We are happy to report on the progress following the road safety audit.

First, the fallen no-entry signpost was rectified. Then, a CCTV was installed at the junction.
And now, Zebra crossings have been painted at the schools and at the junctions.

Here are a few pics to share.

Just goes to show that the citizens’ involvement makes a difference. We are thankful to the Bangalore traffic police who gave due attention to the recommendations of the road safety audit conducted by the students of St Meera’s.

Mar 13, 2017 : The Arundhati Foundation partnered with Qwikcilver Solutions Pvt Ltd in this unique experience with CSR. The Holi celebrations at Qwikcilver this year went beyond the filling of bellies to filling potholes in and around the city of Bangalore.

Besides the music, food and entertainment which were a part of the Holi festivities, the fundraising activities included a game of lotto and food stalls selling delicious snacks ranging from pani puris, bhel puris, kachoris, samosas, ice creams, gulab jamuns, lemonade. The funds raised were handed over to Prathaap B Rao “Pothole Raja” for his initiative in making the city of Bangalore pothole-free. [  Should one spot a pothole one could take a picture and ‘WhatsApp’ it to 814POTHOLE (the letters correspond with the numbers 7684653) and Pothole Raja would attempt to fix it ]

Prathaap spoke to the Qwikcilver team about his initiative (in the pic above), and the volunteers joined forces with him. The group, working in small teams, worked over the next few weekends to fix 8 potholes in the vicinity of the Koramangala office. See the pics below.

Thanks to Prathaap and Qwikcilver for this fantastic effort. A special thanks to Anu Mathew – head of HR at Qwikcilver – this idea was her brainchild.

This is a great way to get people involved in CSR related to road safety, and make a difference on the ground! Hope other organizations also take up similar initiatives.

From Sept 2016 to Feb 2017 we had the privilege of working  on the Safer Roads Safer India campaign, to create awareness and make a difference on road safety.  Today, there was a wrap-up ceremony marking the close of the program for this academic year.  Shubhangi’s work and contribution was recognised and appreciated, as you can see in the photograph.

Thanks to UL, YSA and TRAX for the support and opportunity.

And many thanks to our young student volunteers. It was your effort, and willingness to make the difference, that really drove us.

Here is a clip that summarises our journey in this campaign.

The third Sunday of November is marked worldwide as the Day of Remembrance for accident victims – those who lost their lives, or injured, or have been affected by road traffic accidents.

This year. the WDR was today, 20 November.
Tomorrow is Aru’s 26th birthday.
We decided to mark these days by holding a junction event near the Ulsoor Police Station on the busy Old Madras Road in Bangalore, to spread the message “Safer Roads, Safer India”.

Thirteen volunteers participated in this event. In the run up to the event, the volunteers made slogans, discussed the nuances of those slogans ( What does it mean to say “You are the key to your safety”, or “Safety Never Takes a Break” or “Safety First” ). Posters were designed around these slogans to get the safety messages across in an impactful manner. Do take a look at the posters below. They speak a lot for the work done by these young volunteers.

As advocates of safety, the children were cautioned not to do anything unsafe. The posters were to be displayed ONLY to the people who were halted at the junction, and not to distract any drivers in motion.

Bhumi and Ananya also made a card thanking the Traffic Police for their contribution to this cause. The activity was started off by presenting the card to the police of Ulsoor Traffic police.

The children displayed the slogans and educated the public on road safety. The people who followed traffic rules were rewarded with chocolates. The volunteers got a sense of the impact they were making when people stopped at the lights, or when people removed the helmet from their arm and strapped it on. They urged those not wearing helmets. They gently told people who were stopping on zebra crossing.

Our success story is that these young volunteers were able to make people promise to do their bit, and did so with confidence, humility, and poise.

The youngest participant, Atharv Faldessai, all of five years, designed and painted his own poster and stood along with the volunteers for an hour doing his bit. Another success story today is that five-year old Atharv knows the five cardinal road safety rules, and proudly told us that his father always stops the car to the side of the road when he uses the phone.

