A bunch of kids, friends and intricacies

What is the difference between school and life?
In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.

My day begins with the traffic jam brawl. There is the usual hustle, bustle in the streets. Vehicles keep honking; people are on the move, some screaming at the passers by and some spitting on the roads. Here and there, complaints are heard about the lack of good roads, good facilities and sound leadership.
I switch on the FM radio on my mobile and remain indifferent to my surroundings……

Today is different; I haven’t switched on the radio. I am deep in thought. I am thinking about “Light a Candle”.

No, I am not going to light any candles literally. Light a candle is an event; An event initiated in our office. It’s all about getting 50 odd kids from the government school to our office, giving them a feel of our work place, teach them about computers, have fun and in the meanwhile motivate them to study. Easier said than done. Isn’t it?

Let me elaborate.

Event name: Light a Candle.

Intent: To motivate the kids from the government school to study. These kids are from a background that does not facilitate education. For some it’s a financial burden, for some the lack of awareness. A few kids who want to continue studying don’t know the available courses after the high school. All in all it’s an effort to increase the awareness and stimulate them to pursue their education.

The day’s events begin with an introductory talk. The kids are shown the lead India video (watch the video here) to emphasize that even a small kid can take the initiative and make a difference. What follows is a kind of career counseling where a glimpse of the various options available after high school is provided. A pep talk trying to motivate them to study is also rendered.

The Introductory talk is followed by the grouping of kids into pairs and a friend is assigned to each pair. The “friend” is supposed to interact with the kids for some time, make an effort to get to know their background and clarify any doubts the kids have. Then the Friend and the kids do a painting together expressing what they learnt from the session. This form of interaction is the highlight of the day. I am sure most of the volunteers will agree when I say that the two-three hours of time that is spent here will actually form a bonding between the friends and the kids. All of them cherish this time. Some of them even share their phone numbers to keep in touch with eachother. It’s a unique experience and a relationship that is formed is unheard off.


What follows the painting session is a speak-up session wherein some of the kids explain what they have drawn and why. Then all of us have lunch together, watching videos, sing and dance.

Next comes the Internet and the touring session. Half of the group is sent to the training rooms where the kids are taught the basic of computers like googling, emails, Microsoft word etc. In the meanwhile the other half is taken for a tour where our cubicles. The conference rooms, fire exit and the pantry is shown. This is the most fascinating part of the day. It is greatly amusing to see that the kids are excited by nearly everything they see. They really enjoy the pantry and watch in wonder at how the coffee comes out of the coffee machine. We are careful just to show them how to prepare coffee and not let them taste it, lest they loose the enthusiasm.
This is followed by the trip to the gymnasium. The kids are so fascinated by the equipment that we have to pull them out of the gym in less than 5 minutes fearing damage.

Imprint session is the most imperative session for us. The kids leave their mark with us, accentuating the fact that they were there with us and spent the whole day. There is the Hand painting session in which the kids dip their hand in water paints of various colour and leave their finger prints on a banner cloth. The cloth is in the shape of a candle. We also have a huge 3D candle made of thermocol. The kids write their names on small diamond shaped papers which are stuck on the surface of the colourful candle. Later both the banner cloth and the 3D candle are displayed at the reception with the message “We have touched so many hands; we need to touch many more”.

After the imprint session all of us together play some games and we see them off with gifts and drop them back to their school.

Yes, it was good to see them, interact with them. They left some fond memories with us and so did they leave a lot of unanswered questions

• My parents want to get me married after my High school, they won’t listen to me, what do I do?
• My dad is a drunkard, my mom runs the family, and I need to support her. Can I do that and study at the same time…
• My parents are very supportive, but we need financial aid, can I get it?
• My brother is an auto driver, I will become one too after High school, my parents won’t listen…..
• I am physically handicapped and my parents think sending me to school is a waste of money.
• My parents have passed away; my brother is supporting me...


In this era of democracy where politicians are openly trading votes, where inflation is raising what is it that can be done to support these underprivileged?
I remember the hundreds of times that I have argued with my friends over the lack of infrastructure and sound leaders. I remember all the times when the arguments have been so futile that now I sit with my ears closed listening to the radio….
We all seem to think that somebody should build the infrastructure for us, somebody should lead our country, somebody should solve all the social, economical and the political problems that our country is currently facing, somebody should solve all our problems, while we are busy chasing our dreams. But none of us seem to realize that the responsibility of solving these problems lies with us as much as it does with anybody else.

In the beginning a beautiful quote said that the life gives us the test first and then teaches the lesson. Perfectly true! But it remains to be seen how long it will take for us to learn the lessons.
Until then the radio ploughs on………………….

