The yellow Rose

     The kids were escorted to the first floor ‘green room’ for make-up. Some of them were excited, some all lost. A boy fascinated by the lip color demanded the make-up didi to apply some for him; the girl went on hating her costume until she was convinced she looked pretty.  Yet another little girl, proudly took care of the boy (just a little littler than her) –  she wouldn’t leave his  hand. Some were waiting, all set & prepared to go to the Stage-Hall; one or two of them started dance inside the green room as soon as they were ready, lost in their own world!

…...

     The show was about to begin. One of the hosts gave a pre-start call and then the program kick-started.

     One by one, the participants were called out. The groups of kids / adults alike, not taking time, immediately took their places for performing, as & when they were called out. The kids happily danced to the tunes they recognized were theirs – a few mocking their teachers (who were dancing side-stage). Nevertheless, they danced and sang their hearts out. The anchors, in between performances, gave their thank-you’s and dose of audience-entertainment. And there were also performances by the show supporters, Mothers and the Staff. The atmosphere was a typical cheer, fun & talent filled with energy.

     A super-kid, who had recently won an International gold-medal in para Olympics was honored. Show-stealer as she was – she took everybody’s breath away with her dance performance (one could not forget)! Three hours of time floated fully alive; with passionate singers, dancers, speakers, photographers & organizers at work – all with just their hearts and a spirit to make a difference.

     The show ended with a final dosage of 'Thank-yous'; and then a happy note of declaring a school day off.

     Soon after the show ended, one of the show anchors prepared to wind up (she had a bag of mixed emotions to carry and contemplate). Just then, a little boy stood in front of her from no-where, showing her a yellow-rose. Surprised, she gestured the boy asking whether the flower was for her, and that she wanted it. The boy signaled it was not, and disappeared as quickly as he had appeared in front of her. Little importance did she give to it, when the little boy returned to her and patted on her back, with another rose in his hand – gesturing this one was for her. There was an innocent grin, a joy of selflessness, on his face...and the anchor..was 'awe-struck'! (....and so a friend who was watching all this!)

Yes. The child was Special – not in the sense the world calls him; but in a way that he had demonstrated what it meant to make someone 'feel special'...


                                                  Goodness does not need a state-of-mind. It just needs an open heart…

Courtesy: Annual Day Event at Sambhav Foundation – a center for rehabilitation of mentally challenged, disabled children and slow learners…

                                                  

Another walk into a Govt school..

Importance of ID cards – Take 2!

     This time it was a visit to a more interior Govt school. The talk was to be delivered during the first period, since the teacher was on leave. I was asked to come few minutes earlier (which I did). It was 9.20 am, precisely. The kids were already standing in their respective Queues, in the school ground, and were just about to start their prayers; when I entered the School gate. The teacher (who was my contact point), signaled me to join the staff on stage. I just stood at a corner, waiting for the prayer session  to get over.

The Prayer Session:

      The minute the session started, nostalgia started playing its chords in my mind – the prayers, followed by news-headlines-reading, and then proverbs-reading took me straight to my school days (experienced this typical school-prayer atmosphere after a little more than a decade!). The only difference being, I wasn’t doing any of those this time :P

     Some of the kids gazed at me, simultaneously while reciting ‘Jai Bhaarat maate, Jai Karnatak maate’  [no! I was not their Bhaarat maate; they were just suspecting me to be their new Miss [teacher :P]

Enter into Class 7^th:

     The school does not have a high school, hence the authorities decided to keep 6^th and 7^th class kids as my audience. Fair enough.

     Before I could begin, unexpectedly, the students once again filled me with warmth by chanting Omkar and few other morning shlokas (as a gesture of welcome) – and then gave a sweet collective wish of -  ‘GOOD MORRNIIING MEEES’. [Purely Indian!] I was humbled!

     Quickly dusting off the clouds of emotions (before they could take over me), I started the Introduction section [which was in the same format as the last time, since it had worked out then. The 3 points I have listed here]. And then slowly, we slipped into the world of ‘chalk-piece-and-blackboard’, through my half-cooked-kannada – discussing ID cards for the next 40 minutes. [this time I somewhat felt like Amir Khan of TZP, perhaps because the kids were comparatively younger than my previous audience, and I had to keep them engaged; by being one among them]. To add to it, I learnt another kannada word from the kids - ‘Mane vilaas patra’ that is synonymous to ‘Residential proof’ [learning is always mutual, u see B-)]

     Post the session, was the Q&A – where again – the kids left no stones unturned in answering to all the questions that I and the teacher [who accompanied me, to supervise the kids, just in case] had asked. Every kid I pointed out, walked up confidently to write the answer on the board. This was my victory.The purpose was again – served!

