Idlys, Cows and one Thambi

0500 hrs Saturday 
September 8, 2012
Looking out my window, I was imagining myself rowing my way to SRP tools in a canoe because I could only see a heavy downpour.
0635 hrs
Me stubbornly standing in the rain at SRP tools, while the whole of my body was saying run back and sleep! (My mind and body are always at conflict!!)
0840hrs
The bus had picked up all the volunteers and was speeding off to Villupuram. But wait before that we had Breakfast :D :D :D :D

After a light breakfast of 2 idlies, 1 vada, a scoop of pongal and kesari I seriously don’t remember much as I was floating in a cloud of satisfaction with a full tummy :P A solitary palm tree on a hill, two kids playing beside the road with a cycle tyre, a solitary brown and white cow grazing on a field, Mani splitting us into groups for each class before sleep got the better of me. (Bus and full stomach are good companions :) )

Sitting next to me, Hari woke me up. I eagerly looked out the window expecting to see frolicking children playing on a ground, but I was looking at a whole herd of cows! Should I dress up like a cow with fake horns and talk moo moo to them? It took me a few seconds to realize that I should lift my horizon and see the school building. Thankfully it was full of high school kids and not cows and tigers :P ( Cows are docile but I would have been in the tigers’ tummy even before I opened my mouth!)

First were poster competitions. Covering themes like pollution, social service and conservation students filled their charts with pictures, colors and streaks of their own creativity. After the presentations we had a crash photo session with students bustling around us volunteers to get a picture with their favorite “Akkas” and “Annas”. (I was precariously on top of a chair to take the picture. Very scary!!! )

Lunch was also fun with the students who were volunteering to serve the rice and payasam. (My favorite!). Post lunch, we volunteers were having our share of fun with Kho Kho, cricket and one new one that I learnt. Everyone will run around in a circle and one person will say a number, for zero we should sit, for one we stand and for every other number we should hug each other as groups of that number :D (I will call it the huggie huggie game :) )  Games were also conducted for the students in different classes too.

After the games we were all assembled in the ground for prize distribution for poster competition and also a few kids came on stage to share how that day was their first time to get a prize and also how they have done a share in social service :) As usual I was sitting with my new found friends during the prize distribution. Everyone was discussing who will get the prize for poster contest. When the result was announced for 6th grade, 9th grade Banu sitting beside me was jumping with joy “ennude Thambi!! ennude Thambi!!” (My young brother!!) She was so happy that her brother got a prize.

After the prizes were handed out Banu told me with twinkling eyes –“I didn’t mind when I didn’t get a gift. But my Thambi is very happy, this will mean a lot to him. It will mean a lot to us if you all can come again. We just want to become like you, to bring happiness to the world.”

Isn’t this what Making a Difference is all about? We are not powerful politicians that make or break nations, we are not inspiring teachers that enlighten the mind and soul, yet to bring a smile on one girl’s face, To ignite a spark of hope in a 6th grader’s heart also counts.

From under the Mask

When I was rushed to the hospital by my friends, I had already exhausted my breath, the energy to breathe and the willpower to not blackout. Its a haze to me how the nurse had strapped a mask over my mouth and started nebulization.I had a vague memory of her injecting medicines into my veins, but i was already beyond feeling the pain of the prick. As the medication seeped into my airways, my body was trying to recover from the panic attack I had a couple of hours earlier.

In that moment of breathlessness and anguish, my mind was moving away from me. I was floating into a different dimension of lucidity. I saw my life as if through a kaleadoscope. My Dad cracking my fingers when i was little, the yellow and black mickey mouse birthday frock, fearfully standing on stage facing the whole college, the green goblin remains in a laddu,smelling the scent of security and warmth while sleeping off in an autoriskshaw, the stiff body of my baby cat and so many more.

