Merry Xmas

For past couple of months, some of us from Magma CSR (corporate social responsibility) team have been making a weekly trip (every Friday) to the HAL Aanganwadi. For those who don't know, it is an Akshara (a non-profit organization) supported attempt to provide education to small kids. The kids are mostly in the age group of 2-6 years. Almost all of them belong to poor families, and who but for this commendable effort of Akshara may have been toddling around their homes painting their futures in some dull colorless way.

Dec 20, 2007

It is a small room close to HAL in a clumsy housing community, which you would never notice otherwise. But open the door and you are greeted with a loud cheer and applause from the bunch of kids. Though less in number today (because we reached a little late), the excitement in them is the same as ever. This was not our first visit, but it was different, because it was going to be Christmas celebrations today. On the way to the Aanganwadi, we had managed to blow some balloons for the kids, and it had been more than worth the effort. Within minutes, we were playing with the kids and the whole room was full of balloons.

The celebrations went on for sometime (and they would have gone on forever had we not made them sit down), after which we distributed the cake and juice we had brought for the kids. Just to mention, the way Magma has been trying to contribute for this Aanganwadi is by adhering to a nutrition program, in which we try to make sure that the kids get good food at least once a week. On our weekly visits we usually take some fruits for the kids, but for Christmas we had changed the menu.

After having done with the lunch, we distributed some jackets we had brought for the kids. With the winters in bangalore, we had decided that this would perhaps be the best gift for the kids. Special thanks to Aashika, Kartikay and Gowda Sir (the guard) for going all the way till Majestic to get the stuff. The kids merrily wore the jackets, and hopped around in the colorful blues, greens and reds, showing them off to us time and again.

It was more than two hours since we had come, but the time had flied past just like that. It was time now for us to return back, and it was again the same chorus of "byes" and "Merry Christmas" from the kids waving their hands that greeted us on our way out. Perhaps none of us or the kids were a Christian, but for those two hours, I am sure we all felt close to Jesus or God or whoever we have faith in.

kapil k ....

Its been almost a year now since I switched my job and joined Magma. As a part of the joining procedure, I had to be assigned a unique identity.

This is what I got:
Cube no: 169
Employee id: #$@ (dont remember)
email id: kapilk@magma....

Cube no, employee id etc do not pose any problems and one can be assigned the first from the "FOR NEW EMPLOYEES" list, but it seems figuring out the right email id is an uphill task. The person needs to be uniquely distinguishable from any other kapil or kaushik (in past/present/future) in the organization. So although I would have preferred to have a simpler email id like kapil@magma (as far as i know I am the only one), or kkaushik@magma (this is the way gentlemen -- i hope i qualify for that -- are usually referred to), this is the identity I became. Okay...no probs !!!

Now, it so happened that the housekeeping staff while putting my identity on the cube put the email id rather than my name. And now my cube reads:

169 KAPIL K

One fine day a friend of mine comes and says........"oye kapil k kya??" I could not figure it out the first time, and only when he pointed to the name plate that I got what he intended to say. It was interesting thing to notice, and I was a bit surprised that I hadn't noticed it till then. I did not mind, but just cautioned him to pronounce it correctly (i.e. Kapil ke and not Kapil ka :p). Since then this name has caught up decently with few of my colleagues who wish to avoid calling me KK for a possible name conflict with another KK already in the office. Most still call me Kapil :)

This is not the first time I have tried to write a blog, but in quest of writing a fundoo blog, I have never managed to bring it to the publishing stage. But I guess the only way to get to being fundoo is to start from wherever you are and then strive for the goal. This blog is just a mirror of some subtle thoughts which cross our minds too often that they get lost in worldly wide web of thoughts and we fail to notice them. "kapil k ......" just got noticed :).