     The Q&A was followed by a counter ‘Q&A’ – this time the kids really bowled me over by asking questions ranging from ‘White board - yellow board vehicles’ to asking ‘LIC policies’. The time was almost up, when I finished clarifying them about the difference between the ID cards, LIC policies and LIC agents. Quickly, I closed the session by, once again, taking a promise for getting their ID cards done – and receiving a collective yell of ‘YYYYYessss’

After a short thank you speech from my end, I packed my bag and walked out of the classroom, to find the kids opening up the windows to bid me a good-bye (they had realized I was not their ‘hosa miss’, but just a guest speaker)

     Another feather in my cap! After few formalities with the school staff, I walked out of the school still basking in the warmth the kids had showered on me.

Wonder if while volunteering for something.. are you really Giving? Or in fact, Receiving….

Express my gratitude to: Govt High school staff, Thippenahalli ; iuindia; Mohan from iuindia. And Aunt, who once again, was the main connect!

Cheers!

[This is about my talk on Importance of ID Cards – Voters ID, Aadhar Card and LL-DL – a part of my assignment from iuindia. The experience of my first talk, you can find here]

A-Z in Dots and Signs :)

...gone are the days when 'I wanna grow up once again' was just a song lyric...

     Ever since I happened to randomly watch a group of students communicating in Sign language at a bus stop ( a couple of years back) - a strange chord had struck me! Inspite of being a people watcher - strangely enough - I was not able to comprehend a single action of theirs. Wouldn't mind missing a bus or two, just to sit and watch them (yes! have done that :P!) and try to understand their communication - but all that I could grasp was - just their state of mind (by their body language). nothing else. A clear message out of this was - I need to learn sign language!

     The 'Fun World' experience (October, 2013) added my interest in learning a New language - Braille.

     Come Jan 11, 2014 : When a long-awaited dream witnessed a start! Quickly enrolled the Batch 2 of  'GiftAbled's Mini Braille and Sign Language Workshop' class [an initiative organized by Gift-abled - http://www.giftabled.com/; further details shared at the end of the post]. A perfect package!


All about the Session: Role-plays, Fun-n-Learn, Signs and Braille:D

     'Aao school chalen hum' – the song kept running in my mind, while travelling all the way to the i-volunteer venue. [of course, we were gonna learn just 'A-Z' - all in a new and different way :P]. After the registration formalities, the Session started with the series of events - all in an order:

Role-play: 

     Soon after the introduction session, we had a quick role-play wherein the participants were paired into groups of 2 - one was blindfolded acting as a visual impaired beneficiary; and the partner was a  helper. We had to do an exercise of 'road crossing' with our respective pairs [Did u ever know that there are certain 'techniques' to follow to help a visually challenged person? - I didnot until I did this exercise]. The 15-minute session was just enough to make us understand what kind of challenges might be faced by the Visually impaired in their daily lives, and how diligently we can assist them. The role-play eventually turned into an ice-breaker among the participants - who were now little familiar with each other. We moved onto the next session - Sign language.

Fun-n-learn: Sign language:

     The session started with our ' Prarthana teacher' demonstrating and teaching 'A-Z' in signs; and then the students practising the same. It was a totally 'school-like' atmosphere, and learning felt amazing! The session was followed by a test [and I was one of the toppers -yay!! :D]; and then we had a short exercise, wherein we had to communicate with our partners in Signs! [ain't as easy as it sounds! if you lose your track you might well end up wondering, what the hell are u doing with your fingers and fist - and then, erase everything u wrote in the air - and then start afresh :P!] The sign-language session was truly knowledgeable, and fun too! (we were literally acting like kids playing dumb-charades)

The Braille-session:

    The sign language session was followed by Braille-training. It was wonderful to learn every aspect of the Braille basics. Each alphabet consists of a specific punching pattern within 6 dots (6 dots - is where the braille basics starts from) [some additions with marking 'upper case' letters - u need to join the basics sessions for more details ;)]. Again, as a simple assignment, we were asked to punch our favorite quotes in braille [which was quite a challenge too, nevertheless fun!]. Our art of copy-from-others-notes literally went for a toss, as we had to put our independent imagination into it (after 2 failed attempts I managed to punch my quotes correctly in the 3rd!) :P. 

     Along with the fun we had during the entire session, we also got to learn new techniques - some do's and dont's while giving a helping hand  - and more importantly - gave us an awareness in terms of volunteering with the HI's and VI's. 

