Get up and help!

"I am an average citizen. I work from 9 to 6 . Sometimes I even put in extra hours.  I get my salary and earn my living. I have fun over the weekends and I make sure I give time for my parents and friends. . I do not hurt anyone intentionally nor do people fight with me. I am pretty good at all this. Yes, I do need to acquire new skills but I am satisfied with my current progress. Also, I am working towards my future plans. All this I do for my family and for myself. I make sure I give some money to charity whenever possible. I am a good person."

Many of us have the above outlook towards ourselves. I also had the same mindset. I considered myself a well planned and a focused individual of the society. Until I realized I was actually subtly selfish in nature. "I" earn "my" living. "I" am good. I do everything for "my" family and "myself". It may be surprising to many of us, but I want to bring to your notice how we often tend to think of ourselves in whatever we do. I believe we have a responsibility towards the world we live in. All of us know that we can sleep peacefully because a soldier is risking "his/her" LIFE to protect us. Researchers are working day and night to find cure for illness so that we can live a healthy life. They are being paid but I believe money can buy back the resources invested but it cannot buy back the time a person has invested.

Its very important for us to contribute to the well being of others. We all dream of a good world. But are we good enough to put efforts to make a good world? Yes, charity does help. But there is nothing like going out there and helping feed a hungry stomach. NGOs and charitable organisations rely on sponsorship. But they run on peoples efforts. People like you and me. Go out there and see the troubles of people. Put in your talent to help educate a child. Fight for the rights of someone. I am not asking you to leave your job and dedicate your life for the nations prosperity. I am requesting you to put in one hour in a month towards helping someones life personally. You can spend time teaching a child to read, give company to a the elderly from the old age homes or even help people fill up forms in a bank!. You can  join an NGO and spend one full day with them. There are innumerable opportunities to help. All we require is the will to help. The will to think beyond our needs and desires.

We can either start giving a helping hand to the needy around us or we can just ignore them and instead spend 2 hours watching a movie. Its upto us. We are all made unique by our Creator. Its us who think we are average and no different from others when our appearance itself clearly contradicts our thoughts. Even the trees around us give fruits and flowers selflessly. We need to realise that we are not here for ourselves only, but we are here more to utilise our abilities to help the needy. You do not need to be a millionaire to help people. Just an hour of your life can make a big difference to someones life. Remember that happiness, peace and help - the more you give it, the more you get it.

Everybody needs help

If you have been to Goa, you would know how difficult it is to travel on a late morning. Even though we have  a good transport system at that time of the day in Goa, it is the scorching heat that drains the energy from you. Incidentally, I was on my way to office on one such morning. I was 5 minutes away from my office when I saw a man lying on the other side of the highway. He just lay there in the heat, his body still. No one stops by that highway. There are no shops around it, nor does anyone reside close by. However, if this was a well dressed man, he would probably be in a medical center by now. But this man looked like someone from the lower class of the society. Like all of his other companions, he seemed far away from home. Probably a contract laborer in search of a job. A glimpse of him lying there would not surprise any of us. Who would lie there on a hot day? Of course he must be a drunkard! Most of us believe so. Even I did. I was about to take a turn to my right to reach office but just like I was riding on my bike, my decisions were riding on my conscience. I was deciding on whether to check out the situation or not. Do I help a drunkard lying by the road? Why not? Why should I stop helping someone lying by the road just because they are drunk? Wait. What if he is not drunk? What if this man is in an emergency situation. No one stopping by to help him assuming he is just another drunk chap who knocked himself out on his way home. So I decided to stop by.

I stooped and presented him with my round of questioning. What happened? Where are you going? Are you drunk? Did someone beat you up? Okay, these are the questions guys ask to other guys who they think are in trouble. I got to know that he was working near a beach, his companions miffed at him and he was heading to his home in another state! He also said his head was about to burst with pain. Basically, he was not drunk, but he fainted in the heat. Next thing I visited the nearest shop, apparently being Magsons(which I visited for the first time ever), and got water and biscuits for the man. He hadn't opened his eyes all the while. I made him sit and drink water. All this while, a few people stopped by asking what happened and then went ahead. The heat was becoming unendurable now. As he was drinking water, I was wondering if I could drop him somewhere away from this heat. There was no shelter nearby. If I had to make him sit behind me on the bike, he would definitely fall because it was difficult for him to just sit on the ground. I was wondering whether to call an emergency ambulance. This was not an emergency, but what do we do of such people?! God answered my questions immediately. There came the emergency ambulance right in front of me. I was so surprised that I did not even indicate them to stop. But they did stop by! I consider this nothing short of a miracle. A police van followed and stopped by to. Now comes the time I name the characters.

