Summary of Events and Actions in Ramavaram Thus Far, June 17th

Written by Navyatha Mohan and Nivedita Gunturi,

two of our Board Members

Ramavaram is an urban slum just off of the Nandambakkam highway. There are 110 houses with approximately 400 residents at Ramavaram, most of whom are daily wage earners supporting women, infants, young children and the aged. Starting March 2008, a group of students and young professionals under the name Sangam India had taken up the initiative of helping the community earn back their dignity and quality of life. However, tragedy struck us early Monday morning when news arrived that the entire slum had caught fire and had been razed to the ground in a matter of hours.

At 1:30am on Monday 15th June, one of the houses close to the highway bridge caught on fire from a short circuit. The fire quickly raged through, consuming one house after another, abetted by thatched roofs and trees. The inhabitants hurriedly escaped their homes and gathered onto the street nearby. Luckily no one suffered any injuries. According to the inhabitants, the fire engine arrived at 3 am, but by then the whole slum and all their savings and belongings had been destroyed.

We heard of the shocking news at 9am and made an emergency visit to Ramavaram at 4pm. A group of about 25 of us visited them and listened to their devastating experience. There was nothing left of the slum but the mud walls that supported the houses a feet above the ground. The people seemed to be in a state of utter hopelessness, completely unsure of what was to happen to them and where they were to move next. As we talked to them we were able to gather some information about the government response. The Ward Counsellor had arrived early and distributed breakfast packets and water tanks for the entire slum population. The Panchayat House had made arrangements for lunch and dinner. The government had handed over Rs. 2000/-, 5 kg of rice, a kerosene coupon, and a saree and a lungi to each family of the slum.

The families were to assume temporary shelter at an auditorium nearby. Meanwhile, the government has promised to rebuild them a slum at Perungalathur, near Tambaram, some 25kms from Ramavaram and that was understood to take 3 days for completion. The inhabitants are unsure if any arrangement for meals has been made for the next few days. They do not have any clothes but the ones in which they escaped the fire. They have lost their money and the children have lost their school uniforms and books. All medical records and other documents have also been destroyed.

After assessing the situation at Ramavaram, we decided to act immediately to help the families. Some of us stayed back to listen and talk to the people offering our support, while some went out to buy basic necessities. We decided to buy and distribute to each family, a packet of Marie Gold Biscuits, a sheet, a bucket, toothpowder and soap. By 7pm we were able to buy the biscuits, sheets and place the order for buckets but we had to postpone distribution as it got too dark to carry on.

An emergency meeting was convened at 7:30pm where we shared the stories of the people and discussed their situation and immediate needs. Below is a summary of the meeting.

The situation:
No roofs above their heads, no clothes, no remaining savings.
Food and water for the day provided.
Food and water for next few days uncertain.
Slight drizzle early in the evening.

The people:
Low morale, vulnerable babies, poor hygiene and sanitation facilities.

The government response:
Rs.2000/-, a veshti and a lungi distributed to each family.
Food and water arrangements made for Day 1.
Temporary shelter – unviable
Rehabilitation – will take 3-4days, is 25kms away and quality of life uncertain.
Police patrolling present.

Our immediate Plan of Action:
Distribute the following items, 1 per family.
Day 1: Only morale and emotional support
Day 2: Marie Gold Biscuits
Bedsheet
Bucket
Toothpowder
Soap
Constitute a Disaster Management Team to plan and develop rehabilitation activities.
Constitute a Fund-raiser Team to undertake massive fund-raising over the next few days.
Boost the Public Relations Committee to help spread the word and garner help.

Immediate Future:
utensils and some other basic necessities like rice or oil. Needs will be assessed and decisions made.
Organize clothes drive – clothes for men, women and children.
Sponsor families.
Sponsor uniforms and books for the school-going children.
Provide moral support and be physically and emotionally present in their time of need.

