The purpose of life is to live a life of purposeful goals. Perhaps, assist others in their purposeful goals.
Assisting the #visuallyimpaired #blind in their education. Assisting others to live with dignity.
Thank you MayaDajee, AnkitaAkshitaShah, PriyankaChaturvedi, KanikaRawal
Life Guard Vinod Parmar – Standing tall on the pillar of family.
A life guard is someone employed at a beach or pool to protect swimmers from drowning. Vinod is employed with us, at Otters club, as one since 12/13 years. Vinod and his younger sister needed one when they were growing up, having lost their mother when he was five and father soon after; his two elder sisters became their life guards. They put him through school by taking up jobs, but to see his younger sister through school and graduation he had to drop out of college and take up a job to become one more support for their tiny family of four. They each became a pillar for the other, a life guard for each other, a family that stands tall today, living life with the dignity of a regular and respectful livelihood thanks to each other. Today their youngest sister is employed with Google.
Originally from Hyderabad, his parents had migrated to Malad, Mumbai before they were born only to live amongst relatives as they had none in Hyderabad. This move was to pay Vinod a huge dividend two decades later: Siya.
Being childless for too long, Vinod and his wife decided to seek Ganpati ji’s help; they told Ganpati ji to bless them with a girl child and for that they will follow in the tradition of millions who bring him home annually, carrying him on their shoulders and in their hearts.
The immediate next dawn, after they made this pledge together, his wife woke him up from deep sleep and said, “… their relative who stays close by has delivered two girls and wants to offer one to them for adoption…” Irritated, that his wife is playing a moronic prank at him at dawn he told her not to disturb him and went back to sleep.
However, it was the truth. They had asked Ganpati ji to bless them with a ‘girl’ child and he, according to both, made their prayer come true in less than 8 hours. They named her Siya when they brought her home.
Why girl child, I asked him. “I have seen, from what little I have read and heard, daughters care far more for their parents that boys and have always wanted a girl child in our life.” He said.
Vinod’s wife is a homemaker, and the reason she chose to be one, and not take up a job to complement the family’s income, is to secure their ‘girl’ child daily; They feel until she is in her late teens they do not wish to leave her unattended at any moment of the day or night. For that, they are willing to sacrifice the additional income that a spouse can bring to a family that is already reached a stage where their child’s finance related education needs are growing at a pace little faster than her age. After all, we are aware that our incomes do not overtake inflation every single year.
Most of us have reached where we are today by taking steps forward and upward. Vinod has the same dream. He is praying and hoping he can be ‘promoted’, that he can transition from life guard to COACH. Yes, coach.
Not only will being a COACH perhaps provide him the additional salary for his family to progress forward and upward, moreover, having earned the certification of being a coach at OTTERS CLUB, yes, I wrote that in Caps because that is the immense prestige and brand equity of our club today, its amongst the finest ya , he says being a coach at Otters is considered gold standard.
If I may add, we should compliment all past and present members for building this brand equity gradually over the decades along with the immense honorary work done by the various MC’s that have run our affairs. I decided to pitch on his behalf, that we should consider also promoting our life guards to COACH status and designation as and when/if they have a proven track record & skill to rise higher, along with hiring a coach from the ‘outside’ too to meet the diverse needs of our swimming-pool aims and associated activities.
Who is the best student?, I asked him, you informally coach a few at Otters. “My best students are the disciplined ones. Whose parents are as disciplined as them, because I am sure if they are so punctual and regular their upbrining has a big hand in it. These few who are punctual and regular, consistent in their swimming classes, they will rise in life for sure, as these are habits that travel with us all our lives.
My favorite time of the day is the time I spend with these children and the very senior citizens. Because the MC is very considerate towards me, thank you, and have given me fixed duty hours, mornings only, they did it to help me complement my monthly income by taking up other coaching jobs in the later part of the day. I just have one more prayer to them, if they can please officially certify me as a Coach too, since I do coach some children here, and in the other jobs, a certification by OTTERS CLUB will add gold standard to my humble resume of being a life guard. Being a life guard here and elsewhere has given me a regular livelihood, but for my family to rise too being a Coach at Otters will help me immensely.”
What is common to coaching or attending to children and the very senior citizens?
He replied. “Both, the very young and very old, both need to be treated with the respect and affection that children deserve.”
My final conversation bit was, “What is your dream, your ambition and your goal for yourself, your wife and your daughter?”
Life guard Vinod Parmar pondered and said, “There are so many things, so many dreams I had, that did not materialise and may never. I want every dream of mine for me and every dream of her’s for herself to come true. God give Siya all that and far more than what I receive.”
It was at this moment, during our nearly 30 minutes chat, that I saw in his eyes dew drops of a parent’s love grow larger and larger; and the same dew appeared in mine. We both, man to man, knew then we are different just by status. We both have the same heart.
(Vinod Parmar is our life guard at Otters Club)
On the occasion of auspicious Dusshera, a day when tools of livelihood are worshiped by Hindus, my dear friends donated this sewing machine to an enterprising seamstress in Pune, facilitated by my dear friend Mukul Madhav Foundation.
Thank you Sonali Soorma for gifting this wheelchair to Vinayak Burla.
A few years ago when he was a child, we had gifted him a wheelchair and I had writtten about my experience in conversation with his mother,
Maa tujhe salaam https://bicycleangels.wordpress.com/2020/08/13/maa-tujhe-salaam/
This time, his parents needed a wheelchair that they can carry around and be more mobile, so a friend of our’s, Sonali, decided to step in and assist the family.
We (donors Archana and Kalpa) had assisted visually impaired (aka blind) Kalavati for her FYBCOM and SYBCOM fees.
