I am dedicating this beautiful poem written by Guru Gobind Singh, to the efforts of the revolutionary optimists from Calcutta. I am looking forward to seeing this movie and encouraging their efforts.

The poem explains how Love is the ultimate path; its superior to the paths of meditation, pilgrimage, and intellect.



Children are saving lives in the slums of Kolkata. Amlan Ganguly doesn't rescue slum children; he empowers them to become change agents, battling poverty and transforming their neighborhoods with dramatic results. Filmed over the course of several years, The Revolutionary Optimists follows Amlan and three of the children he works with on an intimate journey through adolescence, as they fight for the better future he encourages them to imagine is deservedly theirs.

Kajal, a twelve-year-old girl, is one of 9 million Indian children who live and work inside a brick field. When Amlan creates the first school inside the brick field, Kajal has a chance to have an education, and find her voice. But when her mother falls ill, she and Amlan must balance her desire to learn and make change with her need to work in order to survive.

Priyanka is the sixteen-year-old leader of a dance troupe founded by Amlan to keep girls in school and dissuade them from early marriage. A serious dancer, she is also paid a tiny stipend by Amlan to teach dance to other children in her neighborhood. Now her parents are pressuring her to marry against her wishes, and she sees only one way out – to marry her young boyfriend. But if she elopes, she will be controlled by her in-laws, and risks losing her position in the dance group, her employment, and her chance at an education.

Salim is an eleven-year-old boy who is fighting to make change in one of Kolkata’s worst slums, but his family faces many hardships—including having to leave their home at 4:30 every morning to steal water from a neighboring slum, as there is no water in their colony. By mapping their un-mapped community and collecting data about the problems that they face, Salim and his fellow child activists hope to convince the government to give them a water tap. Can these child activists bring about desperately needed change in their own community?
Hot-headed, theatrical, but astonishingly dedicated and sincere, Amlan left a successful law career to try to make meaningful change where the law and other NGO's had failed. A dancer, choreographer, and costume designer, he brings creative expression to subjects that can otherwise be difficult for film audiences to approach. The Revolutionary Optimists will leverage this artistry, to reveal to the audience both the desperate, flawed world he is trying to change, and the vibrant, colorful world that his optimism generates.

As the centerpiece of a multi-platform advocacy campaign, The Revolutionary Optimists will leverage Ganguly’s story to bring attention to the urgent need to solve the treatable health problems in the developing world, and how education and child empowerment are a crucial key to reaching that goal. Through our online tool, Map Your World, we hope to give these youth a powerful technological tool to advance their dreams of change for the neighborhood and inspire other kids around the world to make their worlds a better place.

To learn more about the movie and the Revolutionary Optimists see: Revolutionaryoptimists.org

I had a great time watching Mary Poppins with the kids today. Shilpy, my wife loves old classics and encourages kids to watch them. This was my first time watching it and I really enjoyed it. Its one of those movies you wished never ended; the joyous feeling is such that you want to savor it again and again. One of my favorites from the movie was the song, "A spoonful of sugar." Indeed, all we need in our lives is a spoonful of sugar, and it makes everything sweet.

The power of optimism is powerful; when you add optimism to plain bread, it becomes a cake. I remember those syrups of medicine growing up in Delhi that were quite tough to ingest; and so I understand how a spoonful of sugar can let the medicine go down. Our purpose is to sing like the Robin -- he has to work hard to build his nest; but he never stops to sing. Shiv, learn from the Robin; singing is the spoonful of sugar in life.

A spoonful of sugar
by Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman.

In ev'ry job that must be done
There is an element of fun
you find the fun and snap!
The job's a game

Nad ev'ry task you undertake
Becomes a piece of cake
A lark! Aspree!
It's very clear to me

That a...
Spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
The medicine go down-wown
The medicine go down
Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
In a most delightful way

A robin feathering his nest
Has very little time to rest
While gathering his
Bits of twine and twig

Though quite intent in his pursuit
He has a merry tune to toot
He knows a song
Will move the job along

For a...
Spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
The medicine go down-wown
The medicine go down
Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
In a most delightful way

More on the song:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Spoonful_of_Sugar

"If you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal and if they can't stop you. Then you become something else entirely. A legend."