The Financial Side

Under the aegis of our Alumni association, great works are possible. We shall delve into the potential that we could wield, in the succeeding paragraphs.

Having a Re-union is all nice and fine. But for that special feeling of satisfaction, something more needs to be done. That "something more" could be Charity. Charity is often associated with mostly super rich people. This need not be the case always. One can easily and meaningfully do charity with even 100 rupees to spare.

We are not a single person anymore. Under the umbrella of an organisation, every penny has its contributory value. Some corporates are already supporting the economically backward students of our school. We can easily step in to mitigate the hardships of the poor students presently studying in KNHS. A few thousand rupees to each poor student will help them a great deal.

In the present times, charity has become a tool to increase one's social status. The genuine concerns are addressed for the affected lot, while at the same time increasing the popularity of the philanthropists. Charity can also be done discreetly.

Very few people in this world do charity, if its not visible to others. Our association should support Charity with discreetness and no fanfare. The discreetness may only be limited to the names of the persons donating for charity. But the donor's name will enter the account books through the cash receipts. A full and complete accounting system will be in place for every single penny received as donation, registration fees, or under any other head.

Socially responsible behaviour should be displayed by our association. And whatever charity we do, it should be primarily focussed at the students studying in KNHS. Whatever appreciation or credit comes for it should accrue to our association as a whole. This will serve two purposes. Firstly, every person will feel like contributing as per his/her individual strength because there is no notice put up whether anybody's egos get boosted or hurt depending on the amount of donation. Secondly, only genuine among us will contribute as no matter how big the amount one spares, there is no advertisement or special treatment among the public.

A downside to the aforesaid way of charity could be that some of us may not like to lighten our purse, when our names are not going to be flashed in public.

Kindly email us your views at knhs.alumni@gmail.com

Until we meet on 29th August 2010 for the re-union, do take care.

Missing From Action

Sorry for keeping away from blogosphere. For the past many weeks, my free times are entirely eaten up for various activities for my school' alumni association. This is effectively keeping me away from my own blog. Its a painful reality, but the my commitment towards my alumni association is also quite big.

Until things take a concrete shape in the activities that i am involved in, devoting time for this blog would be limited. Moreover, these days lot of comments i am getting from unknown people. I am just wondering if i need to put a plug on this kind of liberty. Some non-sensical and foreign language comments are coming in. Just perplexed, for now. Let me see what i would do in future. For now, status quo is good.

Embroiled In One's Own Net

Oh god, i dont know how i would manage if there wasn't any internet. Its a far-fetched statement, but yes, after getting used to the wonderful thing that can happen to this world, its difficult to think of a situation where there is no internet anymore.

The amount of money i am spending for the internet at the internet cafe will suffice to subscribe for atleast 4 months unlimited connection. Around 4 years back i had a broadband connection with a laptop. But for my nature of being hooked to the net, i hardly slept in the night. Over a period of time, i realised that if i dont get rid of the laptop and internet connection, my health would be in bad shape. Thats when i disposed it off.

After that, i havent had the courage to buy another computer for myself. Though i end up spending more, atleast i return back to normal life after the internet cafe closes. These days i am caught with my school's alumni association. So many mail ids to check, one orkut account, two blogs, two facebook accounts, one alumni group in facebook, one another group which iam managing in orkut. Ohh...my hands are full, but there is no lack of energy.

Hope i can do justice to all the spheres of my activity. And in august this year, a grand re-union of my schoolmates would happen. Greatly looking forward to that.

Busy with Networking

I didnt mean any new MLM kind of networking. The past week saw me always stuck in front of the monitor, in pursuit of an Old students association for my school (KNHS, Bangalore). Since i am away from Bangalore, the only way i could give my best was by finding the alumni of my school through the net.

Some days i hardly had enough rest. One day i even spent 8 hours on the net, but it was satisfying. These days, my hours logged on the internet have gone quite high. But somewhere there is lot of satisfaction. The real satisfaction will come when the re-union planned in august 2010 becomes a success.

Fourteen years back, i did a re-union for only my class along with 2 other friends who took active part in finding the old buddies. We were much exhausted by the end of it, but still excited enough to have all old friends at one place.

My own blog has been suffering of late. I am not updating with new blogs these days, as often as i would like it. May be its also because these days the comments have gone down for whatever reasons. And know what, i am getting comments in chinese language....from unknown people. he.hehheheh.ehhehe...