How You Can Help
Sangam India boasts over 300 members worldwide, and right now is the time for those 300 members to come together to help our friends. Here are some ways you can immediately help:

1. We need funds. If you are interested in sending money from outside India, please contact Sujan Pakala at sujan.pakala@gmail.com. He will be handling all donations. Within India, please contact Navya at nchundu@gmail.com. If you have any ideas for fundraising, please run those by Navya as well.



2. We have clothing coming from the US on July 20, but in the meantime we need to run an emergency clothing drive so we can supply each family with at least one more set of clothes from what the government has given. They have not provided children's clothes, leaving the children with only undergarments. If you are within India, please gather together usable clothes. You can contact Jaba at 91 9940661886.



3. We need our legal team to be fully functional. For us to be able to help these families to the best of our ability, we need to increase our legal standing. We really need people to donate some time to this. If you are a lawyer, or know a lawyer, or are willing to help work through some paperwork, please contact Navyatha at navyatha.mohan@gmail.com.



4. We need you to spread the word. Please tell everyone. Use every modality you have – Facebook, email, instant messenger, SMS, phone calls – to inform your friends of our needs. If you have any PR questions, please contact Priyanka at priyanka.boghani@sangamindia.org.

Times: "Many rendered homeless as fire destroys 100 huts"

The following was in the Times of India today (June 16, 2009,) on page 3.

Many rendered homeless as fire destroys 100 huts
Times News Network

Chennai: More than 100 huts in Nandambakkam were gutted after a fire broke out in one of them during the early hours on Monday. Residents tried to put out the blaze with water and sand, but the flames soon spread to other huts, eventually gutting 106 of them. There was no casualty, however, thanks to a timely alert.

According to the police, around 1.40am on Monday, the roof of one of the huts in MGR Nagar in Nandambakkam, below the bridge near the Chennai Trade Centre, caught fire. An autorickshaw driver passing by noticed it and alerted residents, who informed the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services (TNFRS) department around 1.55 am.

The first fire engine reached the spot around 2.45am. By then many huts were destroyed. Five water lorries, five Metrowater lorries and two water tankers were pressed into service. By about 4am, the fire was extinguished.

“The first house to catch fire was locked. A short circuit was the cause. Most of the families here are from Vathalagundu, near Madurai,” said a police officer.

Kancheepuram collector Santosh K Misra and labour minister T M Anbarasan visited the spot at 11am. They distributed relief material, which included five kilograms of rice, clothes and Rs 5,000 in cash.

The residents whose houses were gutted will be shifted to Perungalathur, a place near Tambaram.

“We have been living here for the past 25 years and never before has a fire occurred. We are mostly labourers and now we have lost whatever little property we had saved,” said Muthulakshmi, a resident.

“If they shift us to Perungalathur, our children will find it hard to come to school,” said Ezhumalai, another resident.

Note: According to our information from both the residents and the government, each household was given Rs 2000 in cash.

We need your help! Please see the post below.

Trip to Ramavaram Today

Please see: Fire at Ramavaram, Call for Help, and news articles (1, 2).

As we described in the previous posts, we're heading out to Ramavaram today to give necessary articles to the Ramavaram residents to help them cope with their losses yesterday.

Current plans are to give the following to each household:

• A bedsheet
• A packet of Marie Gold biscuits
• A vessel for carrying water
• Soap
• Toothpowder

Items such as clothes, etc. might take a few more days to come. Please see the call for help post below if you can help in any way.

Today's trip leaves at 4:15 and we hope to get started as soon as we can. You can contact the Sangam India phone line if you need help with directions, etc: 9789901650. Please call the corresponding phone numbers below if you have any aid to offer.

Immediately Moving Forward - How you can help today.

Our community in Ramavaram suffered a great tragedy yesterday. We have been receiving many phone calls and emails offering support and assistance in whatever way we can use it.

