Archive for category Still MAD !!
It’s a MAD Future
Posted by Krishnaraj Mahadevan in Still MAD !!, The Things That Happen..., Volunteer Files... on January 28th, 2010
Curtains raise..
Year 2035.
Its a bright sunny day in Hyderabad, the largest technology hub of the modern world as Gloria Benny, MAD-Hyd President, sets out on her routine visit to Forum for Street Children (FSC) near to the bullet train tracks in Musheerabad. She gets into the back seat of her robot driven Ferrari and whispers “FSC”. The bot reponds with “Yes, Madam. Please fasten your seat belt. We’ll be there in 2 minutes.”
As the hydrogen powered air-car starts to gain speed, a buffallo crosses the runway and the robot responds with a skillful manoeuvre to avoid a crash. Elated about his achievement, the robot looks back and requests a “High Five” to which Gloria responds and then says “Ouch!! that hurt again”.
It is exactly 1 minute and 58 seconds after that incident when the air-car lands on the roof of the 10 storied FSC building. “Some things just don’t change” mutters Gloria as she sees tamarind dried in a dirty plastic sheet in one corner of the roof and a pile of construction materials for the proposed 11th floor at the other.
She gets into a glass elevator donated by “Fanindra Group” and whispers ‘G’. As she descends she finds MAD teachers in every floor and waves to the ones who notice her. Anusha in Floor 8 is sitting with a group of students in the virtual classroom. Floor 7 is the computer floor and is buzzing with activity. Floor 5 is the dance hall where Jr. Aditya is teaching the kids “Dance On” from Unit 5 Lesson 14b. He is seen referring to the syllabus in his pseudo-phone as he dances. Melvin is demonstrating push-ups with one hand as a warm up activity in Floor 3 and he waves with his other hand. The inside of Floor 1 and 2 cannot be viewed from within the elevator, but one is able to hear Venkatesh scream “L is for LION, not Lalit Modi !!”.
The elevator comes to a halt at the ground floor and opens. As she walks out, Gloria gets a reminder message from her robot in her pseudo-phone that reads “Rainbow School in 10 minutes”. The ground floor has a few Level 1 kids sitting idle and watching T10 cricket world cup on a palmtop TV.
“Heyy!!, Where’s your advanced english teacher?” she asks the kids.
One of them says “Krishna sir texted us to say his scooter tyre was punctured. What’s a scooter Golra madam?”.
Gloria is annoyed and opens MADapp in her pseudo by touching an image on the touchscreen. She whispers “Krishna, Credit, -2, Close”. MAD just had launched its intelligent substitute-finder helpline beta. Gloria decides to give it a try. She whispers “MAD Helpline” and the pseudo-phone dials the helpline.
The call is answered.
“Hello and welcome to the MAD helpline..”
“Please select one of the 3 choices anytime during this message…”
“If you are already mad, say 1 ..”
“If you want to be mad, say 2 ..”
“If you want to speak to a real mad officer, say 9..”
Gloria whispers “9″..and immediately gets a reply..
“All our mad officers are in mad classes at this moment. Please try again later.”
“Some things just don’t change”, she mutters again as the curtains fall and the sound of a scooter horn is heard in the background.
My Kids, Me and M.A.Dness
Posted by Tanmay Arora in Still MAD !!, The Classroom Docs, Volunteer Files... on November 1st, 2009
Originally written by Trupti Abhyankar
What happens when you let someone into your life and let them occupy the tiniest place in there? You get a world of happiness and before you know, you start thinking about them more often than you do about your pocket money. What you took up as an act of social responsibility becomes something you can’t imagine your life without.
This, my friends, is exactly what I’m going through. My kids at A.D Bawla centre have been busy with exams and vacations and I’ve been missing them terribly. I joined M.A.D as a volunteer sometime in August. My initial apprehension to teaching (I lack the most important quality of a teacher – PATIENCE) wore off in my very first class.
The Kids were superb. Now, I’m not saying they were perfectly quiet, waiting with their books open, no…but they wanted to learn, from us. Their excitement at seeing their new ‘didi’ was visible right from the moment we entered. A class of 38 girls, some quiet, some natural pranksters, some sensitive. The most endearing quality about these kids is the way they make you feel loved.
In my very first class, all of them wanted me to share their breakfast cupcakes with them; if it rained and I didn’t have an umbrella, these kids would be concerned as to how I would go back home. It struck me that most of us, who’ve been fortunate enough to have been brought up in full, whole families, with parents and siblings probably need to take a lesson or two from these kids. I mean, how many of us fuss over meals, clothes and things, how many of us continuously fight, bicker and argue with people around us? But we hardly ever take any opportunity to tell people that we love them.
