Volunteers

[mrifan]

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Brahmana trust

I had alluded to the formation of a trust primarily to prevent any liability claims on the donated money. Brahmanas are usually honest, and on a percentage basis, probably pay one of the highest tax rates. These same taxes are used to actively support these DK/DMK/PMK/ABCDKKKK thugs. Most of the rest are getting subsidies or hiding their taxes from the govt by keeping property in other peoples' names etc.

So Brahmanas need not feel any guilt about sponsoring downtrodden people of their own community. If a MBC/SC/ST child applies to a govt college, the tuition fees are waived, and also a stipend is sometimes given. The student does not even have to spend money on coaching classes since obtaining a bare minimum of 40% marks is enough to get into Anna University.

This is not to say that Brahmanas should consider themselves opposed to other castes. After all, most are our Hindu brethren and we must strive to live together in equality and peace with them as much as possible. I would like to remind people that some OBCs like Mr. Vijayan of the VOICE forum do oppose the 69% TN quota in violation of the Supreme Court orders. Of course, he got his quota of beatings in 1994 for that.

In the future, if the fund corpus grows large enough, and the number or quality of Brahmana applicants is not
adequate, I feel some of the funds may also be used to sponsor poor children of other castes who believe in Hinduism, and do not belong to the DK/PMK/KKKK etc.

 

[mrifan]

Small steps

Also, I think it is ok to start small. Most organizations started small, with the involvement of a handful of members. The idea should be to double the number of members and the people helped every year. Within a decade, the number grows by a factor of a thousand! This kind of organic growth is also more self-sustaining in my opinion, since it is a true sense of commitment and personal fulfilment which makes for a growing community.

Also, I feel polite language and objective and informative discussions will be instrumental in increasing the "stickiness" of this community. Strident and inflammatory string of discussions with personal attacks by some members will actually drive away other discerning members also. People from all over the world from different backgrounds may visit this site, and a judicious choice of words and phrases would be in order.

 

[kashyap]

where should i send my contribution for the students

Dear born_again_aiyer_maami:

So far, we have helped out three deserving cases - one poor brahmin temple priest who had a heart attack; Srividhya studying engineering in Coimbatore (her second year tuition of Rs.40k is coming up) and Rajachandrika (I already personally paid her dues for last year and there are several good samaritans from our community standing ready to help out). We have thoroughly checked out these people before I organized the disbursement of money. But it takes time and volunteers from our community in different places to check out the veracity of these cases. As I write, I will be meeting with a Chartered Accountant to get all the facts for setting up a trust. I wonder if we should name the trust as "tamilbrahmins.com"; I am told undesirable elements in TN might create trouble for us. We need to look into this.
Anyway, thank you for all your suggestions. Please spread the word.

Hi silverfox
pl let me know where and how I can send my contribution for these students.
Do u need a DD /cheque or money transfer . Else I can send someone to personally handover (that averts some bank commission

)

By the way it would be great if they commit themselves to upholding our culture and never move away from that whatever the temptation may be.

 

[born_again_aiyer_maami]

Assistance to students ...

Silverfox,
Happy to report I survived the round of lay-offs announced yesterday.
I will be happy to help students in need of assistance. Subalaji had mentioned: (a) Balu Vadyar, (b) that he had a list of needy students.
Bhooma mentioned two children at her local temple.
I have an account in Chennai and I can have a DD delivered to the child/parent concerned. Please let me know.
Alternatively: I usually make fortnightly contributions to faceless charitable organizations in the faith that "akaasaat patitam toyam ...". If you set up a trust, I will be happy to route the fortnightly/monthly remittance to the trust and help my own people.
Let me know.

Dear born_again_aiyar_maami:
Thank you for your suggestions. I went on the site www.ffe.org; looks like they are doing a fine job of helping out younsters.
Are you suggesting that we abandon our idea of having a trust and go with Foundation For Excellence and recommend students to them? What about other help? Please bear with me; I am not too swift!
I am sorry to hear about the impending layoffs; I hope you are not affected by it. I appreciate the fact that you cannot commit right now; but please dont worry; you could perhaps help us in other respects.

 

[murali]

Sir,
i stay in madras.anyway i can contribute as a volunteer.you can send a private message on whom to contact,etc.

 

[silverfox]

Dear Pappan:
I am STAYING in Madras; you LIVE in Chennai!!
Seriously, thank you for volunteering your services. We will definitely can make use of you; will get back to you soon.

<<<--Pappan---Sir, i stay in madras.....>>>

 

[Bhooma]

I have managed to get the information regarding Mr Viswanathan who works at the temple near my home. He has two daughters and he would appreciate monetary help for the coming academic year . According to him, one years tuition fees for the elder daughter is 11400 and the other daughter is 10900.

Will the administrators advise us on how to make the donations ?

Mr Vytheeswaran.. yes .. it would be a good idea for all volunteers who can spare time to meet at a convenient date . Any suggestions please ?

Thanks and its so fulfilling to see so many people coming forward to help.