As a leader of Sangam India, my call to you is to help us keep our activities and our planning and development side going. It is important that while giving as much as we can give to rebuilding this community, we do not let this circumstance sidetrack us from continuing our work, which will empower us to best help the Ramavaram community. For this to happen, we all need to come together.

Sangam India boasts over 300 members worldwide, and right now is the time for those 300 members to come together to help our friends. Here are some ways you can immediately help:

1. We need funds. If you are interested in sending money from outside India, please contact Sujan Pakala at sujan.pakala@gmail.com. He will be handling all donations. Within India, please contact Navya at nchundu@gmail.com. If you have any ideas for fundraising, please run those by Navya as well.



2. We have clothing coming from the US on July 20, but in the meantime we need to run an emergency clothing drive so we can supply each family with at least one more set of clothes from what the government has given. They have not provided children's clothes, leaving the children with only undergarments. If you are within India, please gather together usable clothes. You can contact Jaba at 91 9940661886.



3. We need our legal team to be fully functional. For us to be able to help these families to the best of our ability, we need to increase our legal standing. We really need people to donate some time to this. If you are a lawyer, or know a lawyer, or are willing to help work through some paperwork, please contact Navyatha at navyatha.mohan@gmail.com.



4. We need you to spread the word. Please tell everyone. Use every modality you have – Facebook, email, instant messenger, SMS, phone calls – to inform your friends of our needs. If you have any PR questions, please contact Priyanka at priyanka.boghani@sangamindia.org.

As we find out more about the needs, we will be posting updates. Please keep a close watch on the blog for more information coming soon, most likely in the next 6 hours.

Thank you for your solidarity in our time of need.

The Hindu: 100 huts gutted in Nandambakkam

Below is an excerpt from an article appearing in The Hindu today. Read the full text of the article on the Hindu website.

100 huts gutted in Nandambakkam

TAMBARAM: More than 100 huts were destroyed in a fire along the banks of the Adyar in Nandambakkam early on Monday. Though no one was injured, damage to property was extensive.

Officials at the Chennai Suburban Commissionerate said the fire broke out at one of the huts in Vatlagundu at 2.15 a.m. It spread rapidly and destroyed 108 huts. Residents managed to pull themselves and their children to safety, but were able to retrieve only a few of their possessions. Fire tenders put out the fire, but by then most of the damage was done. A large number of people from Vatlagundu in Dindigul district had settled down in the area, erecting thatched huts over the past several years and hence the name for the locality. Police said many families had gone to their native place and many of the huts were empty... (read more)

Tamil Murasu: "108 Homes by Adyar Riverbank Burnt to Ashes"

View original article, in Tamil (.jpg, 700kb)

This article appeared in today's (June 15, 2009) edition Tamil Murasu, a local-language paper. Below is a translation:

108 Homes by Adyar Riverbank Burnt to Ashes
108 homes by the Adyar riverside were burnt to ashes. Several lakhs worth of property was also destroyed. These 108 homes were in Vathlakundu area of Adyar riverside and were under Nandampakkam Municipality. People in this neighborhood engaged in activities like making coir ropes, good-luck charm ropes to ward off bad omens and so on. Early morning, around 1:30 A.M., when people were sound asleep, heavy smoke started coming from a locked house. Due to strong winds at the time, fire started to spread very quickly into other huts. People got up and ran out of their homes in panic and commotion.

Upon learning the news, fire fighters from Guindy, Thenampettai, Raj Bhavan, Tambaram came rushing to the scene. But these homes burnt to ashes even before they could reach the area. Wooden cots, bureaus, jewelry, cash, school books, notes, etc, were burnt to ashes. Police in Nandambakkam have registered a case and are investigating it.

Upon learning the news, Minister T.M. Anbarasan, District Collector Santosh, RTO Nambirajan, TRO Padmajadevi, Nandambakkam Municipality head Sekhar and others also came to the scene. They consoled people affected by the fire and gave each family 2,000 Rupees, saris, clothes, 5 kilograms of rice, and kerosene (for cooking).

