A day of Fun, Frolic (and complete exhaustion)

June 20th, the date was marked on my calendar. It was the day of our community work. Our project this time was to take under privileged children to the Parle biscuit factory and the planetarium. The children were from “Acts of Hope”, a school run by an NGO for children whose parents cannot afford to educate them, though they are eager to.

As per our schedule, we reached office at 7:15, only to find that they would not serve breakfast until 8:00. (Hm… could have woken up half an hour later… I thought to myself. I’m sure everyone else also had similar thoughts)
After breakfast we left office in 2 buses. The school is near Sarjapur. Thanks to the peak hour traffic, it took us an hour to reach there. The children were very excited to see us.
The 50 children we were supposed to take out, were from classes 2 and 3. Not too small that we had to baby sit them, and not too old that we had to discipline them – just the right age  We also had 8 teachers coming with us. They were only coming along because it was a fun trip for them.

Once on the bus, the kids were asked to introduce themselves while we distributed sandwiches, then started the singing session. Initially no one volunteered to sing, but once someone started singing, the whole gang would join in and scream at the top of their voice.
The Parle Factory is near Peenya, so it took us a good 2 hours to reach. We walked up and down hundres of stairs in the viewing gallery to watch how biscuits were made. In the end, they played a short animation summarising the manufacture process. I personally thought the trip to the factory was a waste of time. All that it did was make us tired and hungry.
We now had to go to Cubbon Park, the caterers would get there with hot lunch. As soon as we reached the park, the children forgot how tired and hungry they were and ran to play. We literally had to drag them, make them stand in a queue to get lunch. As soon as they finished lunch they went back to their games.

At around 3:45 we set off to the planetarium. I thoroughly enjoyed the show. But since it was in English, I’m not to sure how much the kids could follow. I especially loved the part where everything goes pitch black… all you can see is the twinkling stars… fantastic!
After the show, we distributed snacks and juice to the kids and then headed back to the school.
We reached the school only after 7. We then gave rain coats to all the kids.
When we were all set to leave, the kids in one voice screamed out “thank you aunty, thank you uncle” . Then they came to shake each one of our hands and say thank you. That was really touching.
By the time we got on to the bus, we were completely exhausted. All we wanted to do was get back home. We reached office at around 8 and then went our own ways.
That was a very nice experience!

A farewell to remember

Yesterday, we had the farewell party for our CEO. David is such a super guy. He is totally down to earth, so full of energy, enthusiatic and always receptive to new ideas and suggestions. He makes it a point to speak to each and every person - be it a VP or a security guard. His message to us is that no matter how large the organisation becomes, we should not lose our closeness. He always encouraged us to get together with people from other departments during lunchtime and get to know what they do. Over the past one year I've seen him lunch with a new group of people everyday. When he's at your table, it won't feel like you are lunching with the CEO. He'll talk about sports, movies and will converse about common interests.

The party started at 7 PM. There was a video played with our farewell message to him, then his touching speech where he said he was glad he'd made so many friends and would take every possible opportunity to come back here. After this the music started. Thanks to DJ Chico, the party was a blast :)

Things about David that I cannot forget:
1) He loves to stand on a table when he addresses a crowd - no mike required
2) The funny faces he made during the role play as a part of the orientation programme
3) His "bike" - the scooter, his preferred means of transport
4) Watching him jog on the ring road at 10 AM on many a days
5) When he first came to Bangalore, he was so fascinated by the autorickshaw that he bought one

He's such a great guy with a cool attitude and forever smiling .... Will miss him!

(Shall upload pictures once I get them)

Interesting news tidbits

• Ever wished you had an invisibility cloak that you could drape around urself whenever you wanted to....

According to this news article, this could be possible in the not so distant future.
Do we now say abracadabra!

• Munnabhai MBBS to be made in Hollywood ishtyle! Wow .. a hindi movie being an inspiration for a hollywood movie... that's something! read here...

2 good movies this weekend

Its just Saturday and I've already watched 2 movies this weekend :) Crazy... yeah.. that's the word!
Watched Fanaa. Very nice movie. Kajol looks and is awesome in the movie and Aamir is his usual self! The locations and picturisation are just amazing. I remember reading in the papers that Kajol was too afraid to shoot in Kashmir so they shot the movie in Poland...
The first half of the movie is just superb. The second half's ok. But on the whole - a nice movie after a long time :)
Ok... I watched the movie from the perspective of it being a story about two individuals (not considering their background, terrorism, the Indian army or anything else). Some others may hate this movie if they viewd it to be based on terrorism. As it is often said... "ITs all in the mind" !

Next on the list is The Da Vinci Code.
The 1st half of the movie goes really fast. If you don't know the book page by page, dialogue by dialogue, you may probably not get what's happening in the movie.... But then, an awesome effort by Ron Howard... just like his other movies :)
The intro of Robert Langdon by way of the seminar on symbology has been depicted really well. I also liked the bits where Teabing explains to Sophie the real meaning of the Holy Grail, the sequenes involving the breaking of the codes and the part where the "teacher" is finally revealed.

I heard they are planning to picturise Angels and Demons next... shall wait for that!

The weekend that was

Had a pretty hectic weekend. Did a lot of things :

1. Went to the book-fair @ Honeywell and picked up Wuthering Heights, Mein Kampf, Wings of Fire and The truth about getting your point across.

2. Was desperate to watch a movie – but what do you know… no tickets available for any movie in PVR. Next best option decide on a movie and find the nearest theatre showing it. Poseidon at Urvashi was the answer.
About the movie –5 minutes into the movie the ship is under water and the remainder of the movie revolves around how 8 people try to make their way out. Nicely made movie. If you have nothing else to do, watch this movie – but bear in mind “do not compare it to the Titanic”

3. Watched Gangster. No one in the movie has any role at all…. except the female lead…
About the movie – Don’t even bother!

4. Watched the play “The Last Leaf – by O’ Henry” at Rangashakara. This was the first play that I watched and was pretty excited about it.
The story - Johnsy is suffering from pneumonia and thinks she is going to die when the last leaf from the vine outside her window falls. Her friend Sue tries to make her change her attitude but in vain. Mr Behrman the artist downstairs is old and drunk and refuses to help, his only interest is to paint a masterpiece. It’s a stormy night and everyone is sure that the last leaf from the vine would fall off. But the next morning, to Johnsy’s surprise the leaf’s still there. She starts to think - If the leaf survived the storm, then it must definitely be a sign that she would get better. With the change in attitude, Johnsy slowly gets better and recovers from her condition. But Mr. Behrman dies. Only in the end everyone comes to know that – in the storm, Mr Behrman had actually climbed up to Johnsy’s window and had painted a leaf on the wall…it looked so real that it saved Johnsy’s life. This was his masterpiece!

