Chao !

If you have been in a Metropolitan in India or somewhere in Europe, you have definitely heard this....although Chao is the phonetic spelling of the word, the actual word is ''ciao''

Many people are not aware that although ''chao'' is used for ''goodbye'', it also means ''hello''. Inevitably all Italians start their emails with ''Chao Tom'' and this surprises most people. During my first time in Italy, when I walked into a hotel in Rome and the receptionist said ''chao'', I was not sure if she was indirectly telling me I had no reservation....it took me a couple of more chaos to finally figure out that everyone is saying hello !

Chao Signor/Signora !

I am helping a poor girl study, can you too ?

Any kind of philanthropic work (its not much) I get to do always takes the form of helping someone study because I strongly believe in the Chinese proverb that goes something like ''teach him to fish and he will never be hungry instead of giving him a fish''.

My cousin recently referred me to a tamil blog http://balaji_ammu.blogspot.com/2009/07/544.html with such a request for help. I have sent it to some friends and we are all going to contribute what we can. But I realised that with the blog being in tamil, the number of viewers are really restricted (it is a sad fact that even many tamilians cannot read tamil). So here is an English synopsis to get the word around to bring in some more contributors.

The girl, Bhanupriya, has finished school and has scored well to pursue Engineering but her father's financial limitations does not allow her to do so and she is looking for a few helping hands. In the blog, you can find her marksheets, proof of income and the point of contact to offer your help. Please leave me a comment with your email id, in case you have questions.

Who will keep my photos when I am gone ?!

I met a colleague who had been in Mexico for 2 weeks on vacation and when I asked her for pics, her reply gave me a jolt. She said ''I did not take any as there is no one who will want to keep my photos''. She is retiring soon, her parents are no more and she has no siblings. She said ''I already have a bunch of photos that will probably be thrown away when I am dead'' - this is by far the saddest thing I have heard in a long time. I was so tempted to say ''I can keep them'' but I know she wanted love and not sympathy. I said a small prayer for her and silently thanked God for all the near and dear ones I have and will have.

Disclaimer: Places and relationships have been changed to protect the identity of the person.