Letters
Srivyal | 29 April 2008, 10:33pm
When was the last time you wrote someone a letter? Not an SMS (txt
msg) nor an email but a REAL, hand-written with paper and pen, sent in
a stamped envelope letter.
Not long ago, for many of us, writing letters was the only means of communication over distances. But now, the addiction to instant communication has made us treat the art of writing someone a letter some kind of an ancient art-form. Moreover, the speed of SMS and emails is not fast enough for some of us. A bevy of abbreviations being invented these days leave people like me fazed. And whether we realize it or not, there is a great danger in the loss of the letter.
Letters have been made redundant by electronic communication which lacks a physical presence unless it is printed out (which governments and environmentalists discourage these days). This means that emails of love (which would once have been love letters); conversations with siblings or pals about families and friends will never be available to historians to discover aspects of our lives today. We are slowly becoming more and more isolated and insular in our views. The internet has broken down communication barriers on a global scale, but it has also built new ones on a local level.
If you think about the importance of letter writing throughout history, you will reckon that most of what we know about the beliefs, ideologies etc of many famous historical figures has been collected from their letters - personal and public correspondence. Letters are useful to historians because the character of famous people and their thought processes can often be revealed more clearly in informal communications (letters) than in official documents (biographies, textbooks etc).
A letter is a personal thing, even more now because we receive so few of them. It is all about sharing, it implies reciprocity and creates a two-way relationship. Letters matter because they are personal in an increasingly disconnected world, and because they take time and effort to produce. In short, writing a letter is giving a gift of oneself.
So, today, make a small gesture that will bring someone bit of happiness. Think of someone you care about, turn off your computer, and write them a letter. Who knows, you may soon be getting one in return :)Posted in General | Permalink | Comments (1) | Trackbacks (0)
Books
Srivyal | 26 April 2008, 11:15pm
Help us get ENLIGHTENED - donate BOOKS !
Textbooks, notebooks, story books scrap books, drawing books, graphs and maps etc.
Sphoorti Foundation
http://www.sphoorti.org
919490120168
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Abundance Thinking and SPHOORTI
Srivyal | 25 April 2008, 11:17pm
One of the biggest mistakes that many charities, especially orphanages and similar organizations do is adopting a scarcity thinking vis-a-vis abundance approach.
Most people behind charitable organizations view the Universe of Donors as fixed and imagine that they live in a world where resources are limited. There’s never enough time or money or people. Everyday is a struggle for for survival of some kind and a view of the future hardly exists.
For those who believe in abundance, the size of the Universe of Donors is not fixed, it can grow further and without any upper bound.
The goal, therefor is not to figure out how to claim your part and to hold onto it. The goal is to figure out how we can grow the Universe so that everyone can have a larger slice . These people live in a world where resources are abundant, where one can always find lot of support, the money and the people if ONLY one can think differently. They do not have to worry about for survival, sustenance etc. Their focus is on how to grow the pie to claim larger slices.
So, does this kind of thinking matter ..., it surely does.
Abundance-thinking organizations see an opportunity - be it miniscule or substantial, everywhere. While scarcity thinkers can only imagine and see barriers and problems, abundance thinkers see opportunities in challenges. Abundant thinking frees an organization from the notions of cynicism, insecurity and incremental approach towards mobilizing support.
Such thinking helps in seeing possibilities of expanding the Donor pie continuously, leading to more support from different quarters.
This has been one of the concepts that Sphoorti has been adopting from Day One and has helped us immensely. We have always held the view that the world is full of great souls waiting for an opportunity to do good and we know that the number of such people will only increase as we research and communicate. This is our 'Abundance Thinking'.
Such thinking frees our mind of all kinds of insecurity and the opportunity to concentrate on our mission - shaping lives of underprivileged children. And fortunately, in our journey, we have been meeting some really great people who are ever willing to extend material and moral support.
How then do we perpetuate this Abundance Thinking. Seth Godin, one of my most beloved writers, suggests that one of the ways we can live in abundance in any situation is by always focusing first on what we can give. Not on what we can get out of life, but what can we give back to it?
This again leads us to another core belief - the responsibility to GIVE to our friends in return to their wonderful support to SPHOORTI.
What best we can give to our donors, sponsors and all our well-wishers.
As an organization, it is our moral responsibility to be effective and efficient, transaprent and accountable to our friends. That is the least expectd anyways. But what further can we GIVE that makes us stand apart as an organization.
So, ALL our kids GIVE is UNCONDITIONAL LOVE, give a MEMORABLE experience each time our friends visit SPHOORTI and make them part of our FAMILY from the day ONE. And surely we want to GIVE them MORE love and MORE sweet memories in every visit.
And with this approach,we hope to join forces with more altruistic folks in future to make a difference to more children in need
Srivyal Vuyyuri
www.sphoorti.org
9490120168
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MATTER of LUCK
Srivyal | 22 April 2008, 6:53amLast week, a lady visited Sphoorti to find out if she could admit her children here in the coming months. Hers was a very moving story. Her husband physically harassed her for years and one fine day deserted her for good. She has three children, two sons and a daughter. The youngest son is mentally retarded and has been placed in Sri Vidhya Center for Special Children (www.srividhya.org). She wanted to admit the elder children here.
After cross-checking with Sri Vidhya’s Director Mrs. Shanti Venkat, we agreed and assured the lady that the children can stay at Sphoorti starting May.
Each time I encounter such people whose lives are full of grief and despair, I realize that it’s just a MATTER of LUCK that I am NOT an orphan, NOT a destitute, NOT illiterate, NOT a physically NOR a mentally challenged person.
These PRIVILEGES are meant to be shared with our not-so-privileged brethren. And we hope SPHOORTI (www.sphoorti.org) could be your platform to do so.
Srivyal Vuyyuri
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Love for one's Motherland
Srivyal | 22 April 2008, 6:50am
The affection with which people view their homeland is an almost universal phenomenon, but it reached a new level of meaning with the rise of the ‘nation state’ and the emphasis on patriotism. One of the best known poems celebrating this “state of mind” is the verse by Sir Walter Scott. The poem was written in 1805.
I learnt this poem in in STD VI (1987), courtesy my then English teacher Mrs Deshpande. I recited the poem in STD VI, STD VII and STD VIII in the poem recitation competition and won a prize each time :). As I think back, I realize this poem has instilled a degree of patriotism in my psyche.
“Breathes there the man with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land!
Whose heart hath ne’er within him burned,
As home his footsteps he hath turned
From wandering on a foreign strand!
If such there breathe, go, mark him well;
For him no minstrel raptures swell;
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonored , and unsung.”
Srivyal Vuyyuri
http://www.sphoorti.org
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Congratulations!
Srivyal | 20 April 2008, 11:00pmIf you can read this post, it means that the registration process was successful and that you can start blogging
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