Red glasses

A journal entry of recent past:

Source: Google images

I am influenced or I am suffering from some disease I can see red everywhere. Jag lal! Lal Lal lage hai mujhko(The world appears Red! Red and only Red to me). The red here means arts, creativeness, design, beauty, colors, music in everything. It seems that creative people are always wearing this glasses, I feel like sometimes I choose to wear this glasses all the time but something within me just forces me to pretend and take those red glasses out and see everything normal and boring, monotonous and as they are dull.

   So the question is always asked is there beauty in the flower or the eyes who sees and appreciate it. The dawn and dusk are always the same, why is it some days we just love to gaze at it and other time we are busy cursing it and minding our own business.

   I am extraordinarily happy today and all because of music and the red glasses which I choose to wear. I waited patiently, took break from all the corporate greys and see the red within everything. I stopped and thought what the song meant, why the singer is so happy or sad. What is he feeling? What does he mean? I saw the ceiling and asked myself what was the architect thinking when he made this? I saw the pattern all square and asked he must be very organised person. I spoke to my friend and while speaking I observed weird background at my cafeteria and I thought those buildings what do they mean to me and what was the original idea behind putting it here and why it doesn't bother people who don't like, or they don't say anything because they don't care about it? ;-) I love the fonts I use in my Open office called “Joti one”. I love my phone which allows me to take random photos. I am very happy that I have pencil to draw. I am happy that I can make funny letters. I am happy for my job which allows me to sit on a computer and internet and learn so many things.

  

I don't know why I keep giving excuses and saying that I don't have time for arts even knowing well thats truly colorful me. I say a movie long back called Mars needs Moms where supervisor have deceived the martians to believe in a lie and have made things very programmed and runned only with instructions and very less of emotions are seen, they are not allowed to live as families and there is nothing called as love and arts. People are just living under orders, under strict manners. And everything is straight line and programmed which reminded me of other movies like Wall-E and Equilibrium where the Directors have tried to show the struggle between the emotions vs programs(reasoning). One hand in equilibrium emotions are illegal and in wall-e people have forgot what does it mean to live without gadgets and what it emotion really means and they don't talk, they don't love, they don't nurture relationships and I love the way Wall-e the weird robot changes everything. And in Mars Needs Mom how Ki is that person who is fond of arts but she pretends to be just like others and I find myself always doing like that. But later she recognises the lie of the supervisor and rescues everyone. I feel like ki and wall-e most of the times.(I love the tagline of Wall-e After 700 years of doing what he was built for - he'll discover what he's meant for.)

one of my sketch

   I don't know if all this make sense to many of you folks but this is what goes on in my mind whenever I hear the word “WEIRD”. I live in my own world. The colorful world, I fall down, I sing, I dance and I appreciate even small and minute arts in all things. I am sure you can see the world with a different lens if you want you can borrow my red glasses and try to see world differently.

And I remember what Word of God says:

Though the fig tree does not bud

   and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

   and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

   and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

   I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength;

   he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

   he enables me to tread on the heights. Habakkuk 3:17-19

Why choose Milaap?

    After I started the campaign for Ex-devadasis joining and spreading word for Milaap, so we can say I have become a face for Milaap in my community. So I decided to study the website a lot and how does Milaap works and found their policies to be in place and very rigorous and I say so because when I tried to read the policy of how to become a field partner was so exhaustive but I think very important and crucial to create the trust between Milaap and the partner. You can read the policy here.

Source: www.milaap.org

    About the team:But how does it actually works.Milaap have its own team and people working with Milaap are very passionate people who are not working just because they want to earn money but because they care about the social cause and they are passionate young people who have heard about the initiative and joined in to help to bring the change. If you want to know them you can visit milaap.org/blog/meet-milaaps-fellows/. You can write to them and I am sure they will reply you back promptly. And not just that I have read all this on their website but after joining hands with them for the campaign, they have contacted me several times and whenever they have contacted me I have never felt that they are doing it for transactional purpose, I have always felt like they are my friends and trying to help me understand how it works. So personally it is not just about what the company is but the representatives are also very helpful people, and at least whatever conversation I had with them, I found them to be very genuine.

