The Void

With Valentines Day gone by, and having so many single friends....each day I see more and more people dealing with the feeling called VOID.....

Nah its not a bad thing....its a feeling where you feel lonely and wish you had someone there...when you wana go back home to someone....when you wana share your happy and sad moments with someone...

Till the time you are a kid, you are unaware of this....when you are a teenager, you have too much on your mind and dont have to deal with it....its when you are in the quarter bit of your life you realise it exists....most people dont even realise or avoid thinking about it as they feel its a temporary phase after a break-up or being single for a long time...so they try to fill it up...some find people to fill it up with, others fill it with work or too many things to do....if nothing else some fill it up with materialistic things they enjoy or achievements in different fields...

The truth is the void has always and will always exist.....no amount of promotions, or cars or houses, gfs or bfs, or jst frnds can cover it up....The void is like an empty box which doesnt have a bottom...when you fill it with anything it wont stay cos the box will let it fall out.....

The good bit about the void is that it lets you detach easily and keeps your expectations low....

Here's how you can deal with the void...accept it...live with it....there is no guarantee that when you will have that person whom you can go home to, the void will vanish.....or when you become a successful person things will get better....cos the void will stay....and let it....

Phew! January over! February half way thru!

If there is something known as overtime I felt I had crossed the limits last month!

I was busy with something or the other on Sundays too! The highlights of the last month were the Synergry Conference, a training, visit to Pune twice, walk into Sanjay Gandhi National Park...and a few more....

So January was a busy month...and I knew it the minute it started! I spent my New Year's Eve with a friend from TFI at the terrace building watching fire crackers! I slept at 4 and was up at 7am for some work! Someone once told me that the way you spend your first day, your entire year goes the same way...i don't know about before but now Im beginning to believe it! After finshing work I traveled to Pune to meet friends and the college alumni meet....iv set a record of being in Pune every year on the 1st of January for the past 6 years now! I hope this continues....the meet was fun with my batch having the highest turn out (there were 10 of us after all!)....the embarrasing bit was when I had to dance with a junior on "Tujhe dekha to ye jana sanam" on the stage!

The week after that was super exciting! Teach for India hosted the Teach for All - Synergy Conference...for those who didnt know, there are 18 countries that have similar organisations as TFI such as Teach First UK, Teach for America, Teach First Estonia, Teach for Malaysia...and believe it or not there is also Teach for Pakistan....

My school had four visitors...fellows who teach with Teach for Australia, Teach First UK, Teach for Israel and Teach First Germany....when I took them on a round of the school, the Urdu medium kids were just leaving...they met the visitors and started taking their autograph...they thought that Geoff (fellow, Teach for Australia) was a cricketer! Not only that, some of them asked me if Karen (Teach for Israel) was Pamela Anderson, whom they has seen on Bigg Boss! When I told Karen this her reaction was "Pamela Anderson, me? from where?"

It was an amazing week! I heard crazy facts like Estonia has 500 dropouts every year and thats about it! In a country like Israel, teaching is not a very respected profession! The conference also made me realise that there are 1000s of people working for the same cause as I am and everyone is facing similar situations and dealing with it. That I am not along in this.....

The weekend Synergy got over, I traveled to Pune again for another TFI event.....I guess I was just looking for an excuse to get to Pune again...

The entire week after that went in school and community visits....I used to find it weird when old people would tell me how they had to walk 40mins to get to school....i dont find that unbelieveable anymore....alot of my kids do that...when i would hear people would study sitting under a lamp post, it used to amaze me...not anymore, i mean what are u supposed to do when there is no electricity....i guess nothing has really changed in all these decades.....

The next weekend I participated in the Dream Run (Mumbai Marathon)....so I walked 6+ kms (believe me  there was no place to run!).....when everyone returned home tired post the run, I was out at a book fair, and set another record of calling 100 TFI applicants in 3 hours! I actually felt I was on some energy drug!

Not to put an end to the fun bit...I went to watch Vagina Monologues the next weekend.....had dinner at a rooftop restaurant and asked a tarot card reader silly questions....i dont believe in astrology, etc. but i guess its fun at times...i was actually confused cos TFI wants me to move to Delhi, but I dint kno if I shuld...not that the tarot reader would've helped but i just wanted someone to put an end to my confusion....

So my working weekends dint end and I ended up going to the TFI board meeting.....heard about top-level stuff and met people such as the Dean of ISB, Hyderabad, Anu Aga (Thermax Industries Head), etc.
The next morning I was out for a nature trail at Sanjay Gandhi National Park....ok....im not elaborating on that one....

January did finally end but funfilled weekends didn't!

The first Saturday of Feb, my kids got stationery sets from someone in Singapore...an client of an acquintance sent it....how networks with people work! it truly amazes me! Post that I took 4 kids to Inorbit for playing video games....Cant describe how happy they were....

My bday weekend finally arrived...not like I was looking forward to any celebration..but thats one day when I hear from people I havnt spoken to in ages! And it makes me thankful for having so many friends that my phone doesnt stop ringing even at 3am! I cut a cake at Marine Drive! roamed at Kala ghoda festival...had dinner with friends...the kids sang for me....When your bday cards are letters from kids saying "Sameera love Ritika Didi; Didi love icecream"...and your gifts are roses from kids or their moms...you know you have become old.....:)

Signing off!

Thank you everyone for your wishes and for supporting me in every way you could this past one year:)