Thus YuthScape was formed. We believed it was just a matter of consolidating our efforts. YuthScape worked for three weeks to bring to the city One World, a music concert in aid of tsunami victims, on February 12, on the La Martiniere for Boys grounds.

Featuring Shayne Hyrapiet, Insomnia, Fossils, Dhwani, Aasma and ex-Viva girl Neha Bhasin, the concert was attended by only a thousand people, against an estimated 10,000.

At first, we were discouraged. Corporates and college heads politely invited us only to shrink back at the mention of the tsunami (?How does it matter if our contribution at all made a difference or there is more to be done. We donated a day?s salary and the sufferers should be more than thankful.?).

Organisations were interested only if we pooled our resources into their funds so that their names would find prominence. Students shrugged (?The waves rode down south, why are we getting so worked up??).

On the verge of giving up hope, we got a call from past district governor Rotarian Shekhar Mehta, of Rotary Club of Mahanagar, inviting us to join his initiative, Together We Will (TWW). He had seen our appeal on the Internet. Then began a journey of hope, trust, spirit and the will to be proactive in the face of obstacles.

Comprising BP Poddar Foundation, Calcutta Foundation, The Art of Living, Silver Springs and Rotary Club of Mahanagar among others, this open-ended initiative had already been to the tsunami ravaged areas in the Andamans and identified the nature of help required. Joining hands was to ensure the money raised reached the affected.

TWW lent us its support. With people like Shamlu Dudeja of Calcutta Foundation, who was instrumental in Steve Waugh endorsing the campaign and who scripted all our literature, Rotarian Ramesh Khaitan, who arranged for air tickets at half the rates and kept us going through all odds, Rotarian Rajani Mukherjee, Bishop P.S.P. Raju, who helped us get the venue, Rotarian Vinod Khaitan, Kavita Ajmera, Ritika Poddar, Sandeep and Shashi Nowlakhha, Rotarian Ronaq Gupta, Rotarian Anand Sureka, Ankush Khanna of Hawk Security, Jimmy Tangree of 93.5 Red FM ? YuthScape could not have asked for more help in times of crisis.

The most touching part was when, in response to an appeal for volunteers in newspapers, strangers came forward. Acquaintances left us to grapple with our shortage of manpower. We got calls from elderly people willing to volunteer, when youngsters wouldn?t.

The fundraising was about music uniting the youth and their sentiments towards this cause. Here, too, we were in for a rude shock. Some local bands haggled over money, while out-station stars Neha Bhasin and Aasma accommodated us as much as possible. Neha gave back her token money after the event, and came armed with a self-composed tsunami song. Dhwani volunteered to perform for free. Insomnia was with us.

While the Calcutta Municipal Corporation supported us, the state ruling party was making an impressive display of its might through the Brigade Parade rally, bringing life to a stand still. Many couldn?t make it because of the traffic. Actress June addressed the crowd, Barry O?Brien was there. We thank TTIS for backing us, Airtel for organising a fundraising initiative at such short notice, Red FM and TWW.

Calcuttans, this relief effort was not just about us. It was about you. For an effort to be successful, it needs the support of the masses. It is a misconception that too much has been done already. Our aim was to build houses, a school and donate bicycles in Hut Bay and adjoining islands.

For the mostly unresponsive youth, the concert was not able to fully realise its goal. We appeal to all you youngsters. We are the the future. We can change the world.

Madhumita Das & Sangeet Shirodkar,
chief facilitators, on behalf of YuthScape

What’s on your mind this week

Thank you

I write this little letter to thank three people for the absolutely wonderful poems published in Young Metro on February 1. It feels good to read such nice thoughts first thing in the morning amidst a heap of violence reported daily in newspapers. Your eyes by Arnab Pal, Love and loss by Tuli Das and Secret of the wind by Alice Laha. Thanks a lot. Way to go!

Vatsala Goel,
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

 

From the heart

With Valentine?s Day just past, we ponder if this is the relationship that could eventually mean everything to us. My advice is never to worry about the relationship that you are involved in. Just live your life and love will find you. There?s no simple formula to guide you to the perfect relationship, the best choices depend on knowing your partner well. If you gifted your Valentine with something special, it?s not the price tag but the thought behind the gift that matters. Indeed, an imaginative gift could help heal the most tender emotional wounds. The answer lies in your heart.

B. Arvind,
St Xavier?s College

 

Love & money

Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs;
Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers? eyes?

William Shakespeare wrote these words four centuries ago. They still remain true. Unfortunately, commercialisation has become the controller. Money can buy love. Valentine?s Day has become a day of spending for jingling pockets, and a day of dismissal for the empty ones. People don?t seem to value the essence of the day anymore. Does it mean that the not-so-well-off are not capable of love? We should always remember that without a rich heart, even the wealthiest is poor. A show of love through wealth is deceptive. Valentine?s Day has become a day when shopkeepers look forward to good business. Love has become an image, reflected in the mirror of wealth. It, too, has changed its course to commercialism. We show love with gifts now.

Tanmoy Das Lala,
St Xavier?s Collegiate School

 

Protest path

February 14 has come and gone, another controversial day. Every year it has become a ritual for the VHP, Shiv Sena and other radical groups to protest against this day. I can?t understand why they suddenly emerge from ?nirvana? just before Valentine?s Day. Why don?t they protest the cultural pollution throughout the year? When they were in government, they didn?t raise their voices against the scurrilous remixes that derogate our old classical songs and actors. I also argue against couples who display overt affection in public places. Love does not require such obvious physical displays.

Shubhajit Chakraborty,
B.Sc (zoology)

 

Say a prayer

Valentine?s Day is a day for love. It has come and gone, but we can still pray for the victims of the tsunami disaster. Let?s be the Valentine for those who lost everything. Little love from little hearts can be bigger than the monster. Think about them and pray for them. They don?t want to watch romantic films in multiplexes or have candlelight dinners. They want help. Help from you ? Young Metro readers. Let?s go ahead together to rehabilitate them in the spirit of St Valentine.

Debasish Ghosh,
Asutosh College

 

Unknown gift

The first day when we were introduced
we just became friends.
Then on, we met
Shared our thoughts and feelings.
Cared for each other?s sentiments.
Gave helping hands in need.
And
Walked together in every act and deed.
And, we never got to know
When and how our friendship
Turned from
Good to better and
From better to best.

Rashmi Khaitan,
Shri Shikshayatan

Wings of Dria

And in the summons of dust
I have seen Dria
Spreading her violet wings
and circling to her hut on the moon
Flying over the lonely rooftops of Richard Cory
And I turned to a painting
Of the lost sailor,
as her wings brushed by my curtains
And I smelt her arms again
Beyond the compass?
The blood from the gloves
Of the dead soldier
Strikes the keys of the old typewriter
And it prints Dria?s name
In the paper creeping out
Like the hidden flower?.
So she asks the dark phantom,
?and then, what is my surname???

Inam Hussain Mullick