A Trip During A Trip

A Trip During A Trip

Houston is one the beautiful and big city of USA. I came here as an exchange student on July 19, 2017. I am from India: currently studying entrepreneurship at Houston Community College, Houston, because I have a dream of starting my own tour company back in my city Mumbai, India.

So far in Houston, I have explored:

Houston Zoo: where first time in my life I saw real Lions and Giraffe.

NASA and Museum: Who would not like NASA?  It was one of the first places we visited in Houston, had a lot of fun with my newly met friends, and now we are like childhood friends.

Museum of Fine Art: Honestly, before this, I had no idea about fine arts, but I loved it.

Galleria Water Fall and  Galleria Mall, it is one big mall where you can buy almost everything of the current trend. right behind the mall, there is an artificial waterfall. It looks so beautiful with a garden right front of it.

Downtown Aquarium of Houston: for this, I would like to thank our coordinator Lorin Banja because he suggested us to go and it was worth. The highlight of the aquarium for me was a WHITE TIGER. I am sorry, it was Tigress.

Texas Renaissance Festival. Texas Renaissance Festival woke up my inner photographer again. On that day I took more than 700 pictures of the visitors as well as the workers over there. it was a festival where people were wearing the costumes of the Renaissance period. I had never seen such thing before.

Houston Zombie House, Houston-. HA HA HA, when I think about Houston Zombie walk I just laugh and laugh, because it was placed where people in zombies attire try to scare you. you go through different houses and people suddenly appears in ghost and zombie's attires and scare you. Well for me, it was funny because first I wasn't scared at all and in addition to that there was I lady in a scary attire and her job was to scare other but unfortunately for her, I scared her. ;)

Likewise, I did many other activities and visited many such places, like
Houston Downtown Parade, A ghost story of Christmas: at Alley Theatre,
Dickens on the Strand festival at Galveston Island,
Magical Winter Light, American Football match at UH,
Natural Science Museum of Houston, Zuma Fun Centre.

Each time was excited and funnier than the previous.

But today I am way way more excited than any other time so far in Houston. I am not saying that those days were not good or were not excited, but this time I am going for a trip by my self with my three other friends to visit other states in the US.

First place which I am visiting on my trip is Las Vegas. I have only seen this place in 'movies', and I can't believe today I am going there. Just a few more hours left for me to take the flight. I wish I could capture this moment to share with you all, and then I will go to Los Angles, then San Fransisco to Boston, then New York, New Jersey, to Buffalo and finally back to Houston on January 4, 2018.

Wait!  my trip is not over here. Again on January 7, 2018, I am going to Arizona for 7 days. I am super excited to explore, and to learn more about the world.

Some glims so far in Hoston....

Wish Me Luck!!

And my trip is not over yet...because  I am here for four more months.....  :) 

Volunteering At American Redcross Society

I have been volunteering here for last couple of days. I have noticed lots of help and supports from the state and society towards the victims of Hurricane Harvey - Houston.
I come here almost every day.  (from 9 or 9:30 am till 8 or 9 pm)
But on September 1, 2017, was one of the most memorable and satisfying days for me.

I saw a little baby fell down and got hurt on the nose. It was bleeding, but I had to do something to divert his mind. I took him on my ark and started teasing the place where he hit himself a moment ago. I shake my arms and showed him animated fingers and did something funny with my voice. Ta da! he forgot that he had been hit by something.
My task wasn't finished yet. I had to find his family (in the crowds of thousands) and had to take him to the medical supports. Luckily, after a couple of minutes, I found his family. his mom already had few more kids around her and plus she was carrying some food and other stuff. His grandmother was also carrying some huge box of toiletries and stuff. So instead of giving them their son, I decided I would take him for medical.
He was still in my arms. I took him there but there was a huge line opposite the medical desk. But I went in front as was wearing a volunteer batch and no one stopped me. I explained them the incident.
While registering the boy, the doctor, and registrar, they all thought it was my kid. he was so happy with me, playing with me laughing and all. while I was giving him to his grandmother, he looked at me and continuously was looking and looking. Like he wants to say something, that don't go we were having fun or maybe, hey! I will miss you or something like that.

While Serving food to the people, a pregnant woman came and asked for four more packages of food for her family and for her three kids. But at that moment for her it not possible to carry them all together and the place where she was placed, was also a far. Her family was in Hall 'A' and we were serving food in Hall 'E'. Each hall was huge,  like the double size of a Tennis Ground. Which means she was supposed to cross four halls to get back to her place.
I offered my service to drop the food to her place. While walking she blessed me, she said: "I pray when you get married you will also have a girl child, as your first baby". In some places, this kind of blessing might be seen as a curse, but for me, it was really a blessing. Thank you, Lady, for this.

While returning happily I saw another old lady carrying lots of blankets and pillows on a cart kind of thing. It was a bed but a temporary one.
I asked her, "May I help you, ma'am?", 
Lady, "Yes please young man!"

