Once when out for shopping, in the busy and crowded lanes of the Delhi sarojini nagar market I was enjoying the breezy weather along with my friends. We were busy chatting and having fun buying stuffs for us. As we walked on the pavements out of the main market an were on the way to find us a convenience I suddenly felt something grabbing on to my feet from behind that made me scream in fear! And when I saw it was a child beggar who held on to my feet it wrenched my heart to see him in such a poor condition clinging on in a hope to get something to eat. With dirty torn clothes, and eyes full of tears he kept asking me for alms.

Walking on the roads of Delhi one can spot beggars almost everywhere on the pavements at traffic signals, outside the temples and in the busy markets. The tourists are often thronged by beggars what I believe can sometimes be an embarrassment for the country. Broadly saying there are three types of beggars on who are forced to beg due to poor conditions in life, others who are differently abled and the remaining who don’t want to earn inspite of having all functional body parts intact.

Many would think they are helping a beggar by giving them money but this may not be the case as it seems. The money you give might not be getting used up in doing any good to the beggar. Maybe the child spends it up in buying a tobacco packet for him or filling up the pockets of the people who exploit these child beggars by training them to beg to fill up their own trunks. Many of us are aware that many beggars often have more children just for the reason that they will have more hands to earn for the family. Due to the lack of education and awareness theses beggars are never able to come out of their poverty stricken life.

An estimated 7.3 lakh beggars are presently living on the streets of our country. According to unofficial figures, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore have the largest number of beggars but a large proportion of them hail from Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan. In 2011 before the Commonwealth Games the Delhi government took steps to rehabilitate beggars in the city. A number of shelter homes were opened up and steps were taken to send these beggars back to the states they had come from. But once the games were over the scheme seems to have faded away with a large section of beggars still being spotted living on the road sides. Of the six thousand beggars in Delhi, over 1,500 are children. Begging is illegal in Delhi and those convicted are sent to one of the three remand homes in the city where the child beggars are provided with education. But these remand homes have a capacity of only 2400 that makes them incapable of taking off more beggars off the streets.

The real good that can be done is to rehabilitate the beggars and equip them with enough alternatives. They should be provided vocational and technical training so that they can be able to earn for themselves and feed their family. Born as the citizens of India the beggars of the country too have the right to live a life in the mainstream of the society.

April fools day is celebrated on 1st of April in many countries. It is also called as "All Fools day". People play practical jokes and tricks to each other on that day. People tell hoaxes on that day. Have you ever been fooled on April Fools' Day.  you may wonder how this tradition  started. Nobody knows how the tradition started. We can get explanation from the calendar.  In the past, people used to celebrate New Year’s Day on April 1. They used to celebrate the day very, very well. Just like today, people would have big parties to celebrate. They enjoyed a lot of this celebration. Over time, the calendar changed and so did the date for New Year. In the year of 1500s, the new calendar marked New Year’s Day as January 1st. In the past, there was no media to spread the news of this change of New Year Day. It was spread very, very slowly by the word of mouth from one to another. Some resisted this. They did not accept the change. So they continued the celebration on April 1st. The people who celebrated the New Year Day on April 1st is called as "April fools".

People following the new calendar played tricks on the "April fools" by sending them on “fool’s errands”. They had the "April  fools" deliver invitations to big New Year’s celebrations that  weren’t really going to happen. In France, "April fools" were called "Poisson d'Avril", the meaning is "April Fish". The name came because fish were easily catched, likewise they also easily be cheated. Children used to tag the paper fish on the persons back to mark them as an "April Fish". The person discovered the paper fish on back, all used to yell as "April Fish". Not everyone is convinced that this is actually how the tradition of April Fools’ Day began. Many tried to pinpoint the exact date of the first 'April Fool's Day, but this also led to more pranks. Similarly we aren’t sure how this tradition began. People still celebrate April Fools’ Day by playing  tricks on each other. They enjoyed if anyone is fooled by these tricks. So the next time you prank  someone and yell “April Fools!” remember that the day may actually be about the people who didn’t want to change their traditions when the new calendar was adopted. 

Simple tips for fooling others

• Hide something and let them find out
• tell him that his dress is dirty. Check it. (Usually playing like this)
• Tell him somebody wants you 
• Somebody is waiting in reception to meet you
• See your earring is missing. Please check.
• insect behind your leg
• You failed in exams
• Your money is lying on the floor

April fools day is not a national holiday. The day is giving a chance to all of us have some fun and enjoy. In the year 2010, Google changed its name to "Topeka" for a day.  

We all heard about people celebrating Mother's Day, Father's Day, Friendship Day, Lovers Day, World Music Day, Fools days etc.  Have you heard of any people celebrating Guru's day in our tradition? We used to celebrate Guru Purnima (aka Vyasa Puja) on Ashada or full moon day during Chaturmasya of the Hindu calendar (3rd July – 2012 this year). In the year 2011, it was celebrated on July 15, 2011. Guru Poornima was celebrated by Hindus and Bhuddist. The word Guru is derived from two words namely, "Gu" and "ru" .  Gu - means ignorance of people or darkness in people. Ru means - removing the darkness or remover of darkness. Guru is the remover of darkness deom mind of people. Guru is more popularly called Acharya.