Minister T.M. Anbarasan promised to provide each family a place in Perumkalathur with title and make arrangements for students to study in the same area. Collector Santosh K. Misra said that he would make arrangements for temporary ration cards.

Thanks to Ramachandran Ramgopal for the translation. Stay tuned for further updates.

Fire at Ramavaram

As I posted earlier today, there was a major fire today in the Ramavaram slum, rendering the entire population of Ramavaram homeless.

It has been a difficult day for the residents of Ramavaram and one that might change their lives forever. We began hearing reports early in the morning and Nivedita, one of our Chairpeople, was able to see the damage directly.

The damage that was sustained at Ramavaram was considerable. People believe that the damage was due to an electrical short-circuit that occurred at about 1:30 in the morning. The fire quickly spread, from one thatch house, to the next, demolishing the houses and the possessions of everyone. People were fortunate to escape with their lives. One resident suffered minor burns, and was in the hospital receiving treatment. Fortunately, there were no casualties.

There is simply no way to describe the awe and tragedy that these people suffered with words. The following photographs may do a better job of conveying what exactly happened here:

Its hard to imagine having nothing at all except the clothes on your back, but that was the reality faced by these people today. They had little to begin with, but now they simply have nothing.

The State Government quickly went into action to provide each house with each of the following, per househould: a veshti, a sari, Rs 2000 in cash, 5 kilograms of rice, and a coupon for some kerosene. They also have promised to give food to the residents for three days, including today. They gave a temporary shelter for the residents to stay in, but most of the residents are opting instead to sleep where there houses used to be, or along the sides of the road. The government has promised to permanently relocate the people of Ramavaram after a few days.

After getting to know of the situation, we tried to get in gear immediately to help these people. We asked them and they said the things they needed immediately were sheets to sleep on, clothes, food, plates and other silverware to eat with, and vessels for carrying water. Today we bought 110 bedsheets and packets of Marie Gold biscuits. We also have arranged to get people vessels to carry water in. We are going again to Ramavaram tomorrow to deliver these items as well as some other amenities such as soap

We had a meeting today at 7, after most of us were back, to discuss what happened and to develop a plan of action for the future. More details about this meeting will be coming up in a later post.

Thanks for everyone's support and aid in this matter. It has been a trying day for the people at Ramavaram and the next few days will be difficult as well. We stand together in solidarity with our friends and we are going to do what we can to help them in this immense time of need. We will be needing assistance with funds and volunteering and we hope people will be able to help. Please contact us if you are interested.

Click here to see the rest of the photos from the fire damage.

Fire at Ramavaram, Emergency Meeting Scheduled

Earlier today we have recieved several reports about a fire in our Ramavaram slum. Several of our members have seen the damage firsthand and they report that all of the houses have been destroyed and that the people have lost all of their belongings. No reports of any casualties or injuries as of yet. According to reports, there was an electrical fire in the area at about 2AM this morning.

Details will be forthcoming as we find out more.

A group is going at 4PM today to investigate the damage. An emergency meeting has also been scheduled at 7PM tonight to develop a Plan of Action. We'll update this blog when we have more information and in ways that people can help.

Updates: April 14th, 2009

1. Today's board meeting has been postponed to tomorrow at 12PM, due to the holiday today. There we will discuss this Saturday's educational programme. We invite everyone to come if they have any ideas to share. Please let us know if you plan on coming.
   
2. We need help with the following. If you are interested, please let us know:
• Data entry: we are working on compiling our data that we collected from our surveys so that we can enter it into statistical software and then analyze it. We need volunteers to help tabulate the data collected into excel.
  
• Our legal team is working on getting NGO status. If you can help them in this regard, it would be highly appreciated.
• If you can help us research about local vocational training programmes, it can help us get this part of our project moving forward.
  

