NAV UMEED- aarambh badlav ka

Hello readers. There is a small story that I would like to share with you all tonight.

The brothers enjoying a ride

This story travels back to 2014 and is from a small slum of Patna. There was a kid named Ambedkar who lived in that slum with his mother and father and his younger brother Ashishkar. Ambedkar was studying in Class 6th in Vidya Niketan while his brother was in Class 5th in the same school. They both always had a great zeal to acquire better education but their financial state was not that sound. They always tried to capture more and more opportunities to showcase their potential and skills in front of the society in a hope that somewhere, somebody may fulfill their dreams. 

Ashishkar with his father

And it happened. In January 2014, they were invited by a nearby college which was organizing "REVA- Right to Education and Vision for all". REVA is India's largest festival for underprivileged kids. It was then a two day event, which comprised of Poem and Essay writing, general aptitude tests, various cultural events and sports meet for the underprivileged kids. Both Ambedkar and Ashishkar saw this as an opportunity to learn something new. They participated with great energy and left a mark in the hearts of every single person that witnessed that event. But what they didn't realize was that there was someone who was greatly impressed by their performance and wanted to give wings to their dreams. The person was Kumar Harsh, a then third year student of BIT Patna, who wanted to do something for the kids. He went up to Ambedkar and asked what kind of help does he need. Ambedkar innocently replied that he just wanted to have a better quality education and nothing else. 

Hearing those innocent words, Harsh decided that whatever may be the case, he is going to give Ambedkar what he wants. He consulted his friends, Shivam, Vikas, Naveen, his seniors Mayank, Keshavam and his juniors Shivendu, Seemant, Shivam and Priyanshu, who without any questions, joined their hands together for Ambedkar. They went to DAV Bseb, one of the premium schools of Patna and proposed their idea to the then Principal. The Principal was deeply moved by the efforts of those young engineering enthusiasts and assured that he is ready to take in as much such children as possible. He granted some tuition fee waiver for the underprivileged kids and asked Harsh and team to bring in more such kids as possible. 

Our Treasurer with the kids

It was nothing less than a dream. They quickly suggested the name of Ambedkar's younger brother Ashishkar along with their friend Aditya Sawan. But they had an issue. Not some big one, just a little that they needed 51,000 rs for the admission fees. It came as a shock to them. How can a few engineering enthusiasts gather so much funds in such a short span of time? They started consulting their friends, their seniors, their family and everyone that they had ever known.

The results? Well, they did it. How can one not be moved by such an initiative? Everyone did as much as possible and donated for the cause. They were able to gather 40k in just two nights. The rest they contributed from their own savings. And finally the moment came. 

And thats' how NAV UMEED was born. An organisation with the purpose of providing quality education to the underprivileged kids. An organisation that tries to ensure that no child who has got an interest in education and whose parents have the deep desire to provide their ward the same, don't go unnoticed. Not only these they provide regular guidance and support to their beneficiaries. Its been 3 long years and till now someone from NAV UMEED takes weekly visits to Ambedkar's and keeps a regular check on them. Clearing up their doubts, conducting tests and all.

     

NAV UMEED extended its arms to some more kids from the slums to Chitkohra in late 2014, when they started giving private tuitions to 9 kids from that slum. They found their youngest beneficiary, Nidhi, who is now a student of Kendriya Vidyalaya, again all thanks to Nav Umeed. There they found Abhishek, one of the brightest on their beneficiaries. Abhishek, currently is Xth is providing tuitions to other kids from his locality.

Weekly evaluation in Chitkohra

Chitkohra kids performing a drama

Its been 3 years and Nav Umeed has conducted various programmes and campaigns for the society. They had conducted SPREAD THE WARMTH for past three years where they distributed old winter wears to the needy.

They had also conducted various events like Health Camp, Raffles over the last 3 years and so. You can learn more about it at www.facebook.com/joinumeed

NAV UMEED currently aims at expanding its support to other parts of Patna. But they need the help and guidance of you people. Lets join our hands together and give wings to the hopes. 

"BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD."

Be a part of this noble cause. Contact us at umeedofficial26@gmail.com for membership, queries or any suggestions you would like to give. 

I feel myself lucky to be a part of this organisation. It was the best thing that ever happened with me. 