The foundation wishes to thank
* Ipsita Basu for participating and encouraging us.
* Anusha Chowdary from UL for joining our event.
* Mr Abhishek Goel, DCP (East) for prompt permission and encouragement.
* Tushar Kapila, fellow grantee joined our cause, and came to encourage us.
* Shriya, Gauri, Bhumi, Anoushka, Ananya, Abhishek, Raghav, Arya, Selvan, Ngancho,Prakash,Nitish and Vivek for their creativity, enthusiasm and effort to imbibe the values, and spread the message.

Thank you so very much! You have been our strength.
Also many thanks to all our friends and well wishers who have stood by us and the Foundation.

Sharing a few photographs of the event.

A road  safety awareness session was conducted by the volunteers of The Arundhati Foundation on the 4th  November 2016 at St Meera’s School, Ulsoor . 

The volunteers Mr Tamil Selvan, Biswajit Mondal, Vivek J, Nithish AR, Arunkumar K, Prakash Rao Ezra, and Ngachnso, used a novel way to spread the message. They used the medium of mime to enact skits. No words were spoken, but it was a very effective way to get the message across to the audience. Students, from classes six to ten, watched in rapt attention, as the skits made them aware of the rules of Road safety.  

This mime was followed by the prize distribution for the Drawing Competition organized on Oct 20.

Mahalakshmi K, Diwakar Parihar and Vanitha P S won the first, second and third prize respectively in the senior category.  Serena, Joshua Sridhar, Abhishek took the respective honours in the junior category.  

The prize winners were gifted vouchers to buy books of their choice. Rs. 1000 for first prize, Rs. 500 for second prize, and Rs. 250 for the 3rd. The drawings were so good that we also gave four consolation prizes in each category! 

I must say , there is a lot of talent in our country. We just need to look around and point the young minds in the right direction. 

We are very happy that these  children  made efforts to read and understand the core problems on Indian Roads. We have also encouraged them to discuss these matters with their families. 

Through this program, we were able to reach 700 students. 

I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to Mr Irfan Khan, Principal of P U College, Ms Sabiya  Begum, Ms Selva Kumari and Fahmida Begum the co-ordinator, Principal and Vice-Principal of the school respectively. 

Sharing photographs of a memorable morning along with the winning paintings. 

Oct 1 : Following up on our session on Sep 10, we are very pleased to welcome the second batch of student Volunteers from St Meera’s PU College.  It is extremely heartening to see the response of these young, sincere children wanting to make a difference. Joining hands with our first batch, the team conducted the second Road Audit. We picked the Sai Baba Temple Road, and Cambridge Road in the vicinity of St Meeras which is of interest to the children.

This time, we were very happy to have Ms Anusha Jaishankar coach the team on how to conduct an audit and record the findings.  Anusha herself is an avid advocate of Road Safety. She runs Positive Strokes, an NGO which encourages good road behavior. And she also works with CoRPS (Concern for Road and Pedestrian Safety) which works in Road Safety.

The children noted various aspects : the traffic intensity – cars, two wheelers, buses, pedestrians; the state of the road and the footpaths; the signage on the street and its visibility; whether zebra crossings are required / visible; the factors creating challenges at the junction; the mix of shops, markets,offices, and public places like temples/hospitals that can affect the flow of traffic. And they came up with their suggestions for improvement.

Here is what Anusha had to say about the activity
“The road safety volunteers of The Arundhati Foundation were students or residents of Cambridge Road. Under the able guidance of Dr. Shubhangi, Mr. Sanjay, Mr. Vijay and Ms. Sandhya, fifteen volunteers spent the better part of a Saturday afternoon meticulously noting down ground realities on Cambridge Road and Sai Baba Temple Road using the CoRPS Road Safety Audit. This activity helps CoRPS star rate roads in Bangalore categorizing roads as unsafe, moderately safe and safe roads.

The expected outcome is two-fold. One, these young citizens start to notice road issues that they were otherwise turning a blind eye to, and knowing that they have the right to ask for change. Two, they realize that safety is their responsibility. To this end, it was heartening to see the volunteers take in problems and come up with possible ways to address these problems.”

Thank you dear Anusha for encouraging these young citizens. Thank you YSA and UL for helping the foundation help groom the young citizen of young India. After all as the demographic data shows, we are one of the youngest nation in the world! Youngsters are our greatest resource. If they are educated well, given solid values, and pointed in the right direction, I have no doubt that we can indeed be a nation of miracles and perform miracles.