Rangashankara is a really nicely built auditorium. The play went on ok… could have been a bit better.

That was a really busy weekend… but I thoroughly enjoyed it :)

the "Legacy of Punjab" experience

Last weekend we'd gone out for dinner. "Banjara" of Ramanashree has now become....

They've converted the entire place to look like a Punjabi Dhaba.




The interiors look so authentic - colourful kites, bunches of glass
bangles, mud pots, charkas adorn the walls and the ceiling...
the seats are cemented...with cushions of course :)


If you are lucky you can catch some bhangra action too!
The food is delicious... all served in the typical dhaba cutlery!
I've got just one word to say....YUMMY :D

Any way out of this mess???

Something has to be done about the traffic in Bangalore. Getting stuck for hours, that most of us have got used to.
Yesterday on my way back I was stuck in traffic, as usual, it was near BTM this time - where an ambulance was also stuck. Its siren was howling, but it had no way out. No vehicle could move.
I only hope everything's ok with the patient.
What will happen in case of an emergency? Would we have to sacrifice our lives because of some stupid traffic jam?
I was just thinking that may be major hospitals could have helicopter services only for emergencies and patients could be picked up from various pre-determined locations in the city. But then even in this case, to reach the pick up point, one would have to steer through the traffic....
Hope the situation improves soon!

Pride & Prejudice

Sometimes the last person on earth you want to be with, is the one person you can't be withoutWanted to watch "Walk the line" but picked up "Pride & Prejudice" instead, I'm glad I did.
Its such a lovely movie. Each of the actors fit their roles so perfectly. Keira Knightley's acting is just amazing and that was a very well deserved Best Actress Award this year.
How can I not mention the brilliant OST. The piano pieces keep playing in the back of my mind even now.... you can watch the trailer and listen to the soundtrack here

To Watch or not to Watch.... this is the verdict!

Even if someone pays you to go watch Shaadi Se Pehle ... trust me you don't want to watch it!
The first 1/2 an hour you can laugh at the jokes (though they are borrowed ones and you may have heard them several times)...
Enter Mallika Sherawat - More Sleaze...Lesser clothes.... Poor dialogues.... No story connection...

Songs - My God No
Costumes - They'd look better in a circus
Unwanted Cast - Aftab, Bomman Irani, Suneil Shetty, Gulshan Grover, Anupam Kher

Watching the movie - a BIG mistake!

on the other hand....
Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara is a must watch.
Both Anupam Kher and Urmila's acting is brilliant. The portrayal of the delicate relationship between a sick man and his daughter is brought out beautifully. A very nice movie in all.

CRASH

Watched CRASH yesterday.

Such an intense movie depicting the racial discrimination prevalent in the US of A. Scenes from everyday life have been portrayed in a very realistic manner.
Its so scary that no one is willing to trust the other just because of their skin colour.

"MOVING AT THE SPEED OF LIFE, WE ARE BOUND TO COLLIDE WITH EACH OTHER"

Experience the movie here

Latest activity

Medical camp held in a government school - twice a month.

Amma & Sandhya been a part of this for sometime now, I joined her today.

The school building (if you can call it one) is a very small old one with walls which lack paint, dark and dingy.
The students had lined up in long queues awaiting their turn with the doctor. Once the Doc examined a student he prescribed the required medicines. Then the students walk into the next room where we stood all set with the medicines. Our task was to read the prescription, put the medicines in a cover and tell the kid what to take, when and how much.
Usually there are about 3-4 volunteers who help with the dispensing of the medicines, but today no one turned up. So we’d asked a few of the kids to help us out. One held out the cover for us to fill the medicines, and another to write the number of pills on the cover.
The medicines ranged from cough syrups, anti-fungal creams, vitamin tablets to eye/ear drops.
There was a sudden commotion when one lady came in all dressed up commanding the children in a stern voice. When I asked one kid who the lady they were referring to as “aunty” was, if it was a teacher , they only giggled and said… she was the aayah… One kid smirked and said she applied so much make up and came only for people to think she was a big shot, but she was actually the aayah who swept and cleaned the school floor. We started laughing uncontrollably at this.
The whole process wen on till 5:30PM after which we stacked up all the medicines, locked up the school and left, telling the children we’d be back after weeks.
Being with children is so much fun…. Whatever the age group or activity may be : )

Aurora - Natural Wonder

I've always been fascinated by the aurora... such a pity we can't view them in this prt of the world!

The Offsite

The offsite was meant to be a team building session – it was that and a lot more….

Friday 10th Feb 06 : Soon after lunch we all packed off into a bus and headed off.. no one except the organizers actually knew where we were going. It was all a big surprise. We had only been told that this was no luxury trip but was one close to nature (whatever that meant) !
It took us a good 2.5 hours to reach Wood Rich resorts. We were welcomed there by Sunny – our guide for the weekend and lots of pakodas and hot tea.

Immediately after that we went into a conference room where we had introductory sessions, where people were paired together and one had to introduce their friend to the rest. The intro had to be about details which the others did not know of. This was good fun – how else would you get to know that the CFO – if he had not been here, would have been a fashion designer…..
After the intro session, we started out with our first activity. We were divided in 4 teams. Each team’s task was to build an “A” frame with 3 pieces of bamboo & pieces of rope – the structure had to be vertical…. One member had to be moved from one end of the field to the other using this structure, the catch being no other team member could touch the bamboo frame. The “A” structure, we could make…. Make it stand vertically… that we could do… but put a person on it and move it without touching it???
After a lot of thinking, doing and re-doing we figured out how to do itÂ…. Though it was not the best of ways to do itÂ… in the process two guys got hurt. One had a real bad fall from the structure and the other one was all bruised from the whole eventÂ….. Were the rest of the activities going to be as dangerous as this.. we could only wait and seeÂ….
We had all been assigned rooms and our room partners had been pre-chosen by the organizers. Got to our rooms, freshened up and went to the bonfire hoping to get something to eat soon..
They had the drinks and the barbecue all set up. It took so long for someone to actually cook something for us Â…everyone was starving by then and wondering when they would serve dinnerÂ… It was a real long wait before dinner was served, but it was really goodÂ… hot parathas made on demand was really yummyÂ…or maybe it was the hunger that made us fell it was goodÂ…
After dinner back some people got back to the bonfire while some others went back to there rooms to sit down and chat awayÂ…
Around 11PM they started playing really loud music and everyone was at the dance floor dancing away like there was no tomorrow.