She just passed SYBCOM. She sent her mark-sheet.
Thank you Kalpa for assisting her in her TYBCOM fees.World Charity Day 2021
Hum jiss cheez ko keemat ke layak nahi samajhte, yeh log ussi se apna ghar chalate hain; Har cheez ki keemat hoti hai. Keemat dena wala chahiye. (What we consider worthless, junk, throw it away, these hard working people who normally begin their day at 5 am, they earn their livelihood from that very same ‘valueless’ ‘but yet a tradable commodity’.)
Thank you Ankita and Bicycle Angels 
for successfully beginning our new initiative to provide groceries grains etc to the ‘independent freelancers’ ‘environment cleaners’ that roam our streets earning a livelihood from our ‘trash junk’. This initiative is privately funded and we are not seeking donors. World Charity Day 2021. Mukul Madhav Foundation https://bicycleangels.wordpress.com#BicycleAngels#worldcharityday
While my dear friends @mukulmadhavfoundation Maya are occupied funding Vaccines innoculation in Pune and other regions, we are back to our humble Bananas, a wholesome diet for many.
We, Bicycle Angels, instructed our trusted fruitwala to hand out or offer a fixed amount of fresh Bananas daily for an unspecified period to any underprivileged person he sees pass by, or who seeks something to eat.
Fruitwale bhaiya had once told me, the destitute know that fruit sellers, milk sellers, vegetable sellers give away produce that has began to deteriorate (by the end of day’s business or at the start of day.) So they keep aside produce they feel can still nourish someone, rather than be discarded for those creatures that can still consume it for their nourishment in garbage landfills of our mega city.
With these thoughts, We wish you a fruitful week ahead.
– All those who support us now and then on request and voluntarily https://bicycleangels.wordpress.com
Sakshi. Sangli district.
Beneficiary of our assistance for her UPSC EXAM studies in Pune, 2020-2021 batch.
Thank you Ankita Shah Himanshu Shah & #MukulMadhavFoundation assisting her for the fees.
Maa Tujhe Salaam.
“…. When someone gives Vinayak a toffee, or any kind of gift, he will always say, – Please give me two more!, or, … next time please get me three because I have two brothers!”
Vinayak Burla.
I met Vinayak in 2014 and this is what I wrote about him when we gave him a wheelchair in 2014:
Vinayak lives at Prabhadevi; he was named after God Sidhivinayak, being born premature he had a poor chance at survival, (cerebral palsy) so they named him Vinayak, as they wanted their premature born to be safe in Ganesh’s care.
I asked Vinayak’s mother, Lavania, to tell me something’s about her son, things that are challenging for him, what makes him sad, happy, joyful….
She responded to me nearly in one breath! She was so eager to speak about her son; Lavania ji said to me, (she was smiling nearly all the while when she spoke, a very positive woman), – “Vinayak likes to play with his elder brother and his younger cousin brother. He can see them walk, run, do things he cannot do. That is when he, and even I, feel some level of sadness and even frustration, about his inability to be able to do what fully-functional kids do at his age, so he cannot be a part of their physical activities how much ever he wants to.
At this age he does not realize why he cannot do things that his own brother and cousin can so easily. So sometimes he cries, and I feel it too… So I tell him every day to get up and at least try and walk, does not matter if he falls one day he will be able to run, I tell him. But that is only if he will try. I tell him that every day.”
(This is when Lavania got emotional. Soon, I had to hold back my own.)
“One of my happiest and proudest moments was when he received an award for being a good student at school (ADAPT), and he received a trophy in sports. Even he is so proud of it that sometimes he tells his elder brother – ‘You are bigger than me, stronger than me, but look do you have any awards and trophies like I have, and you can even walk and run. Even Mummy and daddy, even you both do not have trophies like I have.”
Freedom to travel the world on his legs, without a wheelchair is what we wish on Vinayak. May the donation of this wheelchair become redundant as soon as possible!
I also realized in hindsight, why Mother and son were stuck together like araldite/fevicol sticks things. = Here was a mother who was confident one day her fragile bird is going to get up and walk and then fly!, he will leave her and his wheelchair (his nest for now) far far behind!
Thank you to my sister, Suman Datt, (and Vinay Datt) for donating a wheelchair to Vinayak. Suman Datt Vinay Datt Nidhi Datt Sood Aditya Datt
2014
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Last week, Aug 2020, Ms Amena Latif (his school principal) contacted us and asked if we can buy a Walker for Vinayak. He does not need a wheelchair anymore. His parent’s hard work to make him walk has worked.
Mukul Madhav Foundation, Pune purcahsed a Walker for him and a wheelchair for Swapnil, another student from his
school.
Photos:
1) Vinayak with his mother on her lap, when we gave him a wheelchair in 2014. It was given to him my sister Suman Datt and Vinay Datt
2) Vinayak (blue shirt) with his parents this morning with his brand new walker. He does not need a wheelchair anymore, the physiotherapy has worked. Ek Maa ki aasha puri ho gayi. MAA TUJHE SALAAM The walker is given to him by Mukul Madhav Foundation.
3) Swapnil Kuralskar with his father on his brand new wheelchair; given to him by @MukulMadhaFoundation Rita Hinduja-Chhabria
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Vidya.
You gave her new wheels and this smile. You lifted her, from near the floor, so she can be nearer to the sky above her head.
Thank you very much
@priyankaschaturvedi @sushrut2812 @cookingdiariesbypoo @bhaveshdhruva Dr Raju Shah Swaminathan Amit Nanavati
Bicycle Angels (Rakesh Anand Bakshi & FRIENDS) 