Rishi Modi’s Personal Blog

I’ve posted an email send by Sapna Punjabi on her project. She is the SELP Participant. Read her phenomenon project and you’ll be touched by what she has shared.
My name is Sapna Punjabi.I’m a participant of the SELP which started in May 2008 SELP in Mumbai which is led by Rishi Modi.

I took up a project on Senior Citizens…I started a club which is exclusively for Senior Citizens called ABHI TOH MAIN JAWAAN HOON….

WHY I TOOK UP THIS PROJECT??

In the advance course, I declared myself to be possibilityof LOVE AND MAKING A DIFFRENCE…Standing in the space of that, I surveryed,and concluded that the community which i wanted to impact was SENIOR CITIZENS(the most neglected segment)..

HOW I STARTED…..

Initially when i declared the project to my coach, I thought I had made the biggest mistake of my life coz I had no clue where I would start from and how I would go about it. I declared it coz everybody was doing so. The biggest barrier for me was going and talking to people and sharing with them my project and getting them enrolled in my possibilty. Every morning I would wake up and say to myself that today I would start working on my project and by the afternoon, all the excitement and enthusiasmn was ruled by my conversation “Will people actually get enrolled in my idea”? and then I would sit back and just forget about it. Days passed and I would attend my classroom sessions, go and listen to people sharing and would wonder how those guys actually caused results in their project and what is it thats not allowing me to do so?

THE FIRE IGNITED….

I remember one classroom that I attended and heard someone share about their project being successful and how people just got enrolled in the idea of doing something which would impact the community. That sharing actually took away all the conversation that I had regarding people not getting enrolled in my project away from me and set me free.The very next morning, I woke up early and got ready to go and talk to the people in the garden just next to my house.When I woke up, I was all very enthu about taking the first step for my project, but as soon as I stepped out of the house,my nervouseness and conversation took charge of me. But this time I was not impacted and affected by that conversation. I knew it was a converstaion that I created for myself and let that be where it belonged to. I went down and as soon as I entered the garden, I saw the garden packed with senior citizens. Some of them doing their yoga aasans,some doing some other excercise,some walking and some just sitting and chatting. I was’nt decided whom I should approach first but then I approached a group of 10 people who were doing their excersises. I went up to where they were and just stood there quietly and did not say anything coz I did not wanna disturb them. All the while that I was standing there, I kept wondering if it was the right thing I was doing. Just while I was dealing with that, one uncle happened to see me standing there and observing them and walked upto me and asked me if i wanted something. There I found an opportunity walking to me to get enrolled and I decided that I ,the cannon should now fire.I started a conversation with that uncle by introducing myself and what I do in life. Then I went off to talking to him about Landmark Education and then was the most important one - my project. I spoke to him about my project and shared with him my thoughts and views and to my surprise, he was enrolled 100%. He complimented me by saying that it was really very nice to have someone young as me to start something for senior citizens and someone who actually had such noble thoughts and respect for senior citizens. That moment for me was a moment full of joy for me and I enjoyed every bit of my converstaion with him. After I completed with him, he directed me to another group of senior citizens who was just a few steps away and said that I should go and share this wit them as well. That was when I actually saw my project become alive. I went to the next group and they all stopped doing their yoga as soon as I approached them. I wished thenm a very gud morning with a lot of enthusiasm and got a gud response. I then asked them if I could talk to them for a few minutes and they said sure why not. I then did the same thing which I had done with the uncle (enrolling them) and believe me, I was really shocked and surprised to see the thrill and joy in them. As soon as I finished, they had loads of questions to be answered. I was asked questions like “madam pls give us the form and we would like to be a part of it”,”when is the event”,”we wee waiting for something like this to happen” etc etc. I shared with them the name of my club “ABHI TOH MAIN JAWAAN HOON” and they started screaming on top of their voice saying ABHI TO MAIN JAWAAN HOON and immediately got a box of sweets,opened it and then said “madam ab moh meetha karo” . We are all now a part of ABHI TOH MAIN JAWAAN HOON. That was the most memorable and unforgettable moment of my life. Just that 45 minutes visit to the garden had got me 35 members for my club. After I finished with them, I got present to something - its not difficult enrolling people if ure committed to them. That gave me self confidence and a lot of boost to move ahead and then I stared talking to people who were walking around in the garden. To my surprise, by the time I left the garden that morning, I already had 50 members. I was now on top of the world feeling absolutely great about myself. That day I decided that I wuld continue going down to the garden for atleast a week. I got the registration forms printed and went the next day in the morning. To my surprise, all the people whom I’d spoken to a day before, greeted me with a lot of love and respect and started screaming :good morning madam”. I felt verey important and for a moment felt no less than a know personality. I spoke to them and got them to fill the forms etc etc and enrolled many more people etc. This process went about for approx 10-12 days and slowly started seeing myself achieving the numbers I mentioned I would have for my first event. I started preparing for my event which was supposed to be the inaugural event of my club. I got in touch with many NGO’s and did get a response from many of them but none willing to help me as such. then came an NGO called SILVER INNINGS who voluntarily offered to support me in this work and move it ahead. We had a sucessful meeting and decided what we would do for the inaugural event. We did everything from arrnging for the venue for the event to refreshments,sitting arrangement to feedback forms. Everything was just in place for the 13th July (the day of the event)
FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL…

