It was Aru’s 29th birthday on the 21st Of November this year.
It is also a year since we started our ‘Safety Ambassadors’ program with the students of Shishu Mandir School.

Safety should begin at home and what best way than keeping our homes secure from fire incidents ? Shishu Mandir is not just a school, but a home to hundreds of students. So this year, we presented Shishu Mandir School, five fire extinguishers to supplement a couple that they had.

Going to Shishu Mandir is something that makes us feel warm and positive. The enthusiasm of these children to learn is amazing ! The dedication and energy of the teachers is so heart warming.

Usha Armour, the company that supplied the fire extinguishers also arranged a safety demonstration and taught the students, some teachers and other members of the staff including the kitchen staff how to use the fire extinguishers to fight fire. We want to take this opportunity to thank Mr Sachin Suvarna and Mr Suresh for taking a special interest in all the arrangements.

Here is an appeal to all our friends and family members.
Most of us spend thousands, sometimes lakhs on decorating our houses and it’s interiors. Spending a few thousands on buying fire extinguishers is really a small matter. Especially, since life is precious. Do buy one for your house and check the availability of fire extinguishers at your work place. Also , most parents check about the academic achievements of the institutions they send their children to. How about checking for disaster preparation? We hear and see so many lives being lost in fire accidents. How soon do we forget how hospitals, hotels, coaching classes and schools that have been reduced to cinders? And the lives lost in these accidents ?
Please Think !
Please Act !
Regret is an useless emotion !

–Shubhangi

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After the superb success of SafetyQuest 2019 Goa Edition held in January 2019, we really did not think that we could organise another such event this year. But it is amazing how things work out sometimes.
Mr. Manoj Kabre – a friend of the Foundation – sparked this with Shishu Mandir. We have been working with Shishu Mandir School, Bengaluru, for a year now with our program Safety Ambassador. The students, teachers, Principal and Director of this Institution have been so encouraging and enthusiastic that they not only took the idea of Safety Quest to heart, they gave us access to their auditorium and facilities, and further put their energies to make it successful.
A lot of hard work was involved in going from school to school to mobilise participation. Getting schools to participate in events has been the biggest challenge for us. Most schools are already struggling with keeping up with the curriculum, the board expectations and completing syllabus. It is sad that the subject of safety in day to day life is relegated to the corners and a few dry chapters are included in schoolbooks. Programs like Safety Quest can be used to make this subject interesting and exciting. The teachers of Shishu Mandir personally visited schools in Bangalore east, enrolled their teams to ensure participation, and handed over the flyers and preparatory kits.

In the run up to the event, we got confirmed registrations from 18 schools – 180 students. We were all ready and raring to go and waited for the 9th of November. At around 11:30 pm on 8 Nov, we heard that the long-pending Ayodhya verdict was to be announced the next day and, as a precautionary measure, the schools would be closed. We decided to take a call the next day.
Early next day, my phone and the phones of our co-organisers (Shishu Mandir teachers) started ringing to ask if the program was on or not. Mr Anand, Director Of the school told us that Shishu Mandir will remain open and that should we be willing, the students, teachers and volunteers would all be available to help us.
We were stunned , thrilled and amazed!
A few schools were closed and they opted out. We respected their concerns and feelings. Some schools got in touch with parents, who willingly brought their children to Shishu Mandir School, the venue of the Quiz. A few teachers saw that their students did not miss the chance to participate and came along with students. Despite the circumstances, we had around 110 students participate in the quiz competition. For us, it was a great feeling to see them all respond to our call on Safety!

Mr Sheshagiri – President Of Shishu Mandir, Mr Anand – Director Of Shishu Mandir and Mr Manoj Kabre – VP US Indo MIM were the guests of honour.

The quiz master of the event Ms Anagha Sridhar of Walnut Knowledge Systems took the participants through the preliminary round, and Mr. Raghav Chakravarthy conducted the final round. As always, we try to bring a mix of questions: to impart some techniques, some science, and some innovation.

