Horror and Hope
First of All, Happy New Year everybody, hope all your wishes and dreams come true this year.
I have written atleast 5 blogs only not to post them as Christmas, Tsunami and year ending zoomed past and for once I just couldn’t sum up all of them in one blog. So I decided to wait, till I could produce a coherent blog to sum up all the emotions - joy at Christmas, abject sorrow of the Tsunami and Hope that another year of new beginnings .
Christmas was a lovely time in Bangalore with my team coming up various ways of celebrating the joyous occasion- right from ethnic clothes on Christmas eve to a Santa Claus on Diet who doled out chocolates and kept a huge chunk for himself.Passing of Christmas gifts , cakes all around and the assignees shaking their heads at the Indian version of Christmas while merrily hogging on kalkals and mysore paks.
Having no electricity the most of Sunday , the horror of the Tsunami hit us in the evening. I stayed for 15 years a km away from Marina beach, and just couldn’t accept that the place which was a walker’s paradise and my Sunday evening hangout was filled with cars and later bodies of little children. I was haunted by the images. I volunteered to go to Nagapattinam from office. However my manager couldn’t give me leave till the 14th, so being in Bangalore , I tried to do my bit – from donating clothes, money , utensils to absolutely annoying people to push them a bit further in the donation and rescue efforts. I don’t think I did much though, I am still waiting to come back to Chennai to help out any way I can. I’ve been following Hari’s and Kiruba’s blog regularly to have a feel as to how Chennai is handling it.
Funnily I think that actual spirit of Christmas came out only after the 26th when the tide rolled in taking with it several human lives but leaving behind the sea of humanity. I have never seen so many people at one time working towards alleviating the suffering physical,menatal and monetary of the people affected. In my mind I always thought that if we should have another freedom struggle could we as Indians of this generation stand together ?But this rush of efforts proved that we are still connected irrespective of the obstacles of caste, creed and status. Reading the many Tsunami rescue blog sites, I am filled with Pride and assurance that in case of calamity - natural or man made, in future there will be a strong circle of friends and strangers who will be there to support and help
The New Year didn’t start to well for me , as I went into a another bout of the flu, but I don’t think I am worried. Through my sneezes and fever , all I could think was of those kids in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, who are all alone suffering and suddenly it the blocked nose didn’t seem a big deal. My resolution for this year is to be Patient - with my work , with life and just take a deep breath once in a while.
I know I will crib in my blog about my abject work life and absolutely non existent social life, but its easy to get caught up with the little distractions of life, if I do ,in the end I would come back to this blog to remind me what horror was unleashed, and hope that it released.
Well, for the new year , here are a couple of wise sayings :))
Don't marry the person you want to live with, marry the one you
cannot live without...
but whatever you do, you'll regret it later.
====================================================
You can't buy love . . . but you pay heavily for it
====================================================
True friends stab you in the front
====================================================
Forgiveness is giving up my right to hate you for hurting me.
====================================================
Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.
====================================================
Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired .
====================================================
My wife and I always compromise. I admit I'm wrong and she agrees
with me.
====================================================
Those who can't laugh at themselves leave the job to others.
====================================================
Ladies first. Pretty ladies sooner.
====================================================
It doesn't matter how often a married man changes his job, he still
ends up with the same boss.
====================================================
They call our language the mother tongue because the father seldom
gets to speak
====================================================
Saving is the best thing. Especially when your parents have done it
for you.
====================================================
Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools talk because
they have to say something
Keep Smiling
Anu
I have written atleast 5 blogs only not to post them as Christmas, Tsunami and year ending zoomed past and for once I just couldn’t sum up all of them in one blog. So I decided to wait, till I could produce a coherent blog to sum up all the emotions - joy at Christmas, abject sorrow of the Tsunami and Hope that another year of new beginnings .
Christmas was a lovely time in Bangalore with my team coming up various ways of celebrating the joyous occasion- right from ethnic clothes on Christmas eve to a Santa Claus on Diet who doled out chocolates and kept a huge chunk for himself.Passing of Christmas gifts , cakes all around and the assignees shaking their heads at the Indian version of Christmas while merrily hogging on kalkals and mysore paks.