Time passed and excitement and nervousness stared taking charge of me. I was very excited that I finally my project was happening and I was like the other few in my class who would have something to share about on this front. As the big day came, I had 140 registered members in my club. On 13th morning, I would just wait for time to pass as quick as it could. During the day, I went to the venue for inspection to see if my sound system was in place, chairs were neatly arranged,banner was put up etc etc. I was now totally set for my project taking off like a space craft. The event was to start at 5 pm and go on till 8 pm. I reached the venue and swa uite a few of them waiting for me. As soon as I entered there with my parents and husband, people started walking up to me and talking to me and sharing their joy of being there. I was overwhelmed at the response and the co-operation that I got from my members. After about 10 mins, we started off with the event. I started by welcoming them there and acknowledging them and then followed my welcome speech. After the welcome speech, I acknowledged the guest of honor for the evening who was no-one else but my dad.My dad was the first person who said this was not possible when I shared this idea with him and I got him there to see that I was capable of going beyond myself and doing things for others. Then we played a game of passing the ball - the intention of playing that game was that everyone enjoys and remembers their childhood. The rules of the game were that who ever got out would stand up and introduce himself/herself so that every individual got to know who’s sitting beside them. Everyone plyed the game with a lot of energy and enthusiasm and after about 10 mins what I noticed was that people were not willing to pass the ball - the simple reason being that they wanted a chance to introduce themself. I got that and at that minute I decided to stop that game and give them a chance to voluntarily introduce themself. As soon as I announce that they could do so, I saw people just waiting to reach out to the mic and kept raising their hadn so that they were given a chance. After almost everyone was done with, we had people from SILVER INNINGS come and have a visual talk to SUCCESSFUL AGEING. While thta went on, I observed that everyone single person present there was listening to it with great interest. Right then , we started off with our refreshments round and they were served right where they were sitting. Each of them wa sgiven a plate which had 1 samosa,1gulab jamun and a cup to tea. The session ended around 7 45 p.m.After that we distributed the feedback forms which we had prepared so that e have an idea of how it was for them and what should be done to take this to the next level. Everyon filled up the form with great interest and to share with you I got a phenomenal response. Every form mentioned that it was an amazing event. After that was done, people began to come up to me and thank me and gradually exited. During that time there were 2 members who came up to me and offered to share the expenses with me. That was something that I never imagined coz I hadnt taken a single rupee as membership from anyone. The two of them then gave me a certain amount and appreciated the event.

THE FIRST SUCCESFUL DAY AT SCHOOL ENDS….

