Visit to a Slum School

I along with y friends visited Eklavya Balwadi. It’s a slum school in Andheri. It is specially made for the people of that slum by a trust. We went there for our CSR project.

The experience I had there was a very unique one.

The class was being taken in a small room. I can’t call it a classroom because it was not one.

Something that caught my attention immediately was some female students who seemed to be pretty big for a 4^th or 5^th standard. While talking to them I realized that 1 of those women was married and had a child who studied in his 1^st standard in a reputed convent school. She was here doing schooling as well. When asked why she was studying, she told us that she wanted to help her son and mainly she wanted to communicate with him in English. Now that was impressive. The best part was she got tremendous support from her husband. I was really shocked to hear that.

I always felt that it’s the uneducated family who never support their children, daughter-in-laws or wives for further education. But when I spoke to the staff members out there, they said that the families were very eager to send their children to the school for education. The only problem they face is financial. They don’t have the money and so they either send their children to work in an early age or marry off their daughters.

There were students who worked in the morning as house maids, came directly to school and again went for work in the night. Even with all these problems, they had a broad smile on their face. That inspired me even more.

We are busy with our own problems, but when we actually look around us, we will find people facing so much in life without complaining!

Life -- a Journey

Whenever we go for an outing, we always are in the best of our moods. Happy to the core. We want to enjoy, make new friends, and have loads of fun. We prefer not having any negativity around us. Because we know that we have to get back to the normal life soon and we want to enjoy the holiday to the fullest.

But why does everyone forget that Life is also a Journey. Why can’t we just be happy and make others happy in life normally. Why can’t we always be in the best of our moods?

Don’t you guys think we should utilize our lives to our best rather than spoiling it? But we don’t do so. Because we are busy complaining about a lot of things. And there are new complaints coming up almost every day! We are so busy thinking about the negative aspects around us, that we forget to be happy for the nice things we have. We have a lot of time to crib about the bad things but none of us have the time to make things better. All of us are very good at identifying problems but not many of us actually bother to find a solution to it.

Life is simple; it’s we who make it complicated.

We take life for granted and hence we forget it’s going to end someday. Our journey has begun the day we entered this world. Making our journey beautiful and worthwhile is completely in our hands.

And always remember if you are happy, you can create a nice and happy atmosphere around you and because of this you are making many more journeys beautiful.

Show That You Care...!!

Today I saw a family on the road. A couple with their 2 kids. The younger 1 was a notorious boy who would be around 3 yrs old and the daughter around 5 yrs old. Actually it was drizzling and the road was slippery.
The little boy started running on the road. Before his dad could go and hold his child, the little girl ran to her brother and held his hand and told him “You want to play, you can but don’t leave my hand.”
The parents were of course very happy at this sight. It was the cutest thing I have ever witnessed in my life.
I am sure the girl ran because somewhere she felt, she cared for her kid-bro. She herself was a very small kid. But she wanted her little bro to be safe as she cared for and loved him. Actually in every relation when we start caring about the other person, that’s the time, we can be sure we are taking the relation seriously. Be it friendship, love, family or anything else.
It is important to show that you care in every relation. You don’t have to go and say “hey I care for you.” Sometimes, just a small gesture from our side can make someone really happy. Because we all want to feel special at times. Any human will be happy when he knows that he is important, he is needed..!
Isn’t it??

Mistake and Me??

Most of us are of the opinion that we shouldn’t keep quiet when something wrong is going on. So we criticize our friends, family members and others when we think they are wrong. But most of us don’t really react well when someone points out the wrong in us. We don’t really appreciate when someone does the same to us.

We Humans make our own rules. According to our convenience of course. Making our own rules is not wrong but changing our rules and philosophies time and again is not right.
How can people change the way they think again and again? The person is the same, the story is the same, but the outlook has changed!! Why is that?
It is because of a simple reason: We have different rules for ourselves and others. We blame others for doing what they have done but many a times we do the same thing and don’t even regret doing so.
A person who changes his opinion just for the sake of his convenience is a coward according to me. Because he doesn’t have the strength to face the not so easy part of his life. There is nothing wrong in committing a mistake. Nobody is perfect. But not learning from that mistake is a very big mistake by itself.

Few people realize their mistakes and fewer people have the strength to accept their mistake.

Shantaram

Shantaram---this book is written by Gregory David Roberts... I have read a number of books till today but I have to say this book has been the best one. It’s just awesome. The best part of this book is the usage of different quotes!!

Some quotes from the book SHANTARAM..!

“The fully mature man or woman has about two seconds to live.”

“When you are jealous of someone for the right reason, you are halfway into wisdom.”

“If fate doesn’t make u laugh, then you just don’t get the joke.”

“Fate always gives you two choices, the one you should take, and the one you do.”

“Happiness is a myth ...it was invented to make us buy things.”

"Civilization, after all, is defined by what we forbid more than what we permit."

“Silence is the revenge of the tortured man.”