Well guys, will say bye now, but shall try to keep this blog alive and kicking. See ya...

My unforgettable Ganesh Chaturthi

I was all of 15 years, and a few months past my high school life. There was a dramatic change that took place in the few months of exposure i got after schooling. I had become little courageous vis-a-vis interacting with people.

Community celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi festival was a trend that had caught the imagination of Bangaloreans, those days. Youth associations generally took initiative in pitching up big shamiyana and placing Idol of the elephant god inside it. Poojas were regularly conducted along with variety programmes in the evenings to entertain the crowds.

I was quite fascinated by the great appeal of these festivities. Nothing much for the worship part, but for the getting together of so many people at one place. I badly wanted to replicate such successful celebration of the festival in our own colony. But there was no mentor to look up to for support.

Somehow i succeeded in getting another guy excited with my plan of celebrating the festival. We managed just enough money to print a receipt book for collecting donation. Another couple of younger friends joined in for collecting donations from all and sundry. Just in time, we managed a decent enough amount to pitch a tent in our colony and also place a large enough Ganesh idol. The moment the women in the colony saw this development, they were all praises for us. They took part with whole hearted interest on a daily basis in conducting poojas, distribution of prasad, etc.

The grand finale of dipping the idol in water (we chose a well) was attended by all youngsters in our colony. The boisterous kids sang paeans to lord Ganesh and it reached a crescendo while dipping the idol. Till date, that festival of Ganesh Chaturthi has been very special to me.

Aarattu: Padmanabha Temple

Today i had the opportunity to witness the aarattu (Holy bath) of the idols of Sree Padmanabha Temple. Due to heavy crowds, a close view was impossible without risking a stampede. But all in all it went off smoothly and without any incidents. There was a cavalcade which consisted of 5 to 6 elephants, horse mounted police, traditional percussion musicians, a handful of policement with arms in shoulder-arm position, and other colourful paraphernalia.

The procession started from Sree Padmanabha Temple, East Fort, Trivandrum and ended at Shanghumugham beach, where the idols were given the holy bath in the arabian sea. Traditional oil torches attached to the end of a stick held by volunteers lit up the evening, as it was already dusk. I took few picture of the elephants which were taking rest on the beach with their mahouts sitting besides them. One elephant was made to stick to rules (i.e. not to make unnecessary movements) by slanting a stick to one of its legs. The elephant is expected to see that the stick doesnt fall. If the stick falls the elephant would be calling for trouble. But this particular elephant didnt care for the stick as i could see that the stick fell atleast 2 times and then the mahout never cared to repeat the stick trick again.

A colourful evening it was for me today. Many foreigners too had gathered with cameras which caught every action happening around them. Before it was late, i called it a day and came here to update about the experience of this nice evening.

Anger: The spoil sport

Time is a bitter thing sometimes. It doesnt have a rewind button, which would allow us to undo wrongs that we did in the past. A word uttered cant be caught back. We all know these universal truths, but still, sometimes things dont happen as per our wish.

I usually dont regret for the mistakes that i did knowingly. For example, like splurging unnecessarily while in my youth. I knew it was irresponsible, but none that would affect others. And hence i usually never regretted it, because i knew i have enjoyed that time when i did it. But thats not the case with words that are exchanged between friends or family. A wrong word uttered and the other person has difficulty forgetting it. This happened to me just this past week.

My patience levels are generally quite high, unless someone is hell-bent on stepping on my last nerve. Another factor for disappointment is expectation. We expect others to behave in a certain fashion, and when that doesn't happen, we are in for disappointment which also brings other unpleasant emotions with it.

This past week i was little disappointed about some aspect, and hence i shared it with my better half. I was expecting some kind of solace and wanted to hear some kind words from her. But she started advising me. I didn't expect advise at that hour. Without my knowledge I had started arguing with her and also i started shouting without my knowledge. Though i never use any inappropriate language, my volume had gone high. She was quite hurt, and when i realised my folly, i cooled down very soon. But the damage was already done. When loved ones hurt, the pain is all the more difficult to die down.

She expressed her unhappiness with my behaviour. Apart from tendering an apology i didn't want to say anything more. Time will heal the hurt, but its better to hold one's tongue and temper than to rue later. Every failure has a lesson. I better learn from my own mistake. Smart people learn from other's mistakes, rather than committing their own. I hope readers of my blog will be smarter than me in this aspect.

God bless.