Its past half :)

Half of 2008 is over....seems like it began just yesterday :).....when i sit today and compare 2007 vis a vis 2008....i notice quite a bit of difference....2007 was sooo slow and beautiful....every day i lived to the fullest and every day was so much fun...when i luk back at it....it brings a smile on my face....in contrast 2008 is just flying....its soooo stressful in terms of work routines....a roller coaster ride is probably da best way to describe it so far....or may be i have gotton involved in too many things at the same time.....that time just seems to be moving faster.....

There is so much i want to do in the next six months....let me try and list it down here:

• Go for a nice holiday with my family...have been to many trips in recent years but the last "family" trip happened in May 2005.
• To make my social work the "top priority" over weekends.
• To click pictures as and when i am able to take out time :) again courtesy 2007 that I developed an interest in photography :) I even wanna purchase a good camera...my savings are on :D
• Make sure my badminton routines continue and i become better and better in the game :) it helps me burn all my work stress.
• To decide on my career path and goals.
• To make reading ET a regular habit. However much i try i end up missing it on several days :(
• To read a few interesting books. My avearge this year has been pretty bad. Have only managed to finish five books till now :( which means not even one a month :(
• And to try and win on some lost situations of 2007 :) with a positive attitude and a strong belief :)

Its difficult to say how much of the above will be possible as six months is not much time; given the pace at which the year has moved so far...but i just hope I am able to fulfill all of them :) and these are not in any order of priroty...the last few might just be the most important ;)

Dilemma...made simpler

The "English" language is vast in know...yet today I seem to be at a complete loss of words....I have been providing technical support to a programme called "Pardarshita" which works for the economically weaker sections of the society. But working for it sometimes makes me wonder "am I prepared to witness the ground realities of our systems...and as a result...try to change them...or do I accept them the way they are...assuming that what difference can only a handful of us make"

Today i visited the Nehru camp...a slum area in east delhi...several parents came and surrounded me there...throwing questions about their child's admission...The govt norms allow for a 10% quota (announced in 2005) in close to 397 public schools around delhi to provide education to the children of this part of the society.

Is it enough to merely lay such a "quota" on paper....or is it also essential to justify this provision??....while a lot of parents did manage to get their kids admitted in the initial years of the announcement...the situation seems to have become out of control now...to the extent that the parents are given application forms and charged a whopping Rs 1,000 per form...yet told at that very instance that their child will not be admitted!!! i mean how worse can it get from here!!!...the 10% reservation goes in satiating the needs of the kids of staff members...or of rich class...who perhaps are ready to flush in some extra bucks...

Look at the irony...parents are willing to save money...starve themselves....make all the compromises...for that one hope...but their enthusiasm is crushed by such intricate circumstances...I really do not know how are we going to handle this....but our team is certainly fighting for it...the only consolation being...that if there were no such promises, these would be mere content people and if promises existed but no consequent breaches, then today i wouldn’t have been a part of making a difference!!!

awesum 3sum :)

Last week just seems to have flown...and it brought smiles on my face on three occasions :) :) :)...with all three giving me equal levels of satifaction...

First the word that i had longed to be with me...finally...got attached to me...the word "senior"...as i got promoted to the post of "senior research analyst"...today i feel "big"...if u luk at it...its just a seven letter word...but for me it means much more...there is so much of added responsibility that it brings with it...that my company feels i m worth taking on my shoulders...i hope i m able to live upto it :)

Second relates to my ethical values....i went to archies gallery the other day to buy some stuff....there were precisely "three" things that i bought...the number "three" seems to have been all around me in the past week....anyways....so i bought a packet of envelopes, a paper bag and a pair of earings...when it was time for me to pay the bill....i noticed that the shopkeeper did not include the pack of envelopes in the bill...now right from my school days i had always had a "grudge" against archies gallery as i thought that every product the shop sold was way tooooo overpriced...and in school days it was especially true when atleast i was expected to survive an entire month with a pocket money of Rs 500...i dunno why for a moment i thought that this was my turn to take revenge...and i ended up moving out of the shop paying for only two things....but the "little monster" in me didn't seem to last for long...till the time i reached home there was not even a single minute that i did not feel edgy...before even parking my car....i decided to go back...got stuck in a traffic jam for half an hour...which probably is the price i paid :( as i hate traffic jams :(...yet i managed to reach the store on time :)...i can never forget the smile on the shopkeeper's face :)...gosh!! the only thought coming to my mind that time...errrr..."sir i am not quite what i look"...but i obviously kept quiet and moved out politely!!

