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Magical Kolkata

MSC archived stories - April 25, 2020

The images of children sleeping on the streets of Kolkata (formally Calcutta) stayed with me even before I became a sponsor many years ago. Early this week, when I saw Neha waiting, my eyes immediately caught up with her hand gesture (Bharatanatyam, the classical dance of India) and speaking of Bengali gave me a hint of among the 4.5 million residents living in the capital city of West Bengal.

 

How culturally diverse the country is from Delhi to the east coast of India! My discovery took me to Mother Teresa of Kolkata and her life dedicated to eradicating poverty, then to rhythmic Bangla music & dance, Bengali hospitality, festivities, and not least the CI operation there in affiliation of SAHAY (Social Action to Help All Young) agency.

 

Sahay (also means “Help” in Sanskrit) began its operations way back in 1989 with an outreach to 2,000 children working with 8 partner projects. 31 years later CI Kolkata has an outreach to about 23,000 children, working in partnership with 19 local partner projects (urban and rural) in 9 districts of West Bengal, and operating three Community Centers in the urban slums of Kolkata – Narkeldanga Community Center, Hazra Community Center, Jorasanko Community Center. And each center consists of a Learning Resource Center (LRC).

 

Neha goes to Hazra CC, where innovative projects like 'Take Part Save Smart' was realized by youth to promote eco-friendly habits like the use of bicycles instead of motor cycles for commuting and using water and electricity wisely. [youtu.be/b_yKKuR_vPA]

 

As my orientation into our journey ahead continues, for my fellow sponsors, I need some help with rather unusual dilemma to resolve now.

 

My anxious waiting was over when Neha joined the family yesterday, so I straight went to see her Family Record (FR). She enrolled in the program at age 2, and CI appears to have taken 2 photos of her in 2013, both of which are only a week apart (see above). I’m bedeviled by the second one, as it doesn’t look at all Neha – has CI got it mixed up with another child’s photo or shared a photo of her taken a year earlier? Never encountered this before!

Comments

  1. chelaka23 March 2025 at 16:42

    Congratulations on your new sponsorship of Neha, and best wishes to Neha as she grows, develops and learns with your support and advocacy. Thank you for sharing about the meaning behind the name of the SAHAY Agency. The only faint similarity I see in the two early photos is the shape of the mouth, but knowing you, Chelaka, we will shortly have an answer. I look forward it!

    April 25, 2020

    ReplyDelete
  2. chelaka23 March 2025 at 16:42

    Congratulations to you both. Neha is in very good hands! Maybe the pictures were taken a year apart?

    April 25, 2020

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  3. chelaka23 March 2025 at 16:42

    What a gorgeous girl! A real indian beauty!! Congratulations! I recognize her good on the photo with a red sweater, but it is not so obvious with the orange one. It might be that these 2 photos are taken in 2 different years. Maybe ask a CI care team.. I loved to learn the meaning of sahay both english and sanskrit and to know some history of CI in the region.

    April 25, 2020

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  4. chelaka23 March 2025 at 16:42

    The pictures look like 2 different children to me. Hopefully CI can help figure out this one.

    April 25, 2020

    ReplyDelete
  5. chelaka23 March 2025 at 16:43

    Thanks to all for your gratification. I scrutinized the 2 photos (added to My Media) to see if any matching birthmarks, but none found. If you look at the bookshelf behind, Neha on the first photo sitting right in front of No. 17, whereas on the second photo, you can see No. 17 and on the second shelf from top in No. 18 there are maroon color text books with white circle mark on the spine, which appears to continue from what you see in the first photo -- Looks like, these two were taken on Feb 07 & Feb 13 but not of the same child. Also, "Neha" seems a common name as I saw another child waiting with this name, so wonder CI attached the wrong Neha's photo to my Neha's profile. It’d be hard to imagine they’d have taken a picture at age 1. CI may not have the answer right away until speak to field staff when centers reopen.

    April 26, 2020

    ReplyDelete
  6. chelaka23 March 2025 at 16:43

    Neha is so cute, and that photo is obviously not her. Sometimes photos get uploaded under the wrong child id, and that's obviously what happened here. We've removed it from the photo array. No need to reach out to the SOA since it's so old. Sorry!

    April 28, 2020

    ReplyDelete
  7. chelaka23 March 2025 at 16:43

    Debbie, A huge burden taken off my shoulders.. thanks!

    April 28, 2020

    ReplyDelete

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