Showing posts with label Simply Being Sidds!. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Simply Being Sidds!. Show all posts
Monday, March 26, 2018
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Why inclusion is still a distant dream in India?
Being a social activist and volunteer in community service, having had to mingle with various people and people with special needs was always there. However, such interactions only pained me within. It is not because I am sensitive to the limitations of people around me, but because as a system we are such a failure even today when we are talking about Robotic Sciences, Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive technology, and explore Space and Earth beyond imagination.
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| At Worth Trust Katpadi |
Though I know Siddharth Jayakumar and his condition of Cerebral Palsy since many long years, it is only after we started to write the book, that I could see from his side of life. Struggle is a small word and sympathy is the harshest feeling once can show to people like Sidd.
Who needs your sympathy! Being empathetic to the situation and creating a comfortable living to everyone in this society is the NEED, a Necessity, not a privilege asked for.
Forget about beaches and exhibitions being accessible in wheel chairs or the blind, is our most necessary places accessible? How many local Railway stations and bus stands are wheel chair friendly? Do we have banks having ramps or lifts in all areas? Are our schools ready for inclusion? Even after 20 years since a guy like Siddharth fought his way into Boston Matriculation School, for mainstream education, we still find it a challenge.
Being differently abled is not a curse. But in India, it is an unfortunate situation. Visually challenged vendors in train teach us that they too want to live in dignity. SoulFree kind of organizations provoke our thinking towards taking inclusion to the grass roots. Worth Trust kind of industries and rehabilitation centers keep doing in what they believe silently and successfully without the drama of publicity or government intervention.
We need one Para-Olympic Mariaapan to tell us despite all the struggles, they stay motivated. We take pride in the success of Deepa Malik for the achievements she brought into the country. But, for a moment, pause and think....have we done what is needed around us.
INCLUSION is a big word. A great challenge to our country. We have to redesign our infrastructure, create avenues of accessibility, acceptance of the limitations of specially abled and give them equal employment opportunities and vocational training.
We need more schools like APL Global where children of all kinds are treated at par, given equal opportunities and enjoy the mainstream education and sports. We need more employers like WORTH TRUST, RBS, Cognizant and IBM who give a sustainable employment opportunities to those who deserve...It is time, we look back and think forward.
Each one of us should take a pledge to work towards inclusion, towards a better society and towards a more inclusive India....
Saturday, September 9, 2017
Behind the pages of 'Simply Being Sidds' - Part 2
This post is a reminiscence of the travels that were part of this journey. Countless trips to Siddharth's house and he visiting mine, were just a part of the travel. But there are few travels that will remain deeply close to our hearts in this process and the warmth of the same. You can ask me? what so big deal to travel when you are involving so many people in your book. The answer is who are the people involved.
My visit to Mrs. Usha Ramakrishnan was quite an eye-opener. She gave me such a great insight into the emotional quotient of the people who are spastic and how we need to focus on the skills that they have instead of trying to make the other inoperative skills to enhance. She dived deep into how Siddharth was special and how important it was for the system as a whole to be made accessible, acceptable and communicable with the children of special needs.
Our interviews with Mr. Paul Abraham and Mr.Sandeep Sareen of IndusInd Bank were amazing. These two leaders focused on how the work places need to be empathizing with the needs and also need through equal challenges to professionals who need little bit of extra arrangements. What they need is not sympathy but a challenging work environment and equal opportunities to prove themselves.
The first outstation visit was to Bangalore which was an absolutely amazing experience. The kind of warmth shown by Siddharth's parents-in-laws despite of their financial struggles show that what you need is a big heart and not big pockets. The kind of comfort and warmth I felt probably I have not got it even at one of the finest hotels in the world. This was so pure, so humbling and so honest.
My first visit to Sri Acharya Rakum School of Blind and meeting Guruji was like a surreal experience. Everything is going on smooth and as if it has all been amply oiled to make the place run on its own. Children of various abilities, our 4 legged friends and fishes all lived in such a harmony that you will feel very ashamed to the fact that a people of 4 in a house cant live in such a harmony. Everyone does their share of contribution, here disability is just not heard., you can see the place with profound happiness and overwhelming charm that it hold the beauty of humanity at large. No wonder Chandrakala who was raised in this school has got such a inner beauty in her to manage as a wife in Sidd's life. To be there that day was a honest blessing to me. It is a lesson to stop regretting and living the life it gives us to be.
Our next visit was to Professor Nijaguna's house..Sidd's closest relatives. Here we saw how people can smile and welcome despite the deepest loss and suffering to the physical bodies. The kind of revelations that we had talking to such an expert adviser like Prof Nijaguna changed the very perspective of writing our book.
The next outstation visit was to Pondicherry. I have a special love for this place for the kind of peace that prevails when I visit Mother's Ashram. Sidd and I had a fantastic bonding during this travel.. We shared so much like friends of life. We spoke out of our hearts, exchanged warmth, fought for trivial things and argued on few, agreed to disagree on some aspects and also had good food and travel. The highlight of our Pondicherry visit is the opportunity to meet Lt Governor Smt. Kiran Bedi. Kiran Mam'm not only recognized Sidd but also gave us a warm welcome and discussed on our book. She was so happy and immediately accepted to be part of our book's back cover. She also gave us a good photo opportunity. For Sidd, it is not the first time with her. But to me it was a moment of pride and happiness for Kiran Mam'm is always a great role model to me.
