Below is the jist of another article in the Reader's Digest. And RD has one such article in every edition. One article about a person who made a difference to the people around him. India is still a developing country. We need to still conquer our major drawback : that the majority of our population is under the poverty line and without a decent education. The two examples from RD  that I've put in are but examples to show that the best way to transform our nation is if every person becomes responsible for their immediate surroundings. If we just have a heart and alleviate the pain of those that we can see suffering. Large scale ventures and NGOs help, but a more drastic change can be brought about if we educate and uplift the poor within our reach. If we all do a little, we can accomplish a lot. 

Given what I've observed of people in our colony, some simple acts I can suggest to make a difference are:  sponsor your maid's child's education; don't feed your maid what you wouldn't eat; give free meals to one needy child; treat Indian streets, parks, places with the same cleanliness and awareness you would show if you were abroad; for every 3 new dresses you buy, donate at least one to the poor; don't pluck flowers from public places ( I know you wouldn't if you were abroad); treat the poor, plants and trees with compassion and dignity; contribute 1% of your salary to making your neighborhood, and the poor in it, better.

And here's the jist of the promised article: Mr. Hemant Chabra, a 47 yr old businessman from Mumbai, started what he calls The Bicycle Project. During his visit to his organic farm, he was at a bus stop where he saw several school children walking to the school in rain. The school being more than 2km away took them about 2 hrs to reach. The distance and the subsequent effort was a major deterrent for the kids to continue going to school. Mr. Chabra immediately had an idea and with his friends started this project. The idea was simple. It was to collect old bicycles and repair them and give them to these kids. At first even the simple idea seemed daunting, cause where would one get these old bicycles? and how about the transportation of these bicycles for repair and then to the kids? But its like with all good ideas, everything, though arduous, was eventually accomplished. Mr. Chabra works on the bicycle project in all his spare time left from the business. I guess more details can be found in RD, and people from Mumbai should consider contributing used bicycles for the noble cause.

And lastly, Mr. Chabra sets again the example of the difference people can make to their immediate surroundings if only they have a desire to bring about a change. And everyone, despite their stature, can bring this change. All it needs is a desire to see people around you happier!

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This month's Reader's Digest (Indian edition) talks about a man named Kamalabhai Parmar. Born into the poorest class of society, being a son of a labourer, he abandoned studies at the age of 12 to join a scooter repair shop and eventually prospered to open his own repair shop at 25. His lack of education motivated him to provide his children with good education. But that wasn't it.
 

One day, when talking to a school girl about her exams, he found that children going to public schools often learn nothing and their parents are too illiterate to help them themselves and too poor to provide them with any external support like tutoring. This is when he started his evening coaching classes for free on a footpath. He eventually acquired benches and tables for the children (who grew to a staggering 150 in number) and gave them an evening meal after two hours of classes. He also started cooking meals for them on Saturdays. At one time he engaged four teachers paying them 500 rs per month. Two of his students got 85% marks in their exams and aspire to become doctors.
 

Children from the poorer classes in India often are born into families of 8 to 10. They lack any form of parental guidance. Some manage to go to school for free government meals but its a fact that these schools almost always fail to provide any form of education. From hunger, lack of education, parental care or any direction in life, they seek out ways for sustenance and start working at exceedingly early ages like 8. Jobs that they can ever hope to acquire range from being maids, coolies, begging etc and lead to an income of not more than a hundred rupees per month (if they are lucky). It is indeed very few like Parmar who grow up to be anything more than a rickshaw puller or a labourer. For these millions of kids in rags in India, dreams can only be made up of having three meals a day and having a roof to live under. That is why people like Parmar should be lauded because they give aspirations to these children that would have been impossible otherwise. He is giving them an ability to change their future and rise out of the utter poverty they were otherwise destined to. And it is often seen that these people, who rise out of the dreaded circumstances, would help more in future.
 

After seeing all the rich with their luxurious homes, wealth and the extent to which they are parsimonious about sharing it, I have little hope that any transformation in society would be brought about by them. Amidst all this, it is really motivating to see people like Parmar. I wish more of the middle class would learn from him that change can be brought about by anyone of any stature. It just lies in the desire to effect a change in what one feels is not just. Poverty is not just. Every child must be given a right to rise above the condition he/she is born into. Cheers to people like Parmar!
 (guest entry by Padmini)