Celebrate Life...!

While I was posted at Nazira in 2010-11, I used to drive down to Tezpur in the weekends to spend time with the players of Rangoni Youth Sports Foundation, (a NGO working toward channelizing the energy of youth towards sports). The boys were very energetic, spirited and highly motivated. I refresh myself, spending some quality time with them. What I like most about the boys is their strong will to perform and their empathy towards each other. After joining sports the boys showed improvement in academics too. That year none of the boys failed in their annual exams. Gutkas, pan masalas and other types of intoxicants were completely   prohibited for these boys …… We the seniors of the organization were happy because we knew these boys would one day grow up as health youth and contribute towards creating a sporting environment in our state. On a particular Monday morning, I left home early to reach office on time. I used to enjoy the early morning drive through the Koli...

The Reluctant Woodcutter…! “If you don’t study properly, you will become a woodcutter”, my Uncle used to say. Back in those days, Ali used to perform multiple task for our joint family of 23 people. From cutting firewood to taking the cattle for gazing, Ali’s footprints were felt on every step. The meals were mostly cooked on traditional firewood chula and as such demand was huge for fire woods. In spite of all his contribution I knew his salary was far from being impressive probably because he never took studies seriously. I had more similarities with Ali than with any other member of our family, never wore a chapel , spend most of the time with the cows, climbed trees and used to take bath in the pond. The only difference was I could not learn the art of wood cutting, more because the axe was too heavy for me to lift. There was a fruit orchard behind the cow shed. We the children used to take ownership of one plant each and pour water every morning. We felt pride of...