Saturday 11th Feb 06 : We were supposed to wake up at 5:30AM and go attend the meditation classÂ… I guess only two people actually went for itÂ…
8 AM after breakfast we again got on to the busÂ… we were going to an outside location for a trek-cum-treasure hunt.
After this happened the rappling session. Never in my life did I ever imagine that I would do rappling. Once you are at the rappelf the rocks all set to rapple down – a scary thought crosses your mind. You have to put all your trust in the person holding the safety ropes. You have to fall back and put all your weight in such a way that you are perpendicular to the ground. To take that one first step…. It seems like eternity. Once you get the hang of loosening the rope and making your way down.. its all over even before you realize it. Now, given a chance – I’d love to do it again : )
After this we were again divided into 3 groups. We were given tractor tyre tubes and bamboo and ropes. We had to make a raft, get to the other side of the lake pick up a flag from there and get back to the start point. Our team’s raft structure was really good, we got to the other side of the lake – however we had not planned how we would get back. People could not get up, sit facing the other direction and row back… it was impossible to turn the raft the other way… in the meanwhile because of the strong winds the raft started to drift away.. it went very far off from where the others were and after a lot of effort, got back to the other side…
All tired and hungry we returned to the resort.. thankfully lunch was ready when we got thereÂ…we hogged.
We had about 45 minutes before the next activity that we spent at the poolside.

For the final activity we were again divided into 4 teams, each team had 3 barrels, 2 planks of wood. The task was that all the team members had to move from one end of the badminton court to the other using the barrels and the wooden planks without their feet touching the ground… For the first 20 minutes no one knew how this had to be done, connecting the barrels with the planks – people standing on the planks – the planks would break for sure. Even if you stood on the planks- how would you move forward?
After a lot of thinking and a little hint from Sunny, we realized how it had to be done. Reaching the finishing point was exhilarating!
Back at the conference room we discussed all that we had learnt over the last 2 days… there were lessons for life.. lessons to be applied by us in any given situation. We had learnt the strength of a team as opposed to an individual. Being a team, we could achieve anything – given the fact that we thought in the correct way, planned in the proper manner and put our hearts into it!
We were back on the bus- on our way back home with lots of good memories to treasure for life :)

Rang De - Makes you think

Heard so many views about the movie before watching it. I guess this is the first time that I have heard such varied views about a single movie. Some people loved it while others thought it was a total waste of time. I bought the album as soon as it was released, loved the songs and was waiting to watch it.
Rang De is a mixture of many light moments and serious emotions. Aamir his chirpy, mischievous self. The youngsters in the movie are no different from you and me. All we think about is our studies, our work, our lives. Are we bothered about anything else?
The scenes from the past especially about the Jallianwala Bagh were very moving.
I've studied about the freedom struggle during my school days. At that time it was just something which I had to mug up. Meant nothing to me. But today while watching the movie it shook me up a bit.
Now, I want to know more about the freedom fighters, their lives, the sacrifices they made.

I'm sure Monday I'll get back to work and get immersed in my mundane meaningless life. But I'm glad I am at least thinking .....

My Verdict : Rang De Basanti - it makes you think!

Narnia - wow what a movie

Watched "The Chronicles of Narnia - The lion, the witch and the wardrobe". Such an amazing movie. The cinematography & special effects... just fantastic, New Zealand in all its glory. Do I even have to mention about the OST.... just superb! A must watch for Fantasy Movie lovers :)

Which colour is your heart ??

Blue 96% Yellow 61% Pink 61% Green 54% White 54% Purple 46% Red 43% Black 29% Orange 29% ~What colour is your heart?~ created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Blue. Your heart is blue. You are a very calm and relaxed person. You are very caring and like helping others. You're grateful for what you have in life, even if it's not perfect. People love you for who you are, don\'t ever change that- it's what makes you the great person that you are.

what i am reading right now

This is a hilarious write up by Ajit Saldanha.
In every chapter he describes some amusing incident in his life. About his relatives, the way they think, their food fights, his friends.....
Flipped through the first few pages and found it interesting...so borrowed it
Lets see how it goes!

Feb 3rd- still reading it.
Loved this part about being Politically Correct - "PC"

Both the very young and th old are referred to as "Chronologically challenged". Which leads to arguments such as "No Bud, you are not allowed to watch the Playboy channel on cable" "Why not mom?" "Because you are chronologically challenged, young man and that's final"
"Mom but how come grandpa watches it and he's chrono-chrono...."

Bald people are described as "follicularly challenged", fat people are "dimensionally challeged" crackheads are...er, lets see, "narcotically challenged?"And the poor are simply known as the segment unlikely to be challenged by the latest round of tax cuts... so the list goes on....

SHOT - worth what ??

Chapter 1:

“Must be at least 1:30” he thought. This was the fourth time Ray was checking his watch. Still 12.17 “Oh no, another 9 hours to go. Why can’t everything be over right now?”. It had been sleepless nights for Ray ever since Max’s phone call last week.
Max... Ray thought... his mind now was flooded with thoughts of how they had met.

It was about 2 months back. Ray was in need of money. As he walked past the bank one morning, he saw a middle aged man walk past him, clutching on to his bag tightly. This is it, decided Ray.
He walked a few feet away from the bank gate and stood there watching people who walked out. After about 5 minutes, a lady who must have been in her early 30s walked out. “No, not a lady...next one...” he thought. Soon after, an old man walked out, looking around cautiously. He had a bag in his hand.
This was going to be easy. Ray stood still... holding his breath. As the old man approached him, Ray suddenly stretched forward his right leg. Little did expect to see a walking stick whack him. Before Ray could even realize what hit him, the old man was screaming out loud as he held on tightly to Ray’s shirt. People started running towards them.

Out of the crowd, quickly emerged a man dressed in black wearing back shades “Let go of the poor man” he said in a dominating voice. “Look at him, he must be starving”. He quickly took out his wallet, drew a hundred note from it, shoved it into Ray’s hand and pulled him away from the crowd.
As the crowd slowly dispersed, Ray stood still in front of the stranger. He was so ashamed of what he had done, he could not look the man in his face.
“I’m Max” the stranger said stretching out his hand. “Any help you need, just give me a call” he said as he handed Ray his card.

Chapter 2:

The rally was to start at 10:00. “Should be sufficient if I get to the old abandoned building close to the venue by 9” Ray mused.
The abandoned building, once upon a time used to house a restaurant. No one really knew why they closed down but it served as a very convenient meeting place. This was where Ray had been given detailed instructions.
Also, this was where he had to pick up the package.

3AM: Time just didn’t seem to pass at all. Ray walked up to the table and gulped down some water from the bottle. Next to the table were his suitcases all packed and ready.
Suitcase... This reminded him of how he had met Max the second time...

Ray was waiting outside the airport’s international terminal. He was going to pick on a foreigner’s pocket. A sure visit to the forex counter would mean a fully loaded wallet, he figured. 1 hour, still waiting. Then he saw a potential scapegoat. A rather large man, carry a bag and pushing a trolley full of luggage.

