Friday, August 28, 2009
They were your parents, just like you will be one day!!!
From your first cry, they cradled you in their warm embrace,
Nurturing you with their tender loving care,as you grew,till you walked away,
Do you remember,their arms catching you,as you faltered in your little steps,while you learnt to walk holding on to them?
Do you remember those unwavering shoulders always there to support you, when you needed them the most?
Do you remember those eyes, which laughed when u smiled & cried when you cried?
Did you see the fear wrenching their hearts apart, as they let you walk into the cold cruel world without them at your side?
Did you feel the anguish of their hearts as they saw you stumble along your way??
You saw and you felt, but you forgot all that,
And as time passed and you grew stronger, while they began to falter away,
You forgot their hard years of toil,
You forgot that their blood, their sweat & tears were your nurturing soil.
And then,
You turned away shirking those groping hands & faltering eyes.
You gave them a stone face and cold eyes, while they looked at you for a little warmth & smile.
You broke their hearts, gave them tears & grief in the twilight of their life.
You gave them your back, when they wanted your embrace in the winter of their life.
You walked away, while they held out their hands, not to beg, but give their blessing away.
You ran away from them, while all they wanted was,Your little time,Your tender touch & your loving smile,
Still,
Still You were their treasure, their most precious gift, the center of their dreams, the center of their prayers, the universe of their small lives.
Still you were the lights of their searching eyes even as the darkness of Death's dark night veiled their eyes.
Nurturing you with their tender loving care,as you grew,till you walked away,
Do you remember,their arms catching you,as you faltered in your little steps,while you learnt to walk holding on to them?
Do you remember those unwavering shoulders always there to support you, when you needed them the most?
Do you remember those eyes, which laughed when u smiled & cried when you cried?
Did you see the fear wrenching their hearts apart, as they let you walk into the cold cruel world without them at your side?
Did you feel the anguish of their hearts as they saw you stumble along your way??
You saw and you felt, but you forgot all that,
And as time passed and you grew stronger, while they began to falter away,
You forgot their hard years of toil,
You forgot that their blood, their sweat & tears were your nurturing soil.
And then,
You turned away shirking those groping hands & faltering eyes.
You gave them a stone face and cold eyes, while they looked at you for a little warmth & smile.
You broke their hearts, gave them tears & grief in the twilight of their life.
You gave them your back, when they wanted your embrace in the winter of their life.
You walked away, while they held out their hands, not to beg, but give their blessing away.
You ran away from them, while all they wanted was,Your little time,Your tender touch & your loving smile,
Still,
Still You were their treasure, their most precious gift, the center of their dreams, the center of their prayers, the universe of their small lives.
Still you were the lights of their searching eyes even as the darkness of Death's dark night veiled their eyes.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
The Irony of Ganesh Chaturthi
The Majestic Ganpati Himself
Ganesha or Gajanan or Ganpati or Vinayak- The Lord o’ beginnings, is a pivotal figure in Hindu mythology, the God with the head of an elephant is perhaps the most worshipped God across the length and breadth of India and enjoys a special place in the hearts of Indians. Ganesha attracts one and all irrespective of being a believer or non-believer by his sheer charm and beauty.
Ganesh chaturthi or the birthday of Ganpati is celebrated all over the India with much ado. Idols of Ganpati in various shapes, styles and rainbow colors are bought home or kept in decorated pandals and worshipped with great pomp and show, In some states these festivities continue for a week or 10 days, followed by “Visarjan” or drowning of the Idols in water bodies (for the environment lovers who are already doing eeshh..Yeah it does create a mess, but of late bio-degradable Idols are gaining popularity)
But, this post is not about the religious significance of Ganesh Chaturthi, rather it’s about the socio-economic aspects. This thought crossed my mind as I saw a photo assay on “artisans working on Ganpati idols across India” on the website of The Hindu, a prominent Indian newspaper( http://bit.ly/FfHqG ) . Every year countless Ganpati idols are made all over India by unknown artisans. Some of these artisans come from skilled families present in this trade since years, some semi-skilled or even unskilled working for a source of livelihood. These Idols made in the obscure nooks and corners of India are bought and worshipped by devotes all over the country….but no one gives a thought about who created these idols?, how they were transported?, through which and how many hands did these idols pass before you lovingly and with all pious devotion gave them the hot seat in your celebrations and served them with devotion for a week or so?…………..
