystrophy. It's two and a half years since her son Adhiban surrendered to death. He was only 17 years, 5 months and 13 days old when he passed away. For one last time – his eyes told his mother – he wanted to embrace and kiss her. But muscular dystrophy had rendered him so weak that he was unable to lift himself. This isn't a story about death. "All the good things that I was able to provide my son and those I wanted but could not, I am trying to give to as many children who are fighting a losing battle with MD," says Renganayaki. While preparing herself for the inevitable, she silently initiated a movement for MD patients and their parents. Within two years of Adhiban's diagnosis, she registered the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation India (MDFI) in 2000 and committed herself to it. A decade on, the MDFI has grown into the single largest organization of and for MD patients and parents across the country, offering reliable information, medical advice, appropriate guidance and support, and, most important, confidence and hope to over 3,500 families with one or more MD-affected child. "I have seen families with five MD children. It is difficult to imagine the trauma. I attend two-three funerals every month and identify with each of them," she says. As a mother who suffered the loss of a son, Renganayaki has spoken on how MD can be prevented. It is a sensitive matter in our society, she feels, but restricting the inheritance of the disorder is the only way to prevent it. She also brings out a quarterly newsletter on MD in India and distributes 3,500 copies free. But for her efforts, MD would not have been listed as one of the types of disabilities in the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2011. Based on a report by Smt SOMA BASU, THE HINDU, February 29, 2012. (Idea: Dr. M Jayaraman)
FOUR
J Ajaykumar sells television sets for a living, but sold his own TV a few months ago when he realized that his three-year-old daughter refused to eat unless her favourite show was on. Ajaykumar is one of a small but growing tribe of parents in Coimbatore who have sold their TVs hoping to get their children to use their imagination and the ability to mingle with others. More than three dozen parents in the city are getting their children used to life without a TV. "My children now play together and enjoy painting and singing. I feel their communication skills and confidence levels have increased. They also started getting lot of physical activity," says Ajaykumar. M Sethumaran, a top executive with a pharma company, is planning to sell his television. "I found Athik getting terribly disturbed by the violence on screen. Even children's channels have a lot of violence or show advertisements and film trailers that are violent," he says. Bhanumathi, an agriculture scientist, sold her TV three months ago. "My four-year-old was asking why Chotta Bheem is never injured though he has serious accidents. I felt TV was creating a virtual world where kids get a wrong notion on life," she says. "Children are impressionable and can be easily influenced by what they see on TV," says Santhya Vikram, who runs Yellow Train, a kindergarten in Sivananda Colony that makes "no TV at home" a condition for admission, "It has wonderful results. Parents of our children first stopped watching TV. Now their friends and relatives have started doing the same," she says. "For the last six months, we haven't recharged the cable connection. My son's imagination has improved," says teacher Nisha Vijayan who is encouraging parents of her own school to live without TV. From an article by Shri K A Shaji in THE TIMES OF INDIA, Chennai, February 24, 2012.
FIVE
Wikipedia, as many are aware, is the name of an encyclopedia on the web. It has avatars in 283 languages world over - including 20 languages of Bharat. It is run democratically, when it comes to editing the content. A few volunteers in Wikipedia's editorial team who are Samskrit lovers, launched Sanskrit Wikipedia in 2004. Over 2,000 Sanskrit pages too were uploaded. Meanwhile, workers of Samskrit Bharati based in Bengaluru, began working as volunteers for Samskrit Wikipedia last year. In Wikipedia, the content providers are volunteers. Malayalam, among Bharat's languages, has the highest number of volunteers who contribute to Wikipedia followed by Telugu. Lately, Samskrit has come to be seen as the fastest growing language on the Wikipedia, going by the fact that in just the past eight months, over 8,000 pages in Samskrit have been uploaded. Not only that; Samskrit scholars conducted workshops in places like Bengaluru, Pune, Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kaladi, etc., in quick succession. All this made the editorial team of Wikipedia to sit up and take note. Among the several applications of Wikipedia, the Wikisource, Wikinews, Wikisayings, Wikimedia, Wikidictionary, etc., are remarkable in that they promise to be useful in spreading the Samskrit language. Samskrita Bharati is spreading the good word about Samskrit Wikipedia and has sent out appeals calling for volunteers for this task. For general instructions, log on to sa.wikipedia.org, or call 080 2642 1152 (Bengalurtu, Bharat) or mail to samskritwiki@gmail.com for help in this regard. Based on an article by Shri Chamu Krishna Sastri, Publications In-Charge, Samskrita Bharati, in SAMBHASHANA SANDESHAH (Samskrit Monthly), March 2012.
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