    About the partners and how they work:Then they have multiple grass root level field-partners.Milaap identifies and partners credible, proven non-profit organizations and social businesses with a range of organizational types including microfinance organizations, vocational training institutes, artisan supply chains, schools to name a few.1 And the field-partners collect the information from the borrowers and their credibility and it becomes their responsibility to give details to Milaap about the borrowers and when the money is received from Milaap they are the one responsible for distributing it and then following up and helping the borrowers and you know what is most interesting the 100% of the contributions you make go towards helping the borrowers. And to ensure that money which have you lended is not misused or to eradicate the chance of mishandling or using it for wrong purpose the field partners ensure that they don't handover the cash or the entire money to borrowers, instead the organizations on field will construct a toilet, build a water connection and my case(http://fundraiser.milaap.org/campaigns/Sushant) give them the raw materials to start a Garam Masala powder business rather than giving them the capital.2

    Trust and transparency:And Milaap also promises that lenders will be provided time to time update from the field, which they do through blogs and emails; here the Milaap fellows update us about the contribution we made and how it's impacting the lives and business of our borrowers. Besides that, whenever you are free and would like to visit your borrower to see the impact, you should go and make a visit to the field. Milaap have slots every month for our community to visit the field. So if you would like to visit them, let them know in advance and they can arrange a field trip with the borrowers.

    Milaap team also have a team which takes photos and make videos and they have collected many testimonies from the field so that we can know that our money have truly reached people and we can listen to their stories and I will be waiting for the story of my borrower ;-). They have collected various different videos from various different projects from past and present and they have also interviewed partners and their volunteers. You can take a look at all of them from the following link. http://www.youtube.com/milaapdotorg.

So once again I invite you to join me for the campaign @ : http://fundraiser.milaap.org/campaigns/Sushant

References:

1.http://milaap.org/behind-the-scene

2. Received my answers from Milaap team through e-mail

Help! Ex-Devadasis

    Imagine yourself being a slave in a free country, sounds scary, isn't it? Now imagine not just being a slave but a forced sex slave from the age of 5 or 6. Imagine when due to wrong practices and misleading myths you have been forced to become a sex slave under the title of temple prostitute. Imagine taking the name of god and doing worst possible things, not allowing a person to live freely, forcing her to become a sex-worker just for some money and our corrupted practices of past. I was literally in tears and my heart is grieved to see the video.1

The Problem:    You must be thinking its past which I talk about, or mystic land where this practices take place but don't be surprise its in India(Kappalguddi, Karnataka, India) and still this practice is going on. Yes the tradition where this women are called Devadasi,2 (meaning: ‘servant of God’) system involved dedicating a girl, as young as 5-6 years of age, to the temple Goddess. This meant that she would spend her entire life serving the temple and was not allowed to marry anyone else. The system was abused by the rich and the powerful who began to force the young Devadasis to sleep with them.Over the years, the Devadasis were reduced to being incorrectly termed 'temple prostitutes'. This merciless practice, though illegal and outlawed, still exists in certain small towns of India and its stigma continues to cling to the women who attempt an escape. Because of the social stigma around their roles, employment opportunities are denied to them. It is a vicious cycle where future generations too, are drawn into this ruthless system3. I am sure many of us are not even aware of such practices and even though its illegal its still going on, you want to know why?

    Logic is simple, do you remember the old hindi line which says “Kalank kajal se kali”  (blemish is more blank than collyrium) which indicates or really means that once you are blemish in the society you cannot walk with dignity. Imagine everyone calling you names “whore” ,“slut”, “prostitute” and they even don't know they didn't chose to be their and they didn't want to be there but we leave no option for them. Either they die or they choose to remain in the same trade. They don't want to beg. We all dislike beggars and we always complain, “why can't they work?” They can't work because no one in the society want to give work to them. Remember old slave story of America when the law was passed and slavery was illegal, now suddenly there was freedom and they didn't knew what to do and how to do? So many of them continued to serve their master’s willingly.But few who fought and struggled hard to make their position in the society. So its not very different story here, there are group of women who are no longer Devadasis but they are struggling with the society, with the financial struggle to support them and their family, their many objective now remains to stop and abolish this practice and give a better future to the next generation. They are like helpless birds trapped in a prison. Even animal right activist don't allow to treat animals like the way human are treated by our society.

