Posts Tagged volunteers
Chilling Out With Core Chennai!
Posted by Aruna in Volunteer Files... on February 26th, 2010
Mercury rising!
Yet another sweltering summer morning stretches lazily across the city, peppering the pavements with impressively balanced tender-coconut and watermelon pyramids. Perspiration seems to be Chennai’s most-popular pastime and resigned sighs are heard almost everywhere even as the day boots up – almost being the operational word here, for we do have some significant exceptions… 
In a children’s home tucked away in the city, volunteers are accosted by a bevy of energetic kids all clamouring for their attention, eagerness brimming over in their smiles. Voila, the typical welcome that precedes class at any of the several MAD centres in Chennai! For these children and their volunteer Akkas and Annas, soaring temperatures are easily forgotten in the shared energy that English class brings.
This refreshing experience of finding joy in learning through MAD is orchestrated in Chennai by a core team that not only believes the glass is half full, but also orders some chocolate cake to go with the yummy milkshake that’s no doubt in the glass. Now it looks like the team’s invaded this blog to say hullo and to offer you a slice of not the cake – alas! – but their lives. 
Come on, let’s go talk to them! *beckons readers over*
Here’s Vaishnavi Srinivasan. She’s the president of the Chennai team.
Hey Prez! *waves*
Don’t call me President! It reminds me of Prathiba Patil, and I hope I’m nothing like her! she exclaims.
So we’ll obligingly call her Vaish, hm? *whispers* Her friends prefer to call her Teacher Amma, though, referring to her tough work ethic! 
)Oh look, there’s the perennially busy Anantha Padmanabhan, Ananth or Anzee to his friends. He’s in charge of Operations.
Wassup, Ananth! Tell us a bit about yourself before you hurry away on MAD work, will ya?
Well, what do I say?, he wonders aloud. I’m someone who wants to live life to the fullest. Never say die and be the change and all that, yeah, that’s me!
), music, reading and writingAruna joins in when we’re chatting with Ananth. She’s the spunky girl in charge of HR. She loves her nickname Arunskie and woe to the person who calls her Arun by mistake!
Aruna is the most-consistent revenue provider for CCD with her frequent coffee cravings, and I have a feeling she’s on her way there right now! Let’s ask her! Getting coffee, Aruna?
Oh no, she says and tries to speed away on her candy-pink Scooty. We ask her to introduce herself before she goes and this is what we get: I’m stubborn, talkative and extremely mischievous.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Some Aruna funda~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Education: The fear of killing innocent lives made her overlook her love for Biology and choose engineering (@ Salem College of Engineering) over medicine!
Work: Been employed with Mahindra Satyam for so long that she’s now virtually a part of the office furniture!
Special skills/interests: She’s a novelaholic, and can spend hours in the company of books
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Come on now, let’s go meet Abdul Hameed, our Corporate Relations Officer and Ravi Kumar, the most Resource-ful member of the team.
Abdul, the outgoing, happy-go-lucky, and down-to-earth maddie, appreciates and loves the fact that he learns a lot from his children. Don’t let his (inexplicable) pose in the photo fool you! This man knows how to balance fun and professionalism with perfect poise.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Some Abdul funda~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Education: MBBS from Madras Medical College
Work: Clinical Resource Consultant *wonders what on Earth that is!*
Special skills/interests: Movies, music, long drives, experimenting with new cuisines (this possessor of a mouthful of sweet teeth loves Pastries with a capital P!)
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Ah, now I introduce you to one of MAD Chennai’s oldest volunteers (not in terms of service, but age )! Ravi believes that he is too complex to be defined in a few words. You’ll find a bit of everything in me, he avers. Maybe we should call him Avial Ravi, then! Through MAD I’ve understood that life’s more than work and money, he says. Hear, hear!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Some Ravi funda~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Education: Engineering from Utkal University, Orissa (Don’t ask more about this, he says)
Work: At Wipro Technologies (B-o-r-i-n-g, he yawns)
Special skills/interests: Movies, reading, cooking (his yum brinjal-and-sambar combo is legendary – as in we’ve heard a lot about it but nobody has proof of its existence ), and assembling *destroying?* computers.
