August 2012 - Oshwal Centre

In this edition:
Volunteer Teaching
Enabling Education Fair
Jainism and Paryushan 2012
….and more!!
Proof 2
11.7.12
“There is more to life than
increasing its speed.”
- Mahatma Gandhi

Editorial
Kalpi Jayendra Shah
Jai Jinendra,
Welcome to this Paryushan edition of Oshwal Youth.
August, September and October are promising to be
very busy, what with the Youth Summer Camp,
Enabling Education Fair, Paryushan, Diwali, and
definitely not forgetting Olympic and Paralympic
Games all taking place.
Paryushan can be observed in various ways, some of which are by fasting, doing pratikraman, reading the
kalpasutra, doing charity work. These are some of the activities undertaken in order to humble yourself with
the aim of finding or getting closer to your soul.
There are different degrees of fasting, and you should never force yourself to do a full fast if it affects your
health. Full 8 day fasts are probably better known, but there are several Jains around the world who perform
other degrees of fast e.g. 6 days fast (chhath aatham), 3 days fast (athham), 2 days fast (chhath), 1 day
fast, and you can also do fasts where you eat only once a day (ekasana), twice a day (beasana). If you are
the kind of person that needs 3 meals in a day or even for medical reasons cannot perform fasts, you can try
to avoid eating root vegetables throughout the duration of Paryushan and some people like to give up their
favourite foods. That too is considered fasting!!
All areas have details of pratikraman and kalpasutra readings where available. Please see the Paryushan
book for more details.
Charity work can take various forms, starting with helping those closest to you i.e. your friends, family,
neighbours, schoolmates, workmates or going across to a developing nation to offer your services. Never
under-estimate the value of your help to the person receiving it. You may not have moved a mountain, but
the recipient might feel the effect of having a mountain moved off their shoulders!
Don’t forget to come and visit Oshwal Centre on Sunday 19th August for the Oshwal Enabling Education
Fair and if you wish to volunteer, please register at:
www.oshwal.co.uk/sites/default/files/OEEF-Volunteers-FillableForm.pdf
Finally, as always, we are looking for material for both Oshwal Youth and Oshwal News and encourage you
to make these YOUR magazines. The next edition is the Diwali edition and material to this topic is welcome,
not only in the form of articles but also puzzles, short stories, poems, recipes.
Michhami Dukadam
Kalpi Jayendra Shah, Oshwal M&C Team
Contents
Volunteer Teaching 2 Short Story 6
Oshwal Enabling Education Fair 3 Halloween Party 7
My Grandmother 5 Jain religion 8
Disclaimer Notice:
The Editor nor Oshwal Association of the U.K. is not in anyway responsible for the goods and services
rendered by its Advertisers. The Oshwal Association of the U.K. accepts all advertisements in good faith and it
is entirely up to readers to verify Advertisers products and services should they feel the need to do so.
OSHWAL NEWS & OSHWAL YOUTH are magazines of the OSHWAL ASSOCIATION OF THE U.K.
© : Oshwal Association of the U.K. | Reg. Office: Coopers Lane Road, Northaw, Herts. EN6 4DG | Registered
in accordance with the Charities Act 1960 | Charity Reg. No. 267037

Volunteer Teaching
Empowerment through Education
D
id you know you can volunteer on a teaching
project in many countries, including India There
are many organisations which can offer
placements in schools on request. Most volunteers teach
English but you can also teach subjects such as Maths,
Science as well.
Facilities in the schools are often basic - you may find
yourself with little more than a blackboard and a piece of
chalk. Even in these surroundings, you may be surprised
at how quickly you gain confidence and make progress!
And, of course you will always have a local staff member
to help.
By volunteering, even for a short while, you can make a
huge difference by helping children improve their
conversational English skills. They have a real desire to
learn English, the language that can put them in touch
with the rest of the world. This could help them gain
employment in the future and achieve a better standard of
living.
Anyone over the age of 17 can get involved teaching
English in India. No qualifications are required but it’s
important that you are enthusiastic about the work. As
long as you speak English and have a real desire to help
the children improve, you will be well-suited to the project!
Your main role on this project is to teach conversational
English lessons to secondary school pupils. The aim is to
give the children the confidence that comes from being
able to communicate with a native English speaker. It is
likely to be an experience neither you nor they will ever
forget!
Your role as a volunteer Teacher in India
Teaching volunteers help to bring fresh ideas to the
classroom. With the advice of local staff, you can make
learning English enjoyable by using teaching methods
such as:
Organising language-based games and puzzles
Teaching English through songs and poems
Helping with basic grammar, sentence construction
and pronunciation
Storytelling to younger children
Holding classroom debates with older children
You would usually be teaching between thirty and forty
students in a class. However, classes can vary in size
depending on the school and age of the children. You
could be teaching children as young as three years old or
teenagers preparing for their final exams. Each volunteer
is expected to have about four hours in the classroom
each day, from Monday to Friday.
Why volunteer teaching in India is so
important
Despite the fact that you will find English speakers
throughout India, the standard of conversational English
teaching in public schools is usually very poor. The
students may know about English literature and are better
at grammar than most native-speakers, but find it hard to
make themselves understood. This means they lack the
confidence to speak English, missing out on the jobs that
will go to those who can afford a private education.
Volunteer English teaching in India is an ideal way to help
solve this problem. Whether you go to volunteer during
your gap year, career break or an extended holiday, you
will be able to make a difference.
Such volunteer teaching projects are available for a range
of durations and locations throughout India, as well as
other countries.
Source of information:
www.projects-abroad.co.uk

