Saturday, December 15, 2007

Life s like that!!

Hello friends, 'Let me Start' post is a couple of days old now, but am still thinking of how exactly I must begin this expedition of blogging!! And after some contemplation, this came to my mind.. why not start off with some plesant memories.. and here is an experience that I will always want to share with as many as I can.. an experience that was the earliest of that kind yet evergreen.. and a feeling that was and is always truly sensational..
Just as I take my time machine 6 years behind, the whole atmosphere turns very positive and a feeling of joy fills my mind..
It was my tenth grade then and you wouldnt beleive if I were to say that I was too obidient a son and a student then.. and could be spotted most of the times with a mathematics MBD guide/question bank, trying to knock off the problems as fast as I can, timing the duration I take and doing all sort of crazy things!! And my mother being a Maths tutor in the same school, there is no need to tell about the amount of encouragement that I will get for these sort of things.. My routine was simple and straight forward.. "Wake up.. Get ready for school.. Sloka session on reaching school.. classes.. return home.. play till 6~6:30.. finish home work, eat and sleep as I keep watching tv". As someone who was not too outgoing, I was just doing what was essentially expected from me and spend any spare time with the small circle of friends, playing cricket..

And then one day, the 'Bhagvad Gita team' in my school planned a visit to a local orphanage/home for mentally retarded and I was also asked to come and contrubute with whatever I can. The initial plan was that we will take care of the food needs of the children there for that day and spend time with those less privileged children. Things went as per plan as the the higher grade students went early, serving food and giving them new clothes and so on.
Being a junior student, our group of 4~5 students were asked to come after lunch and we did so. What we saw there was so thrillng, yet frightening at the same time.
It was the first time I was in the midst of so many mentally deprived children and orphans; and the presence of fellow school mates made very little difference to my feelings. I was happy contributing, but was equally disturbed seeing those inmates and was too far away from being comfortable. I still remember there was one small child(three or four years old) who was utterly pittiable as she was both dumb and deaf, and was suffering from some health problems too.. the place was really too much for me and I made sure I left as early as possible without making much of a fuss or telling anyone.

But that was not the end of the story and more was to come..

Times rolled and we all finished our 'board exams!!' successfully(What a dumb student.. I still didnt manage to get centum in Mathematics :((( ) ha ha ha..
We were now seniors to a majority in the school and I was no more someone hanging with books all the time :) Much more outings in and around the school, watching movies/tv at friends place as a group and the usual cricket craze became more frequent.
But the sloka class in the mornings were regular and now there were ideas to make the visit to the orphanage a yearly event. Though this time the agenda was very different. We decided to go there on the eve of Diwali and celebrate with those children.. Everyone acccepted and we set out planning for the event. We collected clothes like the previous year, bought sweets and some light-noise crackers, more of flower pots and ground chakkars!!
The day came and we were all too excited (though I was still slightly feeling about going there again - but cant show all that out now). Lunch was finished and a session of light music commenced. Slowly and steadily I started mingling- initially with few of the orphans there who were normal and got myself set. Then those small guys introduced me to their fellow mentally-retarded children. I felt much better now than the previous experience. Slowly each one of us sang for them and they joined us too.. It was really heartening to know that they also hear to cine music.. Memories remind me of the still famous "Pachai Nirame.." song that created waves there..
The gala session was then followed by an evening time crackers.. Setting up buckets of water to throw off the burned out kambi mathaapu, careful lighting of kurivi vedis!! all was fun.. it was a day that I enjoyed very much..
We bid farewell for the day and school continued..
So from talking to not even a single child the previous year, I now made a big improvement, talking with most of the children there..
As my next common exam was nearing, I realised the hard truth that Eleventh grade Mathematics was not a cake walk as were the previous years. Little struggle saw me score a respectable mark in that exam too.. Thank God!!