 

[subalaji]

volunteers meeting

I will suggest a conference call instead of a physical meeting to begin with , this will save lot of time , will explore conference options and come back to you all

 

[rxrajamo]

Calling India from US might work cheaper. I can setup a conf call between all US volunteers who are interested and perhaps dial an india number. Will need help in setting up a similar one in India and a common number to call.

Ramki

I will suggest a conference call instead of a physical meeting to begin with , this will save lot of time , will explore conference options and come back to you all

 

[kashyap]

cheaper options -- chat/ voice-chat /skype

Calling India from US might work cheaper. I can setup a conf call between all US volunteers who are interested and perhaps dial an india number. Will need help in setting up a similar one in India and a common number to call.

Ramki

how about chat or voice chat or skype which will be far cheaper?

 

[subra51]

I am living in Singapore at present. I can be a volunteer in Singapore. For any deserving person wishing to study in Singapore, I can dessiminate information regarding the courses, cost, loan facilities etc. There is a brahmin association in singapore known as Singapore Dakshina Bharatira Brahmanna Sabha. It has more than 800 members many of them Singaporeans and many working in Singapore. You can try soliciting help from them. The email address is [email protected] and the web site is www.sdbbs.org. You can communicate with them. But before any help can be solicited from outside or inside India, some points are to be cleared.
1. All of us are interested in the upliftment of our brothers and sisters, but the website, I feel is becoming a more of a Arratai Arangam without any specific time bound goals. AS long as the vote bank politics are there nothing can be done about the reservation system.
2, The problem is that even though Brahmins constitute about 3% of Tamilnadu population, the open competition available in Tamilnadu is 31%. The FCs are not even getting 3% of the total seats. So our main aim is to improve the copmpetitiveness of the community. There is also no point in talking about the creamy layer as this is again vote bank polittics.
3. For getting donation there should be a trust. No body is going to donate money to the private account of an individual. Sometime I received an email from the forum soliciting for donation. I raised the same question. But till date I have not received any reply. If there is any trust only the problems of income tax gift tax etc can be solved.
4. How many of the forum members are in Chennai. Their role is very important. The NRI members can only donate money. But the ground work has to be done by members in Tamilnadu.
5. All of us know waht are the problems facing the brahmins in Tamilnadu. The solution is in our hands. But this can be done with the full committment and coopearation of all members. Resident members have to do the physical work in TAmilnadu and NRI members can give their moral and financial support.

S S Subramanian

 

[silverfox]

Dear Subramanian:
Let me try to answer to questions/comments you have raised.

1. This forum has NOT become an 'Arratai Arangam' as you have alleged. Contrary to that, we all have learned a great deal (still learning) from each other. You should take some time to read some of the postings; they were written with academic research, are spiritual, uplifiting, enlightening, and, of course, entertaining.
Of course, once in a while, we might fall into certain levity but that is unavoidable.
Ok, you talk about specific time-bound goals; pray tell how do we go about doing this. Don't think that people are just sitting around, doing nothing and writing 'arattai' postings! People are busy with their lives and some of us are trying our best to bring our community together.

2. You say that "our main aim is to improve the copmpetitiveness of the community". Please come up with a plan on how to execute this. Talk is cheap and we can sit on our high horses, dishing out opinions, suggestions and advice. Please, Subramanian, please don't take this in an offending way.
3. I am working on setting up a trust. I believe I sent out a note to members to hold on donations becuase we are working on the trust issue.
4. I am not sure how many forum members are in Chennai. But I have a few people as volunteers working issues. Again, we all lead very busy lives; one member even commutes between Chennai and Hyderabad.
5. To quote you: ".....this can be done with the full committment and coopearation of all members.". Yes, we all have to pull together.

Subramanian, seriously, I appreciate all the points you have raised. However, things move slowly and whenever volunteers get time.
Please continue to support your community.

 

[subalaji]

Mr. Subramaniam, I am a reasonably active volunteer in chennai , I am in spore next month and would like to meet up with a few brahmin well wishers and share and seek help for this forum and fellow brahmins , thanks for offering as volunteer , yes we do need help from Spore

As Silverfox pointed out this is a free forum where on one side people can air thier views and on the other side people like us can make a difference to someone else's life , pls reply.Looking forward to talk to you or meet u in spore

 

[subalaji]

This message is again for Mr.Balasubramaniam from London who wanted to sponsor girl child of a temple vadhyar , sir I have all details of the same child, pls let me know where to send it including fees etc

 

[subra51]

Dear Subalaji,
Please let me know when youwill be in Singapore. I will meet you. I have already sent the link of Singapore Brahmin Association. The reason for my post was that all of us though very much interested in the upliftment of the brahmin community, no specific action was taken or even though taken, the members are not aware of. You can send small write up of the forum activities to the brahmin association with a copy to me. I will try to set up meeting with like minded people and well wishers. My email id is [email protected].
With regards
Subramanian

 

[thi11c]

m,

 

[subalaji]

