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In the News: Restoration of Kunds in Braj by M L Kansal, South Asian Journal of Tourism and Heritage, submitted by Raghav Mittal Posted August 17, 2010 You will be glad to know that we have published an article in the South Asian Journal of Tourism and Heritage with link
Restoration of the Traditional Small Water Bodies in Braj www.sajth.com/vol3/03%20A_Saha.pdf Thanks to Braj Foundation for their kind support. We hope this will help in getting more and more support to the cause as there will be more awareness about the problem.
With best regards,
Badger, CA — In May The National Indie Excellence Awards 2010 announced the winners and finalists for this year’s competition. Hundreds of books in dozens of categories were reviewed by judges who are professionals from all aspects of the independent book industry, from book cover and interior designers and professional copywriters to publishers, writers, editors and more. They select award winners and finalists based on overall excellence of presentation. Torchlight Publishing’s Where’s Hanuman? was chosen as one of the Finalists in the Children’s Picture Book category. Where’s Hanuman?— written by Alister Taylor and illustrated by Christopher Woods and Ben McClintic — gives young children a captivating and fun way to begin learning the treasured story of Rama and Hanuman. For millennia, India’s most beloved epic, the Ramayana, has been handed down from generation to generation throughout India and Asia via literature, story telling, art, dance, and drama and song. Hanuman is one of the greatest heroes in the Ramayana. Within the 32 pages of this beautifully illustrated, over-sized volume, children journey into the midst of the most exciting scenes of this adventure. Each of the 12 puzzle scenes is tightly packed with hundreds of humorous characters and dozens of sub-scenes. From Sita’s Wedding, to Demons in the Forest, to Attacking Lanka, children are sure to have their minds, eyes, as well their funny bones fully engaged as they try to find the characters cleverly hidden in each scene.
Contact: Chris Glenn
Srimati Simantini Devi meditating on Lord Gauranga Jun 14, 2010 — SRIDHAM MAYAPUR, WEST BENGAL (SUN) — Posted by Gopijana on Mon, 2010-06-14, Mayapur.com. We are very happy to announce to the whole community of devotees the construction of a small but very important temple for Srimati Simantini Devi at Sri Jagannath Mandir compound in Rajapur, Sri Mayapur dham. The construction will be under the guidance and supervision of His Grace Jananivas Prabhu, the head pujari of Sri Mayapur Candrodya Mandir. It is dedicated to that great Vaishnavi of the Lord, Srimati Simantini Devi, who is none other than Srimati Parvati Devi. She will perform the function of accepting prasada before distributing, as Vimala Devi in Puri Dham. I am attaching two pictures to give an idea of the beauty and size of the murti and this wonderful temple. About the Murti:
The murti depicts Parvati Devi chanting and meditating on Lord Gauranga, as described in Sri Navadvipa Dham Mahatmya and under the direction of H.G. Jananivas prabhu. The murti will be carved in marble at Jaipur.
About the temple: The temple will be located between the Jagannath Mandir and the banyan tree of Lord Siva, where according to Vastu it will attract a lot of visitors and will become something of a landmark in the area. The unique feature of the temple is that it will be fully clad in terra-cotta reliefs, inspired by the famous Vaisnava temples of Vishnupur, after a visit there by H.G. Jananivas prabhu, H.G. Nitai Prasad prabhu and Drdha Vrata prabhu. The Bhumipuja (ground-breaking) ceremony, to create auspiciousness for the temple construction, was done on 24th November. The yajna and other procedures were performed by H.G. Devrishi prabhu and presided by H.G. Jananivas prabhu and others. Photos of the ceremony, visit to Vishnupur, artwork and updates can be viewed at this web album link.
The design and artistry of the Temple and the Deity are the result of the skills of the talented devotee Drdha Vrata prabhu.