Between the two rounds, the Safety Ambassadors from Shishu Mandir presented a skit on road safety modeled after the street play (vidhi-nataka) tradition. The message was skillfully presented with a dose of humour.

The finalists were:
* two teams of Lake Montfort School, Abhinav + Sanath, and Sarvesh + Ron Savio Sunny
* Sathwik and Sebastian of Assisi School
* two teams from Indian School of Excellence comprising of Manani + Kausthubha, and Sumanth + Amulya
* Mount Litera Zee School with Moksha and Shatakshi.

The finals were interesting with a nail biting finish. Lake Montfort School team of Abhinav and Sanath won the first place, Sathwik and Sebastian of Assisi school were the first runner-up, and the second team of Lake Montfort School with Sarvesh and Ron Savio Sunny won the second runner-up place.

Congratulations to all the winners and a big thank you to all the participants.

We are really thrilled that the parents and teachers of all these schools took pains to get the students for the program and encouraging not only them but also The Arundhati Foundation. We cannot thank them enough!
Thanks also to the Rotarians who volunteered their time and helped us in various ways.
Gratitude to my Shishu Mandir Family! It was because of you that this program was a success.

Here is a brief note from Abhinav – one of the winners
Hello sir and ma’am,
I am ABHINAV S from Lake Montfort school.
I and my friend Sanath secured the first prize.
I would like to say that Safety Quest 2019 was very educative and was a good initiative to provide safety in students lives.
I hope your trust Arundhati Foundation provide more seminars in the future across many schools.
Thanks a lot.
Abhinav.s

Here is a collage of the event

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Sep 24, Prakriya Green Wisdom School.

Towards the end of 2018, I had penned some thoughts on structuring a curriculum for safety. This was geared towards students of std 4 through 9. The content was tailored for each group. The idea was also to increase the level of engagement as the children grow up. These ideas have been shared with some schools and also the board of education.

For the children of Std 4 and 5, we conceived a workshop called “Hazard Mapping”. 20 different posters have been created across 5 themes : Crossing the Road, Children at Play, Riding 2 wheelers, In 4 Wheelers, and Travel by Bus. The picture above shows 4 such posters that were used.

Prakriya has been the first school to respond to our request. We had 100 children across std 4 and 5 who participated in this workshop. At the beginning, they voiced their fears about the road : too much traffic, fast-moving vehicles. In groups of 5, the children observed the pictures, and noted both the safe and the risky behaviour they saw. We called them up to share their observations. Some videos were inserted to break the monotony and also to drive home some messages :
* distracted walking
* how does a helmet help?
* how does a seat belt help ?

Towards the end, we did a small exercise “Can We Really MultiTask?”.
[ Those interested can refer the YouTube video The Myth of Multitasking Test ]

One of the teachers – Ms Amutha – volunteered. This exercise engages the eyes, the hand, and the brain, and while it is not a true representation of the challenges of driving distracted, it is a good way to illustrate. At the end of the exercise, it was obvious that the attempt to multitask took much longer and thus, is not effective. Ms Amutha mentioned that she got mixed up a couple of times in the process.

For my next sessions, I want to do the exercise in the middle of a phone call. It will be interesting!

Overall, the workshop was well received. The interactive and fun element is meant to reinforce the values of safety, and we achieved this. The children were engaged all through. There were a few areas which required help
* blind spots when walking, when driving, when playing.
* the effects of overloading
* The dangers of distracting the driver were also emphasised.

We also tried to drive home the point that while the children may not be driving themselves, they can influence the adults – their parents, their driver, etc – who may engage in unsafe behaviour.

It was quite striking that, for most part, the children’s observations were spot on! It made us wonder when, where and why do the children lose this sense of safe vs risky behaviour as they grow up.

A big Thank You to the teachers – Pranjal, Reshmi and Aparna – who helped us organise this event.