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Trailing behind them all in a rather scatterbrained way is Meenakshi Nandhini, the trainer-person in our team. Nobody believes her claim that she’s an introvert and her extreme verbosity and her weird sense of humour make us all wonder how her kids sit through her classes!
A look into your life, please, Nandu!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Some Nandu funda~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Education: Eight schools and no colleges, she declares with a satisfied grin. As an afterthought she adds: I’m doing my MA Eng. Lit. by correspondence, though, the same way I did my BA. Does that count?
Work: Freelancer at times, but unemployed would be a better label, she muses.
Special skills/interests: She’s curious about everything and has a looooooong list of interests that would obviously bore the eyeballs off you, so we’ll stop here!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So there! I’ve run out of people to introduce! And typing out this blog post I’ve realised that we’ve quite a few (alleged) good cooks in the team. This certainly calls for a potluck, folks, for the proof of the pudding lies in the eating! We’ll arrange for one soon, I hope. *smacks lips in anticipation*
So ciao for now, co-madsters! Make sure that the next time you visit Chennai you call us early to reserve your tables! Tipping the cooks with candy bars is of course highly recommended!
- Ms. A. N. Ony Mous, MAD Chennai team member
MAD Bangalore is all set to Rock ‘n’ Roll!
Posted by Tan in Newsletter V 1.0, The Things That Happen..., Volunteer Files... on July 10th, 2009
The final list of volunteers and the organizational structure has been made and distributed. Everyone knows what they are expected to do and everyone is MAD about the same. There was a small shuffling in the team depending upon the commitment and expectations of the various roles and now, it is all set.
MADness urges for colors - colors are soul of MADness
The meeting last weekend was the first formal meeting of the volunteers and the core team. Though a few could not make it to the occasion, the people who were present showed real interest and initiative in making a difference! There were students and working professionals too, who either travelled for hours to reach the venue or rushed directly from their colleges. The Ice Breaking session went great will good innovative activities. The general overview of MAD and its vision and mission followed by another group activity took out the urge in people to contribute. I was actually feeling that the whole bunch of volunteers available there were just ready to get into one of the centers and start teaching then and there. Such was the ambience created in the small room where we all met. There were ideas flying in from all the corners of the room and it was nice to see everyone participating in the discussion. There were a few people who already have the experience of teaching children or who were associated with some kind of social works concerning little children. Their experience in teaching and dealing with the children, their guardians and families were informative and a learning to all of us for sure. Their inputs along with the words of the President and the other Core Team Members made the session fruitful, informative and edifying.
With the Mentor Training Workshop (@ Chennai) coming up round the corner, we are sure to be prepared well to teach and start our classes in the first week of August. The two centers are already been identified and all talks are done and set now. The volunteers and the Core Team Members are divided into groups and have been assigned slots where they will be teaching. The Mentor Training Workshop has come in a timely manner for MAD Bangalore and it would help immensely to kick start the MADness here. Join hands – come together – let’s share, learn and grow together – I will keep you posted about the proceedings!
Quick Top: You know how to connect to the children whom you are going to teach?
Well, Savan has a great thought: You smile at them and they smile back at you – the connection is made!
Think about it… until next time…
Mumbai Recruitment Drive
Posted by Rashi in The Things That Happen... on April 29th, 2009
MAD Rec’n'Work, Cochin :)
Posted by Jr. in The Things That Happen... on April 28th, 2009
Over this weekend, the Mad team pulled off a great recruitment and workshop at the Rotary Balbhavan in Panampilly Nagar..
Since we’ve established by now how lazy I’m, and given how sleepy I’m now, I’ll limit the words, and let the pictures do all the talking.. You need to say anything more, you know where the comments go..
