The Mighty Anti Trafficking Crusader

This is the compelling story of Dr. Sunitha Krishnan and her mighty fight against human-trafficking.

Dr. Sunitha Krishnan, a victim of gang rape herself is now the founder of Prajwala, an organization which has been instrumental in rescuing and rehabilitating thousands of women and children. She has now risen from the ashes to rescue others from trafficking. 

She has a blog titled “Sunitha Krishnan: Anti-Trafficking Crusader” where she recounts her experiences of rescue. Her blog posts can just shame us all out of our peaceful existence. This woman has made us realize that although we are a very proud nation, boasting of our glorious past and our current status of being an ‘economic giant’. we still seem to brush under the carpet the sins committed by us. The alarming part is that people who are involved in all this are the ones who are trusted by victims.

At Prajwala, the victim have shelters that are built and a factory where skills like carpentry, welding, etc. are taught to the girls. Prajwala also tries to unite the victims with their families. Sometimes, the victims are not accepted back by the families owing to the backwardness of our views on women. At such times, Prajwala takes full responsibility of these victims. Some women and girls are also married off by Prajwala in its endeavour to integrate the victims back into society. Prajwala also takes care of the last rites of the victims who pass away. In all these tasks, Prajwala faces stiff opposition from our society.

Prajwala works with police and other law enforcement agencies in this job of fighting commercial sexual expolitation. The organization never seeks publicity for the rescue of the girls, letting its work speak for itself.
Prajwala and Sunitha have won many awards for their exemplary work. They are now sought after the world over by programs for rescue and rehabilitation of victims of trafficking.

Even State governments are listening to Prajwala and Sunitha in effecting measures for the prevention of trafficking. All this will surely help in minimising this crime.

Sunitha has said time and again that the silence of the society towards human trafficking has to change. Let us become aware and appreciate Prajwala.

One can become a follower by joining Sunitha Krishnan’s blog, or ‘Like’ Prajwala on facebook to get updates on their work.

The man who rejected 1 Crore against honesty

Meet The Man Who Had The Opportunity To Keep 1 Crore Rupees, Legally, Yet He Did Not!

Sudhakaran who barely earns Rs.10,000 every month working hard in his small shop, once gave away the opportunity to pocket Rs. 1 crore and also returned a gold chain to the police owing to his firm beliefs and value for honesty.

45 year-old K. Sudhakaran runs a little shop, selling sweets, juice, cold-drinks and lottery tickets, in a market in Kanhangad, a town in northern Kerala. This shop is the sole means of livelihood for his family of six, including a daughter who is physically challenged. He is up every morning, at around 4:30, and takes the train from his village to Kanhangad—a journey of more than two hours each way.

One morning, P. Ashokan, a regular customer of his, called him up and asked him to set aside ten lottery tickets for him. When Sudharakan learned that one of those tickets had won the first prize—a whopping ten million rupees, he rang up his father at once. “Call up Ashokan right away and give him the news!” his father told him.

Sudhakaran did as his father instructed. Ashokan could hardly believe his ears when he learnt what had happened!

Ashokan had not paid for the tickets. Nor had Sudhakaran told him the ticket numbers. And so, Sudhakaran didn’t have to tell him that one of the tickets that he had set aside for him had won the bumper prize. He could easily have pocketed the money had he wanted to—that wouldn’t have been considered illegal. Had he wished, he could have bagged the ten million rupee prize for himself.

When asked, Sudhakaran said “My father always told me that if you need to, you can even beg, but you must never snatch other people’s rights,”

The Gold Chain

A couple of months ago, Sudhakaran had found a gold chain while travelling in a train and handed it to the police, who managed to trace its owner!

This man could have been a millionaire had he not listened to his heart and his father and kept the prize-winning lottery ticket for himself instead. But he has no regrets at all about his decision. “I know what I did was just what I should have,” he says unhesitatingly.

It is indeed divine to know that men like Sudhakaran too exist in the world which is a true rarity. This incident therefore drives home a point that one does not need materialistic pleasure to lead a content and meaningful life. 

The Snake man who s unable to see

Meet the inspiring wildlife activist and adventure junkie, who did not let blindness affect his passion.

Sanjeev Gohil started losing his vision to Stargardt 12 years ago. He suffered from progressive loss of vision which led to the point of legal blindness. But this did not stop him from climbing rocks or rescuing snakes, crocodiles and even leopards! 

“I was born with perfect vision. But gradually I developed vision complications. Today, though I am unable to see, I don’t take it as a challenge. It has not affected my life much,” Gohil says.