Sunday 19 August 2012
at Oshwal Centre (10am to 5pm)
Grasp the opportunity to express your opinion
and passions!!
Register yourself or your team.
Topic of popular choice:
State vs. Private Schools
Challenge your friends / family to a fun and
interactive debate!!
Enjoy the twist in the debate...with a surprise
element of an International Connection!!
Register now at:
www.oshwal.co.uk/enabling-education
To get involved in the Debates, contact:
Shama Shah Tel: 07974 662 401 Email: shamas15@hotmail.com
Sunday 19 August 2012
at Oshwal Centre (10am to 5pm)
Calling on all kids between the ages of 8-12 to challenge your parents to a 20 minute
round of this fun filled 'old school vs. new school' game!
Play against your friends and classmates at the same time in the same game!
Questions based on the National Curriculum from categories such as Maths,
English, Geography amongst others!
Register now at:
www.oshwal.co.uk/enabling-education
To get involved in the Quiz, contact:
Shama Shah Tel: 07974 662 401 Email: shamas15@hotmail.com
Prizes for 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd team places!!
Warning:
Parents should be prepared to lose!!

Inclusive of all abilities
Sunday 19 August 2012
at Oshwal Centre (10pm to 5pm)
Try out wheelchair basketball
whether or not you use a
wheelchair!
Dunk the ball into the basket whilst sitting
and steer your team into the finals!!
Register yourself or your team of 5 now!!
Other sports available to play:
Handball
Relay (including the all time favourite
lemon and spoon race – with a twist!!)
Cycling – try out something new with
adapted cycles for all abilities.
Register now at:
www.oshwal.co.uk/enabling-education
To get involved in the Sports Challenge, contact:
Anjali Gudhka Tel: 07944 622 638 Email: anjali.gudhka@oshwal.org

My Great-Grandma
Devotion, Dedication and Discipline
M
y great grandma, Motiben Manilal Dharamshi
Pancha Shah, was born in Kenya and lived
there all her life. Whilst my Nana was still
young, she believed in a mixture of Jain and Hindu
rituals and beliefs, but by the time he had grown up
she was a strict Jain. On the 5th February 2011, she
passed away, and despite not being close to her
myself because she lived in Kenya, it was an
extremely sad loss for the whole family and everyone
else she knew, even distantly.
For most of her life,
she followed all of the
religious Jain
practises. As a strict
Jain vegetarian, she
didn’t eat any root
vegetables. Each day
began without
breakfast, and with my
great-grandpa she
went to the temple to
do puja and pray.
Lunch was then the
main meal of the day
at home, and then in the afternoon she would go back to
the temple to pray again, without eating at all between
meals. She often did religious fasts, only drinking, and
reading religious books and scriptures.
To me, her religious devotion and discipline was
phenomenal. The fact that she continued with these
practises as long as she could and the obedience it must
have taken to discipline herself with her diet, fasts and
visits to the temple stuns me – I would not be able to
achieve anything close to that in my lifetime. I enjoy all
three of my meals, that more often than not include root
vegetables and normally chocolate-containing snacks inbetween,
and the resilience it would have taken to gain
that depth of self-control amazes me. I have never known
anyone with such strength of character to be able to
restrain themselves to that extent, and it is truly inspiring.
Her whole-hearted devotion to religion was shown in the
number of times that she took religious pilgrimages to
India, to visit holy Jain places all over the country, and in
particular Palitana. She really believed in religion, and this
was shown in the amount of charity she dedicated to it.
Money was donated to build temples, villages, and most
recently a hall for Sadhus, which she went to the opening
ceremony of a few years ago along with my Nana and
Nani. On top of this she regularly gave clothes and food
to charity.
Whilst her devotion and discipline is extremely admirable,
I am inspired most by her hospitality, which I can relate to
VARDHAMAN TAP
Personally, I admire most her achievement of doing in
total one hundred Ayambils over twenty years – fasting
on certain days and having a diet without oil, ghee, fat,
salt or raw vegetables for the days she would eat. This
fast is known as Vardhaman Tap and takes
approximately 14 years if done continuously. She was
the second person in Kenya to do this. Ayambil food is
eaten once a day in one sitting, and the aim is to
conquer your taste buds by eating food devoid of taste.
Ayambil is done for one day, then fasting (upvas) the
next day, then Ayambil for two days, and fast for a day,
then Ayambil for three days, and fasting for a day, and
so on all the way up to 99 Ayambil followed by a fast
and finally 100 Ayambils followed by a fast. Back in
Kenya there was a celebration for her outstanding
success when she had completed her hundredth
Ayambil.
on an easier level. She had a large family and knew so
many people, but more than that kept in touch with them
all. As soon as she heard that any relation or friend, no
matter how distant, was coming to Kenya, she would
invite them for a meal at her house, and the number of
people welcome at their house grew and grew, and
friends were coming and going all the time. At her sadadi
last year held at the Oshwal Centre, the number of people
that arrived was amazing, and even though they were in
England, they had all had some connection to her and
eaten a meal at her house at some point or another. My
Nana once told me that her friendliness and hospitality
was ‘something you had to see for yourself to understand
and appreciate the extent of it’. She was a fantastic cook,
even at the age of 90, and could prepare a good meal for
seventy people without worrying at all.
Her hospitality, devotion and dedication to religion and
religious discipline are all extraordinary, and I think it is
rare to find someone with such an amazing strength of
character as she had.
Article by, Ria Chavda
Editor’s Note: This article was first published in the
Young Jains Magazine in May 2012.