Driver of ambulance: Driver bhai

The other guy in the ambulance who did not look like a doctor: Smarty

The first cop: Daya

The second cop: Fredrick

Smarty and Driver bhai walked towards me, followed by Daya and Fredrick. Smarty immediately put glucose in the water and asked the man to drink it. The man did not respond. He had barely opened his eyes all this while. Smarty then threatened to beat him if he did not drink the glucose. I was dumbstruck! Here is a man who is lying in the scorching heat, not conscious of his surroundings and you threaten to beat him if he does not drink glucose?! This was just the first surprise for me. A few minutes passed by and the man drank glucose. He was coming to his senses now but was barely able to speak. The cops started questioning him. He gave the same reply of him heading home to a different state. That did not please the cops. They stopped questioning him. I asked them what is to be done. They said they will give him some cash and make him travel by bus to the nearest town. It did not seem logical. I asked Driver bhai to take him in the ambulance to the nearest government hospital to which Smarty replied that the doctor would shout at him for getting a patient who does not have anyone to take care of. I looked at Smarty and requested him to take the man to the nearest medical center at least to which he said that the ambulance offered only emergency services and this was not an emergency. This started getting absurd now. I dared not argue with them as they were the only source of help at that point of time. I asked them to drop him to the nearest bus stand to which Driver bhai said that if “something” happened to the man after he gets down from the ambulance, the onlookers will say that they risked the life of a man by dropping him off the ambulance. The cops were discussing among themselves that they would have taken the man to the nearest shelter if they had got their "IV" van. But since they were in a “different” van, they could not do so. You want me to argue with Indian cops? No, I would not. I continued requesting but they seemed to think they were right. Daya then found a a group of workers passing by and yelled at them to take this man with them. They smiled and went continued walking. Fredrick had a brighter idea! He suggested that we tie this man to the ambulance and take him along. This seemed funny to them but not to me.

Smarty was trying his best to revive the man but was getting irritated now. He started yelling “Why do you people have to take birth here and trouble us? Why don’t you take birth in Pakistan?”. This was probably the most irrelevant question I had ever heard. My vivas were better than this! The cops were smiling. They even cursed the man for not responding. I requested them to help me take this man to a place with some shelter. Then the cops agreed. There was a small cross nearby. We shifted the man to the shadow of the cross. It was around 11:30 am now, and the sun over our head. Just when I thought relief was spawning over me, Daya let out a small scream. The man was resting his back on the cross. Daya said that such things are the beginning of communal morchas and immediately shifted the man away from the cross. I was losing my patience now. Smarty said that the man was almost in his senses and they could now leave him there. I requested again. The man was opening his eyes now. Fredrick now came forward and asked the man to choose one of the vehicles, he reminded the man that the ambulance was bigger so it would be more comfortable. Smarty immediately added to take the police van as it would be better because of  a famous political party leader. It seemed like we could not beat Smarty in the topic of irrelevance. 

The man was able to respond better now. After a few more requests, Daya and Fredericks finally conceded to drop the man to the nearest shelter. I saw the man off, and headed to work.

The cops and the ambulance did help the man, but they did not do it respectfully. Our mindset and our beliefs hover in our mind even when someone is in dire need of help. The man would have been lying in the heat for a longer duration had he not got any attention. When finally help arrived, he was mocked while he was helped. But God does not see the social status of any man. He sent an ambulance, even while I was still thinking whether to call one or not. And we need to be a reflection of God’s behavior. We need to help out people before we judge them. Even if it is a drunkard lying in the heat, we need to forgive his inebriated state and try to save his life.

