Sahashra Deepika Independence Day celeberations

Sahashra Deepika school organized a very good Independence Day celebrations.

Another organistaion called ashwini trust from Ulsoor, Bangalore also attended the celebrations.

The function was really well organized & highlight was the excellent performance by the kids of the home and students of Ashwini Charitable Trust. All the events were well practiced and performed. We were back to our good old school day celebrations.

Our sincere thanks to Dr.T V Ramakrishna and Mrs. Vijaya Ramakrishna, founders of Sahasra Deepika school, who had invited us and gave us an opportunity to see the kids perform. The function ended with a great lunch arranged by SDI.

We also interacted with founders of Ashwini Charitable Trust Mrs (http://ashwinitrust.org/index.html) and their students.

A note has to be made on Dr. T V.Ramakrishna, who is a very inspiring person. Leaving a lucrative career in US as professor, he headed home to help the underprivileged. Today he has 60 kids from different parts of the country. In fact he is even willing to give full administration guidance to those who are willing to start school for Orphans/Underprivileged. We were very much inspired by his vision & clarity of thoughts !

It was a memorable 60th Independence day for us ! It is our responsibility to extend all the help we can for the school !!

For the photos please visit :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/90208175@N00/

I Forget to tell ..Vijaya Ramakrishna celebrated her birthday with us.

http://www.sdie.org

ThankyouNoteFromAnilGupta

Last Friday's visit of Sahasra Deepika kids to our office...

Dear Colleagues,

I would like to thank all those who contributed in various ways in supporting the visit of Sahasra Deepika children to our office last Friday. Thanks to those who volunteered their time bringing and dropping the children from/to their center, to those who showed off the neat stuff we do here at our office, to those who were with the children in the office and at lunch making them comfortable, to those who made the arrangements for their transportation and for their lunch, to those who picked up their gifts and wrapped them up nicely in gift wrappings, and to all those who contributed generously through donations.

As you can see, it took a lot of people doing a lot of different things for this simple 3-hr visit of the children to materialize. Please keep up the spirit and come forward to support our efforts in this regard through Anvas – the ARM India initiative to make a positive difference in the lives of the not-so-privileged children in our community. Together, we can make a difference!

Thank you & Best regards,

Anil Gupta
Managing Director
ARM Embedded Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Bangalore, India

www.arm.com

http://www.sdie.org

Sahasra Deepika Students field trip to ARM

Anvas (ARM social committee) organized a field trip for the kids of Sahasra Deepika an NGO. This is the very first out of campus event that ANVAS team had organized for this school. There were 30 kids in total whose age ranged from 10 to 13 years. The children were picked by couple of volunteers from their school and were transported to the office in a van. They were excited to go on a trip to an office. Which means they would now see how a real office is from inside at close quarters.

They arrived at our office at 11:30am and were taken on tour. They were quiet chilled when they were inside the office and thrilled at the fact that it was air-conditioned. They were in awe seeing the interiors, the cubicles, the chairs, so many computers with big flat screen. They were shown the server room and told that this is the heart of the entire office. They asked why it was so cold in the server room. They entered the Support room and saw where their familiar volunteers sit and work. From support room one can view the flight take-off and landing and these kids got the opportunity to see a flight land.

An ESD engineer showed them a demo of 3D modeling, flight, jet, robotic cow, car etc., We seated them in the cauvery conference room which has a seating capacity of 40. Showed them the projectors, speakers, screen, white board etc., One volunteer showed them the ARM powered products on the screen. Later the kids sang the slokas (sacred rhymes) and entertained the adults present in the room. It was lunch time and we took the kids to the ARM cafeteria. They sang a prayer song before having lunch. The employees mingled with the kids. They had nice time interacting with the adults. They played at the Gym like it was a play ground. Later each kid was handed out a gift individually wrapped and were given chocolate bars. They went back to their place around 2:15pm.