At around 8 p.m almost all the crowd had exited. Now was the time that my friends,my husband and myself sat and discussed about the first day at school. To my great surprise what I was given to understand is that everyone present there was in great space. I was acknowledged and appreciated gracefully and respectfully by my friends and family members for all the efforts that I had put in to cause this. That day is the most memorable day of my life - a day that I ould never even dream of forgetting.
LESSON I LEARNT AT FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL……

When you are committed to something in life, things start falling in place. Never get stopped by conversations that u create by yourself - they stop you from recognising your own capabilities……

On May 25th I started my ‘Self Expression and Leadership Program’. In this program I wanted to create a project related to dancing as I am very passionate about dancing. So I thought of arranging a workshop for the children of St. Catherine Home (Home for Underprivileged Children). When I was creating this project, I wanted to have Sandip Soparrkar do the workshop for these children. I approached Sandip and he was ready to be a part of the workshop. I thank him for his support and generosity.
On the Day of the project:

I, along with 5 other people (Sandip, his crew and my friends) reached St. Catherine Home on Sunday morning at 10.30am on 20th July 2008. We started the workshop at 11:00 am for 1st set of children. These were all girls and the challenge for Sandip was that they were all under 10. I was concerned if they’ll be able to learn Latin Dance. As soon as the children came there, I was completely moved by their presence. There were 50 of them and each brought tons of energy and joy with them. Sandip started the workshop with them and there involvement was great. All of us were dancing and enjoying every aspect of it. It was fun! I cannot express in words my joy that I experienced when I was with these children. I too danced for a song in the class and then those children danced for a Hindi Song. Our workshop went on for 4 hours; we repeated the session for the next set of 50 and in total we conducted the workshop for 100 children. All I can say is that, it was fun. I request you to see the Gallery for pictures from the workshop.

I want to acknowledge the support of Sandip Soparrkar, Bhupendra, my wife - Rachana, Vandana, Isha and everyone who was there to make this event happen.

Videos : Click here http://youtube.com/watch?v=-6I1G8lfUpg

Gallery :

[Show as slideshow]

Regards

Rishi Modi

I recently took time to examine my motivations for my everyday actions. I have strong beliefs regarding the way things should be done, and I started to think about the word ‘should’ and how it applies to almost everything I do.

Most of the things I say I ‘should’ be doing, I do not feel I have a choice about. I am driven to do things because of fear, or a sense of morality. I don’t ‘choose’ to do certain things, but I am constrained to do them because I am afraid of what will happen if I don’t.

Having a strong feeling that I ‘should’ do something means I have given up my choice in the matter in favor of fear or some moral code. Sometimes this makes me feel that I am not the owner of my life, that I am living the life of someone I do not even know.

I sat down to make a list of things I ‘should’ accomplish in my life. As the list grew, I realized that almost all of my goals are driven by this feeling of ‘should’. I am driven by fear, not my own self expression.

No wonder I am stressed at the end of each day! I get so caught up in what I ‘should’ do that I lose sight of what I want to accomplish. Simply doing as I ‘should’ becomes the ultimate goal, rather than financial security, happiness or simply the joy of being ME.

I want to drive my life, not be driven by it. I want to do things with the intent of accomplishing my goals, not simply because I ‘should’ do them.

I’m not sure what I ‘should’ do next, but I know what I will choose to do. I will drive this feeling of ‘should’ rather than let it drive me. I will choose my actions, not be forced to them through fear. I will accept my life the way it is, love each and every day, and do things because I want to, for the joy they give me, and because I CAN, not because I should.

Do read this true story about making a difference. Very very inspiring.

Given you are reading this, I want to let you know that you are important to me.

Who you are does makes a difference, I want you to know that.

Please accept this a blue ribbon and pass it on to as many people you can.

Thank you Charul for passing this story.

From last few days, one of the distinctions I’ve been working on is the distinction between “Being Interesting” vs. “Being Interested”.

I have been confronted with how much my life is oriented around “Being Interesting”. Whenever I’m heading teams, I’ve seen my whole focus has been around being interesting to people around me, rather than being interested in those people and their life.

In one of many conversations with my coach “Gopal Rao” (Landmark Forum Leader and Extraordinary Human Being), I distinguished that a true leader is someone who’ll always be “Interested in People”. A leader will always be thinking about his team made up of the people around him winning, rather than what he personally wants to accomplish. I think the best example is Mahatma Gandhi, who was always interested in everyone’s freedom and always cared about them. I’m really moved by this distinction and I’ve been consciously practicing this distinction in my life.