Do stop by the next time you see someone who is need of help. Because God helped you  when you needed help and even when you did not ask for it. After all, you, me and everyone in this world needs to be helped at some point or the other, and in some way or the other.

The biscuit on the railway platform

I have a soft corner for street dogs. Firstly because they cannot earn a living like humans to fill their stomach. Secondly, they cannot leave their area in search of food like other stray animals. There are quite a few dogs who do so and one can see the piteous condition in which they run from one area to another. These reasons motivate me to help a street dog whenever I see one and however I can.

So there I was feeding a stray dog in a railway station on my journey back home from my village. At first, I had seen a cute little puppy ranging about the railway platform. His mother followed him after a while. She was a debile middle aged dog with her other puppies probably somewhere safer than the railway platform. Let me give her a name. I will call her Platty. Platty followed the scent of her puppy who was found sleeping under a concrete “sofa”. She lay herself down besides her puppy and went off to sleep.  I pitied Platty’s state because that railway station was not really frequented by people.  A few opportunities to eat scraps must have been keeping her alive. Hence, my wish to give her at least one meal. Very soon, with a few surprised people, staring at me,  I was feeding Platty with a piece cake bought from a nearby shop. Once the first course was over, I started off eating the chocolate cookies that I had bought for myself. Platty was staring at me. She seemed to be still hungry. I could not give her chocolate cookies! Not because I love chocolate cookies, but because chocolate is bad for a dog’s health. I paused my meal and made a second visit to the shop in the railway station. I then surprised the already surprised people by getting more pieces of cake and some biscuits along with them. The last time I got this much attention from people was while I was dancing in a school event and I kicked off one of those colourful bulbs kept on the stage in my excitement to showcase my dancing skills. Anyways, Platty devoured the pieces of cake and the biscuits with the last 2 biscuits on the floor just when the announcement for the arrival of my train was made. The second last biscuit seemed tricky to eat for Platty as it kept rolling away from her mouth. That made the last biscuit prone to aerial attack from crows.

To my surprise, out of  nowhere, like how Harry Potter appears at the other end of platform 9 3/4, a man dressed in rags appeared. He looked pleasantly lost. He moved towards the last biscuit, slowly bent down and picked it up. He then stared into the oblivion. He smiled and stood there. This scene really struck me. There I was sitting eating my chocolate cookies, with a man picking up a biscuit that I had just kept on the floor of the railway platform a few minutes ago. Only a person with dire need of food would do this. But I could be wrong. This person seemed mentally ill. He was shabby, looked like he hadn’t had a bath in a couple of months and was pretty well built for his condition. I usually don’t encourage beggars as I believe they can earn their living in a more respectable way.

My train was about to arrive in 5 minutes. I had still 3 cookies left. And there was this man infront of me with Platty’s biscuit. And there was Platty, satisfied and seated comforatbly on the railway platform. My mind was waging its usual war. Mr.Pro was telling me to give the cookies to that man as he looked hungry and homeless. Mr.Con was telling me not to, as I would just encourage him to not overcome his mental state and thus making his food comfortably available. 2 cookies left. I could hear the train hooting. Mr.Pro somewhere in the distance now, giving me a “go-ahead-and-give-the-cookies” look. Mr.Con very close to me, making  me eat one more cookie....and then the last one. I boarded the train.

A few hours later I was at home. I had not got the slightest thought of what happened at the railway station all along the way. But at home, the thought occurred to me again. Did I do the right thing in not giving the cookies to that man? But if I had not done so, I would just be encouraging that man to expect food from someone else. He can very well work and earn his own bread. But then I remembered what God tells us. He tells us not to judge others because we have no right to. I judged that the man did not deserve food to be donated as he was fit enough to work. I judged that he was in his senses and was capable to earn his livelihood. And it was my mistake. Who am I to judge what people deserve when God has given me what I don’t actually deserve? What have I done to earn my life from God? Nothing! I had overlooked love before my human logic. I did not realize that love was more powerful than human intellect. I should have just shared those cookies with him. And I was wrong in not doing so.