What I want to say here is…. Does the petty thought of caste, religion, and region of all those hands through which your precious idol passed, ever come to your minds…When you’re dancing with joy shouting “ Ganpati bappa morya” “Jai dev Jai dev” or “Jai Ganesh Jai Ganesh deva” or When you look at the awesome face of Ganpati and your heart fills with peace and joy! No, it Doesn’t…or When you are line up together drawn simply by the grandeur and love for the deity for Visarjan .The only thing that fills your mind then, is the beauty of the effort that makes the Idol look as beautiful as it does and you Judge it simply by that.. Don’t you??...you don’ give a damn about whether the sculptor or decorators were from a low caste or whether they were from Bihar, UP or Maharashtra or where ever….
You might even be feeling repulsed right now thinking..that I could I think of something like this…..I can think like this, because, I can also see people fighting with each other in the name of caste, region and religion every other day. ‘Cuz I can see discrimination being done in the name of caste, religion and region every where I turn around and see. We meet out inhuman treatment to some of these very people whose creations we worship and carry on our heads……….Then ….WHY??..Why do we have these double standards??...Why can’t we remember the very same thing when we are being rude or discriminating some one??, that the only thing that matters in the world is “How good you are at what you do”
Ganesha or Gajanan or Ganpati or Vinayak- The Lord o’ beginnings, is a pivotal figure in Hindu mythology, the God with the head of an elephant is perhaps the most worshipped God across the length and breadth of India and enjoys a special place in the hearts of Indians. Ganesha attracts one and all irrespective of being a believer or non-believer by his sheer charm and beauty.
Ganesh chaturthi or the birthday of Ganpati is celebrated all over the India with much ado. Idols of Ganpati in various shapes, styles and rainbow colors are bought home or kept in decorated pandals and worshipped with great pomp and show, In some states these festivities continue for a week or 10 days, followed by “Visarjan” or drowning of the Idols in water bodies (for the environment lovers who are already doing eeshh..Yeah it does create a mess, but of late bio-degradable Idols are gaining popularity)
But, this post is not about the religious significance of Ganesh Chaturthi, rather it’s about the socio-economic aspects. This thought crossed my mind as I saw a photo assay on “artisans working on Ganpati idols across India” on the website of The Hindu, a prominent Indian newspaper( http://bit.ly/FfHqG ) . Every year countless Ganpati idols are made all over India by unknown artisans. Some of these artisans come from skilled families present in this trade since years, some semi-skilled or even unskilled working for a source of livelihood. These Idols made in the obscure nooks and corners of India are bought and worshipped by devotes all over the country….but no one gives a thought about who created these idols?, how they were transported?, through which and how many hands did these idols pass before you lovingly and with all pious devotion gave them the hot seat in your celebrations and served them with devotion for a week or so?…………..
What I want to say here is…. Does the petty thought of caste, religion, and region of all those hands through which your precious idol passed, ever come to your minds…When you’re dancing with joy shouting “ Ganpati bappa morya” “Jai dev Jai dev” or “Jai Ganesh Jai Ganesh deva” or When you look at the awesome face of Ganpati and your heart fills with peace and joy! No, it Doesn’t…or When you are line up together drawn simply by the grandeur and love for the deity for Visarjan .The only thing that fills your mind then, is the beauty of the effort that makes the Idol look as beautiful as it does and you Judge it simply by that.. Don’t you??...you don’ give a damn about whether the sculptor or decorators were from a low caste or whether they were from Bihar, UP or Maharashtra or where ever….
You might even be feeling repulsed right now thinking..that I could I think of something like this…..I can think like this, because, I can also see people fighting with each other in the name of caste, region and religion every other day. ‘Cuz I can see discrimination being done in the name of caste, religion and region every where I turn around and see. We meet out inhuman treatment to some of these very people whose creations we worship and carry on our heads……….Then ….WHY??..Why do we have these double standards??...Why can’t we remember the very same thing when we are being rude or discriminating some one??, that the only thing that matters in the world is “How good you are at what you do”
Friday, August 14, 2009
Darkness to Light - A journey
Eye Don Photo Assay
Ever wondered what makes life beautiful and enriching? What is it that makes every day with all it's toils so bearable and gives us the strength to keep going?
For some it is watching their children grow, for some it see to enjoy the beauty of nature, for some it is to see their loved one's smile. The list is endless. These are the moments that make life such a beautiful and seemingly unending journey. But to enjoy all these precious moments we need our 5 senses- Vision, Hearing, Smell, Touch and Taste....
but out of these it is the gift of sight that defines our lives, our actions, our feelings, just imagine, living a life imprisoned in a dark room without a single window and listening to sounds winds, rainfall, of children laughing, people talking, life passing by beyond those walls, but without you being able to see them, frustrating wouldn't it be? You would want to tear down those walls, won't you?