H.G. Jananivas prabhu narrated to us that, once during Navadvip Mandal Parikram, under the guidance of His Holiness Jayapataka Swami, the devotees reached Simantadvip, near to Belpukur. At that place, where it is said to be the original place of Simantini Devi, there is a small temple, which has only temporary clay deities of Parvati for festivals and Shiva Linga as the permanent deity. A devotee suggested making and donating a marble Deity of Parvati to that temple. On the spot some funds were collected but then, H.H. Jayapataka Maharaja opposed the idea as non-Vaishnavas would come to that temple and offer tamasic food, which is against our standards and we would be unable to maintain a pujari out there. Instead he suggested that we build a temple for Simantini within the Jagannath Mandir compound at Rajapur, which is also situated in Simantadvipa. His Holiness explained that the tradition which is followed at Puri Dham is that when the Prasad is removed from the altar of Lord Jagannath it is immediately offered first to Vimala devi (Parvati devi), and only then is it offered to the devotees and pilgrims. So, he suggested that we can also offer Lord Jagannath's mahaprasad to Simantini devi. To this end, we are appealing to all devotees to please come forward and be amongst those fortunate enough to be part of this new project. Those who donate Rs 50,000/- or more will have an ornate terra-cotta tile made with their name inscribed on it and fixed to the temple base.
Simantadvipa is a very historical place and many nectarian pastimes took place there. It is the second island of Sri Navadvipa Dham and embodies the devotional mellow of Sravanam, hearing about the pastimes of the Lord. This is where Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu delivered Chand Kazi, the Muslim Magistrate.
This temple and Deity will be unique in the world, as there is only one Simantadvipa in this Universe and at present there is no Deity of Simantini manifest here. Details for sending donations: You can send your donation for this project online in www.mayapur.com You can send your cheques and transfers in ISKCON's name, for which you will get an ISKCON receipt. Please email H.G. Pankajanghri prabhu when you send your donation, to keep track of it, mentioning also that it is for the Simantini project. His email is: Pankajanghri.ACBSP@pamho.net Bank Transfer from outside India:
Name of account: ISKCON Gaura-purnima Festival Fund
Name of account: ISKCON Checks / Demand Drafts should be made in the name of "ISKCON" and should be payable at Kolkata, India. NOTE: * All Donations paid within India are Tax Exempted under 80/G Section of Income Tax Department, Govt. of India.* Sri Navadvipa Dham Mahatmya on Simantadvipa.
Saying this, Nityananda Prabhu roared loudly and went on to nearby Simuliya. He then described that place to Jiva, "Know this to be Simantadvipa. Saints know Simantadvipa to be on the border of Navadvipa on the south bank of the Ganges. In time, the Ganges will devour all but one sacred portion, named Simuliya, where materialistic people will worship Parvati. Listen to the story.
"One time during Satya yuga, Lord Lord Siva began madly dancing, while chanting the name of Gauranga. Parvati asked him, ‘Please tell me who is Gauranga. By seeing your astonishing dance and hearing the name of Gauranga, my heart is melting. All that I have heard in the way of mantra and tantra till now only leads to more entanglement for the living entities. Dear husband, please tell me something of this Gauranga. By worshiping Him will I receive actual life?' Hearing Parvati's words, Lord Siva meditated on Gauranga and said, ‘Unto you, who are the primordial energy, one portion of Sri Radha, I will tell the crest jewel of all truths. Accepting the spiritual emotions of Sri Radha, Krsna will descend in this Kali yuga at Mayapur in the womb of Saci. Lord Gauranga, intoxicated with pastimes of kirtana, will distribute the jewel of prema to everyone without discrimination. Whoever does not drown in that flood of prema is most unfortunate. O Devi, just by remembering the Lord's promise that He will come, I pass my life drowning in love of God. Being unable to control myself, I have given up my own city of Kasi. Within Mayapur, on the bank of the Ganges, I will live in a hut and worship Gauranga.'
"Hearing Siva's words, beautiful Parvati quickly went to Simantadvipa. As she constantly meditated on the form of Gauranga and chanted His name, she became immersed in prema. After some time, Gauracandra appeared with His associates to bestow mercy on Parvati. His complexion was like molten gold. He had long arms, wavy hair, and beautiful limbs. He was wearing a long dhoti folded thrice, and from His neck swung a garland of flowers, which was very attractive to behold. In a voice choked with love, Gaura Raya said, ‘O Parvati, why have you come here?'
