Absence filled ........Connect to your lost ones

Hi All

I am in Bangalore past one week and just forwarding this word for an initiative my sister  Upma is driving. The name of the initiative is - "Absence filled".
As per this intitiative Upma is a facilitator to connect you to the right activity and the Ashram activities you choose to support. Read through the below format and feel free to reach Upma directly in case you are interested to participate or want to know more.

Participation choices: You are invited to own your loved one again by seeing them in the eyes of an old age home resident. One has the below mentioned choices:

1)       Pay for the monthly expense of a resident

2)       Spend time with them

3)       Arrange a cultural evening for them

4)       Take them out once in a month

The homes in Bangalore that are part of this initiative are as follows:

1)       Little Sisters of the poor , Hosur Road– 140 residents

2)       Anand Asharm, Bennerghetta Road – 32 residents

3)       Aasharya, Banshankari – 10 residents

Steps towards Things to do

1)       Enrollment is open till 26^th Jan 10. Ask for the enrollment form from Upma at  upmashrian@yahoo.co.in

2)       The first meeting will be held at the respective homes within a month of your enrollment confirmation.

Initiative Owner: UPMA SHRIAN, Bangalore, India - upmashrian@yahoo.co.in

                                     

Visiting Haridwar after a couple of decades

This was an experience in its self. I was invited to meet Guruji and i usually would not let go of such opportunities. So we went for a 2 day trip by train to Haridwar. We were just 2 days short of the maha Kumbh mela to start on Jan 6th. The place was abuzz with preparations to receive the throngs of people from all walks of life on the Maha Kumbh.

Well to mention about the ashram and Guruji. Guruji was waiting for us and welcomed us with a beaming smile a very unassuming, smiling persona. The Ashram houses 100 rooms, a huge kitchen garden, a temple, a cow stable and couple of huge halls for prayers. The entire facility was spic and span and i was impressed by the discipline everyone followed. One sould see dignity of labour as senior swamijis also sweeping the floor and helping in cooking. The atmosphere was all in all serence and welcoming after the madness of city life. I felt like living in first gear after the fifth.

Haridwar has a flavour of its own walking the banks of Ganga throws into myraid of moods - sometimes one gets caought by the Ganga flowing other times by filth around. Sometimes by devout devotees who turn a blind eye to all practical trivialities and are wrapped in their own spiritual climate. Number of poojas happening simultaneously, million of myths and stories surrounding each temple or idol there.

We got lucky to spend an hour plus in the company of Guruji who seemed to be a practical, very sharp and well travelled person. He seemed a karamyogi in that since 2005 he spent 35 crores on doing various charitable deeds opening colleges, schools making ashrams and other similar obligations. Good part was i could see that the learnings from abroad put to action here in India, in Haridwar. There was a section of the ashram made without pillars on the basis of a design Guruji saw in Japan, he uses a treadmill and advices people on business decisions, knows exactly how many days each of the south east asian countries take to give visa - meeting such a person and the brief interaction i had was a bleassing in itself :)