IS IT JUST FOR ONE EXTRA BEDROOM?

As the dream of most parents I had acquired a degree in Software Engineering and joined a company based in USA, the land of braves and opportunity. When I arrived in the USA , it was as if a dream had come true.

Here at last I was in the place where I want to be. I decided I would be staying in this country for about Five years in which time I would have earned enough money to settle down in India .

My father was a government employee and after his retirement, the only asset he could acquire was a decent one bedroom apt.

I wanted to do some thing more than him. I started feelng homesick and lonely as the time passed. I used to call home and speak to my parents every week using cheap international phone
cards. Two years passed, two years of fast food at McDonald's and pizzas and 2 years watching the foreign exchange rate getting happy whenever the Rupee value went down.

Finally I decided to get married. Told my parents that I have only 10 days of holidays and everything must be done within these 10 days. I got my ticket booked in the cheapest flight. Was jubilant and was actually enjoying hopping for gifts for all my friends back home. If I miss anyone then there will be talks. After reaching home I spent home one week going through all the photographs of girls and as the time was getting shorter I was forced to s el ect one candidate.

In-laws told me, to my surprise, that I would have to get married in 2-3 days, as I will not get anymore holidays. After the marriage, it was time to return to USA , after giving some money to my parents and t el ling the neighbors to look after them, we returned to USA .

My wife enjoyed this country for about two months and then she started feeling lonely. The frequency of calling India increased to twice in a week sometimes 3 times a week. Our savings started diminishing.

After two more years we started to have kids. Two lovely kids, a boy and a girl, were gifted to us by the almighty. Every time I spoke to my parents, they asked me to come to India so that they can see their grand-children.

Every year I decide to go to India ... But part work part monetary conditions prevented it. Years went by and visiting India was a distant dream. Then suddenly one day I got a message that my parents were seriously sick. I tried but I couldn't get any holidays and thus could not go to India...

The next message I got was my parents had passed away and as there was no one to do the last rights the society members had done whatever they could. I was depressed. My parents had passed away without seeing their grand children.

After couple more years passed away, much to my children's dislike and my wife's joy we returned to India to settle down. I started to look for a suitable property, but to my dismay my
savings were short and the property prices had gone up during all these years. I had to return to the USA ...

My wife refused to come back with me and my children refused to stay in India ... My 2 children and I returned to USA after promising my wife I would be back for good after two years.

Time passed by, my daughter decided to get married to an American and my son was happy living in USA ... I decided that had enough and wound-up every thing and returned to India ... I
had just enough money to buy a decent 02 bedroom APT in a well developed locality.

Now I am 60 years old and the only time I go out of the APT is for the routine visit to the nearby temple. My faithful wife has also left me and gone to the holy abode.

Sometimes I wondered was it worth all this?

My father, even after staying in India , Had a house to his name and I too have the same nothing more.

I lost my parents and children for just ONE EXTRA BEDROOM.

Looking out from the window I see a lot of children dancing. This damned cable TV has spoiled our new generation and these children are losing their values and culture because of it. I get occasional cards from my children asking I am alright. W ell at least they remember me.

Now perhaps after I die it will be the neighbours again who will be performing my last rights, God Bless them.

But the question still remains 'was all this worth it?'

I am still searching for an answer...... ......... ..!!!

START THINKING

IS IT JUST FOR ONE EXTRA BEDROOM???

The Feel of Love

The first time u feel
It’s so pure and natural
Heart pumping out blood
Faster than it normally could
Trying to do something different
Though it was the passion
Trying to be unique still
Aspiring to do something unnatural

Young blood and feelings
Having no hopes of failures
Being positive in all outcomes
Lucky should be one to sail it through
Unfortunate is one who has to wait

The time one waits for the soul mate
Thinking only of the pleasures
It could offer to the spirit
Each minute is an epic of love
No matter he meets or not
The heart and mind still says
She is for u and for sure

Feeling egoistic even after falling
Straight into love by her eyesight
He always has the pride
Being in love with her
Whether he is in touch with her or not
He always thinks about her

She and her cute smile
The way she shows she is naughty
All these words just reflect
How she is within her
Also outside to people
She is an angel
Sent only for me

Neither does she know
Nor her friends and family
That she was sent only for me
What shall I do
Apart from waiting for her
In my heart, in my mind

