The Mother of Stray Animals

Meet Roshni D’Silva: The Animal Lover Who Starts Working At 4 In The Morning For The Safety Of Stray Animals.

Born and brought up in Dubai, Roshni D’Silva is an animal lover since childhood and has been helping stray animals for 15 years now. This young lady has led over 10,000 animals to a healthier, safer and better life all by herself. After pursuing animal management course in the UK, she now volunteers at Karuna Society.

How does she do it?

Her regular day starts at 4 am every morning with a big backpack that contains food and medicines, as she goes to various corners of the village to look after street dogs and cats. And when, even after a long morning some animals are left unattended, she visits them in the later hours of the day to make sure each one of them receives equal attention.

The process starts with winning trust of the animal by giving him some biscuits. And when she starts getting friendly vibes from him, she goes closer and holds him. Later on, if the animal is slightly injured, she treats him on the road, while severely injured animals are taken back to Karuna Society for further treatment.

“Well, it is difficult to understand them. Sometimes the animals might wag their tail but it isn’t necessary that they are open for a personal encounter with you. So you have to be really careful while dealing with them. I have been bitten quite a lot of times too,” she says.

The impact of her work reflects on the attitude of the people. “Earlier they would hardly care about stray animals and would shoo them away. But now, when they see me working so closely with these animals, they have started showing compassion too,” she says.

People have become more cooperative and her phone keeps ringing all day with people seeking her help.

The challenges

She says that every dog is different and should be dealt with differently. “You have to give them time to adjust,” she says.
She considers herself lucky to have met nice people who always supported her in her work. Apart from a couple of incidents of dog bites and unexpected reactions from the animals, her journey has been smooth and fun.

In the future, she wants to continue this work as she believes there are very few people who are work-ing in the field to help these animals. She aims to involve many more people with her initiatives.

It is people like D’Silva who restore our faith in humanity and make us believe that there is someone to look after even those who are always ignored.

The Untold Tales of Shankar ji

Meet ShankarJi: A 63-Year Old From Chennai Who Treks To The Himalayas Every Year.

He started venturing out as a solo traveller when he was a 27 year old with the idea of covering all the major temples of India. At the age of 50, he had a breakthrough in his trekking life. He was selected by GoI for the holiest Kailash Manasarovar Parikrama Yatra where he had an out-of-the-world experience amidst the rivers and the mountains of that Yatra. When asked about his experience, he recalls

“Words can’t explain how I started to feel after KMY. It was not just a test of my physical strength but also my mental ability. I was 58 when I did the KMY Yatra. The secret lies not in the Kailash or in the Manas, but in the journey. It is the journey that takes you close to the Shiva”

In addition to the adventurous KMY Yatra, he also covered the Kalindi Khal trek and the Lamkhanga Trek. He walked across the treacherous yet equally rewarding Kalindi Trek where even the best in the business think twice before venturing out. He went backpacking on his own without employing any porter on this trek since he preferred to carry his own baggage,

When asked if he ever dreamt of living in the regions of Himalayas coming all the way from Chennai, he says

” I would love to but it’s not feasible. I have to be with my family and physical presence is more important than financial backing. Life is meaningless without spiritual experience and my travels are my way of reaching out to the higher spiritual spheres. Although I am single, I live with the memories of my travel”

His advice to the younger generation is asking them to cultivate a positive attitude and a strong mind. He says man has to befriend Mother Nature and not try the impossibility of conquering her.

Well, his undying passion for travel has proved itself time and again. He, therefore, continues to visit new places and does not hesitate to embark on some of the most dangerous treks even though he is a 63 year old. 

Benefits of Flood

How Floods Have Benefited The Kaziranga National Park In Assam

Floods are always assumed to bring destruction with them. But at the Kaziranga National Park they bring more benefits than destruction.

According to the line transect data of April 2012, the animal casualty caused by floods stood at around 1% of the total population. The Hog Deer, whose population is estimated at 40-50 thousand, saw the highest casualty among the wild animals with a count of 512.
512 deaths may seem a lot for some, but even by conservative estimates, more Hog Deer are killed every week by tigers. So the impact of floods on the wildlife species of Kaziranga National Park is in a way amplified. Another important point to note is that many of the victims of floods are infants, old and diseased, who are anyway fighting a losing battle in the war of ‘survival of the fittest’.

Also, not all floods have a penchant for blood, as in certain years there are no casualties; it all depends on the strength and the direction of the flood. Even if the flood is strong, there are many areas inside the park located at higher elevations where the animals can find shelter.

