Vol VII No.

4 - 2002

Willourchildren TheArt
growuptobe ofGiving
Photo Courtesy: Richard Mascarenhas

Hindus,Muslims, Making
Christiansor ThingsHappen
Indians? ÐEventsatCRY
Dear Friend,
At a recent gathering, someone remarked that most
Indians have religions out of birth rather than
conviction. Hence, we can have no cause to ostracise,
much less hurt or slaughter, others on grounds of faith.
As a born again Hindu, the argument does not wash for
me. What certainly applies for Hindus, is what has been
a Hindu prayer across the ages: "Let everyone be happy,
let everyone be free from ills." Certainly for modern
people, this prayer is universal, regardless of religious
belief.
The last few years have not been encouraging for
Indians. Cyclones, a border war, nuclear tests, economic
sanctions, a major earthquake and major frauds in the
financial community have each contributed to
unstability. The last few months also saw the terrorist
attack on Parliament; communal violence in Gujarat
beginning with the burning of a train in Godhra; de
facto bankruptcy of governments at all levels below the
Centre and the continued festering of the Kashmir
problem which includes a hapless plight for hundreds of
thousands of refugees. All this while experiencing
uncertainty and job redundancy unleashed by the
domestic and international liberalisation of India’s
economy. Amazingly, a recent survey finds the residents
of India amongst the happiest and most optimistic in
the world. A tribute, barely believable, to the resilience of
this nation, this people.
The CRY family has to be optimistic. Else we cannot
work to deliver rights to every Indian child. In this issue
of CRY in Action, we explore communalism, that brazen
face of human inhumanity. Just a few months ago, this
demon attacked our hearts with tales and photographs
from Godhra. As my teenaged daughter wrote in Haiku,
The fire is burning
The world continues to turn
But the mind is blank
The demon raged on, to churn the world’s mind and
stomach – particularly as reported by Harsh Mander
from Ahmedabad. As is usual in these circumstances,
children have borne the brunt of the consequences.
Here, if ever, is a challenge to India’s optimism, courage
and ingenuity. Can we Indians continue to celebrate our
1
diversity hereafter?
We must. If we don’t, India will be forever riven by the
many, many differences between us. Of language, skin
colour, race, food preferences, class, caste, geography,
history, and so on. There can be no peace, no
prosperity, no fulfillment of the CRY pledge. On the
other hand, if we can rediscover a way to enjoy our
differences…
The most prosperous, and most admired, nations are
the most open and diverse. Gandhiji propounded the
ideal of an India like a house through which all the
winds of the world could blow. That an open, multi
cultural, harmonious India would be a world beater is
supported by history (until the eighteenth century
Indian GNP was about a fifth of the world’s) and by
the recent successes of IT entrepreneurs and non
resident Indians.
CRY, on the whole, shuns quick fixes. So towards our
vision of a pluralist future, where people are not riven
by creed or caste, we have made a start, in spite of the
daunting present. We start with what we teach the
child. Seeding in that child the knowledge, skills and
attitudes that enable her to live productively and in
peace with people different from her. Instilling in her a
wonder for India’s, indeed the world’s, diversity and a
respect for beliefs different from hers. Schools cannot
provide just knowledge. They must also give us values
that build social cohesion and strengthen the nation.
You can read here how CRY and its partners live their
belief. The belief that India’s children deserve a future
in which religion and caste exist in private, if at all. A
belief that all children are equal in the eyes of God. A
belief that it is the duty of every Indian to uphold our
Constitution which guarantees our children this
future. You will be proud of the work our partners do,
heartened to take the work further. I am.
Nandan Maluste
Honorary Trustee