We received this feedback from one of the teachers
“I found it very relevant for the kids. As they are learning to explore outside on their own, this is a good time to make them aware of the rules as well. When they started with their own story of losing a child, it became very real to the kids. The way they divided the children into groups and then brought them together was also very engaging. I think the children mostly understood what was being told”

By : SHANTANU PAKNIKAR

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Thank you Shantanu for your contributions to make our roads safer.  We hope that our readers internalize the message and bring about the change to avoid distracted driving themselves, and to avoid distracting other drivers.  Note that even hands-free is not risk-free. Apart from the eyes and hands, the brain plays a very important role in processing information and making decisions when driving. The hands-free call takes your mind and your attention off the traffic and the road.  Take a pledge to make our roads safer by driving cell-free! 

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I was one of the many people in Bangalore, India, who attend (teleconference) calls while driving, using a hands-free device. For many of us, speaking on the phone while driving is such a commonplace occurrence that we now even make regular 1-1 calls (with team members, colleagues, boss, anybody) while driving. I have not only answered calls, but also dialed out to people while driving, texted while driving, and so on. Hopefully some of you might relate with what I am saying here. I guess this should be the case with people in other cities in India as well, and perhaps in some other parts of the world?

I remember there have been times when I’ve driven from point A to point B, while on a call, and don’t recollect how I got to point B. This disturbed me at times, since I have a fairly sharp memory otherwise. I realized that these ‘memory black outs’ were primarily because I was so engrossed in the conversation on the phone that my driving was on automatic. However, I rationalized it by telling myself that it’s a hands free device, both my hands are still on the steering wheel.

Until the 9^th of September, 2014.

I got the news of the death of a friend’s niece, in a road accident. I didn’t know his niece, but this particular friend is like family to me. I remember meeting his niece when she was a child, along with her mom, my friend’s elder sister. I couldn’t figure out what to do. Was there any way I could help? No. I wondered about calling up his sister – then thought, let me not intrude on the family at this time of grief.

I spent the day busy at work, with thoughts interrupted by my mind coming back to what my friend’s family must be going through, and especially his sister. That evening, on the way home, I started my car and was about to switch on my hands free device. And then I thought to myself, “Not today. Not in the mood for conversations.” As could be expected, I was extra careful while driving – and not being on my usual phone calls helped as well.

The next day, I experimented again – no hands free, no phone call while driving. It was not easy. I was so used to speaking on the phone with the hands free device, and closing work transactions while driving, that it was almost difficult to concentrate on driving when that was the only thing to do. However, I got through the day fine. With every passing day, it became easier till I stopped carrying my hands free device with me at all.

Mindfulness is the ability to be in the present moment, and be attentive and aware of everything around us. Earlier, whenever I spoke on the phone while driving, I could see things: road, route, traffic, other vehicles, pedestrians. Once I stopped using the phone while driving, I realized that I could be mindful of them. Stopping the car and letting pedestrians cross became just a bit easier. Slowing down at the orange light (instead of accelerating) became easier as well.

I could now notice the number of people who talk on phone while driving, many of them even without a hands free, and with the phone to their ear, one hand on the steering wheel. I noticed people on two wheelers, speaking on the phone while riding a bike. I couldn’t help but notice the young girl, around twenty, crossing the road while speaking on her phone. And another teenage pedestrian, checking her smartphone while walking on the side of the road, with vehicles passing within touching distance. I wanted to shout, “Watch out” – but the words caught in my throat. What I could see earlier but was not mindful of was that our roads are not as safe as we assume them to be. We always feel, “Nothing’s going to happen to me – no need to worry”. That worries me.

Some days later, I heard the horrific news of the death of three colleagues in a road accident. It strengthened my belief that road safety is something that every one of us needs to start taking really seriously. Some days later, I got a call from another very close friend, who speaks regularly on his hands free while driving. I explained to him that I would speak with him after he got home and not while he was driving – I could not stand the thought of something happening to him. He understood. I would have done the same even if he hadn’t.

Am I overreacting? Perhaps. But here’s what I am discovering since that day of September: our roads are not safe. Your phone is a great device – however it has the potential to suck away, into that 4 inch screen, a significant portion of your alertness, attentiveness, and mindfulness. These will be critical in that fraction of a second which can make a difference to your own life or somebody else’s. That teleconference, answering that call, making that call, closing that transaction, that text message, that social media post – is just NOT worth it while you are on the road.

