Inviting AMKA25 SOUVENIR Magazine Submissions…
Amka-ites of all ages, fire up your laptops, sharpen your pencils, dust off your photo-albums! Here’s your chance to participate in a keepsake AMKA25 souvenir magazine that’s being published to celebrate and commemorate AMKA’S 25th anniversary in Nov, 2010.

Express Yourself Contest. AMKA Youth: (Ages: 2-18 yrs)

Please finish any one of these sentences:
1) I like AMKA because…
2) My best AMKA moment was…
3) Without AMKA I would be…

Write an essay (no more than 500 words), or a poem (no longer than 50 lines in length), or send us art (81/2 x 11 page size) and express yourself.

• Entries will be divided into: Elementary (1st-6th grade), Jr. High (7th-8th) and High School (9th-12th grade).
• One 1st Prize of $50 and one Honorable Mention Prize of $25 will be awarded in each category.
• Top 5 in each category will be published in the AMKA25 Souvenir.
• Contributions may be submitted in person, by mail, or by email.

‘Where Are They Now?’ or ‘Memba Them?’: AMKA Next Gen (Ages – over 21 or their parents)

Send us a pic of you as an AMKA youth at an AMKA event and a pic of you now with your current occupation or achievement. It’ll be fun for all to see you all grown up!

25 Years of AMKA – General (but very special) submissions: AMKA public – all ages.

Submit short articles, poetry, art and pictures pertaining to AMKA. Topics can include:

• Recollections of your AMKA experiences (collage pictorials accepted) at our yearly events, the Sammelans, our plays, dances, etc., any AMKA related activities.
• Write-ups about anything you accomplished thanks to your AMKA connections
• inspirational for the rest of us.
• AMKA themed anecdotes, short stories, jokes, puzzles.
• Chronicles of AMKA – Historical, time-line articles about AMKA then and now, the early immigrant experience in the AMKA family, etc.

Calling all AMKA cooks: Any age, any gender.

Send in your favorite, tried and tested recipes for printing either in our Souvenir magazine or as a special supplement hand-out at the AMKA25 event. We’re especially looking for konkani recipes that are:

• current-day kitchen staples using newer gadgets, tools and techniques.
• modern twists on konkani food – semi-homemade – using ready to use ingredients
• ‘Heart-Healthy’ and ‘Low Calorie/Low Fat’/Low Carb (low anything:) versions of old konkani classics.

Deadline for all entries is Oct 5th, 2010. So, hurry!!!

For more information please contact:

• Sandhya Kamath – skamath AT aol dot com
• Vinaya Nayak – vinnu AT comcast dot net
• Ravibala Shenoy – aphoton AT aol dot com
• Leena Balsekar – balsekar AT aol dot com

PS.: All accepted contributions will be treasured for years to come in our keepsake souvenir magazine, so please send them in.

The school made a significant investment in cooking equipment and prepares a nutritious, vegetarian meal for the ~ 850 primary and secondary school students. Lunch is simply rice, sambar or daal, a lentil curry or vegetable and pickles (see actual student plate above).

During my meetings with parents of Scholarship recipients, and listening to comments at the Parents Teachers Meeting, parents absolutely love the school lunch program. Parents are relieved of the pressure to pack a lunch every morning, or have it ready for the lunch break. Parents are also surprised (and glad) their kids actually eat the variety of vegetables and lentils the school serves. The school subsidizes the lunch and charges students Rs 80 per month (~$2 per month, Rs 4 per meal or ~ 10 cents per lunch!). Students not on the meal plan can eat occasional meals and drop cash in an unmanned donation box.

Kids love the food too. Meals are taken in the company of friends (and associated peer-pressure to finish their plate). Lunch is done within 20-30 minutes, and since they still have an hour break, they get to play around, gossip, or browse the library.

Thus I showed up just before lunch time to “test the quality of the school lunch program.” I always have interesting reasons to be present wherever free lunch is served. Very delicious food and a primary reason why we included lunch as part of the scholarship package we provide needy students. Whenever you are in Kumta, you are welcome to join in for a free lunch!