Day 1
The day started out with volunteers trickling in by ones and twos and being greeted by the all new, and eyebrow raising MAD banner, and of course, the less controversial Welcoming Committee 
Followed by the usual HR undercover operations to divide and conquer…. Team Splits:
Time for the MAD Presentation courtesy Sanju, some group discussions and a few brave newbie presentations
After this moment, no more pics of the day were taken.. Why?? Well, apparently, Nidheesh was outside putting the camera to much better use than I was : (sigh)
But he did return just in time to witness a few harmless HR games to get the volunteers better acquainted with how crazy MAD really is.. :
(PS: I’ve still no idea what he was trying to do even now)
The interviews followed where we managed to scare quite a few of those who came.. Sorry about that folks, we just HAD to find out if you were really indeed the best.. If you DID make it through, you can pat yourself on the back for a job well done !
Day 2
The ones who got picked came back on Sunday for Process Training… They went through slide after slide of Jithin’s excellent(read very long) informative(read boring) and eye opening(read sleep generating) presentations..
But things weren’t THAT bad.. There were also fun sessions to break the monotony.. Like the Passing the Headless and Clothless Doll one and the Bombing Chennai one..
And that was about it for a great weekend.. Got to meet some great people.. Thanks to you guys who showed interest, and then showed up for the weekend.. And let me apologise for the recruiters who might’ve scared you during the interview.. It’s all part of the bigger picture
Final Note : Seeing the people who came for the Rec session, talking to them, and observing them; I’ve a feeling that this year’s gonna be greater still…
A MAD MAD welcome to all the Noobies.. See ya people around..
- (the now Sr) Jr
The MAD Ultimatum !!
Posted by Melvin in Volunteer Files... on April 17th, 2009
<<<<THE MOST AWAITED SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER>>>>
Mad KOCHIN in association with TVM pictures presents…
Now in production…
This summer…An all new addition joins the family…
THE MADDIE’S Reloaded (chapter 5)
Cast:Kids around TVM
Story:Melvin Mathew Stephen(Pres)
Script & Dialogue:Vishnu S Menon(VP PR)
Editing:Reiju Ernest(Minute Man)
Screenplay:Ganesh Kumar(VP Placements)
Camera:Aju Sony(Photographer)
Choreography:George Abraham(VP Training)
Special Effects:Arun Joy Andrews(Designer)
Our Bankers:Ashley Joshua Christian(VP Fundraising) &
Maria Franklin Judia(VP Finance)
Produced by:Nivedita Baliga (FOM Co-ordinator)
Directed by:Keerthi Thomas(VP HR)
…………
releasing April 19th….
In centers across TVM….
For reservations and details visit our website – www.makeadiff.in OR join our community- http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Community.aspx?cmm=59306454
Take a stand….
Make a Difference….
The Fastest Ever YMCA Goal !!
Posted by Jr. in The Things That Happen... on April 5th, 2009
What happened when we played football with the kids during the YMCA Farewell..
This has to be the fastest amateur goal ever in the history of mankind.. Nobody knows how the ball got to the other end so fast..
The Vai-Yem-Jee-Yayy Boyz Present : The YMCA Farewell :D
Posted by Jr. in Volunteer Files... on March 28th, 2009
We had been thinking of planning a camp for our kids for so long.. But the end of the term proved to be too soon to do anything.. So we had to settle for an impromptu Farewell to round off a great year at the YMCA Boys Home, Thrikkakara…
And, finally, Jr. wasn’t the first to arrive and end up waiting.. Arjun and Karthik beat me to it by five minutes.. A big ‘Yayy!!’ to them..
We all got there by 5, and were waiting for Eobin, the last one to come, to arrive..
And, (sigh) Arun had already embarked on the usual wierd photographer business that he’s so fond of..
Have to say though, the guy does a good job at times.. Even when me and Karthik are there to disrupt proceedings ..
Arjun : It would’ve been nice if we could play football…
Karthik : Let’s play FOOTBALL !! Yayy !!
Kids : Yayy !! Bolo Karthik Chetan Ki !!
Jr : Permission??
Arjun : Warden, give us permission.. !! NOW !!