Days, months and years have passed by
Only memories have been shrugged so far
Though can't wait for that moment
Feeling each other's soul
All I could do is wait, wait and wait
Not bothering whether it could happen or not
Would at least take the pride for being in love
And falling in so deep in it
Not being possible to come out of it

Looks like almost lived my life
Would be jealous if I ask for more
Abiding by the rules of the nature
The more you crave for
The more you would go away from it
The more painful would it be
And it’s a matter of a pain or love
I always welcomed it with all my heart

Now I have let it go far away from me
Knowing for sure she won’t be back
But somewhere in the heart
Still it is emphatically saying
Both our hearts are thinking of each other
Singing to the tunes of the love
Our hearts will always beat for the other
This is what a love can make
Pouring down its essence
The feel of love is the best I ever had
And I'm happy to keep it with me forever

Hope for the best

If there is will there is certainly a way
There was a time when everything went alright
But now things are changing
The purity of the rain water
The quality of the soil which was rich in minerals
Now being an obsolete material even for few plants
Everything is polluted
Finding a genuine attribute of quality is gruelling now

What can change all these things?
Dictatorships, severe actions, and so many
But even for these to occur
Still there is something which is the very base
Yes it’s the belief that every man has
That, things will be under control one day

A child hopes for the parents' care
Not bothered of the consequences
It doesn’t mind what’s going to happen
Thus a child's hope is no match to anyone's
When years pass by
And the same child grows a bit
Being a boy or a girl
Their mind hopes for their immediate pleasures
Wearing a new clothes, playing with friends
Winning matches and passing the exams
At this point their hope is still expecting something positive
Adding to their persisting pleasurable life

As the seasons of the year
Sunlight of the day
Things go one by one slowly
And the age still keeps ticking each year
The kid has now grown up well
Just to say that "I’m matured enough"
When asked enough to what
All they could say is
Enough to fight against all odds
Though they had only limited powers
But yet there was again a brim of hope
At this stage the hope doesn’t play a vital role
As he is confident probably over confident
In what he does and keeps doing
As far as he is sound in his mind and body
His hope has very less role to play
But he can definitely not be without a hope

Hope, a thing which can't be avoided by any soul
If there’s no hope, no atom will survive
As far as the humans have the hope for something
Their life has always got a certain meaning
Either a colourful presence or a pleasing fragrance
Especially the same hope is more valued
When their spirits start to die slowly
When the muscles go weak
When their confidence is broken by their fate
All they can do is just hope
Yes, hope for a better life
Sooner or later, they would find it
One and only if they have hope to have it

The hope and its playful after effects
Always have impacted on human's personal life
Though it has got very less influence over the soul
The materialistic life of the man
Makes his life go worse day by day
Depending on the fate and his destiny
What else the man could do
When things have gone beyond his hold
Hoping for a bright future
Relying on the luck and fortune
All the man could do is to have a Hope and
Hope for the best while getting prepared for the worst

A Tribute to the Social Workers

First October of every year is the "World Blood donation Day". On this occassion, we feel proud to feature two young men of Coimbatore, who are doing great job silently.

Kaushik and Sriram, (picture above) residents of Coimbatore (Tamilnadu, India) have silently arranged more than 30,000 units of blood to the needy patients at Coimbatore in the past two years. Recently I had the opportunity of meeting them at Coimbatore and they were introduced to me by J Prabhakar (another social worker about whom, i will write in detail later). 

Kaushik and Sriram have a list of more than 3000 quality donors from Coimbatore of all the blood groups and they are constantly updating the list. Besides, many college students are also supporting them in their endeavours. Beides, they also have the list of donars from Chennai and Erode (approximately 1500). You will be surprised to know that the entire database is stored in their mobile phone with the name of donors, contact number, blood group, when they last donated, etc. Sriram says, "We are using the mobile phone as our laptop".

They start receiving the calls right from the morning, requesting for a voluntary donor of a particular blood group. Within five minutes, they are able to locate the donor and link the donor and the patient. "When the people are in difficulty and in need of a quality blood, we try to help them by arraging for the required blood group donor. We never charge even a rupee. In fact, we spend our money to link them. On many occassions, we have arranged rare blood groups from our list even in the midnights during emergencies", says humbly Kaushik.

Every Hospital in Coimbatore have displayed the names of Kaushik and Sriram in their boards as contact for blood needs. On an average, they arrange 25 to 30 units of blood every day to various patients in different hosptals.

