శ్లోకమ్
శుక్లామ్ బ్రహ్మవిచారసారపరమామ్ ఆద్యామ్ జగద్వ్యాపినీమ్
వీణాపుస్తకధారిణీమ్ అభయదామ్ జాడ్యాన్ధకారాపహామ్
హస్తే స్ఫాటికమాలికామ్ విదధతీమ్ పద్మాసనే సమ్స్థితామ్
వన్దే త్వామ్ పరమేశ్వరీమ్ భగవతీమ్ బుద్ధిప్రదామ్ శారదామ్
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 team consist of mainly three kinds of members: Administrator of Akshara, Members, and Contributors.
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 <admin.akshara@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. All members will be assigned a Membership Number that shall be revised every year. All members are added to the Google Group Akshara, where they can interact with the Group members by e-mailing to <aksharatb@googlegroups.com>. Members can propose new beneficiaries in the Google Group. 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.
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. For those who cannot have access to the above forums, a newsletter mailing group <akshara-newsletter@googlegroups.com> is available in which you can download the newsletter from the files section of the mailing group. Otherwise you can also read our blog with Akshara articles at <http://aksharatb.blogspot.com>.
Note:
Akshara Beneficiaries:
Any person related to Akshara community can propose a new beneficiary by way of e-mail to <admin.akshara@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.
This year the fund’s distribution event was held at
The event was organized by Budithi School Head Master and senior Akshara Member Sri T.V.Ramana Murthy garu. Honourable guests Buditi Ex-School Head Master, Sri Rama Murthy garu, Zilla Parishad Committee Chairman Sri BalaRama Krishnam Naidu garu enlightened the students with their valuable experiences. 10th class students and other school staff also graced the occasion.
The above event details of were published in the Eenadu news paper edition of Srikakulam district on 2nd of August 2009. The photograph of the news clipping is shown below.
Beneficiary Name: Ganti Bhargavi:
Benificiary ID: 2007001Village: Srimukhalingam (Srikakulam District)
Qualification: 10th with 457 marks
Support from Akshara to pursue: B.Sc (Computer Science)
How do we know this beneficiary: Sri.T.V.Ramana Murthy Garu has seen her poor living standard in the school,so he told Akshara about her. And that is how we approachced her and extended our support.
Funding for current year: 2009 - Rs. 4150/-
Funding in the previous year: 2008 - Rs. 4600/-
2007 -Rs. 6400/-
Ganti Bhargavi receiving from Akshara
Interaction: in the words of Parimala
Bhargavi is pursuing her 3rd year B.Sc (M.P.Csc). Her family is staying with her Dad’s elder sister. Her brother is doing ITI in Vizag. She said that there was a marriage proposal from her Dad’s younger sister and due to this Dad’s elder sister was unhappy with her and she refused to help her family. Bhargavi’s family is dependent on her Aunt for financial support. She said that her family takes care of her aunt’s farm lands. Due to the extra burden at her home and Aunt’s pressures, she said she is unable to score well. She scored an aggregate of 62.5% in 2nd year.
Sri T.V.Ramana Murthy garu advised her to pursue M.Sc. Mathematics. She said that she has not yet decided anything.
Future Funding: With this year the funding for her studies will be over. We need to discuss with her again and know her future plans.
Village: Srimukhalingam (Srikakulam District)
Qualification: 10th with 532 marks
Support from Akshara to pursue: Diploma in EEE from Govt.Polytechnique College,Srikakulam
How do we know this beneficiary: Beneficiary's father is an ordinary archaka in Srimukhalingam. He was the student of Sri.T.V.Ramana Murthy Garu in the same school. He has come to know from his collegues about beneficiary's financial condition. Being aware of Santhosh's capabilities, Sri.T.V.Ramana Murthy garu has informed Akshara about him
Funding for current year: 2009 - Rs. 10,000/-
Funding in previous years: 2008 - Rs. 5000/-
2007 -Rs. 10,000/-
Siva Rama Santhosh receiving funds from Akshara
Interaction: in the words of Parimala
Santhosh is a very talented and determined guy. I came to know from Sri T.V.Ramana Murthy garu that Santhosh’s family stays in a small hut near Srimukhalingam temple. His father is also solely dependent on purohitam. Santhosh has scored aggregate of 86.5% in his DEEE second year. He is determined to go for lateral entry to B.Tech through ECET exam.
Future Funding: If Santhosh successfully secures seat in B.Tech through Lateral Entry, then we can think about funding for his future plans.