As I believe, everything happened for a reason. If I had to share the cookies with him, I would be satisfied of having done a good deed and would have not contemplated on that issue. I would let my human mind overcome what God says the next time I encountered such a situation. This experience made me decide on what I am going to do the next time I come across such a situation. I am going to not judge anyone and do what is good.  Do what God has told me to do and continue doing so.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” ― Martin Luther King Jr

The Orange Bucket Project

What is The Orange Bucket Project?

The Orange Bucket Project is an initiative started in February 2014 to cater to thirsty street dogs by providing them with water to drink and quench their thirst.

Why only street dogs?

This initiative started in India which has a large population of street dogs. Unlike stray cattle and other animals which wander in search of food, street dogs are confined to a local area for almost their entire lives. Their access to any source of water is limited to only these areas. Including stray cattle and other animals would be a welcome step for the Orange Bucket Project. But at present this project does not have the resources to do so as cattle consume water in large amounts.

How is this project carried out?

Volunteers working for this project provide drinking water by carrying a bucket of water in their vehicles and by locating street dogs in different localities. The bucket is kept by the road so that it is easily accessible to the street dogs. Once all the street dogs present near the bucket have drank water, the bucket is picked up and taken to a different locality. This activity is performed once a week for one hour. At present, water is provided every Tuesday from 6:30 am to 7:30 am in the morning.

Why only once a week? Why only one hour?

This constraint is due to the non-availability of resources on a daily basis. Volunteers for this project are full time professionals and hence are expected to dedicate one hour of their time in a week.

How much water is provided?

At present a 5 Liter bucket is used, carried on a non-geared motorbike.

How successful is this project?
When this initiative was started in Febrauary 2014, 4 out of 12 dogs drank water when it was provided to them. As of 6th May 2014, 28 out of 70 dogs drank water from the bucket when it was kept within 10 feet from them. Most of the dogs are scared of people around them. Slowly and steadily the number of dogs drinking water will increase as already seen.

What are the risks involved?

The volunteers for the Orange Bucket Project are carrying out this activity for a noble cause. They carry out this activity at their own risk. The major risks involve bites from dogs. Other than that the volunteer may be chased by a pack of dogs.

Who will be responsible if I get hurt while carrying out this activity?
This activity is completely voluntary and you will be solely responsible for yourself.  I will always be ready to help you out. :-)

Have any of the volunteers been bitten or chased by dogs till now?

No. This has not happened. This activity involves developing a kindness towards animals and connecting to their feelings in a way that they understand us.

How many volunteers work for this project?

At present I am carrying out this activity alone. This blog post is intended to create awareness about this project and gather more volunteers.

Which areas covered?

This project is carried out in Goa, India. At present water is being provided in Margao, South Goa at the following localities:

Gogol, Housing Board

Gogol, Old Chowgulle College

Gogol, Vidyanagar

Monte Hill, Aquem

Is this project registered under an NGO? 
No.

Will I get an experience certificate?
No.

What will I gain from carrying out this activity?

This activity is completely voluntary. By getting inlolved in this activity, you will gain the satisfaction of helping needy animals. You will also be experienced in handling dogs. ;-)

Whom do I contact to volunteer for this cause?

You can contact myself Nikhil Bhat at nikhilcbhat@gmail.com.

Love Untold - A musical journey

Music, as perceived by many, is a rhythmic, melodious composition of musical notes. For many years, even I connected with music in the same way. I would listen to a song and I would like it only if the singer qualified for my personal criterion of “My Favorite Singer” and also if the song was catchy. My perception of music changed when I listened to a randomly chosen song at my uncle’s place using his headphones. All I can recollect is that I could hear every musical instrument being played in that song! I was amazed! A new curiosity had emerged in me. I wanted to listen to every song with such detail! I identified several unheeded beats, strums and tunes in a song. Sometimes it occurred just once in the middle of a song! But I waited to hear it (Try it. It’s fun!)