Anvas: Helping Hand

Subject: Monitory and mentoring support for the Children of Sahasra Deepika

Sahasra Deepika International for Education

Viswamanavakshetra, Anekal Taluk, Sakalavara Post, Bangalore 560 083, India PH:9886132507/9845348260

Dear all,

Subject: Monitory and mentoring support for the Children of Sahasra Deepika

Greetings to all. You are aware of the mission that we at Sahasra Deepika have undertaken. As you know Sahasra Deepika International for Education is a charitable trust founded to help children with no parents and/or children with a single parent to get adequate education and skills to become useful members in society. To reach this goal it is imperative to educate the children in an environment that is at par with the typical schools in the city. As a part of this objective, we started a residential school with 12 children in 1998 and at present we have a total of 54 children (Brochure). But.Sahasra Deepika Residential School has no permission to operate beyond seventh standard for it does not meet the State criteria of 25 children per class beginning from 8th standard. In addition, we have found it expensive to operate a separate school for a small number of students. Therefore we have decided to send 5^th to 8^th standard children to other private English medium schools where they can fit in. As our SDI children were taught in three languages including Kannada, English and Hindi from the very beginning, they can fit into any other English medium school.

We visited several schools and finally we have decided to send our children to "Silicon Valley School" at Gottigere that have approval to offer I.C.S.E curriculum in English medium. It has also approval from Karnataka State to offer SSLC program in English medium.. Silicon Valley School has agreed to give admission to our 29 students including 9 students in 5th standard, 7 students in 6^th standard, 8 students in 7th standard and 5 students in 8^th standard. The annual fee for each student is Rs 9000 per school year (concession rate) which includes tuition, books, uniforms and transportation. The total cost of fees for all the 29 children would be Rupees 261,000.00 per year. We request your esteemed organization or individuals to help us in providing scholarships to these precious children. We very much appreciate your kind consideration in the matter.

How you can help:

1).Become a friend and spend some time with them.

2).Celebrate your kid's birthday with Sahasra Deepika Children.

3).Sponsor a child Rs.1, 000/- per month and Rs.10, 000/- per year.

4).Donation to Sahasra Deepika on days of festivity, pooja, marriage etc.

Note: Donation qualifies for IT exemption U/S 80G. Cheques/Drafts should be drawn in favour of Sahasra Deepika International for Education or Silicon Valley School, Gottigere

Sincerely
Dr.T.V.Ramakrihna

"We live in a world which is full of misery and ignorance. The duty of each and all of us is to try to make the little corner we can influence somewhat less miserable and somewhat less ignorant than it was before".

For more information please visit these links:

http://sahasradeepika.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/90208175@N00/

http://www.sdie.org

Regards,
Arun Kumar

Tips for new Volunteers

http://www.muktafoundation.org/

Hi All,

This is for the benefit of ppl who would like to teach in future in any NGO. Mailing it as it was requested by Arun(arun@muktafoundation.org).

Initially though we thought of teaching 8th and 9th std kids along with 10th std, we had to restrict ourselves to 10th Std (English and Kannada medium) as we were only four of us. We used to visit only during weekends. We had a time table set up for each one if us.

We noticed that the kids were not revising anything as some of us were not regular in the beginning and kids were initially not serious.

After we became regular also, we had to revise whatever that was taught a week before for at least 30min before we teach them new topics. This happened for about three weeks. Then I realized that I need to visit even more frequently if not others. So I started going on weekdays and weekends. This is when I found good response from the children. They remembered what was taught (something if not everything).

I used to give them surprise tests (few problems to solve) just to see how equipped they were for the tests. They did well in tests as the tests were confined to less potions.

It was hard to digest for us the fact that the children scored very less in their first preparatory. Later due to continued efforts of all the volunteers, we were able to help them perform better. The results were good in second preparatory.

We are expecting their grand finale results & hoping for better results.

On behalf of Socare team,

Warm Regards,
Kusuma
Mukta foundation.

http://www.muktafoundation.org/

India Sudar Visit toSahasra Deepika Institute for Education (India), Bangalore

Hello All,

Myself, Shiva Narayana visited Sahasra Deepika Institute for Education along with Arun on last sunday. He is frequent visitor to this school and he is one of volunteer.

We have to keep going from Diary circle on Bannerghatta Road and you can see Meenakshi-Sundaresan temple on right hand side, from there it is about 4 km, you can see TULIP RESORT BOARD and take a left turn and keep going for another 4 km - you will that beautiful resort with fruit trees stand in measured distance of one another and you will see a good building.

