Grace Under Fire

I am so inspired; my love for the American culture just grows with every award ceremony, every film, with every mind blowing original script, every television series I see, with every book I read, with the passion of reporting Anderson Cooper brings to the table… I can go on and on and on. To understand and experience the true American dream one just needs to look at how many Indians travel to the USA never to return and the numbers are perhaps as infinite as the stars in the universe.

I see my friends and relatives who go there suddenly turn their fortunes and the essence of their new persona is visible in just about everything they touch.

Hey wait a second – I don’t mean to drool so much, as America has their share of negatives. The most glaring ones are their paranoia and the arrogance of a super power (invading other countries where they have vested interests). Man! are they paranoid and are they arrogant (especially when they had a monkey yeah George Bush, as their Chief of State in the saddle). But they may be forgiven for only one of these indiscretions,  after all they are some of the most generous people, more so at a personal level and their support for freedom of speech and equality et al is incomparably better than most nations. However, the invasions, they definitely need to re-visit and alter their position on.

Currently inspired; and with this dream to be more patriotic and be a catalyst of change I am actually trying to be a better Indian, and have set out to make a significant difference by starting a small social enterprise to try and positively change the lives of the lesser privileged in India. Learn and contribute, be more giving, more thoughtful and share a little more, every day.

It takes a lot of patience to steer a thought – a movement – from being so used to complacency where we always blame the government for inadequacies, to actually getting off our butts and putting our personal “money where our mouth is” (I love clichés and I love using them – they express your thoughts accurately and without trying too hard to make a point),  and not the money of the company we represent.

I also love my new job as a student but not the dilemma of poverty a students life brings, I love to feel young again – it is exhilarating and un-inhibiting. I enjoy being an entrepreneur as some days I work for sixteen hours straight and some days I work for four, but overall I work the regular average.

The toughest part is to buckle down, snap out of my sorrowful depressed state of inaction to actually making the social difference, I set out to achieve. A dream in my heart, a spirited pace in my step and an opportunity to make a contribution to help the lesser privileged with an incomparable attitude of grace and a whole lot of luck from the universe, on a path fired up by an ambition to succeed, I have set off on this journey of change.

I still miss my mom but I am slowly learning to gain control over the grief and anguish and I have my wonderful and talented family to thank for this.