My Best of 2010

It just feels like I was busy preparing for my placement interviews (that's what I was doing on Jan 1 2010 and a few days around that) as our placement season was about to begin with the new year 2010. Life has moved on so quick with so many moments, memories, incidents and accidents - thinking about them all gives me a smile , telling myself that I've become a year wiser with a lot more new experiences.

2010 has been a year filled with good, bad and ugly times - things that I thought would happen eventually didn't turn out the way I thought and things that I hardly expected would ever happen, happened in the most beautiful way, such is life.

I am jus' so glad to write again about my firsts that I did this year, thankfully I have something new to do every year :) :) and the other good things that I would always like to remember as a part of 2010.

• It was for the first time I appeared for a job interview (a few interviews infact) - my first fore into corporate life.
  

• I went to see a live cricket match in the M.A.Chidambaram stadium in Chennai, as a part of the IPL 3 game.
  

• I got my first salary and the joy of gifting loved ones from my earning.

• I helped my grand dad learn how to use e-mail and eventually facebook as well.
  

• Two holiday trips with family (Tirupathi and Bangalore/Puttaparthi)
  

• Went on a two week long official trip to Goa as a part of our training program.

• I did live blogging, my first time again at the TEDxChennai event, where I again got to meet and listen to some wonderful people.
  

• The year I graduated - I am now Er. Shalini ;)

• Its the year puppy D came into my life - Daisy is a cute lil brat who is close to 80 0dd days old now, who has totally taken away my fear for dogs.
  

• Last but no least I am happily employed in the organization where I like the work, the people and the reason to add on to my joy is that I have my best friend along too.

At the end of the day whatever happens, happens for good - in that way it helps us connect the dots better. I doubt if I would have been able to sound so positive had I made this post a fortnight ago, but thankfully I am glad that I am now :) :)

It has been a great year or rather a great learning from all fronts - there have been times when I was beaming from ear to ear, there were times which I feared the most and was wishing it passed away like a nightmare, times when I took some random decision jus' thinking about how I wanted things to be that very moment, there were many words spoken, few words unspoken, there were new people who came into life, some relationships grew fonder ...

The year 2010 was a year to remember and talk about for many years to come with its fare share of ups and downs and eventually when the climax is good .. we are all a happy lot !!

Wishing 2011 is a year filled with goodness and prosperity for all of us.. Happy New Year !! :) :)

"Life is like riding a bicycle, to maintain balance one should move on"

The Big SBOA Meet Up !

A hundred or so of us gathered in the ground of S.B.O.A school and Junior college last Saturday 18th of Dec , reminiscing our wonderful memories as kids / teens in this very school. Many of them had changed so much in their looks that we could hardly recognize them, most of us are now into corporate life and taking time off to catch up with each other remained only a fantasy ... but when all things fell in place and a huge group of us met to catch up with each other and it truly turned out to be one of a day..

Food for thought !!

I can never hold on to hunger for more than an hour, post which I end up with a head ache. I'm sure that is how it is in most of the cases... Ever wondered how kids from families who cannot afford a proper square meal a day survive ?? Fortunately we have non - profit organisations catering to this need and also government schemes in schools where they provide free meal to children who cannot otherwise afford to have a proper meal a day.

One such initiative is the Akshaya Patra - school meal program. Feeding the hungry and educating the poor I believe is one of the best ways to give back to the society. When I got this opportunity to write for a social cause, I'm here gladly doing it :)

This blog post is gonna help feed another 50 hungry kids by the Akshaya Patra foundation, which is the world's largest mid-day meal program feeding 1,253,266 children everyday ... If you are planning to give back to the society in anyway, this can also be an option where you can start in a small way. I just did by making this post.



You can visit Akshaya Patra and be a part of the program in any way you can - volunteer, donate, write about them, create awareness!! You can also make online donation to support the cause. No food No good!

"Let no child be deprived of education because of hunger"

The Puppy story ...

One friday evening my friend D and I were talking about corporate life and how stressful it is sometimes when I suggested to him to spend sometime with the dog that stays two houses away from his home, since pets are a good way of de-stressing .. That was it, D went on this urge to get a labrador puppy for himself and insisted I along with another friend of ours would go get the pup the next day ..

I being so scared of dogs was never for the idea and D's parents were again not very fond of having pets at home .. but D wanted to get a male Labrador pup and name it Dino .. after failed attempts of trying to convince him to not get the puppy, we (D , D's bro , me and another H) finally set on the mission to meet Dino ..

In a days time D found out different sources from where we could get a pup and by saturday afternoon we set on mission getting Dino home .. after traveling to tirumangalam and half the distance towards North Madras all on a heavy rainy day, we met the person who we contacted through phone and finally reached the kennel to find out that the male pup was already given away and D was left with the choice of taking a female labrador pup back home.



She was a cute little thing running between our feet.. she looked totally adorable .. I wanted to take her in my arm but was scared .. D's bro carried the pup and I managed to touch her for the first time.. She was 40 days old then and was behaving herself well... she was happy to be with us, after a few mins of playing around with her my friend D decided to call her Daisy coz she was a female puppy and within a few mins the four of us along with Daisy were getting back home - reminding me of Enid Blyon's Famous Five ...

Daisy has now become the darling of the street right from kids to elders and has befriended the german shepherd (named Josh) that stays two houses away from the home where Daisy stays and they have a fun time playing with each other every evening...


Josh and Daisy are jus' so friendly that Josh climbs on the wall looking out for Daisy until she enters my friend's home...

I'm not all the scared of dogs anymore, for a matter of fact carried her to the veterinarian for her vaccination :) :)