That is Sahasra Deepika Institute for Education. Sahasra Deepika means, "a thousand lights". This home built by T.V. Ramakrishna in 1998, opened with 12 children. they have currently have 56 children ages 4-12 living and learning at Sahasra Deepika.

About the School

• Sahasra Deepika Instiute for Education (SDI) is residential school with 56 students.
  
• The school complex is situated close to the village of Sakalavara.
  
• The main building has been designed to accommodate 1000 children with five
  classrooms and separate boys and girls sleeping areas.
  
• Their English-medium curriculum is focused. Currently, they are providing from 1st to 7th Standard and they are extending the school to provide higher education along with different oganization.
  
• The founders donated the land and the initial building for the establishment of the SDI campus.
  
• One housemother is taking care of 56 children now including cooking and serving food.
  
• Students are very desciplined and they keep their environment clean.
  

We had interacted with students and they gave their self introduction with one quote from Swami Vivekandanda, Mahatma Gandhi and many others.

They all have different ambitions to become doctor, engineer, dancers, singers, scientist, police, soldier and etc. There are good singers as well. They sang few songs for us, it was excellant experience.

They have small library, science lab and computer rooms.

They have deployed 5 teachers and they come and go everyday.

Their average monthly expenses comes around 2 to 3 lakhs

Admision Criteria

Admission to the Sahasra Deepika Institute (SDI) is open to any child irrespective of caste, creed, religion, gender, and nationality.

The priority of the institute is to accept children who have inadequate care, either because of being orphaned, deserted or homeless, living under abject poverty, or as a consequence of a dysfunctional family environment (i.e. battered mothers etc.,).

Children must be between 3 and 6 years old and satisfy one of the following criteria:

Orphaned with no caregiver.

Loss of one parent with inadequate care by the remaining parent.
Deserted/homeless children with poor family structure/abject poverty.

Applications for admission to SDI can be obtained by contacting the Secretary, SDIE, Bangalore. Children admitted to SDI are given free education/boarding until they complete high school.

Donations

TARGET USA Company donated few computers and they are looking for a teacher to provide computer education.

RORATY CLUB Bangalore provided a van.
HoneyWell provided solar systems

Many friends from ARM Company are visiting this place and spending their weekend with those kids.

About the Founders Dr. Ramakrishna and his wife Ms. Vijaya

Dr. Ramakrishna was born in a village called Thallagavara, 60 k.m. from Bangalore. His father died when he was very young and his widowed mother did her best to educate him. The teachers in the remote rural school spotted the young boy's potential and encouraged him to study with small amounts of scholarships that came his way. His first scholarship amount was six rupees. As he continued to maintain high scholastic standards, his scholarship money increased to a princely sum of ten rupees! He lived in hostels that served him measured food. His degree in Civil Engineering got him a job at the PWD, where he worked for over a year only to realise that this was not his calling. So he started to teach at the Visveswaraya College of Engineering before leaving for the U.S to do a Master's in Engineering and Planning and later his doctorate.

Dr. Ramakrishna and his wife Ms. Vijaya spend most of their time travelling through villages to see if they can help a truly deserving child.

"Give them food, they are hungry again. Give them education, they are forever away from poverty." This is the maxim that governs the Sahasra Deepika Project.

How can we support them

(1)The major help would be spending time with them to teach and interact.
(2) We can help poor kids to get admission there or make their parents to aware of this school.
(3) They are looking for donations also.

Contact details

Sahasra Deepika International for Education

Viswamanavakshetra, Anekal Taluk

Sakalavara Post, Bangalore 560 083, India

Phone: (011-91-80) 27803504

By Bus: Take route No. 367 at Kalasipalyam bus stand and get down at Viswamanavakshetra-Hulukasvanahalli

By Car: proceed from Bangalore on Bannerghatta road for about 12km till you see the sign for Sahasra Deepika on the left. Make a left turn onto Sakalavara Road and proceed for 2 km and then make a left turn onto Sakalavara Road and proceed 1km to the Institute gate on the left.

You can contact Arun for more help to visit this place : +91-98861-32507

Shiva and Arun - Please add your comments, if i have missed something. Uday - Please add the photographs in INDIA SUDAR BLOG.