When most kids in school were busy catching kites, Sanjeev Gohil loved rescuing snakes and would hand them over to forest department to safely release them in the wild again.

Gohil had to discontinue his graduation mid-way due to low vision, but he continued to successfully finish several rock climbing trips and rescued most dangerous wildest animals like lions, man-eater leopards and crocodiles even at the odd hours.

Three years ago, he went for rock climbing with three other friends to survey the vultures which are on the verge of extinction. Due to many honeycombs, the rock was slippery and the team could not finish climbing it within the stipulated time. As a result, they had to spend the entire night on a 2′ x 2′ platform which was around 300 feet from the ground level. “I still remember the day. We did not even have a single drop of water with us. All four of us anchored each other and spent the entire night there without moving,” he says.

This is one example of the hundreds of adventurous things he has done in his life. Determined to live his life to the fullest, Gohil does not let his disability come in the way.

He had to quit his job due to low vision and that's when he started freelancing with various NGOs to help people with disabilities find suitable jobs.

In the future, he plans to keep himself engaged with all the wildlife activities and activism that he does. “It is not as easy as it looks. People might find it exciting from the outside. But you have to wait for several hours without moving just to get a small glimpse of an animal. There is a lot of hard work involved,” he says.

Thus, Sanjeev is a perfect example of how a setback cannot affect a strong willpower and dedication.

Music to treat autistic kids

How Academy Award Nominee Bombay Jayashri Is Using Music To Help Autistic Kids

Bombay Jayashri Ramnath needs no introduction. She is now changing the lives of many autistic kids by working extensively as an important part of Sampoorna Music Therapy Center where she shares her art with kids with special needs.

Sampoorna Music Therapy Center was started a few years ago as the joint efforts of Ganesh Anantharaman, his wife Kavita, Bombay Jayshri and many other volunteers. This gave her an opportunity to teach music to autistic kids.

What really made her pursue this field was her encounter with Kavita's son (founder's son). She said “When I met him he was three and half years old and he was singing a line which is actually quite difficult to sing for an untrained person and takes years of practice to master. His voice had that kind of purity and his concentration touched me. Since then, I have had numerous experiences which have validated our thought that music can indeed help these children.

Since autistic kids tend to follow routines, she places music around them and lets them immerse into it. Music gave them a sense of calmness and happiness. Because, Carnatic music employed more of alliteration, it was easy on their ears.

Over various sessions, she created many songs that would suit the moods and interests of these kids. They could sing and relate to these songs easily. And in a period of about 6 months, they gradually became calm and one could see the change and difference in the attitude and behaviour of these children.

When we asked her what the parents felt, she said ”We have met some parents who said that we have always been told what our child “cannot” do, it is for the first time here that someone is showing us what our child can do”

The most touching experience that Bombay Jayshri has had by far was when he met a child by a name Manas. She recalls that he would listen to a song called Manasa Sanchare daily as he believed that she had sung the song for him. And one time when they were in the same gathering he heard her voice and hugged her knees tightly. This was indeed a miracle because autistic children are reluctant to communicate with strangers.However. this child had not thought twice before hugging her. She said ”I can still feel what I felt then. I still remember the warmth of that hug and the purity in his emotions. And music had brought us together”

Thus, from her tryst with music for autistic kids to changing patterns in the music industry, Classical Singer Bombay Jayshri is an amazing human being and has once again earned heaps of admiration from us. 

HATI CHAAP PAPER FROM ELEPHANT DUNG

A paper is now manufactured from Elephant Dung! Yes it's true!

‘Haathi Chaap’ or the Elephant Paper is the brainchild of retailer Mahima Mehra and Jaipur-based handmade paper producer, Vijendra Shekhawat. The thought of creating paper from elephant Poo first came to the innovative duo while on a trip up the Amber Fort in Jaipur.

How is it made?

The process of elephant Poo paper is similar to that of making any other handmade paper, with the additional challenge of disinfecting the dung thoroughly. The additions include the collection of Poo from various stables and cleaning it thoroughly with large amounts of water in cultivated lands where the waste water, enriched with dung fertilizer, could be utilized well. Disinfectants are added at various points during the manufacturing process to make the dung/fibre bacteria free. The process of cooking, drying and sorting of the Poo takes place in order to remove waste.