THE LEGEND OF THE
17 HEADED MONSTER
BY P D SHAH
I looked left, I looked right. The road was deserted.
I ran. Was he still behind me He couldn’t be. I’d
never run so fast in my life. I looked behind my
shoulder … there he was … walking … one stride
covering more than a meter at a time. I ran faster.
I made sharp right turn onto another street and
without thinking dived over a very low wall into a
bed of flowers. I lay as flat as I could on the flowers
that ticked my nose. I tried not to sneeze. Pin drop
silence.
Was this really happening to me Was all this over
a few pieces of disgusting snotty green broccoli that
I had secretly fed to my dog Teddy and then treated
her with a chocolate bar.
Still silence. The legend of the 17 headed demon
had become a reality. My mother always told me
that he would come for me if I did not eat my food,
do my homework, or go to sleep on time. And
always in fear that he would come I did as I was
told and he never came. But this one time I did not
obey…he did come to get me. And all I could do
was run and hide. Where was everyone when I
needed them No lights, empty streets, just silence.
Then … footsteps. Loud! One after the other, they
were heading towards the wall. The sound echoed
against the darkness. Panic took over. Should I
run Or should I stay I chanced it. I stayed. He
walked past the wall and headed down the street. I
waited for a good 10 minutes until I could no longer
hear the steps.
I got up off the flower bed and ran back the way I
came. Deciding to head back to my house, I would
tell my parents that he actually did exist and he
really was after me. This so called monster that
they had told me about for years was real. And
from all the people in world, he was chasing me! I
really must have been bad!
The one thing that I did realise was that he didn’t
have 17 sets of legs or 17 sets of hand. It was just
heads and exactly how I had always pictured it.
Human heads, each with long black beards, dark
lined eyes and turbans. However, all the heads
looked like they were balancing on a single neck!
How very strange.
As I was running towards my house, the footsteps
were back. I could hear them getting louder and
louder. I looked behind. Total darkness, nobody
was there. I looked forward…and there they were
17 sets of dark lined eyes staring straight at me. I
was frozen with horror. His long skinny fingers
shaped in a claw came to grab me. I screamed.
‘Come here you brat! You disobeyed your parents
and now you will be punished!’
‘Wake up! Stop screaming!’ I opened my eyes and
was overjoyed to see my mother looking down at
me. I had fallen off my bed and was on the floor
with the mosquito net tangled around me. The
nightmare had just begun. Greens would be eaten
every day.
Editor’s Note
Thank you P D Shah for submitting this wonderful short story.

