Stop thrashing Mark !!

I write when I am happy and inspired and I write when I am angry and want to express my personal opinion, I am writing this on a sunday morning as all the Mark thrashing going around on social media and news is getting to me and making me truly angry.......

On Dec 1, Mark Zuckerberg announced that he will give away 99% Facebook shares on the birth of his daughter Max, accompanied by a beautiful letter written to his daughter.

What I thought about this ---what a great gesture, I hope more celebrities do more of this to inspire others…..

But I am amazed and shocked by how cynical our society has become. Last few days all I am reading about is

--he is giving shares and not cash, this is a tax saving measure (so what ?!!)

---why is his foundation structured as an LLC and not an NGO

--there is a Zuck Sucks club thrashing him online

---supposedly shareholders are also not happy

----this is a publicity move to distract from the evils of Facebook (really ??)

is this what the world has come to?

Chennai is flooded, Delhites cant hardly breathe due to smog, this morning Pune Newsline had an article about 8500 disabled demanding disability aids (wheelchairs, scooters and others), have not got it for months and given up

Not to mention heart-wrenching poverty staring us in the face every day

So many problems and all we can do is thrash Zuckerberg ??

Separate topic – so many spent hours watching Amir Khan being thrashed a few days back, I can guarantee these very people didn’t watch even 5 min of his beautiful show “Satyamev Jayate” but oh yeah, they found the time to watch him being hounded for hours on national television.

Come on guys, cant we focus on “doing something productive” and not spending hours  “judging”??

Some role models abroad whose work we should follow

·      Warren Buffet has pledged 99% of his wealth

·      Bill Gates has pledged 95% of his wealth

·      Richard Branson has pledged 50%

·      George Soros has given away $11.4 billion

Role models back home whose work we should follow (data as per Hurun report 2014)

·      Azim Premji has donated Rs 12,316 crores (first indian to sign up for the Giving Pledge started by Gates and Buffet)

·      Shiv Nadar, Ashish Dawan, Nandan and Rohini Nilekani, Ronnie and Zarina Screwvala, our very own Any Aga at home

My favorite quote was and will always remain Spidys “with great power comes great responsibility”

Sad reality is we know more details and spend more time discussing the multi million dollar destination weddings or the specifics of a billionaires new yatch or jet rather than giving our time and intellect to reading and working on some good causes. I am no saint, I like glamour and the good life but surely we can balance the two a bit more ???

And most certainly we can as a society stop judging people like Mark Zuckerberg who for gods sake are trying to do something good ???

Juvenile Diabetes

We all know that India is the Diabetes capital of the world!

What is sad is to see this disease impact children.

I recently attended a diabetes awareness program in Pune by reputed diabetologist Dr Abhay Mutha. It is one of the largest awareness movements in India and was truly an eye opener for me.Some facts I learned -  Treatment for Type 1 diabetes that can cost 1.5 to 4 lakhs a month (how can a middle class family afford this?) Awareness and detection is very low in a country like india. Type 1 diabetes cause can be genetic or due to environment factors such as viral infection. If a child is not treated well, it can result in a coma. Not to mention the lifestyle issues like the child being denied chocolates and not allowed to play cricket with his friends due to ignorance (beautifully highlighted by a play by Delhi Public School at Dr Mutha’s event). Even these kids can lead a normal and happy life IF this is detected and managed well.

But in a country that spends 4.1% GDP on healthcare compared to 18% in the US and in a country where health insurance is a luxury, it is truly a curse for a low income family to get such an expensive lifestyle disease!

It was wonderful to see a doctor who is one of the busiest and most sought after names in this field, take out the time, supported by his entire family to help needy diabetic patients by providing free treatment and even free education. Every year he conducts a walkathon with over 1000 students and also gives an award to a diabetic child who has achieved something significant inspite of this disease. This year the award was given to Maitree from Ahmedabad who completed her trek to the highest peak in Greece with her sheer will power! Dr Mutha gets sports and bollywood celebrities to attend and encourage the attendees.A very well organized and sincere effort from a man who passionately believes that every one must do their bit to help these children!

If you are a mom like me and want to help these children, do 2 things, contact and contribute to his foundation at dcrfpune.com and next time you feel like indulging your kid by making him eat some junk food or by allowing him to skip his sports class, think of what harm you are doing by giving such bad habits and STOP yourself.