New Year, New Hopes!!

Let this new year bring hopes and colors to all my blind friends out there waiting to see the light!

Let us give our best and join hands to support our folks!

H a p p y N e w Y e a r 2 0 0 7 !

Gift Your Sight :: Bring Colors To Blind's Life :: Make It Your Wish!!

Gift Your Sight @ BarCamp Blr

Attended the BarCamp Bangalore event that went on for 2 days (Dec 2nd and 3rd 2006) @ ThoughtWorks, Diamond District, Airport Road, Bangalore.

It was a very nice, comfortable, fun-filled social gathering. Learnt a lot from this event!

Presented "Gift Your Sight" initiative in one of the day-1 sessions. Pretty good response.

The photos of this event can be found @ Flickr! (You can find me in some of the photos! :O)

And the PPT I presented is here @ Slideshare

Any comments/inputs/suggestions, welcome @ giftyoursight [at] gmail [dot] com

Unconferencing in BarCamp!

On Dec 2nd and 3rd, BarCamp is once again visiting Bengalooru (http://barcampbangalore.org/), venue for which is ThoughtWorks - DD, Airport Road.

I am planning to present this "Gift Your Sight" Initiative and hope to bring awareness and spread the word for the need of this noble cause!

ORKUT Community!

I have created an online community on Eye Donation called 'Gift Your Sight' in ORKUT. Please do join this community thereby supporting this noble cause and spreading the message of the requirement of eye donation...

Pledging Form and Info material

Form - Kannada (PDF) Info - Kannada (PDF) Form - English (PDF) Info - English (PDF) The above info and forms are from Lions International Eye Bank, Bangalore. The filled forms can be submitted to the Eye bank and as an acknowledgement, Donor card will be issued. This card will be having the contact details of the eye bank and your unique Donor number, for any future correspondence.

Dr.Rajkumar's eyes transplanted to TWO visually-challenged individuals...

Further to Late Dr.Rajkumar's eye donation, his eyes has been transplanted to TWO visually-challenged individuals and hopefully these two blessed individuals will be able to se this beautiful world thru the great man's eyes...(This news is according to the latest reports from a TV Channel)

Long live his memories...Long live his eyes...

I truly wish and pray god that this move by the great man, our 'anna', will be an inspiration and a stong message to all the people, across Karnataka and across the globe, to come forward to donate the eyes!

Dr. Rajkumar donates his eyes...

Even though it's very sad that our Dr. Raj passed away, it is great to hear this news about eye donation. Pass this message to all your known folks so that Dr. Raj can be a real example for supporting this noble cause and thereby showing way to lot of other people and giving inspiration to come forward to donate the eyes!! Let his soul RIP. ========================= Eyes donated to 'eye bank' (Source: Deccan Herald, Bangalore) As per his wish, the eyes of Kannada thespian Rajkumar, who died here today, were donated to the "Eye Bank", the actor's personal physician Dr Ramana Rao said. Dr Bhujanga Shetty of Narayana Nethralaya performed the surgery to remove the eyes soon after Rajkumar died, Rao said. It was Rajkumar's wish that his eyes be donated to the eye bank after his death, he said. =========================

Write-up on 'Gift Your Sight' Awareness Campaign

Click here to read a small write-up about the campaign to create Awareness on Eye Donation ('Gift Your Sight' campaign) that i conducted in my company on 22nd Feb 2006.

As i am part of the wonderful Volunteer group called Mukta Foundation, the writeup or as my friend calls it a Perspective is available @ http://www.muktafoundation.org/perspective3.html

If anybody is interested in conducting such campaigns, i am ever ready to provide my full support. Please contact me at: giftyoursight@gmail.com

"Light up the darkness in life. Enable blind to see this beautiful world, thru your eyes! - Pledge & Donate Your Eyes, Gift Your Sight - Make it your WISH!"

Successful conclusion of the Eye Donation and Pledging Campaign - Gift Your Sight!

The Campaign to Create Awareness on Eye Pledging and Eye Donation, conducted in my company campus yesterday (22nd Feb 2006), was a whopping success!! There was good response by the people for this and i thank god for making my first step a success...I thank Lions International Eye Bank for coming down here on my request and conducting this 'Gift Your Sight' campaign. (The pic on the left side is the small counter setup for this campaign, in my company!)