“This is my chance” Ray thought. He made his way to his target and walked quietly next to him, moving as close to his body as possible. In a fraction of a second he seized the man’s wallet and was running. Faster, faster he was saying to himself. The parking lot was just round the corner.
As he turned, he tripped over a huge red suitcase and fell on his face, the wallet fell out of his hands. He had no time to grab it, he just got up and ran. He weaved his way through the parked cars and ran for the exit.

Suddenly a car stopped in front of him, the front door jerked opened and the driver beckoned him to get in. Without thinking further, Ray jumped into the car and shut the door.
He turned around to see who his saviour was. Max! he exclaimed.
“Hi Ray. How have you been? In a tough spot eh?” Max asked grinning. Ray didn’t know how to respond. He only looked at Max sheepishly. About 2 minutes passed before either of them uttered a word.
“So! That makes it twice that I’ve saved you. Isn’t it time you did something for me in return?”
“Anything for you Max” said Ray.

That was when Max told Ray about a certain politician who was so bad for society that she needed to be removed.
“Removed?”
“Yeah, like removed from the face of the earth” Max replied.
At this, Ray shuddered. He.. kill? He.. an assailant??
No. Max could not make him do it. No.

Max knew what was running through Ray’s mind. “You owe it to our country. Politicians like these are so selfish. All they think about is themselves. They eat up our money. We get poorer and they get richer. You would be performing a great deed for the nation. You do realise that don’t you?” Max reeled on.

“Ok ok just give me your contact number, I will speak to you some time” Max said as he signaled to the driver to stop the car. Ray gave him his number and got out of the car. As he stood there still hazy from all that he had heard, Max’s car whizzed past him. “I need to get back home before someone else comes looking for me” he told himself as he quickly headed back home.

Chapter 3:

A week later the dreaded call came through. Ray’s could just not forget Max’s icy tone. Max explained that Ray had nothing to worry about. Before anyone realised who the killer was, he would be out of the country, far away from anyone’s reach. Over a period of time the police would lose hope of finding the killer and after that it would all be history. Ray was still not convinced but when Max mentioned the dough he would receive for this act, Ray just could not resist the offer. Thus he agreed.

Ray was then told the day, the time, the place, the name. He would be receiving the photograph the next day.

“All you have to do” Max said “is go unobserved, pull out his gun, shoot Mrs X and get away from there”.
That isn’t as simple as it sounds.. thought Ray.
Everything else would be taken care of Max promised. He would be handed over the flight tickets. He would fly to Dubai by the late evening flight and spend the rest of his life peacefully and… luxuriously.
Fly..Dubai..Money.. all this was heaven for a small time thief like Ray.

“Am I doing the right thing? Is the money going to be worth all this”
“Now is not the time to think... It’s the time to act... Once I get to Dubai I will find myself a job and then all of this will be in my past” Ray assured himself.

Chapter 4:

6:30 AM: Ray could no longer stay in bed. He got up and walked to the window. It was a bright and beautiful morning, but all that Ray could think of was if he would get away with what he was going to do. The morning went by slowly.
8:25 AM: Ray did a final check to see that he was dressed inconspicuously and that his weapon was well hidden.
He made it to the old abandoned building by 8:50. He waited for 10 minutes before he started walking towards the venue of the rally. The roads were all jam packed. People seemed to be coming for the rally from all over the place.
As Ray reached the venue, he tried to make his way through the crowd gathered there. He had to position himself so that he had a clear view of his target.

It was almost 10:15 when the car sirens were heard. Ray’s heart started racing. Any faster, he knew his heart would pop out his chest. It was very difficult to spot his target. She was surrounded by bodyguards on all sides. As she reached the podium, there was a huge applause and then she began her speech.

Slowly, Ray reached below his shirt and pulled out the pistol. The lady was nearing the end of her speech. Little did she know these would be the last few words that she would utter.
“You, the people are my strength. Together we can make a better nation” she said. And the crowd just went wild with hoots and shouts of approval.

It was time... Ray aimed the pistol at her chest. It had to be just one shot, he had to be very careful with his aim. His hands were shivering, his legs were shaking, he tried to stay still as he took his aim. Bang - went the bullet. He had shot her in the stomach. “Oh no, not good enough.. shoot again..” He aimed again and shot her, this time in the chest…

Bang! He felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. He went numb for a moment. Run, run you fool.. his mind ordered. Ray he ran like the wind, he ran for his life..

Old abandoned building...run run..he was breathless...run..run..
He made it to the spot, but where was Max? where were his men? Where was the money? His tickets? Ray stood there wondering Where????

He heard the police siren in close vicinity.. It was too late..Do something…his mind urged him..
The police now were running towards him..
BANG!
Ray fell down.. He had shot himself.
Everything was a blur to him now.. he could hear voices, people screaming to him, nothing of which he understood..

His mind went back to when he was seven, the day he had robbed from his dad’s purse. He had been beaten for this. It was then that he then started to steal from his own house. He was 14 when his father caught him in the act..and that night he had run away...
Dad...Ma...
He saw his mom’s loving face...his stare froze!
He was dead!

**************************************************************

My thoughts:
- When Ray stole the first time, instead of beating him up, if his father had explained to him why it was wrong, it would have made a great impact.
- @ Max: People like him are the ones that need to be removed from the face of the earth.
- @ Mrs. Politician: Every other person is like this, shooting them all is not a solution, it only reduces population.
- @ people like Ray: Don’t be lured away by money. If your heart tells you something is wrong – stay away from it!
Be a person others can look up. Be yourself!

crazy it might seem...

I've always had these thoughts in my mind:

#1 Required Invention : When we see something nice, we can take a picture of it. At any later point of time, all we have to do is take out the picture, look at it and admire the beauty of the object.
Same way, whenever we listen to something nice, we can record that sound and listen to it again and again, as and when we desire.
But, why isn't there anything we can store our feelings in. Just imagine a very precious moment which you would like to cherish for ever. Why can't we store that and take it out and feel just as wonderful at any other point of time?
Why isn't someone working on inventing such a gadget??

#2 Capital punishment : When a person commits a crime like murder or rape what is the punishment that he deserves?? Capital punishment? Let him die just like that...without any pain at all. Well, I think he should suffer.
Why do we still test cosmetics and pharmaceuticals on animals? Why not use these men for the tests.
Poor animals, let them go free. Why make them suffer for no fault of theirs. Why not test the drugs on these men deserving punishment, let them also be experience the pain, misery and anguish that they put their fellow beings through!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Rating: *** (pretty impressive actually)
What was good: The third task in the Tri Wizard tournament
What could have been better: More action at the Quidditch World Cup
Good Looking : Cedric Diggory
Looked Lovely : Hermione - at the Yule Ball
Nasty Looking : Mad Eye Moody
Good Laugh : Mc Gonagall's lines when she teaches the students how to dance
Scary : when Voldemort says "lose the spare" and Avada Kedavra is used on Cedric

On the whole : a good movie..... though the whole book could not be captured in the movie...the parts which have been shown are great!
Now awaiting the 7th book and the 5th movie :)

Quite an adventure...

