Joy of Giving - Week 6 - Meena

My new blogger buddy Meena wrote about her experience in response to the Joy of Giving card for week 6. With her permission I have reproduced her post here:

Remember this site I linked in sometime back.... Well thanks to her, I managed to not jus cleanup my wardrobe but also meet people at whats rightly called "The Home Of Hope" ~~ A home tht shelters physically and mentally challenged people... NO no, shelter isnt jus the word - each of them there work (in whateva little way they can given their challenges)  to earn their living! You could read up abt them here....  Truly you come out feeling humbled........

If you in blore, make sure you drop in at this place .... if not for anything then to pick up some awesome candles, batiks, mats n smaller knick knacks that they produce.. trust me, you will be awed at their finesse... N mind you all gthis at throw away prices! Now you know where to head to to complete ur Diwali - Christmas shopping! Unfortunately, we dint carry our cam with us..... Hv a mobile click thou of one of the kutti butterfly candles tht I picked up.... Mind you this pic is in no-way a  benchmark of what they hv in stock...

Joy of Giving

For the first time in seven weeks I will not post a card this week. I realise that all of us are busy with the festival season... So with the hope that we will continue the process of "giving" even without a card to guide us, I wish everyone a very very Happy Diwali....

Joy of Giving - Card 5 - Week 5 - Alka

My dear friend and fellow blogger Alka wrote this on her FaceBook:

‎Ritu has initiated the Joy of Giving Weeks. On 5th week, she told us to give away two Tulsi plants to anyone we want. I am late by two weeks. But Ritu, the joy is same. I have given it to two of my neighbors. One has shifted from Mumbai and doesn't have any plants. She was really happy to have a Tulsi plant.

Thank you so much Alka!
Spread the joy. Click here to find out how.

Joy of Giving - Card 7 - Week 7

For all those who fed a homeless person a BIG thank you. I know that many of you haven't taken any pictures and chosen not to publicise the act of kindness which is what makes this movement so selfless and great.... My own experience will be posted in a day or two....

We have a new card this week. The Joy of Giving card (again picked at random) is so apt for the festive season coming up.

To join the Joy of Giving just follow the cards every week and post your experiences in a public forum (or leave your story in the comment section of this blog). 

To know how it started click here. 

To track the Joy of Giving through the past six weeks, click here.

Joy of Giving - Card 6 - Week 6

"My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness." Dalai Lama

Is it easy to drop your image, step out of your comfort zone and reach out to another human at a 'human' level, without inhibitions and with, love, compassion and warmth?

Its time to find that out.

The 6th card randomly picked out in the Joy of Giving Smile Deck series is:

To join the Joy of Giving just follow the cards every week and post your experiences in a public forum (or leave your story in the comment section of this blog). 

To know how it started click here. 

To track the Joy of Giving through the past five weeks, click here.

This is me - Invictus

Invictus

by William Ernest Henley; 1849-1903

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate;

I am the captain of my soul.

Joy of Giving - Card 5 - Week 5

I gave away a tulsi plant that was growing randomly in one of the pots on the terrace... 

Growing randomly

Potted ready

Joy of Giving Week - Kids Day Out celebration - Angels

Watching thirty thrilled faces served as a stark reminder of how much the lucky take for granted. A walk in a mall, window shopping, a movie in a multiplex, a meal in a restaurant - these children had never experienced any of it. Neither had most of these adults.

On Tuesday however, things changed. 25 children from Nirankar Balgram, an orphanage in Hadapsar, HOPE a day care Center for children of migrant workers and 4 Ataxia patients from the Ataxia Awareness Charitable Trust (AACT) enjoyed a day out at Inorbit on the occasion of the Joy of Giving Week.

The story that appeared in the newspaper. Click to enlarge and read:

But this post is not about what we experienced (which cannot be encapsulated in words...I can only recall the ecstatic faces of the children and Ataxians). This one is to say Thank You to all the angels. You went beyond your 'call of duty' to give us the perfect outing, the perfect day....

Prahlad Misal - Employee of Inorbit rose up to a phone call that informed him of our arrival. From ensuring that the wheel chairs were ready to take the Ataxia patients to the multiplex and organising staff to help push them, he also saw to it that simple things like appropriate parking spaces were reserved for our cars to ease the transport of the wheel chair bound patients. Without him, technically, we would have been completely lost.... Thank you!