As my body slowly shuts down and I succumb to the fatigue, I feel empty yet happy at the same time.I felt no remorse,no pain, nothing.  All the "what ifs", all the bad memories, all the worries just fade away into a grey mist of emptiness.It had not vanished,it just did not matter anymore. People never realise that they are slaves of their past and future. That freedom is in the present. That precious timeframe that we call "now". Only if you live in the moment, dive into the ocean of spontaneity will you breath the fresh air of freedom.

I may be the one wearing an oxygen mask, struggling for air. But out there there are a lot of people who wear masks of emotions, hesitant to unmask, fearing to let go of their past, grudgingly following conventions they don't understand, carrying a burden that they don't realize  I don't want to be that person. So what if I'm  alone and lost. At least I don't have to drag along pain with me. My mind is as free as the wind not enclosed in a physical body, not corrupted by emotions and beyond my physical control.

Snow White and No Dwarves

16.01.2013
It was a very special day for me. Though my day started with the mundane routine of work, calls and bland coffee,it switched gears to gift shopping. :D :D So with my faithful comrade of shopping Sreelu, we charged to find the perfect gift for a sweetheart Shivanshi. Its her 1st birthday and we had no intention of disappointing her, so we laid waste to all the Baby shops (I felt like I was in a battlefield :P).

So laden with assorted gifts we reached Jena's place. It was amazing to see the beautiful princess dressed in a frothy white frock with baby pink roses here and there. She looked exactly like the barbie doll on her cake; pink, cute and majestic. All I felt like doing when I saw her was sweep her into my arms and shower her with all the kissies in the world. ( Tip: always wash your hands and face before holding a baby. You wouldn't want him/her to be exposed to all the dust and germs that we bring along).

As she scanned each face around her,It was amazing how her black eyes would flicker with joy and recognition when she saw a familiar face and how she would careful study a stranger's face with equal curiosity.

Looking into her big black eyes I was reminded of the story of how Yashoda was amazed when she looked into her child Krishna's mouth and saw the whole universe. Shivanshi just completed her 1st year in this blessed world. But its fascinating to see her eyes like windows into a whole universe of love.Overflowing with joy and happiness,they were not masked under a mean layer of fear,conceit or contempt.

Children are like bundles of bright sunshine and fragrant flowers.When we go astray or feel deprived of love, all we have to do is feel the embrace of a child. In the warmth of their love and empathy we will always be guided towards enlightenment. God in all his wisdom, gave us the best miracle. And always remember there is a child inside each one of us. :)

The Girl with the YElloW BoTtlE

This morning I was “again” late for office. I left the room in a hurry and was searching in my bag for my phone ( I never understand why my bag all of a sudden looks like a mess and I’m trying to find a needle in the haystack!!? ) . So there I was standing in the middle of the road just a few meters from my room, when I saw a group of 3 girls (about 7 or 8 years) walking out from the school. Oh I forgot to say, my room is just next door to the school, so usually I can hear the chatter and shouts from my room in the mornings. :) :) :)

From their conversation I understood that one of the girls had bought a new pair of chappals and was showing it off to her friends :D  I could hear the oooooohs and aaaaaaahs :D..They walked towards a nearby well and one girl was purposefully swinging a yellow water bottle. My unfruitful search for my phone was abandoned as I saw her pour the water in the yellow container into the well!!!

If I was that girl...

I have never heard of or seen anyone put water back into the well. I wasn't sure what she was saying to her friends, but I did hear her say that we shouldn't waste water.  I stood there thunderstruck  We believe in the policy of "Give and Take", but how are we giving back to our world!? The Earth is like the well where we all take water for ourselves without a single drop of remorse that one day we may be suck the Earth dry, like how it is happening to many wells around us.

What all the thousands of awareness videos, pictures could convey, that small girl with her yellow water bottle conveyed in one small gesture. We no more live in a world of Abundance where we can lavish and wallow in the gifts that were bestowed to us. In the temptation to make ourselves comfortable and cozy, we fail to see the bigger picture. There will come a time when our small tiny spheres of interest will collapse as we burden our Mother Earth.  Let us Go Green, Blue and whatever conservation we can do. Let’s be a part of it all. It’s never too late!!!