Now 7, then 28!

This blog posting is dedicated to all the ppal who have ever taken the regular shuttle from Yelahanka or V.Pura to Global Village.

Once upon a time, n tat 2 a very very long time ago, there lived a gal who took a cab to work. The vehicle cud accomodate a total of 9 people n she was the odd one out. Her seat in the cab was subject to change everyday depending on the unavailability of atleast 1 extremely irregular person.

Thankfully, there came a day when the stars shone and Mr.Irregular left the organization. With a confirmed seat and wide bandwidth filters, she spent her time in learning how to nod her head only when required,when Harsha, the route co-ordinator spoke. Parties, as they were referred to then, happened in Kamat, a restaurant enroute, on B'days, anniversaries n most importantly on certain occasions only!

In course of time, the routes were bifurcated. Yelahanka and V.Pura went their separate ways. The gal with the confirmed seat was now the route co-ordinator of the V.Pura cab. We had to go in for a bigger vehicle as our company grew in size. So, a TT it was!!

Then started the amazing journey to work in Ramanna's TT. An excellent driver, who taught the gal the importance of reaching the stop on time and to respect other ppal's time. Ganging up against elements of common frustration like policies, processes and a need to do something other than just sleep, got the cabmates to play DC, antakshari and other games ended in all of us bonding with the other. Who can forget Prasanna's Kannada songs, which always kept us wondering if such songs actually existed!!

This was the time when Yelahanka cab was also going through their good times, Mafia-a popular game doing the clean sweep there. Yelahanka and V.Pura met up at 8:15,that is the late night shuttle to differences of opinions, arguments, fights and a whole lot of fun. all thanks to Harish and Kishore!

With the passage of time and the company hiring the cab DJ, Sid,a lot of campus minds fresh out of college gotin their energy and spirit to the cab. A personal best moment was when the gal had given a dance show in office n had not mentioned it to anybody.When the gal lands in the cab, all of them clap and congratulate her, like she had achieved something in life,:)

Our treats were more frequent. The bakery near our office, our common hangout. We were happy till the tooofan arrived!!

Plans were already underway to merge the 2 routes with a bigger bus n when it did, there was chaos everywhere which has not subsided till date.

Cut back to the present!

Our cab today is the most happening one! The shreyas for that goes to Harsha. Today when he speaks, my filters have automatically vanished. Infact, there are days when we drag Harsha and urge him to initiate a conversation. If there is one person, who can handle anybody-good or bad, then it must be Harsha. Harsha widened the scope for fun by putting together the best of the 2 cabs:)

Be it forcing ppal to treat or holi celebs or b'day celebs or farewell celebs, our cab has a life of its own!

So, be it Suresh aka Mafia king or Shrinidhi aka If looks cud kill:) or Ravi aka chi chi or Mridula aka don or Arpitha aka Matha or Somaiah aka CEO or Chetan aka R2B:) or Sachin aka Sach-in or Prathibha aka GM:) or Jithu aka hasmukh or Uday aka wiki or Yashoda no-aka Aunty:) or Sid aka DJ, or Ravi aka no treats or Sunil aka rice prince or Srisha aka @ peace or Sangeeta aka patience galore or Prasanna aka people's manager or Ashu aka Kishore daaa;each one of us have our distinct identities and tho some of us no-longer take the cab, their memories with Route no.7 will stay on this blog forever:)So, keep reading!

A link to a very very ancient blog posting of mine on our 8:15pm cab. 2 of the tormentors no longer work with MindTree, but the tutor is still hanging around!

http://dua-my-world.blogspot.com/2009/01/815pm-this-blog-is-dedicated-to.html

Bubbles day out!

Prelude:

Adreno, an adventurer’s club organized a camp for 25 autistic children and their parents. These children study in Bubbles Centre for Autism, run by Sarbani Mallick. We[Pravs, Sid, Shekhar and me] were part of the volunteer team on this outing!!

Photos/Videos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/nair.praveena/BubblesAdichunchunagri?authkey=Gv1sRgCPG588-3t46ToQE&feat=email#

In the Spirit of Easter Season...

View more presentations from M.F. Who’s Sane.

This blog starts from the end!!

Reach home last Saturday, all content and happy. .the events over the last couple of days rewinding ....bringing back oodles of fond memories!

Sarbani tells me the kids havent stop talking about the campfire!!

On our bus journey back home from Adichunchanagiri mutt, amidst the dumb charades and the singing …there was a sense of accomplishment in each one of us!!

After a morning trek with 25 kids and their parents to a hilltop and yummy breakfast ….this is what the parents had to say about our trip!!...I found it extremely moving….