Warden : Knock yourself out !!
Arjun : Will knocking out Jr. do??
Paul : Yayy !!
Jr. : Wait, what ??? :O
Warden : Deal !!
Karthik/Kids/Jr : Football.. YAYY !!
Paul : What if a kid yells at me?? I’ll cry !! (10 second pause)
Karthik/Kids/Jr : Football.. YAYY !!
Karthik : Goal !! Knock out Jr.. Yayy !!
Jr: What? Wait… Aaaaaaargghhh.. (Glasses fly off, gets gutted due to over enthusiastic celebrations) :
Final Score – Jr’s Big Kids 2 : 3 Eobin’s Small Kids..
Question : What did like Karthik look like after we’d lost?? Answer :
The YMCA Warriors Team Pic :
Time to go inside and cut cake..
Wait, who that??
Somebody : Sanju and Prez that !! (Wait, who do we call Prez now?? I say we reserve it for Sr.) Yayy !!
Time for the Farewell video :
Time to cut cake :
The YMCA Farewell Song :
“We’re Haaaving Farewell, YMCA, Farewell…” x2 (Copyright: Kaddy Maddy)
Jr : Karthik, how’s the cake??
Karthik : (predictably) Awwwwesomeness, dooood…
Jr : (sigh)
Time for the days final activity : Card making, courtesy, the recently bald, Mr. Eobin G (Jee!!)
Arun and Prakash has a final farewell gift for us :
And, NO, (sigh) I don’t want to comment on the above pic.. Don’t they have mess halls down at CUSAT??
Time for the Volunteer Family Pic :
To conclude : One helluva farewell to wind up one helluva year..
Note : The Vai-Yem-Jee-Yayy Boyz (+2 girls) will be back next year, Bigger, Badder, Better and with more Kick Ass Farewells, Onams and Christmases..
As Orphanage Head, the only thing I feel like saying is :
WOOOOHOOOOO !!
MAD Cochin Farewell :)
Posted by Jr. in Party !!!, Volunteer Files... on March 23rd, 2009
Sunday April 22nd, Loungevity Avenue Regent..
8:00 am : Jr.is supposed to arrive.
8:10 am : Jr. arrives… And, invariably, waits…. 
8:45 am : Prez and Sanju arrive.. And after, shamelessly arriving late, they make the poor volunteers, tired from waiting do all the work..
9:30 am : The preperations are done.. And the volunteers start trickling in slowly..
I was’nt looking at my watch after that, so let’s forget the timelines for now.. As is custom, the Mad video is unrolled first.. We take a look back at one of the greatest years ever.. For Mad, as well as most volunteers.. ( I speak for myself anyhow ! )
Farewell time.. We bid adieu to some of the greatest volunteers ever !!
Eight are leaving this time around, including the legendary Holy Ghost Trio and the Diving Wierd Photographer Man(who expressly forbid me from putting these unedited version of the pics on the blog)…
But, as Jithin likes to say.. “You might leave, but MAD never leaves you..”
Time to move on to the annual tradition of the Make A Difference Youth Leader Awards… Every year, six people are nominated from within the ranks, for the potential and leadership that they highlighted during the year.. (I’m tired of uploading pics, so you’ll have to do with just a couple.. ) The first one is given to the orphanage head of the orphanage that won this years MadComps.. And the HG girls ran away with it.. (will get you next year)
Time for the day’s entertainment.. Jonva and his fellow Jonvans take the stage..
Session 4 : Who the President?? Who the President??
Answer : Sanju the President !
The Handing Over – Taking Over Ceremony looked like this :
Question : What does the new Mad Cochin Core team look like??
Answer : Like this :
Wait… Where is the VP Fundraising?? Vivek !! Vivek??
Where is he?? Eating Chocolate??
Volunteer : Sanjana, where is Vivek??
Sanju : He had other engagements..
Volunteer : Oh ok…Went to play tennis, huh??
Sanju : Actually, he had only one engagement.. After all, he’s getting married only once..