The third...was today...for my dearest mom...on the ocassion of Mothers Day...just a small surprise from me and my sister at her favourite restaurant "sagar ratna"...she hardly gets to go there...courtesy my dad...who is a hard core non-vegetarian while mom is strictly vegetarian...so mom's dinner proposals to sagar ratna are usually knocked down in front of dad's non veg extravaganza :)...i hope he doesn't get to read this :-p...so today was actually her day as she got to eat at her favourite place after a looonggg time...nothing lavish...just plain and simple...but as she rightly says "its only and only the thought that counts" :)

So all in all a great week :)

A win-win situation

Have u ever heard of a situation where both the players win in a game of badminton??? must be sounding strange...I have one in store for u!!!...i recently started playing badminton with my uncle in the evenings...and i have absolutely no shame in accepting here that i am a very "average" category player...while he is a "champion" at the game....in the process of learning the game from him...i happened to give him a proposition that the day i defeat him....I shall treat him to a chilled mug of beer...least did i know that time that the day wud come so soon :D....he was only more than happy to be defeated by his niece yesterday :) or who knows he lost the game purposely :)...moral of the story....both of us ended up being winners :)

"It's all about taking out time"

Our lives keep us busy for most part of the week…which seldom leaves us with time to see beyond the conventional routines that we follow everyday…there’s…work…friends…family…personal obligations…nd by the end of fulfilling these…we claim to get so tired…that we have no time to look at the world beyond our own…I personally feel that somewhere down the line we all notice the "real world"…and observe it closely in our day to day lives…but probably let it go unnoticed…

A closer look at this "real world" makes me realize that our lives are much simpler than a lot of people in this world…we only end up complicating them…On this blog I shall be posting the day to day experiences of my life...both of my "own world" as well as the world beyond "my own"....and I shall try to keep it as updated as possible :)

Coming back to the "real world"....how do I define it?? in simple words...its a world which is far more obscure than ours…a world which is devoid of even the basic minimums of life…yet the strength and courage the people of this world display…is far greater than ours…As a part of my social work committments, I happened to visit the “Asharam” orphanage a month ago…and my visit completely makes me concur to the words I began with…there is something so special about going and hugging a child…a child who has been abandoned…who has probably not got this kind of love before…

There were about 15 of them…I was shocked to know from the orphanage authorities that all these kids had been found by the police…some of them only 3-4 months old…quite intimidating…yet they all seemed happy and contented in their own little world…each better than the other in their own unique ways…for them siblings are the kids around them and parents are the nurses who take care of them…yet they all maintained an invariable smile…which presumabely dissapears from our faces when we find ourselves in a difficult situation :) The afternoon just went by…in getting to know them …and in such a short span of time…so many new bonds were created…bonds which will stay with me for the rest of my life…bonds which give me an inspiration to look at life positively…not that I haven't been an optimist all my life...but this visit certainly strenghthened my optimism...by interacting closely with them…I discovered that they are well taken care of…both in terms of their education and otherwise…which is what gave me an incredible sense of satisfaction…

Must be sounding philosophical...but all I am trying to get at is that we probably are in a much better position than millions of other ppl....there's support in our lives from famliy, friends, partners, our education, our careers etc etc....yet...many times...we are not happy with our lives...which is where I guess we are wrong...its important to be grateful for what we "have" first...and as far as what we "don't have" goes....we can always get it !!....provided we believe in it and are positive about getting it :)....makes sense to me...hope it does to you all as well :) So keep smiling :) and remember it takes 43 muscles to frown…and only 17 to smile :)…so why exert yourself when you can look more beautiful with lesser effort :)

Place of visit: Asharam orphanage
Address: A/21, Vivek Vihar, Phase II, Delhi-95 (shifting to Punjabi Bagh soon)
Website: www.hopefoundation.org.in
Photograph: Quentin Cartier, a French friend on exchange to India