Number wise, we are around 1200+ in our campus here and i got pledges totalling 275+ (from 1145hrs to 1645hrs) from the employees here.

Going forward, i plan to take this campaign to lot more companies, thru the network of my good

friends and spread the message...

First 'Gift Your Sight' Campaign in my company!

On Wednesday, 22nd February 2006, i am taking the responsibility of conducting a Eye Pledging and Eye Donation Information counter, in my company campus premises, with the kind support from Lions International Eye Bank, Bangalore. This will be one-day activity (1030hrs to 1630hrs) where my fellow colleagues can come to the counter and pledge their eyes for donation, get more information on eye donation and in turn motivate their family/friends to support this noble cause.

More updates about this after the campaign.

Pledge and Donate Eyes :: GIFT YOUR SIGHT :: Make it your WISH!

Eyeball in my hand and some astonishing numbers...

On Saturday, i visited the Lions International Eye Bank (Off JC Road) and spoke regarding the upcoming activity of setting up an 'Eye Pledge Counter' in my company premises. Post this talk, they took me to the Lab and showed me the 'Gods greatest gift' to humans....the eyes!!!! Yes, these were the eyes that were gave vision to a person and now, ready to show this world to a blind person! Amazing right...yeah...i saw around 5 eyes kept in the refridgerator and soaked in some preservative, wating to get their new life! They had removed the whole eye (including the White portion called Sclera) and it was kind of a thrill to see the eyes...just the eyes and the cornea. To remove the cornea (this part is the only needed for eye transplantion...to give sight to a corneally-blind person), they have an equipment that does 'Button cutting'! This name can be mapped to the button shaped cornea in the eye, the part that gives vision and shows the world to us... Apart from this, i got some highly pathetic number...the number of corneas collected right from 1992 to 31st Dec 2005....and guess this number for a span of 13 years....its just 11872! This is dismally low and a very pathetic figure, considering the number of deaths in Bangalore. Also, i got to see the number of corneas collected during the month of Jan 2006...for all 31days, they had a collection of 102 only!!!! Bangalore's average death rate is 3500-4000 persons, that translates to around 8000 corneas...and out of that, only 102 eyes donated?? Too disappointing... We need to act upon this and improve this donation numbers so that more and more can get vision and see this world. Please spread the message of eye donation and help blind to get sight.

Procedure for pledging/donating the eyes

I have created a page for getting a quick look and understanding of the procedure for pledging/donating the eyes.

Please click here to know more and act upon it.

"Light up the darkness in life. Enable blind to see this beautiful world, thru your eyes! - Pledge & Donate Your Eyes, Gift Your Sight - Make it your WISH!"

Good Morning Bangalore!

Today morning, i messaged RJ Vasanthi of Radio City about the good enthu response got from some fellow Bangaloreans, in response to my initiative and the segment of Eye Donation (where i was on air, live, with Vasanthi on Monday, 1005hrs to 1040hrs) and a note of thanks for making this happening.

After few minutes, i got a call and guess who was on the other side...yeah..it was RJ Vasanthi again!!! She told that she will put me ON AIR for 2 mins so that i can offer my thanks to Bangalore and also reiterate the cause for which i have started my initiative and the contact details for the same (giftyoursight@gmail.com)

I went on air, wished and thanked all and urged more and more Bangaloreans to get aware of this noble cause and spread the message... "Light up the darkness in life! Enable blind to see this beautiful world thru your Eyes"Pledge & Donate Your Eyes, Gift your Sight :: Make it your WISH!

LIVE, ON AIR, on Radio City 91FM Bangalore

Today Morning i was ON AIR LIVE, in a segment called 'Bangalore Inspires', speaking about my Eye Donation initiative to the always enthu-filled RJ Vasanthi!! It is a great feeling to go on air and express your ideas/views to the people of Bangalore...And u know, i got a good response instantly with lots of SMS flooding, for some queries / for support of this cause! The office of Radio City is pretty small and even small is the Recording room, from where the music is pumped out to the City 24/7!! Vasanthi made me feel very comfortable with the before-hand discussions about the topics that would come on air...so that you will feel at ease while answering them ON AIR! While coming out, at 1100hrs, i met RJ Cindu, who hosts the segment next to RJ Vasanthi's 'Good Morning Bangalore'! RJ Feona was on leave today and RJ Darius and RJ Sunaina Lal were not in the office at that time (i mean they usually come in the late noon for their evening show!) Its awesome and i truly hope and just hope that the Eye Donation awareness increases among all Bangaloreans...:) "Light up the darkness in life! Enable blind to see this beautiful world thru your Eyes"Pledge & Donate Your Eyes, Gift your Sight :: Make it your WISH!