Guru is a link between ordinary people and God. One who removes our darkness is called GURU.  In this day all people worship God. They perform Poojas for Guru. The meaning of 'Guru' in English is 'Sprittual Guide'. We express our l gratitude to Sage Vyasa on Guru Purnima day. Sage Vyasa is worshipped as an incarnation of Lord Mahavishnu. It is believed that there is nothing in the world that has not come from Sri Vyasa's mouth (Vyasochishtam Jagat Sarvam).

Sri Vyasa wrote the Brahma Sutras, the Mahabharata and 18 Puranas. So he is the author of Brahma Sutras, the Mahabharata and 18 Puranas. Yet, the greatest contribution of Sri Vyasa lies in his classification of the Vedas. In olden days, people used to study all the Vedas. But, with the passage of time, it became very, very difficult to learn all of them. Sage Vyasa classified and compiled the Vedas into four categories- Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharvana and taught them respectively to four of his disciples Sumantu, Vaishampayana, Jaimini and Paila. The Vedic tradition is alive today only because of Sri Vyasa.

In the modern times we have lots of  modern gadgets to save anything in any format. We can save it in CD, Pen drive, Hard Disk or Computer. In the past, the storage of data was not possible. So how we got all this. The Vedas, Ithihasas and Puranas have reached us simply by word of mouth!. Just imagine it is a very, very great thing.

Bhagavan (the almighty) is considered the first teacher or the Adi Guru of the tradition. Between Bhagavan, and our Guru there are so many teachers in our Guru Parampara (tradition). We offer our salutations to each of them, who have dedicated their lives for the sake of maintaining this tradition. Sanyasis in our tradition begin the Chaturmasya Vrata on this Guru Purnima day. In those days, Sanyasis used to walk by foot everywhere. So we used to get their blessings on that day. Sanyasis used to pray for our wellness to the God. 

Piu, whose father was killed by extremists in Assam and mother died of cancer; Ankit, whose mother was abandoned by his father because she has thalassemia; Surja, whose mother committed suicide and father was taken by the police; Rahul, whose mother had to run away from abusive in-laws in Uttar Pradesh; all have found a new caring family in Familia, a welfare organization located in a peaceful rural ambience in Kanchrapara, a place 50 km north of Calcutta. There are 65 children in the Children’s Home, each having a story behind them, a tragic story in most cases.

Kunapalli Chako Thomas, founder and director of Familia, who came to Calcutta during the Bangladesh Freedom War in 1971 as a volunteer to serve the refugees displaced by the war, decided to join the Missionaries of Charity of Mother Teresa, where he discovered his vocation within vocation, the call to provide loving families to the orphaned and abandoned. He believes that parental love is essential for the proper growth of a child. When a child loses one or both parents it loses the supportive environment necessary for it to grow as a balanced human being. It finds an emptiness which can only be filled to some extent by caring foster parents. He founded Familia on 11th August 1977 with a mission to provide caring families to those who have none.

“How far have you been successful?” When I asked him, Thomas answered, “At least 50 per cent.” A visitor cannot miss seeing that the children in Familia look happy. Thomas tells that almost all children go to school. Some attend colleges. Yet others are doing professional studies like hotel management, computer studies, motor mechanics etc.  A girl has just completed her law studies .Thirty-five girls have been married and well settled. One of them lives with her family in Delhi. Another one has settled in Germany with her husband who is a teacher. Grown up boys have taken up jobs of different kind like driving, teaching, business etc.

In spite of financial problems, Familia has continually extended its welfare activities. From a five-children-foster family in a dilapidated classroom at Shikarpur, a village at the Indo- Bangladesh border, to the present site in Bhaluka village, in the district of North 24 Parganas, it has come a long way. Sixty-five children are divided in four foster families, each looked after by a married couple. Fifteen children live with their relatives and continue to receive support from Familia. 

Since 1996, a home for senior citizens has been added to Familia's welfare activities. A school was built to cater to the people of the locality in 2006. A crèche to keep children of working mothers started functioning in May 2012, the newest extension of the Familia’s service to humanity. A women emancipation centre will come into being soon. The list of social welfare activities does not end there. Monetary support for studies is provided to the poor students of the surrounding villages. An ambulance service is available free of cost to the villagers of the neighborhood, a service most needed as the nearest government hospital is about 15 km away. When poor villagers need help to give their daughters in marriage, it is at Familia’s door they knock.

“Do you supervise all these welfare activities alone?” I asked Thomas.

“I am supported by a band of dedicated colleagues. Each of the four foster families is taken care of by a foster father and a foster mother. The foster parents also help me in supervising the activities.”Thomas tells.

Familia, a family for those who have none, has brought about a considerable progressive change in the condition of the local population. It has been holding a burning torch and spreading light where there is darkness of pain and suffering. It is a genuine reason to rejoice that the labor of love of so many generous of heart is bearing fruit.