SADDAC - Together we can make things better

Daund is a small dry dusty town in Western India, about 75km South East of Pune. It is better known as a major Railway Junction, handling trains to and from North, South and East India. Being a major railway station, you find here a number of lost or abandoned street and platform children, most of whom have landed up here from other parts of the country. To cater to this peculiar situation, SADDAC started a shelter Today SADDAC is not just a shelter but a home to the street and platform children. It offers a caring family environment with basic facilities, better health care, nutrition and access to education. SADDAC inculcates values such as cleanliness, self-discipline, self-reliance etc and provides counselling facilities for the psycho-spiritual growth of the children enkindling in them a process of self-realization. SADDAC re-unites the run-away children with their families, shelters the abandoned and educates them in nearby schools, and settles the grown up children in life by job placements.

The social work team of SADDAC visits the railway station regularly and enquires the whereabouts of the wandering children. Many of the run-away children are re-united with their families; and those who have no one to care for them are brought to SADDAC where they begin a new life in a family environment.
Under the able administration and gentle care of Sr. Olive Oliveira (Person-in-Charge of SADDAC) and her team, the children are quick to realize that they are wanted and loved. The care and opportunity provided by SADDAC to enjoy a better childhood today inculcates an attitude to be responsible persons, and thus, to become better citizens for tomorrow(Vishwadeep) for street children in Daund in 1997.

My Official Chai wala - Anna from Kerala

Nothing seems to have changed in the last 365 days..i meet the man every morning for exactly 2 mins..no words spoken ..no signs used..no questions asked..1 dhs & 50 fils exchanged ..parcel taken and gone..
he knows exactly what to deliver and does his job with absolute precision..i call him 'anna' and he is my official chai wala..i moved into the qasimiyah area about a year ago and have been visiting him for my morning cuppa tea ever since..the chai he so fondly cups up for me is called ''Saada'' and initially the only 2 words i had to communicate to him were ''2 Saada'' which means two cups of tea..his technique has been mastered after filling not less than 2,00,000 cups of tea..yes thats the no of cups anna must have served his early mornign customers till date..the cafeteria he works at is called Amjad Cafeteria and is the only one of its kind Mallu cafe in our locality..besides chai they also serve an assortment of other dishes for breakfast such as - kheema paratha / bhurji / puri & sampbhar / masala dosa..etc..

but his most famous offering is his chai..which beats every other chai for miles together..

anna and i share a very strange relationship..he gives me VIP service which i have come to enjoy , anna keeps all his other customers waiting and makes sure i get my saada before everybody else does..his technique is simple - - take 2 disposable cups and place them in style as if he is placing 2 glasses of champagne..now comes his best move..takes the can of rainbow milk and pours little portions of both in the thermocol glasses at an elevated angle..and finally for the grand finish..takes the hot boiling kettle..holds each cup in his hand and beautifully mixes the milk and water together..

after this its pretty much simple..packs the cups in a plastic bag..and hands them over to me..
anna and i have been doing the routine for almost a year now..and every single day the chai tastes the same like yesterday..absolutely fantastic ''anna style''

Straight from my heart

I woke up at 6am today morning and felt quite disturbed with the way i am living my live and the world around me..by the grace of allah and all my hard work - i have all the comfort one could ask for..great bunch of friends..good job..good salary ..great family and etc etc..i infact have come to live a very luxurious life after coming to the UAE..all of this is great ..and i have put in a lot of hard work to get here..but there is something missing..its not love and its not having that someone to share my life with..
I know what it is - its being a better human being and living a more meaningful life..
I feel like the most selfish man on earth right now..when i die and meet god - the first thing he is going to ask me is -so what did you do for others...and honestly i wont have an answer for him then..
I can keep doing what i am doing..work harder..compete and excel and make more money with each passing day..but i keep asking myself..is that what i really want to do and keep doing..
Honestly - I dont think so..I want to begin with helping the less priviledged and less fortunate children in this world..in whatever little way that i can..i know that doing social service is something everybody likes to boast about and it even looks good on your credentials..but very few do it "straight from the heart"..

i have decided to start what i believe in -  at a place called Daund near pune..

( will continue writing this post..Chapter 1 begins here )