And so a year passed and I developed a lot of interest in music. I even went to a crash course in guitar, (Although I did not master it. Read my blog post "Strings and Frets"). And then I wanted to compose my own song. I know I had started dreaming big without knowing the A, B, C of music. But I badly wanted to compose a song which had a meaning in it. Which is not just catchy, but which can match up with the songs sung by international artists. So then I set of on the task of composing a tune for my first song. I did this while carrying out my daily tasks, humming a tune, trying to find out if it matched with any of the songs that I know of. One day, while washing my clothes, I found a melodious tune(that’s what I think of it). I noted down the tune i.e take a guitar, play the tune and note down on which string and fret of the guitar it is played.  Well this is how I write down my compositions.

So now I had a composition. All I needed is the lyrics for the song and then my song would be complete, or so I thought. I sat down one day and wrote a story. It took me quite a while to convert that story to decent lyrics. I named the song “Love Untold”. Now everything was ready. I had to only record the song and then I would upload it on YouTube, get a million hits, become an international superstar and play golf with Hollywood celebrities. But there was something missing. Something that made me to not record it in a professional studio. It was the zeal to materialize my composition.

Three years passed, I graduated, got 1 year work experience but I had still not recorded the song. The lyrics had undergone several modifications.  My excuse was that I had no musical background and dint know where to record a song. Two of my friends motivated me to record the song. One by saying that it will top the Billboard charts and the other by giving me the push to "google" recording studios at where I reside. So Google searched a recording studio for me. I was a bit hesitant to approach the studio manager. What if he says that he doesn’t cater to such foolish requests like recording just one song. I feared I will be embarrassed if he/she asks me any details about the composition that only trained musicians can explain. I thought they will laugh at the lyrics that I had written.

But then I just wanted to give it a try. Let them laugh or say whatever they like. I did not want to regret not having tried. So I ended up at a recording studio after convincing my family that I was on my way to stardom.  After asking the cost of recording and pretending that I was not actually worried about the cost, I showed a sample composition of my song I had created using a computer software. Unbelievably, he heard the entire  2 minute composition. And then he told me to sing the song with the lyrics. I was ready for him to smile at me when he heard the lyrics. But he did not. He listened intently and carefully. He even gave me some suggestions on how to make the song sound better. He then gave me a date to record the song. And from that day till the day of the recording I persuaded my friend to listen to me singing the song everyday and correct me if I would go wrong in the pronunciation or tune. I practiced the song as much as I could. Then came the day of the recording. I was very nervous. I met the studio manager. He had already composed the background score. Blasting from the speakers in the sound proof room, it sounded fabulous! I stepped into the live room where there was a microphone which looked more like a gadget from the future. I put on the headphones and after the recording manager instructed me by counting 3 on his fingers, I sang the first verse of the song. The first verse was over and then I got to hear myself. I was surprised at the quality of the recording. We had a few more recording rounds and then an hour later we were done with the vocals. In the next 2 hours we mixed the song with the background score and a bit of technical mastering and mixing gave the final touches to the song.

I uploaded it on YouTube and waited for stardom to approach me. Well, it did not. And that was not my intention. I had materialized my dream of composing a song. Music is not just about sounds emanating from a speaker or from musical instruments. It is about emotions being told by someone. It tells you a story, an idea within someone’s mind. From this experience I learned that a simple excuse in life can make you miss a lot of targets. If you dream something, then you better start materializing that dream. Stop giving any excuse. Do not wait for the right time. Every day is a good day to start anything good. I may not have achieved something great. I may have not matched up at all with the songs sung by international artists, but I am content with the smiles that I see on anyone’s face when they listen to my song.  Your dream can be achieved, it can be made real, but not with just your efforts, it needs the efforts from your near and dear ones to motivate you to achieve it.  It needs the help of strangers who are willing to help you in your journey. Be humble, accept that you cannot achieve everything on your own in this world and live your dream.

Listen to Love Untold here.

A chilled summer!

Being in Goa, in the month of May, can be one of the “stickiest” experiences one can have. With the temperature and the humidity soaring up early in the morning, one just feels like going to Antarctica  So one of my friends had come up with an idea of spending a holiday away from the Goan summer…..not in Antarctica  but in Ooty. The hotel rooms, the train tickets and the traveler was booked using the magical Internet facility. And so came the day when the ten of us office colleagues( more of college friends) had to leave to Ooty in the world famous Mangala Lakshadweep Express, which travels through a 500 km sea tunnel from the Lakshadweep Islands all the way to the railway station in Margao, Goa. We boarded the train (which arrived 3 hours late) at 11 pm and sweated in the Sleeper Coach as we lay in our individual berths trying to get some sleep. By the way, I was kidding about the sea tunnel part.

