Trip down memory Lane - Be the Change

Be the change you want to see in the world - Mahatma Gandhi

I had read this line somewhere a long time ago. Honestly? I am not much of a memory person... Ok I admit, I am bad at remembering references, but this line has stayed with me since a long time and that is the reason I chose to share it with you today.

They say school days are unforgettable for everyone and childhood never returns. But 3 years back that myth was proven wrong by my batch classmates who apparently got together via every medium possible, from long-lost hotmail, to most recent twitter and facebook. Somehow the idea of a reunion clicked in the minds of some of us and a series of emails were shot through to every known batch-mate who had access to internet. It was amazing to see how networks work, and one person can make a difference. 4^th May 2007 was decided as the date for the reunion with an approximate head count of 28 people expected to ‘rock the party’ as we called it. What we didn’t realize was that this reunion would end up getting us together for a cause that none of us anticipated.

Most of the people who turned up eventually for the event were US visiting batch-mates who promised to stay in touch, few were the shy ones who only came because of all the insisting we did, some only came to see what the whole big deal was and the remaining were me and my few other friends who stayed back to discuss what we can do as a group.

Me, Mrudula, Jatin, Nihar, Ashwin, were very keen on doing something for the community especially for the school who got us where we were today. The conversation led to the old days and what we as students would have enjoyed having in the school and how much we miss being associated with it. So we decided to visit the school and meet up with the teachers and principal just to re-live those days.

We reached the school one late afternoon, (of course that only happened after several calls to convince the principal the reason why we wanted permission to be in the premises) Old school playground that lay deserted, the classrooms which still bore our names carved on the desks, the staff rooms as always bubbling with conversations, library that hadn’t lost the fragrance of books and polish of the cabinets, reminded us of the Golden days. Apparently the guys even visited the boy’s washroom and re-lived some of their old times and came out with a weird code language that I and mrudula just couldn’t decipher.(it still remains a mystery to me and mrudula, :P but I guess some things are better that way). Meeting old teachers went quite well when we realized that they knew a lot of mischief we used to do around class with the impression that the teacher isn’t looking.

After a tour around the school, we met up with the principal who much to our surprise was very curious to know why we wanted to visit the school. We explained to her our attachment with the school and how we would like to keep our association in every way we can. We were given an idea of how children who cannot afford their education are dropping out of school and even though the school does everything to reduce the pressures for such families, there is little they can do since it’s a school with a board of trustees to reply to.

On our way out, we all had the same look and thought and we barely needed a second opinion on the same. We decided to utilize all the resources to reach out to all our reunion list of batch-mates and do something for the students who could not afford their education. The principal helped us out with the names of 10 unique cases where the child had the talent to learn, but parents were either single parent, or had genuine reasons for not being able to come up with the money. We came up with the money of approximately Rs. 30,000 that year. With the fees of 1500 for the year covered in the contribution, the remaining amount of 1500 was used to provide the remaining necessities to the child, notebooks, pencil box, crayons, pen sets, Tiffin boxes, school bag, etc.

We personally visited the school to give this contribution and the principal had made sure that we get the chance to meet every parent of the child we are contributing for. A mother suffering from cancer, a single mom taking care of 3 children whose father abandoned them, a sister taking care of her brother by doing part-time job while studying herself, and many more cases came to our attention.

It was an amazing feeling to reach out to such kind, and we have continued to do it since last 3 years. This year, we are starting our drive again for this cause and hoping to raise the bar a little higher. Its our school’s 50^th Anniversary and we intend to make sure its special in a lot more ways than just monetary contribution. Sports kits for the school, money for the annual function this year, a prize for the competitions held during the annual celebration and a special something is planned for the teachers in the school from our batch.

We are all doing our bit for the institution that made us the people we are today and we genuinely believe that if every little help counts when it comes to promoting education.

We, students of North Bombay Welfare Society high School, Ghatkopar, Mumbai are doing out bit…Are you?

A Reason to believe....

As children, I know we hear a lot of things that we believe or don't believe. I know its difficult to believe everything we hear even when we grow up but the reason for me to write this post today is because I have believed today 3 lines/phrases that I have heard very often, but never really got anything to authenticate. Of course, this are only few of the lines for me to mention here, but I hope at the end of this post, you might find your three lines too...


I have never been a 'mills and boons' girl, and I used to find the idea of a fantasy man bogus and very childish. I have been of a belief that a couple needs to work a lot on their relationship to make it work. So when I used to be told "There is a special someone for everyone" I used to laugh it off, just like Shahrukh in 'DTPH'. But I genuinely have seen and experienced that we might not find our perfect soul-mates, but whoever we find has a potential to be the man/woman of our dreams. God sure works in mysterious ways to give every person a chance that he/she needs. Its just upto us to not negate everything in him/her and give a chance for our love to unfold themselves.

You know how they say "Distance makes heart fonder" That has somehow been true for me in the past few weeks. I know how people say that they can't live without each other and cliches like that, but with everything I have felt, those lines don't feel like cliches anymore. In our lives, we take a lot of things and lot of people for granted. Of course we only realize their true worth once they have gone away from them. It could be someone as common as our maids, or someone as important as our parents, or even the most special person in our life. I don't mean to compare my parents or my love with maids, but I know every housewife will agree with me with regards to the importance of maids. Anyways, the point I am trying to make here is, whether its a newly married girl missing her parents, or a couple away from each other due to husband's relocation, everyone goes through a phase where they miss each other and realize how the other person used to make us feel. That distance only makes the heart grow more fond of him/her. It's a different issue that we don't let that distance come in between the relationship and work with each other. A small poem based on these feelings sent to me by someone special. :)

I spend my time thinking,
Wishing you were here.
I stop and look around,
Hoping you were near.

Just because You are not with Me,
Doesn't mean a thing.
It's knowing that You know,
That I'm Your everything.

So whenever You feel lonely,
Just look inside Your Heart.
And know without a doubt,
That in our " s p i r i t " We will never be apart...

"Everything happens for a reason". If only I have a rupee for every time someone has told me that. I know people might say how can tsunamis and earthquakes be a good thing? Well, in my defense, I am not talking about things that we don't have control on. But the attitude with which we accept these circumstances. I remember the time when I was down with heavy fever for 3 days and couldn't go to work. On the third day, I came to know that all the people in my office had been asked to stay back in the office for 3 days due to heavy flooding in the city. Yup, that was 26th July, the worst floods Mumbai had experienced.

There are lot of instances for me to share like these but the blog is just not enough. I guess what I am trying to say is that if we are patient and open-minded enough to wait for a while, every bad thing will unfold itself into a good thing and when THAT happens, will you be smart enough to accept it to yourself that I am glad that happened?

These are three lines that I have been able to experience that hold true to their meaning. What are the phrases of your life?


Think about it.

Until next time..Adios, Ciao.