Nitin Sarangapani, son of Alpana and Ram Sarangapani of Houston, recently passed away. He was a college student and a US Marine at the time of his death. His parents have created a fund in his name. Mission: The NBSM Fund has been created for the express purpose of providing charitable funding and help to needy causes both in the US and also in India (Assam in particular).
For the past two days, I have been pursuing an idea as to how much money is
needed for providing “good” school education to ALL Indian students and how
rich should India and Assam be to afford it.
In the wake of 557th Birth Anniversary of Mahapurusa Sankaradeva, I was reminded of Late Padma Kanta Dutta (my jethu), the founder of Sankar Jayanti celebrations in London. Padma Dutta came to visit me in August, 1983. He was the then President of Kumargaon Sankar Mandir in Tezpur and a devout Vaisnavite.
Sanjib Sabhapandit is one Assamese who has been trying to do something for the society. Asom Jatiya Vidyalaya, his brainchild, has been a wonderful success. APOL died after the group broke up due to political intervention. Now, he is running a dye unit and doing well. He is starting a project called "Mother Shelter" which he wants to get off the ground. Sanjibda's newly initiated "Mother Shelter" project can be of tremndous developmental value. NEDFi is going to support a few such units.
One of the most vivid memories I have of my Ma is of her standing at the gate of our childhood home at the Gauhati University campus, when Dada, Bhaiti or I were even ten minutes late in arriving home from school. Her eyes would be glued to the road, and she would anxiously look at each school bus, as the students from various schools alighted in their different uniforms. In our youthful ignorance, I remember my brothers and I thinking it was a huge joke and betting if Ma would be at the gate, if our bus stopped at a spot for a minute longer than scheduled.