Investment of a different kind

The buzzword is "invest in art". So I did! But this time the investment was not for me. I invested in a child's future! Here's the story:

My friend Prashant, and in recent times Aro and Tushar, were involved in various activities of the ASK Sankalp project. The motto of the project is "Ensuring normal childhood to working children in brass industry of Moradabad". Recently they organised a painting competition for children at Moradabad. Prashant decided to take it further and showcased select paintings from the competition for sale on his blog. The condition was the interested person should be ready to buy each painting for Rs. 500/-. I chose the painting by Sadim of class III which had nothing to do with the theme of the competition: child rights / child labour / rain. Instead, it covers the bigger picture: India, her flag and the national anthem. I like that vision!


Prashant had collected Rs. 10,000/- (with pledges of a few thousands more) in a few days, which is almost double the target and should cover the non formal education expense of two kids. While I was in Delhi, I accompanied him and Aro to the ASK office in Gurgaon, and delivered the cheque. It was very interesting to chat with such passionate and focussed people as Dr. Khan and Bindiya about their work. Hope to be actively involved with their projects in future, and turn ideas in to reality.

Of all the 500s I have spent on fancy clothes, food and beverages in a fancy restaurant, or accessories to go with my laptop, this 500 makes me proud!

Links:

13 comments:

Adisha Agarwal said...

n of all the posts, i've read in ur blog, i find this one the best. This is a gud Rs. 500 spent... so true.. :)

~ ॐ ~ said...

Thanks Bro for participating :) it really helps...

~ ॐ ~ said...

and I have the rest of the money too... I will transfer it to Aro and he can then give it at ASK...

we have done a good job :) pat on the backs :)

Subhadip said...

@Adisha
Thanks. Best of luck with your new blog.

@Om
That's great! Whale done! You deserve all the accolades :)

Anuradha said...

even a small help like you have mentioned makes a difference in people's life..

Subhadip said...

@Anu
You bet!

R said...

Totally know how this feels. I remember how we organised a couple of things for a group of kids. Wish I could go back and work with those guys. For them, it wasn't just financial help - miss those days.

Great stuff, brother.

Subhadip said...

@RT
Thanks bro. Hope you find time to do such stuff.

Butterfly said...

Great work! Hope you get to do such work in future too. Hope I can do something too.

Reeta Skeeter said...

:)
indeed a good deed that!

Subhadip said...

@Butterfly
Thanks. Hope we all get to do something for others.

@ReetaSkeeter
Thanks to all those who participated :)

Anonymous said...

Great stufff....really inspiring to say the least...

Subhadip said...

@Sanjit
:) Glad that you are inspired. Connect through Aro and do something if you are interested. And by the time you read this, I think it would be appropriate to say "Welcome back to India".