Today, I was on the road most of the day, in client meetings. I missed several calls. I have no regrets. Just the hope that I can continue to refuse to answer the phone while driving. And that the people who care will understand why.

Dear reader, I leave you with this message. Do not use your phone while driving. Do not use your phone on the road, even as a pedestrian. Keep our roads safe for yourself and people around you. And to my dear friend’s sister with whom I started this post, if you are reading this: I cannot even comprehend the grief you must have gone through. I thought of you every day but could do nothing except this little gesture. I am aware of your mission to make our roads safer, in the memory of your daughter. I am with you. It won’t bring her back, but might perhaps be enough to save somebody else.

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Shantanu wrote this soon after Aru’s accident in 2014. This was the prequel to the  blog that he recently posted on our site. See also : road-safety-one-starfish-at-a-time

Here is an infographic that tells you why hands-free is not risk free. “The activity in the area of the brain that processes moving images decreases by upto 1/3 when listening to, or talking on a phone”

1 Sep 2019

Ganapati Bappa arrives home tomorrow. He is the remover of all obstacles, but we thought we would make the road smoother for him to come home 🙂 Along with our friends at Wings, and with the help of Pothole Raja, we fixed 17 potholes on Cambridge Road – from Canara Bank to Rakhra Sports to Siddhanth Medicals.

Saurabh Sahu, COO Pothole Raja, had come over a week before to assess the spots and the nature of fix required. Accordingly, he came armed with the read-to-use cold asphalt mix, gravel, and the tools. We had a heartening response from our friends at Wings : 10 of them were up and ready before 0630! Pothole Raja Prataap Bhimsena Rao, and Shubham Sahu also joined.

A few of potholes were big and deep.
The one near the Adarsh Commercial building took 2 bags of gravel, and 4 bags of bitumen.
The one next to Cakehouse required to be packed with stones and gravel first. We added a couple of bags of bitumen there.
The one near Rakhra Sports required several bags of bitumen.
Between Canara Bank and Siddhanth Medicals, we used several bags of bitumen.

We noticed that in several spots, the inlets to the storm water drain have been blocked. In some places, it is cemented over. In others, it is blocked by debris, stones, plastic waste. Since these are blocked, the water tries to find its way on the road. This can lead to weakening of the road, and potholes! It’s apparent that we need to provide a proper path for the water!
Remember the old poem, “For want of a nail, a shoe was lost … ”
Well, we could say “For want of an inlet, the water was lost (i.e. it found its way on the road) … ”

Near Cambridge Hospital, we cleaned up the inlets to the storm water drain. Ms Kumari – our pourakarmika – helped us. She took the mud and filled it in a shallow pothole nearby!

A good turn begets another. Mr. Sriprakash and his wife Bharati saw us and brought us some home-made laddoos! It was a great energy boost! Mr. Sriprakash is an ex-PWD engineer. We discussed with him the water stagnation that is happening near Siddhanth Medicals. One of the reasons for this is that the inlets to the storm water drain have been blocked. He took note of it, and has taken the responsibility to create a proper path for the water. It is heartening when the public also join in and helps take these small steps.

A hearty breakfast together with our friends made this a memorable Sunday!

9 Sep will mark 5 years since we lost our beloved Aru. Every single day, we remember her. Sometimes, it is a completely spontaneous reaction to a word that is said, or read, or an event, or a sight, or …. And, as we have said, we try to remember her in deed as well. Such was the case today. We hope that the fix lasts for several months!

Thanks to our ever-supportive friends : Arati, Anita, Anuradha, Ajit, Ajay, Vinay, Raghav, Shruthi, Gauri, and Ira. And, of course, Prataap, Saurabh, and Shubham. You all made it easy for us!

Here are some pics from the event.