"Parvati fell at the lotus feet of the master of the universe and with an agitated mind explained her sorrow: ‘O Prabhu Jagannatha, life of the universe, though You are merciful to all, You have deceived me. O deliverer of the fallen, You have appointed me to bind up all the living entities in the material world who are averse to You. I have come into the material world to do this work, and have thus been cheated of Your unlimited prema. People say that wherever Krsna is there is no Maya. I am therefore forced to always remain outside Your spiritual realm, in the material world. So how will I ever see Your pastimes? If You do not offer a way, I am without hope.' "Saying this, Parvati put Gauranga's foot dust on her simanta (part in the hair) in great distress. From that, the name of Simantadvipa came. Ignorant people call the place Simuliya. "Gauracandra was pleased, and He said to Parvati, ‘O supreme goddess, listen carefully to My words. You are My energy, you are not separate or different from Me. My one energy has two forms. Within the spiritual kingdom, My original energy has one form as Sri Radha, but for carrying out activities in the material world She has expanded Herself as you. Without you, My lila could not be accomplished, for in the form of Yogamaya, you are necessary in My pastimes. In Vraja, you are eternally present as Paurnamasi, and in Navadvipa you are present as Praudha Maya along with Ksetrapala Lord Siva, guardian of the dhama.'
"Saying this, Gauranga disappeared, and Parvati became overwhelmed with love. Parvati stays in one form as the goddess of Simantadvipa, and in another form as Praudha Maya in Mayapur."
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In the News: Jagannath Rath Yatra Begins in Puri by Sify Newsdesk Posted July 27, 2010
Puri: Nearly a million devotees are expected to converge at the city of Puri in Orissa for the annual nine-day chariot festival of Lord Jagannath, beginning on July 13. The festival commemorates Lord Jagannath's annual visit to his aunt's home. This is the Gundicha Temple which is situated at a distance of 2 km from the main temple. The three deities - Jagannath (Krishna), Balarama and Subhadra - are taken through the streets for everyone to see them. Three richly decorated chariots, resembling temple structures, are pulled through the streets of Puri.
New chariots are built every year. This is the only day when devotees who are not allowed in the temple premises such as non-Hindus and foreigners, can catch a glimpse of the deities.
The festival is spread over the summer and monsoon months, as it is held during the month of Ashadha of the Indian calendar. More than 5,000 policemen have been deployed across the city to maintain law and order and prevent any untoward incident, a police official said Monday. Hundreds of policemen in plainclothes will also be on duty in Puri. More than a dozen closed circuit security cameras have also been installed at various places to keep a watch on troublemakers and manage crowds. An official said bomb detection and disposal squads and fire tender units are also ready to meet emergencies. The coast guard has been put on alert.
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Bangalore will soon have a Krishna Lila Park for which Bhoomi Puja was held on Sunday, 20th June, 2010.
The ISKCON Krishna Lila Park is an attempt to present the pastimes of Krishna as described in the Bhagavata and Mahabharata in a compelling manner using techniques of multi-sensory, immersive and experiential story telling. Simply stated, the visitors to the park will be transported to the time and place of pastimes as if they were actually participating in the pastimes of the Lord. This is a unique project, a humble attempt, conceived for the first time on a scale and grandeur that is unprecedented - all for the glorification of Sri Krishna and upliftment of mankind.
The ISKCON Krishna Lila Park also consists of five grand temples housed in a towering structure that is 360 ft high. One of these temples is a sky-top temple perched at the highest level (500 ft compared to Kanakapura Road) and the climb to reach this temple is designed to be a magnificent experience. Set amidst sprawling themed gardens, water fountains and cascades, open-air theatre for grand live shows, expos on Bhagavad Gita and Vedic Cosmology, varieties of prasadam food courts and boutiques for religious memorabilia - the ISKCON Krishna Lila Park, estimated to cost Rs.350 crores, will be another landmark of Bangalore city, This is the first-of-its-kind project in the city.
The Krishna Lila Park, the foundation stone for which was laid on Sunday.
“In an era when nuclear families are the norm, the younger generation has been deprived the opportunity to savour the heroic tales in our epics. The park will help them know about these brave deeds in an interesting manner”, said Sri Madhu Pandit Dasa, President, ISKCON-Bangalore President and Project Director, ISKCON Krishna Lila Park.
ISKCON-Bangalore maintained that it would raise Rs.350 crore for the project by developing the 42.5 acre land near the hillock as a heritage township.
"Such projects are essential to preserve and present our culture and religion," said Transport Minister R Ashok. "Religious conversions are the bane of the society and people should involve in such constructive activities to check and oppose them."