The Locked Door - Chapter 1 & 2

CHAPTER 1 - He got a match

"Tut tut tut click, tut tut tut click. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't smash that guy's so called "jarvis"," said Shekhar who, one could say by the red popping vein on his forehead, was at the brink of losing his temper.

"Forget it yaar. He stalks like what a million of girls in a day. He is just nuts. I don't know how he manages such good grades." Srivats said as they both kicked the metal door of Room no- 19. "Koi reply nhi aane wala be chor de ( No one is going to reply, leave it)." It had now become a routine for them. Kicking and banging that door every once in a while just to hear the annoyed response of "Get lost you morons" from the inside. It seemed that they loved to be called morons.

To their surprise, the door opened. A short highted, spectacled, Harry potter looking guy appeared. He seemed a bit too young for his age. His eyes spoke of innocence. His messed up curly dirty hair were desperate for a wash. The room guy stared a while at Srivats and Shekhar, slowly twisted his lips to give them a crooked smile.

"You have got to be kidding me." Shekhar was still nodding his head hoping for the smile to disappear. But it didn't. The room guy seemed to enjoy their reactions.

"Sharma ji, you got a reply.!!" Srivats said and Rohan Sharma, the room guy nodded in agreement. The two outsiders jumped off their feet straight onto Rohan's bed and started searching his laptop. 

"Who is she? Who is she? Where did you get a reply? We have heard that you stalk on Twitter too."

"No! It was just once. I tried but some guy retweeted my words. It was embarrassing I must say." 

"Cut the crap and show us the girl," said a desperate Shekhar whose vein was nowhere to be seen now. He was just rushing through his browsing history, his Facebook recent chats. For once he even tried the google voice response, "Hey Jarvis. Who is the unlucky girl who went flat on your master? Would you show us Jarvis darling, please?".. "Don't make fun of my master." Jarvis responded. That came as a shock.

"Leave Jarvis alone. Its here." Rohan handed over his cellphone and asked to open Timber. "You see guys, yesterday, or I must say yesternight. (giggles) I came across a dream app, Timber. You know ----"

"We already know buddy. I guess everyone knows. That's where our Dhondhu (giving a tap on Shekhar's shoulder) found his Dhondhi." Shekhar punched Srivats in the abs.

"You bastards! How come you not tell me about it?" Shekhar's vein was now on Rohan's.

"Duh! Who would have believed that our Mr. Pervo----," Shekhar's words seemed to have been swallowed back in. "This girl responded you!!!!!!! How on earth is that even possible..!"

She was a blonde with light hazel eyes. Her cheeks seemed so soft that actually made Shekhar to move the cellphone closer to his lips. The lips were no less red than a red wine. Shekhar completely forget about his Miss Dhondhu, and seemed to be petrified by the beauty of the picture.

The others seemed ambiguous. Rohan knew that the girl was not so good looking, and hence wondered why Shekhar's giving such a reaction. On the other hand, Srivats was wondering how beautiful is this new girl that Shekhar was awestruck. He grabbed the cell looked at the pic, showed it to Rohan and said, "Thi-this-this is the girl."

"I wish," Rohan blushed, "but she is the Timber automatic response bot."

 

Rohan bursted out a roar of laughter. It was so loud that even the student who was playing DOTA with plugged in earphones on the 5th floor would hear it.

Shekhar and Srivats both started throwing punches and shouted, "then who the hell is she?" 

"Here here see! Shanky Edwards." 

She was a professional. Properly pinned neat and tidy hairs, well ironed clothes and a gracy smart look that completely over shadowed her dark complexion. She looked in a perfect shape which added the word "matured" to her personality traits.

"Are you sure about this Rohan?" They asked in unison.

"Oh yes I am. We had a talk just for half an hour and I somehow felt connected.,"

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 2:- The Graph on the Wall

Rohan was finally happy. Though he was a stalker, he did it only because he felt alone. He was never a talkative person. He kept all his secrets to himself and therefore he needed someone who could lighten his mood. And now he had Shanky.

Shanky was two years older than Rohan. She told him that she is a data analyst and gets free only after midnight. They could only manage a half an hour daily. But still he was satisfied. Shekhar and Srivats never missed a chance to pull his legs and Rohan seemed to enjoy it now. "Rohan Edwards, boy you are going to sound so cool." And it did sounded cool. Rohan thought that if in future they ever got engaged, he would inherit Shanky's surname. "Shanky Sharma- er-- not cool."