The session was truly an enriching session - an attempt to bridge the gap between the differently abled and abled. Serving the society had been a thought since childhood, and few additional gyan that our 'Prarthana teacher' used as fillers, helped in putting some of my own thoughts in place:) 

A big Thanks to Prarthana, Gift-abled, and all those who were involved directly / indirectly in this initiative. Hats off! The session was truly a start of one of my dreams-coming-true :)

P.S: Loved attracting public attention, when Shilu & I were trying to communicate in Sign language while walking towards a restaurant for lunch (after the session got over :P). The 'new learning' just ended up making us feel like a child :)

Gift-abled Store links:

Official website: http://www.giftabled.com/

Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/464549333613878/

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/GiftabledAnInclusiveGiftstore?ref=br_tf

Cheers!

Swatz

My First talk of 2014!

Jan 04th, 2014

It was a nice Saturday morning at around 9.35 am [the first Saturday of the year]. The school was buzzing with kids of all ages chirping around classrooms, as I entered the Nagasandra Govt High School premises.

 The teachers had gathered all the students from 7^th and 8^th Class, for my Voluntary talk.

Topic was: ‘Importance of ID cards’->; a talk that I have had been planning since a while (an assignment from iuindia).

So here I was - standing right in front of a 150+  pre-teenage kids in a long classroom (2 combined into 1), along with few teachers.

I had to be slow..not because my audience were kids. But because I had to manage my just 10-year-old language skill – Kannada [one of Karnataka’s regional language]! My only funda was -> Keep it simple and clear!

The Start:

One of the school teachers kickstarted the program, by giving a brief introduction of myself and the audience. And then, Over to me!

With half-cooked kannada, I started off with the below 3 points:

1.  Wished kids a Happy new year

2.    My name, of course!

3.   And then shot out to them – “nange Kannada baralla” [meaning - I dunno kannada]. I could see the little surprised expressions in my audience (as expected) –  this was an intended move!

     

After confessing my level of expertise in the language and a heads up to the teachers’ that I might need some shadowing, in case the kids were unable to comprehend my way of talking kannada language, I started my ‘Actual talk’

So here goes the show…

Firstly, I had to put across the basic idea of ‘Identity’ to them. And so I randomly chose few kids by identifying them with the color of their sweaters, and asked them to call out their names. Exemplifying as to how the color of their sweater had become a part of an ‘identity’ for the moment, & taking them to school ‘Roll numbers’; I went on to explain the greater meaning of ‘identity proofs’ and why is it necessary in the outside world. This gave a clear picture of the agenda to the students; and in the process, I too learnt that in kannada - ‘identification’ is called as ‘gurthu’ [which invariably meant that..I was on a right track..:P]

I continued by stating few examples of identity proofs (the core matter) ->; Aadhar card, Voters’ ID and LL-DL (had selected a few that would be the most relevant to them in near future, and sufficient to cover 45 minutes of talk). The students were all set to take the gyan. (not going to put down the content hereJ)

The rest of the 30-35 minutes turned out to be quite interactive! [and strangely but slowly, i came to realize that ‘language’ was hardly a concern in the process!]. The knowledge of these ID cards, was meshed with explanation of the terms – ‘proof of Age’ and ‘proof of Residence’ , wherein a couple of students were picked to read out few important points from the notes that I had got for reference. I circulated copies of these cards and showed them the fields (of course - cracking jokes in between :P)

The entire program was in a flow – smooth sailing, lively and interactive. [just loved the energy that had built up in the classroom!]

Show climax:

After spending the 30-35 minutes of the ‘core’ talk, I had a brief 10-minute Q&A session (partially to test their knowledge, but more to test whether ‘I’ was successful in the attempt). The surprise was – the children not only gave satisfactory answers to my questions – but also kept asking for more [‘Akka – please explain about Birth certificate and Death certificate also’ – (none of which were in my agenda!) now what more does a Speaker wants than – audience asking for more!

With a brief account of some uses of Birth and Death certificates, I finally concluded the session with a brief thank you speech, and took a promise from the kids to get their ID cards done at the appropriate age. The response was – ‘a collective yes’. My task was accomplished!

After the show ended, the kids started walking out of the room in a line, to start for the mid-day meal that had arrived. Loved the ‘celebrity-feeling’ when all of a sudden few kids took a detour from near the door and walked upto me to just ‘shake-hands-and-thank’ – [this was a ‘real’ takeaway for me!].

All said and done! My first talk of 2014 was thus successfully accomplished. Thanked the school authorities and then, after winding up with few formalities, I winded up my show. It had been a highly energetic morning, the first weekend of the New year, with a difference!

