My Quest to make a DIFFERENCE

14th Jan 2008...

Chapter 1: Work Work Work...!
A typical day of my life.. I worked all day at my office, half awake for a while, energized with a coffee, continued my journey as usual turning red flags in the Inbox to green.. and here it comes end of the day at office. I rush to the parking lot, drove at 50mph to reach home.

Chapter 2: Home... Chweet Home!
Friends on TBS... me lazy, lying on the patio chair in the hall.. next Family Guy mini Marathon. 9:00 PM... as usual hungry and as usual lazy to cook... 9:30 PM .. WE HAVE A WINNER! hunger overtakes laziness... rice in microwave, pickles from India, Ghee from Indian store, yogurt from Walmart... Full course happy meal :)

Chapter 3: Phone Phone Phone...
9:40 PM Called my Girlfriend... time passed on...10:00 PM Call from India.. Girlfriend goodnight!.. Mummy Good Morning!.. regular chitchat.. 10:15 PM Rommie from Airport, Pickup at 11:30 Scheduled

Chapter 4: ZzzzZzzZzzzzz.. Alarm(No effect).. Roomie clueless
10:20 PM decided to sleep for half hour to regenerate energy to drive 45 min + 45 min, to and fro to the Airport. Alarm set to 10:30PM(was supposed to wake up)...
10:50 PM Alarm....Snooze...Alarm Snooze...Alarm...Zzzzzzzzzzz finally woke up....eeeek time 1:50 AM... Roomie not home yet.. No Idea what flight, wat terminal... called Roomie... Roomie "Dont worry dude! I am almost home... waited till 1:00 AM and then called a cab"

Chapter 5: Sleepless... Laptop... Buzy!
2:00AM checked Mail from AID Dallas... Project proposal Doc, PPT, 5 videos from Aaajtak. 45 minutes ...all done.. replied mail.
GoodNight everyone.... trying to sleep.... Message from Friend in India "Call Me"..Reliance India call recharged... chitchat 30 minutes.

Chapter 6: Still Sleepless... Early morning good thaughts..
Still trying to sleep... 4:00 AM.. eyes closed.. mind open...cant help :D... thinking of project... "Food for every one!" good thaught... well here it starts


There are millions of people in India sleeping empty stomach with a hope to have breakfast dream to have full course meal!

Me just got in to full time job.. lots of loans.. saving few dollars between paychecks... What difference can an Individual like me can make?...

My Thaught Process:

WHAT CAN I DO??? ... Is there anything that I can do... If not me who?

Well, who and what apart... how? How can some one do anything to bring down the number of hungry?

Oh yeah! nothing can be done overnight... not everything may be done on massive scale.. every thing should start from few which gradually increases to many...

With $100 less from my pay check I may be able to provide breakfast to may be tens of people, one day in a pay check period... This is when I realized... I may not make any difference to the ratio, but, may be, to ones or tens of Individuals at least once in a month.. At last :) came to a conclusion... called up by buddy in India... requested him his Sunday morning lazy sleep.. told him to buy breakfast for at least 100 people from a tiffin center and distribute it all to beggars... well I guess few temples and I am sure he will be done.

Gotta see if I could do any better... few ideas in brain.... yet to be refined. Finally felt good about my self and I guess I can sleep now for an hour till 8:00 AM before rushing to work... Good Day!

Our Farmers... our responsibility

As of today two thirds of the Indian Population are farmers. In the mid-1990s, the agriculture sector provided approximately one-third of the gross domestic product (GDP) and employed roughly two-thirds of the population.
As of 2005 It accounted for 18.6% of the GDP and employed 60% of the country's population. It accounts for 8.56 % of India's exports and about 43 % of India's geographical area is used for agricultural activity.
Despite a steady decline of its share in the GDP, agriculture is still the largest economic sector and plays a significant role in the overall socio-economic development of India. This was all possible because of the trust the farmer had on the land where he dripped his sweat in the hot mid day sun with the hope that by the end of the crop season his handwork and sweat will help his family to live their dreams.
But today the same farmer is forced to commit suicide. Why are our farmers loosing hope? what is breaking their trust? what is the government doing? what do MNC's have to do with this? What is our responsibility as a citizen? these are the few questions that as every one of us should think, as a moral responsibility.
The following are the links to a documentary by a social worker on farmers and Indian agriculture. This video explains us the current situation and also answers most of the questions that everyone of us have. But it is you who will have to decide your stand as a responsible citizen.

Part 1:

Part 2: