Indian History.

We have conducted quite a few classroom sessions for sometime now. A little outdoor learning is fun too.

All geared up this Sunday morning 01st Aug 2011, with a good drizzle LEED Pune decided to come as close to Indian History as we possibly could.

Venue - Mahatma Gandhi National Memorial Society , Nagar Road Pune.

Everyone came with a gust of enthusiasm that no one can stand up to. We started our walk around the building. Reading through the scriptures, the messages, labels that spoke of the Indian National Movement, The Great People involved in the Freedom Struggle, the sacrifices, the arrests, the challenges, the visions leaders had for a Developed India.

With our Co Founder and interpreter with us what we didnt understand she interpreted. Information totally accessible we could see history unfold before our very eyes. It was overwhelming to see and feel the moments Mahatma Gandhi spent with his dear ones in this place.

We visited the Samadhi too. Everyone was quiet, not because we remain silent often but to pay our respects and it was still sinking in.. the sacrifices our Great Leaders gave for our Freedom.

Even though we kind of studied history we usually were asked to memorize evrything. Today we Understood it all.

It was a beautiful morning and we are Proud to be Indians.

Atsy

Going Green

Ah Yes.. the world is going Green these days. Everyone has a green thumb. Indoor plants, terrace gardens and small lawns around the home is trendy and also displays a message - I Care for Mother Earth.

LEED Pune members believe in being contributing citizens of the society, hence we decided to educate ourselves further.

Green Hills an NGO working for the environment for a couple of years now agreed to share some basic information with LEED Pune.

We understood why the earth is getting hotter, or has extreme weather these days. Its all the gases, pollution we gift the atmosphere.

Then we humans like to go one step ahead and create plastic waste & dump it everywhere. How will the Earth breathe when all we do is clog her up with waste.

LEED Pune understood the magnitude of the problem and decided to do our bit to preserve and protect Earth.

Basic funda - no earth - no land- no food - no US...
We have pledged our support to Green Hills and we are going to be supporting them whenever we can.

Deaf can contribute in every way to society. This is one of those ways.. So now LEED Pune is growing Green....

Cheers -
Atsy

The Legendary Rs 5

It all started with a rainy evening, traffic jam and Harry Potter, ok ok that’s not enough so let me elaborate..

It was D Day, 15 July 2011, the day Potter fans all over the world were waiting for? Release of the much awaited movie. So like all crazy wannabe magicians we planned to watch the last of the series.

So now coming back to the rainy evening and the traffic jam, the objective of the mission was to reach the theatre on time to watch the show (missing even a minute of the show is a crime of the highest level u see, a Potter fan will definitely understand that) so anyway armed with our bags, umbrellas and imaginary wand we headed out of the house to find a rick to take us to the movies, we find one immediately and we think the wand’s working!

We sit in the rick and are zooming towards the theatre, the driver suddenly turns around and declares ‘Madam 40rs is what ill charge’ and I think 'WHAT'!! 'Should I turn him into a frog?? 40rs is he insane?' So we argue and negotiate and argue again, i'v lost my temper and so has he, getting out of the rick isn’t an option so I finally agree wanting to shove the 40 in his mouth, Aqil asks me what happened and so I sign the story to him, the driver keeps staring from the rear view mirror… n m thinking what does he want now?? Another 10? I ignore him, after a while he asks me … so can your brother not hear? I tell him yes he is deaf, he asks another question and slowly I tell him the story of LEED,

He seems shocked and suddenly the bickering rick driver disappears, he says that he has heard a lot of people talk about helping society and very few do it…. I think ya ya that’s what everyone says… I tell him give us your blessings so he asks, how many kids do u teach , we say 20 so he says u have blessings from 20 families m no one to bless you….... I’m touched..

We’ve reached our destination, I happily pay him Rs 40 and he returns Rs 5, I look at him quizzically and he smiles and says that’s all I can do for LEED today but tomorrow is another day!!