You work late and take a rick(shaw) ..... it starts pouring... chill winds blow on incessantly. All of a sudden the rick starts to sway, the driver slows down, one of the back wheel's gone astray.
Traffic piles up right behind the rick, vehicles honking in all directions.... then a traffic cop comes along to divert the traffic away.
You realise that you are just about a kilometer away from home, so you decide to call home and see if someone can pick you up... just when you are trying to explain where you are, your phone battery is dead. Thanks to the rains, there is no one walking along the road from whom you can borrow a phone and make a quick call. You take a chance and ask the auto driver if he has a phone...and what do you know- he does, but no card balance he tells you.
You then borrow his phone, take his sim card out, replace it with your sim card, make a call explaining exactly where you are... take the sim card back, return the phone, thank the driver and be grateful to God that there still are some decent, helpful people around!

Finally got back home drenched....was good fun though ;)

who's that gal?????

A) KATE WINSLET AT 21
B) NICOLE KIDMAN AT 21
C) JULIA ROBERTS AT 21
D) None of the above ??????




Its Sonia Gandhi...was she cute or what????

As the year end draws closer.....

No, I'm not talking about 31st of Dec but 25th of Nov... that's firm year end for us and the work pressure right now is just too much. Working non-stop for 12-13 hours also just doesn't seem to ease out the work load. Have to work the next two weekends also.
But things to look forward to:
1) Harry Potter and the goblet of fire : Yeah just waiting to watch this movie
2) Week long vacation in December : 5 weekdays + 2 weekends = 9 days of bliss (still deciding where to go)
hm.... those sure are comforting thoughts....
Year end- here I come!

The day Titanic sank

Got this from my brother !

new age US passport

So a really hi-fi passport with electronically stored data... what next??

Read about it here

and here

....and it continues to rain in Bangalore

I just can't remember when it rained so continuously in namma bengalooru! Its been going on non-stop... since I don't know when. Weekend was pretty bad with so many reported damages.
Today didn't feel like Tuesday at all. The weather was all gloomy and wet right from the word 'go'. In the afternoon it started pouring and didn't seem to cease at all. Around 6pm we got an internal mail informing us that many areas were flooded, we just had to stop working, take a cab and head back home. All of a sudden there was a rush for booking office cabs. A few unlucky people got their cabs immediately. Unlucky why??? since they are the ones who were stuck on the road the longest. All roads got blocked and traffic came to a stand still. For almost 2.5 hours traffic did not move. So everyone was asked to wait until the situtaion improved.
Now came the sudden rush. People started realising that they were going to be in office for a few more hours so unless they got something to eat right away, there may be nothing left. The thought of even our caterers being stuck in the jam and no dinner being available caused a little panicky situation. The snacks counter in the cafeteria was wiped empty within minutes.
Finally after a long wait, around 9 I left office and got back home close to 10. Its still pouring out here.
On the brighter side - if it continues to rain this way, we've been asked not to come in to work tomorrow :)

Wednesday Update :Sure enough.... today's been nice and bright with not even a drop of rainfall... well, what can I say !

Now for some bizarre news. Were the Gods so pleased with this ritual that they decided that it should rain endlessly???

Heartless or just too terrified to face reality?

Imagine this - A lady in her late 30s, her husband - struggling to earn a living, her 2 children - one in college and the other is school. Her parents, sister’s family are quite well off. Why don’t the parents help the daughter, maybe she got married to a man of a different caste/religion against their wishes.

One not so fine day, the lady is diagnosed with leukemia. Treatment is something this young family cannot afford. They try to get funds from as many people as they can, friends and strangers.
Do her parents care? Maybe…maybe not….. they visit her once in a way.

All of a sudden her mother decides that her other daughter who is in the family way needs her, so she packs off to the US and stays there for months together.
Back at home, this lady’s condition is worsening,
What she needs is love – what she gets is pity from some random person who is in no way concerned, who only wants to comment on how unfortunate our lady is but help in no way.
While in the US the mother is taking care of a kid who is a couple of months old, doesn’t she even for a moment think about what her ailing daughter is going through?

Our lady doesn’t lose hope, she does all that she can for her family, when she is at home and feeling a little upto it, she even goes into the kitchen and cooks for everyone. She always has a smile on her face and doesn’t forget to enquire how everybody is doing.
Her husband shuttles from work to the hospital, trying his best to make ends meet and also take care of his love. Her daughter shuttles from college to the hospital - right now she is her mom’s best friend, taking care of all her needs. Her son is too young to accept what is happening so shuns away from everyone and keeps to himself.

All of sudden her condition becomes really bad, on testing, doctors find that 70% of her cancer is back… now her chances of survival depends solely on bone marrow transplant from her beloved sister. But is her sister even interested in this??? Well we have no answers.
One day morning, our lady is breathless….has absolutely no one to take care of her but a dear friend who has been with her in all these trying times of pain and suffering. The friend rushes to take her to the hospital. The doctors say she won’t last long….
Now atleast, do her parents, sister or anyone show their concern???? Well it doesn’t appear that way, coz no one has even called them up to find out how she is…..

Today morning, She has left us…. May her soul rest in peace!

My only question is - What were her parents thinking?? Don’t they have a heart??

addicted to sending msgs requires rehab ?????

Just saw this news report about a teenager who sent so many msgs from his mobile phone that had to be sent to a rehab centre.... crazy or what!

sighted any UFOs off late ?

Google Maps provides information on reported UFO sightings. Just wondering if there were any reported abductions ;)

mood forecast for the next few days

Yipppeee ! good week coming up... just 3 working days!

Thanks to the Navaratri festival ... Wednesday and Thursday is off :)

funny ... but that's life!

A few ground rules:

• Inside every small problem is a large problem struggling to get out
• Whenever a system becomes completely defined, someone discovers something which either abolishes the system or expands it beyond recognition
• You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you Can't Fool Mom
• The only things that start on time are those that you're late for
• Spend sufficient time confirming the need and the need will disappear
• Opportunity always knocks at the least opportune moment
• A little ignorance can go a long way
• Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with confidence
• The shortest distance between two points has to be still under construction
• If at first you don't succeed, read the manual
• It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious
• The legibility of a copy is inversely proportional to its importance
• Assumption is the mother of all screw-ups

Some of my fav music videos

In no particular order...