Will our children grow
up to be Hindus,
Muslims, Christians or
Indians?
In 1993, Rippan Kapur, our late founder said, "Amidst the horror
of the recent communal hatred, it has become crucial to stop and
recognise what we are doing to our children and their world.
Violence and hatred simply cannot be our legacy to the next
generation." His words seem as relevant today as they were nine
years ago.
CRY is deeply secular. Our vision is of a nation whose children
enjoy the same privileges and rights irrespective of their
background. It is critical, that this vision is shared not just by
people within CRY, but also by our development partners in the
field, people who work directly with children. Because in the
effort to build a tolerant and responsible society, we must start
with children. They are the future, and we need to seed in them
the values of respect for diversity, for all religions, for the dignity
of human life. And because, inevitably, they are the worst
affected each time social or communal unrest is unleashed.
Communal harmony is not the key focus of most of CRY’s work.
Very few of our partners have communal harmony as a stated
objective in their organisation charters. But if we are to succeed
at ensuring our children’s rights to protection, development,
participation, even survival, it is inevitable that we all remain
steadfastly committed to secular values.
In sensitive areas, this value takes the form of demonstrated
action to bring different communities together. Take the example
of Mahita, a CRY-supported project working in the area of
education for girl children in the slums of Hyderabad. Mahita
operates in a very communally sensitive area. Its way of dealing
2
with this is to build awareness of communal peace through
community programmes and education. They have helped
organise peace marches during and after the riots. Mahita
volunteers visit hospitals to help affected families and provide
medicines and physical support. They have initiated ‘maitri
sanghams’ - committees of leaders from different communities
helping to sort out issues between different communities.
Teaching them right
The value of secularism is inculcated into the curriculum and in
activities in schools and Non Formal Education centres (NFEs)
run by our partners. People’s Vigilance Committee of Human
Rights (PVCHR) in Varanasi is a classic example. PVCHR’s
objectives are to eliminate exploitative conditions of child labour
in Varanasi district and make education an achievable goal for all
children. Varanasi district is a communally sensitive area and
PVCHR is faced with the issue in their everyday work. So, in the
curriculum of the NFEs they run, and in meetings of village
committees, PVCHR members constantly emphasise themes in
history that are examples of religious harmony. For example,
they highlight the 1857 national struggle against the British and
explain how members of all communities united under a Muslim
king. They organise study circles in which members of civil
society discuss issues of communal harmony. PVCHR’s
chairperson is the well-known poet Gyanendra Pathi. He writes
innovative poems citing examples of tolerance from Hindu
mythology and links the holy books of various religions.
Spreading the message of tolerance through children is what
Prayas, a CRY-supported project in Jaipur does. Prayas provides
education, health care and nutritional support to children with
special needs belonging to economically deprived families. This
project works in an area that is prone to communal tension.
Theirs is challenging work - to integrate physically and mentally
challenged children with their counterparts and bring about
harmony between people of different communities. The children
are their message. Their aim is to make the children literate and
give them value education so they can analyse things,
discriminate between right and wrong and grow up to be good
human beings. Every day children are told stories of great people
who preached the universal truths of brotherhood and love.
They celebrate all festivals in school. Children tie Rakhis,
celebrate Diwali at school with crackers and sweets and Id with
sevian and Id millan. They understand that all festivals mean
sharing, brotherhood, love and enjoyment. It has been noticed
that this message has spread in the communities. Children have