By SHANTANU PAKNIKAR

A loud honk, a screeching of brakes, and a sudden sideways movement and jerk to the vehicle jolted me out of my reverie. I was on my way to office in the morning. My cab had narrowly avoided a two-wheeler who had suddenly cut across the road in front of us. Muttering curses to the rider who was anyway out of earshot by now, my driver resumed his phone conversation on his hands free. And I resumed my thoughts on the story of the little child throwing starfish back into the sea. You might have heard that story before? My favourite version is that of a little girl who is picking up starfish washed up on the shore and is throwing them back into the sea one by one to save their lives. A grown up passing by observes this and says “Sweetheart, there are thousands of starfish here, how could you possibly make a difference?”. To which she picks up another one, throws it back into the water, looks up at him with a determined expression, and says “Made a difference to that one.” Depending on which version you are familiar with, the grown-up might (or might not) have joined her, with others following.

Looking at the chaotic traffic around me and looking at my cab driver chattering away on his hands free while driving, I remembered why I had been thinking of that story. I had given up speaking on the phone while driving a couple of years earlier. Of late, I had given up driving to office and started commuting to and from my office primarily by cab. I couldn’t help noticing that most of the cab drivers appeared to have the same addiction that so many drivers do (me included at one point in time): non-stop phone conversations while driving. I remember requesting them, during the initial days that I started commuting by cab regularly, not to speak on the phone while driving. In some cases, it worked, and the driver graciously agreed to my request and put away the phone. In some other cases, I got the response “I am using a hands-free, so what’s the problem?”. And in a few cases, the driver got aggressive and suggested that I could step out of the car if I had a problem. I began to ask myself, “Why am I wasting my time? Forget cab drivers, every second driver these days speaks on the phone while driving, including most of my friends. Can I, alone, really make a difference?” And that was when the little girl of my imagination, picked up another starfish, threw it into the water, smiled at me, and said the same thing again: “Made a difference to that one too!”

I saw the way now. At the end of the ride, my mobile app asked me to rate the driver. I selected three stars, upon which the app asked me to select a reason from a list. Not surprisingly, my reason (driver speaking on phone) was not listed. I selected “My reason is not listed” and in “Leave a comment” I typed out “Driver speaking on phone while driving”. I tapped on “Submit” and thought “One starfish back in the sea.”

That evening, I took a cab from a different provider back home. Different provider, different driver, same incessant phone conversations. Again, the app asked for a rating and this time I selected four stars. In “What could be improved?”, again as expected there was no specific option, so I selected “Other” and told myself “Another starfish”.

I also realized that driver ratings were likely to affect whether they got to continue being on the cab aggregator platforms or not. Therefore, to be fair, over the next few days, whenever a driver did not use the phone while driving, I made it a point both to compliment him verbally for not speaking on the phone while driving and also give him the highest rating. In one app, I started choosing 5 stars and when prompted for a compliment, I chose “6-star service” and left a compliment “6 stars for not speaking on phone while driving”. In the other app, I started choosing 5 stars and in “What went perfect for you” I started choosing “My reason is not listed” and in “Leave a comment”, started typing the text “5 stars for not speaking on phone while driving”.

And so, the months have passed. Each time when I have wondered, “What’s the use of providing the feedback? None of the companies are going to bother to listen or act on it”, the starfish story has kept me going.

And last Friday morning, after a ride when I tapped out four stars on my app for the driver rating, I got a pleasant surprise: In “Why wasn’t this a great ride”, I saw an update to the default options with a new entry. “Using phone while driving” was now listed as one of the reasons for this not being a great ride! I selected that, tapped on “Submit” and congratulated myself.

“Looks like I made a difference,” said a voice in my head, the voice of hope.

But the voice of doubt was nearby as well. This one whispered, “Cut out the self-congratulations, Mr. Wise Guy. Remember the news article last month which said that the government has introduced heavy penalties for speaking on the phone while driving? The change is due to that and has nothing to do with your feedback.”

I thought to myself, how would the little girl have reacted? This time, I was the grown up in the story. I visualized myself on the seashore, chatting with her and explaining the situation. And she looked down at the starfish in her little hands, thought for a moment, threw the starfish in, smiled and looked straight at me with bright, sparkling eyes. “So long as the starfish live, does it really matter who threw them in? C’mon, help me and let’s keep going.”