1) A-Ha : Take on me
2) Dirty Vegas : Days go by
3) Alanis Morisette : So pure
4) Janet Jackson : Runaway
5) MLTR : That's why
6) Fatboy Slim : Weapon of choice (which features Christopher Walken)

Shall update the list as and when I think of more.
Lots of music videos available here for viewing :)

FRIENDS – a Theme

Just finished reading “Five point someone”. Don’t know what happens to me when I read a book like this or watch a movie like DCH, that it triggers in me unexplainable feelings.
What exactly does the word friend mean? Where on earth (or in some cases even outside) do these people come from? With no warning whatsoever, they pop into your life. You have something in common with them and BANG they become an intricate part of your very being.
All of a sudden, you have someone whom you can actually speak to, someone to share your views with, your feelings, your thoughts, joyous moments, funny tidbits, crazy ideas, smart ass comments….
Yeah, they’re also there for you when you want to vent out your concerns, inhibitions, miseries and pain.
Want to share intimate secrets?? Yeah… they’re right there with all eager ears and comforting arms to embrace you.
A mail, a message, a phone call … that’s all it takes to put a big smile on your face and a bigger one in your heart!
Before this, you didn’t even have a clue that such a person existed; now you cannot imagine a life without them being a part of it.
One tiny word of affection is enough to assure you that are there…. and that they truly care.

Blessed are those who have friends like the one’s I do :)

Space Explosion ???

How many kilometers make a light year? (isn't 12.6 billion light years too far off ?)
How did they manage to calculate when the Big Bang occurred ?? (isn't 13.7 billion years a teeny weeny bit in the past)
News reports say that the farthest explosion to date occurred on Sep 04 and the scientists were able to detect it only after a couple of days.
Why?? ... because the light from the explosion took so long to reach the Earth.
How amazingly weird...read on!

Sweet Innocence

Once a week, I take classes to teach kids to play the keyboard. There are two groups – 1 very small kids in 1st, 2nd standards and then the other group which has kids from 4th to even college. This weekend, the 2nd group was practising to play a tune we'd learnt to play the previous week, while I was teaching the younger ones to play the Happy Birthday tune.
I first taught Sriram to play it, when we reached the 3rd line I sang Happy birthday dear Sriram… to which he grinned and learned to play it.
Next was Indraneel… I used his name in the song when I taught him and lastly there was Sai Lakshmi to whom I sang Happy Birthday dear Sai.
I asked them all to play one it at a time while the other two watched to see if they were playing it right. Sriram got stuck at the 3rd line so I asked Indraneel to teach him the third line… All this happened while I was listening to the other group play what they had practised.
Suddenly there was a lot of noise from the little ones. What’s happening I ask them to which Indraneel replied… “Miss… this boy doesn’t know how to play his name…he keeps playing my name in the third line, teach him how to play his name”.
To which Sriram sai "Miss...iseent eet thee same note?"
I just couldn’t help but smile and tell him “only the words change for each one of you, the notes stay the same no matter who plays it!” To which Indraneel nodded his head and they resumed playing the tune… I still am not sure if what I said made any sense to him :)

Rose at 87

I received this message as a forwarded mail from my friend. Lots for us to learn from it :

The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.
She said, "Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?"
I laughed and enthusiastically responded, "Of course you may!" and she gave me a giant squeeze.
"Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?" I asked.
She jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids..."
"No seriously," I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.
"I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!" she told me.
After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake.
We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this "time machine" as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.
Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.
At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor.
Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, "I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know."
As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, "We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.
There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success.
- You have to laugh and find humor every day.
- You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it!
- There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing; you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change.
- Have no regrets. The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets."
She concluded her speech by courageously singing "The Rose." She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives.
At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.
One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.

These words have been passed along in loving memory of ROSE.

* Remember, Growing Older Is Mandatory. Growing Up Is Optional.
* We make a Living by what we get; We make a Life by what we give.
* God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage. If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.

Spread the Message !

I have the ultimate power in the world
Say my name and people shudder with fright

I just love my ability to multiply and spread pain
Age no bar sex no bar, the one I choose will sure be destroyed

Human beings try every possible means to try and stop me from spreading,
Little do they know how badly they’re gonna lose in this fight

Reports about my plunders you can read in every available medium
I’m so (in)famous throughout every country on the face of the earth

One thought recently struck me:
If I’m so famous as a killer, would saving lives make me even more popular?
If I could use my powers to heal rather than kill
Would they call me “Cancer - the Wonder cure” !

The joy of giving!

Every year I look forward to this day, when I go to the cancer institute and spend time with the children there. Kidwai Institute of Oncology is near Dairy circle, Bangalore.

Walk into the hospital premises and you’ll see 100s of people wandering around. A common feature that I’ve noticed is the look in their eyes when they see someone new, a glance of hope that someone will tell them it is going to be alright and can only get better.

We went around lunch time, most of the kids were out in the open courtyard, their mothers feeding them. As soon as they see you approaching with a packet of chocolates, they momentarily forget about their food and come running towards you. See, aunty’s got chocolates, you’ll hear them tell each other as they beckon all their friends to gather around you. The ones who come running would be those who’ve been diagnosed with cancer very recently and are yet to start treatment. There would be others who are in the midst of their treatment, frail and weak, silently lying in bed with eyes shut tight.
What’s your name you ask them in all the languages that you know, to one of them they’ll respond back saying Rakesh, Akash, Asha. Ask them where they’ve come from - Penukonda, Salem, Mysore...they’ll tell you. Which class are you studying in will fetch you answers like 2nd, 3rd or 5th standard.
Why... I don’t understand they have to go through such a misery, so early in life. No childhood pranks, no jumping around in the playground, no getting wet in the slush when it rains. All that they get to see around them is other children who are also unwell, scary people in white coats, scarier instruments piercing them and causing pain. A mother carrying a child (who couldn’t have been more than a year and a half or 2 old) just walked into the room. Blood cancer is what had been diagnosed. The child is clinging on to its mother tightly, not wanting to let go of the comfort, doesn’t even want to look at you. But once you give the child a bar of chocolate, the sheer delight you see in its eyes, the smile that spreads across its face... is just too wonderful to describe!

A group of youngsters had also come today, one of them carrying a guitar and one of their group members in a very funny cartoon costume. On seeing the group arrive, all the children gathered outside and sat down in front of them. This group must have been a part of a Christian missionary, I’m just guessing this as they were singing songs in the praise of the Lord. The songs which they sang were very catchy and they even had hand gestures to go along with the words. These guys made the children sing along with them, made them laugh out loud - momentarily making them forget where they were and the reason they were there.

