Raising Funds for Nourishing the Needy

We are the world, lets make it a better place, just you and me...

To honor another, is honoring ourselves. This is the mission of my nonprofit organization - Follow Thy Heart. It is also an experiential evidence of Newton’s 3rd law, namely, action and reaction are equal and opposite. In real world it translates to, whatever we send out, returns to us.


As of Feb., 2012, with the support from friends and generosity of restaurants, honoring humanity by offering nourishing food BEGAN. The very first time it was to the students in an underprivileged school in East Palo Alto (read story below). Ever since then, sometimes, it is to the gardeners and other times, to the cleaners. At times, to the construction workers operating under extreme heat/traffic on San Antonio Road. Very often, it is to the garbage man, mailman, car mechanic or to the fence painters. Once, it has been to someone hungry-and-cold standing outside Walmart begging for food and to the cancer patients. And, twice to the day workers waiting for work outside the local retail stores. In India, it was to the young kids who earn by picking up trash and to the servants. The food may vary from young coconuts, watermelon slices, home-cooked-food or Thai food/frozen yogurt from restaurants. But, the goal has been the same - to respect humanity and to nourish the needy population with something, most of us have been blessed with.


Each time a sharing or serving inside McDonald/restaurants (in India) was made, there has been a conspicuous transformation. The shift was visible, in sudden uplift of their spine, teary softness in their eyes, warmth in their waving byes and a shy-smiling nod.
However, this honoring of humanity is not just restricted to the underprivileged. And surprisingly, each time it has been offered to an average socioeconomic status neighbor/stranger in their moments of need, the impact has been exactly the same.


We are the creators of our world. How about creating a world full of honor?


If it inspires you, kindly pray that the mission finds all that it needs for blossoming. You may also contribute by offering a heartfelt donation, volunteering in person or honoring someone in your own world.  If it touched you, I would love to hear. So, please do call me up or write an email.
Namaste,
(this Hindi word means: the divinity within me bows down to the divinity inside of you.)


Name:Dr. Gunjan Raizada Chakravarty  
Email:gunjanfeelsinspired@gmail.com
Organization:Follow Thy Heart Title:Incorporator
Address: 174 Oberg Court City:Mountain View Zip:94043
Telephone(Day):650-279-7124 Telephone(Night):650-967-4160

STORY- At an elementary school in East Palo Alto, Ca

(Feb. 2, 2012)

I reached school with Lana (a young mom from my kids school) to a public school, in East Palo Alto; a school for needy kids whose parents are working 2 or more shifts to make ends meet.

It took us almost 20 minutes to set up the tables with plates full of pad Thai noodles, forks, napkins and a cup of water inside the library. We invited those 22 4th/5th graders inside around tables of 4. They were surprised by the treat as well as the dish they had never seen or heard about. I was surprised with their reactions. Other than a girl in yellow jacket and one boy, everyone tried it gingerly, loved it and asked for second helpings.

***
After that, I sat with my plate on a table with 2 girls and a boy. Lana sat on another table with 3 girls. Everybody was giggling, talking and eating.
I closed my eyes to pray, before eating.
The boy on my table asked me, “Do you always pray before eating?”
“Yes”, I answered smilingly to the shocked boy.

I asked them what kind of food they liked and they took turns to answer shyly.

“Where do you live?”, the boy asked me very inquisitively.
I had my mouth full of noodles, so I signaled with my hands to wait for my answer till I finish chewing.
One of the girls understood my signal and explained what I meant to him and the girls continued to talk.
When I was done, I looked at him to answer.
“Why can't you talk with your mouth full?”, he asked me skipping his previous question.
I just looked at him, for all through those few minutes I was chewing he was looking at me. His looked confused and angry, as if I were from another planet; doing things he had never seen or heard about.

***
We got onto the floor in a big circle holding hands. I introduced my self and kicked off the Physics workshop about gravity and gravitational force. When I asked them if anyone has heard about it, only 1 girl and 2 boys shot up their hands.

When I asked them, if they would like to explore science with balls, weighing themselves and tissue roll; all but one boy (who did not try the food) screamed yes. So, he decided not to participate and left the room.

