Email Post from Nilima on her Karaikal trip

This has been the most productive and action packed trip I have ever made in my life. I accomplished ALLOT in one day. There is so much I want to share with you , that i will have to divide my report into segments

SEGMENT ONE
AMAZING NETWORKING WITH AMAZING SOULS !

We left Chennai ,by road at 6AM . Cameraman and Raja picked me up from Nimmi's house. On the way we stopped at the Auroville Ashram in Pondicherry and I met KATHY .....If you recall I had met the Dean of CIIS(California Institute of Integral Studies), Mr Joseph S at the Diwali function in Gay lords. I further met him at the Indo Chamber of Commerce dinner. Joseph connected me to Kathy, who is the Program director based in Auroville. Students from CIIS have volunteered in her program.
KATHY ....what an amazing soul! She was a practicing Occupational Therapist in Australia. 10 yrs ago she came to Auroville, and has never gone back. She calls it her CALLING !. Afcourse, I connected with her . She is doing amazing work in Auroville with the Community for the destitute kids. She has started day care programs for them. I visited one of them and was very impressed.
Her concept is an experimental Township with Universal Humanity.
She was very excited about HOH and the Karaikal Project..She is a hot bed for human resources from Auroville in the form of Volunteers and Support staff.
Above all, she is some one ,who should be part of the HOH MOVEMENT ....what an awesome lady ! ...to bring into our HOh team.
Her wish list ....is to get funding for a computer Labs for the village kids.She has all the resources in the form of manpower etc etc.
Just imagine another HOh or YL computer lab ??...This will CONNECT HOH with the RICH RESOURCES of the Auroville Ashram.
HOH +CIIS+Auroville + Karaikal.... would be an amazing alliance. Students from S.F/CIIS could go on Internship programs to our projects in Karaikal...I see ALLOT of potential with this alliance...again just my 2 cents .
Incidentally Vikram also met kathy and was mighty impressed.

MARC.....I reached the Ashram in Karaikal and met MARC....another amazing soul !. He is a wealthy construction Lawyer from Netherlands, who one day....got tired of his EMPTY office work....and took off !....to find himself. He travel led to China,Vietnam, Thailand and finally landed in India ...and met Kiran Modi...who had just received 50 laks from Swami Ji. The interesting thing is....Anil, Neelam and myself were there at that award function when UG received that donation. At that time HOh received the award from Shiela Dixit.
That 50 lakhs was given to Swami from a Dutch Organization for Tsunami Relief. That dutch organization, has now appointed Marc to supervise the project for UG....What a small world ! and how we all connect at the RIGHT time !. This project is called SUGAM, which is an off shoot of UG.
Basically, this is a UG project..... right in the Back yard of our Karaikal Project. They are constructing a Community Center ,which will have Vocational Training, Educational/ Computer training Programs.
I really CONNECTED with Marc. He was there with me the whole time. I showed him the smiles film and NBC moving pictures and Bay to Blore series on my portable dvd.
By the end of the day.....he was SOLD on HOH. He now wants to work with HOH and help us anyway he can. In fact , next week he is planning a trip to ATMS.
Wow ! another amazing soul to recruit into HOH and be part of the HOH MOVEMENT

SEGMENT TWO
INAUGURATION OF THE COMPUTER/LIBRARY BUILDING

They had a very simple traditional prayer to inaugurate the YL computer/Library lab.
The lab is beautiful... with fancy green patterned tiles. I met all the 60 kids. I was shown the report card of the 10 ACADEMIC STARS ! These 10 kids are BRILLIANT !...standing FIRST in their class..getting 95% to 100% marks in Math , Science and English.
Can you imagine?.... These same kids , few years ago. could not even speak. They were no better than the FISH in the ocean.
Now these kids have AMBITION.... they shared with me their DREAMS..to become doctors, lawyers , Teachers and IAS officers. I can see these kids being future stars !
I motivated them by telling them about Ruhi...that HOH could one day pick one of them to represent HOH. I could actually see the gleam in their eyes ! I can see these kids benefit ting from the Computer lab.
Before leaving for Karaikal, Vikram had coached me about the Computer Lab and given me the blue print of the UG Computer Lab, which fits TQM standard.. Like Vikram says...why reinvent the wheel?
Jaya Raman was overjoyed and relieved to get the blue Print and is all excited to follow it and comply with all Vikrams instructions. In his words...he thought he had to do it himself
Marc also took a copy of the computer lab for his project . They will now work together...the alliance has already started .
I also interviewed a tutor , who came highly recommended by Marc. He is a tutor at the Sugam Project . I was amused how much Jayaraman was grilling him...jayraman is so INTENSE about his work...he needs a chill pill !