See pics from the Lunch, below

Boys and girls line separately for their lunches; senior students (X Std/grade) take turns serving. This day they also served a special “payasam” (see nearest bucket)

Students wait for all their colleagues to be served before starting.

Then after a brief benediction in Sanskrit (Shanti Mantra),

They start to eat.

One more of the lunch/ auditorium

• Lunch at the Saraswati Vidya Kendra
• Shanbhag School in Kumta
• Academic Update from the Shanbhag School
• Scholarships for the Needy
• Scholarship Activities at Shikshan.org

The Shanbhag High School, managed by the Konkan Education Trust does not receive any governmental aid. But it follows the state determined academic syllabus and guidelines. While we attract many students who can afford fees, our family wanted to make good education particularly accessible to the poor. Thus last year we gave 16 scholarships to very needy students to attend either the Shanbhag High School, or the affiliated primary school, Saraswati Vidya Kendra. At a new site dedicated to our Scholarship activities, (Shikshan.org), you can browse the list of Scholarship Recipients for 2007-2008.

You can also read about my personal challenges in identifying needy girls: Where are all the needy girls?

We did not rest, last December (2007) during my travels to Kumta I visited most of the scholarship recipients in their homes. The visit served two purposes: (a) to meet the families and convince them of our commitment to support their child’s education ~ and in turn expect them to make education a priority; and (b) to ensure that these were indeed needy families, which I could determine from their living conditions.

They lived in simple 1 or 2 room homes, or with relatives, and it was emotionally overwhelming to experience the gratitude of these families. Below, I share with you some of the scholarship recipients in their home settings. Appropriately I have omitted their names.

We supported the girl; this was their front room/living room/bedroom and the kids studied on the bed. Behind was a smaller kitchen/dining area.

She came from a family of traditional fisher folks.

We supported the boy. As discussed in Where are all the needy girls? the sister in 4th grade was enrolled in the Kannada language school. She wanted to be in the Shanbhag School with her brother but unaffordable. On hearing this, I asked her mother (father is no more) to enroll her in our school for the next year. When I visited Kumta last month, we got the girl enrolled with a full scholarship! Yaay!

You can see the kitchen and dining area in the back. As traditional families do, they sit on the floor to eat.

We are supporting the boy. You see one of several sisters in the background, who have all graduated from the Kannada language school. With limited professional or career options, they work as cooks and serve meals to students in a part of their house.

We are supporting one of these delightful twins, seen here drawing and finishing their home work.

If you are interested in helping children get an outstanding education, see what we have started at Shikshan.org; and particularly, How to Help!

• Shanbhag School in Kumta
• Academic Update from the Shanbhag School
• Lunch at the Shanbhag School
• Lunch at the Saraswati Vidya Kendra; Audio of Kids Chanting
• Scholarship Activities at Shikshan.org

Leaving the school, the bus was packed! I felt guilty as a seat was saved for me. But gave me a chance to take a few pics.

Little kids from the adjacent primary school got the pride of place next to the driver. At each stop, the conductor would literally carry a little one and hand them over to one of their parents waiting at the stop. Then joyously they would scamper away.


The kids were superbly well behaved and engaged in mindless banter the entire way. This kid looked at me suspiciously the entire ride.

A bunch just behind me.

One of the spiffy school buses. Here in Kumta, cows are an ubiquitous presence. Chewing cud, this calf sauntered in just in time to have its pic taken. As M had not accompanied me to Kumta, this pic elicited the well expected: “sooooo cute!” That was for the calf, not the bus.

My cousin brother is a bhat-maam (priest) in the small konkan town of Honavar, 15 miles south of Kumta. His parents had insisted he get a college degree – so after his BA in Economics he still decided to follow their priestly traditions. They live in spartan accommodations beside the temple. I have fond memories of visiting them during my school summer vacations. Every morning we herded cows to a distant pasture. There we would bathe in a local stream! O, what joys for a city brat. Now I only visit during my India trips and don't herd cows. Can't forget my roots, which need constant nourishing!

