Akshara_News_Letter_4th_Edition_Nov_2011.pdf (akshara-newsletter@googlegroups.com)
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AKSHARA
The above verse is in praise of the Goddess of Knowledge, Saraswathi, wherein the Goddess is praised as the One who holds the Book of Knowledge and thus provides an assurance and also drives away the deep darkness of being idle. Knowledge is indeed the assurance of good life, and the light that illuminates everything around us and inside us too! Knowledge gives the discretion of good and bad, and provides insight into ways of the world, and is the great power that drives our senses, our intelligence, our experience. Not only that, but knowledge also gives comforts, brings name, fame and fortunes, and garners respect from the greatest people. “vidyaa bandhu janO vidESa gamanE” wrote Bhartru Hari, meaning “knowledge is one’s relative in a foreign land”. Such knowledge is represented, and preserved, in alphabet (aksharam) in speech or written form.
“na ksharati iti aksharam” is an etymological elucidation of the word “aksharam”, meaning “that which does not get destroyed”. Thus, Knowledge is that special Wealth which can neither be stolen by a thief nor can be divided among brothers; it does not cause any load on the acquirer either – it increases as it is spent! Knowledge is acclaimed to be one of the greatest forms of Wealth, and imparting Knowledge is praised as being the best gift (dänam) one can offer.
The community of “Akshara” is our small effort to help poor Brahmins struggling to overcome the financial hurdles for getting quality higher education in the present globalized world. Please come forward to join our Akshara team for this noble cause. It is inspired by the spirit of the word aksharam, and our effort is to keep the rendered help alive, self-assuring, and knowledge-giving.
Akshara Structure
Akshara Structure has been modified for the effective functioning of different activities in the team. This restructure helps in improved mentoring to the beneficiaries with the concept of Mentors/Recognized Mentors and hassle-free funds transfer to the beneficiaries. With the new structure, Akshara team now consists of mainly four kinds of members: Administrator of Akshara, Members, Mentors and Recognised Mentors. Administrator: Administrator is the sole owner of all the mailing groups, blogs and forums related to Akshara. The decision of the Administrator is final in any matters related to Akshara. The Administrator will interact with the Akshara members group from the e-mail address
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AKSHARA
<admin....@gmail.com> .The Administrator will participate in the e-mail discussions among members in Akshara group and will take feedback from discussions in the group.
Members: Members have to contribute at least certain amount as donation to Akshara, and the minimum amount of donation is decided by the Administrator every year. Members can join as a regular member by choosing one of the available Recognized Mentors. Each Recognized Mentor has 15 regular members attached to him. Regular members contribute a fixed amount on yearly or monthly basis. All Regular members are added to the Google Group Akshara, where they can interact with the Group members by e-mailing to <aksh...@googlegroups.com>. Members can propose a beneficiary to the community and can also become a mentor to the beneficiary if desired. A newsletter of Akshara will be sent to all the members periodically from the Administrator of Akshara. Members are subscribed to the Akshara news letter automatically. Occasional contributors who want to help for any particular beneficiary on one time basis can contact the concerned Recognized Mentor for that particular beneficiary
Mentors: Mentors are the members who propose a beneficiary to the community, generally. If in any case the proposer of beneficiary is not in a position to handle the case as a mentor, such cases may be transferred to some other members who are interested in mentoring that case. It is the primary responsibility of the mentor to work with one of the recognized mentors to raise the fund. Mentor is a bridge between the community and the beneficiary. Members may not directly send the fund to these Mentors. Mentors will receive the required fund from the recognized mentor and he will submit the records of fee payment etc. to the concerned recognized mentor.
Recognized Mentors: Recognized mentors are the members who had handled one or more cases in Akshara previously and they are closely associated with the moderators. Recognized mentors shall be identified by a separate thread in the Orkut Akshara community with link given http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#CommMsgs?cmm=42454231&tid=5496445909986268660&start=1. Members are requested to send the monetary help only to these recognized mentors to enable double checking in the funds flow to the beneficiary.
Community: We believe that people need to understand our activities before they pitch-in. We want to build a community where everyone is aligned with the goals of the community and motivated to help our fellow Brahmins. There are forums where people can join and understand us before they can actually take part in Akshara. The idea of Akshara itself started in the Orkut community of Telugu Brahmins (TB) <http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=1725955> and Akshara community will try to work closely with the Telugu Brahmins community in future also.
We have also created <http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=42454231>, a separate and exclusive Orkut community owned by the Administrator and moderated by people chosen by him. This will be used for Akshara related discussions among Orkut community members. You can also read our blog with Akshara articles at <http://aksharatb.blogspot.com>.
Please be part of these communities, understand our motives and suggest others to join.
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AKSHARA
Note: Akshara is not affiliated to any organizations. Mails from <admin....@gmail.com> should only be considered as authentic. In case of Orkut communities, posts from moderators of TB or Akshara should only be considered in decisions related to Akshara in the respective communities. In case of any queries/issues/conflicts please contact us at the E-mail address <admin....@gmail.com>.
Akshara Beneficiaries: We are currently considering only poor Telugu Brahmin students who want to pursue their higher education above 10th standard as Akshara beneficiaries. However, depending on the case and the availability of our financial resources, we can consider other beneficiaries.
Any person related to Akshara community can propose a new beneficiary by way of e-mail to <admin....@gmail.com>. The decision about offering financial help shall be taken by the Akshara Administrator or shall be discussed in the Google Group for Akshara, depending on the time and financial resources available to the group.