SEGMENT THREE
LOOKING FOR LAND FOR A FUTURE YL HOME
Here I connected with Mr Anbarasan, who is an Engineer with the Karaikal planning Board .He was very knowledgeable and knew all the ins and outs of the land . I saw a couple of plots. The Plot vikram saw and liked , unfortunately does not have the electricity permit yet. These minor details I was able to get from MR A.
The land near the High Way is tooo expensive. The land away is not secure. Finally I like a plot of land which has a beautiful location , opposite a beautiful temple. Also it is close to Sugam community Center and quite close to the Main road. It costs upto 12 lakhs. If we are interested , Jay Raman can negotiate a lower price..but we have to do it soon or else it will be gone ! We need to put some form of down payment soooon !

SEGMENT FOUR
ABOUT THE YL HOME
I shared this with Anil lal and Vikram Dutt. I dont feel the Karaikal team..that consists mainly of JayaRaman and Raja can handle the runnings of a YL home. Mr J shared with me his health problems and family stress. He is NOT comfortable taking on this massive project. He is very MOTIVATED and HAPPY with the Computer Lab and HOH project. In his words....i will do an EXCELLENT JOB !
He seems like an...Anal, compulsive, perfectionist. .a bit of a HOT HEAD ..who cant handle the stress of a YL home. He is wiling to help us in purchasing the land and construction. .but the thought of running such a home is...FREAKING him out !
I have shared this with Isaac, who also agrees with me.
As a PCO of this Project ... Hoh should not do the YL home with the SSPTM group.
I feel we should do the YL home with the Sugam/UG team with Marc supervising it. Also UG has a track record and experience in YL Home .
Isaac is also very happy working with Kiran Modi and myself on this Project. I think this will be a FLAG SHIP project of HOH .
Imagine this amazing alliance team of the future
HOH/YL COMPUTER LAB +YL/UG HOME+ AUROVILLE+CIIS. ...... this sleepy village of Karaikal will WAKE UP ! and be noticed on the SEVA MAP !
I am now heading back to Chennai on the overnight train. They messed up my reservation. ...I am promised a sleeping berth after Trichi. Its good.....cause I cant sleep ! OUCH .....I just saw an army of creepy crawling cock roaches..... that's why ! .....UGH ! UGH !
I plan to tell Saleem right away to inform ...Laloo Prasad ..the RailWay Minister
Anyway, I had an AMAZING DAY and those silly, ugly , creepy creatures cant spoil my mood...cause I am on an HOH HIGH !

Nilima.Sabharwal@kp.org wrote:
I i went to Sallam Baalak with Alok. This Time Alok has been very proactive in accompanying me to all the Projects. Like Vikram said...It is important for all our partners to connect with each other. Alok made an excellent connection with Henu and came up with excellent ideas for their Mentally Challenged children. I have seen Alok, really blossom in front of my own eyes. He has truly become a Consultant in this field.
I met the boys of SB...and I remembered whatAnil lal had said.... the boys all look so ..ANIMATED !
That is true... I felt the same ! way. Each boy had a glow on his face and confidence.The COMMONALITY in all of them......they have DREAMS.....and AMBITION !..to become something in life !
I dont know what it is? But these boys are DIFFERENT . May be it is the "filmy" exposure they get??..But what ever it is .....it is POSITIVE.
One boy is an artist and showed me his paintings. Another boy wanted to be an actor.
I then met the ACADEMIC STARS ! ...2 boys named Vijay and Pankaj
I could not control my tears when I heard their story....
Vijay and his brother are from Tamil Nadu and came to Delhi on a visit with his family. He was barely 5 yrs old when he got separated ...and was LOST in the harsh streets of Delhi...for 10 yrs !!
The Thought of a 5yr child lost with his brother ...is plain hor rific !
for 10 yrs he begged on the streets...living a life of HELL !
All he remembered.. .. was his father is a tailor and both parents were very loving.
SB , rescued him..and he has been with them for the past 3-4 yrs. He has shown amazing academic skills. ...and wants to become a Computer Engineer. He was busy studying when i interviewed him
Looking at kids like Pankaj and Vijay... I seriously feel HOH should have a separate Higher Education fUND...like an independent Project...and fund the education of kids like these.
This will be such a GRATIFYING PROJECT....it will be so easy to raise funds for a Project like this
I am still waiting to hear from Dr Premi Thomas and George Thomas, ! who want to donate towards such a fund. they are currently getting their paper work in order for the trust... again this is just my 2 cents...but lets atleast think about this
I was very DEPRESSED after I left SB..... I apologize... but I have a VIVID IMAGINATION !
I remembered my own kids ..Sonia and Shiv, when they were 5yrs and 3 yrs.
Can you imagine loosing them in the streets of Delhi??...for 10 yrs !
What those poor parents must have gone thro....?The thought makes my heart ache !!
How BLESSED we all are as parents ....that's why.... WE MUST HELP UNFORTUNATE KIDS LIKE THESE !
They recently had one success story....when Tony Blairs wi! fe visited SB, and SB was on the TV news. One parent recognized her ch ild in the crowd after 10yrs.
That is a true MIRACLE !...which does not happen every day.
God Willing..... HP will give the strength to HOh to create miracles for these kids in giving them hOPE for a better life !
that's why I love my HOH trips... I really feel INVIGORATED to do more...and more....for these kids...with the sky being the limit !