A couple of months passed and it was time for the semesters. For the first time in life, Rohan seemed worried. He was always a bright student and remained among the topmost scorers of his batch. But seeing him tensed during this sems worried his friends. "Kya hua, Sharma ji k bete (What happened Sharma ji's son). It seems that this semester have got the best out of you." Srivats said merrily. (Srivats always envied the calmness Rohan maintained during exams)

But Rohan was lost in his own thoughts. He was continuously staring at his ventilator as though it had the exams questions on it. Srivats turned around to see a graph sticked just below the ventilator. 

It was a tidy one. A big round circle in between with arrows popping out in all the directions pointing to another small circle, which again had arrows popping in different directions pointing to an even smaller circle, that again had.....

The centre one had SHANKY written in big bold letters. Srivats followed one arrow to a circle that said "If I propose." Srivats retraced his path and went for another circle that said, " If I tell her she is special." Srivats eyes kept on circling that graph for a minute or two before dizziness got over him.  He rubbed his eyes, got back to his feet and then yelled at the top of the voice. 

"YOU ARE A LUNATIC. HAVE YOU EVER SEEN HER---"

"Yes we had a video chat the last night."

"NO NO NO. JUST LOOK AT HER. SHE IS WAY TOO SMART FOR YOU. SHE HAS A CAREER AND HERE YOU ARE DESTROYING YOURS FOR HER. Get back to your senses and please shut this nonsense," Srivats put one hand on the graph ,"for a few weeks at---"

He was just going to tear up that piece of maze, when he suddenly noticed something odd about the wall. "Rohan," he said knocking on the wall ,"Is this hollow?" Srivats knocked again," Rohan what is in-----".

BAMM! 

A loud blast came from Srivats door. They both rushed to find that Srivats laptop had destroyed himself and was in flames. They both quickly extinguished the fire as Srivats asked to be left alone for a while.

It was semesters time. Srivats was still recovering from his loss, while Shekhar was having the exams of his lifetime. "I think I am going to top this year." 

"Shut up you. We still have one more to go and its tomorrow. I have to finish it now, cause you know boys, my nights are reserved." 

Shekhar grimmed and punched him on the back ,"My heartiest regards to Bhabhi."

The next morning, Shekhar woke up with the biggest smile on his face. Was it a beautiful dream or just the happiness of the last exam? God knows. Within minutes he got dressed up and rushed to the hall. He caught up with Srivats on the way and they both did the usual kicking morons thing on Rohan's door. Surprisingly there was no response. They kicked again, this time even harder. Still nothing. "We just have 5 minutes to go. Get up Sharma."

"He might be doing his so called " last minutes revision sessions with Jarvis. Come on I don't want to be late."

And they were off. All the three shared separate examination halls and had the habit of having a small get together at a tea stall nearby. Shekhar and Srivats were both waiting for quite a time now but Rohan didn't show up.

"Where the hell is this guy? That girl has actually driven him crazy. I am going to teach him a lesson now," Shekhar's vein was popping out.

"Hope he is alright." Srivats said with a worried look.

They returned back to their hostel only to find Rohan's door still locked from inside. They were terrified.

"Open up! Open up! Rohan yaar are you listening?" They both shouted.

The slamming and kicking was loud enough to gather the whole hostel outside Room-19.

"We must break this door now. Help us come on everyone. Fortunately they were able to find a long rod that might have been there to fix the purifier or something. They started slamming the door hard. "Rohan yaar please open up." Shekhar was in tears and so was Srivats. With a loud bang, the door busted open, and

What Made Dravid the Greatest Test Player?

Just look at the above picture. This is the calmest and most pleasant scene that I have ever seen in Cricket. Jammy leaving a delivery. Just see how confidently, he leaves a 155kmph delivery from Shoaib Akhtar. These are the few points that undoubtedly makes Dravid a great test player.