PRY
A AS, Jaipur – a dance clas in progres
now started going to each other’s homes. Prayas believes their
efforts are showing good results, with even the families of
children mingling with each other.
The importance that CRY places on secularism as a value has
also led CRY to support some projects that work exclusively in
the area of communalism and the effect it has on children. Alok,
a CRY Fellow who conducts research on the status of children
affected by communal riots in Kanpur, is an example. He
attempts to provide access to education facilities and provide an
environment for development for these children. During the
course of his study he discovered that in the aftermath of
communal violence, children were torn apart from their
surroundings and family. This resulted in an increase in child
labour and crime amongst and against children and a drop in
literacy rates. From discussions with over 400 children and
NGOs he found that the psychological problems facing these
children had not been addressed by society or by the
government.
Alok identified three groups that needed to be targeted for
intervention to promote social schooling. These were school
children (Class 5 - 12), teachers and CRY partners. The groups
would undergo a process that would help them enrich their own
knowledge and share with others the importance of moral
education and secularism in education systems. This process has
been initiated in two schools -— Unnao-Navyug Public School
and Sangam Sishu Mandir.
Healing wounds
When communal tension erupts, our partners’ secular values
make them ideal candidates to try and heal the wounds. MARAG
al A
(Maldhari And Rural Action Group), an organisation working
with children in the Kutch and Surendranagar districts of
3
Gujarat is currently working with children affected by the riots
in Gujarat. Post the recent riots, many concerned organisations
got together to work with the victims under the umbrella of
Citizen’s Initiative (CI) which MARAG is a part of. During the
initial phase MARAG, along with other organisations, was
involved in distribution of food and other relief material like
medicines, blankets and clothes to Hindu and Muslim victims in
the relief camps. MARAG then took responsibility of the camps
in Dariyakhan Ghummat, Shahibaug Municipal Quarters and
Bakramandi (Ranip). Children at these camps didn’t have
anything to do and their health was at risk. They were
traumatised by what they had witnessed. Some children had lost
their parents in riots and some had parents in other camps.
MARAG, as part of CI, initiated an activity programme for
children in the camps with the help of some educated and
enthusiastic youth, called the Bal Muskaan programme. They
provided toys and stationery and conducted educational and
recreational games like paper work, drawing and painting. The
volunteers read them stories and played with them. The children
were taught numbers and letters. Some of the younger children
were also provided nutritional support. The MARAG team is
trained in running child activity centres and providing inputs to
the volunteers to run these programmes. MARAG continued to
distribute relief material in nearby Hindu and Muslim camps as
the riots continued and newer camps came into existence.
MARAG also helped collect data from the families in the camps
on the events they went through and whether they had or had
not received government compensation.
What it means to be secular
Most telling of all, however, is an account of what it means to be
secular, written by Roshni Nair,
N a project partner in Mumbai,
who runs a project called Sa
Saathi that works with homeless
children. Her words exemplify an attitude that is so much a part
of CRY, that most of us haven’t ever bothered to articulate it.
Roshni reminds us that it is critical we do.
"Six years ago when we came together as a group and Saathi
evolved, it did not even cross our minds that we belonged to
different religions. Finally that just added to the richness of our
collective experiences. And we believe that what you do in your
work will be drawn from your own life experiences. Respect for
individuality, sensitivity towards human dignity and a passion
for children form a part of our core values. Maybe that is what
brought us together and has kept us together.
Communal harmony does not limit itself to some school value
education class, nor does it spring up as reactions to some
incidents. It has to translate to the way we live our life day to day.
It has to take the form of all of us being proactive in the process.
It is evident that the time has now come for us (even those who
rationalise themselves as being sensitive but uninvolved) to
acknowledge that the world has indeed become smaller. And that
whenever and wherever ugly incidents occur, between people of
different religions or castes, they are actually taking something
away from our lives and our worlds. We have one world which
we are tearing apart.
This does not mean that there is no hope. The truth is simpler.
There is only hope and it is closer than you think. It is with each
of us."
Does any of this work translate into tangible results? The only
evidence we at CRY have that it does, is the fact that when riots
or disturbances occur, the communities our partners work in,
tend to be less affected. Many have served as oases of shelter and
peace in troubled times. Is that enough? Perhaps not. But each of
these efforts represents a beacon of hope. Your ideas,
comments and criticism will help us find more ways to
build a future for our children that is not tainted by the
biases and prejudices of the past. Do write to us with
your views.
4
THE ART OF GIVING
There are many ways of contributing to the movement for
children’s rights. We may not all be able to dedicate our whole
lives to changing the social situation we find ourselves in. Yet,
every positive action that we take in this direction counts. We
firmly believe in what Rippan Kapur, our late founder often
used to say, "Everything we do will make a difference to a
child’s life… and our own."
Every individual makes a difference
¥ Mr. Gopu P, a Project Manager at Processor Systems (India)
Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore, noticed CRY’s advertisements almost ten
years ago, but began helping financially much later. He collected
clothes, toys, books and other things for CRY. He even helped put
together a small bunch of regular CRY supporters in his office.
"Children cannot support themselves," he says. "Those born in
harsh circumstances suffer for no fault of their own. They need
all the help they can get from those more fortunate." Mr. Gopu,
you are a truly inspiring example to people who want to do
something for children, but don't know how.
¥ Mr. Tapan Majumder's daughter is to be married very
soon. He has requested his guests to write a cheque in the name
of CRY for the amount they would spend on gifts. A truly
thoughtful gesture!
¥ Mr. Sudip Ganguly of Accord Advertising, Kolkata, is a
man who never says no to CRY. CEO of an outdoor advertising
company, he has always supported CRY with outdoor advertising
space. He's always been there for us when we've needed him. Last
year he provided CRY with two trams and four hoardings
completely free of cost to enable us to raise awareness about our
products.
Companies that cared
¥ Spice Telecom
During CRY’s Gift a Smile Week in November 2001, and again
during the festive season from December 2001 to January 2002,
Spice Telecom ran an innovative scheme to make a difference. By
simply dialing 279 from their cell phones, Spice subscribers
donated Rs. 10 to CRY. Approximately 10,000 Spice Telecom
subscribers helped raise over Rs. 1 lakh for CRY through this
scheme. Thank you Spice for giving thousands of concerned
citizens an easy and effective way to participate in CRY's cause.
¥ Coca-Cola
For the second year in succession, Coca-Cola has adopted
Navshrishti, a CRY-supported project covering ten centers in Neb
Sarai and Nangloi areas of Delhi. Coca-Cola supports the project ¥ Lenbrook Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