6 Aug 2019 : Sanjay, Anuj and I conducted a Road Safety Awareness Session at Primus Public School, Bangalore.

We were thrilled to have an attentive and interactive audience. Two hundred and fifty students of classes 10 to 12 participated in this awareness lecture. Not only were the children attentive and participative, many of them came forward to ask for internship opportunities and a desire to do something to propagate the message on Road Safety.
The children gave us feedback on how we can further improve on our presentations. We will surely incorporate their valuable suggestions.

It was indeed a emotional experience when 250 students took the pledge on Road Safety.

These are the youth that will soon begin driving vehicles on our streets, and therefore the need to make them aware of the tenets of Road Safety.

We would like to thank Principal Ms Anuradha Krishnan, Vice -Principal Ms Mini Adhikari for their support and Mr Srinath for co-ordinating the event.

We would like to share a few messages we received from the students.

We have received the following messages from some students.
‘You had recently visted my school,Primus and I was truly touched by your story and wanted to see if I could help by interning with you’
Divyan Srinivas

‘I am a student at Primus Public School. I am writing this email to first thank you for taking time and coming to educate my friends and I. I must say that I’ve learnt quite a lot from today’s talk and my friends and I would also like to express our deepest condolences to you and your family. After hearing the speech I was truly moved and have made a pledge to myself of never compromising on road safety.
Thank you very much
Warm regards’
Dushyant Anil

‘Hi, my name is Kavya Ramanathan and I am a class 11 student at Primus Public School. I came to know of you through your recent session at our school and was truly touched by your cause. Road safety is a huge concern these days and the magnitude of this problem only seems to grow. I would like to contribute in any way possible in raising awareness about this situation. I’m interested in the internships that you offer and was hoping to know more about it. Would you be kind enough to let me know if there are any opportunities of working with you?
Sincerely,’
Kavya

Here are a few photographs of the event.

The Arundhati Foundation launched the first Safety Ambassador program with Shishu Mandir School on the 21st Of November 2018. The vision was to teach and train a few students the importance of safety on our roads, homes and society. These students in turn carry this message across to other students in their own school and schools in other parts of our city.

We must say, we are thrilled with our first batch of Safety Ambassadors. These 30 school children, from classes 6th to 9th, have carried out various programs in their own school, passing on the message of safety not only with fellow students, but also among the parents.

They have created awareness by making posters and enforcing the use of helmets among the parents and senior students. They were laughed at, but they stuck to their stance and ensured that the message was taken seriously.

The Safety Ambassadors have had workshops on safety which includes not only road safety, but also electrical and fire safety. One child said, “I only knew about using water or fire extinguisher to put out fires. Here I learnt about the different causes of fire, and how it is not right to use water in some cases. It can cause more damage – for example, in electrical fires”

As ambassadors, we are preparing them to spread the message of safety in their peer circles, and their friends/families. In preparation for this, they presented their own views on road safety.  They advocated not to drive without a proper license.  One said, “we can’t just blame government. We should take interest, and ask for better infrastructure in our neighbourhood”.  Another said “First of all, only if I follow the rules can I tell others”.

They also expressed their creative skills and presented a skit on road safety.

Recently, along with @Walnut Knowledge Solutions, The Arundhati Foundation had organised Qshala program for these students. Besides learning social skills and communication skills , these children learnt about fire, electrical and road safety in a fun and engaging manner. These were presented to them through quiz questions and assignments. It was absolutely wonderful to see their enthusiasm in learning and actively participating in the Qshala workshop.

Thank you Anagha Shridhar and Walnut Knowledge Solutions for a precious partnership which , we, at the foundation have no doubt will be sustained for years to come.

Thank you Shishu Mandir, co- ordinators Ms Sandhya, Ms Preethi , MsKavitha and Safety Ambassadors! May you grow and help grow the concept and vision of Safety Ambassadors.

Ms Sandhya who was the Supervisor from Shishumandir said that she felt lucky that she was chosen to coordinate this program, for she herself has learnt a lot.

Sharing a few pictures of these sessions.