His daughter, Dhanya is the cutest girl I have seen. Here I had to interrupt her doodling on the kitchen floor. The beam of light is from a makeshift skylight. A couple of terracotta tiles in the roof are replaced with a sheet of glass. Wisps of smoke are from the burning wood embers used for cooking. They have a gas cooking range, but my aunt grew up using a wood fire and rarely uses the range. The old-style door has a sliding latch and the open pantry is lined with steel dabbas.

What do you need to be happy? You'd be right if you guessed – a divine daughter and a row of mithai-filled dabbas! I am currently batting zero for a million!

It's usually the poorest of the poor who will strike a conversation with us. Perhaps they have nothing to fear. Most are kids – certainly fearless! When they see I have a big camera, they come up and ask to take their pic. The common phrase was, “Anna (elder brother) photo!” pointing to themselves. For me this was always a thrill. I gladly shoot multiple pics and they scramble away, jumping up and down. With my big camera, they prolly feel like stars in a movie production. And I treat them like stars. Some stay back to ask where I am from. If they hang around long enough, I show them the pics on the LCD screen – then their amazement sees no end. Interestingly, most never ask for copies of the prints. They are simply content, they posed.

While I derive a lot of joy from this encounter, what's in it for them? Perhaps I hope, in approaching and dealing with me, their confidence is boosted. They may hesitate less, the next time they have to stand-up for something. Perhaps. Here I have assembled a few pics from our recent trip to Badami, Pattadakal and Hampi. Other than the actual sites, these interactions I craved the most. Let me know of your experiences.

Accompanying pic: As we parked near the Cave temples of Badami, these two came up and he confidently asked me to take their pic. They appeared to be siblings – look at their beautifully intertwined fingers.

At the MahaKuta Temple complex, some miles from Badami: The kid selling Goli Soda darted by as I tried to get his attention. The other two realized my intent and ran after the kid and brought him back to pose with them. The kid was prolly 8-10 years old, trying to make a living selling Goli Soda. The one in the center scares me!

These girls certainly felt left out. Either because they were tending the baby, or they just did not summon the courage to ask. I sensed, and asked if I could take their pic, and their eyes gleamed in affirmation.

At the Vithala temple in Hampi, the young girl Gouthami asked me to take a pic of her family. This girl of about 10, directed her mother and all older relatives to pose and smile. Then she wanted one with her mother (above). While I was surprised at her english, I was speechless when her mother spoke in flawless english and explained details about their trip. They were from a village in AndhraPradesh and were coincidentally also leaving for Tirupati on the night train. Gouthami wanted more pics (see below) and most unusually, wanted me to mail the pics to them. So the mother wrote out her name and address. Of the so many kids pics I have taken on this trip, this was the only time anyone asked me to mail the pics. I still need to do so.

As we walked back to the car in stunned silence, the kids waved bye. Here were kids with literally nothing in this world, not even family, and they seemed so content to be merry. M & I talked about how we had been quibbling earlier in the evening – we who have so much; and the kids, with nary a penny to their name were happily enjoying the moment. That was for me an important evening, and I hope it changes our lives forever. Even today, whenever M and I have a disagreement, we think of those orphans we met at the Dam, see how happy they were with what little they had! Certainly, we have much more.

As part of our annual charitable givings, I hope to identify an orphanage in rural karnataka and make a huge donation to them. We have also decided not to take any more gifts to our relatives in India, but to instead continue and increase our contributions to the schools and other deserving opportunities. I encourage you to do the same.

Ever since her mom was expecting, Gundi wanted a baby brother. In the hospital when she found it was a girl, she apparently asked, “Will she turn into a baby brother after a few days?” Cute uh? Whats with that hairdo you ask? I think its straight from Kochi. Yesterday they had a “cradling/naming” ceremony for the new arrival – Navya. This pic was taken last Sunday when the baby was 48 hours old.