We arrived at Kozhikode, Kerala the next day at around 8 am, from where we had to travel a 6 hour journey by road to Ooty. The climate in Kerala was no different than that in Goa. We met the driver of our uber cool, 75bhp tempo traveller. After setting our luggage in it, we were all set for the road journey. But first we had to have breakfast! Now, South India is very famous for its breakfast of Idli, Vada-Sambar, Masala Dosa etc. So no matter if you would give us the entire Mc’D menu for free, for our breakfast, we wanted Idli, Vada-Sambar, Masala Dosa etc. So we stopped by a restaurant on the way. I don’t remember there being a time shift of 12 hours between Goa and Kerala, but the waiter offered a dinner menu for us! And for vegetarians, he specially went to the chef to ask for the varieties in vegetarian dishes and told us that they had Vegetarian Khurma only! It seems that in Kerala, the breakfast consists of parathas, chapaties and khurma and nothing else. So we had our compromising breakfast and set off to Ooty.

The very humid climate in Goa and Kerala, made me believe that there can be no other place on this entire planet which can be cold during May. When the driver told me its going to be cold in Ooty, I could not believe him. I mean, Ooty is where? Antarctica ? With a Bollywood movie playing for 2 hours, we reached the out skirts of Tamil Nadu. (Summary : Margao is in Goa, Kozhikode is in Kerala and Ooty is in Tamil Nadu). The temperature was cooler, the humidity was very less and people were actually wearing sweaters! Now either it gets cold in Ooty or people are pretending to make tourists believe that the weather is cold. I still did not believe that a summer can be cold. As our vehicle swirled through the scenic mountain roads, calm lakes and the misty clouds welcomed us here and there. Thick pine trees covered the mountains from the base and smooth roads surprised us with splendid scenery at every turn. Cruiser motor bikes roared past us, as groups of bikers made their way in a biker’s paradise. We reached Ooty around 3pm and checked in to our hotel. After a refreshing meal we headed to the Ooty market. We found a large number of shops which sold warm clothing. Most from our group at once started buying sweaters, sweat shirts and mufflers which were available at very affordable prices. And as we walked through the city streets, the weather grew chilly. This was what I was waiting for. I did not wear a sweat shirt just to enjoy feeling the cool weather. Vapors blew out of our mouths as we spoke in the cold night. And, I had to agree that it really was cold in Ooty.

We woke up the next day to visit the nearby tourists spots. The morning was warm and crisp. After a much awaited South Indian breakfast, we visited the Pykara water falls, which did not have much water in it. After that we headed towards Pykara lake for a boat ride. With the click of cameras surrounding everyone of us, we climbed the boat which took us into the waters. 

Pykara Water Falls 

Pykara Lake

By late afternoon, the weather got cloudy and it started raining! Not only was the summer in Ooty cold but it was also wet! As the heavy rains slowed down to a drizzle, we visited 9th mile. This is a vast mountain grassland with lot of tourists. With steaming, boiled, spicy peanuts and sweet corns in our hands(and mouth) we climbed the slopes of the grassland.

9th Mile

Any cow will be extremely happy to see a mountain full of food! It was just grass and grass everywhere. The clouds hovered around us to give a mystical feel to the place. After having clicked pictures with poses suitable for Mr.World and Miss World competitions, we left 9th Mile for the famous Botanical Garden. The Botanical Garden is a gardener’s paradise, with a guy like me finding it more of a forest than a garden. There were just plants around everywhere, just like in a forest, but with sign boards next to them. After the hour long walk in the Botanical Garden, we warmed ourselves with a cup of cutting chai and signed off the day by buying lots and lots of home made chocolates.

Botanical Garden

The next morning excited us with the Toy Train ride. It traveled from Ooty to Connoor winding up the slopes of the hills and overlooking the small town of Ooty. The train took us through pine forests and over high bridges.