But there are some people, who are imprisoned in this darkness, not by some walls, but rather by the absence of the gift of sight, by BLINDNESS.
There are many causes for blindness. In all these cases some or the other part of eye stops functioning, tossing these people into the dark world of blindness.
Some of these causes like cataract, corneal blindness, glaucoma can be treated and these lucky people can enjoy the beautiful journey of life. Out of these next to cataracts, corneal blindness has the highest chances of successful treatment, all that is needed is a donor's cornea.
In India we have about 10 million blind people,
out of which 2 million suffer from corneal blindness, which is easily treatable by corneal transplants
among these 2 million, a massive 60% are children and the number, is increasing every year,
as against an annual corneal donation of a mere 40000.
What is a Cornea?
When you look at your eyes in the mirror, you see the white portion, which is Sclera, in the middle of which u see a colored round structure called Iris, in the center of Iris is a small round dark structure Pupil, covering these two is a transparent layer of cells called "CORNEA".
How does Cornea function?
Light has to pass through all the above structures to reach inside the eyeball and touch the retina and then the brain for us to see. If, the cornea gets hazy, opaque or scarred, the light entering the eye is either distorted or blocked depending upon the damage. Just imagine a smear on the lens of your camera while clicking a photo. What happens to the photo, happens to how we would see, if the cornea gets damaged.
How does the cornea get damaged?
Sometimes by accidents, burns, injuries by sharp objects, chemical injuries, some infections like herpes, uncontrolled diabetes etc. are some of the causes
How can we treat Cornea and bring the sight back?
Simple , by removing the scarred cornea (like you would wipe your stained camera lens) and replacing it with a new one, by a process called " CORNEAL TRANSPLANT". Easy as it may sound., it takes an exquisite amount of expertise to perform the operation, but the toughest part of the entire process is to get a "DONOR CORNEA" i.e a cornea from somebody who has donated it to the blind for transplant.
The process of corneal transplantation begins with :
A "DONOR" who fills a Eye donation form, either, at a "EYE BANK" or a hospital which performs corneal extraction and transplantation, In this form a person gives consent, that after their death their eyes can be removed and used for transplantation.
A donor card is issued to the person, which should be provided to the hospital, eyebank or the doctor at the time of the death of the donor, so that corneas can be retrieved within the stipulated time, but even a pledged cornea cannot be extracted without the consent of the relatives of the deceased ( a major hurdle..'cuz in their grief or due to their beliefs the relatives refuse to comply).
Another way of cornea donation is that some Hospitals have a "Hospital Corneal Retrieval Programme" wherein a terminally ill person and his relatives are counselled by counselors to donate eyes after death.
Cornea needs to be procured within 6-8 hrs of the death of the donor to be useful for transplantation after that they undergo degradation, so timely information to the concerned doctors is very essential. Also nearly 4 patients can be helped by a single cornea.
The procedure of corneal extraction need not take place in a hospital. Eye banking teams come to the home of donor for extraction and the process is absolutely non-mutilating and takes just 20 minutes, so there are no hindrances or delays in the last rites of the dead person, the extracted cornea is replaced by an artificial cornea transplant, so that their are no harms to the physical appearance of the deceased .
After extraction the corneas are examined for any infections like HIV, Hepatitis B , herpes etc and are graded according to their condition over a spectrum of excellent to poor.The high grade corneas are used for transplant purposes and low grade for therapeutic purposes.They are stored in a preservative medium till they are transplanted.
WHO can donate?
To donate :
This way one may continue the unending journey of life by seeing the world through another person's eyes and by this small act you can make a person's life beautiful even after death . It doesn't cost anything to donate a cornea except a little act of empathy.
We all love getting gifts we want, don't we?
Why not gift a blind person the gift they covets most out of life by pledging your eyes for donation - The Gift of SIGHT.
(P.S. 25 Aug- 5 Sep is the eye donation fortnight, wherein multiple camps are held for eye donation all over India.)
Ever wondered what makes life beautiful and enriching? What is it that makes every day with all it's toils so bearable and gives us the strength to keep going?
For some it is watching their children grow, for some it see to enjoy the beauty of nature, for some it is to see their loved one's smile. The list is endless. These are the moments that make life such a beautiful and seemingly unending journey. But to enjoy all these precious moments we need our 5 senses- Vision, Hearing, Smell, Touch and Taste....
but out of these it is the gift of sight that defines our lives, our actions, our feelings, just imagine, living a life imprisoned in a dark room without a single window and listening to sounds winds, rainfall, of children laughing, people talking, life passing by beyond those walls, but without you being able to see them, frustrating wouldn't it be? You would want to tear down those walls, won't you?
