Thursday, January 14, 2010

patriotism is such a vintage emotion



doesn’t it remind you of grandpa’s conversations and ncc parades and civics lessons and manoj kumar movies and the era of doordarshan when our national anthem played before the news every day?


in our times we religiously look up the 26th of january and the 15th of august at the beginning of the year to check if they fall on weekends or weekdays.


then we dive breathlessly back into our fast paced lives and fast track careers.


it’s not that we are indifferent, it’s just that we are working harder than ever before to secure a bigger, better, brighter tomorrow.


there’s little time and space for patriotic idealism in the pragmatic business of making progress!


unless…we start thinking of patriotism as something more meaningful than the quaint gestures and rituals we remember from our school days.


patriotism is every act of enabling and nurturing a bigger, better, brighter future for India.


it is as actionable as donating Rs 700 to the ‘nanha munna raahi hoon’ initiative for the school equals lunch program.


every single one of us who donates rs 700 ensures that one underprivileged child gets one hot meal every day for an entire school year.


one hot meal. for which the parent sacrifices sending their little one to sell flags and flowers, or to wipe car windows at traffic signals. one hot meal. which is probably the only nutritious meal the child has in the day. one hot meal. that has the power to bring a child to school every day.


if one thousand of us donate rs. 700 in the next thirteen days, then one thousand more kids can go to school this year.


so please pledge rs 700 for them this republic day and please help us pass this message on to everyone you know.


HOW TO MAKE YOUR DONATION:




2. you can call 022-40366866 and they will guide you through the payment options


3. you can draw a cheque in favour of 'iskcon food relief foundation' and mail it to:
nanha munna rahi hoon, iskcon food relief foundation, 19 jaywant industrial premises, 63 tardeo road, mumbai 400 034


OR (if you are in mumbai) you can call seema at 982084245 to have your cheque picked up. 


OR (if you are in mumbai) you can drop your cheque at the rickshaw office in bandra between 10am and 7pm. in case they're out, slip the cheque under the door and they'll have it sent to school equals lunch. the address is:
flat 102, dheeraj grand, 15th road, bandra west (landmark: shaibaan restaurant at the start of the lane between mini punjab and bombay blues)


ps: on a less serious note, do not dismiss patriotism - it can accomplish miracles! (thank you, AGG :)



6 comments:

Anonymous said...

*runs off to donate*

thanks for this. :)

Scattered Thoughts... said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Scattered Thoughts... said...

//every single one of us who donates rs 700 ensures that one underprivileged child gets one hot meal every day for an entire school year.//


If only it really happen like it sounds.. in today's newspaper there was an item where in-charge of the deaf and dumb school here was found guilty for stealing from school funds and instead of provisioning for midday meals of those poor chaps, he was spending that money on his own wealth.. such a pity.. dont know what happened to humanity..

Anyways, we can do our share with honesty and then its up to them to keep their side of honestly..

BTW, Bharat Kumar rocks.. I wont hear a single word against him.. got it ;))

mentalie said...

@ki, thank you!!! do spread the word!

@scattered, people are bastards, what to do. like you say, the rest of us can try our very best to make up for their apathy.
and dude, am totally with you abt bharat kumar! it's entirely my privilege to feature him on my blog :)

Cynic in Wonderland said...

shall do!

Jandy said...

hey, so true, mentalie... i had a take on patriotism too - in 'the flag' last year -
and I finally FOUND YOU !

last word by the acp

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