Visual Galore from Bangalore...

Updates: Pics are up courtesy of my dear Sahabat...

Online travel journey of the project by one of our dear team mate...at Kembara India..check it out !!!

Auroville...Universal Town in the making....

During our retreat during the last week of the trip...we visited a universal city in the making...

"Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity."

I was oblivious to its existence. read on at www.auroville.org

The Slaughtered Pit

We had Amazing Race Mysore....and at one of the pit stop..we were to take a photo standing vigilantly in front of the slaughtered "ones".

The Future...

My Kapillas.. They were my joy..for the two days work camp...they named themselves "Kapillas" after a river that runs across their village.The young boy in the middle wearing red sweater...my "Sweetheart"...Munsyif is his name...his a Moslem...I was smitten by his angelic face....:)

Flower Girl

One of the begging souls that dressed up for our attention and act of kindness. Act of Kindness that we had to ignore as to avoid swarm of hopeful begging souls. I am sorry. I truly am. O Allah...you know best. Please forgive me.

Class of Our Own

No basic necessities need to educate this young minds. It is the eagerness to learn that keeps the cold ground warm.

The Squeeze

It was the end of the work camp and the children are off to their village. Home Sweet Home. Balik Kampung. Hidden tears were shed. Only HE knows. 12 kids and 1 adult were squeezed to fit in this Maxi Volkswagen. A sight not to be forgotten.

Memoirs of the journey towards Prajna (Wisdom)...to be continued.

My last 500 rupees..

How did i spend my last 500 rupees ? Saris..bangles..more ethnique bags...no..no..no :).There was I sitting patiently waiting for departing time to arrive..mingling with the rest of the team...and there stood SANKARs..filled with visual rhapsody that i lurve to indulge in. SANKARs is a mini version of a TIMES bookstore...situated strategically at the entrance of the departing hall.

I picked up two books from unknown writers...for about 500 rupees (equivalent o S$20.00...woohoo :)

I diligently finished one of the paperbacks...in one night...WHY? because it is truly inspiring...get it at a bookstore near uu...

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

Extracted from book's back cover:
Maybe it was a grandparent, a teacher or a colleague. Somone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and impassioned, helped you to see the world as a more profound place, and gave you sound advice to guide your way through it. For Mitch Albom, it was Morrie Schwartz, the college professor who taught him nearly twenty years ago.

Perhaps, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as the the years passed, the insights faded, and the world seemed colder. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, to ask the bigger questions that still haunt you, and receive wisdom for your busy life the way you once did when you were younger?

Mitch Albom got that second chance, rediscovering Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final "class" lesson in how to live. Tuesdays with Morrie is a magical chronicle of their time together.

Parental Advisory board: Purchase this book...add it to one of your life chronicles.

Morrie's Words..to be remembered not forgotten. (extracted from the book)
"Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them, too- even when you're in the dark. Even when you're falling."

I have to learn to trust and entrust...the cycle begins. I have to trust when someone says, " I am going to miss you". I have to trust what have been entrusted to me.

Back for Good...

Been away for 3 weeks to a rich land filled with exotic cultures. Went to Mysore in Karnataka Bangalore and had a retreat at Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu. On a mission to instill creativity in the teaching of english and maths to the young generations...although it was a touch and go project...lots I have learnt from them. THEY teach me. More Bangalore updates to come...:)

After the last workcamp..we had a reflection and the 3 questions that were posted to us by the team facilitators are:

A. 3 things I learnt throughout this project?
- Flexibility is the main key element in a team as rigidity kills all fun and spontaneity.
- My weaknesses and strengths in working in a team.
- Overlook others weaknesses and focus and highlight their strengths.

B. 2 things I am going to miss
- The appreciative smiles of the children and their genuine handshakes.
- The slow pace/ laid back life away from civilization. Away from civilization and technologies...gave me more time to focus on human interaction where I learnt about myself and to learn from others...to create a holistic humane me.

C. Special Moments that I will remember
- The surprise birthday celebration... Most of us were strangers before but now most of us have grown closer. Happy moments are to be cherished as to forget and never remembers the low point in ones friendships.

- I came to this rich land with sympathy and empathy thinking that I am visiting a rich land filled with slums and dwellers. But what I saw weren't slums but shelters for the contented ones surrounds with genuine happiness.

For 3 weeks...I was silently feeling an utmost emptiness. Some of my close friends were there..but the emptiness kept sinking in... My silence didn't mean I was oblivious to others needs and wants. I am a receptive soul lack of expressive gestures and abilities. I rather be silent than to fake my actions...for others happiness. I am not a faker...but a faker is always being loved...I am not.

How I wished we felt the same....How I wished...

How I wished we felt the same...
The time is drawing near for me to depart.
The fleeting look speaks a thousand words.
But everything still remains the same.
From the day one went silent...till today and tomorrows?

How I wished we felt the same...
The waiting time is reaching due.
It will all reset comes February.
Comes February, when the time is due.
Do vapour like the dew.

How I wished we felt the same...
Do not vapor of my past presence.
As I know now you are complacent.
Complacent for my absence.
I need to feel complacent towards your absence but with HIS presence.

How I wished we felt the same...

I am diluted. I need to be concentrated with HIS help. Insya Allah.

Packing update: It's moving...getting there...3 days to go:)