Sunshine!

Last week the sun refused to shine. The days were gloomy…dark clouds covered the bright sky…and it rained on and off like fountains. I saw myself searching for the sun everyday and telling Sun “Hey, I am waiting…waiting for a little bit of sunshine that you could shower on us…don’t be so mean”. I can feel the air becoming cold with each passing autumn day! It is chilling on my way to office and back but my thoughts keep me going.

Ever wondered what it would be if there was no sun! What would life be without the bright, golden sunshine rays, enveloping the air and breathing life into nature? Even the thought makes me uneasy. Oh sun! I love you.

Work during the last week was good as we at Free the Slaves progressed towards another week in preparing for Freedom Awards 2008. The Freedom Awards 2008 are global awards and would celebrate the visionary and courageous community based organizations, community activists, survivors of slavery, and individual leaders who are showing the way to a world without slavery. In this context, I did some research on William Wilberforce, who was an English politician who headed the parliamentary campaign that outlawed the British Slave Trade in 1807. This victory came in after more than 15 years of unrelenting work. Together with Thomas Clarkson and other abolitionists, Wilberforce’s leadership helped pave the way for the abolition of slavery throughout the British empire in 1833, and inspired many of the heroes of the United States’ abolitionist movement.

I was also invited for the Youth to Youth (Y2Y) 2007 UN Week Conference (Youth in decision-making: a global perspective.) Well, i got so busy with work that could not attend the conference but made it to the closing reception hosted by the Young Americas Business Trust (YABT) at the Organization of American States office. It was a good way to network, meet interesting groups and individuals and also share ideas.

Then came the weekend. Gargi offered me to join her for hiking on Saturday, organized by her social sponsor Piya. I was excited but the only worry was ‘sun’! Well, sun finally heard me but tried to play naught with me for a while by peeping through the clouds every now and then and smiling momentarily. As we drove on the highway towards the Shenandoah National Park, the sun had come out bright and clear, spreading warmth, bathing the grass and making everything glow. The sun was there to relieve us from the cold pain and to make a perfect day for a trip like that.

We got off the car, walked out into the crisp cold air under the bright sun and stepped on the crunchy and misty leaves – red, yellow, golden and green, as we hiked up the waterfall. In between, we stopped to enjoy our lunch. Gargi had made some lovely ‘Uttapams’ and ‘Banana fritters’ and I relished it completely. I had a great time with everyone and I am sure if you see the abundance of pictures that we clicked, you would know what fun it was. (Piya and Eric, thank you so much for a really wonderful day out!)

Such a fun week was followed by the worst Sunday that i have had in DC so far. I guess that's the way life is...not shining all the time. But yes, the sun did shine the whole day and kept me going. As i went off to bed yesterday night, i prayed for the sun to come out the next day and keep my spirits high.

As we all can see...today is a bright glowing day...and so are my spirits!