(Inference for all volunteers : Yes, please go ahead and ask for treats if you see Mr. Vingman around)
Though, the BEST MOMENT of the day was the standing ovation that Sr., the outgoing President, got..
The best President and mentor any of us could’ve ever asked for…. As he’d have put it : “Great job, bro.. Good repository… ”
Ok, that was senti enough.. (sigh)
Final note :
I had a college farewell, where, inexplicably i felt a tinge of sadness… Seemed there were too many good memories that I was leaving behind… But the Mad Farewell was different.. Yes, we’re bidding this year goodbye.. But, the next year already beckons..
At Mad, the year never ends.. It just merges into the next one.. Looking forward to all that 09-10 promises to bring to all our doorsteps..
- Signing off on 08-09 and signing into 09-10
(proud to be the) Jr.
Introducting YMCA : Part 2
Posted by Jr. in Volunteer Files... on March 14th, 2009
I know I was supposed to do this post a couple of weeks back, but just couldn’t get all my Wednesday volunteers together at YMCA before class ended..
After relentless pressure from a certain Lil Man, I’ve decided to do the post anyhow, with what I have, as it would be wrong to end the year without speaking about the people who really make a difference on my beloved Wednesdays..
So here goes…
Level 1 : With Skool Boi and the Camyera Man
Real Names : Prakash and Arun Pios
One guy who’s in school and actually doesn’t sound like it, and another guy who’s in college and sounds like he’s still a school kid (sigh)
On Wednesdays Prakash rides with me to YMCA, and I’m quite proud to say I’ve scared him on more than one occasion.. He’s also the only volunteer at YMCA who is younger than some of the kids we teach…
I don’t know what’s with the school kids in Mad !! There are three of them, and at times, it seems they are twenty years older than me.. Anyhow, moving on…
Arun meanwhile is supposedly the best camera man to have graced the shores of Cochin.. (Actually, I just tell him that to convince him to take some pics of me.. Works like a charm every time.. )
Took him to Fort Cochin one time, gave him Anu’s camera, and he embarassed us all.. He was jumping and diving around, Matrix style, pretending to take pics.. Yeah, quite a few were pretty good ones too, but still, come on, public venue dude !!! As if I don’t have a reputation to protect !!
I’m especially proud of these two coz, unlike Fridays, where some of the volunteers had to leave in between, these two stuck to it through the year.. And the kids love them too.. In fact we even got a complaint from the warden one time sayiing that the kids were ‘too’ happy after the Wednesday class.. !! (Did Arun promise them he’d take pics of them too perhaps?? )
Level 2 : The Two Mottas
Real Names : Arjun M Nair and Jr (Oh wait, that’s not my real name!!)
The two of us started teaching together from July onwards, and it has been one hell of a blast.. The guy can always handle any sort of situation.. How, is beyond me at times !
Of course, he goes around telling people that my hair is now close cut, to imitate his style.. I’ll have everybody know, that NO, it was just my choice, and NO, it’s not Arjun’s style, it’s just all the hair he’s got left..
I used to think Arjun was a true lawyer in the making, and that he didn’t have feelings (Sorry Niki, Aps and all you other Nuals ppl) but I still remember the last day of class.. He was so upset about leaving, that he brooded around all night until he dropped me back home.. Of course, funny thing is he’s gonna be here for two more years, which made me want to feel like I wanted to kill myself, but hey, what can a guy do eh??.. (Lawyers!!)
Level 2-a : With…. Err… Liz?? :O
I just realised two things :
1 . I don’t have a nickname for Liz (Jake, Jonva, help me out here !! )
2. I don’t have a pic of Liz with her kids either (Arun, for all that jumping around !! Jeez man!! )
But still, she and Sibi have been the greatest help to the tenth standard boys this year.. It was a job she didn’t like doing much, but she did it anyhow, and did a great job I’ve to say… Teaching school syllabus requires a lot of patience, which I knew I didn’t have, but Sibi and Liz pulled it off anyhow.. Cheers to you guys..