under its Jagriti Learning Programme, which endeavours to take
education to the underprivileged. Besides supporting the
education component, Coke has also started a computer
education centre at Navshrishti. Thank you Coke, for giving
these underprivileged children a chance to enter the digital world.
Lenbrook Pharmaceuticals has partnered CRY in a Cause Related
Marketing scheme for the period January to December 2002
wherein it will contribute to CRY a percentage of the net sales
value of their product Kinetone+. They have made a minimum
commitment of Rs. 1 lakh towards this partnership.

¥ Systopic ¥ Corporation

Systopic, a pharmaceutical company based in New Delhi, Bank

initiated a Cause Related Marketing programme on their On the occasion of

th
product Sysfol (a molecule largely prescribed by gynaecologists, India's 55 year of
for proper upkeep for nursing mothers) last year. In just one independence,
year, they have managed to raise enough resources to take care of Corporation Bank
the health and education of 170 children. Encouraged by the made a
response and goodwill generated, Systopic has extended the contribution to
association for another year. CRY through an

¥ Uni Style Image (USI)

innovative scheme.
The bank made a
Through the years, USI and CRY have worked together to create
grant of Rs. 5 for
a unique partnership that has benefited hundreds of
every account
underprivileged children. It started with convincing USI
opened between August 1 and December 31, 2001. The Finance
distributors to give a percentage of their margin to CRY.
Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, presented the cheque for
Subsequent years saw support towards a Runathon on Anti-
Rs. 1,97,210 to CRY on behalf of Corporation Bank at a function
Child Labour Day and sponsorships for FACT, a corporate quiz
in New Delhi on March 28, 2002.
organised by CRY. This year, children from various CRY-
supported projects were invited to draw and colour at various ¥ India Book Distributors Ltd. (IBD)

USI outlets in Delhi and Mumbai. One of the students, Reeta,
was adjudged the best budding artist and her work was
converted into a T-shirt range and sold through various USI
outlets. The profit of Rs. 1.25 lakhs from the sale of T-shirts was
given to CRY by cine star and Member of Parliament, Shabana
Azmi.
IBD and CRY came together to make a difference to the lives of
underprivileged Indian children. A specially designed co-branded
appeal letter was sent to CRY donors. IBD is contributing 15
percent of the value of Newsweek subscriptions generated
through this promotion to CRY.
¥ PLUS Business Machines Ltd.

¥ Mother's Pride
Mother's Pride, a pre-nursery school with branches in west Delhi
is a long standing CRY partner. This year, they put up a stall at
IITF, Pragati Maidan in support of CRY, that raised Rs. 2 lakhs.
The teachers of the school also worked hard to convince the
association of toy manufacturers, that set up the Toy Pavilion, to
donate toys to CRY. We salute your effort, Mother's Pride.
¥ The Park Hotel
The Park Hotel, New Delhi, was where eight girls from
Navshrishti, a CRY-supported project, made a giant sized fruit
cake. After a two day training programme, the children put
Mr. Swadesh Khetawat, Managing Director of PLUS has time
and again demonstrated his commitment to CRY's mission. He
has, over the past year, supported CRY in a variety of ways. Some
of them included donating an overhead projector and stationery
amounting to Rs. 1 lakh, a commitment of Rs. 5 lakhs towards
CRY projects, sponsorship of the charity show of Naseeruddin
Shah’s play "Ismat Apa Ke Naam" in September 2001 and
sponsorship of the CRY product launch at Kala Ghoda in
November. Mr. Khetawat, you are truely an integral part of the
CRY family.
¥ Trinity Computers

together over 40 eggs, heaps of dry fruits and cherries under the
Trinity Computers Mumbai, has been supporting CRY for the
watchful eyes of a team of expert chefs to whip up the tasty
past two years. The employees contribute Rs. 10 from their
delight.