The walk back home:

With the energy that I had picked up, I started walking out of the premises, feeling like a school kid myself. 

Was just basking in the feeling, when a boy [cycling back home] turned back at me, gave a ‘thanks’ and asked me as to ‘when m I coming again’!..couldn’t stop smiling the rest of the day….

My learning – When it comes to sharing knowledge, language is hardly a barrier! 

Credits & Motivation Courtesy: iuindia, Mohan from iuindia, School HeadMaster and teacher who helped in orgainizing the talk. Last but not the least -  my aunt [retd teacher from the same school], who was the main connect! J

Cheers!

just a short story

11 year old Ayesha was sitting on a bench of a park. It was a breezy weekend evening and the children from the nearby locality had come out to play. Ayesha did not belong to this locality, her aunt had just brought her along for company.

[Aunt had to pay a short visit to someone in the apartment. On the way, Ayesha was fascinated by the park bubbling with energy, and chose to wait there, while her aunt finished her visit. This wasn’t a big deal for her aunt – she let her do so]

Ayesha was thoroughly enjoying the aura of the place – that of the children chirping around merrily in groups, the cool breeze of the wind and the leaves swaying in glory along the wind. ‘how I wish I could play with them’ – she wanted to! But nobody here knew her, and it was supposed to be too short a visit to go introduce and play. She sat back.

Just then, she heard cute little sighs from her right. A child sitting on the same bench, was whimpering and mumbling over something. He seemed to be a 5-6 years old kid.

She turned to the child and lovingly enquired – ‘Whats your name? why are you crying?’

Child – ‘daddy gave me only 20 rupees. I wanted to buy the new chocolate. It costs 35 rupees. He refused it’..and then suddenly remembering…’my name is Rohan. What is your name?’

‘Ayesha. But you can still buy another chocolate right. You get many good ones with 20rupees too’

‘nooo. that Nishan was showing it off yesterday. He ate away the entire chocolate without giving it to me. I too want one. I also want to show him’ – he cried.

Ayesha smiled to herself. This was something new she was experiencing this day.

‘so you want the chocolate only to show him? I thought you wanted the chocolate to enjoy it!’

‘ummm..i want to enjoy it and then show to Nishan’

Poor little Ayesha still couldnot clearly figure out what was running in the child’s mind. Nevertheless..

*** 

She extended her hand and showed few coins that she had held, to the child.

‘will you be able to count the total amount of money these coins will make up’ – she smiled.

The child nodded – ‘yes’ – he meekly answered.

‘its totally 15 rupees’ – the child tried to hand over the coins to Ayesha.

‘keep it with you. 15 added to 20 rupees will make 35. You can buy the chocolate now’ – she glowed.

‘..and  show to your friend now’ – she mimicked smilingly

The child was dumb struck – ‘then what will you do? You don’t want to buy anything?’

‘not exactly. My school teacher says you should help everyone who is crying or is needy, and then God will help you’

‘huh? But my daddy told you should not take money from strangers’ – the child innocently blurted out.

‘Oh..okay..then you can leave the coins beside me..on the bench itself’ – she smiled and again went into the aura of the park.

 ***

Half-heartedly, the child left the coins on the bench and started moving towards his apartment. 

Just then – ‘Hey kiddo, why is your nose so red. What happened’.  It was Riya didi. Rohan’s neighbor.

‘nothing..i want to buy a choco….’  Riya happened to drop a print out from her hand that she was taking out from her bag. this distracted tiny Rohan.

‘what’s that didi?’

‘that’s a list of people and the amount of money people have given to me’

‘Money? But why did people give you money?’ – innocently.

‘ah.. let me explain you in brief. There’s this little girl who cannot see, she is blind. She can regain her eyesight, but her operation demands a lot of money. Her parents did not have sufficient money, and so they reached out to my school for help’

With mouth and eyes wide open – ‘haaa…and then?’ curiously.

‘My school chose few students from my high school, who need to collect money from our locality for this purpose. I am one of the selected volunteers. Remember the other day I had come to your place and your mumma gave me some money….?’ – she explained proudly.

He nodded assertingly - ‘So you will give this money to them?’ – curiosity increasing.

‘Yes. She needs it very badly, right? We felt we must help her’ – explaining further –‘I need to give a copy of this list to her guardian. She had come to visit us, she is talking to my mom. She will be coming down in few minutes’

The minute Riya finished explaining this, Rohan ran hastily towards the bench, crying out – ‘Riya didi. Don’t go away until I return’

Riya was puzzled. Nevertheless, she waited.

‘Ayeshaaaa’ – he gave a hasty cry. The coins still lay beside her on the bench. ‘I am taking all of your money’.