Apart from causing a few heartbreaks, the major role of floods lie in naturally maintaining the grasslands and wetlands of the park, upon which the entire ecosystem of the park stands. The flood water provides the necessary energy and constitutes a natural drainage system thereby paving the way for new vegetation to grow in place of the damaged and uprooted ones. The flood water also makes the soil more fertile so that it can support better and more diverse flora, which in turn helps the wild animals to increase their numbers and diversify.

Although, the floods may seem like a bane, they are actually a boon to the park. Yes, there are casualties, but they are insignificant in the final scheme of things. With greater awareness and participation of the public in relief and rehabilitation of animals, the fear of floods and damage caused by them can be minimized.
But what one should not ignore is that there are far bigger threats to the animals of the park than floods – like inaccessible corridors.

Thus, let us work together to remove these and give the animals the safe environment they deserve.

The brave heart who fought for toilets

Priyanka Bharti ran away right after her marriage when she was asked to defecate in the open. 

Newly-wed young Priyanka Bharti brought about a social revolution by standing up to her husband’s family when they asked her to defecate in the open. And with this, she ensured effective sanitation facilities for women in her village and all nearby villages. 

On hearing just one sentence, Priyanka Bharti decided to change not just her life but that of several of her female counterparts. “No toilet at home, so what? We all defecate in the open and so must you,” was said to Priyanka by her mother-in-law the very first day that she reached her in-laws’ house after marriage in Uttar Pradesh’s Maharajganj district in April 2012.

She left her in-laws’ house two days later with a pledge that unless a toilet is constructed she wouldn’t return – something never dared by a woman before.

“It was not possible for me to defecate in the open. So, I decided to run away,” she says.

Ever since she ran away on 13th April, 2012, demanding that her in-laws build a toilet to get their daughter-in-law back, Priyanka’s life changed as she attracted a lot of national and international attention..

As the news of a newly-wed bride running away from her home for the lack of a toilet spread across villages, Sulabh International got involved. The officials at Sulabh heard about her protest and adopted her cause as a way to promote better public health through proper sanitation facilities.

They helped with the construction of a proper toilet in her husband Amarjeet’s house and also felicitated her with an award of Rs. 2 lakhs

Spotlessly clean and decorated with plastic flowers and balloons for its opening ceremony, Priyanka Bharti’s toilet was seen as a gleaming symbol of the empowerment of Indian women.
This, however, was not the end but the turning point of Priyanka’s life goals.

Every day, once Priyanka finishes her household chores, she holds discussions with village women of all ages to spread awareness about the significance of hygiene. As a brand ambassador of Sulabh, she travels across villages such as Chapia and Piparwa, often accompanied by Amarjeet.

India’s Rural Development Minister, Jairam Ramesh said recently that India “should be ashamed” that 60 to 70 percent of women are forced to defecate in the open and he vowed further funding to tackle the problem.

All in all, it’s wonderful to know that women no longer succumb to the irrational rules laid by the society and find strength to empower one another.

Man who can make silk without killing the silk worms

Take a bow to Kusuma Rajaiah: A Resident of Hyderabad who produces silk without killing the silk worms.

Have you ever considered the fact that thousands of silkworms are killed in order to make a small piece of fabric? Kusuma Rajaiah started this ahimsa way of producing silk when he was approached by Janaki Venkataraman, wife of former President R. Venkataraman if he had any saree which had notresulted in the killing of any silkworms. This led Kusuma to investigate whether silk could be produced without deliberate killing of the worms.

How did he achieve this?:

Silk comes from the cocoons of the silk worm. In the silk industry, cocoons are killed by steaming or dropping them into boiling water when they are ten days old, before they metamorphose into a moth.

The silk is believed to be the finest at this stage. This is preferred because when the cocoons open naturally at one end, to release the moth, the continuity of the fibre is lost. But maybe not, thought Kusuma.

He purchases cocoons from mulberry farms in Chittoor district. The yellow coloured cocoons are reared in large cane baskets at his residence in Hyderabad. The moths emerge after 8-10 days, piercing the cocoon at one end. “The adult moths have a short life span of four days. During this time they mate and die naturally,” Kusuma explains.

The pierced cocoons are spun into yarn. This is then woven into fabrics. Weavers of Nalgonda and Ananthpur district of Andhra Pradesh produce dhotis while fabrics, including saris, are woven by the weavers of Karimnagar district. “All my products are done on handlooms and benefits several weaver families,” says Kusuma.

Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, he calls this silk ahimsa. While ahimsa silk may lack the shine of regular silk, it is comfortable to wear. It’s also wrinkle-free and has a better fall.

