basically I am indian

I guess I would also be caught starting a lot of sentences with 'Basically' .. i just dont realize it when I say it .. but when I hear other indians here in the USA use it frequently , i cant help but smile inwardly.

You ask a question and they would start Basically I wanted to do this but did that blah blah blah & so basically this is the result.

Of course there is another catch phrase : "You know" ...yes man I know athukku ippo enangara (so what to do about it) ???
Of course I also use this.

Basically I dont know how these phrases get ingrained in our brains you know ;-)

Licensed to Drive

Phew I managed to get my driving license in California in my second attempt.

My buddy Naresh called me up just before I got into the car fot the test .. so Naresh almost proved to be a lucky charm .. I shall test if he truly is a lucky charm by making him call me before some of the interviews I might face ;-)

anywayz now atleast I can rent cars and drive around freely .. only thing is I shud pay extra as I am only 24 :( grrrrrr

give back something

I watched this video about Banyan a charity organization for women started by 2 ladies.



This reminded me of an image that had been haunting me a looong time.

Once during my 9th/10th/11th standard(not sure when) I was returning from school on my bicycle when I saw a bedraggled woman in her late 30's walking along the road as if she was drunk.
Then I realized she was mentally ill and she was wearing only a saree (i.e there was no blouse) and suddenly her saree just fell down, thus exposing her whole upper body.
& I just turned away and went home.
I did "NOTHING" ... I dont know if someone helped that lady or if she just wandered around like that forever.

But I have been haunted by that day and I still dont know if I could have done anything at that time.

Ever since that time I did resolve that I would help the differently abled people and support worthy causes.

I was fortunate to have been one of the students who were chosen to help blind students while in college. Blind Students doing their masters in arts from a nearby college would come to my college (Madras inst. of Technology) and we used to take them to our classes and read out their text books or record the passages on audio tapes. I still remember reading about Shakespeare and also history of Rome and Greece to some of them.

I gave away my entire first months salary from Infosys to different charitable organizations and since then I set aside a month's salary every year for such causes.

I have promised myself that after I retire I would either work for such charities or volunteer in several of them..

I would like to lead by example and I know there are several people who are already doing great things for the under priviledged.

I will give back something to the society that taught me to survive in this world.

motherhood

Lots of times I think that i shud blog about an incident but then I just forget to actually write it here.

One such thiings was about the absolute fight for survival of mother and child.
I overheard a conversation while I was on a bus in minnesota.

A young mother of a 3 year old child was saying that her age was 20 ( it doesn't take a genius to figure out that she attained motherhood when she was only 17). She was telling her colleague how she was doing 2 jobs and was looking for a third one.

I admire her for having the courage for taking care of her baby and putting in all the effort to raise her.
In USA if someone is unable to take care of a cihld they are legally allowed to give away their children to (i think) children homes where the children will be placed with some other parents.
This young girl could have done that but instead she is working 3 jobs.

I wish her the very best and I hope her daughter will look after her after she grows old.

long live motherhood.