Birthday Wishes

I was going through a blog post by Rai where she mentioned about catching up with a long lost friend through Orkut. Thats when it suddenly struck me that I haven't visited Orkut for more than 2-3 months.
So I opened orkut today and what do I find? Loads of birthday wishes!!!!
So here is the list of 'em all!!

"dude! belated Happy Birthday!"
"Many Many Happy Returns Of The Day. "
"I wanted to wait till the party was over and see if you are happy of sad...... Happy because you get to grow wiser and sad cos that inevitably gets you older ...... Actually thats a load of crap ..... You know I'm making excuses for not wishing you earlier !!! :P
All the same Happy Birthday bro ... hope you had a ball
Ciao"
"Miyaan... Janamdin ki bahut bahut shubhkaamnaayein :-)"
"Happy B'Day Roshan !!!"
"Many Many Happy returns of the day!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Janamdin mubaarak ho!"
"Happy Birthday Roshan. God bless you in the coming year with all your hearts desire. Have fun! =) "
"Hey Roshan..
Wish ya many happy returns of the day...
Kal office main party dena !!"
"Happy Birthday Sir.... "
"Many many happy returns of the day da.. enjoii "
"happy bday MAMU !!!!!!! "
"Hey, Wish U A Very Happy Birthday!!! Have a great day......."
"hey roshan many many happy returns of the day...have a blast... "
"many many happy returns of the day ? where r u ? when r u returning back to india ... "
"Many Many Happy returns Of The Day "
"Hello Roshan Mahanama
many many hapy returns of the day
may u have a successful yr ahead!!"
"janm din mubarak ho !! "
"Happy Birthday Roshan. Have a great day! "
"sir, seeing as you're in india and it's past twelve there, i wish thee a very happy birthday. so how goes it? "
"Happy Birthday Mate! "
"hey...nice pics dude, good touch of humour !! birthday wishes to u...have a better year than the last one :) "
"advance bday wishes bhai...:-) "
"Happy birthday man "
"happy birthday in advance!! "

Thank you friends for remembering my B'Day! Also thanks to Orkut too!

Cheers,
TLT

P.S> It's my first weekend in Des Moines. Guess what we did?
We played cricket!!!! Then had Hyderabadi Chicken Curry at an indian restuarant here. Ain't it awesome?

US of A

Hi friends.
I will be away from blogsphere for a week or two. I am on a work assignment to Des Moines, Iowa. I am told by all that I may have reached here at the perfect time. The temperature ranges from a cold 5 degrees C early morings to a high of 20. It's almost perfect!

Also friends, please continue your support for ViDYA. We really need your support.
Thanks once again.

Cheers.
TLT

She has right to live too!

Hi Friends.

On a serious note today:-

Did you know that one an average 14 out of every 1000 girls born in India are a victim of Female Infanticide or Foeticide?

In India girls are considered a burden to the family they are born into. And why you may ask! Blame it on the dowry system prevalent in India that requires the family to pay out a great deal of money when a female child is married.

For families leading a 'hand to mouth' existence, the birth of a girl child can signal the outset of extreme financial troubles. The ratio of girl children to boy children in India is decreasing at an alarming rate (almost at a rate of 3% each year).

However this anti-female bias is by no means limited to poor families. Much of the discrimination is to do with cultural beliefs and social norms. These norms themselves must be challenged if this practice is to stop.

To effect this change is the vision of ViDYA - an initiative taken up by few of my colleagues. Today I have pledged my allegiance to this group.
If we can help save one life, I would consider it to be an enormous achievement - both on the personal as well as the social front.

ViDYA is backed by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which aimed to run similar projects but was crippled due to lack of resources.
We are currently a 14 member team who have volunteered to work on this project. While we would be getting all the valuable information and guidance from UNFPA but we are still short on funds.

As for our action plan, we are targeting Mandya district as it has the highest proportion of female infanticides and foeticides. The latest studies shockingly reveal that, on an average, there are 18 girl children killed for every 1000 born.
This is 4% more than the national average. I know these figures might already give you goose bumps as they did to me, but what is more revolting is that of the 18 per 1000 killed, over 70% of it is infanticide. I don't know how people have the heart to strangle their own children to death.

The government is trying to protect a female foeticide by not allowing parents to determine sex of the foetus with the aid of modern technology.
Before this ban was imposed, the diagnostic clinics that boasted ultrasound scanners used to lure people with catchphrases such as 'Spend 600 rupees now and save 50,000 rupees later!'.
The ban has certainly reduced the volume, but some people still practice it under some pretext or the other.