‘Okay. So finally you decided to buy your chocolate’ – she smiled. The kid had already fled towards Riya didi, Ayesha’s words were unnoticed.

***

‘Here is the list, aunty. The school will hand over the cheque to you’ – Riya was talking to the blind girl’s guardian.

‘Wait' - cried Rohan. 'Here it is.  Take these. 15 rupees added to 20 will make 35’ - repeating Ayesha's words

Riya was surprised - where did you get this money from?

'15 rupees is my friend's. She wanted to help others. 20 are mine. i too want to help'

Riya affectionately – ‘awwww..that’s so sweet of you kiddie. I will add your name too in the list…and will not forget to tell your mummy papa about it’ [but mummy-papa would have already known about it before she could have informed them. Rohan was already jumping towards his house excitedly to narrate the turn of events..]

The aunt took the list, and thanked Riya. After bidding a good bye to the lady, Riya turned towards her apartment [in the same direction where Rohan ran]. The lady walked towards the bench…

***

‘Ayesha, beta? Shall we go?’

Turning towards her aunt’s voice and smiling – ‘jee chachi’

‘your stick is fallen down, beta. Guess you did not notice it. You did not stroll around anywhere?’

‘no chachi. I was enjoying the park from here itself. Did not feel the need’

‘Don’t worry, we will not need them much longer’ – the aunt handed over the supporting stick to Ayesha.

 

Aunt remembered something suddenly, and confessed – ‘So sorry, beta. I was in a bit hurry, I forgot to tell you that the number of coins I gave you was totally 15 rupees. Did you come across any vendor? Was the money sufficient? Hope you had something to eat’

‘No’ – as she directed her way through the stick, head held up high and smiling.

‘I helped a little boy, to buy his favourite chocolate…by now he must have got it.’

unaware that her money, alongwith the child's, had travelled back to her; she gleamed as she imagined the happiness the boy would have felt after buying the chocolate...

what goes around, comes around...

…

The Long Run

She woke up early in the morning, much earlier today. She put her regular track suits on, and stepped out of her rented apartment, for the daily run – without disturbing her roomie. Where was she heading to? Only she knew.

It was a summer morning, and the sun had woken up earlier – at 5, as if to accompany her. For a change, she chose to have a run across the hilly terrain that was close to a mile away from her apartment (she could view this terrain from her bedside window, and had always wanted have a full run till the peak - dream run – she called it)

****

She was neither an athlete nor a Sports person. Running was a childhood interest that she had picked up again, a year ago. ‘Doctors have asked me to’, she said to anyone who were curious about her regular morning run that she hardly missed, since she had re-started it. It had turned more of a meditation for her than just an exercise – this was the only route that lightened her up and made her feel like a child – everything else – seemed unclear, confusing, undecideable. Of course, she was one among the millions of 25 somethings – who were in the same league!

Are you ready? – she cocked her eyebrows and looked at the highest point –as if challenging herself! This would be the longest run of her life – her dream run! She would be leaving the city in another week….forever.

***** 

After a 5-minute warm up, she started the jog. As she continued the run, her mind started reminiscing memories of the last four years of her life spent in the so-called most happening Industry-hub. She ran, feeling the same feel that she had the first day she had entered the city - her first job, her first steps into a glamorous world, her first pay, her first independence, her first ‘work friends’. This was an easy run, as she passed through a clear path. This path was where most of the folks stuck in groups around, taking comfortable morning walks. There was a slight breeze – birds had started chirping sweetly. Everything was fresh, pleasant.

She continued running further - droplets of sweats oozing out of her forehead pores now. The road further was now little narrow – the place where the walking groups split – people who preferred ‘comfortable’ walks did not prefer accompanying the ones who wanted to go further. This was the only way to the peak.

Here, her run got a little careful, she could see from a distance, that a bushy passage was coming up – while her mind parallely played pictures of the next phase that was filled with a string of lessons on the other side of blind trust, respect, seemingly helping people & money; a phase totally unexpected she had to deal and lead her life with. She started sweating profusely, breathing heavy - her pulse rate got higher. She was getting little exhausted now and she wanted to take a break. A second thought – ‘no regrets later’ pepped up her spirits and she moved on to run further towards that bushy passage - at the end of which her mind had pre-calculated the ‘break time’.

  Just when she looked around to distract herself from the pictures she did not want to remember – she came across a pleasant looking figure smiling warmly at her. There was a déjà vu feeling when she glanced through his eyes. ‘Ignore’ – she instructed herself almost immediately, and passed by him to enter into the bushy passage. She noticed that the bushes around were quite thorny, and she slowed down her pace.