Thanks a lot to everyone for their help!

Recent Developments

We've been at work at a couple of things over the last few days:

1. The educational programme that was kicked off yesterday was a big success. We see a lot of potential for it going forwards. We need help to run the sessions and to plan the sessions. If you are interested in doing either, please let us know. If you can volunteer for one weekend a month, that would really go a long way to making this programme a success and a positive force in these children's lives. If you have any ideas on activities we could do, please let us know as well - we'd be grateful for your help.
2. Medical care: this has been another ongoing issue this week. A few months ago, Nagajyothi, a resident of the community, came to our attention for having a dangerous form of a middle ear infection. She required surgery, but due to the ensuing monsoon season, this never happened. We finally are making progress towards getting her that surgery; hopefully in the next two to three weeks. In addition, we are now trying to assist another young lady with post-pregnancy complications. As Nivedita pointed out, there seems to be an epidemic of conjunctivitis in the community and we are going to try and get some doctors out this week to help them.
3. The board meeting: is scheduled for this Tuesday at 4:15. All are invited as usual.

Visit Tomorrow to Ramavaram

Tomorrow we are going on a visit to Ramavaram to begin our weekly curriculum with the children there. We discussed this with the people in the community in last week's meeting and the reception to this idea was very good. It was requested that we meet in the afternoon, so this is what we are going to be doing.

The trip tomorrow plans to be at Ramavaram at 4:00PM and the session will begin at 4:30. Please let us know if you'd be interested in coming!

The program is in development; this week's session will be more of an introductory one in nature. If you have any ideas, please let us know.

The aims of the sessions will include lessons on positive thinking, moral behavior, and health and hygiene. We might also teach other things, such as English language, in the future.

Ramavaram Visit, January 25th, 2009

This morning Vasundhra, Ayesha and I took a trip to Ramavaram to say hello to the residents and see how they’ve been doing since the last time we were there. I hadn’t had a chance to visit since October so it was nice to see everyone. Since it is a long weekend because of Republic Day, we weren’t able to get much of a turnout. We went to a few of the houses and spoke with the residents, who were very kind and happy to see us. We visited one gentleman in particular, who has been ill for the past few months, on and off. After speaking with him for a little while, we asked him to come in to our hospital tomorrow morning, at which point we will take him for a medical examination. Starting next week we’d like to visit Ramavaram every week and spend some productive time with the children. We are also hoping to have a focus group soon in order to concentrate our efforts in the direction most needed by the community.

Republic Day Speech

Tomorrow, January 26th, is India's Republic Day. At the Sri Ramachandra University's Flag Raising ceremony tomorrow, members of Sangam India have been invited to give a short speech on our experiences working with people in India.

Please show your support by coming to tomorrow's event! It will be at 8:30 tomorrow, on the Cricket Field.

A small group of people went to the Ramavaram slum today to get in touch with the community there after a long break. Look forward to a post about that later today.

Positions in Sangam India

As discussed, in today's meeting we went over the job descriptions of the new core committee posts and elected members of our groups to fill these positions.

The following is the new organization structure of Sangam India.

The group will be divided into Groundwork and an Administrative wings.

1. Groundwork


1. Groundwork Chairperson
• Manage community work
• Oversee community relations.


2. Departments
1. Event Coordinator
• Plan events
• Maintain calendar
• Coordinate volunteers and other staff
• Work with PR for advertising
• Work with Community Liaison for planning within the community.


2. Infrastructure Coordinator
• Sanitation
• Education
• Adult
• Children
• Living conditions
• Non-camp health care
• Curriculum development (with event coordinator)
• Vocational training


3. Community Liaison
• Organize periodic focus groups with community members
• Assign members to each family and ensure that proper care is being taken
• Convey community and requirements to the rest of the organization.