5
salary each month and the company matches the amount. This
has resulted in a total collection of Rs. 79,000 this year.
¥CRY@Zensar
ZenSar Technologies, a global software services company has
partnered CRY by providing us with office space in their
premises and committing a full-time employee to coordinate
CRY's activities in Pune. This initiative hopes to raise awareness
about underprivileged children among individuals, corporates,
youth and institutions in Pune.
ZenSar has also supported CRY by donating computers,
organising fund raisers for children and initiating a Pay-Roll-
Giving scheme. The scheme sees 650 employees contributing to
CRY every month, translating into Rs. 40,000 each month. If you
would like to know more about CRY's activities in Pune write to
us at cry@zensar.com or call at 6633001.
¥MarsRestaurants
Mars Restaurants of Just Around The Corner, Not Just Jazz By
The Bay and Dosa Diner fame, supported CRY through a
promotion at all its outlets across Mumbai. Rs. 5 was added to
the customer's bill and the amount was equally divided among
five NGOs committed to different causes, including CRY. Thus
far, CRY has received Rs. 1,70,000 from Mars Restaurants
through this partnership, money that has proved valuable to
CRY's efforts in transforming the lives of India's children.
¥PantaloonIndia
In a unique promotion at its stores across the country, Pantaloon
is donating Rs. 5 on each garment sold from its children’s section.
Thus making it possible for you to reach out to an
underprivileged child, each time you buy something for your
own. The scheme has so far generated Rs. 4 lakhs.
¥KotakMahindra
Employees of Kotak Mahindra generously donated Rs. 3,97,909
through a one-time Pay-Roll-Giving Scheme. A valuable contribution
that will change the lives of almost 500 children for the better.
¥HindustanLeverLimited
The FMCG giant ran a promotion programme for Surf that
involved a painting contest for children upto the age of 15 years.
Each entry had to be accompanied with any empty pack of Surf
bearing the logo of the competition. The entries were judged by
the noted artist Anjolie Ela Menon. The proceeds came to CRY.
¥Tata-AIGLifeInsuranceCo.Ltd.
Tata-AIG has created an insurance plan, on which a percentage of
6
the premiums collected will be donated to CRY. They have made
a minimum commitment of Rs. 50,000 towards this partnership,
regardless of the number of people who enroll for this plan. Tata-
AIG has also provided insurance to approximately 6000 children
from CRY-supported projects in India, a new way of showing
corporate commitment to our nation's children.
¥CRYANTS
The volunteer wing of Chennai celebrated its first year on April
14, 2002. This active group of 46 members, calling itself ‘The
CRYANTS’, works at various levels with CRY. It includes people
like Sripriya, who takes time off from her high pressured
corporate life to coach class X students of ‘Mottugal’, a CRY-
supported project, for their board examinations. Other young
executives at CRYANTS worked hard to get sponsorships and
participation for FACT, CRY's corporate quiz.
Helpinghandsfromaroundtheworld
Our Global Operations Division based in Delhi looks at
partnering with individuals and corporates abroad.
¥HONGKONG
The generosity of the
patrons and the hard
work put in by the
employees and owners of
Woodlands Restaurant in
Hong Kong knew no
limits on October 2, 2001.
The restaurant invited its patrons for food and instead of
charging them asked them to pay what they liked for the meal.
The guests donated generously and the event raised Rs 3.7 lakhs
for CRY.
¥OMAN
Mr Madhu Kumar, our volunteer in Oman raised Rs. 45,000 by
selling CRY products. He also collected Rs 50,000 as donations
from friends and acquaintances. What's more, he put up a CRY
stall at the Kerala Engineers Family Meet and gave a
presentation to the executive members of this association which
collected another Rs 50,000 for CRY. In all, Mr. Kumar's effort
have raised Rs. 1.45 lakhs for underprivileged children.
¥JAMAICA
On March 14, 2002, Ms. Kiran Chatani, from Jamaica, came
across a CRY brochure. She called us and met a CRY volunteer in
Mumbai. On March 21, she made her first donation and spoke of
her interest to raise some funds among Indians living abroad.
She began in right earnest and her first donations came from her
family. She has now started selling snacks at a store owned by
her sister and is donating the income to CRY. Thank you and
best of luck, Kiran!
YOUTH IN ACTION
¥ The annual CRY Summer Workshop at Bangalore
this year was held from April 16-18, 2002. In these three days,
the children from various schools were taken through games,
discussions and puppet plays with the underlying message of
child rights and the issues facing underprivileged children. The
aim of these programmes is to give children opportunities to not
only realise their potential, but also to motivate them to reach
out to those less privileged than themselves. Here's what the
children had to say...
• Prathiba (14 yrs): I had a great time on all 3 days. It was a very
different experience. The part I enjoyed most was the last day
when children from Paraspara (a CRY-supported project) joined
us and we interacted with them. I also enjoyed the puppet
making session by Uma Khanna.
• Sunil (14 yrs): The CRY camp was very useful for us because we
learnt about CRY, its work and objectives. The most important
day was when the children of the Paraspara project had come.