I never thought my child cud do all those adventure activities..many of them their 1sts:).....like d campfire.....d rope sliding activity.....d trek.....this is the 1st time my child is seeing a place beyond home, getting to interact with other kids with absolutely no pressures of having to perform well!!

My system had decided to let the world know that it was allergic to something around[I still think it was Sid :)]….so amidst a whole lot of sneezing …comes the report from Day-1 at the camp…

V set out at around 2:30 to the campsite, which had the kids colouring on sheets with rocks and tree barks as bases….tyre tunnels…obstacle courses, log crossing, rope ladder climbing, rope sliding ….all these arrangements were done in the wild… with Neel and Hedher[ Bubbles volunteers] working with Dilip from Adreno and chalking out tailor made programmes for the autistic kids ....at the same time making the most of the facilities that Adreno had to offer. Neel and Hedher even made personal visits to the camp to overlook the facilities and to ensure that Aaal waazz well:)

That the kids had fun..there is no doubt at all…But that they wanted more and more of it….Im sure of it…….. Let me also add that it is extremely difficult to actually think that these children have a problem....Can never forget the kids who kept coming back to try out the rope sliding activity as many as 3 times each!!

Mannan was the 1^st kid to try the rope sliding activity, something which looked scary even to us!!

All the kids tried out the rope-sliding activity all thanks to Praveena and Siddharth who not only motivated them, but did all that they cud to put the kids to ease!!...I must also mention that when it was my turn...Pravs n Sid stepped back...n let me handle the situation at hand myself...Friends...anthe..Hmmmmph!!

The amazement on the kid's faces when they literally went flying like apnaa sooooperman or bahar ka Krisshhh....will not leave me!!

Back to the cottages, the children were made to collect twigs and start the fire ....thats when little Gokul got a big branch and a big fire out:)

There were kids who were so happy to be with other kids their age...that all they did was to keep running around ....chasing frogs n insects:)

It was extremely cute to c the mothers give their little ones a wash late in the evening after an entire day of trekking....they had these hose pipes which were spraying water on these kids...much to their joy n our envy:)

Rewind to the pre-preparations ….n dunno what I would have done without Shilpa’s help.

Now, I was working out of a different office the whole of last week, so I could hardly do any of the co-ordination thing... Ppal who r regular readers of my blog[If there are any:)]...wud have heard this a million times before .....that whenever u set out to do something good...things fall in place... out of nowhere!!

So our dear old Shilpa steps in...working out the transport details with Moses and Dilip and also in collecting funds.

I am really sorry ... Indu, Rindy and Krathika….for not getting back to you regarding the trip details in time….I remember calling Krathika the night before the trip, urging her to come:)

All due to limited channels of communication , I kept thinking that we were still off to Savanadurga, but an elephant had run amok and so we had to shift our plans to Adichunchanagiri mutt.

Sarbani and team spent nearly a week in advance preparing the kids for the trip and familiarizing them with the sequence of events at the camp, simply coz autistic kids find it very difficult, when expected to react to anything out of the ordinary!

And now the start!!

Starts out with an email to Sarbani, who runs Bubbles Centre for Autism. Now, we have known her for 4 long years. Bubbles does amazingly creative and structured programmes for children with special needs so effortlessly, that I have always been in awe of the place n the ambience it has!!

Sarbani replies back telling me ... they are looking at organizing a nature camp for the kids with an overnight stay in a village...n wanted to know if I knew of any places....Now turns out..that I did know of one person who is a "know-all" when it comes to treks, trips, adventure, etc...

So I call him n he gives me multiple options...n then refers my case to a colleague from office...

I am then introduced to Adreno, an adventurer's club and tats when v took a hiatus n Sarbani n the Bubbles team took over!!

I wont thank the volunteers....but I must tell this....Be it all that karab singing...especially Pravs....or the standing out there in the hot sun helping 30 kids get onto that rope sliding activity, giving them instructions...making them feel comfortable....Siddharth and Pravs did an amazing job motivating the kids and giving them all the support they needed...Sid has carried around 30 kids that day....telling them to feel that they r on a sofa...or to fly like soooperman....in the rope sliding activity!!

Whether it was Neel's b'day celebs or Pravs haunted story narration n Prajwal's n my sighting of a "ghostly figure" at 4:30am...who was doing Yoga....this was 1 soooooooper trip....

Who can forget Daisy Aunty's shayari and her fondness for old Hindi songs that existed even before my parents were born....

Our intention was to provide an opportunity to autistic kids and their parents to enjoy a fun-filled day!!.. V set out to make a difference....n V did!!

Some ppal can write so well...Helloo...Not me...But Neel....Do read her write-up..Its just excellent!!

http://www.bubbles-bangalore.blogspot.com/search/label/Blog?max-results=100