The music player – her running companion – happened to play the lines ‘no man, no cry’ from one of her high-school favorite tunes. Back then, in high-school, it was just for the music that she admired this song; she did not know the line would apply to her in a short phase later in life! The lyrics led her to some other myriad of thoughts – that of judgements and doubts – disturbing her entire purpose of the run. Some kind of an anger crept in her mind. The song was over, and the player moved on to play much better numbers which she had not noticed – yet she was thumping her legs - was she running towards her dream, or running away from something else..all alone? She felt lonely…for the first time. Her run, all of a sudden seemed irrational!

Lost in deep thoughts, just when she was losing her focus; a thorn scratched her hand, leaving a cut and slight bleed. The prick had just brought her back to the present, and a sudden realization of her original purpose of the run. ‘Judgements can do that’ she said to herself…continuing ‘a thorn is very much needed’ as she let go off the string of thoughts that followed. Her aim was to reach the top, not fret over phases of life and doubt her prime goal. She was almost towards the end of the thorny passage. Thankfully, she had not stopped running, despite the disturbing thoughts that took over her mind for a few seconds!

She was out of the thorny passage, her heart beating upto her throat. Drops of sweat were showering down from her forehead. Her moist  limbs now felt the mist and the cool breeze that was blowing as the sun rose further.

 She slowed down to walk and then stopped for another warm-up. This was an illusionary peak of the terrain. She closed her eyes and stretched her arms to feel the waves of energy that the run so far had brought into her. Just then she sensed the déjà vu feeling again. She opened her eyes and found the same figure, giving the same warm smile as he entered the same passage, from where she was just out.

She glanced back in confusion, ‘twins maybe’ and at once turned to look at her distance-meter that displayed 1.5 miles – she had covered three quarters of the terrain. Coincidentally, this was the latest target that she had achieved, from over a year of practise, no wonder, she managed to accurately time her ‘break’ rather instinctively!

The peak looked close to another mile of run. It was this ‘extra mile’ that would bring a whole new difference to her life – her dream! There were hardly a couple of people around. The thorny passage had filtered down the number of people from coming up..

She finished her final warm up, and changed the music to a meditation tune to stay as focused as she could be. She did not try to answer the thoughts that asked her ‘will u be able to do it?’. ‘One leap of faith, at a time’ – she had prepared herself mentally as she leapt her way to the peak..

The ‘extra mile’ was the ‘I,me,myself’ run. Her focus was neither on the peak, nor in the last four years she had spent in the city. It was just in the ‘present’ that she focused on. Her breathing got heavier, as she marched forward step-by-step. Her body felt a sense of exhileration. Nobody had chosen this peak for her, it was her run – her lone determination – her own dream. As she reached close to the peak, a strange sense of joy sprang out of her, a joy that was lying as an undercurrent for a while. She felt as happy as a child would in her very first run of life.

Victorious as she felt – the peak invited her blessedly as if waiting for her since eons. She slowed down again at the peak, and finally stood still, her palms holding her her knees..her eyes scanning the ground. She was again sweating profusely, the drops that mixed with tiny droplets that trickled down her eyes. She felt at peace, when she sensed every cell of her being beating out in glory. She felt a strange sense of belonging here – the feeling that shed all of her inhibitions and doubts her own mind had, about her dream run.

After basking in the glory of reaching the peak, she stood up took a view of the world that looked tiny now, held her hands on her waist and said to herself – ‘What next?’

She felt the same déjà vu feeling that now was somehow in sync with the feeling of peace she felt within herself. She looked around…

‘Hi. Varun!’ – it was the same tall figure, who walked upto her this time and extended his hand to her, looking straight into her eyes, with a warm smile.

She stared – blank, with eyes wide open, like a child – thinking what to say.

‘Aage saath chalen?’ – he continued, continuing his smile too.

Her heart was already beating faster, droplets of sweat were already trickling down from her forehead. Her breath had already gone heavy. She just had run the longest run of her life - all by herself….or was it because of the tall figure standing right in front of her?

Will he try to change the direction of my run further? Or be my company to the way I choose further? – she had to play the balance.

‘When in confusion, trust your instincts’ – she assured herself.

She was just about to smile back, when something felt like gnawing the prick on her cut hand..

__________________________________________________________________________________

…'Eeeks'..She woke up, startled, with slight pain in her hand. It was her phone vibrating, the edge of which was touching exactly the spot where the thorn had pricked her the previous day, on the hilly terrain.

 The screen displayed, ‘Varun calling…’

She received it, letting out a sigh...looking outside from her bedside window...talking nothing.

