Curious Tourist

I usually get up early in the morning on Independence Day to catch the special Independence day speech of India’s Prime Minister live from the hallowed grounds of the Red Fort. This time I decided to do something out of the ordinary and paid a visit to Hajratpur Primary School, a low income government school in Noida that is supported by Samsung’s CSR initiatives. I was delighted when I got the offer from Samsung Noida’s CSR team to visit the school. After all, there is no better way to celebrate the spirit of freedom than to be with little kids who are the future of our country. Little ones dancing on a patriotic song After struggling a bit to find the exact location of the school, I finally managed to reach on time. I knew I had reached the right location when I saw my friends standing in the prayer ground along with so many smiling children. Some children were wearing magnificent tri-color paint on their cheeks and foreheads while others were waving the flags with boisterous

I was thinking about the recent initiatives taken by the Indian government and citizens collectively towards transforming our country. Promises have been made in so many diverse fields ranging from cleanliness and education to clean energy and digitization. The important thing now is to not renege on these promises and work towards their successful completion. New programs, policies, movements, fellowships in both public and private sectors are showing the way in this regard. Full fledged plans have been made and the work is also under way- a reinvigorated Plan to clean all our rivers, an innovative Swachh Bharat Fellowship program to nip corruption in its bud, Niti Ayog's 'Mentor Of Change' scheme to educate young innovators in classrooms and many such well meaning projects have come up. A change in government policy that is giving a fillip to electric cars and promoting clean energy sources such as nuclear, solar, wind and hydro is also welcome as it would help in redu

A way to enrich one’s life is through a regular practice of self-reflection. Reflection when done after every new experience or even after daily work helps create a conscious awareness of that experience that results in the formation of new neural pathways for faster learning. Being detached from the process and behaving like a silent observer standing in the corner, we open ourselves to unbiased and deeper insights into the experiences that we had in the day. It creates a possibility of improving ourselves from one day to the next as we try to do the same things differently and with a different lens and perspective. There are multiple ways of reflecting- writing in a journal, silently sitting with eyes closed which is akin to meditation, walking slowly with the objective of introspection, talking to a close friend or family member whom we trust and many other similar ways(It clearly depends on the person). Since I love to write and blog, it’s natural for me to reflect by m