2. Administrative


1. Administrative Chairperson
• Ensure that financial records are being maintained
• Keep track of legal issues
• Review records
• Keep member records


2. Departments:
1. Financial
• Appoint a committee
• Maintain, manage and allocate funds
• Must keep impeccable records
• Open and manage bank account


2. Legal
• NGO Status
• FCRA
• Land issues


3. Human Relations
• Appoint an internal relations officer and a public relations officer
• Must handle facebook, email, newsletter, blog
• Handle media

The positions will be changed on a regular basis. The positions for the current year will be described in the next post along with contact information and meeting times.

General Members Meeting

Today we kicked off the new year with a General Members meeting. Everyone was invited to come and we did some important work.

We started off the meeting discussing some goals and hopes for the new year.

Some of the ideas that were raised were:

• Expanding our work into the neighboring slums, and collecting information about them via a survey.
• Finding ways to help people that aren't organized into slums, but who are a common sight on streetsides.
• Look into alcohol/drug rehabilitation programs
• Get more involved with vocational training and microfinance.
• Assigning mentors to set numbers of houses to allow for a more personal interaction with the people.
• Doing more in terms of sanitation
• Building awareness inside Sri Ramachandra Univerisity as well as possibly to other colleges in the city. There was especially a need to build awareness among students in other departments of this college.
• Developing a standard of set guidelines which will help us to determine what works and also to create a good model on which to base our work off of.

The most important function of today's meeting was to organize our network into a more cohesive group. This was done to ensure that we move forward more efficiently. The group will be divided into two wings, one of which is administrative and the other which is focused on the ground work in the slum. These were then divided into several posts with various job descriptions. People were voted into these positions. More information will be found in a subsequent post.

Ramavaram Food Donation, November 26th

As described in previous posts, today we carried out our project to distribute food to the residents of the Ramavaram slum.

The situation in Ramavaram worsened dramatically overnight - indeed, the entire slum has been submerged by the floodwaters.

Last night, when they were sleeping, the residents were woken up by policemen giving them the instructions to vacate their homes immediately as the floodwaters were rising. They were vacated to a nearly school complex near the Nandambakkam Police Station. It is good that the State Government acted quickly in this regard or it is very likely that lives may have been lost.

This morning, we spoke to the residents by telephone who conveyed these events to us. We were saddened to hear this and it gave some urgency to our work - though it was a small gesture, at best, given the immense problems they were facing. Our group today was small but we were organized and able to get the work done efficiently. Nazneen, Vasundhra and Pamela did a wonderful job of organizing the work. A small group went to get the dhal while another met with Hema Aunty to get the rice. Meanwhile, Shankar and I went to locate the residents.

As we passed by the slum at Ramavaram, we were all awestruck by the flooding there. Here are a few pictures of the slum that I took on the way back:

The school where they have been relocated to has been generously provided for by the State. Of course, school has been canceled so it is not in use now. While they have a roof over their heads, the families have to deal with the crowded conditions of having 8-9 families living in each room.

Once we met them, we began distributing the rice. One of our contacts in the slum, Nagappan, had prepared a list of each family that had been relocated. We gave each family 2 kilograms of rice and half a kilogram of toor dhal (pigeon peas.) In all, 105 parcels were given - a total of 210 kilograms of rice and 52.5 kilograms of lentils. This is a very small contribution, considering the size of the group and their needs during these difficult times. However, having been relocated, and out of work, we hope that it can make a small difference to them. In addition, more than the food, I think the fact that we showed up made a big difference. They were very happy to see us and our demonstration of solidarity with them.

One thing which strikes me, personally, is the immense perseverance that I see in the slum. They have difficult lives, and their problems increase immensely when it rains and floods like this. They have lost many of their personal belongings in their rush to leave the slum. However, despite these problems, they have positive attitudes about their current predicament and seem to be holding up in situations that would make most people (including me) feel very hopeless.

We'd like to thank Hema Aunty (that is, Mrs. Hema Trivedi) for coming out today as our special guest. We'd also like to thank her for helping to sponsor this event as well as for providing the vehicle that was essential for this project.