We talked about knowing air is in the room and how can we feel it. Some of them answered through the sound of the fan, by moving hands and feeling it in their hair. We blew the air out of our mouths and then blew out the air onto the tissue paper in front of our face. Everyone raised their hands to see the impact of air and nodding that they all experienced it.

Next, we dropped two books one small/light and another big/heavy from the same height in pairs. They got back excitedly to share their observations about the sound it made, whether they hit the floor together or not etc.

Passing the ball to their partner in all possible ways got them rocking. The screams, the laughter, the excitement filled up the room. They got back together in a circle to share whatever way they shot the ball, it came down following a path like a rainbow, even if it did not hit the ceiling. So, we were all convinced that something invisible is pulling the ball down.
“That invisible force is Gravitational force”, I whispered and they looked at each other amazingly.

In the last exercise, I told them to place one book on the weighing machine and note down its weight. Then keep on adding 1, 2, 3 and 4 books and to read its corresponding reading on the scale. I showed them how the machine showed the change in my weight with 1 palm, 2 palms, 1 knee etc.


I gave them this as an exploring assignment to find a weighing machine at home, school, hospital or in grocery stores and play around with it carefully noting down the numbers. The machine gives their weight, which will be different on moon. For, the weight of the same person using the same machine depends on gravitational force, which is way less on moon.
I kept on iterating during the workshop, that they are are all awesome, wonderful and born scientist. Just keep exploring and just keep asking questions. Their eyes would light up and spine lift up each time I said those words. I noticed that it was more pronounced in the girl students.

***
To wrap up, I asked them to draw or write on a sheet of paper what they liked most in our time together. They spread out all over the room, lying down with ease on the carpet. They started scribbling with colors and peeping into each others sheet. 


I walked around the room and saw meticulous drawings of ball exercise, dropping of books and precise layout of food in the plate, with fork and water cup neatly placed on each napkin.

When I announced, its time for me to go. Surprisingly, the girl in yellow jacket (who had given a cold shoulder, when they had walked in) spoke. She uttered lovingly, softly with her focus on the drawing “No, I don't want you to go. I won't let you go. Why do you have to go?”
My heart was touched by the transformation visible in her words.
“May be I will come back soon again to do more science and get some more food, how about that is , if you like it.”, I asked.
They all screamed happily, “Yes.”

Then, I asked them to take their colorful sheets home to share it with their parents. I was shocked to see a sudden drop in their faces, the sadness surfaced all over. The energy in the room dropped from laughter to pain. A pain, I heard it in their silent turning (away from me bodies) and walking towards the back wall.
“My parents don't care for me....”
“They will put it in a trash bin....”
“They will be mad, if I show them something...”
I heard them mumbling.

Sensing their dejection, I immediately said, “Hey, give me all your colorful drawings, I would love to have them, see them, keep them.”. All but 3 boys, ran forward with joy and gave me their masterpieces.

At the end, I stood at the door to say bye to them and give them a button, “I love Physics” with my contact information. Almost all girls hugged me very affectionately, most boys waved bye, shook hands or gave me a hi-five. While hugging them, I felt a familiar love and an extreme closeness. Our hearts felt connected.

As they formed the line outside, I blew out kisses to them and most of them blew it back. All, but one (the boy who sat next to me on my table while eating) were smiling with eyes lit up. He was the last one in the line, he left gazing at me as if I were still a strange creature.

***
I drove to pick up my kids, feeling all calm. There was no exhaustion, even though my body was physically tired. Physically, I was not dancing to my favorite music while driving, but I was joyful. I was sitting amidst noisy traffic stuck at the red light, getting late to pick up my kids (which usually freaks me out), but here I was feeling a strange calmness in each and every cell of my body; similar to what I experience only in deep meditation.

I heard myself say, “This is fulfillment. To honor, is the purpose of my life. This is bliss.”

***


Then, I returned back to their school just before Valentines day. I took with me some valentine cards with kisses taped on top, which I felt motivated to make for them.
I was there, just to hand them over in 5 minutes and leave. But, first in the rush of running students was the boy who kept on staring at me when I was eating on his table. He run and simply hugged. And so did everyone, together in groups of 3 or 4.
We walked inside a room, to hand over the cards. But their eyes were searching something around me.
“What are you looking for?” I asked.
“The Thai food.” I heard.
***
Aum Tat Sat (God is Truth)