Non-profit accomplishment

Last week the magazine, India Today, named the medical school at Amma’s AIMS hospital as the 16th best medical school in India. It was a huge honor for this institution which is only seven years old. I took the magazine to Kinko’s to have the cover and the two page article scanned in preparation for a poster to be made so we could share the exciting news with everyone. The clerk explained that they could not scan a magazine without a signed document from the magazine editor because of copyright regulations. I was stunned knowing the impossibility of obtaining the proper paperwork since it was already the weekend in India.

I pulled out all my explanations–we are a non-profit institution, Amma is an Indian saint visiting for a short time so we have to act quickly, even the argument that a foreign magazine might not fall under our copyright laws. All to no avail. The woman was firm in her response.
Suddenly I found myself praying, not probably in a spiritually correct way, but I was thinking, “Amma, this isn’t working. I need some help here.” That surrender to Amma was my only alternative. And what happened next was remarkable. Within seconds, the Kinko’s clerk, said, “Just a minute–there may be a loophole here.” She went off to make a phone call while I continued my silent conversation with Amma.
And then the clerk returned with a smile and said, “Is there a chance the use of this banner will be for educating people or making them aware of what a non-profit has accomplished?” Of course I answered affirmatively, and she was soon writing up the order!

— Sneha