Click here to view the photos from this trip.

Food Donation Visit Confirmed for Tomorrow

As a follow up to the last post, the visit is confirmed for tomorrow. We will be serving 2 kilograms of rice and half a kilogram of thoor dhal to each residence to help them come with the torrential rains of Cyclone Nisha.

The trip will begin at 4:30PM, rain or shine! Please bring an umbrella and dress suitably if you plan on coming.

We really need volunteers so if you can come, please contact Nazneen at +91 9940443757 or email us at info@sangamindia.org.

If you are willing to sponsor our event, please let us know. Our expenses are given here.

Thanks very much to Nazneen and to Hema Trivedi for making this trip possible!

Photo: Accuweather

Update on Food Drive: Tomorrow

The rains across Tamil Nadu are worsening and have now formed into a cyclone. It looks like things are going to be getting much worse here before they get better.

Today Nivedita got a call from the slum residents asking urgently for any help we can provide.

We have decided to speed up our current plans and try to distribute the rice tomorrow. Plans are in the works and stay tuned for another post to confirm them.

Our prayers go out to the families affected by this tragedy as well as to those who lost family in the recent events in Mumbai.

Photo: Accuweather

Food Donation this Weekend

We are putting together some plans to go to Ramavaram this weekend to deliver food to the slum residents. Over the past week and a half, there have been heavy rains which have caused significant flooding in Chennai and, sadly, even a few deaths.

The forecast for the rest of the week shows that the rains in Chennai are going to progress and possibly even worsen.

In order to play our part - small as it may be - we are trying to arrange a trip to Ramavaram to distribute food to each household in the slum. This will include:

• 2 kilograms of rice
• 1/2 kilogram of toor dhal (pigeon peas)

When the North East Monsoon first began in October, we carried out a similar task. Heavy rains in slums not only causes spoilage of foods and a rise in disease - it also means a heavy economic loss as the family breadwinners cannot go out and earn money for that day. In fragile economies such as those at Ramavaram, a loss of daily income can mean a loss of food and empty stomachs.

We hope to be able to arrange this despite the fact that many of our members have major exams coming up and won't be able to participate. Because of this, we will need all the help we can get for this task! If you are willing to volunteer and help out, please contact us. Also, as mentioned before, this is an expensive undertaking for a group as small as ours. The expenses for this kind of project are about Rs. 6,500 (approximately USD 130.) If this is something you are interested in sponsoring, please contact us as well.

An ongoing weather story is the on dealing with the North East Monsoon and the long "swoon" in rain over southern India this month. The lengthy break in the rain that began in late October has left some areas (of which greater Chennai is one) short on rain at the heart of the vital, short rainy season...

What about a tropical cyclone? Well, I am beginning to think the one is in the works come the end of the week. The GFS has been consistently showing a well-marked low over the southern Bay of Bengal as of Saturday and Sunday. Something to follow carefully.

-Jim Andrews, Accuweather.com

Photo: The Hindu

Funding for Nagajyothi's Surgery

One of the residents of the Ramavaram slum, Nagajyothi has been diagnosed with the "unsafe type" of chronic suppurative otitis media, an ear infection which can have dangerous, (even lethal) complications ranging from deafness to brain abscess. One our visit to give food to the residents following the rains last month, Nagajyothi's mother complained to us that her daughter had an ear discharge since her childhood that had recently become bloody. We sent her to the hospital where she was diagnosed with this condition.

In order to prevent complications, this is a condition that requires surgical treatment. Sangam India is going to be funding this operation. Today Nagajyothi and her mother came to the hospital to begin doing the labwork to prepare for the operation, which will probably happen in the near future.

We aren't sure how much the operation is going to cost, but we will post an update as soon as possible. If this is something you may be interested in paying for specifically, please let us know. Thanks!