The colour of the paper depends on what the elephants eat, which in turn depends on the season. From June to September, when the elephants eat jowar(sorghum) and bajra (pearl millet), the paper is darker in colour than the rest of the year when they eat sugarcane

Mahima has created various other useful and innovative products using the same smelly raw material like bags, notebooks, stationery, coasters and many more. Rest assured, the final product is stink-free. They are based in Delhi and cater not only to requirements from India but Germany and UK as well!

Well, who would have thought that paper can be made from elephant dung? Thanks to brilliant minds like Mahima and Vijendra, we now have ways to save trees and obtain paper.

The Indian Solar Micro Grids

Meet the team of changemakers who brought technology-friendly E-base and set up three Solar DC Microgrids in the remote villages of Ladakh.

Paras Loomba, son of an army officer is the founder of Global Himalayan Expedition. With this, he revolutionized the concept of Tourism. People in some of the remotest villages in Ladakh have never experienced electricity in their lives until the E-base came into the picture

The technology friendly E-base

Loomba and his team went to Ladakh to construct a one-of-its-kind E-Base (Education Base) near Mahabodi school. The school hosts around 500 students from several nearby villages.. But it was his passion that drove him to the highest peak to bring a change. And it was his passion and his team’s hard work that helped him construct a Third Pole E-base, 3,500 meters above the sea level.

The structure of the school was not like any other building. It was a double wall construction that kept the indoors warm even if it was freezing outside. Not only this, the E-base also offered several tablets and laptops to the students with a good internet connection that helps them to connect with people across the globe. They also have a television and over 10 telescopes and several books according to the students’ interests.

And all of this at a location where there is almost no connectivity with the outer world.

“When we first introduced the idea, we received over 300 applications within a month. This gave us the confidence that this can work. People from nine countries joined me to construct this unique E-base in a land which was affected by cloud burst,” Loomba says.

The E-Base is the third base in the world to run completely on solar. It also has Ladakh’s first sustainability curriculum and a Robotics Lab. Digital tools, documentaries and interactive sessions are used to engage kids, which makes it an unusual and interesting experience for the kids.

Apart from a very successful E-Base, the GHE team also set up 3 Solar DC Microgrids in Sumda Chenmo village which hosts around 100 houses and is 2 treks away from any nearby town.
The solar lights have helped the villagers to increase their working hours by four hours per day

The future

Till date, around 400 students use the 100 percent solar powered E-Base. GHE wants to take this initiative to the next level by electrifying 20 more villages in Ladakh by next year and 50 villages in the next three years.

We congratulate Paras Loomba and his team for their incredible work. Supported by many well-wishers and corporate sponsors, GHE is doing some amazing work in some of the most unexplored regions of India.

A Shoe For The Visually Impaired That Vibrates To Show Them The Right Path

He Designed A Shoe For The Visually Impaired That Vibrates To Show Them The Right Path 

Anirudh Sharma along with his friend Krispian Lawrence has designed a shoe that can assist the visu-ally impaired in navigating easily from one place to another. The shoe can be connected to the user’s smartphone through Bluetooth and vibrates according to the directions to the destination.

The Genesis

This Delhi boy never befriended books. It was machines that attracted him and held his attention. Sharma’s various projects at college level won him and his team several awards, which gave a boost to his confidence.

Fascinated with experimentation, one night he installed a vibrator in a friend’s shoe just out of curiosity and this was the seed that grew into “Le Chal”.

He designed a prototype and went to Hyderabad to set up his own company with a friend. “Le Chal” received instant attention and he was invited by someone from MIT to pursue a course there.

“I was lucky enough to get a seat at MIT in spite of not having a degree. It was my passion that led me here,” he says. After finishing his studies at MIT and working there for a year, he returned to India to give shape to his brainchild “Le Chal” which was officially launched in 2014 and now the shoe line is up for sale.

How does it work?

The shoes contain an electronic module that includes a vibrating unit, a chip and a removable and re-chargeable battery.
It will lead the user to the desired destination by notifying him or her about the turns. A left or right turn would be indicated by a vibration on that particular side of the shoe. The vibration will only guide on the turns and show the route to the destination.

The interesting design of the shoes is a plus point which is attracting a lot of non-blind customers as well. The Le Chal team has also designed Polyurethane insoles which can be used in any pair of shoes, as fitness trackers to record the number of steps taken and calories burnt.

The shoes are currently available in the price range of $100 and can be ordered from LeChal website. “I am a believer of technology and I would like to put this technique out in the open for other people to use and replicate,” Sharma says

From an “incomplete engineer” to an innovator and INK fellow,
Anirudh Sharma sets an example of how passion can take you places. If you actually believe in something, things like money and a professional degree don’t really matter.