1. Leaving the deliveries.

The best thing about a classic Dravid innings was his patience. He had the patience and confidence to leave the deliveries outside off stumps, so that he could avoid getting out on poor shots. Also, this strategy helped him avoid getting dismissed by edging the ball in the slips. This was what leaving meant for Rahul Dravid. But for the bowlers, it meant a mental breakdown. It was next to impossible bowling him on the wickets, because of his rock solid defense. The only way to dismiss him was bowl outside-off hoping that he knicks one in the slips. But, sorry to the bowlers.

Dravid once said in a TV show ,"Sometimes, leave is the best shot."

2. Rock Solid Defense.

 

Have you ever seen any batsmen, just defending a 95 miles bouncer, that too with such grace that it hardly moves an inch. That was Rahul Dravid. When the most fiery pacemen including Lee, Akhtar, Donald used to surprise him with their deadly bouncer, he used to just push it deep inside his crease. That was his defense.
Not only this, when the swing kings like Wasim Akram, Pollock tried to get his wicket by bowling their in seamers, his straight bat seems to have applied a break on the delivery, that it dare not move an inch farther than his feet. This helped him in getting to know the pitch better and the quality of seam, different bowlers have got.
For the bowlers, it became a nightmare, as they were forced to try other deliveries, disturbing their line and lengths completely.

3. Extraordinary Shot Selection

One thing that many people have failed to notice was the extraordinary shot selection of Rahul Dravid. He was so good with his wrist that he could just turn a on-the-leg delivery into a cover drive. In a match against Australia, Bichel tried to get him dismissed by bowling him on the legs, hoping that he would push it in the hands of short midwicket. But Dravid played those deliveries with such an ease, finding gaps on the on side and surprising everyone by pushing one through the covers.
And when it comes to the famous Dravid's cut, it needs no explaination.

They may say that there has been Lara, Ponting, Sachin, Kallis who are the best test players, but the grace and the vibrance that Rahul Dravid created with his presence on the crease is unmatched.

 

Justifying the Multan Declaration

Date 29th March'2004.
Hutch Cup. India vs Pakistan First Test
Multan.

Sachin was playing beautifully on his 194, Danish Kaneria was bowling when suddenly, there was a wave from the dressing room. It was Rahul Dravid, who was the captain of Indian team in absence of Ganguly. It was an unbelievable scene. The senior most player of the team, the GOD of Cricket was just 6 runs away from a historic double hundred, but the skipper decided to declare. The entire stadium was stunned. Sachin's face was ambiguous. It was hard to say whether he was angry or disappointed. He went into the dressing room and didn't utter a single word to Dravid the whole afternoon. Sachin deserved to be disappointed, what Dravid did was wrong. But it was wrong only to Sachin Tendulkar.



Jammy was under a lot of pressure. It was his first major match as a skipper and he lacked a lot of experience in that area. Unlike Ganguly, he was known for his calm and composed behaviour. It was a 3-match series and Dravid knew that they had to win this match, if they want to clinch the series. They were almost into the third day with 3 more innings to go. Sehwag rapid fire innings of 309 had already given India a gigantic total and the only thing left was to hand over the responsibilities to their bowlers. Dravid was well aware of this and he had to make a strong move if they wanted to win. Here are a few things that we all know.:-

- Its always noticeable that Sachin seems to be nervous when in the 90s. Even his fast paced innings comes to a halt when he approaches the 90s. Take for example the historic 200 against South Africa, when he took over 6-7overs to reach from 190 to 200.

-It is one of the reasons that he gets out so much in the 90s. Many a times, its hard luck but you can notice Sachin playing irresponsible shots when he is 90s.

- For his 100^th century, he took 138 balls, in an era when he could clearly smashed in less than 80 balls or so.

- In a match against Australia, when Sachin smashed 241, he played so slow that Australia was actually able to save the match which could have been easily won by India. That victory would have resulted in a 2-1 victory of India against Australia in Australia.

Dravid knew all this things, and that’s why he made to make probably the toughest decision of his life. He wanted the team to win. He was ready to face the criticism of billions of people, if it results in the victory of his nation. That’s how Selfless he is. He did what the team needed. And it resulted in a victory of an innings and around 80-90 runs. India went on to win the series 2-1, winning the hearts of billions of people of India.
Here is what Dravid says about being asked about the Multan Declaration,
“If I had a penny for every time someone asks me about the Multan Declaration, I would have been a billionaire by now.”