‘Wake up, kiddo. Dreams again!’ – there was that same old warm smile at the other end, she could sense.

‘Hmmm..good moorningg..i’m awake’ – she dragged; slowly waking up from her dream. A draggy morning note with a sigh - invariably meant that she had had a dream – he knew that, he knew her.

‘Get up, get ready..go to office. Just one more week to go..and then saath chalna hai’ – he tried to flirt.

‘hmmm’ – she replied and they continued the mushy conversation , till she was fully awake and he, asleep.

With close to 12 hours of time-zone difference between them, they had this unsigned pact of waking up the other, when one was winding up the day – that continued daily for almost seven months now, ever since they were engaged to each other. The wedding was just a month ahead. This was her last week in the city she had spent four long years of her career – her first four years after college life; and was returning home to get married, and settle down to where her husband would..

WOW Trek to DevarayanaDurga

December 1, 2013

WOW Trek to DevarayanaDurga

     After crossing the Intermediate levels of treks (with my past 4 WOW events), somewhaat, this experience was gonna take me back to the very first Trekking experience of my life [Rayakottai]. Devarayanadurga is an easy-to-moderate level of trek, but I still wanted to participate - this time as an 'Experienced trekker' - just to know much have I learnt and developed my adventurous traits so far :P [U need to go  back to the Basics just to see how far you have reached, and what more can u learn outta it - that's my Philosophy , and hence the reason for enrolling this event too!] And moreover, Fun has no levels :P

About the Place - Devarayanadurga:

     Devarayanadurga is yet another hill located near Tumkur. While Shivagange [a trek destination] comes to the left of Dobaspet, this one is located to the right of Dobaspet (if you come from Bangalore). A major part of the climb consists of just steps ( and monkeys accompanying you :P) until you reach the Yoga Lakshmi Narsimha temple towards the peak. The path henceforth [1/4th of the climb until the Peak] - though a short distance - is quite challenging climb over small steep rocks, and narrow passages inside thorny bushes.


The Journey Begins..

     This was Krupa's 2nd Officially organized trek. The team of 12 had a proper mix of WOW newbies and experienced members. The WOW newbies seemed to have heard and read a lot about previous experiences - and so we, the senior WOW members had to live upto the Expectations (and get them into the groove too :P). We had a brief, casual round of introduction; and then wasting no time we started our very important rituals - 'Dance and song-change-every-two-minutes'. The only song that we let completely play was - 'Aa ante Amlapuram' - which we all later religiously titled as WOW's Anthem :D

     Masti & energy instantly started sprouting up, when almost everyone participated in the 'Sheila ki jawaani', 'Shree Salman Khan ka dabang' and our routine 'cork-bottle-opening' dapangoothu styles :D. And since almost everyone has seen the term 'BBB' on the Facebook, wild guesses started happening then and there...:P  This was a complete ice-breaker :P

     Soon, we reached Dobaspet, had our breakfast there, and then travelled further to reach the base of the Devarayanadurga Hill. At the base, the 12 girls were split into 6 pairs of 2, and after a short photo session, we started climbing the steps alongwith our partners. After a few minutes of climb, we came across large  sculptures of Lord Hanuman, along the sides of the rock, that have been now turned into an unenclosed temple. After a brief round of photo-session and 'Mohabbaten poses' we decided to climb further.

Trek - base

Trek ki 'Shoe'ruwaat':
 
   The lead pairs marched forward, and had just crossed this temple when we hear a yell from behind - 'My Shoe, My Shoe. My 4000 Rs Shoes' [ I remembered the 'price-tag' from the movie - 3 Idiots :P]. Turn around, and found out it was the same WOW miscreant - Viji (who has done utpataang harkat before too :P :D). Apparently, she had removed her shoes (forgetting to ask someone to watch them) to get inside the temple and pray, and before she could grab her shoes back, a monkey had taken it and zzzzoom thrown it somewhere down inside the bushes, without an aim :D. It took sometime for our Heroes - Krupa, Shilu and Viji herself - to figure out where exactly the shoe was thrown, descend down and get it back from the bushes.

This was the Shoe-Start!!