I’ll keep sharing the results I’ve produced consistent with the new possibility I’ve invented for myself and my life. Also, feel free to share your feedback, comments, insights or anything else you have to contribute!.

Regards

Be ready! You will cry watching what a father’s love can do for both father and son, a father’s love which the world needs very much. They are really an inspiration for both the able-bodied and disabled. You must read this article and watch the youtube video at the end of it. It brought tears to my eyes and I don’t cry easily. The video touches me in ways I never knew. The story is about human courage. The story is about father and son. I’m now a father to two. I realized there is so much more I can do for my children.

This is the most unbelievable thing I’ve ever seen. I am absolutely in AWE of this man. Please watch the video, too — I am sitting here at my computer at a loss for words. There are no words for this, only tears filled with emotion.

A MUST Watch Video

This Father does it all just for the purpose of seeing the smile on his son’s face. If you want to see the most profound reflection of the Father’s love for us that you’ve ever seen … watch. Time taken to watch this is the best time you’ve ever spent on email.

Read this and then watch the video at the end. You won’t be disappointed.

[From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly]

Eighty-five times he’s pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he’s not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars — all in the same day.

Dick’s also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much — except save his life.

This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years ago, when Rick was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

“He’ll be a vegetable the rest of his life,” Dick says doctors told him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. “Put him in an institution.”

But the Hoyts weren’t buying it. They noticed the way Rick’s eyes followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was anything to help the boy communicate. “No way,” Dick says he was told. “There’s nothing going on in his brain.”

“Tell him a joke,” Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain.

Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? “Go Bruins!” And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, “Dad, I want to do that.”

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described “porker” who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he tried. “Then it was me who was handicapped,” Dick says. “I was sore for two weeks.”

That day changed Rick’s life. “Dad,” he typed, “when we were running, it felt like I wasn’t disabled anymore!”

And that sentence changed Dick’s life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

“No way,” Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren’t quite a single runner, and they weren’t quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then they found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, “Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?”

How’s a guy who never learned to swim and hadn’t ridden a bike since he was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried.

Now they’ve done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii. It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don’t you think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you’d do on your own? “No way,” he says. Dick does it purely for “the awesome feeling” he gets seeing Rick with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992 — only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don’t keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.

“No question about it,” Rick types. “My dad is the Father of the Century.”

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries was 95% clogged. “If you hadn’t been in such great shape,” one doctor told him, “you probably would’ve died 15 years ago.”

So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other’s life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass., always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father’s Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.

“The thing I’d most like,” Rick types, “is that my dad would sit in the chair and I would push him once.”

Project was created by my participant name Anil Gupta. The project started way back in Feb. 2007 and once you read the entire project I’m clear you’ll inspired by what he created in last 1 year and still going strong. His coach Shaunak Choksi created a key role in impacting this project. Hats off to you Anil and Shaunak. I’m really inspired by what you are creating in this world.

Background:

SELP project goal is to support the education of 20,000 girls till they complete 10 years of education.

Naandi Foundation:

www.naandi.org

www.naandi.no

Naandi foundation is a non-for-profit organization that runs several programs. The board of directors comprise of eminent industrialists and personalities in India including

• Dr. Anji Reddy
• Mr. Anand Mahindra
• Mr. Ramalingam Raju
• Actor Cheeranjiv

One of their programs in called “Nanhi Kali”. Nanhi Kali means flowering bud. Nanhi Kali enables the education of under privileged girls from class 1 to class 10. This program is run in collaboration with the local government by adopting government schools.

The program:

• Supports education delivery by increasing the teacher-student ratio and enabling the teachers by training and support.
• Provides uniforms, books, stationery to the girls.
• Provides regular medical check-ups and complete treatment to the girls through tie-ups with doctors and hospitals. It also provides hygiene education and support to the girls and their family.
• Provides the mid-day meal in the school.
• Supports and motivates the social environment (parents of the girl) to ensure that the girls continue to attend school regularly. This is done by appointing 1 mentor per 50 girls. The mentor works closely with the girl’s parents and school environment to track the girl child progress.

The cost:

• It costs Rs.2500 per annum to support one girl child in the Nanhi Kali program.
• The government provides Rs. 2 per child per day for the mid-day meal.

