I was walking along the Pune-Sholapur highway towards Magarpatta junction to catch my auto 
to Amdocs. Two small kids, a boy aged around 8 and the girl a couple of years younger to him, passed by; and they were asking people for some money. I never give money to those who beg. There are many people who beg when they can actually do some work. And about those who really cant work, I believe many of them only earn for their 'employers'.
Coming back to those kids, I wanted to give them something then. First because it was 'joy of giving' week, and I was looking for an opportunity. And secondly, I wanted to start my birthday in a nice way! ;) In a minute they were in front of me, the boy said that they were very hungry and wanted something to eat. And when I asked them if they wanted some ice cream, I saw the girl's eyes glow. Both of them nodded quickly. We walked to an ice cream parlour which was a minute's walk ahead.
The place had just opened for the day. There were only two waiters inside. I asked one of them to get two double scoops of icecream for them. While having their ice cream they introduced themselves. The girl's name was Lakshmi and the boy was Maruti. He then showed me his name tattooed on his arm.
It was already past 10 and I was running late for office now. So I told them that I had to leave and then went to the counter to pay the bill. But as I was paying, both of them put the icecream into the vessels they had and rushed out! Have no idea why they did that! They were perhaps scared to eat there w/o someone to see that they weren't asked to get out by the waiters.
When I came out and looked around, they'd already vanished. I then continued my walk towards the junction.
Joy of Giving - Post II
"Joy of Giving" week
This week, from 27th of september to the 3rd of oct, (the week coinciding Mahatma Gandhi's birthday) will be observed as the Joy Of Giving week in the country.
There are millions in the country who aren't as privileged as us. Trust me, you are really lucky; for reading this post sitting in front of a computer, when there are boys n girls, who haven't even held a pencil; for no fault of theirs. They were just born in a poor family. You can easily find people around you who could use a helping hand. And if you haven;t done anything yet why not start on the joy of giving week. Sachin Tendulkar, Saif Ali khan, Nandita Das, Rahul Dravid, Azim Premji, Geet Sethi are some of the celebrities supporting the cause.
At Amdocs, the community relations group is organizing few activities during the week. Most of them include collecting funds for conducting events at different NGOs in the city. The events organized are
- Special Kabala Shabath: At Amdocs, the teams have an informal get-together, called Kabala Shabat (means cake meeting) every friday, where we also buy some eatables, sweets, and colddrinks; and have some good time together. Next week we requested teams to voluntarily skip it once and contribute the collection for that Kabala Shabat towards the fund.
- We are facilitating sale of Diwali articles (prepared at Rachana, an NGO) and candles and diyas (made in Meghalaya hostel, another NGO). The amount collected would go towards the respective organizations.
- A special game of housie-housie conducted by instructors at dance institute of bollywood choreographer Shiamak Dawar. They would teach latest bollywood dance steps to the participants during the game.
- Delivering roses with messages to colleagues for a nominal price.
So this week, you too try to do something for another person. Draw a smile on someone's face; and find one on your's too. :)Links:
Joy Of Giving home page and blog.
Follow JoG on twitter.
and me here. ;)
PS: In mumbai now, enjoying the 3 day weekend. :D