Regards

K.Ravikumar

Bangalore

1. Uploaded photos in India Sudar Blog:
http://indiasudar.wordpress.com/tag/ka-sahasra-deepika-institute-for-education/

For more info visit, http://www.sdie.org
www.indiasudar.com

Christmas Day at SD by Usha Baliga ...

Hello Arun,

Christmas Day at SD:
--------------------

The day started with various activities for the kids of Sahasra Deepika. Mr Dilip had organized a free dental check-up camp for the kids. When the kids were getting their teeth checked the rest of the kids were teamed up into 4 groups and we conducted organized games. Dr Vidya and Dr Manjunath friends of Dilip generously agreed to spend their precious time to check the oral health of the sahasra deepika kids. The kids with certain dental problems were asked to visit the dental clinic at a later date so that they can get the fixes done.

The other activities included indoor games, outdoor games, where every kid was made to actively participate in those games. Mr Karthick, Krishna Nair and Seema were the enthusiast behind these games. Some of the kids exhibited their talent at pot paintings and drawings. The paintings were so neatly done with least possible mess in the work place. We had scrumptious lunch prepared by the head cook of Sahasra Deepika. Ms Usha read couple of moral stories to the girls after lunch. Later after relaxing a bit we had half an hour session of Satsang. Mr Ravi and Arun Kumar sang few divine bhajans and the rest of the folks sang after them. All through the Satsang there was pin drop silence except for singing one wouldn't hear any other noise. The atmosphere was filled with the Omkars and melodious divine songs. When all these activities were going on the doctors were amicably doing their jobs except for lunch break they were busy as bees.

*****************************************************************

Regards,
Usha

Sharing some of my happiness ;) Seema

Hello,

Sharing some of my happiness ;)

I had the privilege of celebrating this years Xmas in a very special way

If not for the childrens at SD (sahasra deepika), the Christmas would have turned out to be any other ordinary holiday

SD is an NGO working towards children in need. There are arnd 60 kids currently

Around 8 to 9 of my friends got together for this event and decided to so something special for the kids in SD.

We reached the place on bannerghatta road on 25^th of dec, around 10 a.m .The kids were anxiously awaiting our visit

Though a holiday, they were all in their classrooms reading for their upcoming Xmas. (SD is a residential school too for these kids)

The boys I tell u are boisterous, the girls were too shy. …But once we went up to them and spoke, they were all willing to chat with us non-stop

These kids start their school arnd 8 a.m …Have a brk arnd 10 a.m during which they are served some nutritious drink. Again arnd 12.30, they

Break for lunch and play for sometime before returning to their books. They are let off arnd 5 p.m, after which they clean their classrooms and wash their clothes..

Mind you, they are all in the age groups 3 to 12yrs.

During weekends, these kids indulge in learning music, games (like chess, carom) for which some ppl from the city volunteer.

The first thing that strikes u here, is the discipline of the place and the children. Though from various backgrounds, they are taught to behave themselves.

I had an opportunity to tour the place with 3 of the kids here (senior ;) ) SD has a pretty big campus where an international school is coming up. ( These kids will ultimately absorbed into this new school)

They told me stories of the fox,snake, peacocks, crows with stolen eggs, elephants which are frequent visitors to their places..They also offered me start-nellikayi ( star gooseberries ;) )

There is only one caretaker here and one house-mother (a young girl to monitor the activities of the kids)

The place is a huge one with ample space for the kids to play a variety of games..

We started our celebration by dividing the kids into 4 groups and playing a lot of games with them…

All the team leaders were selected through a voting process and given a mask…then started the volley of games…

The boys soon split to play frisbees, cricket and football (which we had donated as gifts to them)

We read some stories to them too….

We also wanted to organise pinata (actually, matka- breaking – indian version ;) ) for the kids for which we had gathered a lot of chocolates and gifts..

But cudnt manage to get an earthern pot..so managed with aluminium pots,later which the kids painted showing their skill of painting ( see the pic)

We had also organised a dental-free checkup for which our doctor friends volunteered…

The zeal and happiness on the faces of them, made my day very special…

Around 3 p.m , we organised a small satsang, wehre we intiated some bhajans..The kids were so sharp to catch the words and repeat it accurately..

