How I met my kid

I have been talking about how sponsoring a child's education has brought me enormous peace. But what tops that feeling is actually meeting the child in real life!! It has been an year now and somehow I had not been able to take that one step to meet the kid. I did want to see her, talk to her and connect to her. But I am not very good with kids and so I was a bit hesitant. My friend coaxed me into setting up a meet (ultimately he did it himself :P) and got the ball rolling.

I have to say World Vision coordinated the visit very well. A few emails were exchanged and before I knew it, I had an appointment with the child. I was thrilled and excited and nervous. How is she? Will she be pleased to see me? Will we get along well? It felt nothing short of an interview. I prepared myself. The gifts were carefully chosen too. A cute pillow to be her comfort companion. Story books to help her reading. An activity book and colors to nurture her creativity and imagination. And of course chocolates!

The much awaited moment finally arrived. She was wearing a green and pink churidar. She looked on edge too. As soon as she saw me, she gave me a bouquet and welcomed me with a smile. Ah.. It felt magical! I couldn't stop smiling looking at her. Without realizing, I had developed a bond with the child. I felt responsible for her. Within moments we warmed up to each other. Of course, we forced ourselves to make small conversation but it was definitely a start. She had been trained for the visit and she gave well rehearsed answers to our questions. She even sang a song and read a bit for us. Poor kid! My heart went out to her.

As minutes passed by, the comfort level increased and she started talking a bit about her family and friends. She is a very smart kid and I could sense that she is very talkative too albeit a bit shy. She had come with her brothers who vouched for it. I felt very proud of her. She is sharp and with a little help she can go places. I am happy that I am able to provide her that support, which will enable her to spread her wings and fly.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience. One that brought me calm and peace. It justified my existence and made me realize the reason why life is so beautiful. All those long hours at work seemed nothing in front of her smile. Isn't it true?

 " The heart that gives, gathers. "

- Tao Te Ching

On the way..

Am back :D Glad to have finally made it to this post. I have so many things on my mind that I want to pen down. But I keep procrastinating. Someday, I created a sort of bucket list of things I always wanted to do. With time, it became just one amongst other posts. A random discussion with friends reminded me that I have not even attempted to make all those dreams come true. So here is what I have been up to and trust me, it feels awesome to check off those things! :) If you want the whole list, it's here.

#22 Sponsor a child's education

My long time dream of sponsoring a kid's education. Sharing knowledge (Vidya daana) is the best form of charity. And to be able to shape someone's life is very satisfying. I chose World Vision because it is very transparent and you can get complete details on the child. And to be honest, Rs.800 per month is not asking too much :)

#36 Donate blood

I was a bit scared of this one. But I did it!! There was a blood donation drive happening at work on 19th December, 2014. I did not think much and went for it. Unless you psyche yourself about losing some blood, you don't feel a thing. I hope to do it more often.

#6 Lose 5 kgs

I can't tell you how much I have waited for this day! :D It took non stop work outs, extreme diet control and immense determination to achieve this. Nah, am just kidding :P If you are thinking about taking the healthy way, go enroll for a gym right now. And don't stress yourself about the routine. Take your time, enjoy the process and breathe! Keep breathing and sip water every now and then. When you give your body the chance to cool down, you feel less tired. You will see the results sooner than you expected. By the way, diet control is necessary but if you work out daily, you can cheat sometimes ;)

#1 Learn a form of dance

I am cheating a bit here. I am not actually learning a single form of dance. I joined a dance class where they teach different dance forms. So its hip hop one week and Bollywood on the other. A mixed bag. But its fun to be jack of all trades than master of one, what say?

And now for the upcoming ones :P

#4 Watch a match in a stadium

IPL is about to start and I will surely be bullying my friends to catch a match. I guess I have to rephrase that. Bully them to take me along because they are huge cricket buffs and would love nothing more than watch a match live :P

#7 Get my hair colored

With my bolder approach to cosmetics, getting a dash of red in my hair is definitely on the cards!

#8 Have a holiday abroad

After the flop planning to Bhutan (it's still phoren ok??), keeping my fingers crossed for Germany. My lips are sealed until I actually make this trip!

#16 Make a scrapbook like the ones they show in movies/TV

I have been working on this. I have all the materials now. Waiting for pics of me in all those scrap book worthy moments :P

#17 Learn to drive

I am telling you this is coming real soon! (I really have to strike this one off by this month mid-year year soon)

#26 Have a best friend apart from my sister

This one might just get ticked off :)

Welcome 2015!