To take “some” time out of our selfish lives.... for “sometime” to forget about our mundane daily problems, to be able to spend a short while with people who are in need of company….. they don’t want our money…All they need is LOVE. As my mother often says- youngsters today, can achieve so much in life, they just have to make up their minds and come together, with their efforts….the whole world will surely be better place!
WE DO CARE... right ???

Hilarious !

This is how Douglas Adams' - "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" begins...

People often ask me how they can leave the planet, so I have prepared some brief notes.

How to Leave the Planet

1. Phone NASA. Their phone number is (713) 483-3111. Explain that it's very important that you get away as soon as possible.

2. If they do not cooperate, phone any friend you may have in the White House- (202)456-1414-to have a word on your behalf with the guys at NASA.

3. If you don't have any friends in the White House, phone the Kremlin (ask the overseas operator for 0107-095-295-9051). They don't have any friends there either (at least, none to speak of), but they do seem to have a little influence, so you may as well try.

4. If that also fails, phone the Pope for guidance. His telephone number is 011-39-6-6982, and I gather his switchboard is infallible.

5. If all these attempts fail, flag down a passing flying saucer and explain that it's vitally important you get away before your phone bill arrives.

Now, shall get back to the book :)

Away for the weekend!

Evening of 12th August, 2005 -– finally the much awaited long weekend was here. We (my parents and I) decided we'’d drive down to Mysore and then go to Bandipur from there.
As planned, we left home at 6.30 AM 13th morning, not wanting to get stuck in traffic. The 4-lane highway to Mysore is still being laid, and this can cause a bit of a frustration to the person who is driving because for every 4-5 kms that you get to drive at top speed, you are forced to take a diversion and drive on the other side of the road along with the oncoming traffic. We stopped for breakfast at a place in Maddur and then reached Mysore at about 10 AM.
We checked into the hotel, left our bag and baggage there, took a cab and started off on our journey. On the way we saw so many fields full of sunflowers. It was such delight!
About 23 kms from Mysore is Nanjangud, very famous for its Nanjundeshwara temple. What fascinated me about this temple is its copper colour. Every other temple that I can think of is painted in blue, green, red... and made as multi-coloured as possible.
After crossing Gundalpet village, on the right hand side, there'’s a road leading to Gopala Swamy Betta. My friends had told me that this was a must -see. On the way up, we stopped to take some pictures. Our driver pointed out deep into the forest where we were able to spot a herd of elephants romping around. We quickly fetched binoculars from the car sighted an elephant family happily moving along with its little one. Unfortunately it was too far off and I was not able to take a picture of it. When we reached the top, the weather was just wonderful. It being a cloudy day, it was very windy up there and the light drizzle just made it perfect.
We had been told that the safari at Bandipur was from 4-6 PM only, so we had to now hurry without any further stops. Bandipur was filled with people. I guess there were more visitors there than wild animals. Even before getting into the area reserved for safari, we could see deer prancing around and crossing the road.
There were even elephants been taken to the lake for a drink. For the safari, a trip in the usual bus costs Rs.25, if you want an open jeep it costs you Rs.1500. We thought it would be worth it to take the jeep but then, sadly the jeep had been booked for the next two days.... (we later on found out, that this had been good-- in a way)
So, off we went on the safari, looking out in every possible direction, trying to spot elephants, bears and maybe even a tiger. As wefurtherfuther into the forest, we spotted lots n lots of deer, a couple of peacocks, elephants which ran away and quickly hid themselves behind bushes, well away from our sight. So in all, we lots lots of deer and monkeys. Even if we had managed to go by the jeep, this is all we'’d have seen : ) Having done with the safari, we went back to see the elephants which were now ready to gives rides.

Back in Mysore, we had dinner at the hotel and retired for the day, listening to the pitter patter of the rain outside and the constant grrrr.... of the AC that slowly took over.
Sunday morning after breakfast, we went to the palace gates and tried to take a few shots of the beauty which lay within.
From there we headed out to the KRS dam which houses Brindavan gardens. Walking amongst the numerous fountains its not too difficult visualise a Jayapradha and a Jitendra doing a dance number with lots of jhatkas and matkas in their ever so colourful garb!

2 weeks back, the water level in the dam had risen so much that it had overflowed and the garden had to be closed to the public. So we were assured of lots n lots of water at the dam. Sure enough, the water wasup toled upto the brim. It was just amazing to see the huge mass of water which spread out in every direction.
Having ticked off all the places we wanted to see this time, we headed back to Bangalore. We had lunch at the same place where we'd had breakfast the previous day. In a few hours time we were back in Bangalore and at home. Thus ended the journey from the wild jungles of Bandipur, we were back at the concrete jungle called Bangalore!

You can view all the photos here :)

feeling lousy...

Just don't know why this lousy feeling creeps up once in a while. Been feeling this way right from morning. Could it have anything to do with the weather?? hm... its been cloudy and dull... but then I love the rain..so, that should have cheered me up, but no!
Got home and been listening to "Saawariya" from Swades over and over again... why this of all songs... I don't know, but just feel like listening to it....
2 more days and then its the long weekend... well that thought does bring a broad smile on my face :)

100 photos......

Came across this very interesting website which hosts 100 photos of events which changed the world.....check them out here.

Annual day ....music class

Last Sunday, was the annual day in my music class. This day, every year, all the students of my music teacher have to perform on stage along with pakka vaadhyam. I was to sing one keerthanam and one devaranaama. The keerthanam was one, which I was confident of and had practised thoroughly, but the devaranama was one which was decided in the last minute after lots of rejections by my music teacher. This particular song is a toughie because it was a ragamalika with the ragams changing from hamsanandi – brindavani to shivaranjani. How much ever I practised... it just didn’t seem to have the effect which my teacher’s voice produced.
My cousin sis had come down for the weekend after a real long time, my orkut friends were having a meet… I wanted to be with these people. I was cribbing that everything had to happen on the same day. It was either all or none.
Anyway, the Sunday function went on really well..(ahem..despite of my singing) ;). The icing on the cake was the song which my teacher sang, it was so moving that many people had tears in their eyes when she finished. Its really rare to find such talent!
I was speaking to my teacher today, and she told me a very funny incident. After the function got over that day, one small kid came up to her and said very disappointedl.."aunty.. you sang better than me". Being very amused, my teacher told her "yes dear, if I didn’t, you wouldn’t come to me to learn" and she quickly added "when you grow up, you will sing better than me" to which the kid plainly replied.. "no..even then you will only sing better" and walked away! What innocence :)

No answers

No answers

Where did we go wrong she wondered. Nothing had worked, however hard she had tried. Maybe our relationship was never meant to be.... was her conclusion.
I didn't expect too much! After all, I am a human being and I have my own strengths and weaknesses. Who will listen to me? In everyone's eyes I'm the one who's at fault. Is there anyone I can speak to... who will really understand my point of view??? thus... she pondered into the night.. hoping the new day would bring with it maybe not answers to her questions, but at least some sign that life would get better...if it really was meant to be!

