[Reader-list] Fwd: prdomain articles_general Life in the time of a carnage

[Faizan Ahmed]

Hello

Pls go through the mail, its for a very important and for a noble cause. 
Please forward it to your friends also.

Warm Regards

faizan

Subject: Undre School at Raigad


Dear Friends,

It is very pleasing to receive messages from enthusiastic people eager help
children who are victims of man-made disasters. Thanks to Mr. Wajahat
Habibullah and Mr. Shiv Shankar (sshankar at cmi.ac.in), your messages and
inquiries have been forwarded to Mr. Undre, Ms. Monica Wahi
(monicawahi at rediffmail.com), Hajeebhoy Zia (hajeebhoyzia at yahoo.com), Mr.
Jogesh Motwani (jogesh at bom8.vsnl.net.in), and others involved in the
project.  The postal address for sending your contributions is given at the
end in Mr. Shakar’s letter.

With regards to all,

Zafar Iqbal

Copies to:
Mr. Isteyaq Ahmad, Star TV, Mumbai
Mr. Rizwanullah (Riyadh)
Mr. Wajahat Habibullah (Delhi)
Ambassador Ghori, Toronto. Yes, Begum Rehana Undre is the same person you
thought.
Mr. Shafi Refai, IMRC
Dr. A.R.. Nakadar, AFMI
And IndianMuslim at yahoogroups.com, Muslimindians at yahoogroups.com, and
AligarhNetwork at yahoogroups.com for general information.

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PS:  I am also posting below an appeal from Mr. Shiv Shankar.

Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2003 17:44:07 +0530 (IST)
From: "Shiva Shankar" <sshankar at cmi.ac.in>
To: "Zafar Iqbal" <raabta_india at yahoo.com>
Subject: Request for help for the Raigad School that has adopted Gujarat
genocide affected children

Dear Zafar Iqbal,
	I am again sending you my appeal that Wajahat forwarded to you. Please
forward it to your friends. Please remind them that a dollar is Rs.50 and
goes a long way here.
	I am sending you the address to which contributions can be sent in another
mail, as well as a "report" on the children by a friend of mine who visited
the school recently.
	Many thanks.
	Shiva Shankar.

Dear Friends,
	I am writing to you again about the Undre School (run by Dr. and Mrs.
Undre) at Raigad, which has adopted 130 children affected by the genocide in
Gujarat last year. These children come from very humble families, and
arrived at the school with just the clothes they were wearing. The school
has provided them with a complete kit as it were (clothes, bedding, books
etc), hostel accomodation, wholesome food and education. Most important is
that the school is a haven and a refuge for these children (some of them as
young as 5 years old) who have seen their parents/siblings brutalised and
murdered, and whose families have been rendered homeless and unemployed.
The Undres with uncommon generosity have committed themselves to helping
these children right through their school years. I therefore request your
sustained help for many years.

	I was to visit the Undre School in the last week of May, but by the time I
got to Bombay, the children had been sent to Ahmedabad to visit their
families for a brief vacation before the start of the next term. Many of my
friends did go to Raigad (Professor M. G. Nadkarni, former head of the
mathematics dept, Bombay university, Professor V. R. Sule of IIT, Bombay,
Jogesh Motwani, Lakshmi Rangaraj, ...). I also met Zia Hajeebhoy and Amit
Upadhyay, who together with Monica Wahi and Charu Kasturi initiated this
effort (more about them below). Talking to these people it is clear that the
Undres have initiated a great and heroic effort. As I see it, it is our duty
now to help sustain it, and to broaden its scope. Thus not only do we
solicit your support for these 130 children over many years, but also your
help to locate other schools willing to provide similar support (there are
over 50,000 children who suffered in the genocide).

	The idea to relocate these children seems to have been the brainchild of
four remarkable people, Monica Wahi, Amit Upadhyay, Charu Kasturi and Zia
Hajeebhoy. Monica is a Delhi based film maker (she has collaborated with
Anand Patwardhan in the making of "War and Peace"), Amit a Rhodes scholar at
Oxford University, and Charu a 2nd year BSc physics student at St.
Stephen's. When the genocide began unfolding they simply dropped everything
they were doing to rush down to Gujarat to help!  They have been in
Ahmedabad ever since, living and working in the relief  camps till their
forced closure by the state govt. They got in touch with Zia who lives in
Bombay and who in turn talked to the Undres. Extraordinary times throws up
extraordinary people, but it is now our duty to step in and help so that
these young people can go back to their work and studies.

	For too long have we relied on corrupt and self-serving governments. Our
only hope is civil society, i.e. the citizens of this country, if we are to
arrest this descent into the heart of darkness that Gujarat has so starkly
come to symbolise.  Monica, Amit, Charu, Zia, The Undres, and many others
have shown us the way. We only have to follow them.

	I would be eternally grateful to you if you could pass on this appeal to
your friends. Please contact me, Zia Hajeebhoy, or  Monica Wahi (whose
e-mail addresses appear above)  for any other information or clarifications
that you might need.

	Thanking you,

				Yours sincerely,
				Shiva Shankar.
				(Chennai Mathematical Institute)

Please send your contribution to:
Cheque in the name of ROYAL EDUCATION SOCIETY
Address:
C/o S R Kudrolli
2J Calcot House, 2nd Floor
8 M P Shetty Marg
Fort, Mumbai-400 023
Ph:	:91 22 22046911

Draft Details
Name:	Royal Educational Society
Kokan Mercantile Co-op. Bank Ltd
Shriwardhan Branch, Dist. Raigad
Account No: 2819
(Your contributions are eligible for tax exemption under section 80G)

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