Religious leaders, including Sri Sri Balagangadharnatha Mahaswami of Adichunchanagiri Maha Samsthana, Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravishankar and Puthige Math Seer Sugunendra Tirtha Swami, Sri Sri Harshananda Maharaj of Sri Ramakrishna Ashram, Sri Shivanubhava Charamurthy Shivarudra Mahaswami of Beli Math were present. Many political leaders, entrepreneurs and devotees also took part in the ceremony.
Each school day, more than a million children in 6,500 schools across seven Indian states eagerly await the vehicle that brings their midday meal. For many of them, the food provided by the Bangalore-based Akshaya Patra Foundation is their first, and perhaps only, meal of the day. The promise of an ample hot lunch brings them to school regularly. The foundation's hope is that the nutrition helps them think clearly once they are there. "Our program is not just about providing food," says Madhu Pandit Das, chairman of the Akshaya Patra Foundation. "It is about providing opportunities for children from economically challenged backgrounds to get a good education and thereby realize their true potential." Akshaya Patra is the world's largest non-governmental organization (NGO) school meal program, according to the Limca Book of Records. An estimated 45 million children do not attend school in India because they have to fend for themselves and their families. They typically end up with menial jobs. Without education, they remain in poverty. Many underprivileged children who do attend school remain impoverished because hunger and malnutrition prevent them from learning well. "We want to break this vicious cycle," says the foundation's vice chairman, Chanchalapati Das. "Our vision is that no child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger." Having crossed the one million milestone last year, Akshaya Patra is working toward its next goal: to reach five million underprivileged children by 2020. But Madhu Pandit also envisions a larger social role. "We want to develop Akshaya Patra as a platform that other NGOs and social entrepreneurs can adopt and replicate." He and Chanchalapati, engineers by education, are also full-time missionaries at the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a Krishna temple in Bangalore. In a congratulatory letter in November 2008, U.S. President Barack Obama noted that in just a few years, Akshaya Patra had become the single largest feeding program in the world. "Your example of using advanced technologies in central kitchens ... is an imaginative approach that has the potential to serve as a model for other countries," he wrote. Compared with other NGOs that struggle to survive, how has Akshaya Patra managed to reach so many? According to S. Nayana Tara, professor of public systems at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, the foundation's "management and operating model, the quality and delivery of services, and the commitment of the team are all key differentiators." To reach its next goal of reaching five million children "and to become a role model, it needs to continue to build on all these fronts. It has to be a very well-orchestrated program." Nayana Tara, who has conducted impact studies on the program, adds that in moving ahead, Akshaya Patra needs to pay special attention to capacity-building at all levels by bringing in professionals with different strengths. And it needs to put robust measures of service quality in place. Says Devi Shetty, a cardiac surgeon who is founder of the Bangalore-based heart hospital Narayana Hrudayalaya: "[Akshaya Patra's] biggest strength is that they are very conscious of every penny that is spent and they spend it extremely judiciously. They are fulfilling a great social need." Shetty, whose hospital has made quality cardiac care widely affordable, points out that Akshaya Patra is run like a business, even though there is no profit motive. Shetty is a member of Akshaya Patra's board of advisers. Akshaya Patra -- which in Sanskrit means the "inexhaustible vessel" -- began in 2000 as a small initiative of ISKCON-Bangalore. The temple cooks meals -- called prasadam -- for thousands of devotees on a daily basis. Mohandas Pai, director at software giant Infosys Technologies, suggested to Madhu Pandit, chairman of ISKCON, that the temple take on the responsibility of feeding underprivileged children in nearby schools. Pai, who later became a program trustee, offered to bear part of the cost personally. Madhu Pandit agreed and the temple started cooking and distributing food to 1,500 students across five schools in the city. Word of mouth soon led to requests pouring in from other schools. A year later, to avoid religious overtones, Akshaya Patra registered as an independent and secular charitable trust. In 2003, the government of Karnataka started its own midday meal in line with a Supreme Court decree that such programs be implemented by all state governments. The Karnataka government invited NGOs to become implementing partners and Akshaya Patra responded. It now partners with seven state governments. Funding Requirements While most other NGOs fit their infrastructure and meal costs within the state government funding, Akshaya Patra's state government funding accounts for about half of meal costs. Akshaya Patra raises the rest from institutions such as