Welcome : Soibal Dasgupta : Official Artist of Voice of Little Hearts

We, Propel Steps welcome Soibal Dasgupta, who is our official ‪#‎artist‬ for our book Voice of Little Hearts. We wanted to add something little more that texts to communicate the message, obviously Soibal’s art will speak the emotions behind the words of the children.

Join us welcoming him and do extend your wishes to him

About Soibal :

We must say that he is an energetic youth with a lot of thought process going on in his mind about the betterment of society. He was ‘a facebook acquaintance’ but just in a short time he has become a part of our team. Thanks to his arts which attracted us like a magnet of emotions.

Soibal travelled across the subcontinent and got chances to observe the lives of people closely. He draws moments from the lives of people who are often ignored. After shifting from Kolkatta to Delhi, he found everyone liking his sketches and eventually found out that he could use his art as a way to bridge the social gap among the people.

We are delighted to have Soibal as a part of our team Voice of Little Hearts.

How you can be a part of Voice of Little Hearts?

The book is in the making in 13 languages. Entries are still open. If you are someone who care about children and want to write(in anyone of the 13 languages) for them,

Please pick a topic from the following and send us your entries (before starting writing, read the instructions from our page http://on.fb.me/1G1QxQH / ask us your queries)

•  ‪‎Sexual‬ ‪‎Abuse‬ / ‪‎Harassment
•  ‪‎Education‬ ‪‎System‬ / ‪‎Career‬ ‪‎Pressure‬
•  ‪‎Child‬ ‪‎Labour‬ / Child ‪‎Trafficking‬ / ‪‎Rights‬ ‪‎Violation
•  ‪‎Parental‬ ‪‎Care‬ / ‪‎Family‬ ‪‎Violence‬ / ‪‎Neglect
•  ‪‎Poverty‬
•  ‪‎Healthcare‬ / ‪‎Nutrition‬
•  ‪‎Sex_Education‬, ‪‎Moral‬ ‪‎Values
•  ‪‎Rural‬ / ‪‎Urban‬ ‪‎Issues‬
•  ‪‎Psychological‬ ‪‎Needs
•  Social Pressure / Discrimination

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Write for Children in 12 Languages

You may see child labour is not a serious issue or you may choose to presume that child labour happens only in movies. Because it is not happening anywhere in your circle. If you think like that then it is time now to wake up.

The very product you use, the food you eat or the brand you feel proud of using may have some children’s tears behind. There are millions of child labours and hundreds of them are being saved by eminent social workers like Kailash Satyarthi and organisations like child helpline in India.

Worldwide this is a serious issue which demands our attention. You may ask “what can I do to make a difference?”

Believe me, concerning about them is the first step of any possible big changes. There are many organisations who are working passionately to eradicate child labour, you can join them, donate for them and help them to continue what they are doing. You can be a Volunteer if you wish to get involved directly.

Doing something is always better than doing nothing. Closing your eyes doesn’t mean that nothing happens around you. Watch the documentary to understand what happens actually, which is just a sample of what is happening.

Be concerned. Do something what you can than doing nothing.

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Write for Children:

Voice of Little Hearts – is our project to bring out the feelings of children in India. We will be publishing this book in 12 languages and provide this book free of cost to all children in India. We are trying to address ten key issues

1. Sexual Abuse / Harassment
2. Education System / Career Pressure
3. Child Labour / Child Trafficking / Rights Violation
4. Parental Care / Family Violence / Neglect
5. Poverty
6. Healthcare / Nutrition
7. Sex Education, Moral Values
8. Rural / Urban Issues
9. Psychological Needs
10. Social Pressure / Discrimination

Why are we doing this? 

To increase the awareness in the society about the importance of Children. We should treat them as our gifts, our future and ensure we care for them.

To help the children in need. Specifically the children who live normal lives but facing serious issues.

To create a community of people who are caring for children at root level in your locality so that this process will keep on going.

What can you do?

Write for the children: If you know any kid who has been victimised by any of the above 10 issues, please write on behalf of the kid. You can find more instructions here 

If you are an expert / activist you can join our Leader Panel to help the kids by guiding the children / parents / society.