It is a new year again! A chance for many of us to put back the past and look forward to new beginnings. To make new plans which will never transform into actions, just like last year :P Okay, I was just kidding :D But it is a great time to think about what we really want from life and are we doing enough to achieve it.

A quick review of how my 2014 went by.

 1. Promotion finally announced formally.
 2. Moved to a bigger house which means I get my own room! Yayyy!
 3. Sister's wedding in March :D
 4. Sister moved to Germany for couple of years :(
 5. At work, independently managed an important customer project.
 6. Started working out.
 7. Sponsored a kid's education and donated blood.
 8. Organized secret santa at work which turned out to be a great success!
 9. Spent more time with friends.
10. New year party at Taj West End.

Last year has been a year of transformation. Personally and professionally. I have been trying to maintain a work-life balance. Professionally, I have learned to delegate and relax my schedule. Personally, I am able to look beyond work and make time for people who matter to me. Hoping to keep the flow going. It took me a quarter of a century to prepare myself for all the amazing things ahead!! :D

Photo blocks!!

Yayyy! Am so excited just by the idea of photo blocks! Basically, they are wooden blocks with pictures and/or text on the sides of the blocks. I wish I could show you few of them, but do not want to trespass somebody's private pictures. Pinterest has so many of them here.

Be it colored or vintage looking, they all look so great. And the best part is they can be done so easily. All you need is wooden blocks, mod podge and some awesome photos. Alright, so wooden blocks are not easy to come by in India. But I am sure, I can look up some alternative. You can make your own mod podge by mixing equal parts of fevicol and water. 

I keep thinking I don't need a printer and then I see these fabulous DIYs and my mind spins again :) Here is a quick DIY. Can't wait to try!

http://www.somewhere-in-the-middle.com/diy-photo-blocks/

The crafty people

To start off, I am not one of the lucky few who was bitten with the creativity bug. But more recently, I found myself seeking a creative outflow for my energy. In my quest to find simple DIYs, I came across so many fascinating ideas. I am amazed that people can be so talented. There is an incredible lot of quick and easy stuff to try out on the net. I can't wait!

Here are my favorites.

DazzleDIY  
I simply love this girl! Her DIYs are so easy to make AND she believes in recycle, reuse.

The Dating Divas  
This site is full of lovely, romantic ideas for the love of your life.

Exploding Love Box!  
Cute but hard for me to make :(

Reel or Real

I love reality shows. Not all of them. But most. These shows bring us closer to the world we live in. Often, our lives get so busy that we fail to notice what the person next to us is doing or going through. When I watch a talent hunt or a competition, I realize how varied the human nature can be. During the auditions, we see the participants come with their life story, their struggles, their hopes and their dreams. It may be a housewife who wants to prove to the world that she can do more or a survivor from cancer who decided to have a one up on life. As they progress, we watch them getting better by the day, overcoming their fears and learning new stuff. At the end of it, we share a bond with our fellow beings on this planet, not knowing that through their journey we have crossed our own.

At some point of time, I look into myself and ask what is my passion, what is it that drives me? How would I define myself? When there is a tough situation in the show, I wonder what my decision would be in that scenario. When the cameras roll to the personal lives of the contestants, more often than not, there is always a battle. I draw parallels to my life and thank my blessings. More than all, I love the fact that these people were able to overcome their battle. They were biding their time for that one chance which will change their lives. And when they are presented with that opportunity, they give it their all. Some with their god gifted talent and some through sheer hard work.

The outcome might not always be as expected. There can only be one winner for the show. There might be many shows which are scripted and may have pre-decided favorites. But people learn to move on with the quote "The deserving always win" or "Life is not always fair" depending on who won :) The underlying fact never changes that the show provided a platform for the contestant to show case his talent. It slowly built a confidence in the person to face the world. At the same time, it makes sure he is grounded by showing that there are others who are better or as good as him.

The reality shows instill a belief that there is HOPE for all. It is like Cinderella's fairy godmother, twirling its magic wand, bringing magic to people's lives. There are so many shows to discuss. Rather than making this one long post, I am going to break it down into several posts because I think each show has its own specialty and deserves its own space.

P.S: I realized today that I had been spelling "specialty" as "speciality" all through. Thanks spell check! :P

Creating custom search engine for Firefox

Sometime back, I replaced Google and created a custom search engine in Firefox. I found it very helpful. Recently, I happened to install something which removed my custom search engine :( I tried fiddling with about:config but no luck. After a lot of browsing, I found this add-on which I used the previous time. It is quick and easy to use. Sp pass it on :)

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/add-to-search-bar/