We made friends with the children and it was fun dancing and
playing with them. We didn’t know about CRY before and we
learnt about it in the fun way.
The summer camp raised Rs. 3,250 as fees and another
Rs. 11,000 from an individual donor.
¥ Chettinad Vidyashram, Chennai saw 11 children
getting together to contribute clothes, pencils and note books
along with Rs. 200 to CRY. These children, studying in class VI,
have formed a "Unity Club", through which they work for the
underprivileged children.
7
¥ Ketaki and Prarthana are 12 year-old children, studying
in class VII at Sishya in Chennai. They collected sea shells,
painted them and sold them to their neighbours and friends. The
proceeds were then donated to CRY. With this, these 12 year-olds
have taught us that if each of us does what we can, then together
there is no problem we cannot solve.
th
¥ Anushree Majumdar is an 11 standard student who
visited CRY, Kolkata to get a feel of how a social organisation
works. Once in, she could not leave without doing something for
the children. She worked tirelessly for BOL JAMOORE — found
sponsors for banners and posters: brougth the Delhi Group-
BEST OF CAMPUS to perform free of cost. Feeling bad that she
couldn’t help out for FACT, she bullied three new volunteers to
take her place – and boy, did they help. Thank you Anushree.
¥ Narsee Monjee College, Mumbai organised a Dandiya
Raas night, "Chalo Ji Ramva Raas", under the aegis of its Music
and Dance Society. The aim was to spread awareness about AIDS
among the youth. Part proceeds from the event were contributed
to CRY. A true gesture of collective action.
¥ Puneet Heda a graduate doing his MBA in Manipal called
CRY offering help. Once he was told that CRY, Kolkata was
organising a quiz for corporates, he came to the CRY office
religiously to follow up on participation, call corporates and act
as a helping hand. He leaves for Manipal soon and the good
wishes of CRY are with him.
¥ Sumit Kumar Bose a student of IIM, Kolkata, Sumit
heard about FACT, CRY's corporate quize from a message
posted on the IIM Internet message board. He wasted no
time in offering his help. He came once a week to the CRY
office and contacted corporates for sponsorships and
participation. On other days he would send us details of
potential corporate donors. CRY wishes him all the best for the
future.
¥ Salonie Muralidhara from Mumbai, has proved that
charity begins at home and it could begin when you're just 10
years old. In an effort to do something constructive during her
holidays, little Salonie collected ‘raddi’ from her neighbourhood
and sold it by striking a special deal with the raddiwalla. She
managed to collect Rs. 800 and sent it to CRY. Congratulations
Salonie on a truly remarkable effort!
 a group of volunteers called ‘Friends of CRY’ in Bangalore in 1998.
MAKING THINGS FACT 2002 was held in Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and
HAPPEN Chennai. 147 teams took part across the centres raising a surplus
of almost Rs. 15 lakhs for underprivileged children. Corporates
Events are an integral part of the fund raising activities at
got involved not just as participating teams, but also as sponsors
CRY. This year too, volunteers at CRY, our supported
who contributed money, prizes for the teams, media space and
projects, individuals and corporates came together to make
contributions in kind, like refreshments, hospitality and
things happen so that India's underprivileged children can lead
mementos. Special mention must be made of volunteer teams in
better lives.
each city, the Friends of CRY in Bangalore, CRYANTS in Chennai
¥ Come Share My World and various individual volunteers in other cities.
On March 2, 2002, 200 CRY donors from across Bangalore met • On July 22, FACT 2002 was held at the J.N. Tata Auditorium in
at the Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan auditorium for an event called Bangalore. 42 teams participated in the quiz. Texas Instruments
'Come Share My World'. An outstanding dance drama 'Ekanki' was the winner with Infosys coming in 2nd and IBM in 3rd place.
was performed by children from the Paraspara Trust Project. The The sponsors for the quiz were Siemens Communication
students from a school run by APD (Association for People with Software and Hewlett Packard. It was conducted by Charu
Disability) presented a play on the environment and performed Sharma.
a folk dance - 'Kolatta'. A display section was placed at the
entrance of the auditorium with stalls of participating projects
that included:
• Paraspara Trust that works towards the eradication of child
labour in the slums and empowers children to fight for their
rights.
• Ujwala that helps empower women and eliminate child labour
through education.
• The Association for People with Disability (APD) that educates
differently abled children from all walks of life.
• Odanadi that works towards the development of children of
• Over 37 teams participated in FACT 2002 in Delhi. Amex took
commercial sex workers and their mothers through education
home the coveted trophy. G E Capital came in second with
and awareness. rd
Ranbaxy following in 3 place. The quiz was presented by HT
The event raised Rs. 47,600.
Careers in association with Archies. The quiz content was
provided by Sidharth Basu's The Tree of Knowledge and the quiz
was conducted by the famous television personality Roshan
Abbas. Canon supported the event.