Change:    But what if I want to say there are few changes, what if I say the birds inside the cage are restless to come out now, what if I say they want to live in dignity they want to spread awareness that same should not be repeated with someone else. What it they are courageous enough to take a stand, will you stand beside them. What if I say they just need ordinary people like you and me to help them. What if I say with a small help they can become independent.As they don't get jobs and ill-treated by the rich, many of them want to become self-employed and want to work with their own hands also teach others and help other who are still in the same trade and want to bring the change in society.They want to become enterpreneur and they are not only thinking about themselves but for other similar women who are trapped in viscous cycle they need a small help to break through. They want the same dignity as we have. They are also fellow humans like us, they also want to live an independent and a happy life. They are eager to help others because who else will know the pain better than them, they have experienced it for years. They know the pain and they want to change it. All the need a chance. We all make mistakes and look for a chance to change but here they made no mistakes but they are asking for a chance for the mistake we made. For justice to be done with them they are eager to change this. Will you help them?

Act/Help:     Lets be practical now. What can we do? The need is certainly vast. But what if I say lets help people and group one at a time.Lets take small steps to begin with. And as I said they want to start new business they need help financially, now you will think they are asking for donation and we don't have money to donate because we have so many things to do and we earn very less but its not donation but its lending money. Yes, you can give loan to the group of people who want to start a new business on their own and after certain period of time you will get back your money which you can pay it forward. And guess what its like you don't have to give a large chunk of money but you can begin as small as Rs.500(what a cost of two movie tickets/ a good dinner at your favorite restaurant). Trust me if we share our resources in right way and it reaches the right person who is impacting others, this world will become better place to stay. Think your help will change and touch so many lives. There will be so many employment opportunity because of this help. You will be helping group of people to get back their dignity, to get back their life at their terms freely and they can live like us. And they will be really thankful for your help and I am sure they will be encouraged to help others. And your kindness will reach miles and miles away.

There are plenty of reasons why you should give, if you want to refresh you memory and looking for reasons read this.4

For donation lending money join me on: http://fundraiser.milaap.org/campaigns/Sushant You can make payments using your Credit/Debit cards, Netbanking.

Milap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zha3iaLbHHA

#Hopeproject an initiative by milaap and Indiblogger
#http://milaap.org/fund/lalita-k-harijan-and-group/2035?&referrer_id=8951

Disclaimer: All images are copied from the Internet via Google Images

References:

1:http://milaap.org/campaigns/hope and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k026QTnKlqQ

2:http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/jan/21/devadasi-india-sex-work-religion

3:http://milaap.org/campaigns/hope

4:http://www.openbible.info/topics/giving_to_the_needy

Book Review: Going all the way: Preparing for a Marriage That Goes the Distance

Before I tell you about this book lets get to know the Author: Craig Groeschel is the founder and senior pastor of LifeChurch.tv which is considered the largest church in the United States and has fifteen locations in five states. He is married with six children and lives in Edmond, Oklahoma, a suburb of Oklahoma City, where LifeChurch.tv is based.

His orgnisation have online church also who really cannot go to physical church can attend online church http://www.lifechurch.tv/locations/church-online. And his church team have also designed the most downloaded and used Bible App Youversion. I think he is one of the weird pastor, by that I mean he is slightly non-traditional kind of Pastor who uses a lot of technology to reach out and which have also made him very popular and he is able to reach a great number of people.

Craig is excellent with his humor and how he adds his personal experiences and also he have a story ready for every situation, some of his own experience and some of others whom he know. And he gives very practical but oddly Godly advices to you and mind you they are really good.

