Give Time Together : Asha

                                                                  The Sabre team

From my college days I was involved in charitable work through Rotary Club North west delhi and I use to regularly visit St.Mary's old age home and somehow I felt connected to this place. Even today if I am in delhi for more than 24 hrs i would visit them for sure. When I started visiting them, I thought like any other charitable institution they would also ask for donation and stuff like that, however during my entire visit and now from past 8 years they never asked for any money instead the care taker liked when I along with my other college friends as the old ladies liked talking to us.

When this entire GTT excersise started I was excited as I thought that I would get a new oppurtunity to help the kids and this would give another direction to one of my passions. So even though I was not welcomed I went to the GTT kick-off and saw different groups talking about there institutions and what they have been doing so far. To my surprise, I saw the representatives of different institutions making the statments like " we are really thankful to sabre and many big corporates like oracle,SAP who as a part of CSR (corporate social responsibility) donate a lot of money to us and also sometimes send some volunteers " this gentleman was representing the school for blinds. I was amazed and shocked too, all of them were like trying to compete with each other and trying to out shine other by taking names of the companies associated with them .. except for this one ASHA. This group only talked about the disease and how it affects young kids.
I made my mind that If I am gonna do this than it would be this group only.

But sometimes things don't happen the way you plan. I was demotivated the way the things went.
GTT event is not just to help people in need (NGO's), its also for the managers and to full fill their KRA (key responsibility areas) which has this as a part and they are judged on the basis on it annually. Yeah !! thats why, I am not sure, whether you have seen this or not only few people are always take the credit or showcase that the entire event is their hardship. I was also surprised that the core team is comprising of the same people who are part of every group at Bangalore. Even if you volunteer for anything , you won't be heard as they only want those few people to be everywhere.

Its all about winning the best GTT even that sabre does globally. However, the Dallas team, what they did was far much noble and nice than this one. "Operation Kindness" home for Dogs was something I was really impressed with as not only at work I saw many volunteers posting to there Facebook pictures of dogs and inviting people to adopt one.

Hence I decided that If I want to do some charity, than I would continue doing what I do during my freetime i:e teaching Raju ( a Chat wala near my house in AECS layout)

You all must be thinking that than how come I am in those pictures, guess what I was asked by a dear friend to join in no matter what. Somehow I couldn't say no to her, because I felt that she was serious when it came to social work or GTT. so I went,  I won't say half heartedly as I did my best, honestly.

Me selling the products made my the ASHA kids

One of the Volunteers trying to explain the disease and how it affects the kids to one of the parents

Another Volunteer showcasing the stuff  made by ASHA Kids.

But still, I didn't liked the way things went around. I belive that untill you feel from inside to do something, one should never do it. I saw the volunteers, sitting and gossiping and laughing instead of making efforts as if they are here for fun, at the same time I saw few who really did commendable work.

My mum says "anything done with honesty, purity in heart, and is to benefit some one in need, never goes in vein and GOD always look after those who do it without expecting anything in return"

The Sabre team

Manila : Air Phillipines

The Local Transport called "The Jeepney"

I went to Manila for another assignment on the 10th march 2010.
Philippine is a developing nation and is more or less like India was 10 years back. They have cultural heritage which like any other developing nation is being ignored and people are adapting the western culture.

Team at Air Phillipines with the Chairman.

I am always fascinated with the different kind of people I meet and some turn out be amazing friends and some teach me things that I never thought of or considered important in life. and I met few people here from whom I learned that no joy is small and no pain is big. I read that somewhere back during my school days but may be I never realized that with all these years of work and everything I lost touch on the basic fundas of living life. Now a days my priorities are more materialistic and  I started looking for satisfaction in those which I never got.

Like any other new city I go, this as well I was confined in my hotel room and worked after coming back to the hotel everyday. But somehow for this assignment I felt I was prepared, May be because I was coming straight from another assignment I the states. The team here came from different back grounds and still were content as one of them mentioned that "if we don't know whats gonna happen the next minute, than why spending that quality time in thinking about it. Just live the life the way it comes". That made me think and i understood what really meant  to be living your life means. It is not always laughing,enjoying,partying or working ... its to do things which makes you feel happy and content, which one can find peace and satisfaction. I am still seaching for it.

I always felt that god wasn't fare to me, but after meeting this group I felt that I was so wrong. Sometimes we don't value what  we possess and crave for what we don't have but when I look at people on the streets I realised that things I never valued. Trust me I am not good and I thought its a change that I need to bring in myself.


I also learned that the people you love and care for the most in your day to day life tend to put a blind fold cover on your eyes .. which not only blocks your view but also makes you think that everything done or said by him/her is correct. I had this same experience and trust me people when this gets over, it leaves you with nothing but sadness and a feeling of being cheated. But at the same time if you forgive that person and let go of him/her would leave you stronger and at peace.

You all must be thinking how come I learned all this in just one trip, well I guess the thoughts were there in my mind from the very start but I just could not find a right reason to bring that change in myself. This is another trick your mind plays with you, it needs explanation or you need to convince it before you change anything in yourself.

In the end,  I met few people who I will never forget and would keep myself reminding of the facts that no one is Big or small, superior or junior, loved or hated, all are same .. we just need to change the way we look at each other ..

Last few months !!

The Sabre team at Jet Blue, Salt lake city UT

Last few months havebeen really busy, different projects,fifferent locations and long hours of work ... I past few months I have had oppurtinities to interact/meet with people from different back grounds and culture. It was a great learning experience. During one of the projects, I met few people who really inspired me in terms of the way they take life and and they shared there experiences with me whenever we went out. Although I also saw a lot of insecurity among few of the people I met and saw the level of dissatisfaction people have from life, from family etc ..

Jet Blue Team & Me

The Airline Solutions Training Team

Project completed successfully : Jetblue and Sabre team

I was in US for almost a month and a half and those days may be I over worked, the reason was to prove myself and abilities when everyone was watching this project very closely. All that hardwork made me lose on ther other end "personal Life".... Staying away from family for that long, talking to them only once a day and when your back you are in a different city  and you don't see them for another couple of months may be...... for a person like me who gets his all motivation from family, makes me more lonely and sometimes SAD....

When in the office its all together a  different ball game. you have to have a MASK on yourself and always be cautious which stops me from being myself ... people pretend to be your friend and everyone tries to outshine others forget calling themselves as a TEAM ... plus the regional biasness is something that you can clearly see. If you happen to be from Channai or kerala or Andra than you would be preffered by all and if your from north (Delhi) specially they think that your some high brow snob who doesn't know anything and treat you as a complete outcast which adds to the your growing frustration.

As I mentioned above that I lost on the personal front, as I am 1600 miles away from friends whom I met and spent weekends with and above all family specially my mum whom I spoke for long hours ...

but as they say that life is a bitch, I like that work I do no matter even if I am out for 3 weeks in a month but I realised one thing that in past year and half that nothing is more precious than family .. you can earn money any day but if you lose your family it would take you ages to get it back ... or may be you would never get them back at all ...

SO ALWAYS RESPECT and LOVE WHAT YOU HAVE... specially your FAMILY... !!