P r o je c t c h ild r e n fr o m A P D p r e se n tin g th e p la y o n e n v ir o n m e n t.

¥ FACT ( Free A Child Today) 2002

The FACT corporate quiz is an annual event that has been

organised in the best traditions of CRY events. It is a quiz where
corporates send teams to compete against each other for the
glory of being crowned the best corporate quizzing team in their
region. The first edition of FACT was conceived and organised by
8
• Sunday, May 12, 2002 was the day corporates in Kolkata dared
to show they care at FACT 2002. The winner was Pepsi, Game
Plan stood second and L&T took third place. Hindustan Times
was the presenting sponsor and Barry O' Brien was the quiz
master. The winners also won a host of exciting prizes including
free air tickets, holiday packages, gift hampers, cameras and
vouchers from retail stores.
• FACT 2002, Mumbai took place on Friday, 17th May, and saw,
36 teams participating. Sponsorships came from ICICI Bank,
Globus, IDBI Principal, iS3c, TCS and Pantaloons. Hotel Orchid
provided the venue free of cost, and Mid-Day was the media
sponsor. The event was covered by SAB TV. The quiz was hosted
by Derek O'Brien, who donated a large part of his fee to CRY. The
winner of the quiz was ICICI Bank with Ambience D'Arcy and
Motilal Oswal Securities taking second and third places
respectively.
• FACT 2002 at Chennai was held on May 26, 2002 with 15
teams participating. CRYANTS, Chennai's volunteer group and a
number of individuals and organisations helped CRY run the
event in a cost effective manner. Charu Sharma conducted the
P a r tic ip a n ts b a ttle it o u t a t F A C T 2 0 0 2 in C h e n n a i
9
quiz. The winner was the team from Ramco Systems. Polaris
Software and CitiBank stood second and third respectively.
Product Launch
CRY products have raised awareness and resources for CRY over
the past 23 years. To announce the launch of its 2001 product
range, CRY brought together children from CRY-supported
projects and celebrities to paint an enlarged version of a CRY
card, spreading the message of peace. This launch event was
organised in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore.
• In Delhi, the launch event was held at India Habitat Centre
where children from CRY-supported projects painted a large card.
This was signed off by celebrities like Sharmila Tagore, Anjolie
Ela Menon, Sanjay Bhattacharya and Bulbul Sharma to formally
launch the CRY product range.
• In Mumbai, the launch was held at Kala Ghoda on October 31,
2001, with Milind Soman as the chief guest. Children from
Aarambh, a CRY-supported project in Mumbai painted the large
card and children from Experimental Theatre Foundation
performed a street play on child labour.
• The launch event at Kolkata was held on November 9, 2001 at,
Swabhumi – The Heritage Plaza. Ms Nabanita Deb Sen, designer
Kiran Uttam Ghosh and industrialist Ms Smita Bajoria
participated in the event. 30 children from a CRY-supported
project Nishtha painted the large card and together with the
celebrities launched CRY's product range for the festive season.
¥ Bal Natya Utsav
To mark Children’s Day in Delhi, CRY organised Bal Natya Utsav
on the evenings of November 8 to 11, 2001 at Dilli Haat. The
theme for this years' festival was "Child Rights". The Utsav brought
together dramatic societies from colleges like Kirori Mal, Lady
Shri Ram, Indra Prastha, Jesus & Mary and Daulat Ram. It gave
them a platform to express their opinions on the rights of children
in India and on issues like child labour, poverty and education.
¥ CRY Cadence Corporate Cricket Challenge to these students to express their opinions, viewpoints and
• The 2nd CRY Cadence Corporate Cricket Challenge was feelings on the rights of children in India. The participating
sponsored and co-organized by Cadence Design Systems, a schools were La Martiniere, St. Xaviers, Mahadevi Birla Girls
premier software company located in the NOIDA Export High School, Birla High School, Lorreto Dharmatala and Apeejay
Processing Zone. The Cricket tournament brought together a School. Two groups from a project run by CRY Fellow, Kalachand
large number of Delhi based organisations to raise funds for Das also participated.
CRY’s ongoing programmes for underprivileged children. Besides
¥ Ismat Apa Ke Naam
the fun of playing with their peers, the participants experienced
Noted Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah supported CRY
the special joy of being able to participate in CRY’s efforts to
through a charity show of his play, "Ismat Apa Ke Naam" on
better the lives of underprivileged children. The three month
September 29, 2001 in Mumbai. All ticket proceeds from the
long event was co-sponsored by Apara Solutions and Satyam
show, amounting to nearly Rs. 1 lakh, came to CRY.
Computer Service Limited with Gateway as the media sponsor
and The Oberoi as the hospitality sponsor. The associate co-
sponsors were HP, IBM, Quantum, UNI and Sun Micro Systems.
This year, the challenge raised Rs 7 lakhs. The money will be
disbursed by CRY to its various projects and will go towards
supporting the education of 850 children for a year.