But there are some people, who are imprisoned in this darkness, not by some walls, but rather by the absence of the gift of sight, by BLINDNESS.
There are many causes for blindness. In all these cases some or the other part of eye stops functioning, tossing these people into the dark world of blindness.
Some of these causes like cataract, corneal blindness, glaucoma can be treated and these lucky people can enjoy the beautiful journey of life. Out of these next to cataracts, corneal blindness has the highest chances of successful treatment, all that is needed is a donor's cornea.
In India we have about 10 million blind people,
out of which 2 million suffer from corneal blindness, which is easily treatable by corneal transplants
among these 2 million, a massive 60% are children and the number, is increasing every year,
as against an annual corneal donation of a mere 40000.
What is a Cornea?
When you look at your eyes in the mirror, you see the white portion, which is Sclera, in the middle of which u see a colored round structure called Iris, in the center of Iris is a small round dark structure Pupil, covering these two is a transparent layer of cells called "CORNEA".
How does Cornea function?
Light has to pass through all the above structures to reach inside the eyeball and touch the retina and then the brain for us to see. If, the cornea gets hazy, opaque or scarred, the light entering the eye is either distorted or blocked depending upon the damage. Just imagine a smear on the lens of your camera while clicking a photo. What happens to the photo, happens to how we would see, if the cornea gets damaged.
How does the cornea get damaged?
Sometimes by accidents, burns, injuries by sharp objects, chemical injuries, some infections like herpes, uncontrolled diabetes etc. are some of the causes
How can we treat Cornea and bring the sight back?
Simple , by removing the scarred cornea (like you would wipe your stained camera lens) and replacing it with a new one, by a process called " CORNEAL TRANSPLANT". Easy as it may sound., it takes an exquisite amount of expertise to perform the operation, but the toughest part of the entire process is to get a "DONOR CORNEA" i.e a cornea from somebody who has donated it to the blind for transplant.
The process of corneal transplantation begins with :
A "DONOR" who fills a Eye donation form, either, at a "EYE BANK" or a hospital which performs corneal extraction and transplantation, In this form a person gives consent, that after their death their eyes can be removed and used for transplantation.
A donor card is issued to the person, which should be provided to the hospital, eyebank or the doctor at the time of the death of the donor, so that corneas can be retrieved within the stipulated time, but even a pledged cornea cannot be extracted without the consent of the relatives of the deceased ( a major hurdle..'cuz in their grief or due to their beliefs the relatives refuse to comply).
Another way of cornea donation is that some Hospitals have a "Hospital Corneal Retrieval Programme" wherein a terminally ill person and his relatives are counselled by counselors to donate eyes after death.
Cornea needs to be procured within 6-8 hrs of the death of the donor to be useful for transplantation after that they undergo degradation, so timely information to the concerned doctors is very essential. Also nearly 4 patients can be helped by a single cornea.
The procedure of corneal extraction need not take place in a hospital. Eye banking teams come to the home of donor for extraction and the process is absolutely non-mutilating and takes just 20 minutes, so there are no hindrances or delays in the last rites of the dead person, the extracted cornea is replaced by an artificial cornea transplant, so that their are no harms to the physical appearance of the deceased .
After extraction the corneas are examined for any infections like HIV, Hepatitis B , herpes etc and are graded according to their condition over a spectrum of excellent to poor.The high grade corneas are used for transplant purposes and low grade for therapeutic purposes.They are stored in a preservative medium till they are transplanted.
WHO can donate?
- any person above the age of 18 (those below 18 need the consent of their parents or guardian's)
- not suffering from HIV, Hepatitis B, HSV or metastatic cancer, or anyother infectious eye disease can donate.
To donate :
- you can contact your nearest eye bank (please check the Internet for eye banks located near you) or any Hospital or Doctor around you and you can get information about the process from them.
- Once you become a donor kindly inform and explain your decision to your relatives and request them to carry out your wishes.
This way one may continue the unending journey of life by seeing the world through another person's eyes and by this small act you can make a person's life beautiful even after death . It doesn't cost anything to donate a cornea except a little act of empathy.
We all love getting gifts we want, don't we?
Why not gift a blind person the gift they covets most out of life by pledging your eyes for donation - The Gift of SIGHT.
(P.S. 25 Aug- 5 Sep is the eye donation fortnight, wherein multiple camps are held for eye donation all over India.)
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