Dear Mr. Subramaniam, This is not really a organization or entity , its more a virtual entity created by a few Professionals of our community and I am trying to play a small role , in fact there are more active members than me . This forum has been doing a few good things like funding for education , health etc for poor brahmins . However we want to make it little more formal by opening a trust this month so that there is lot of transparency for people to fund. Once the trust is open we will with all your help bring in many members into the forum and also collect funds , this year we are also planning couple of more small steps , will give u more details. You are as much part of this entity as me , so are all the other members and well wishers. Any contribution big or small , financial or physical will be of immense help to make this successful over the next couple of years . Education & jobs
are going to be the major focus areas . We will not have sufficent funds for health care etc unfortunately , I will send u a detailed mail on this and you can forward it to other brahmins in spore

I once again thankyou for your efforts

 

[gopalaswamy]

Dear Members , I would Like to place on record that as discuuesd with mr Ranganathan/ Sri Balaji, I feel that we should t an early date form a trust under this forum under full contrll of the moderator , I am waiting for contributing my might to the trust annually as sujessted. we form the trust as early as possible.

 

[gopalaswamy]

Dear Members , I would Like to place on record that as discuuesd with mr Ranganathan/ Sri Balaji, I feel that we should t an early date form a trust under this forum under full contrll of the moderator , I am waiting for contributing my might to the trust annually as sujessted. we form the trust as early as possible.

Also If Ican be properly under stood I feel that whom soever comeup with the help of the members/ this trust when they get settled in life should contribute to the trust theier might annually .
Also I feel that this web site members , shouldadhere to some basic priciples of Brahmin hood in heart/ action/ and ritual ( NITHYA KARMANUSHTANAM)so that we by letter and sprit become eligible to call ourself as Brahmins

 

[mrifan]

Compassion towards poor Brahmanas

Given that marriage is a social responsibility, and a way to preserve our traditions, I feel a good idea would be to subsidize the matrimonial advertisement fees of poor Brahmana men and women. There are many poor Brahmanas who do not have access to the internet, and I feel if this forum could help in posting ads free of cost here, as well as on sites like tamilmatrimony.com etc, it may be possible for them to broaden their search, and have a better chance of marrying someone within the community, rather than being forced to go out. Also, some young members might volunteer to marry the daughter of a poor Brahmana who cannot afford a lavish wedding, or presents. In fact, I wish more young men with good jobs would come forward to do so. I might myself volunteer if there was such a case. Of course I am referring to Brahmana members only.

To this end, if we could also advertise these services in magazines like Mangayar Malar, Kumudam, Vikatan, Tughlaq, Kalki, and religious magazines, there is a better chance that poor elderly Brahmanas would see this, and write to the admins. If we can help even a few poor Brahmanas find a match through this service, it will be worth more a thousand posts on this subject.

Again given the lack of an Internet connection, would it also be possible to provide an actual postal address in Chennai or Madurai or some major city? People can then send a postcard with details to this address, and appropriate action can be taken by volunteers.

 

[mrifan]

Donation of Free computers and Satyam Infoway cards

Also, if we can arrange for old computers to be donated to poor Brahmanas, it would be a big help in them increasing awareness and searching for a match for their child. Could we approach corporates towards this effect. Once a trust is established, they would be able to take a tax deduction, and also be relieved of the responsibility of having to recycle or dispose of the old computers.

Another possibility is that if we could work on a joint marketing strategy with Satyam Infoway, who can advertise their shaadi.com website in return for providing this trust with a block of Satyam Infoway prepaid internet cards for a substantial discount, as well as claiming a tax deduction.

 

[Ramachander]

The Kerala Iyer Trust

The Iyers of Kerala have their own yahoo group called "Pattars".They are running a "Kerala Iyers Trust" to help needy iyers of Kerala. I am one of the trustees of this trust. We have so far helped very large number of needy Kerala Iyers. WE do not keep large money in the trust but , once we locate a case which needs help we bring it to the notice of our fellow members after thorough enquiry. So far our members have given lots of money without any reservation. Several marriages have been conducted, treatments carried out , poor children are being educational asistance and starving people are being provided money for food.
AS for providing matrimonial help we have a group called Kalyanam, where information about grooms and brides are exchanged and also a web site called www.ikalyanam.com which allows free registration. I do free matching of horoscopes and also circulate my huge data bank of iyer horoscopes in the form of a computer CD.Ramachander

 

[Ramachander]

I am a 67 year old Iyer belonging to Kerala residing in Bangalore. If I can be of help to you, I would be extremely glad to offer my services as a volunteer. Ramachander

 

[rxrajamo]

Sure Sir. Thanks a lot for your offer. I have sent you a private message. I would request you to kindly reply to that.

Thanks
Ramki

I am a 67 year old Iyer belonging to Kerala residing in Bangalore. If I can be of help to you, I would be extremely glad to offer my services as a volunteer. Ramachander

 

[Venkat.iyengar]

Friends

This Venkat Iyengar from Mumbai, Anyone requires any sort of help in Mumbai please mail me in [email protected] or call at 09820062238.
Will be there for any time any where.

It will be a great pleasure if i can do anything for anybody, one who really in need.

Thanks

venky