Toy Train, Connoor

 We reached Connoor and traveled by road to a tea garden. The tea garden was indeed beautiful! With 70 year old tea plants lining the slopes of the billion year old mountains, we were introduced to the sight of endless greenery. 

Tea Garden, Connoor

A local guide took us through the tea manufacturing process and let us do what we had come for – take photographs. And we clicked of course! We clicked as if that was the last chance of our survival and we clicked until the battery in our cameras could take no more. After the tea garden we traveled through the steep, winding slopes to Dolphin’s Nose. The roads leading to Dolphin’s Nose were stone paths. The surroundings, with beautiful mansions, circled by well kept gardens made me feel as if I was in Italy! For the first time, the vehicle in which I was travelling created a traffic jam. We were stuck at a turn as huge cars zoomed on the other lane and our vehicle could go ahead only by crossing to the other lane and then taking that hairpin bend. Me and my friend got down and stopped the vehicles on the other lane for a while so that our vehicle could move ahead. After having successfully regulated the traffic, we climbed back on our vehicle and reached Dolphin's Nose in 10 minutes. Dolphin's Nose is a mountain peak overlooking the tribal villages in Connoor. As we finished touring the location fast, we had a quick lunch and set off to the railway station to board our toy train back to Ooty.

Once we reached Ooty in the toy train, we visited the Thread garden and Rose garden. The Thread garden is a garden full of various flowers stitched and embroidered by hand over a period of 12 years! And the Rose garden is a garden full of extremely healthy rose plants and the roses that grow on them are LARGE! I wanted to see a black and a green colored rose, but could not find them.It was getting cold and we were tired to appreciate the intricacy of every rose and also there were some thousand roses in the garden. So we decided to return back to our hotel and pack as we were leaving to Goa the next day.

Thread Garden, Ooty

Rose Garden, Ooty

We had to check out of our hotel the next day at around 11:30 am so that we cover the 6 hour journey to Kozhikode by 6 pm. We had to board our train from Kozhikode to Goa. The return journey to Kozhikode was not as exciting as the earlier one. Most of us slept as we were drugged by anti-puking pills. We reached the railway platform around 6:30 pm, just in time for our train, which arrived 10 minutes later. As we traveled in the train we went through all the pictures that were clicked in Ooty. 

Ooty Railway Station

(In picture, from left, Me, Shweta, Mayuri, Shuchi, Prema, Shreya, Gauree, Rachna, Priyantha, Pushkin)

It all seemed like a dream now, as the weather of Kerala made us sweat in the train. The green hills which kissed the skies, the cool lakes with smooth ripples, the pleasant weather which gave peace to your mind were all being left behind us. Truly, nature's wonders can relax us and make us awe its creations all the more!

How to make an effective ppt presentation.

I am now in the corporate world and ppts (power point presentations) are a “Look-I-did-some-work” tool here. Some great person has really done a good job by inventing this tool that simplifies the method of transferring knowledge. Personally, I love giving presentations as they give you a creative means to present information. I have attended a lot of presentations till now, but I can say that rarely have I seen a presentation that keeps you interested all the way till the end. You may blame me for my wrong conclusions as you may say that it depends on my interest to conclude whether a particular presentation is arid or interesting. But I too have presented on various topics and I think I have caught in the interest of those remote minds flying in eliciting dream lands. In this blog post, I will explain how to create and deliver an effective ppt presentation. I would like to keep you informed that I am not very experienced in this field, but this smattered information may be helpful for those who would like to improve on their presentation skills.