These kids are wonderful little things who’ve taught me to think more about others than myself, they’ve taught me to care, love and most importantly, they’ve made me feel special , more special than any guy who probably tried to woo me with a truck-full of flowers and a candle-light dinner.
It is these kids who make me wake up, sharp at 8.30 on most Sunday mornings, to leave for a two-hour class. It is the thought of these bachha log that brings a smile on my face when I remember their dialogues – ‘’Didi, aap theek se ghar jaana..’’ , when I remember the first time one of them wrote about me as a teacher in their class.
They have made me proud, at times angry, happy and sad. It is impossible to forget the joy on their faces when they see a ‘very good’ in their books, or the frustration at not getting something right. It’s wonderful to see the way they care for their fellow students and manage to retrieve happiness and contentment, in the smallest of doses from everyday things.
My last class with them was almost a month ago, and we dedicated it to stories. Being Ramzan, the girls requested we sing a ‘naad’ or a hymn together. As we sat down solemnly, the child began singing about a mother…to hear a child at an orphanage sing about a mother is heart wrenching. As their tiny hands dried my tears, they made me promise I would be back after the break. And here I am, waiting for classes to begin again, for the excitement of learning, playing to start again. All my kids, I miss u’ll a lot! Thanks M.A.D, for making a difference to my life as well.
A humble request!
Posted by Ajanta in Still MAD !!, The Things That Happen... on March 31st, 2009
MAD Dilli requests MAD members to share this message with everyone and help us with the drive. Thank you for extending help.
Dear All
Hope you are well.
This is apropos the small scale social initiative by a team from Delhi. Make a Difference Dilli (MAD Dilli) is an initiative which struck the capital 2 months back originates from the Make a Difference (MAD).
About MAD:
“To bridge educational inequality in the society “
M.A.D. is a youth volunteer network, comprising primarily school and college students and young professionals. MAD was started in 2006 by a group of 6 college students with a vision to educate underprivileged children. We aim to educate the orphans in cities and help them undertake education at a higher level and procure better jobs to earn their livelihood.
We have grown to a 320 volunteer strong network across 4 cities: Cochin, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune working with 1000 children and this year we have branched out to more cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Goa and Bangalore.
We are in the process of setting up operations in Delhi. MAD Dilli aims at teaching English language in Phase I (Inception Stage) to children between Standard 5-8 in orphanages and street shelters of Delhi
We will be starting our operations from June 2009. We will be initially organizing a Volunteer Selection drive to identify volunteers to work with us.
For more information, please visit
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=63651726984
http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Community.aspx?cmm=59300674
MAD Legacy:
Global Winner of The Ashoka Staples Youth Social Entrepreneur Award
Shortlisted for the international OLPC program
Access to computers in the ratio 1 computer:6 children
Over 8000 hours of teaching time invested
What MAD Dilli expects from you:
We are a voluntary organization with no monetary incentive. The team of 5 from Delhi is working with colleges and corporate giants to seek the cooperation of philanthropists for the cause.
We are initiating recruitment drive for Delhi. We require 2 hours each week from an interested volunteer to teach these orphans in Delhi. The days are flexible as per their class and work timings.
We demand no monetary contribution from an organization or volunteer. However, we would be thankful if one desires to contribute for the cause monetarily/non-monetarily).
What MAD Dilli offers you:
Being a social cause, MAD Dilli offers you the opportunity to intermingle with the orphans from Delhi who are primarily run-away children or abandoned ones. This would be an unadulterated image of reality.
As the programme is a registered society and is legally audited, we provide each volunteer a certificate upon completion of six months.
We train the volunteers in Language teaching, class management, time management and several other aspects.
The volunteers would interact with a broader forum and would fabricate an informal network within MAD India. Admittedly, this could be envisaged as a corporate social responsibility initiative for corporate on a small scale.
Thank you:
Each individual is a knowledge repository. Make a Difference would be fortunate to work with a team of intellectual candidates with the motive to contribute to the society. Please extend your help to these children who deserve better and have not been as fortunate as you.
We look forward to build a long lasting relationship with you.
Warm Regards
Make a Difference Dilli
(Interested candidates are requested to mail to president.madd@gmail.com on or before April 1, 2009. Thereon, you would receive an Application Form along with instructions regarding the procedure for participating in MAD Dilli Volunteer Selection drive. The last date for submission of Application Form is April 15, 2009
Please help us spread the word to your friends by sharing this mail)
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