Kaushik is presently working as para medical staff in Ramakrishna hospital. Two years back, he donated his blood to one of the patients in the hospital where he was working. When he came out, one old lady requested him whether he could help to get a donor for particular group of blood, for an emergency patient. Since, he knew that a particular friend was having that blood group, he immediately arranged for the donor. On seeing this, another old patient, on the next day, requested Kaushik whether he could help him also with a donor. Again, he arranged for the donor within few minutes. 

"The smile and sense of satisfaction on the face of the two elderly patients gave me an inspiration. I could bring happiness to two people, just with two phone calls to my friends. I thought, why should I not gather some more database of blood group of my friends and motivate them to donate blood. I started doing in a small way, for the needy patients. It gave me a sense of satisfaction and happiness", Kaushik says with emotion and tears in his eyes.

within two weeks, Kaushik met Sriram, who came to the hospital to donate his blood to one of his friends. Kaushik and Sriram shared the same feeling when they met each other. Slowly, their friendship developed and they started collecting database from their contacts. They started helping the patients by linking them with quality donors, under the name "Any Time Blood" (ATB). Now ATB has become a popular name amongst all hospitals at Coimbatore.

Sriram is doing a small business. Still he finds happiness in arranging for the blood donors for the needy patients at coimbatore. On seeing their commitment, some of the patients and their famiy members started enrolling themselves as blood donors with them. Kaushik and Sriram keep in touch with donors regularly through SMS and also over phone. 

At Coimbatore alone, they have networked more than 3000 committed blood donors, who also bring in their friends in this network. 

" hardly 5% of the people call back and thank us for our timely support and volunteer to join this network. Most of the others, just return home even without saying a thanks to us. For getting the blood donor, they used to contact us many times, even while we try to arrange the donor. The moment, the job is done, they may not even call back to confirm this. Many times, we will get the information either from the hospital or from the donors themselves. " says Sriram sadly. "That does not prevent us from this task. Whether somebody recognises us or not, we continue to help the patients at their critical time" says Sriram proudly with a sense of satisfaction.

Appeal

If any of the readers or their friends , particularly from Tamilnadu, are interested to be a blood donor, please send SMS to Kaushik or Sriram over mobile 98943 95495 or 98431 93014 furnishing (1) name, (2) town and (3) the blood group details. They will enroll in their list and they would get in touch with them, in case of need. They should comply with the eligibility of blood donation, healthwise. Or the readers can also send mail to anytimeblood@gmail.com with the above details. 

A Noble family

Only because of people like them, the world is still alive... read further on to know about a heart touching real life incident

Chennai 25th September 2008

1st Photo : A.P. Hithendran

2nd Photo : His parents

3rd Photo : The doctor didnt even remove the face mask and head cover and coming running right from the operation theatre

4th Photo : The heart being taken to the destination in a police car instead of an ambulance

Here goes the story..

There is a family where the parents are the doctors and they had a son named Hithendran.

On 09/24/2008, he took his father's bike for seeing his friend and while returning he met with an accident. The people who were there know him and admitted him at chengalpattu hospital. Then they informed his parents and they took him to Teynampet Apollo hospital. The doctors examined him and said that his brain has lost all his senses and there is no way to give him life. Without controlling the sadness the parents understood the fact and they decided to donate his organs to the people.

First, his eyes were given to Sankara nethralaya, then his kidneys were given to apollo hospital for transplantation and atlast here comes the final everheard miracle. They decided to give his heart to a 13 years old girl named Abirami.

But within 30 mins that heart should be transplanted; They need to go 20 Kms and that too in the Chennai traffic and doubted whether it will happen or not. Then the doctors called traffic police and asked their help and they prepared the ambulance with A/C, following which the doctors operated out the heart from their son's torso and kept in an ice box and ran towards the ambulance.

When they came out the boy's father saw that ice box and cried like anything. The doctor who carried that box was on his wheels that he didn't even see the ambulance which is waiting outside and he entered the police car which was waiting and asked the person to go to the Cherian hospital soon without even realising that it was the Assistant Commissioner and interestingly the police official without seeing his status jumped to drivers seat and drove the car to its maximum speed.

Every signal traffic got alerted and left the way for this car and at last within 15 mins the heart was taken to the doctors in Cherian hospital where it was transplanted to Abirami.

Really heart touching isn't it ?.

By the way do you know the meaning of the name of the boy who died ( Hithendran -The Lover of Heart ) and yes, now he has stolen everyone's heart.

Hats off to his parents, the professionals and the officials who helped their sacrifice to do something towards a noble cause.