Member of EBAI

Last week I had applied for the membership of the Eye Bank Association of India (EBAI), which is present in Hyderabad and is the parent of all Eye Banks across India. They along with many institutes like LV Prasad Eye Institute and ORBIS International do a lot of programs on this eye donation. Also, EBAI were the people behind the eye donation campaigns by Mr. Amitabh Bhachan, Ms. Aishwarya Rai. Today, I received the membership card of this prestigious institute (Membership No. IND-A-1568) and I seriously hope to make use of it, in this year and make a difference to this society.

Eye donations received - Lions Eye Bank, Bangalore

Eye donations received

Deccan Herald, Bangalore, 06-Jan-2006

Lions International Eye Bank has received eyes from 986 donors, which have been used for corneal grafting. As many as 3,469 men and women have pledged their eyes to the bank. (This is for the whole year 2005)

Contact 22235005, 22121253 or 22121255 for more information.

==============

My view on this:

Is this number enough? Definitely not!

Do we have only 986 deaths in Bangalore, in one whole year, considering the population of Bangalore as 7Million?? Definitely NO...There will be, for sure, many deaths due to natural death or due to Accidents or due to some other cause. According to Bangalore Traffic Police information, in 2005, 831 persons were killed in 791 fatal accidents and 6,031 injured in 6,785 accidents (non fatal). Here, see the number of deaths due to accident...its 831 and this figure is almost competing with the number of donors!

Its definitely time to increase the donor number and this can be acheived thru YOU. YOU should be aware of the eye donation and spread this awareness to all your known friends/family...PLEDGE YOUR EYES NOW and DONATE the eyes of the deceased!

"Light up the darkness in life! Enable blind to see this beautiful world thru your Eyes"

Pledge & Donate Your Eyes, Gift your Sight :: Make it your WISH!

New Webspace about Eye Donation

In my attempt to create a webspace for this Eye Donation initiative, i have created a very simple and plain webspace that contains information mentioned here, in this blog.

The URL of this new webspace is: http://www.freewebs.com/giftyoursight

[The only difference one can find is that, in this blog one has to scroll from bottom to read the information that i want to deliver where as in my new webspace, one can click the hyperlink provided on the Left hand side of the page to know the required information]

Request to make use of either of these to get the information about Eye Donation.

Act upon and Spread the message...

ARISE, AWAKE!

Happy, Prosperous and Colorful New Year 2006!

Wish you and your folks a very Happy, Prosperous and Colorful New Year 2006! Hope you all come forward to try to eliminate the blindness in our country by PLEDGING your eyes / MOTIVATING your family and friends to PLEDGE the eyes and then donate it when the death happens / DONATING the eyes of the deceased in your community! Make it an important item in your Wish list, Act upon it and spread the message... "Light up the darkness in life. Enable blind to see this beautiful world, thru your eyes!" - Pledge & Donate your eyes, Gift your Sight :: Make it your WISH!

4 digit Telephone number to reach Eye Bank

I recently found out that there is a 4 digit Telephone number to reach the Eye Banks across Bangalore. I am not sure how effective or how the working procedure of this number is, but still, please note it down for quick access.

The number is 1053

As per the small information i got, dialing this number will connect to a centralized eye bank desk, where they will ask the area of your residence (the place where the dead body is kept) and then divert your call / assist you in reaching the eye bank that is nearest to your residence so that the doctors belonging to that eye bank can act quickly.

Contact numbers of some Eye Centers in Bangalore

Please find some useful contact numbers of some eye banks in Bangalore (STD code: 080). The source of this is from the BSNL website (http://www.bangaloretelecom.com) Please utilize these numbers so as to make a healthy contribution to the soceity.