We together pushed that cart to one the area in Hall 'C'. There she asked me to make two beds for two new coming people ( Survivals of Hurricane Harvey). We tried to make beds as comfortable as we have in our home with enough of blankets and pillows. After that, I dropped those remained blankets and stuff back to the corner of Hall "C'.

Though I had done lot of other works today but these three things were asking m, again and again, to write about them. I do not know what are they. I do not whether they are big or small. I do not know whether they are considered as volunteering of not, but after each incident, I was happy. there was a kind of satisfaction. There were smiles on face with pride.

From my these experiences with American Red Cross, I had learnt a lot of new things not only about Humanity, but also learnt something really new and interesting about the American. For example, how the entire country came together to work with the survival and needy people. How millions of lives were saved by the volunteering work of people. How nation works together to tackle the problems.

Thank you everyone for showing me and the world one more new side of USA.

Coming to America

United States of America, it is a land of opportunities, land of migrants and land of dreams.

            

Who would have thought that one day I will be studying here, in the United States of America. 
Last year when I visited to New York, I was amazed with the things, people and lifestyles I saw there. I was in NY only for 7 days and I knew it is very far from the place I was born and grew, but  still I promised to myself that, one day I would come back to USA and for longer stay.

Today here I am...

Though I made it, but coming to the USA was not something which I easily got. It required long term planning, hard-work, Community College Initiative (CCI) process, helped from people and my favorite one- my hunger to learn.

From the day of my returning to India, I started looking for the ways through which I could come back. Money was one of my concerns. so I started making little extra saving by cutting off all my unnecessary expenses.

While interacting with people and looking into the resources, I got to know about CCI from Robin Chaurasyia ( the founder Kranti Organization). She not only helped me through the entire process, but also introduced me to Devika. Devika helped me in writing. Sounak Mitra helped me in mailing and assignments process.

A big THANKS to all of you for helping me to make my dream comes true.

The process of getting selected into CCI was not simple and short. It includes first application, Phone Interview, English test (which includes listening, reading and writing), Medical Examinations, rewriting of the applications and some other forms, and finally visa process and pre-departure orientation. Therefore for me it was one of the longest process I have ever experienced. It took around seven months. It was also very hard, because they not only checked our social background, but also tested our passion for the society through different tests to make sure that we are capable for this opportunity.

I believe all the above process worked out only, because I have a hunger to learn. I have this one good quality that, I am always ready to gain more and more knowledge and experiences. For me US is one of the greatest ocean of knowledge and experiences.

Though I have come here as an exchange student to study Entrepreneurship as my major, but I am going to gain more than just academic achievements. During my stay in the US, I will be doing lots of volunteer work and some internships too which will help me in gaining more knowledge about my field of study as well as the global environments.

As I am living with 17 different people from different parts of the world, CCI becomes a platform of opportunities which will help me in gaining firsthand experience about cross cultural environment, business specific understanding and absorb the diverse perspective- cum-cultural preferences. At the same time these cross culture interactions will also help me to improve my communication skills, team building efforts, language and networking as well as enhance my confidence and knowledge in business.

Further, my journey in America will not end here. There are lot more things to do. I not only want to fly the highest peak, but also want to dive under the deepest ocean of America. This includes eating the authentic food to wearing American attires. In short I have a desire to explore as many places as I could, to meet and interact with end number of people, to eat best of American food and to live the life of an American.

Coming to America was not an easy task because, I went through different process, which were hard, long, competitive and challenging. But yet I believe that this hard work will pay me off with lots of knowledge, experiences, learning and  memories, I made to this point after being helped and supported by so many people and organisation. Therefore I promise to them that one day you all would see me and would say that “ Yes we have invested on a right person”.

Our Work or Job

My work.

What I did, what I am doing, and what I dream of doing in future...........

I was around 7 or 8 years old, when I  started working.

My first work was begging, yes, begging at HajI Ali Tomb, Mumbai.  

Though my father didn’t allow this, my sister and I had to do it for our food. We (My sister and I) used to go to Haji Ali every evening to get some food for us and for our mom.

Days and months passed like that and I started noticing that my mom collected old and used materials like plastic, iron, steel, coconuts, bottles and others stuff from the seashore to sell them to get some money for us.  So I decided to join her in her work.

I don’t remember for how long I did that but I remember for two or three Eid festivals we bought clothes from that money.

Few years later when I was around 11 years old I started selling books at Haji Ali Signal (Traffic light). I still remember, The Other Side of Midnight by Sidney Sheldon was the first book I sold on my very first day at the traffic light.

I think coming onto the signal was one of the transforming decisions of my life. I have not only earned required money from there but also learnt so much.

It was my home, my office and also my school. Whenever I was hungry or needed any money. I just had to pick up the books and had to go to the signal. I also started asking  my customers to help me in reading English. I used to ask about the title of the books and the meaning and how to read, what is written on the books.