Also, during the course of the year, she also had to listen to an accidental blurt out from the One Eyed Santa, that me, Paul and Sibi still laugh about at times.. He he he.. That was fun.. But still, in Liz’s defense, she did try and pretend as if she hadn’t heard anything.. (sigh)
So, that’s it !! That’s Wednesdays at YMCA.. Or what used to be, Wednesdays at YMCA..
To compensate for the missing pictures, and in the general spirit of the end of the year, and as a thanks to all my volunteers for making this year so great, I’m uploading the group pic..
That’s what we’ll hang on to till the Farewell at YMCA, and then on to the next year..
PS : Arjun, Karthik and Prakash are missing.. Where did you guys run off to before Christmas anyway !! We’ll take care of the group pic soon.. Can’t forget 2008-09 too soon..
Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost…
Posted by Ramu in Volunteer Files... on March 1st, 2009
My MAD life kick-started as an intern under Mathew in YMCA a little more than 2 years ago. A month after joining, I got a call from the Prez telling me that I had to shift to Pallu. If my memory serves me right, his actual words were, “Ramu, I need someone as big as you there”; To which I jokingly replied, “Why? Do you want me to rough up the kids or something?” This conversation wouldn’t come as a surprise to any of the MAD oldies because Pallu, back then, had the not so enviable distinction of being the roughest, toughest & most unruly orphanage in the network. And the Prez had most conveniently chosen me to handle Class 5 which, even by Pallu standards, was every volunteer’s nightmare. So off I went for my first Pallu class with the Prez wishing me ‘Happy Hunting’ and me praying to all the Gods ‘to prevent the hunter from becoming the hunted’!
The first day of class told me 2 things: a) these kids are extremely street-smart & hence have an acute sense of practicality when it comes to approaching a problem b) none of the established MAD teaching techniques are going to work for them. Thus began a string of experiments in new teaching methods code-named ‘The Pallu-Factor’, most of which would never work in any other orphanage (Cathy & Meera would definitely remember the dramas the boys played before them as part of the class). In more instances than one, the MAD syllabus was kicked out of the window in the process of experimentation as it was seen to be too ‘baby-like’ for my boys. Special mention here for the ‘Jon-man’ (real name withheld for security reasons as Jr. seriously suspects this person’s involvement as the ‘other party’ in the now infamous ‘Tuffy-ca Lewinsky’ scandal) who joined me this year and pledged his unceasing support for my crazy ideas, thus helping to perfect ‘The Pallu-Factor’.
I still remember the day when I had to take a break from teaching due to my own exams. Nikki was to substitute for me (although it took a lot of cajoling & copious amounts of cheese cake from Pandhal to get her to agree, as she firmly believed that I was setting her up to be murdered considering the rep that my boys had). My happiness knew no bounds when she called me that evening to say that she had one of the best classes ever and the boys were very well behaved. She wanted to know how I had done it. I was proud of my boys because I knew that it had nothing to do with what I had done, it was their true potential showing.
To cut a long story short, my boys have been with me through 5th, 6th & 7th. As is the custom in Pallu, the boys have to shift to another orphanage after 7th. Today, I went to see them before their exams and to give them each a copy of the pic I have uploaded here. I don’t want to think of it as a parting gift; it is more a gift to remind them that irrespective of wherever I am, my heart will always be with them. Unlike the popular perception that parting is such sweet sorrow, there was not a single drop of tear shed. We looked at eachother as brothers; as friends; as men – the older man with the satisfaction that he has done all that he could & the younger ones with confidence and promise in their eyes reassuring the former. Although when we came together for a final group hug, I couldn’t help but notice a few moistened eyes (afterall, boys cannot turn into men overnight, can they?)
I guess my MAD life would also end with their leaving, though I can’t take a call on that now as am unsure of where life is taking me at present. But then, life is quite unpredictable as we all know. As I told my boys – “I know life is a struggle… But don’t think that it is impossible… Each of you have the potential to be better than the best… I believe in you… All you have to do is believe in yourself… And this world is yours for the taking!!!”
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