1.How easy is your topic ?
Understand what your topic will mean to your targeted audience. Usually, presentations are delivered to an audience who do not have complete knowledge on a particular chosen topic. So try to categorize your chosen topic into
a) A topic that is familiar to everyone. ( Ex: How to bathe your dog)
b) A topic that is a complete stranger to everyone. ( Ex: Dual chambered liquid propellant systems )

2.Gather information
Once you have categorized your topic, identify the tit bits of information that will go into your presentation. For example,
a) If your topic is “How to bathe your dog” then you don’t have to put in information starting from the evolution of dogs and their skeletal structure, the molecular structure of water etc. Your agenda should be as below
· What is a dog?
· What does bathing mean?
· Why do dogs need a bath? (Advantages)
· Steps to give your dog a bath.
· After care
· Precautions

b) However if the audience is unfamiliar to your topic which may be “Dual chambered liquid propellant systems” then your presentation should cover the following(note that this is not the agenda, but it just indicates the flow of information) :
· What is a chamber?
· What is a dual chamber?
· Where is a dual chamber used?
· What is a propellant?
· What is a liquid propellant?
· Where is a liquid propellant used?
· Dual chamber and liquid propellants – An amazing combination!
· The dual chamber liquid blah blah system – What it actually is.
· Uses of the dual chamber blah blah.
· Advantages and Disadvantages.
· Conclusion

3.Slide Construction
After you have gathered all the information then it is time to put them in your slides. DO NOT put complete sentences in your slides. Put the information in points ONLY. Remember that you are not making a presentation to give sentence reading classes to your audience. Lengthy sentences on a slide make the information look more complicated and thus make the audience uninterested in the presentation.
Consider the following two examples if present in a slide.

• The introduction of high-yielding varieties of seeds and the increased use of fertilizers and irrigation are known collectively as the Green Revolution, which provided the increase in production needed to make India self-sufficient in food grains, thus improving agriculture in India.
• Hybrid high-yielding wheat was first introduced to India in 1963 by Dr. Borlaug. Borlaug has been hailed as the Father of the Green Revolution. The methods adopted included the use of high yielding varieties (HYV) of seeds.

The above information will just overwhelm your audience when presented on a large white screen and they will prefer to skip it. So this information can be presented articulately as below.

Green Revolution, India(Slide 1)

• Introduction of high-yielding seed varieties.
• Increased use of fertilizers and irrigation .
• Increased production.
• Improved agriculture.

Hybrid high-yielding wheat (Slide 2)

• Introduced in 1963 by Dr. Borlaug (Father of the Green Revolution).
• Methods - Use of High Yielding Varieties (HYV) of seeds.

Observe that even though the topic was introduced out of nowhere, it is pretty easy to comprehend the information in the second format.

4.Speaking while presenting
You may miss out on a lot of information if you present the data in points. So how do we present this data? Elementary, my dear readers. Just speak it out. DO NOT read out whatever is there exactly in the slides. Explain it to your audience. While presenting DO NOT speak “Now we come to green revolution in India. What it gave is introduction of high yielding seed varieties increased use of……” Your audience is well capable of reading the slides on their own unless you are presenting it to kindergarten students. Describe every point on the slide in an easy way. You may say “So now we proceed to the Green Revolution of India. As the name describes, it was a revolution indeed which brought about increased use of fertilizers and irrigation by introducing HIGH YIELDING SEED VARIETIES”. Speak out unfamiliar words slowly ( words indicated in CAPS above). Your audience may lose track if you speak too fast. Speak out the information like you are telling a story to a child, with lot of expressions and emphasizing important terms. This will keep the audience with you throughout the presentation till you conclude.

5.Timing your presentation
Know how much time you have for your presentation. Do not speak too fast or too slow as you may have to compensate on time later. Do not keep moving on the stage as that will distract your audience. Stay calm and composed and let your body posture be straight. Look at the audience, throughout the presentation. Be well versed with each slide so that you may not spend your entire time staring at the slides. At the same time, do not keep looking at only one person in the audience. Keep looking at all of them while speaking. This indicates that you want everyone to receive your speech. . Be fluent in whatever language you are presenting. That does not mean that you have to be language expert. Be audible to your audience.

6.Confidence
Finally, we come to one very important factor – confidence. Developing confidence is a gradual process unless you are someone who is blessed as being a confident person. Practice speaking before the final delivery of the presentation. Have thorough knowledge on what you are presenting.

These were some of the important points that may be used to deliver an effective presentation. The aim is to keep the audience interested by making it easier for them to comprehend. The above steps can help you in bringing a substantial improvement in your presentation skills! I may have missed out on some points, so please feel free to add in by commenting below. All the best for your next presentation!