Salaam!!!

From the time I remember, money has always mattered to me… I always believed and still believe that money is important in life, which is one of the reasons why I joined TISS in PM&IR – I always wanted to be financially independent… freedom and self-reliance have been my dream goals in life…

As a part of my course curriculum, after my fourth semester, before we join our respective corporate worlds, we are required to spend one month working for any NGO. Its self-regulatory and it does not matter whom we work with and we have to just produce a certificate at the end of the month stating that we ‘have’ actually spent the month in social service.

I’ve always wanted to work with children and teaching them is something which I’ve always wanted to do. I realized once I step into the corporate world, I’d never get a complete month to devote to children. My love for children drove me to approach Salaam Balak, a trust which works with street children. The boys, ranging from 17-19 years work here, making paper bags, candles, diyas, rakhees and they are provided with afternoon lunch and education. They have English Speaking classes, drama workshops, judo classes and a host of activities. They have a room in a school building at Grant Road, Mumbai where besides these, they are also given access to computers. This trust has a night shelter for 30 girls ranging from 10-16 years where they are sent to nearby private and municipal schools for formal education and taught various activities throughout the year. They live in the night shelter. There is a center at Chowpatty where some boys are sent for formal education in schools nearby. Besides, local municipal school children who are under the Salaam Balak trust are also given similar facilities.

My project of two months includes providing the older guys with computer education – teaching them MS-Word, MS-PPT, MS-Excel as well as internet. The smaller kids would be exposed to computers, learn basics of MS-Paint and very basic computer operations. My project also involves providing life-skills and inculcating in them good habits and values.

4^th April 2006 was my first class with five guys – Fajal, Satish, Manoj, Shiva and Suresh. In one word, their speed of assimilating knowledge is brilliant! They’d never worked with MS-Word before. All they used the computer was for music and games. Getting their attention to a class-room set-up was one of my first difficult tasks. I was also not too sure how comfortable they were with English and I really didn’t want to put them off. I told them to list down articles they see around themselves, in Word. Then they learnt how to create tables, cut-copy-paste, insert pictures, save documents, rename documents, password protect them. They thirst for knowledge surprised me. Once they started the work, they were on a roll… insatiable! I finally called it a day since I started getting tired. The class, which was supposed to last for 45 minutes (and I was apprehensive that their attention span wouldn’t last more than 20-25 minutes!) actually lasted for 2 hours.

This was undisputedly THE best time I’d had in years. To teach a group of eager kids is the best thing any teacher could want. I converse with them in Hindi, Marathi and Mumbaiyya Hindi… now, we are able to relate to each other. Theyu make fun of the fact that we Bengalis ‘eat’ everything, even water (khabar khabo, jal khabo!) and I learn so much from their lives on the street… I had my first lesson on resilience and spirit when one of them told me that the Municipality had destroyed all their settlements the previous morning and now, they had nothing but their belongings and the open sky but by evening, things would get back to normal… things HAD to get back to normal. He takes each moment as it comes. That’s his key to happiness and I realized how true it was since from the time I’d met him, I had no inkling that things were this bad till he said it.

Today, in addition to them, I had a bunch of ten of the noisiest and enthusiastic municipal school kids from II – IV standard… I realized that MS-Word was way too advanced for them and so I taught them MS-Paint which they enjoyed immensely. All their houses had a multitude of colours and shapes and each had his / her name as the saved graphic’s title. They were so proud of their little creations.

I think, at the end of this one month, I’ll learn a helluva lot more from my students than they’ll ever learn from me!

Things I live by...

1. Give the other person the benefit of doubt... may / may not hurt myself in the process but just can't let this habit go!

2. Will be brutally honest about anything and be fanatically proud of whatever I do!

3. The main purpose of my life is to be happy and i'll do essentially whatever it takes, within the limits of my personal beliefs, to be happy.

4. Restrict confiding in too many people - in short, use caution in trust.

5. Trust unconditionally - nop, this is not in contradiction to the above statement... just that, whomsoever i trust, i'll trust unconditionally...

6. Be a free spirit, always and forever.

7. Laugh openly... cry whenever I feel like and dance at every party or get-together.

8. Simplify my life... reduce complications...

9. Be a true blue friend to my closest friends but not take their problems as a load on myself.

10. Look at problems with dual perspective : either i can solve it or I can't... if i can, i solve it and if i choose not to solve it, i will not crib about it... if i cannot solve it, park it for future consideration.

11. Look for happiness in the little things in life...

Dawn...

