A smile of satisfaction....

Hey guys...... well rite now I' am sitting for a boring 2 hour class/lecture on Business Communication on this hot n humid thursday afternoon, and so I thought I would rite this blog on something which happened to me yesterday morning, something which really made my day, something which taught me that small things usually make a huge diference and the value of small things in ones life.

Well it was like any other normal wednesday morning, I got up late after the late night tuesday movie, it was around 7 in the morning and I had just half an hour to finish my chores,that is, the dishes, cleaning, sweeping, watering the garden, washing the car, bathing, brushing etc etc, an impossible task you might think , but somehow i manage to do all this on a daily routine. This day wasnt any different, and I finished everything and managed to rush out my house by 7 45 a.m, 15 minutes behind schedule. As I was driving out of my house to the main highway, I saw a person walking on the left side of the road, he was a young boy in an uniform. Well he wasnt like any other normal person, he was handicapped and I could notice that he was waling with very much difficulty.

This wasnt the first time I was seeing him, i had seen him earlier while driving on my way to college, and also at Kalamassery HMT jn. while returning back home. So as I drove past him like always, I dunno what happened but I stoped the car and I waited for him to walk up to the car. He reached the car, and I asked him if he wanted a lift. He agreed and he got into the car with some difficulty. I asked him where he studied andsome casual talk. He told me on the way that he was also late for college that day and that he had some sort of an important exam the same day. He couldnt stop thanking me and I could really see the gratitude on his face. We drove for 20 mins with some nice music and he talked to me about his family.

He also told me about the accident he had which made him handicapped for life. I could really feel that all he wanted was just to talk to someone and someone who would really listen to him. So, I kept quite and listened to him all the while on the trip, and even though he was talkin to me for the first time, He really opened up to me which was really a heartening sight. As I reached kalamassery, he got ready to get down, on getting down he again thanked me and wishedme an amazing day ahaead. As I rolled down my windows, as I started driving I looked at my rearview mirror and I saw this boy still lookin, waving bye to me and most importantly, I saw a beautiful smile spread all over his face, a smile which spoke more than a thousand words, asmile which was much more precious than all the thank you's he gave me, A SMILE OF SATISFACTION & CONTEMPT.

Trust me friends, the feeling you have when u do this is something out of the world, something which I cant describe through words in this blog, and a feeling which u can only get when u experience this. Needless to say, I was more than happy when I walked into class, and even my friends noticed the spring in my stride. On top of that I had a wonderful day and I was really feeling very special and happy. Just a small action, made no difference to me, did not cost me anything extra, but it made such a huge difference in this kids dormant life. He reached college much before time, so he could revise for the test, and most probably he aced it. Tust me guys, small things usually make a huge difference in both ur life and that of others.

I will just conclude by saying something which I told a very close friend of mine recently, I told her, " If you manage to make at least one person smile for the day, ur purpose for the day is fulfilled and u can sleep in peace thinking you have made a difference in the world today."

So, until next time, signing off for now
Lijo Thalodil John

AD-mirers....

Hey guys.... sorry for not writing this long... was going through a patch of laziness coupled with the distressing Rajagiri Syndrome, that is too much work in too less time.... Anyways Im back and raring to write write write.... So here I go....

The story I have for you today is about a group of 5 individuals who called themselves AD-mirers... hee hee.... (dont laugh too much, the name was suggested by me). So, what do you get when you mix 5 total strangers, who are not comfortable talkin to each other, who havent worked together, who dont know head and tail about what they have got into and how they are going to do it? Yes, you get utter CHAOS.....

Well at least this is how I perceived the situation to be.... Boy I had no idea how wrong I was going to be.... it all started with Nithin (one of ma friends) coming up to me one fine morning and asking me to help him out for this ad-making competition he put himself into. Well not an everyday scenario, so I decided to enquire further, then came the real cream... he said that there were 2 other gals involved. Now thinggs were making sense as to why Nidin would give his name for an ad-making competition one fine day out of the blue. Anyways, when he kept asking, I agreed and I remember thinking, "How hard can this really be".... ha ha

So, along with Nithin I went to meet these other "TEAMMATES" of ours.... One of them was a tall, lean chick who looked kiddishly cute to me, she called herself Remya, and the other one was a sweet n trendy...hmmm u can describe her as streetsmart chick... her name was Anu. And this is where the journey of AD-mirers started. The assignment given to us was very simple... to make an promotional ad film for the college. Well, at least I thought it would be simple. hours turned to days and days turned to weeks.... still no progress... no headstart... we were still stuck on the "SCRIPT" for the ad..... oh yeah almos forgot /... we hired one of the most professional and stubborn actors available @ mathew...( juzz kiddin... hes a darlin) who wanted every detail about every shot to be canned including the camera angles and what time we were to do which shot. This wasnt a herculean task, there was just a teeny-weeny problem.. ha ha these were things even we didnt know.

So, as time went by nothing seemd to progress with the ad, but all of us started knowing each other well, we grew comfortable with each other, we started hanging out, cutting classes, making the canopy and the canteen a frequent hideout and before we realized it a beautiful bond of friendship was created. We started having so much fun, when we would get together even if it was for 10 mins a day, we would forget all the things, forget about rajagiri and just be ourselves. We could all be ourselves to each other, and this according to me is what makes friends into best friends. Before we knew what was happening, deadlines after deadlines started attacking us, somehow we managed a video cam and shot something and we submitted it. Well, needless to say we didnt win, but we managed to prove our critics wrong. We did the whole shooting on a zero rupee budget, that is, we didnt even spend a single rupee on anything, and we were really proud of ourselves cos of this.

The thing I realized from this is that it just takes a minute to break a lifetime friendship and it just takes that sinlge minute to build a lifetime friendship. A friend is one who stands by you and with you in ur time of need and distress. Like aI always say, "Friendship isnt a big thing, its a million little thiangs." I gess what made us so close was the fact that we were all going through life together at Rajagiri, and we were there for each other when we needed it the most.

At first, I was never game for ths ad making competiton but now when I look back at it, I realize it was Gods way of gifting me with new friends, people who could be trusted with anything, People whom i could call up anytime and share stupid stories ( well except remya esp b/w 11 pm and 7 am.... beauty sleep), most importantly people around whom I could truly be myself, without putting up a facade, guys u are a blessing, stay the same always... will miss ya like crazy in aussie, but remeber we will part to meet again esp in 4 yrs rems... ha ha... so to end this one i would love to quote dis favourie phrase which i picked up frm somewhere...
"The best kind of friend is the one you could sit on a porch with, never saying a word, and walk away feeling like that was the best conversation you've had."
anyways keep readin.... next one soon to folow... i promise
so till then signing off
Lijo Thalodil John