ISKCON, its trustees, corporations and individual donors. The cost difference, Madhu Pandit says, is because of the superior quality and unlimited quantity of the Akshaya Patra meal. The meal typically includes rice or chapattis (wheat pancakes), sambar (a vegetable- and lentil-based gravy dish) or dal (a lentil-based dish) and curd, and contains 550 calories. Nayana Tara says that "what the government provides by way of a midday meal is at best a snack of sorts. Akshaya Patra, on the other hand, gives a complete, wholesome and unlimited meal." Third-party studies have documented the positive impact of Akshaya Patra meals by way of increased enrollment, better student health and improved academic performance. "In the last financial year [2008-2009], the average cost of an Akshaya Patra meal was Rs. 4.68 (US$0.10), of which the government funded around Rs. 2.64. This means that to feed one million children, we needed donations of around Rs 20 lakh (US$43,000) per school day. Since then, the costs have gone up further," Chanchalapati says. Akshaya Patra has also spent more than Rs. 60 crore (US$12.9 million) in setting up its kitchens. The kitchens are core to the program's operations, and to its success. Unlike in most other midday meal programs, where the cooking takes place at the school or in small set-ups, Akshaya Patra's kitchens are highly automated and centralized to allow for scale. This minimizes manual handling and ensures high standards of hygiene. Akshaya Patra has 14 such kitchens, most of which are designed to prepare 50,000 or 100,000 meals per day. Two of its biggest -- in Hubli and Bellary (both in Karnataka) -- can cook 250,000 meals per day. Each Akshaya Patra kitchen is headed by two full-time ISKCON missionaries and typically has 150 to 300 employees. The kitchens open at 2:30 a.m. and cooking starts at 3:00 a.m. The first vehicle carrying food rolls out at 5:30 a.m. It typically takes about five hours to cook 100,000 Akshaya Patra meals. "Our centralized kitchen model leverages technology and innovations to maximize operational and cost efficiencies," says program director Chitranga Chaitanya Das, who is also a full-time missionary at ISKCON and an engineer. For instance, Akshaya Patra uses customized industrial steam generators and specifically designed vegetable cutting machines that can process hundreds of kilograms of vegetables per hour. It has imported a Blagdon Pump (typically used in chocolate processing for pumping liquid chocolate) from the United Kingdom and is using it to pump out excess water while cooking rice. In locations where, in keeping with local preferences, the meals include chapattis, Akshaya Patra uses customized machines that can prepare up to 40,000 per hour. One of Akshaya Patra's most striking innovations is its three-tier kitchens based on gravity flow. In these kitchens, the cleaned rice, which is kept in a silo on the ground floor, is first lifted into a smaller silo on the third floor via bucket elevators. The rice is then dropped to the second floor through a computer-controlled flow valve. The washing of the rice and lentils and the cutting of vegetables is done on the second floor. These are then dropped through a number of stainless steel chutes to vessels on the first floor where the cooking is done. The cooked food is similarly dropped to the ground floor, where it is packed into airtight stainless steel containers and loaded into custom-designed grid vehicles. At present, Akshaya Patra has three such gravity kitchens -- one each in Bangalore, Hubli and Bellary. For its innovative use of technology to benefit humanity, it won the Tech Award Laureate 2009 from the San Jose, California-based Tech Museum. Work in Rural Areas These large kitchens, however, have a limitation: They are not suitable for feeding schoolchildren in rural and other outlying areas. There aren't large enough numbers of children in smaller villages to make large-scale production feasible, and bad roads make it too difficult for food to be distributed widely. To remedy that, Akshaya Patra has also adopted decentralized kitchens. Under this model, the program identifies self-help groups of women in villages who cook and distribute Akshaya Patra meals in small quantities. Akshaya Patra provides these groups with the ingredients and the required set-up by way of place, fuel and vessels. It also provides them with training in cooking, nutrition, hygiene and bookkeeping, and monitors them on a regular basis. The decentralized kitchens are located in Rajasthan, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh and extend to tribal-dominated communities in more than 300 villages. The decentralized model feeds around 50,000 children, less than 5% of Akshaya Patra's total reach. But in order to achieve the program's target of five million, Madhu Pandit seeks a more equitable combination of approaches. "By 2020, we hope to reach one million children through our decentralized kitchens," he says. Apart from increasing penetration in rural India, Akshaya Patra's low-cost decentralized model has another significant social impact: It generates jobs for women in these remote areas. To gear up for the next leap, Madhu Pandit is building the organization's leadership, bringing in managers who can deliver corporate best practices and infuse a new level of professionalism. He