And we were into the final year of schooling..
I know you would have guessed by now what am next gonna tell..
Yes, it was again the time for a visit to the Good Life Centre(Sorry, I havent told this name till now.. this was the home for the orphans/mentally retarded).
This time we were much more enthusiastic preparing for the visit.. as I now know how fun-filled the day will be..

All well set, we went there again. I was awaiting this moment.
The usual welcoming was done, some of us gave our addresses and contact details.. and some formalities.. and even as were talking with the chief person there, a couple of small guys rushed to us.. asking "En paer nyaabagam irukka.. En paer nyaabagam irukka.. ". They even spoke out three or four of our names.. asking.. has this anna come?? has that anna come?? so on.. It was a big surprise.. I was shocked to know that they remembered our names still.. But it was embarrassing too as I could not get even a single name out!! cha.. very poor memory :D (Anyways managed to talk with them and found out their names from the in-charge there!!)
The show was more spectacular this time as it was more like going to a known place for a weekend.. They were kind too, as they said I sang well.. anyways I know I didnt :)

The celebration prolonged more than usual.. The day ended.. We exchanged mutual good-byes and as I was cylcing back home for a stretch of 5kms, I could not stop but think about how great the day was.. How wondeful the children there were.. Wah.. SENSATIONAL.. that is all that I can say.. Such moments in one's life are only a few, but they stay with us forever.

In the years that came we went there for only once more as we could not get everone coming, but even now when I think of the children, my thoughts go deep.. I was indeed fortunate to have seen those people, I thought I was more fortunate to have had so much comforts in life..
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They had no money.. they had no big genius of a mind.. They were less than normal human beings. But they still had so much to give.. they still had enough to make everyone happy.. and fill with fonder memories..

Life s like that!!



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This is my experience with the Good Life Center. More to come soon!!
Do leave ur comments!! C ya..

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Let me start!!!

ONE day after creating my blog page, am still wondering what am gonna start with..
After all it took me three attempts to create the page itself!! I was thinking on what my page title must be. And then I finally decided(in my third attempt in two months) that I shall go for 'Words from my Thoughts'.. my initial thinking was that it is too usual a title for a blog page but then something suddenly told me "After all, all these are quite new to me.. blogging.. writing.. So why worry.. just go with what you think". Seemed logical!! So now, the title suddenly became more refreshing..
How nice it would be to have a place for me.. a kingdom for me with all my readers(however small it be!!! Hope its not too little :D).. and build it on and on.. with more thoughts.. and more words.. more ideas.. more of everything.. but definitely this is not for having a higher reader count.. but to add more life to my living..
Ironically, I previously thought of blogging as a less interesting.. a less fruitful activity.. and something thats not big.. and not worthy.. but now I tend to think otherwise.. there is something more to it.. Let me find that out..
But one thing is for sure.. I always beleive that every person's perceptions keep changing with time.. as the popular verdict goes.. 'Change in things is one thing that never ceases to change'.

So time should tell me more about blogging!! Just as the end will prove to us what realism is.. And what life is..
Until then, let us all keep experimenting with life's myriad colors and continue in our paths of glory..

P.S: I have said here whatever came to my mind.. but this first writing kept me thinking about a lot of totally different things at the same time.. Wah! Our mind is so fast moving from one thing to another.. so kindly adjust the lack of flow through the whole text.. :)

Comments and feedback awaited!!

So as of now.. its more like "My words AND my thoughts" rather than being "Words from my thoughts" :P

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

First One..

So here I go.. The first one(Should I call that 'Hello World'!!!)..
Oh yeah.. Am one another of those IT professionals(??!!!!) who am less busy than even the college days.. The result is a page for me.. space to tell you all about what I think and what I feel.., about things from the 'A for apple' to the 'Microsoft Sharepoint portal server technology and the 'WebSEAL/Tivoli pair for secure enterprise authentication' :))


Life is gaining pace and momentum and it feels to me to be faster than ever before..
About all of these and more..


and let's hope this will keep interests of others going as well ;)

All is well that ends well..
The journey has begun and the ends are to be discovered॥


Swaagatham!!