Ajay Chaudhuri - Cinemax employee. He ensured that there was adequate help at hand to seat the Ataxians inside the cinema. He made sure pop corn was served to all the children inside and also made sure everyone was comfortable. Thank you!

 Sanjay Jankar- Supervisor at Inorbit. Helped cart the wheel chairs, organised the transport to and from the elevators... Thank you!

Umang Kanoria - the guy who brought smiles on 35 faces :-)

Owner of Indian Tadka and Sizzler Cafe in Inorbit, he sponsored the tickets, popcorn & coke inside the cinema and lunch at his restaurant... He opened his heart and brought immense happiness on the faces of the participants.... Thank you!


Ajay Mirgal, Inorbit employee who got a call from us and ensured we were guided to the right person (Prahlad) for our needs. Thank you!

And last but not the least, the team at Hope For the Children Foundation, Caroline, Neha, Yashoda, Nidhi, without whose hard work, support, commitment and dedication, even "thinking" about this event would have been impossible! Big big hug and thank you!

Goodbye my friend...

Dear Arpan

Two days ago someone mentioned you by name and told me that I had to stop living in regret. I had to recognise the importance of people when they are alive and not fret after they are gone.

Gone. That is what you are. And it is 17 years since I heard the news.

17 years can be a long time to regret the loss of a dear friend - that you were to me. Preciously unique, and uniquely precious. Friend to hang out with. Friend to fight with. Friend to discuss books with. Friend to share music with.

I've remembered you through all these years and I do admit and accept that it has been with regret - regret over the fact that there was no closure. I didn't talk to you, write a letter explaining things to you or even call you when I should have, when I could have. I didn't pursue you even though I knew why you were angry, hurt, upset. When you showed your indignation, even you didn't know that it would become a broken bridge that would never mend....

And then suddenly, one day, it was too late. You were gone in a flash (48 hours is all that it took for the Meningitis to consume you) and all I was left with was regret... Sometimes I cannot remember your face and I have to close my eyes and think about an event in our carefree lives, and...the irrevocable cycle of sadness begins again...

A broken heart can be like that. It can refuse to heal. It can be stubborn in its sadness. It can survive on all-consuming anguish. It can be steeped in remorse - of what could have been had we mended that bridge....

But today, 17 years after you died in a hospital in Delhi at age 24, I make a promise to you my friend.

I promise to remember you the way you were - a happy, intelligent, lovable guy - a guy who hardly ever understood jokes, who was clumsy and sloppy, a good basketball player, even if sometimes lacking in sportsman spirit... You were who you were and you were my friend. I miss you but I won't regret your absence from my life...ever again...

Although I will wonder sometimes, "Would you know my name, if I saw you in heaven...?" something inside me will always know the answer ....

Joy of Giving - Card 4 - Week 4 - A surprise at my doorstep

This morning when we opened the door of our home, we found this beautiful pookalam staring back at us... "A smiling Sun!" exclaimed the son excitedly. The daughter wanted to know who was kind enough to bring us such joy...and "who" in their right minds would stealthily make one while we were asleep...

I think I know who it is and all I can say is "Thank you for giving us this moment of happiness, my friend and soul mate. You've enriched the spirit of the Joy of Giving...."

Joy of Giving - Card 5 - Week 5

This week the Joy of Giving card is :

This card has been picked at the right time, as I have two little saplings growing in my terrace garden... And I already have two recipients in mind. 

Who will you give this sacred plant to? How many will you give away?

Talk to me, my friends :-)

To join the Joy of Giving just follow the cards every week and post your experiences in a public forum (or leave your story in the comment section of this blog). To know how it started click here. To track the Joy of Giving through the past four weeks, click here. 

Solar System redefined

The Solar System was redefined by my eight year old in a tele-conversation with his father today:

"Hi papa. I am your SUN... Don't touch me you'll burn ha ha ha.... You are Mars, mama is Venus and didi.... Didi is Pluto because it is furthest from the Sun... No... Didi is Mercury because when she goes there she will touch the dry ice and die"...

My reactions - Good God! He must not hate his sister THAT much! His school is doing something right (his planetary information is quite updated)! Post a blog...