Preeti Singh for The Tribune writes
"To be fair, there are stringent laws to protect the female child whether in the womb or after birth. But these laws remain on the statute books as there is no specific administrative machinery to oversee their implementation at the ground level. Ironically, some diagnostic clinics, having installed ultrasound machines, display a board warning their clients that tests meant to determine the sex of the foetus are against the law.
However, the business of detecting the sex of the child goes on inside the clinic under one pretext or the other, the most common being to detect Down’s Syndrome. This is permitted by the law."

I assume that we all understand the gravity of the situation.
Now, What is ViDYA going to do for this?

We plan to

• Have seminars and road shows in select villages in Mandya district


• Spread awareness by speaking to the teachers at various schools


• Design and distribute pamphlets spreading the message


• Promote our cause through media mention in local newspapers and local cable channels


• Conduct multiple awareness camps in order to spread the message


• Try to get some more volunteers (Maybe, even residents of Mandya)


• Gather funds for this cause through multiple channels.


• Provide sponsorship for 20-30 girl children (The number will depend on the funds/sponsors we get. The more the better!)


• Once these steps are successfully completed at Mandya, we plan to spread this to Mysore and then to other parts of Karnataka.

Friends, if like me, you too feel strongly for this project I urge you all to participate. If you are in around Bangalore/Mysore you can join us.
If not, you can still help this cause by pledging some money for ViDYA.
Please speak to your family and friends and explain to them the seriousness of the situation. There have been reported incidents of a girl being married to more than 1 person in the states of Haryana and Punjab.
In some of the regions there are only less that 800 girls for every 1000 boys. This is quite an alarming statistic.

If you, or people you know, are willing to set aside some money for us; please mail to me at roshan_abraham@hotmail.co.uk with the subject line as ViDYA:Donate:Rupees
(if you want to pledge in INR) or ViDYA:Donate:Pounds(if in GBP).
I was unable to set up a paypal donate button on my blog-site due to some technical issues, so please bear with me and mail me your pledges.
We can then later discuss how to channel it to ViDYA.
If you are willing to volunteer, please mail at the same email address with the subject line as ViDYA:Donate:Weekends

Looking forward to a large participation.

Cheers,
TLT

Whose seat is it anyway?

I was in Bangalore last weekend and I happened to travel on a K.S.R.T.C bus from Shivaji Nagar to Jalahalli West. The bus was jam-packed, but luckily(or unluckily) I managed to grab a seat - the one in the leftmost corner of the last row! You know the type that would make you do a "Saif", a la movie Dil CHahta Hai.
While I was struggling to hold on to the window rod and remain seated, I overheard some altercation going on couple of rows in front of me.

The Issue-> "A pretty young damsel had ventured into the unreserved area of the bus and had sinned by taking a seat there"

The Aggrieved Party-> "A mob of ,what I will hereon refer to as, grumpy old men"

The Complaint-> The girl had breached the code of conduct by venturing out to the non reserved are and had the audacity to sit when so many grumpy old men were fighting for a seat."

The Judge-> "The Conductor who did not seem to understand the Kanglish (A biased mix of Kannada and English) that the girl was uttering."

The Jury-> "The onlookers, which included me, who kept straining their necks to glance at the lass and then at the conductor and then at the aggrieved party as though watching a 3 way Table Tennis."

Case shuru kiya jaye!!!!
The grumpy old men kept on compaining to the conductor that the girl had encroached upon their right to rest their sorry asses on the cushionless seats to the 'ever so slow' moving bus.
The defendant pleaded 'Not Guilty!'. She said that there are only 2 types of reservation on the bus.

- Reservation for the Ladies
- Reservation for the Handicapped

She cried that there was nothing called as Men's Reservation on the bus and that anyone could be seated on the no reserved seats.

I nodded in consent, but quietly stopped when I saw the grumpy old me staring at me disapprovingly as though I had committed some loathsome crime.

The judge (Mr. Conductor) who did not understand even a single word what the defendant had to say, expanded his chest and announced the verdict. The defendant had been found guilty as charged! She was ordered to vacate the seat and move towards the front of the bus where her rightful place was!

I stared in silence as she rose up, a tiny drop of tear in her eyes. I hated myself for not having the courage to stand by what I felt was right. I could see the satisfaction on the grumpy old men's face. Everyone was beaming!

I rose up to beckon her and offer her my seat! By the time I could push my face out from the crowd to call her, she had somehow managed to move to the front of the bus. I turned back to return to my seat, but that was taken too.....

I am eager to hear your thoughts on this?

Whose seat is it anyway?

Cheers,

TLT

P.S> Based on a few comments that I received, I need to publish a slight clarification here before you pass any judments. The term Grumpy old men used in the above post is not a true indicative of the age. I consider myself, all of 26 years, quite old! The aggrieved party's age was not more than late 30s.