KRAZZY day out

I am crazy. Also, I take immense pride in the fact that I know some of the craziest folks in the world. But amongst all the crazy folks that I have had the misfortune to meet, rJ is on the very top. So when she called me up and said

“Magaleeee…….lets go out somewhere..sikkapatee boar hodithide” I was more than willing to accept . Calls went to all our friends and finally me, rJ,sJ,vR, rN,nM,pL agreed to go to Gopala swamy betta. Knowing how my friends are I had a strong suspicion that this is going to be one of the craziest trips ever.

But I was wrong!!!!!!!!!!

I had not counted upon the fact of rJ’s friend sW joining in or rather I did not know that she is in the same league as me and rJ, so as a result the entire trip actually turned out to be OUTRAGEOUSLY CCRRAAZZYYY……………
July 5th, 2008
6.15 A.M
Received a pleasant good morning message from vR (goobe, phone ette)
Left for silk board to join the already josh filled caravan.6.20 A.MI boarded the qualis. Soon after began the ceremony of sJ handing over her cannon S3 camera to me and saying it’s all yours (how I wish she had not taken it back towards the end of the day). So thus began the photography session. We took photos, photos and more photos.

8.15 A.MWe reached Kamath lokaruchi. Had a hearty breakfast of neerdosa, akki rotti, chow chow bath, idli , masala dosa etc etc. Believe me everything here is delicious. After the shopping (which ended up in rJ screaming at all of us) we left the hotel and headed towards our destination. (I would like to thank nM, vR, sJ for their generous gifts :-) :-))

9.00 A.M
Now that all our stomachs were full we were bursting with energy. So we sang, sang and sang. We started with antakshari and played till we ran out of songs. Then we started rapid fire antakshari (picking a word from the song and singing another song beginning from that word) and repeated all the songs once again. The driver was probably flabbergasted by our singing coz he went so slowly that rJ started insisting that she will drive the quails herself. But we all became silent as we started climbing uphill and were mesmerized by the scenic views all around. The sunflower fields were a feast to our eyes.
We finally reached the top of the mountain at 12.30 P.M12.30 P.M
After a short visit to the temple, we all looked around and said “Wow” in unison. There it was the most beautiful view of green hills all around us. We were all glad that we had chosen this place for the weekend getaway. There couldn’t have been a better place to escape from our monotonous life and forget it completely.

So we hopped, jumped, danced, trekked, and shouted to our hearts content. It was fun taking photos at every step. We laughed heartily, rejoiced at the breath taking view and bugged each other to take photos. rJ took the lead and trekked the farthest and I soon followed, but we were chased out shortly as a herd of elephants was sighted at a short distance. Undeterred we came back and took more photos in every pose we could think of. By the end of the photo session (which took a long time) we were all hungry and feasted on loads of junk food that we had got along.

Soon it was time to leave and I did not wish to leave the place at all. But nonetheless we all left the place with a heavy heart.
3.30 P.M
We started our journey back and this time we stopped at a sunflower field. The sunflowers stood in their glory and we all took photos amidst them. All of us were dejected to leave the place but no one as much as rJ. She decided to vent her feelings singing along or rather braying along with the song that was playing in the radio that all of us were forced to cover our ears. We pleaded with her to stop singing which she did not. Finally pL had to threaten her saying that she will record her “wonderful” singing and upload it on “you tube”. That shut rJ up for a while.
5.00 P.M
Reached sangama. We went for a around on the “theppa” (round boat) which all of us enjoyed thoroughly (except sW).6.00 P.M
Statred back towards Bangalore. We had a delicious meal again in kamath lokaruchi. Again the meal had put energy back into us. We had immense fun translating the kannada songs to English and continued to do so till we reached our homes.


Thus ended a wonderful one-day trip. It was one of the best trips that I have been to and I am sure that the memories will remain fresh in my mind for a very very long time.

About the place.
Gopal Swamy betta is around 70 kms (takes around 2 hours) from mysore. Head towards nanjangud and then towards gundlupete. There is a gopalswamy(Krishna) temple on the top of the mountain. Busses can go till the top. The specialty of the place is that the Lord Krishna is always covered in mist. That’s why the place is known as “Himavad gopalswamy betta” (hima in kannada means snow). The best time to visit the place is early mornings or late evenings. They say that the whole place is covered by mist and we can actually touch the clouds at this time. There are no hotels or accommodation available on top of the mounatian. It is best to carry food and water.

All in all its one of the most, forgive me romantic places there can ever be.


Here’s a few of the 500 and odd photos that we took. Put on your headphones.