Well… I used to work only from Monday to Saturday and on Sundays I worked on the Stalls (Non-authorized stalls on the roadside). These are the stalls of Nimbu Paani (Lemon Juice) or Vada Pav (A kind of a snack that  looks like a burger) or sometimes costume jewelry.

Selling books was always fun. I never felt like I was working. There was always something interesting and enjoyable.

I met a lot film stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Amir Khan, Hritik Roshan, Govinda, Akshay Kumar, and many others.

I would say, "I think I have met almost all the Bollywood actors and actresses".

I have also met cricketers like MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Mohammad Kaif, Partiv Patel, Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid and others too. I met some international stars like Rey Mysterio and John Cena (WWE wrestlers) and Johnny Depp (Hollywood actor).

Many times, people didn’t pay for the books and drove away, and there were also times when people  paid extra for our hard work.

I ran thousands of kilometers behind the cars during my time on the signal. But never felt lost, even when people ran away without paying. I always felt that my life is fun. There were no dreams, there were no fear of loss, there were no planning for tomorrow, there were no rush for so called monetary success. There was only today and tonight.

Signal is also a place where I met Caroline Didi (Mentor, Teacher, Sister and Mother)

Please read my previous article on ANGEL to know more about how I met Caroline didi and how that meeting transformed my life.

It was also a place where  I learnt to be an independent, and a responsible person.

After giving my 10th grade examination I joined The Foundation, a non-profit organization, run by Rahul Bose (a Bollywood actor, director, rugby player and a social activist).

I worked there as an office boy for four months and then left and went back to the signal. During this phase of my life I also worked as a waiter in marriages and as a bar tender in parties. That’s how I gained some knowledge about wine and other drinks.

Well… all these jobs were not my full-time work. I did all these for a couple of months and then left them. During my 12th grade I started working with a Senior Agency (an authorized distributor of Godrej Safe) as a sales man. Unfortunately, or fortunately I didn’t do any good over there too and had to leave after four months.

I think there was something else that was waiting for me. Something which I really wanted to do or something which I would love to do, and would never want to quit.

Yes! That is tourism.

Few months later I joined Mumbai Magic as a student tour guide in Mumbai.

Today it’s been four years and I am still working as a tour guide in Mumbai and worked in the admin department of the same company for one year and six months. From the last year I started working with another tour company called Be The Local as a tour guide in Mumbai.

Today, I dream of "Starting my own tour company for students like me, who face a lot of problems while completing their education. I want to create a platform for these students so that they would get some financial support while studying.

I have learnt through my life that, if you have vision, then no matter where and what you are, start from there. "When there is will, there is a way".

Yes I am not afraid, but I am scared....

I'm not afraid of being alone, but I am scared  of loneliness...
I'm not afraid of loosing people but I am scared of loosing friends...
I'm not afraid of traveling but I am scared of going too far...
I'm not afraid of death but I am scared of cessation of thoughts...
I'm not afraid of change but I am scared of annihilation of me...
I am not afraid of love... but I'm scared of being betrayed...
I'm not afraid of being failure...but I am scared of being defeatist

No I don't have vertigo....


But I am scared of being at the height and of being avaricious
I don't even have any phobia but  scared of living in a known crowd which seems unknown...

Yes I am not afraid, but I am scared....

On 9^th May 2016 the very same day I flew to New York.

It was my first trip via air plan and I went to a place which I always wanted to go and visit.

It was in my bucket list to visit Statue of Liberty’s island and to click some beautiful pictures of NYC from the other side of the city.

I landed in USA on May 9, 2016 (acc to US), spent a week (8 days) and got the opportunities to create the best memories or I would say one of the best chapters of my life book. Through different experiences like meeting lot of amazing and inspiring people such as Gouri Didi, Paul Sir, Xerxes Sir, Fally Malkani, Shikha Bhakoo, Girish Bhakoo, Kaitlin Fusco and many other…..(please forgive me if I missed out your name).

By visiting places like, first my favorite Statue of Liberty’s Island or Liberty Island and Ellis island, to 9/11 Museum, Central Park to Grand Central Railway Station to The Museum of City of New York, Brooklyn Bridge to Empire State building….. ohh Haa ! how can I forget TIMES SQUARE….the heart of Manhattan or New York.

From food to shopping, and had lot of fun with my other family (Gouri didi, Paul Sir, Drew , Maya and Joe , Tula and my buddy Chewie.)

The trip was funded by Akanksha - a non-profit organization works with a dream of “ one day all children will be equipped with QUALITY EDUCATION”.

Thank you so much Akanksha and all for supporting and working with Akanksha and for your contribution to Akanksha directly and indirectly.

I was called as one of the speakers at the 25^th anniversary of Akanksha’s Gala event to talk about my life.

My journey, right from a book seller at traffic signal to tour guide of Mumbai is nothing but just small example possibilities of positive changes. People believe that I have an inspiring story and I believe, because I have been helped by many inspiring people that’s why I too have an inspiring life.

Thank you so much everyone for supporting and guiding me in my journey. This is the beginning, I have to go a long way please do support me the way you have been doing.