1. LIONS INTERNATIONAL EYE BANK/HOSPITAL, Lions Eye Hospital Road (Off J.C. Road), Bangalore - 560 002. Ph # 2223 5005 / 2212 1255
2. NETRA JYOTHI INTERNATIONAL EYE BANK, 56/2, Hs Rd, Bangalore - 560 002. Ph # 2224 3974 / 2224 3974
3. PRABHA EYE CLINIC & RESEARCH CENTRE 504, Cross 40, Block 8, Jayanagar, Bangalore - 560 070. Ph # 2663 7041 / 2634 4141 / 2691 0731
4. NARAYAN EYE FOUNDATION P LTD 121/c, Chord Rd, Block 1r, Rajajinagar, Bangalore - 560010. Ph # 2357 6855 / 2357 2633 / 2290 2927 / 2347 9366 / 2357 7355 / 2337 0122 / 2357 7776 / 2357 8530
5. BG WEST LIONS EYE HOSPITAL 56/2, Eye Hosp Rd, Jc Road, Bangalore - 560002. Ph # 2212 1253 / 2597 0657 / 2212 1255
6. DR AGARWAL'S EYE HOSPITAL LTD 15, Eagle St Tn, Richmond Town, Bangalore - 560025. Ph # 2212 6732 / 2222 1242 / 2229 3040 / 2229 8175 / 2229 8215 / 2224 0200
7. NETHRADHAMA SUPER SPECIALITY EYE HOSPITAL 256/14, Nethradhama, Kp Rd, Block 7, Jayanagar, 560082. Ph # 2663 4202 / 2663 3770
8. HAWKEYE INSTITUTE FOR BETTER VISION 312/17, Cross 27, Main 10, Block 3, Jayanagar, Bangalore - 560011. Ph # 2655 7223
9. SURANA PROJECT DRISHTI EYE INSTITUTE 2, Sirur Park Rd, Seshadripuram, Bangalore - 560020. Ph # 2334 7042 / 2334 7027
10. BHAGWAN MAHAVEER JAIN NETRALAYA 3, Rly Platform Rd, Bangalore - 560020. Ph # 2356 5384
11. VITTALA INTERNATIONAL INST OF OPTHALMOGY, Hosakerehalli, Cross 2, Main 2, Stage 3, Block 7, Banashankari, Bangalore - 560085. Ph # 2672 2213 / 2672 2214 / 2672 2215 / 2672 2219
12. NETRA JYOTHI MOBILE OPTHALMIC HOSPITAL. Ph # 2223 2562

MYTHS associated with Eye donation, in India

Here, you can get to know some MYTHS associated with Eye donation, in India, that may be preventing many people from donating their eyes...

Some people think that if they donate their eyes, it will leave holes in the place where their eyes existed. Wrong. Only the Cornea portion of the eye is removed and hence the appearance of the face of the deceased remains the same. Some other people are of the opinion that if they donate their eyes in this life, they shall be born blind in the next life. Wrong. There is no written rule about this and nobody has experienced this! Eye donation is truly a good deed and a good deed always begets good. All religions and their institutions support eye donation and consider it as one of the best donation a person can make. Some people hesitate to pledge their eyes for donation worrying about how their relatives will react. Such people should keep in mind that a little resistance should not hinder the good deed that one is performing. In fact, they should try to motivate their relatives and friends for donating the eyes, by describing the good effects of this donation movement.

Person with eye problem like Cataract or Glaucoma cannot donate their eyes. Also, the person is very old and hence cannot donate his/her eyes.

Wrong. A Person who HAS Cataract or Glaucoma CANNOT donate their eyes, But a person OPERATED for Cataract or Glaucoma can BE considered for eye donation. Also, Age will not come into picture while donating the eyes. As long as the person or his/her family/friends have a good mindset of doing some good to blind, can donate their eyes.

I was reading an article in the Newsletter of EBAI where i found that the eyes of an 105 year old lady of Mysore district was donated (in 2002) and now, her eyes is used by two blind persons to see this beautiful world! How amazing it could be...

Hopefully, in this 21st century, people will not yield to these myths and hence come out and volunteer themselves for donating their eyes, to make this world a 'blind-free' world!!

ARISE, AWAKE!!