Akshara Beneficiaries 2011
This year we have funded 4 beneficiaries out of which 2 beneficiaries are funded at an event held at Budithi Govt High School, Srikakulam on Aug 15th 2011. The event was organized by Budithi School Head Master and senior Akshara Member Sri T.V.Ramana Murthy garu. Honourable guests for this event are Sarpanch of the village Nikku Ramu and MPTC. School students and other teaching staff also graced the occasion.
I) Beneficiary Name: Siva Rama Santhosh
Benificiary ID: 2007002 Village/Town: Srimukhalingam (Srikakulam District) Qualification: Diploma in EEE with 80% Support from Akshara to pursue: B.Tech in CSE from AITAM College,Tekkali Recognized Mentor: Chandra Sekhar Mentor: Kamesh Telikicherla Funding for current year: 2011 - Rs. 10,000/- (BTECH CSE 3rd Year)
Funding in previous years: 2010 – Rs 10,000/- (BTECH CSE 2nd Year)
2009 - Rs. 10,000/- (DEEE 3rd Year) 2008 - Rs. 5000/- (DEEE 2nd Year) 2007 - Rs. 10,000/- (DEEE 1st Year) (Akshara funded a total of 25,000 for his Diploma in EEE and 10,000 for 2nd Year BTECH in CSE)
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Siva Rama Santhosh receiving funds from Akshara
II) Benificiary Name: Pavan
Benificiary ID: 2010002 Village/Town: NarasannaPeta Qualification: Inter with 85.3% marks, B.Sc 1st Year with 78% Support required to pursue: B.Sc Computer Science from Gayathri College, Srikakulam Recognized Mentor: Kamesh Telikicherla Mentor: Krishna Kishore Funding from Akshara: 2011 - Rs. 7,500/- (B.Sc 3rd Year)
Funding in previous years: 2010 – Rs 5,000/- (B.Sc 2nd Year)
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AKSHARA
Pavan receiving funds from Akshara
III) Benificiary Name: Sai
Benificiary ID: 2010001 Village/Town: Godhavarikhani Qualification: 10th with 501 marks (A2 Grade) Support required to pursue: Intermediate in Sri C V Raman Junior college, Warangal Recognized Mentor: Krishna Kishore Mentor: Kamesh Telikicherla Funding from Akshara: 2011 - Rs. 5,000/- (Inter 2nd Year)
(Mentor Kamesh Telikicherla has given 5000/- apart from Akshara fund)
Funding in previous years: 2010 – Rs 10,000/- (Inter 1st Year)
IV) Benificiary Name: VeeraGhanta Laxmi Adhitya
Benificiary ID: 2010003 Village/Town: Uppal, Hyderabada Qualification: 10th in CBSE with 8.8 GDPA Support required to pursue: Intermediate in Narayana College, Hyderabad Recognized Mentor: Pavan Kumar V Mentor: Shravan Kumar Hullur Funding from Akshara: 2011 - Rs. 5,000/- (Inter 2nd Year) Funding in previous years: 2010 – Rs 6,600/- (Inter 1st Year)
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Successfully Completed Cases
1) Beneficiary Name: MS Sruthi:
Benificiary ID: 2009001 Support from Akshara to pursue: Intermediate (M.Pc) Funding from Akshara: 2009 - Rs. 10,000/-
2010 - Rs. 25,000/- (Funded by an NRI (Velagaleti Sateesh) in assosication with Akshara)
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News Coverage
AKSHARA
Upcoming Projects
1) Association with Tummalapalli free Brahmin student home at Vijayawada:
Visit to Home on 13-14th Aug by one of the Core Members of Akshara, Pavan Krishna Kishore Gunturi gave us a lead to consider a new project in upcoming months.
Interaction with office people in the home in his words:
There is one "Tummalapalli Free Brahmin Student Home" near to Besant Road, VIjayawada and I visited that place to meet the office people there. There are about 30 to 35 students staying at that home according to them. All of them are from poor families and are studying in and around Vijayawada. I gave one letter to the office people that we are a group of people interested in helping poor brahmin students and will be able to help in paying tuition fee and hostel fee etc on merit basis.
That student home is run by a trust and that day evening one trust member called me and informed me that we are welcome to help the students there. He said they will appreciate if we can help all the students there with the money we can donate instead of one or two students. They can arrange one meeting and we can distribute to all the students the donated fund from out hands only. But he said it’s your choice finally. I informed him generally we prefer case by case basis but I will discuss with our group members and let him know later.
I came to know that it is a good trust from one of my friend who stayed there for some time. He said they make it compulsory for the students staying there to chant Vishnusahasranama daily and some other such things.
After discussing the project details among the core group members of AKSHARA, we have decided to seek the opinion from the members on how who can plan our association with home. Please write your opinions to admin....@gmail.com
2) Co-ordinating the stay for job seekers in metro cities:
One of the Core members of Akhsara, Sriram Popuri has come up with a suggestion on co- ordinating the stay for job seekers in metro cities.
Sriram’s Idea in his own words:
I am evaluating on coordinating stay for people who come here for job searches. I got to know that many people from remote places of AP don't come here because they don't know anyone here and don't have money to take rooms and search jobs. If we can at-least try to link them with existing bachelors who can help, it would be great.
We are currently under the process of scoping the activities of the Akshara in this project and the discussions are being held among core group members of AKSHARA. We are open to ideas and suggestions from our members. Please write to us @ admin....@gmail.com
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