is putting together teams for fund-raising, business transformation, marketing and image building. "We had been doing all of these [things] earlier, but in an ad hoc manner. We realize that in order to move to the next level, we need to have a more organized and systemic approach," he says. Take funding, for instance. From now on, Akshaya Patra will start operations in a new state or city only if it has a commitment from local industrialists and other bodies to fund capital costs and recurring costs for three years. During the three-year period, it expects to establish its presence strongly enough to enable it to raise funds on its own. The goal is to make each kitchen self-sustaining in terms of fund-raising. "To meet the larger numbers it is essential that we put a robust and predictable fund-raising process in place," says Pai of Infosys. Ajay Parekh, executive director for strategy, adds that funds will be raised specifically for business improvements. With the current commitment of feeding more than a million children, the foundation's top management is veering toward having a minimum cash balance of six months' expenses. "This is more a safety mechanism to avoid cash flow mismatch," Pai says. Another key priority is to ensure greater cross-pollination of ideas and practices within the organization and greater standardization in the kitchens, be it facility layout, operating practices, equipment specifications or sourcing. There are moves toward building strong vendor relationships (including direct relationships with farmers) and maximizing centralized procurement wherever possible for equipment and raw material. "Currently, each kitchen does its own sourcing. Consolidated buying will help us to drive our costs down further and increase our operational efficiencies," Parekh says. "In the case of equipment and systems, it will also give us a greater say in the design aspect." Certifying Kitchens Akshaya Patra is also working toward getting all of its kitchens certified by the ISO (International Organization for Standardization). Six already are, and the plan is to get the others certified in 12 to 18 months. Other certifications are in the offing. Akshaya Patra is in talks with SGS, the multinational food certifying agency, to conduct regular hygiene audits and with a top consulting firm for process audits of its kitchens. There is also talk of introducing Lean and Six Sigma methodologies. Raj Kondur, chairman of Nirvana Business Solutions and a trustee of the Akshaya Patra Foundation, points out: "It is very important that nonprofit organizations are held to the same standards that the best corporates follow, especially if they want to [increase] scale and address large issues. If we can successfully marry the rigor of the corporate world and the commitment of an NGO, it can be a great force multiplier." Indeed, having the support and thought leadership of professionals such as Kondur, Pai and Shetty has played a significant role in Akshaya Patra's success. Once Akshaya Patra gets its new act together, it plans to share know-how and standards with other NGOs. "We may even have Akshaya Patra audits and certifications," says Parekh. "This can help [other NGOs] to increase their efficiencies and also boost their fund-raising capacity." But before it takes this leap, the foundation needs to work on dealing with the change management that will crop up through its own transformation -- without losing its vision as an NGO. Even now, Akshaya Patra is not without critics. Some believe its model of centralized kitchens is faulty. "Akshaya Patra is not only very capital-intensive, it also does not fulfill the government's midday meal program's second objective of creating employment," says Manoj Kumar, who heads the Naandi Foundation, a Hyderabad-based NGO that also runs a midday meal program. Others are critical of Akshaya Patra's urban focus and its spending on marketing and fund-raising. Voices also have been raised against Madhu Pandit and other ISKCON missionaries associated with Akshaya Patra for allegedly diverting funds collected on behalf of Akshaya Patra to buy land for ISKCON. Madhu Pandit and other independent trustees have strongly denied the allegations. In a written statement responding to allegations by D.K. Shivakumar, a member of the legislative assembly, the independent trustees have said: "APF's [Akshaya Patra Foundation's] objective from the beginning has been to set a benchmark for transparency and governance for such program. To this end, the books of APF have been audited by BSR & Co. [a member firm of KPMG], a well-known accounting firm. Regular internal audits are also conducted in all branches on a monthly basis. All of APF's accounts are shared with supporters, government officials and the general public regularly and are freely available on our website."
Madhu Pandit, meanwhile, is taking the controversies and criticism in stride. "Akshaya Patra is going through a phase where it is embracing a new level of professionalism and working toward reaching greater heights. Anything new is difficult to digest, and we have to learn to deal with the criticism. If India can ensure that its children are well-fed and given a good education, then one generation later we may not even need this program."
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