2 Comments:

Shashi Rajasekaran said...

hmmm..sleep indeed is a soothing mate... one thing is sure of each new day...its takes u far from yesterday..no matter how happy or sad it is...

7:26 PM

viji said...

Oh yes Rivi, been there..done that.
This post sure conveys a state of mind tht several ppl go thro :)
Tht pic u hv put up... really looks so apt...i cud almost c myslf in it.

ughhh......

Terrorist attacks in Ayodhya…bomb explosions in London… twin bomb attacks in Iraq…the list goes on….
People get killed, life and property’s destroyed,the whole world’s taken aback! What is the purpose? What is achieved by such vicious means?
Wikipedia says "Ayodhya literally means not to be warred against". What an irony! How many wars have been fought in/with respect to Ayodhya right from the Thretha yuga to the Kali yuga.
If its not the terrosists attacking, then its our very own junta doing the battling act. Ram or Rahim…does it really matter? Political parties triggering off disputes leading to communal clashes. How many such conflicts have we seen in the past and how many more are we to see in the future!
Will this all ever end? Or will there come a day when we’ll all be shell shocked to see that there is no report about any militant activity anywhere in the world for the day!! Only time will tell….
In the meanwhile all we can do is wait and watch as the world turns into a crazier place or maybe we could be up to date with the latest in the terrorism front by browsing through http://www.terrorism.com/ Ever knew such a website existed? I for one, didn’t!

Still up ???

Could hardly sleep last night. Not that I wanted to stay awake or anything like that. Just kept tossing and turning in bed. Even before I knew it, it was time to get up. Knew I was going to have a rough day at work, but this rough it would be... I didn't anticipate.
Whether Mr. Murphy said it or not, I am saying this: if something can go wrong, it definitly will; if something can get complicated -- rest assured, it will. For the past few months, I've been doing this task, never has it been so cumbersome. What I had finished in just 1 day last month, I'd been doing over this entire week. It was due for submission today, so no matter what, had to finish it. Was in office till almost 10pm. Got back just now, amazing thing is I still have the energy left to check mail and write this blog. Well, now that I've done my deed for the day, I guess its time for ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz......... so off I go!

A day to remember

31st of May… I’d been waiting for this day for a couple of months now. It was day when I was to participate in the community team work organised by our office. It was a tough choice I had to make between spending a day at an old age home and spending a day with under privileged children. After a lot of deliberation, I chose the latter.
"Baale" is the name of the school that we were visiting. It is run by an NGO called Paraspara Trust. Here, girl children from the slums aged between 7 and 14, whose parents cannot afford to educate them, are taken care of. The children living here are given basic education and also taught means of earning their livelihood. There are close to 60 children here. 30 between 7 and 10 years and about 30 from 10 to 14 years of age.
13 of us had volunteered to go to Baale on the 31st to spend the day with the children, conducting games and competitions for them. We started out from office, after having breakfast at 8.45. We were carrying with us food for the children, prizes for them and also lots of old clothes which they were very much in need of.
The school is 25 kms from Yashwanthpur so the journey took close to 2.5 hours (thanks to the traffic and bad road conditions) during which we played Antakshari and a very hilarious round of dumb charades.
On reaching the school, we saw the children eagerly waiting for us, all dressed up and ready to perform for us. We first distributing sandwiches to the kids and with breakfast done, it was time for the fun and frolic to begin.
We started off with the dance competitions. Half way through Dhoom (which was the first song they were dancing to), the battery of the tape recorder ran out, so we moved over to the drama competition. The 1st play which they enacted, depicted the difficulties rural girl children faced. The next one was a comedy drama revolving round an insane doctor and the third and last one was another comedy about a deaf family.
Next in line were the games. We conducted lemon and spoon race, sack race and also had a round of musical chair. By the time we finished with the games, it was close to 1pm- time for lunch. The kids patiently waited for everyone to get their plates loaded, recited a prayer and only then did they start eating. A few of us volunteers, being early lunch goers, were famished by then, so we too loaded our plates and hogged away to glory along with the kids.
Right after lunch we had the drawing competition. While most of them drew sceneries and made them really colourful, some of the kids had amazing themes for their drawings. One girl’s theme was unity of religions. Another had drawn 2 girls, one in school uniform and the other one in working garb -- with "send this girl to school" neatly scrawled in kannada next to it. We were really amazed by their talents.
In the meantime , someone had gone and got the battery charged up, so we could go ahead with the dance competition, this time without any breaks. How much these kids had practiced! They never seemed to tire out at all. They pulled all of us also to dance with them. It was really good fun!
It was close to 4pm. We distributed chocolates, fruits and juice to the kids. Then was the official prize distribution ceremony. We’d seen to it that all the children won prizes for something or the other. After all…. we weren’t there to judge them, only to cheer them and encourage them.
When we started to pack up and leave all the kids came to us, shook our hands said sweet thank you-s and asked us if we’d be coming the next day also. Sadly we wouldn’t be going there the next day, another group of volunteers were going there to build a playground in the school. So we promised them that we’d try to come and see them when ever we could.
An entire day spent with kids, I personally learnt so much from them. Seeing these kids, the love, affection, enthusiasm they had, even though they faced so many problems in life at such a young age – made me realise that life wasn’t just about school, college and work. It was about people, challenges, efforts, perseverance and the ability to have a big smile on your face and laugh out loud even though you weren’t sure if tomorrow you would even have any food to eat or clothes to wear. Little angels they were and they definitely made our day very memorable (though it was supposed to be the other way round). I now gladly look forward to the same time next year, when we’ll again get to do something similar

The pictures can be viewed here : http://good-times.webshots.com/album/357833666ioeibY

1 Comments:

Shashi Rajasekaran said...

good job buddy...

hats off..

Life…..Destiny….. Fate….?

The thought often crosses my mind. Is there something really called destiny…fate…. does everything in our lives happen as per what is written in the stars?
Whenever I’m in a phase in life where I find myself heaving, pushing and struggling to go forward, I tell myself-- this is how it is meant to be. The end result of the struggle has been pre-decided. I only have to go through this ; one day at a time and in the end I’ll reach the final destination --where I am supposed to be. This technique has always helped me get through rough patches in life.
But then, who is it that wrote up our destinies, and whom did he/she consult before writing it? What were the points that were considered for this? Is there any chance of making some minor changes if required? Would they be willing to do a cut-paste or a delete function if requested?
I realise that I ask too many questions. Maybe I should just keep these random ramblings to myself and spare the world of this misery.
Fat chance…... I suffer….. the world suffers…. (evil laughter)
So until the next time another absurd thought crosses my mind… cheers!