Beneficiary Name: Vemuri Sridevi
Qualification: 10th with 457 marks
Support from Akshara to pursue: Intermediate (Bi.P.C)
How do we know this beneficiary: We came to know about Sridevi through Kamesh's grand mother ( who helped her earlier).
Funding for current year: 2009 - Rs. 5000/-
Funding in previous years: 2008 - Rs. 5000/-
Vemuri Sridevi receiving funds from Akshara
Interaction: in the words of Parimala
Sridevi is doing her Intermediate Bi.P.C 2nd year. She stays with her mother and grandfather. Both the guardians are not in proper health condition. Her mother is mentally ill and her grandfather is bed ridden and is seriously ill. From her conversation I understood that she is unable to concentrate on her studies due to the series of unfortunate events in her family. Regarding Higher studies, she is interested in doing Teacher Training Course after her Intermediate.
Future Funding: If she joins Teacher Training we can discuss and fund in future.
Beneficiary Name: Satya Kameshwari (Swathi)
Village: Srikmukhalingam (Srikakulam District)
Qualification: Intermediate
Support from Akshara to pursue: Teacher Training Course
How do we know this beneficiary: She approaced Sri.T.V.Ramana Murthy Garu when she came to know about Akshara activities.
Funding for current year: 2009 - Rs. 5000/-
Funding in previous years: 2008 - Rs. 12500/-
Satya Kameshwari's guardian receiving help from Akshara
Interaction: in the words of Parimala
Swathi is staying with her Uncle. He is an ordinary purohit and his family is totally dependent on purohitam. He said he cannot support Swathi further. He is worried about Swathi’s marriage. Because if she studies more, he thinks that he may have to search for highly qualified groom. But Swathi is very determined to become a teacher. But one of her family friends said that he is ready to support Swathi for her higher studies. He himself is burdened with his children’s education. This year she will complete her TTC.
Future Funding: She will completing her teacher training course by the end of this academic year. Thus funding for her education will be successfully completed.
Pending Cases with Akshara
We are considering the following cases for further but not able to extend our help due to lack of financial resources with us. If members contribute individually or through Akshara we will be happy to know. Please write an e-mail to <admin.akshra@gmail.com> if you need any further details about the following case(s).
Father's Name: Mantha Laxmi Visweswara Sarma
Occupation: Working at Administration department at Narayana Junior College, Vishakapatnam
Income: INR 5000 per month
Qualification: 10th class with 529 marks
Support required to pursue: Intermediate at Narayana Junior College
Annual tution fee: INR 26,000
Some Facts about the Case:
The family is finding it difficult to manage things with 5k in the city vizag. They are staying in a guest house which will be used for Senior Citizen’s Meeting monthly in vizag. Sruthi’s tution fee is Rs.26,000 per annum and out of which Rs.3000 was paid. Fee details of the both the children were provided and a request letter was also sent for the help. From Akshara we have enquired the details provided by beneficiary and found it to be worthy enough to help.
Beneficiary Name: Hareendra Kollavajjala
Support from Akshara to pursue: B.Tech 2nd year in Gokuraju Rangaraju Engineering College
Benificiary proposed by: Phani Prayaga
Fee: INR 27,500 per annum
Funding in previous years: 2008 - Rs. 15,000/-
Some Facts about the Beneficiary:
Hari’s father was a private doctor in a village in Warangal District. In 2008,he was hospitalized due to blood clot in the brain and he was in Coma. As the father is the only source of income for their family. Now Hari was in trouble for his education. He scored 91.5 and 96% in 10th and Intermediate respectively and got an EAMCET rank of 3561. Currently there is no information from the beneficiary or the proposer for any further help and hence this case is suspended from the year 2009.
Fund from an NRI (Srikanth Iyyanki)
One of our active members, Kamesh Telikicherla, referred a case which needs a one-time financial help of approximately Rs. 12,500. The beneficiary is the daughter of a
Kamesh Telikicherla, who happens to be Akshara's contact point for this case, collected all the necessary details from the needy student as per the Akshara protocol, and e-mailed the same to Mr. Srikanth Iyyanki, who immediately initiated a fund transfer of Rs. 12,567/- approx. to Kamesh through Western Union and the fund was soon given to the beneficiary. Subsequently, the required monetary help is provided to her by Akshara in academic year 2009 also. Thanks to Srikanth and Telugu Brahmins community. We hope we’ll get the same support in future too.
News clipping in Eenadu Srikakulam District Edition on November 28th 2008. Srikanth Iyyanki's contribution being distributed to Satya Kameshwari.
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