Athough Kusuma is not noticed by many, he is making a huge difference in saving the population of silkworms.

The Coolest innovator ever

A Time Bomb, An Automatic Food Maker, A Robot – Here’s Why Abhishek Is The Coolest Innovator We Know! 

At 12, using a torch, an alarm clock and an explosive firecracker, Abhishek Bhagat was ready with his first innovation – a time bomb, which blasted as soon as the clock struck four. 
“It was just an experiment and I wanted to check how it works. My family thought that I was in wrong company that they sent me to a hostel,” he remembers.

But this did not bring his curiosity down. Interested in experimenting and innovation, Bhagat always learnt his lessons the practical way. Bhagat made a path-breaking innovation which gave him recognition internationally and brought him to the notice of Dr. Kalam.

At 13, he innovated an amazing food making machine that makes dishes which taste as good as his mother’s recipes.
When his mother fell ill, he had to cook for the family and he realized how tedious and time consuming it was. To make cooking simpler without changing the taste, he came up with an interesting idea.
“I first got the idea of creating a tea-making machine, as I would make tea for my parents everyday. I wondered why we had to wait for the water to heat and then the tea leaves to boil, etc. Wouldn’t it be great if a timer could take care of everything?” he asks.

Not knowing how to give shape to his idea, he saw Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam on television and found that he encouraged children to be innovative.He wrote a letter to Dr. Kalam asking for suggestions and to his surprise, he got a response from Dr. Kalam within a month. He suggested that Bhagat send his ideas to the National Innovation Foundation
He first made a cardboard prototype and gave it to a nearby shop to create a replica of the model from steel. When he was ready with his final model, he sent it to NIF. It was widely appreciated and was even sent for the national level competition, where he grabbed first prize.

With further research, modifications and NIF’s help, he finalized the idea and named it Robocook, an electrically operated automatic food making machine, where ingredients are loaded in boxes and the cooking is completed according to the recipe fed in the system.

The young innovator is full of ideas, and in the future, he wants to create robots which can perform all tasks that humans can.
“I just advise all young students to always understand things and ask your teachers where and how can we use the lessons or syllabus in real life, or what is the use of what we are learning. Education is not only about reading and passing exams. To use what you have learnt to do something new is real study,” he says.

Thus, India can now foresee a greater future in the field of innovation owing to budding innovators like Abhishek.

Afrian Grandmothers are studying Solar Engineering in India

Meet Loda Okasia: The African Grandmother Studying Solar Engineering In India

Loda Okasia, the 58 year old African from Northern Uganda had rarely been out of her village but was sent on the trip of a lifetime, all the way to India, to spend six months learning to become a solar engineer.

“We were very proud,” Okasia says. “We learned about solar power and it is now working everywhere here.”

Okasia is one of a growing number of women from across Asia, Africa and Latin America who have participated in Barefoot College’s international solar program. The women travel to the small town of Tilonia in the desert state of Rajasthan to learn how to be solar engineers, and how to train others to do the same.

Illiterate engineers

Bunker Roy founded Barefoot College in Ajmer, in 1972. He says that there are only two conditions for acceptance to the program: that the women are older than 45, and that they are illiterate.

“Once we train an illiterate woman, they never forget what they’ve learned,” says Roy.
A grant from the Indian government pays for the women to come to India for six months and learn how to build, repair and maintain solar lighting systems. Their communities purchase the basic equipment at a subsidized rate from an Indian solar power company.

Men are “quite untrainable”

Roy says Barefoot College’s program makes communities more independent. It also elevates the roles of older women. Choosing students between the ages of 45 and 55 – grandmothers in name or in fact – is key to making the program effective.

“We’ve found men are restless and ambitious. They want a certificate, and as soon as they get it, they move to cities looking for work. Grandmothers are not interested in a paper to hang on their walls. They stay in their communities. Also, they have the patience to be great trainers.”

Saving money with solar

Loda Okasia says that since she has returned to her village, she has been maintaining the 200 solar lanterns that were distributed to her neighbors.

“With it, we don’t have to buy paraffin [for oil lamps],” says Okasia. “Nobody works here. Buying paraffin is not easy. We are happy with solar.”

Truly sustainable development

According to Roy, “the future is south-south cooperation. We can exchange practical knowledge and skills at the community level. We can learn things from Africa, and Africa can learn from us. This is community-to-community knowledge sharing.”

As for Loda Okasia, she says that her only complaint about her training in India was the spicy food. Otherwise, she is happy with her new skills. Now, she says, she wants to build a solar workshop so that she can assemble and repair more solar tools for her village.