Last couple of weeks...

Hey there…

First a short update about what’s up these days with me…

It’s been a couple of weeks now since I moved base to Pune after spending two unforgivable years in Bangalore… Although I miss those amazing times I had at the International Art of Living Ashram near Bangalore, I am pretty much contented for having successfully realized most of the goals that I set out for myself when moving to Bangalore a couple of years back…

And ever since I’ve come to Pune, I’m very grateful for having received extremely positive signs about the mission I set out for myself when deciding to move back to Pune… This time social service has taken number 1 priority on the list of my activities and so far I’ve got plenty of opportunities…

The very first Sunday in Pune, I got a chance to assist in conducting a Nava-Chetana-Shibir (Breath-Water-Sound workshop) for close to thousand students in a primary school, followed by assisting a YES! program of 50 odd youth near my residence in the afternoon. Then in the evening, a public program with Swami Pragyapadji where the ever-enthusiastic gang of Harshal, Omee, & Co. included me in a skit performance to awaken people to vote for a transform in the upcoming elections!

http://voteforchangenow.blogspot.com/2009/04/original-version-in-marathi.html

Even campaigning on roads to encourage people to vote on the earlier day was fun!

The rest of the week was spent more or less meeting up old friends in the new office;-) and preparing for my upcoming visit to Europe…man, am I excited to be there soon!!!
The prep included a quick 1 day (or rather night) trip to Mumbai to submit the visa docs… it was almost a couple of years since I visited Mumbai - so I had no idea how I was going to commute in & out of Mumbai within one night by buses/local trains/cabs/autos - all the transports which I usually hate & avoid, having got used to only flight travel while in Bangalore;-) but there was a strong faith that told me everything’s gonna work just perfectly fine… and so it was… the journey was exceptionally smooth, nothing going wrong anywhere! On the bus to Mumbai, I had the company of an AOL teacher who happens to be the sister of a close friend, so couldn’t notice how fast the time flew before reaching the destination… Now a possible issue was running out of my mobile battery before reaching the destination… coz that would’ve put me in a slightly handicapped position given that I had to reach my agent’s office in Andheri before she called it a day. But the phone battery miraculously lasted till the time I reached the destination and I even got a chance to recharge it before starting for the return journey!!

Reached back pretty late at night… 4am, then a quick 1 hour nap, and the regular sadhana brought back much needed dose of energy in the body to drive to khadki for conducting a NCS in a secondary school. The school principal and other teachers were very hospitable and the students, all girls entering 10th standard this year – I guess around 50 of them were very sincere and receptive contrary to my guesswork

A quick attire makeover in the car to suit the office atmosphere, and here I am sitting peacefully in my cubicle writing away this report;-)

Keep watching for my next post… it’s about a big shock I’ve experienced recently… about the present state of affairs in our country…

Hasta la vista…