Our errands for editing, to our Publisher Notion Press, our conversations with so many people, the exchange of emails, were all part and parcel of this book. I discovered Sidd so much that I really started having my highest regards for him. The journey of reaching out to million readers was thus began with our travels and talks.......Hope you love reading our book 'Simply Being Sidds'. Don't forget to drop a line or two of your review to us and also on amazon.com.
Thank you. Happy Reading
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Behind the pages of ‘ Simply Being Sidds!’
I am a small time writer.
I used to write in the simple English I know and about what all impacts
my life. In fact, I had no specific
writing goals. It all started from
writing essays in the school for competitions and articles for the school
magazines and later on for Women’s era and scribbling what I thought is
Poetry. I had no particular style or
direction. I went on with the wind. I wrote in classrooms, in trains, in mid of
the nights, early in the morning, scribbled several poems in my diaries over
the years, in the notepads and sticky notes and sometimes even on tissue papers
that I could grab.
Never in my life, I
have thought I would write a book for someone, that too as special as
Siddharth. For one, I am not a great
writer. Secondly, my writing only gave
meaning to me and to no one else. Even
my blog is in my name, my own self, my own brand with its limited followers who
accepted me as a writer..for something or the other, they admire what I share
and follow.
Though it was always my urge to help Siddharth in what ever
way I can, I never thought I would be part of such a huge responsibility of
taking ownership of writing his memoir with him. When he entrusted that work to me, I was not
sure if I could really handle it. There
was a plain canvas in front of me.
Forget about the final picture, even to sketch the draft of it was not
easy. I thought about it deeply. Though I accepted his invitation to
co-author immediately, it took me a
while, really to be ready for the same.
I discussed on this with my daughter in detail. I weighed its pros and cons. I had no expectations. It is just an opportunity to give back
something to a friend who meant a lot in life.
This is not going to be the first piece of published
work. There were instances where my
writings got in print. I have
co-authored with Chennai Bloggers on the book ‘After the floods’ in 2016. I have several scribbling s of mine in the
form of poems in Poem Hunter e-book and hundreds of articles in my blog and
other forums. But this is a different
genre. A totally different expectation
and the result is unexpected.
It took me a whole weekend to think within before I met
Siddharth for the first time on a Saturday afternoon. I had a draft in mind, and I came up with
the portions of the book, that need to be.
Sidd was over ambitious to achieve the completion in 3 months. He had a date in March 2017 and later 5 Jun
2017 for the book release. I promised
him 3 hours every week on a Saturday.
And thankfully, I was able to keep up to that promise for several weeks
till we got it all completed.
The journey was not easy.
We laughed together, we cried together, we fought, we argued, we listened to each
other, we met many people, we spoke to several associates and friends. The meetings were enriching. The knowledge and learning that came along
was phenomenal. I dived deep into Sidd’s
life like no one else could do. We had
our own mischief's, quite dinners and
rough days. Some days, we couldn’t even
write a page. Sometimes, we did that
for hours together without getting tired.
I met and spoke to amazing people in this process. It was quite a momentum involving so many
people in the book. Each one came
forward with so much of happiness. The
kind of response we got was remarkable.
Fantastic experiences.
Towards the end, after we zeroed on the publisher, getting our
sponsor and then editing started. That’s
when my mom needed medical attention and I was pulled into multiple
priorities. Sidd took the job on his
shoulders without bothering me much and went ahead with the reviews. I felt helpless. He kept motivating me telling that
priorities need to be taken care.
When finally the day, we got a call from Notion Press on 8
Aug 2017, that the book is ready and the first 30 copies are available for
authors to review, Sidd called me with
excitement. I took a cab and went to the Notion Press and
received the box with the 30 books. I
touched it like touching a just delivered baby. Yes, after 10 months of labor, here is our
baby. How else can we feel about it.
I brought the books to Sidd’s home, we both unwrapped it and
touched the books, gently and then started taking pictures with the book and
Raghu kept smiling at both of us. The
feeling is incredible.
As we went ahead marketing our book, and planning the book
launches and reaching out to our readers and portals for selling the book, we
forgot about the royalty sharing or what we would reap out of it. The purpose was larger towards inclusion,
towards equality, towards accessibility, acceptance, employ-ability. The expenses were mounting but it didn’t hurt
us.
We wanted the book to reach how many
people ever possible. We wanted to let
the dreams of Dr Abdul Kalam shine and we went ahead with marketing, press and
print media, social media campaigns, book launches and frequent sharing of
information on the book in social media.
Even if it helps few Siddharths, even if it inspires mothers like Komala
aunty, if it encourages friends like
Umasree and Prasanna to Sidd and even if one normal mainstream school makes the
campus accessible to differently abled after reading the book, our very goal
and purpose is achieved. Tears of pain
and joy mix when I look back on this journey.
It gave me an extended family.
Sidd’s family accepted me as one among them. What else you need…
Raghu and Aish stood as rock solid support to me in this
journey, my otherwise inquisitive mom,
encouraged me as I worked every weekend on this project. It is not the success of the book in terms
of numbers that I am looking forward, it is the kind of reach and reforms that
this book can bring with thinking process changing in the minds of at least a
few.
Thank you!
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
From differently-abled to definitely-abled - NEWS TODAY: August 28, 2017
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