Humanity : Counterattacking Discrimination

This is one intriguing as well as annoying incident happened in the Delhi Metro, shared by a Facebook user. He in fact was a fellow passenger who witnessed this and shared it with the world. Here it is in his words

” This morning I saw a well-dressed senior citizen, wearing Ray-Ban sun glasses, who boarded the Delhi Metro and went towards a pair of seats reserved for senior citizens. In it where two young boys in their early twenties; one was a well-dressed boy wearing a conspicuous headphone and listening to songs and the other was a boy who looked like a construction worker, wearing rubber slippers and slightly soiled due to some laborious task he had just completed.

The supposed construction worker had a dark complexion and was sleeping when the old man entered the metro. On seeing the old man, the boy with the headphones, immediately vacated his seat while the supposed construction worker, was still sleeping. The old man, woke him up and asked him to get up. Caught unaware, the boy saw the vacant seat next to him (because it had been vacated) and asked the old man to take that seat, but the old man refused and he insisted that the boy gets up so that he can sit with the boy wearing the headphones.

The supposed construction worker refused and told the old man that he can take the vacant seat. Suddenly, the old man turned caustic and told the boy that he is sleeping early in the morning and added that he must be from Bihar. He also added that he will take the boy to task in the next station.

The old man’s aversion to share a seat with someone whom he thought doesn’t fit his stature was so evident and quite nauseating. Unperturbed by the retort and the gaze of the onlookers, the dark complexioned boy firmly said that it doesn’t matter where he is from, he knows what his rights are, and he isn’t scared of the old man’s intimidation.

The old man grudgingly took the seat next to the boy and the boy continued sitting with a calm demeanor. A few stations later, when a lady boarded the train, the young boy vacated the seat for her and the old man looked like a fool. The boy’s response and his confidence levels were so impressive, that I was couldn’t resist but walk up to him to shake hands with him and appreciate him for his behavior. I found out that his name is Arjun and I did not bother to know where he is from.

Some of us still carry the old and disgusting colonial mindsets of discrimination and deprivation even today, many of us are onlookers (like how I was today), and that’s even worse. But it is people like Arjun who assert their rights, break the false walls that many build and many more like us allow them to be built. But if individuals do not assert themselves and if the society doesn’t actively support people asserting their just rights, how will India as a nation assert itself?

That’s why I believe that Arjun is an everyday hero.”

Written by – Prasanna Karthik R

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Courtesy : Prasanna Karthick via Facebook.

A Beautiful World

Children never discriminate one another,
until they learn that from elders!
Just shield one generation from evil thoughts!
We can see the bloom of a Beautiful World.

-Din

Five Thoughts for You : The Ignored Viruses

The Ignored Viruses

Are we the viruses or are we just infected? Well, what is a Virus?
A virus needs a host to survive and a host must provide a receptor for the virus to infect. A receptor is like an entry ticket. Mice do not get infected by Polio virus, because they do not have the receptors. Same we humans do not have the receptors of many animal viruses, so we do not get infected by those animal diseases caused by animal viruses.

We are infected by many social viruses, which hosts on our systems via us:
Our society acts as a host to many viruses like corruption, discrimination, selfishness, terrorism, etc., is a virus, it needs a weak host among humans. The infected humans can only form an infected system, which can spread more infection, never the cure. As a solution, we are trying either to kill the host or the virus which is a stupid thing, which will never stop the virus from finding another host.

There is no cure for the infected, but there is a way to make the uninfected immune:
We need to get education in place to understand how the virus exists and spreads. We need to build the immunity level of the hosts. We need to build the resistance to uninfected, rather trying to cure the already infected. We have the receptor in us to the viruses like poverty, corruption, discrimination, crimes, etc. What is that receptor?

Every host must provide a receptor for the viruses, we have the receptor “Selfishness”:
“Selfishness” is the Receptor! A self seeking human is a potential host for those viruses. Such people forget the meaning of mutual living in the earth. Selfishness disguise in many forms, one of the most powerful form is Money!. Money has become the centric part of our life and we are selfishly driven towards it. So we make more room for the Viruses. As a society we are groomed as a potential hosts with plenty of receptors for various viruses.

The todays may not, but the tomorrows can be good if we put efforts!
Where are we today? A simple example is 99% of young kids when asked why they study in schools has the same answer “To make money!” Even if they answer “to enhance knowledge”, further questioning on “Why you need knowledge?” ends with the same answer, “To make money”. So the infection is spreading fast to the younger generation. So who needs to be immune? You know the answer. The uninfected young minds, who will not have the receptors called “selfishness”, we need to build a younger generation who cares for the holistic existence of all life forms and work towards a sustained earth! May not be the todays, but we can ensure them a Good tomorrows.

 – Words by Din