Having no electricity the most of Sunday , the horror of the Tsunami hit us in the evening. I stayed for 15 years a km away from Marina beach, and just couldn’t accept that the place which was a walker’s paradise and my Sunday evening hangout was filled with cars and later bodies of little children. I was haunted by the images. I volunteered to go to Nagapattinam from office. However my manager couldn’t give me leave till the 14th, so being in Bangalore , I tried to do my bit – from donating clothes, money , utensils to absolutely annoying people to push them a bit further in the donation and rescue efforts. I don’t think I did much though, I am still waiting to come back to Chennai to help out any way I can. I’ve been following Hari’s and Kiruba’s blog regularly to have a feel as to how Chennai is handling it.
Funnily I think that actual spirit of Christmas came out only after the 26th when the tide rolled in taking with it several human lives but leaving behind the sea of humanity. I have never seen so many people at one time working towards alleviating the suffering physical,menatal and monetary of the people affected. In my mind I always thought that if we should have another freedom struggle could we as Indians of this generation stand together ?But this rush of efforts proved that we are still connected irrespective of the obstacles of caste, creed and status. Reading the many Tsunami rescue blog sites, I am filled with Pride and assurance that in case of calamity - natural or man made, in future there will be a strong circle of friends and strangers who will be there to support and help
The New Year didn’t start to well for me , as I went into a another bout of the flu, but I don’t think I am worried. Through my sneezes and fever , all I could think was of those kids in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, who are all alone suffering and suddenly it the blocked nose didn’t seem a big deal. My resolution for this year is to be Patient - with my work , with life and just take a deep breath once in a while.
I know I will crib in my blog about my abject work life and absolutely non existent social life, but its easy to get caught up with the little distractions of life, if I do ,in the end I would come back to this blog to remind me what horror was unleashed, and hope that it released.
Well, for the new year , here are a couple of wise sayings :))
Don't marry the person you want to live with, marry the one you
cannot live without...
but whatever you do, you'll regret it later.
====================================================
You can't buy love . . . but you pay heavily for it
====================================================
True friends stab you in the front
====================================================
Forgiveness is giving up my right to hate you for hurting me.
====================================================
Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.
====================================================
Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired .
====================================================
My wife and I always compromise. I admit I'm wrong and she agrees
with me.
====================================================
Those who can't laugh at themselves leave the job to others.
====================================================
Ladies first. Pretty ladies sooner.
====================================================
It doesn't matter how often a married man changes his job, he still
ends up with the same boss.
====================================================
They call our language the mother tongue because the father seldom
gets to speak
====================================================
Saving is the best thing. Especially when your parents have done it
for you.
====================================================
Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools talk because
they have to say something
Keep Smiling
Anu
posted by Anu at 10:04 AM
6 Comments:
First ...New year wishes to you.
You actually gave a rosy picture of Tsunami help..nope...I dont agree with you. People are not helping others...only very few are helping others( and I think only "some " people really cintributed to the freedom struggle too)
juss go through this article...http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/jan/10kanch.htm
@Jagan..
yeah ...ppl look dumb when they present facts esp against the so called "Altruism"...arent they??
I dont know ..I am not an altruist...so might have missed what you could see.
@Jagan..
yeah ...ppl look dumb when they present facts esp against the so called "Altruism"...arent they??
I dont know ..I am not an altruist...so might have missed what you could see.
Hi Anu,
You have covered it all, so there is nothing much i can comment. But the magnitude of relief operations coming from within the country through private individuals and organisations is an awsome display of the resilience of we Indians.
Surya.... I read the article you linked and it might well be true at political and government levels, but in case of relief operations in India, it is the private individuals and organisations that have truly worked and made the difference. The Government agencies have been made mere spectators and that is the revolution.
Jagan/Surya
I am not talking abt the so called charity agencies, but people like my sis and colleagues, who have gone to the affected areas and helped.A cheques could have sufficed but they went and helped
Hari,
Totally agree with you
anu
I know I am dropping in really late. But better late than never.
Its sad to know that all the publicity and media has died down so soon. Still there are lot of us going out from Bangalore to the affected areas once in couple of weeks to follow up the relief work. And you are spot on, sparing time might be difficult but its more precious than contributing money.
And frankly I feel really sad that NGO and other charity works never get media attention, though they are going on year round.
BTW I am not too sure as to whether the quotes/saying at the end of the post, belong to you. If so, I require permission to use some of them for my series at SudaSudaCoffee
- Dheepak Ra
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