rE rE cAtaka – do Indians contribute to causes? Yes! in Kind..
There was a sanskrit subhASitam that I learned when at school.
It goes,
hey Chataka! friend! listen for a moment with an attentive mind!
there are many clouds in the sky, but all are not alike,
some of them shower rain and others roar in vain!
in front of each and everyone that you see, don’t utter your plaintive cries!!
Many people tell me that Indians don’t contribute to causes and would like to penny pinch and many tell me other wise.
About 6 months ago, Manu Kaushik asked me how I could survive working day and night on this web-site and sent across a research grant to fund books and veda learning as well as the domain name and ads-free for Ancient Indians., without even being asked for it. He suggested I put up a paypal button to make it easier for people who wanted to contribute. I did that with a post and Ashok Sagar and Sateesh Punnam sent across a contribution that together can pay for 6 months of broadband internet plus the AncientIndiansUniversity.com domain for a year.
At an age when my father Kavana Sarma, could expect to depend on me, he instead takes care of me and encourages me in my work. My My Veda Guru refuses to accept more than Rs 100 per month contribution to the Veda Giurukula where she trains me in Veda learning. It takes me at least half an hour of convincing to give her anything for Vivekananda Yoga Kendra or Sadyojata gurkula.. she says.. you need money for all that you are doing.. hold on till you make some.
A Sri Lankan lady in tough spot financially wanted to pay for her classes in the eGurukula and this time I had to convince her to take the classes first and pay later?
Who says Indians don’t contribute? We have too many causes to contribute too. Will we contribute to anti-poverty, or pro-environment, to vedic education or to secular education? May be we are just struggling so that we don’t have to ask others for money… May be the only education that we can afford to contribute to is that of our own children and relatives.
So many people have generously agreed to the use of their illustrations and photographs on this site. When I asked Rajan Iyer, he gave not only his permission but also his best wishes for my success..
A couple of my friends make sure that they cut my call and call me back so that the burden of that call does not fall on me.
Indians very gladly contribute in kind. It is hard for us to contribute in cash. So many people give free word-of-mouth publicity for my work.
Indians do contribute to causes… it is a little harder for us, because of the number of causes and need to prioritize of our limited resources of time and money.
Authorship and Copyright Notice : Satya Sarada Kandula
For a list of all contributions, please see Acknowledgements