Oshwal Association of the UK—North West Area
Operation Re-Connect
team
presents
“ THE HALLOWEEN PARTY”
Venue: “EKTA CENTRE”, 366A Stag Lane. Kingsbury NW9 9AA
Date: Saturday, 27th Oct 2012
The event begins at 7:00 PM
Entrance
Tickets Purchased before 10 Oct 2012
£10.00 Member
£6.00 Kids (3 to 15 years)
£15.00 Non-Members
Tickets Purchased After 10 Oct 2012
£15.00 Member, £9.00 Kids (3 to 15) £20.00 non-member
FANCY DRESS EVENT— HaLLOWEEN THEME
Food, Games and Entertainment Included
Tickets will be sold in advance only.
Please contact the following:
Chetan – 07949 459090 (Harrow)
Dixit—07810 554629 (Canons Park)
Dipen – 07881 511457 (Edgware)
Khilit – 07932 715245 (Kenton)
Milan—07968 817043 (Kenton)
Minesh – 07725 707005 (Pinner
Nirmal – 07962 177326 (Stanmore)
Rumit—07507 668247 (Northwood)
Tickets are also available from FunSkool and Re-Active8
Management reserves the right of admission. Tickets non-refundable.
Please bring your membership cards and proof of age along with you. Failure to provide proof of membership
will incur non-member charges at the door
OSHWAL ASSOCIATION OF THE UK | Oshwal Centre, Coopers Lane Road, Northaw, Herts. EN6 4DG | Registered in accordance
with the Charities Act, 1960. Charity Reg. No. 267037

WHAT IS PARYUSHAN
Paryushan is an annual festival of 8 days where we focus on doing lots of religious
activities. During Paryushan we try not to hurt any living beings as much as
possible. We also practice self-control as much as possible by fasting or giving up
something we really like such as watching television, playing video games, eating
chocolate. Everyday we go to the temple, pray, and read religious books.
On one of the 8 days (or on the fifth day of Paryushan) we view the fourteen
beautiful dreams of Mother Trishla
The last day of Paryushan is all about forgiveness. On the last day, we say
“Michchhä mi Dukkadam” to all of our friends and family. Michchhä mi Dukkadam
means “I am asking for forgiveness for anything I may have done to hurt you, and
I forgive you too.”
It is very important to say “Michchhä mi Dukkadam” to everyone.
Article by,
Bhavini Shah

MY DAY AT OSHWAL CENTRE
FOR THE SARASWATI POOJA
6 APRIL 2012
Mum as usual booked us in for the Saraswati Pooja. No asking us, “Do you want to go” Just, “we are
going”. All I can say is thank god for mum. We took our clothes for the pooja and made way for the
centre.
When we got there we went straight to the derasar and conducted our prayers. After that we went
down to the hall. There were lots of people there getting ready to eat. It was ambel, this meant
special food. I have had it before once when Nani took me one year. Khitchi and the popcorn were
the best.
I like helping and therefore offered my service to help serve the food and prepare the tables with
plates, spoons and vatakis, all steel of course. We believe in recycling so no paper plates. Just wash
and reuse. I also sat and ate the special food, no oil, no salt, no masala, just plain very tasty food and
served with a special salt and pepper and washed down with if you wanted bitter water,(kharo) or hot
and cold water. I ate popcorn and khakra. It was really yummy.
Then it was time for the main event, first I had to get ready again in the pooja clothes.
The hall was ready and laid out with the items needed for the pooja. Small idols of the goddess
Saraswati, fruit, dry fruits, flowers, water and also some ground sandalwood. I was really excited I get
to take the idol home. Saraswati is the goddess of education and the arts. She will ensure that I
achieve my potential.
I had to sit with a group of other children and no idol for me as there was a problem and not enough
had been delivered. I was disappointed and also a little disheartened; I had hoped to take my idol
home with me, the one that I had made offerings to. The organisers told us to write our names and
they would ensure we got ours delivered home. (HAVEN’T GOT MINE YET).
Mum, as usual the cool one, says its fine and to join the other kids. It will be fun and you will learn and
there will be something special happening when you join others. As usual she was right, it was fun
and we learnt how and what to do and there were others to guide us and the children helped each
other. United and bonded and working together, what every Oshwal should be.
It felt really good and if I was honest I really enjoyed the whole event, all 3 hours in total. It is very
difficult to put into words what I have learnt but all that I can say is it was an experience that was
unforgettable, it was enjoyable but most of all I felt as if I had achieved something.
So thank you Mum for taking us.
Thank you OAUK for making the pooja free for the kids and making us welcome and teaching us and
I hope that you will do something similar again.
Lastly please can I have my idol
Article by, Kajal (Aged 10) and Krina (Aged 8)

HOW TO DO CHANDAN PUJA
Kids – with the help of your parents try doing the Chandan Puja during
Article by,
Varshaben Shah

Sunday 19 August 2012
from 10am to 5pm
at Oshwal Centre, Potters Bar, London, UK
Talks & Debates
Practical Sessions
…and much more
Stalls & Zones
Entertainment
www.oshwal.co.uk/enabling-education