After this we had some snacks, distributed xmas gifts and left the place arnd 5 p.m

I am not sure if I hav captured my whole day here….but when I composed this mail, I actually relived that day

These kids jst need ppl to visit them and spend some time with them

For some pics http://www.flickr.com/photos/90208175@N00/

For more info, http://www.sdie.org

It was an xmas well spent

Regards,
Seema
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Seema Parambath

UNO, Intel Technology India Pvt Ltd

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Heaven on the Earth

http://www.sdie.org

Me and my friends this Saturday been to Sahasra Deepika school FOUR KILOMETRES from the Meenakshi-Sundaresan temple on Bannerghatta Road(Bangalore) is a bylane that is soon to be called Sahasra Deepika Road. A near-untrodden path leads you to what looks like a beautiful resort. Fruit trees stand in measured distance of one another and the serene silence opens out into a picturesque white building. That is Sahasra Deepika — meaning, "a thousand lights" — home to children who have none. This is the home built by T.V. Ramakrishna, whose own home now is in the U.S

Dr. Ramakrishna was born in a village called Thallagavara, 60 k.m. from Bangalore. His father died when he was very young and his widowed mother did her best to educate him. The teachers in the remote rural school spotted the young boy's potential and encouraged him to study with small amounts of scholarships that came his way. His first scholarship amount was six rupees. As he continued to maintain high scholastic standards, his scholarship money increased to a princely sum of ten rupees! He lived in hostels that served him measured food. His degree in Civil Engineering got him a job at the PWD, where he worked for over a year only to realise that this was not his calling. So he started to teach at the Visveswaraya College of Engineering before leaving for the U.S to do a Master's in Engineering and Planning and later his doctorate.
Seventy-three-year-old Ramakrishna today recalls his journey from Thallagavara to the United States — a journey that could have happened only by the grace of God. He left India in 1965 and was soon joined by his wife and two children. Dr. Ramakrishna also carried with him memories of what it means to be poor.
Give them food, they are hungry again. Give them education, they are forever away from poverty." This is the maxim that governs the Sahasra Deepika Project. Attached to the orphanage is a free boarding school for the children, where they are taught the syllabus prescribed by the Karnataka State. They are taught in English so that they can become a part of the mainstream faster and with fewer handicaps. They have a reading room, a library, and half a dozen computers with an instructor.
His charming wife, Vijaya, is a passionate spokesperson for this cause. Years ago, while in the U.S., this couple were witness to the way in which sections of the Indian community came together to build a temple there. That incident helped them decide to build a "human temple".
he deeply committed NRI couple feel that one does not have to wait to become rich in order to work for a cause. All that one needs is support. People have to come together and just do their bit without a selfish motive. What Sahasra Deepika now require are sincere and educated volunteers. It needs housemothers — women who are educated and who are interested in looking after children. There is a Board of Directors in the U.S. and a Board of Trustees in Bangalore. But it would be glad to have skilled people pool in their visions to uplift the needy.
Giving the children a home and education alone is not enough. They must have good people living around them. The Outreach Programme of Sahasra Deepika aims to improve the quality of life of the people in the nearby village, Sakalvara. Young women are being trained to be economically independent and schools in the area are encouraged to participate in competitive events.
Sahasra Deepika can accommodate more children — Ms. Vijaya and Dr. Ramakrishna spend most of their time travelling through villages to see if they can help a truly deserving child. They have many more dreams for this home. They are in touch with the agricultural universities, hoping to see if some portion of the Sahasra Deepika land can be converted into an agricultural laboratory by the time the children finish school. "He is so impatient that he wants these children to go to college now!" says Ms. Vijaya about her husband. The children at the home call this couple Mataji and Pitaji. The robust-looking children of the lovely home make one think, rather ironically, that they are luckier than many who have parents. For, in a country like ours, there are so many children with parents who have no access to food or education.
The homecoming of Dr. Ramakrishna and his wife is special for they are not back to see how they had lived years ago, but to see how they can help others live better. They hope to see a thousand hands join them in their efforts
http://www.sdie.org