I spent the better part of my sunday visiting a school outside Bangalore called "Ananya". The school is special in the sense that the students who study there are all children who, if not in Ananya, would not be in any school at all. They would probably be child labourers or would have been forced to earn their living in another way.

All the kids (numbering about 40) are between the ages of 5 to 14. They all have parents who earn less than a dollar a day or just about a dollar a day.

The school is a 2 acre plot with bunks, tents, a kitchen, a library, vegetable garden and space for more creative pursuits like drawing, painting and games. The kids are of course given 3 meals a day and are taught to read, write and even pen their own stories, all in English. They are taught to draw, paint, play hockey, ping pong, cricket and are even taken to a computer literacy class.

All this is done through a core group of volunteers who have knowledge or expertise in these fields. I met with one of the founders of Ananya to find out how I could volunteer my time and try to make a difference to these kids' lives. I also happened to meet with Vishal who is the founder of Dream a Dream (http://www.dreamadream.org)

Vishal is one of  the few people from AIESEC who is actually walking the talk as far as impacting society goes.

I plan to first volunteer time with Ananya and Dream a Dream and slowly try to build around my initial idea of forming a platform for young people to make a difference.

Now the only juggling act is if I do decide to enroll in Spanish classes, commuting around in time will be a major concern.

But then again, nothing's gained without sacrifice.

My little nephew, originally uploaded by abhimehta.

Meet my 3 week old nephew. He doesn't have a name yet

Jhanavi, originally uploaded by abhimehta.

This was taken 2 weeks back in Mumbai. That's my little 4 year old niece Jhanavi...cute as a button but a real terror! :-)
(I've discovered Flickr;-)

dani1, originally uploaded by abhimehta.

Meet Dani or Daniela Hantuchova from Slovakia. Easily my favourite women's athlete of all time and of course my favourite woman's tennis player
:-)

[	Current Mood	|	rejuvenated	]
[	Current Music	|	If you go on - Matchbox 20	]

I've finally decided to sit down late in the office and put things down that have happened and things that i've done in the last 2 weeks. Its been an incredible whirlwind of work, meeting old friends, meeting some new people, meeting some people who i used to watch on TV all the time and working in sports. Add all these elements together and you get one helluva roller coaster.

• To summarize work, I am working on: a proposal to bring down one of the world's biggest tennis events to India, sell one of India's cricketers as a brand ambassador to various companies, work on concepts and ideas around adventure sports for a clothing company, come up with creative ideas for a jewellery chain to leverage entertainment as a platform to drive sales and convince a company that bringing together 2 of the most colourful characters in cricket today for a chat show is a fantastic idea...phew! :-) It all seems a bit unreal right now but I guess once I make my first sale or organize my first event, it should sink in....."-)
• I met up with Ash and Aiyaps on Sunday afternoon. It was great to go back to college and meet a couple of old lecturers followed by a lunch at a fancy restaurant (Bangalore Bistro...one of the increasing signs of Bangalore becoming chic)
• Sunday evening was the most fun in a long time...unexpectedly so! Met with 3 classmates from school (hooli, DV and Kou) and what followed was a rollicking time full of memories, crazy driving, loud music and more boisterous behaviour! ha ha!
• Saturday, the entire day was spent at Eagleton golf resort where my company had organized a corporate golf event. It was great to be at my first such event and to see that AIESEC has taught me pretty much all I need to know when it comes to organizing events on any scale
• As far as the week and work, its been complete deja vu. Making sales calls, doing sales calls with tight fisted marketing heads, being blown away by secretaries, doing kick ass meetings with Blah and learning the ropes...a complete sense of deja vu. VP TN days more than ever.
• The highlight of the last 2 weeks was a meeting with the former India quick bowler Javagal Srinath and looking at what he's been doing in life and how we could work with him He simply blew me away with his intellect and grasp of corporate reality
• Bangalore has become immensely crowded and polluted but you can't help loving the city: great weather, great places to eat and drink, incredibly pretty women and Mark Knopfler coming down next Monday..what more do you want in a city!?? Chic, modern and eclectic..Bangalore still Rox!

 Thank you Geet Sethi....success is immaterial.....

Joy is what counts. Joy is what matters.

That's it for now.