Drawing some inspiration.

Met a couple of friends last evening after a very long time. Ashok, Vinay and their friend Ram who'd also come along with them. We were talking about what each of us were doing and I was amazed by what Ashok shared with us:
4 years back Ashok joined an NGO and moved to Nagapattinam, where he now involved with the rehabilitation of tsunami victims. They cover 40 villages around Nagapattinam.
In groups, they go on a survey, spend time with the villagers and identify persons who would need help.
Once they are done with rehabilitating a person, they would train him/her to in turn help out with identifying other persons who are in need of similar help. They would be a better judge as they know the villagers better.

Ashok then moved on to tell us an incident that was very close to his heart. There was a man in his late twenties whose lower limb had been injured during the tsunami. He had been undergone 5 different surgeries in a government hospital but had seen no improvement. Being unable to walk, he had lost all hope.
When Ashok's group approached him, he did not want to go through the entire cycle of getting hopeful in vain and refused to be a part of the programme.
The NGO members persisted and told him to try one last time, and he finally agreed. There was a complicated surgery performed to remove the broken bone and replace it.
A year after the surgery, with regular exercise the man started to slowly move around with the help of a walker. After the rehabilitation programme was complete, the NGO team told the man that they had done their part by helping him walk again, what he wanted to do further in life was up to him. The man got back to his profession - tailoring and now runs a successful business in his village :)

Best part of this post: Ashok, Vinay and Ram are visually impaired. I know Ashok and Vinay from my school days, when my mom used to teach in a blind school. Also, since all textbooks aren't (or weren't then) available in braille, we used to read out the text from the various books and record it on cassette tapes. The students used to make copies of these tapes, listen to them and learn their lessons. Another thing we used to be involved in was during examinations - the students would have a scribe read out the question papers to them, they would dictate the answers and the scribe would write the answers - all this with no extra time.

Ashok is happy and derives immense satisfaction from his work with the NGO
Vinay works in HAL as a telephone operator/assistant
Ram works on the marketing side of Shobha Developers.

We take too many things for granted, experiences like these make us think twice before we complain about our mundane lives.
There are some who would argue that they wouldn't want to compare themselves to the less fortunate.
But it is from personal experience that I say, we should be thankful for who and what we are :)

Conscience

Would you go against your conscience?

How about if:
1) You were under pressure
2) A part of your future depended on it
3) Both of the above

What makes you happy?

Music. I would like to spend more time concentrating on music, because it gives me so much happiness.

Travel is another item on my list. Travel where? Oh I have a lot of places in mind.
'No time' is no excuse. I realise this after years of experience of having no time to do things that I enjoy.
Will things change? I know not, but I would like them to.
So this would mean I have to change - Yes I'm willing to.
Will I change my mind soon - Maybe, but only to find something more to do :)

Life's too short to be taken seriously. I've told myself this over and over again. This I guess is something I need to be constantly reminded of. Dream... and go live your dream!

Inspired by Sharon and Pooh's thoughts :)

Tag - Know your alphabets

Tagged by Vaish this time!

A - Available?
For an activity involving music ~ absolutely

B – Best Friend:
There's more than one person that I'm really close to. Each of them is 'the best' in their own special way

C – Cake or Pie?
Cake... yum yum

D – Drink of Choice:
Cold coffee with a dash of chocolate syrup
In case we're talking alcoholic - vodka with cranberry juice/sprite

E – Essential thing used every day:
Computer/internet - I know its lame but I feel incomplete without it

F – Favourite Colour:
Black

G – Gummi Bears or Worms:
Neither, I prefer chocolates

H – Hometown:
Bangalore

I – Indulgence:
Blueberry cheesecake - I'm known to wipe clean not just my plate but others' too

J – January or February:
January - Right after year-end and farthest from the next :)

K – Kids and Names:
As long as they belong to someone else, they're such a delight (yes I know I've said this before)

L – Life:
Life is what we make of it. Though often forgotten, constant recollection helps ~ 'coz this is the truth.

M – Marriage
Mar + Image = Marriage?

N – Number of siblings:
One ~ is just about enough

O – Oranges or Apples:
Apples ~ sliced and with a little honey on the top

P – Phobia
Eremophobia

Q – Quote
Accept don't expect

R - Reason to Smile:
Just don't need a reason to smile

S – Season
Spring - Bright n sunny ~ Makes everything around look so beautiful

T – Tag three people:
Aparna, Prashanth, Sindhu

U – Unknown fact about me:
I have to be mentally prepared for everything ~ doing something on an impulse is almost next to impossible

V – Vegetable you do not like:
Brinjal ~ don't know why I detest it so much

W – Worst Habit
Keeping quiet and annoyingly keeping the other person guessing about my thoughts :D

X-rays you have had:
Thanks for reminding ~ need to get my head examined

Y – Your favourite food:
Black Dal and Roti

Z – Zodiac:
Virgo