Source:http://www.amazon.com/

So about the book. If you are looking for a marriage, relationship, or you are confused about living relationships, marriage, dating and you are standing on crossroads and you feel a little advice is required or you think it would be good to get a perspective on this subject. We might think he is a pastor and he will have some lengthy sermons on marriage, surprisingly as I said he is weird, he gives very practical, humorous and a language we young people use and when you read it, you will feel as if you were speaking to a close friend who is sharing his personal experience with you. And yes as he have experience he gives a great a perspective marriage learning from his own mistakes and how he want us not to repeat mistakes. And what were the principles he followed and helped him in his marriage that is going all the way.

If you are young and struggling whether to date or not? Pick this book up. Not because he gives you tips to date and neither it condemns dating but he gives a very balanced view on relationships. He uses a lot of illustration, first he numbers the person whom you want to love first and second and how that view will keep the marriage grounded and having a common vision. It will help you look for practical steps. He will challenge your thinking, he will challenge you to train your emotions, he will challenge you to change your view on very important thing like relationship, love, sex, marriage and how and what to expect from the opposite sex. He also draws amazing pictures for instance when growing in friendship he illustrates it with “gear system of a car” which makes it easy to remember and fun to read.

He will not let you get bored with theory but he will give you stories which he have encountered which gives us a taste of what if I do this or that what will it result in. Overall its a complete package of fun, learning and changing your perspective of marriage, sex, love and relationship that goes all the way.

          Name: Going all the way: Preparing for a marriage that goes the distance

• Author: Craig Groeschel

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Multnomah Books (October 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590529383

Travel update 2013 and 2014 plans

Hello Readers,

    I am sorry for not being posting after my last post about such a weird topic and I never came back and told you why I took the break and why this silence.

    So many things took place but the most of the time I was busy with my exams in the month of December. Ok you might ask what exams?, I am doing in my Graduation through correspondence and it should hopefully finish by this year and I will be a graduate after a long wait.

    So last year was really a roller coaster ride but it was fun. So telling you about the journey as lets not forget we are on the journey. I have come closer to God and walked this narrow path only with help of God. But last two months have been most dramatic months for me because a lot of thing was changing and I met a friend from another country who changed my vision. Or lets say pushed me into a new dimension and made me realise that I have potential to do more than I am currently doing. That person made me think a lot more deeper which have really-really made me think about my Calling as well. So here it is a secret, we call this journey a journey of faith, this spiritual journey is bit different from the journeys we take here on earth. You know when we plan a trip we know where we are going, how we are going, what are the expenses, what are the consequence, what are we taking along and many other stuff we know about all things together but when it comes to journey of faith you know the ultimate destination but at current how to walk, where to go, what to do, what to take, how to do, what all we will need nothing is fixed, nothing is visible but you know what this journey is not about me, the traveler is a follower therefore he is bound to follow his Master in all the ways.

    So this journey of faith is very adventurous because you know only one step at a time, it takes lot of courage and patience to be on this journey, but trust me its fun to trust God and to walk after Him. Think of God, He is your Father, He knows everything, He is omniscient, He knows end from the beginning and He can see all things. He knows what you are going to do and what's best for you. But sometimes it becomes very very hard to walk after Him, sometimes frustrating because sometimes He takes you even through the valleys of death, sometimes He brings you to a dead end and you are lost and confused.(But I am always reminded its one step at a time, remember when Moses lead the Israelites from egypt to promise land they hit the Read sea and everyone thought thats dead end(also the egyptian army was coming from other end) and started grumbling but Moses who trusted God knew that “God will make a way” and the red sea was parted).{You can read the story in Exodus 13,14}

    From the day when journey of faith began I have been asking and waiting for God to lead me, this year I strongly believe God is going to make a way and make things new for me. The promise that I think I received this year is

“Forget the former things;

   do not dwell on the past.

 See, I am doing a new thing!

   Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness

   and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:18-19)

Source:mostpato.deviantart.com

And I am excited and thrilled to follow God and its amazing to follow this God and His ways are definitely higher than ours. And I will trust in his promises and specially the one which says:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart

   and lean not on your own understanding;

 in all your ways submit to him,

   and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6 

So it seems to be an exciting year ahead, I am planning to learn a lot, read a lot, write a lot. I don't know if I will publish all of them but sure to keep you updated and share my thoughts.

    So whats your review of 2013 and plans for 2014?