     While this drama was happening, the rest of the gals (who were waiting near the temple) got creative and started giving me ideas for my blog [and this is how this 'Shooeeruwaat - story' finds its place here, in this post - on public demand :P]. What a start ('Shoe'ruwaat) of the Trek! :P


Further Ascend:
   
     After successfully finding the 4000 Rs. Shoe, we climbed further. Climbing the steps did not feel boring as we passed the time and stairs, cracking jokes, and narrating the Unwritten stories of previous WOW treks - getting thrilled and laughing over them :P eg: Krupa's fall in the Iruppu falls origin, Shree's Bday special midnight - (uncut version) at Brahmagiri trek, the whole History behind the title 'King-Kong' lady, interviews on my 'Leech-bites-experience', WOWs Annadaata's etc etc - to mention a few. Was surprised that the newbies were so curious to know more about the previous treks. They even joined the league by giving me the name - 'Leechi' :P [see..WOW is not only creating History, but also Historical characters and moments :D]


Yoga Lakshmi NarsimhaTemple, Sreepada teertha cave:

     Baaton baaton mein, we reached the temple near the peak. We first entered a small cave right adjacent to the temple,  called as 'Sripada Cave' [which was a little scary], and then some of us had darshanam inside the Lakshmi temple and a nice View from the temple's balcony behind.


 Peak, Fooooooood and Peace:
     After the temple is where the actual trekking starts. We went further the temple and started climbing the rocks. Along the passages, you will find dry thorny bushes and need to be careful (protect your face - eyes especially) as the thorns are low-lying (no danger though, just a caution :P !). After a brief climb, we reached the Peak spot.

Peak - our Lunch place

     Strangely, as soon as we reached the peak, the hot-sunny-humid climate turned into a mild-cloudy-breezy atmosphere [though there were sun beams now and then, but not as hot as it was while climbing throughout]. We decided to have lunch at the peak . As usual, our Annadaata's got food for the entire group [this time with sweets too, since they recently celebrated their Bdays:)]. After having hogged the nice home-cooked food, it was time for some relaxation.  Some of us chose to take a short nap, and the rest of us just scattered ourselves around the pillars at the peak, contemplating  Nature's beauty and the weather, all by ourselves.

    After sometime, we even meditated (in our own ways), when one of our Annadaatas Shalini, played a Chinese meditation music [co-incidentally, I have had been searching for this music off-late, and was thrilled that she had it :D]. The music just added to the peaceful ambience that was already present. Experience!!


Descend and the short-cut!

     After spending a wonderful time at the peak, we started descending. Had a short-funny, photo session at an illusionary peak, and then descended further down. Just when we thought we were done with the descend and it would be just a walk along the road, our organizer brought a kahaani me twist. Rather than making us walk along the road turnings to reach the base spot, she made us trek down at the short cut between the roads (apparently that's how goats take short cuts!). The short-cut was quite a hell of a trek (toughest part of the whole adventure..and organizer ne hum logon ko hi finally bakra bana diya...) :S. Nevertheless, we accomplished this too successfully, and then wandered and ran along the main road, like some Roadside romeos...until we found our TT, thus completing my Fifth High! [fifth trek of my life!!]

Record breaking event was: This was the first ever Trek of Krupa without a fall or even a tumble! [And the minute we realized this, and I opened my big mouth to her about this, instantly her 18k camera slips down from her hands gracefully and then a dialog comes - 'at least something has to fall' :P


Naamada Chilume:

     A little further to the Devarayanadurga hill, there's a Deer Park and a natural water spring called 'Naamada Chilume'. It found its name from a short story of Ramaayana and is of mythological importance. Again, had a peaceful stroll inside the park, walking, and more story-telling, and expressing our fantasies with Indian mythology; until it was time for return..


Return:

    After the Deer sanctuary visit, we had a tea break, and then set out for Bangalore. The newbies now initiated Antakshari - and we had full-on fun singing new-old-older songs [we ensured our opponents get only 'na' at the end of the song..and kept them wondering till the end as to how did we manage to do this :P].

     This also followed with much more crazier expansions of BBB - the most sensible and most apt of them being - BTC Birthday Bash [now that BTC is gonna complete its 1st year soon], which also triggered ideas of Goa visit, Beach visit, a big Bday bash etc etc...and much more crazy ideas (that I cannot jot down here :P)[Are the Organizers Listeniiiinnnnnng????? :D]

     Thus we called it another Sunday, and with a promise of another blog, I got down first at the nearest point. As usual, this was an awesome experience. An icing in the cake was - the wonderful deep conversation I personally had with Shalini, on totally out-of-the-world topics :)

     And another point to note - WOW is maintaining a track record of Sagittarians majority, since the Rayakottai trek :P [that doesnt mean you start shortlisting participants based on their bdays in future ;)]

Once again - Congratulations to Krupa for having organized very diligently (and without letting yourself fall:P). Thanks to the group who were equally Fun and amazing. Look forward to see you guys in future..:) B-)



Cheers!
Swatz

P.C: Shailini , Asha

WOW stands for BTC World Of Women