T h e c a st o f I sm a t A p a K e N a a m b e in g p r e se n te d w ith a b o u q u e t
o f flo w e r s

T h e w in n in g tea m - G E C a p ita l

¥ Bol Jamoore
On November 30, 2001, CRY, Kolkata brought together students
of different schools at Bol Jamoore – a street theatre festival at
Swabhumi – The Heritage Plaza. Bol Jamoore provided a platform

10
 Introduce
Geetato
something
new
Ð childhood
For millions of Indian children, childhood means endless labour. At CRY - Child Relief and You, we have
committed ourselves towards ensuring children like Geeta enjoy their basic rights. Through
collective action, from individuals like you. Who, over two decades, have enabled us to help
children lead better lives. And find out what childhood truly means.

I’d like to rewrite the future of a child by contributing towards

One year of education · Rs.800 for 1 child · Rs.2400 for 3 children · Rs.4000 for 5 children · Rs._____ for ______children
One year of education · Rs.1200 for 1 child · Rs.3600 for 3 children · Rs.6000 for 5 children · Rs _____for_______ children
and Healthcare
Support a physically/ · Rs. 3000 for 1child · Rs. 9000 for 3 children · Rs.15000 for 5 children · Rs.______ for _____ children
mentally challenged child
for one year
· I would like to donate, but after I know more about CRY
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· In order to avail 100% tax exemption, I would like to donate under CRYSID** (CRY Supported Initiatives for Development) for the above schemes.
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· CRY often benefits by mailing out offers and information to its donors on behalf of other organisations. Please tick to unsubscribe.
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Cheque/DD to be made in favour of CRY- Child Relief and You .To enable us to send you a receipt mail your donations along with this coupon to CRY - Child Relief
and You Delhi: DDA Slum Wing (Barat Ghar), Bapu Park, Kotla Mubarakpur, New Delhi 110 003. Tel: 4693137/ 4790/3159. Fax: 4632302. E-mail:
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