Current status:

• Presently Capgemini supports approx 4000 girls in the Nanhi kali program.
  • Capgemini India- 1500 girls.
  • Capgemini Norway- 2500 girls.
  • Capgemini Sweden- launched the program in Jan 2008. The numbers supported are not known yet.
• In 2007 Capgemini Sweden did not give Christmas gifts to the employees. Instead they donated the 10,000 euros to Naandi Foundation.
• Capgemini operations in UK, Netherlands and Finland are actively considering the Nanhi Kali program.
• The Capgemini Global CSR leader Ms. Carolyn Nimmy is very supportive and working to make this a global program.

The ambition:

• The ambition is, by end of 2009, to have the Capgemini Global CEO make a public statement that “For every Capgemini employee in the world we support the education of at least one girl child in India.” That would mean 80,000 girls.
• Include a CSR Incentive in all Capgemini proposals.
  • We will propose that for every team member deployed on a client project, Capgemini will sponsor the education of one girl child in India. The first such proposal was made in Dec 2007 to a client in Norway.

The chronology of progress:

Smallest and cutest women on planet

Thank you Ravi Bhavsar for forwarding these images to me.

I just love these pics. and what I’m also present to is God’s beauty and cuteness.

       That was so awesome! Right?

A picture began circulating in November. It should be ‘The Picture of =he Year,’ or perhaps, ‘Picture of the Decade.’ It won’t be. In fact,unless you =btained a copy of the US paper which published it, you probably would ever have seen it.

The picture is that of a 21-week-old unborn baby named Samuel Alexander Armas, who is being operated on by surgeon named Joseph Bruner.

The baby was diagnosed w ith spina bifida and would not survive if r emoved from his mother’s womb. Little Samuel’s mother, Julie Armas, is on obstetrics nurse in Atlanta She knew of Dr. Bruner’s remarkable surgical procedure. Practicing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville , he performs these special operations while the baby is still in the womb.

During the procedure, the doctor removes the uterus via C-section and makes a small incision to operate on the baby. As  Dr. Bruner completed the surgery on Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon’s finger. Dr.Bruner was reported as saying that when his finger was grasped, it was the most emotional moment of his life, and that for an instant during the procedure he was just frozen, totally immobile.

The photograph captures this amazing event with perfect clarity. The editors titled the =icture, ‘Hand of Hope.’ The text explaining the picture begins, ‘The tiny hand of =1-week- old fetus Samuel Alexander Armas emerges from the mother’s uterus to =rasp the finger of Dr. Joseph Bruner as if thanking the doctor for the gift of life.’
Little Samuel’s mother said they ‘wept for days’ when they saw the picture. She said, ‘The photo reminds us pregnancy isn’t about disability or an illness, it’s about a little person.

Samuel was born in perfect health, the operation 100 percent successful.

Now see the actual picture, and it is awesome…incredible….and hey,  pass it on. The world needs to see this one!

- Thanks to Raymond for sharing this information with all of us –

This is very exciting.  I recently performed at JW Mariots (24th Jan 2008) in the group of 11 and the show was just awesome.  This was my first ever dance performance on stage and I was a bit nervous too.  But everyone in the group supported me a lot and they were real inspiration to me.  I specially acknowledge Shanon and Diago for being an excellent support for me while practicing and helping me with various dance steps.  Also want to acknowledge Sandeep Soparkar for giving me the opportunity to dance in his group.
The show got telecasted on several news channel LIVE.

About the Show :

It was a 8 minutes performance by 11 of us including Sandeep and Jessi.  This show was for the launch of new soap and after our performance we had Aaishwaria Rai walking in the end.

Name of everyone who performed :

Sandeep Soparkar, Jessi, Shanon, Preeti (not zinta), Diago, Risha, Kareena (not kapoor), Damini (without Rishi Kapoor), Alysha (not Chinoi), my self - Rishi (not Kapoor) and I forgot one name :).

File size is 79 mb (approx), its better to download the file and view it in Windows Media Player.

 You’ll also find format compatible with your mobile phone.  See the Download link below.  Its a 3gp format.

 

 Dance Format WMV [9:27m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (213)
 Mobile Format: Download (98)