The last couple of weeks

"Blame not laziness for the lack of (blog) updates, blame instead time - or rather the lack of it"
Who ever said this, must be really wise :)
The last few weeks have been like a marathon race. Day after day, with no count of hours - not too sure where it is all heading. 'It' in this case, being life.
So here's 'what was' and 'what is'... from the last few weeks:

Kenny G concert:
Two musicians whom I consider Gods of music - Yanni and Kenny G. I would do (almost) anything see them perform live.
When I heard that Kenny G was performing in Bangalore, my first reaction was woo-hoo! Only then did I see that the tickets were priced at 2K and 3K. It was really hard to convince any my friends to join me, considering the ticket price and also that the concert was on a Monday evening. After not too much thinking, I decided that I was going no matter what, just had to find some company. As a last resort I had to force my brother to come along... I even had to buy him a ticket :)
Venue - UB City: For those of you who are not too familiar with the Bangalore skyline (If I can call it that) UB city is an office/shopping space which has one of its buildings shaped like the Empire State building. Google should be able to provide some images.
Sponsor - Blackdog - I didn't know until recently that this was a brand of whiskey. Everyone at the concert was offered complimentary drinks. Whiskey with Mango juice/Apple juice were weird combos I thought. But when its free, it just doesn't matter... now does it?
The music - The concert started with Kenny playing while he walked amongst the crowds. In Mumbai, I heard he walked right from the last row up to the stage, but the Bangalore venue was not equipped for this sort of free movement. The play list for the evening included many of the popular songs Havana, This moment, Songbird to name a few. He also played a few pieces from his new album Rhythm & Romance, an album with a Latino flavor, he said
Kenny also gave a demo on how he plays really long notes. The technique he explained was to inhale and exhale simultaneously. That of course would take a lot of practice. He demonstarted this by placing the mike near his nose, where we could hear him take in short breaths while he continuously blew into his sax.
Its was a lovely evening, enchanting music, amazing lighting and acoustic effects... totally worth it!

ACT to make a difference - Ashwini Charitable Trust

"Story time for children" was the project that I signed up for as a part of community work this year. Me being me, love any activity that involves children. Only after initial visit to the trust, did we realize that the 'children' here were between age groups 4 and 19. We broke up the children into 4 groups based on their age and planned out age-specific activities. Another group had already organised fun and cultural activities for these kids, so we thought we'd make it a day of learning. The topics ranged from stories/songs, environmental awareness, greatness of India... to resume writing/career counseling for the elder kids.

One of the charts that I prepared

I have interacted with children from various other trusts, but these children were a just a class apart. They were outgoing, not shy, good in English and their confidence factor was the highlight.
The Ashwini Charitable Trust takes care of not only the monetary requirements of the kids but also provides the guidance required for the overall development of the kids until they get employed.
The kids at the trust are first generation literates, with mothers work as house maids and their fathers are unskilled laborers. There were two or three girls who were doing their B.Com from St Joseph's College. The way the children are molded by the trust, they do not find it very difficult to mingle with other children and the best part is that one of these girls has consistently topped her class in college :)

Collage on pollution

Drawing competition

It was a great learning experience, spending the day with the children. Once a year doesn't make too much sense. Already on my life's to-do list... let's see what more can be done.

Surprise visitor:
Stranger from a distant planet,
Mars - so it may seem
No time to meet during the day,
T'was not a part of the scheme
Zoom over for coffee,
vrooom and call it a walk
Glad, we got a chance to meet,
Though not enough time to talk :)

The evening weather:
The weather in the evenings has been fantastic over the last couple of days. After the scorching heat during the day, the evening showers considerably bring down the temperature.
Considering the fact that one is locked up indoors the entire day, going out and enjoying the lovely evening breeze by way of a short walk (or a longer one, if time permits) or just some time spent on the terrace listening to music - I understand, can do wonders :)

On the work front:
No comments except for @$%#&

Let me use a quote that I read recently and liked a lot, to end this post.

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
You're on your own, you know what you know.
And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go"

so... time to start thinking and deciding now. Happy Weekend!