“It’s always a fool’s mistake to be alone with someone who you shouldn’t have loved.”

“Mistakes are like bad loves ...more you learn from them more you wish they hadn't happened.”

"The surest way to hurt some1 is to put all our trust in him."

Eve Teasing

Eve teasing is a euphemism used for public sexual harassment, street harassment or molestation of women by men.
Every girl/women would have faced this problem many a times. But most of us tend to ignore it because we don’t have any other option. I have always been of the opinion that Ignoring is not the solution, you have to fight back.
I was coming back home yesterday at around 3.30 in the afternoon and I saw a gang of boys (around 10-12 of them) just a little further on the road. I had to go by the same way. There were not many people on the road as it was mid afternoon. When I passed these boys, they made some weird sounds and shouted for no reason. They didn’t harm me in any way but they made sounds and passed comments and laughed amongst themselves.
There were 2 men walking on the same road but they ignored it. I was terrified, annoyed, scared -- all at the same time. I wanted to wait there and give at least one of the gang members a tight slap but I didn’t have the strength to wait. I just walked without looking at any of them. After coming home when I thought about the incident, I felt guilty that I didn’t fight back. I always told my colleagues that we can’t keep ignoring these kinds of things but when I myself faced it I didn’t do what was right. I confess that I was thoroughly scared because they were around 10 of them and I was alone.
It’s sad that women are not respected in our nation and they still can’t live freely without any fear. Mumbai is supposedly one of the safest cities in India but is it really so?
We have these police vans standing at many places which are especially for the protection of women, children and senior citizens but unfortunately when you need it, they are not found anywhere.
I wrote this only for one reason—whenever you see a girl being harassed, try and protect her. I am not saying fight alone with the gang like a hero. But at least if you could just be around that girl until she passes by the street men and see to it that the eve teasers don’t cross their limits, you will save someone’s life. It’s not only about men protecting women form all this. I am sure even if a group of women fight back, the eve teasers will get scared! Women can also keep pepper sprays with them for self defence. :)
When you walk on the roads, don’t just enjoy your music and walk happily. Someone around you may be in need of help.

Untaught Values

My sister (Riddhi) and I went to dominos today for lunch. There was this small kid sitting outside dominos. She looked at everyone coming out with a lot of hope. I think she was waiting for someone to give her some food.

We placed our order and were sitting quietly looking at that girl. Some moments later there were these two guys who gave that girl 2 pieces of pizza and half filled coke bottle. It was really nice of them to do this. Maybe they gave that because they didn’t want it, but they could have easily thrown the food and not bothered about the girl.

The girl was more than happy to take it. She gave them a broad smile which clearly said, she was really thankful to them.

After getting the food, the girl did something which was so touching that I decided to share it with all of you.

The moment she got the pizza box, she ran somewhere and came back with two other girls. After coming back the three of them shared and enjoyed the meal together.

If that girl wished, she could have easily eaten the food all by herself but she didn’t do that. The three of them happily shared the 2 pieces.

That little girl lived on roads. She didn’t attend any school which taught her value education. But she had this very great quality of selflessness which many of us lack.

Hats off to that girl...!!

What's a Wallet?

I read an article in Sunday times by Shobhan Saxena. This article was based on the evolution of the Indian Wallet over 60 years. I usually don’t read articles based on economy or finance of the country but the word Indian Wallet was striking.

What’s a wallet? As the article rightly said it means different things to different people.

My article is completely based on common man. I am still not intelligent enough to think about the economy of the entire nation.

According to me, basically wallet is pocket money for students or unemployed people, salary for working people and savings for retired individuals.

There is only one reason for most of the things we do in our life and that reason is TO EARN. Some of you may not agree to the previous statement but come on guys, Let’s face it. You have to accept the fact that earning has become the ultimate aim in all our lives.

Students including me say “I want do my post grads because I want to make a bright career.” Bright career is nothing but earning big money.

Working professionals always complain “I don’t know when I will be promoted.” Why do we want promotion? Again the basic reason is earning more money.

What are the basic needs of man? I had learnt the answer to this question way back in school because my mom said “This question is asked very often. Learn it properly Vidhi, you will get one mark for it.” As an obedient daughter, I learnt that answer and still remember it. “Food, Clothing and Shelter are the 3 basic needs of man.”

I didn’t really think about my basic needs at that point of time because one mark was more important than anything else.

But today when I ask myself “What are my basic needs? I have a different answer. My cell phone should be added to the 3 basic ones I mentioned before. How can I forget my PC? That’s one of the most basic thing I need today. Even entertainment is necessary in life. Hanging out with friends for movies, lunch or simply a coffee is important once in a while; say at least once in 2 weeks!!

I don’t say you will have the same list of your basic needs but the point I want to put through this post is very simple. The definition of basic needs has changed. The reason of earning money has changed.

Why are we slogging like a donkey for more money? Have we ever thought that do we actually require so much of money to lead our life happily?