There are days you wish never dawned... There are some days which you wish you shouldn’t have seen the light of the day, some days where you feel that you didn’t deserve the world and the world didn’t deserve you... And there are days that you wish never end... and then again there are those 'mixed' days - days which start just right and you think 'Great! Now, THIS is how the perfect day should be...' and then things start going a little hay-wire as the day wears on... little pressures here and a bunch of smiles there... some disappointments, some trials, some successes... a cancelled lecture, a witty remark, a confidante heart-to-heart talk, a sudden grin... the day vanishes into the dusky evening and the silent night creeps in...

A brand new day throws open a whole skylight of new dimensions and a whole new way of looking at the world… it gives you another chance of living each moment as if it were your last... of giving yourself a fighting chance to that elusive dream... that deepest, dearest wish in your heart... it's life's way of telling you to throw your inhibitions, your tribulations, your problems behind you and just... LIVE!!!!

Yeah, I guess there ARE some days you wish that just didn't dawn but then as Castaway sez it all : there will be a daybreak after the darkest nights... It doesn't matter whether you are a LION or a GAZELLE...When the sun comes up, you better be READY!!!

'Bean' there... Done that!

Coffee. Hot, freshly brewed, flavorful, stimulating, caffeinated bliss... Can too much of a good thing be wonderful? You bet! There's nothing like a good cup of freshly brewed coffee from the best fresh-roasted beans around, and sinfully delicious coffee cake!!! Which explains my blogspot name and template! Long live mochas, the blasts and the blends, the cappuccinos and black coffees, the expressos and lattes... and on a hot, scorching summer afternoon, the cold and frozen coffees are absolute heaven!!!

As the cliche goes : "Good coffee should be black like the devil, hot like hell, and sweet like a kiss."

A New Beginning...

A New Beginning - it seems like a new start - can almost smell the freshness of a brand new blog; the virgin white background, the dark ink, the thoughts flowing freely without any barriers... to put it simply - it feels good!

Hmmm... so what should I write about? Should I describe my pillars of strength and sense of identity – my family? Or should I talk about the unconditional support and encouragement that all my friends-who, I feel fortunate to write, are too numerous to name-provide me time and again? Or perhaps I should pen down the chronicles of my Alma Mater and the various educational institutes which have given me and still continue to give me so much, not only in terms of academics; a part of which I’ll always carry with me wherever I go.

But I guess, a topic that has always remained closest to my heart is friendships!... After having so many friends - guys particularly - so close all my life, I have asked myself a million times how the hell am I going to maintain my commitment to their friendships after I marry and if I can't, then is there any sense in investing so much of my feelings, emotions, time and energy in nurturing these very relationships which I may have to uproot in a few years. And every time I've asked this, they've told me just one thing - enjoy this moment - this moment is your life! They always tell me it really doesn't matter whether we'll be able to be friends forever, whether we'll be always able to share moments, thoughts and problems with as much comfort and ease so long as we are together now. And thatz what friendship is about na - it transcends all boundaries of age and time. It just avows the fact that whatever be the distances between us, whatever be our compulsions, our obligations, our helplessnesses, we'd be there for each other. Friendships give tremendous strength and I guess its reason enough to give it one's all.

What I've shared with my buddies is really truly wonderful. I really don’t think I can define my relationship with my buddies or give it a name…its much beyond friendship and dare I say, beyond love… its this quiet confidence and trust that we share…this comfort zone that we have where we can actually discuss anything.. this small voice in our hearts which keeps reminding us that no matter where we go, who we are with, what we do… anytime and anyplace, we always have each other.

My buddies have given me everything - from life’s lessons to getting me to face myself. They’ve been my bestest friends and worstest critics. The've never made any decisions for me, only gently nudged me towards the right decisions and even if I have gone ahead to choose the wrong one, they’ve stood by me like a rock through all the troubles ‘coz of my wrong decision. And they’ve always pointed out where I’ve gone wrong... If I’ve gone to them with any of my endless troubles, they’ve always spent more time telling me my weaknesses, my short-comings instead of just telling me a way out…in short, they’ve been what I’d call ideal friends! They’ve sat through my endless cribs, my tantrums, my stubborn views, my childish ways, my whims and fancies, my ‘taking-for-granted’ incidents, my tears, trials and tribulations with infinite patience and sensitivity and understanding. These are guys who have helped me live my life, who have shown me how wonderful life can beand have strongly reinforced my faith in the goodness of friendship!!! All I can say is : Somewhere Someone must be very happy with me to have given me such AWESOME friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!