Tag Archives: Blog

Day 90

“Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.” Mother Teresa

It’s 8: 19 PM on day 90 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Batura – deep fried bread –   and chicken curry  for  breakfast,  tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for most of the day –I must have asked about 50 people for a donation and I either got a kiss off or a I congratulate you on the great work your doing – I feel like pulling my hair out 🙁 –  feed myself rice and curry for lunch, go visiting people – it was heartbreaking my father had to check if there were any other people in the house – people other than the people we were intending to visit – before he finally put me on the wheelchair and took me into the house 🙁 – exercise for 20 minutes  – I was having too much fun teasing my grandma about her appetite or lack thereof to be in pain LOL 🙂 – and feed myself bun and chicken curry for dinner.

I met this elderly gentleman today and we got to talking when we were done he went back to the other room to talk to the adults and I overheard him say to my parents she’s such a happy child and despite my annoyance at being referred to as a child I couldn’t help but smile because his remark proved the theory that I’ve been living under for the past few years – you reflect to people how you feel. What do you reflect to the people that you interact with? 🙂

Day 89

Women need real moments of solitude and self-reflection to balance out how much of ourselves we give away. – Barbara de Angelis

It’s 1: 53 PM on day 89 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth,  exercise for 10 minutes – just for a change of pace I woke up early to exercise and it was so much fun that I think I might carry on doing it for the rest of my life 🙂 –   feed myself Puttu – [pronounced put] ground rice with layers of coconut –  and bananas   for  breakfast,  watch TV, feed myself rice and curry for lunch tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign  – a posted a tweet stating that I would give a shoutout to all who donated to my campaign from 2:40 PM to 3:40 PM –no one did 🙁 – and watch the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader – the special effects were GREAT but the storyline left a lot to be desired 🙁

There‘s a thin line between passion and obsession that’s what I learnt while I was staring at the giant movie screen in front of me and thinking to myself I wonder if anybody donated please God make somebody donate a loud thump for the speakers snapped me back to reality momentarily snap out of it and enjoy the movie I instructed myself after the moment had passed and it must have worked because I didn’t think about my campaign again until the credits started rolling LOL. Have you ever been guilty of crossing the line between passion and obsession? 🙂

Day 88

“Politics is the art of postponing decisions until they are no longer relevant.” Henri Queuille

It’s 6: 22 PM on day88 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself  All-Bran Flakes  for  breakfast, watch the movie Night and Day with my brother and sister – I will be honest the only reason I wanted to watch it was because was because Tom Cruise was in it LOL 🙂 but it turned out to be a hilarious movie if you like action, comedy or romance this movie is for you – tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – life is so strange I spent the best part of three hours asking people for donations and the one person I didn’t ask ended up donating $100 LOL 🙂 – feed myself Batura – deep fried bread –   and chicken curry for lunch and exercise for 10 minutes –I had to do my exercises by myself today because my mother was otherwise occupied trying to get my brother and sister to stop fighting over the Pineapple Juice   – I was laughing my head off LOL 🙂

Every day I watch the news and hear of some or other summit taking place somewhere in the world and yet I am hard pressed to find change coming out of any of these summits, and I can’t help but wonder if the money spent hosting the various summits wouldn’t be better spent, donated to well- deserving organizations who work tirelessly to ensure that every human being has what they need while our so-called world leaders sit around a table and talk. Which aspect of leadership do you think is more important communication or action? 🙂

Day 87

Nowhere on your birth certificate did it say life would be fair.” Trevor Jones

It’s 4: 19 PM on day87 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself  All-Bran Flakes  for  breakfast,   tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for most of the day – I didn’t get any new donations today but I did get another one yesterday evening  – a special thanks  to my friend, Emma (@sapphire100 on Twitter) for helping me spread the word about my campaign – feed myself curry and rice for lunch after which I had some Custard – I made a huge mess of it by the time I was done it looked like half the Custard had ended up on my shirt instead of in  my mouth LOL 🙂 – change my shirt – it took me AN HOUR just to unbutton six buttons – I was so frustrated but something inside me told me that I could do it so I chose to carry on and before I knew it I had unbuttoned all the buttons on my shirt – I was SO happy 🙂 –        and exercise for 5 minutes – my mom was busy so she didn’t have time for a  long-drawn out exercise session – I was SO relieved LOL 🙂

Every experience you go through in this life either breaks you or makes you and as I was unbuttoning my shirt I thought to myself my life is unfair and my counterparts may be able to do the things that I can’t but I’m gonna bring equality to my life simply by perceiving every negative or challenging situation. Has changing your perception changed your life? 🙂    

Day 86

You’ve got to go through hell before you get to heaven” – The Steve Miller Band.

It’s 6: 15 PM on day86 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself  Oats  for  breakfast ,listen to music on YouTube – I heard this wonderful song by Justin Bieber called Pray – it brought tears to my eyes – feed myself  Chapati – an unleavened flatbread – and beef curry   for brunch    tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for most of the day – finally after a 17 day donation drought one of my Twitter friends made a donation – thanks God I know that was you … REALLY appreciate it  🙂 –    and exercise for 15 minutes –  I felt like someone was tearing my hamstrings on purpose – I have never had a child but I bet you anything childbirth is less painful than the exercises I do on a daily bases LOL 🙂

Today morning I woke up willing to tweet for as long as it took me to get a donation but by the 20th tweet I was thinking what is the point nobody cares and at that moment I realized something that I will carry with me throughout the course of my life – the people who don’t quit – even when they want to – are the ones who will end up on top at the end of the day. Do you give up prematurely? 🙂   

Day 85

Love your country.  Your country is the land where your parents sleep, where is spoken that language in which the chosen of your heart, blushing, whispered the first word of love; it is the home that God has given you that by striving to perfect yourselves therein you may prepare to ascend to him.  ~ Giuseppe Mazzini

It’s 5: 58 PM on day85 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself  Oats  for  breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for most of the day – I don’t know how Non-Profit Organization do this on a daily bases –when I started this I  thought all I would have to do is set up my Firstgiving page and tell people about it and they would donate boy was I WRONG LOL :)–   feed myself  curry and rice for lunch and exercise for 10 minutes –  today was a GREAT day I barely felt any pain or discomfort 🙂

When people think South Africa they think Nelson Mandela, Table Top Mountain, Robbin Island all of which are an integral part of South Africa as a whole but there is more to South Africa then our many Nobel laureates and World Heritage Sites we have:

  • A variety of wildlife (which contrary to popular belief do not roam around free in the streets but rather are in zoos or national parks)
  • Beautiful beaches
  • Good food
  • The finest wine
  • Great music (see videos below)
  • Wonderful movies (Tsotsi won an Academy Award for  Best Foreign Language Film of the Year in 2006)

Day 84

If what you’re doing isn’t working then do something different – Dr. Phil C. McGraw

It’s 10: 43 PM on day84 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself  a bag of chips  for  breakfast, learn about Exact Equations – I am so happy I’m almost done with Calculus 🙂 – watch the movies Legendary and Prince and Me 4 – I whole-heartedly recommend Legendry it’s all about showing up for life –    feed myself banana  for lunch, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – still no new donations – I just want to SCREAM 🙁 – drink tea by myself, feed myself  Pizza for supper –attempted to change into a clean t-shirt – I got my head out but didn’t have much luck with doing the same with my arms  but hey tomorrow is another day 🙂 –     and exercise for 10 minutes – a big shoutout to my sixteen-year-old sister – Neethu – for helping me out with my exercises today – I know that I get most of mommy’s attention because of my disability but please know that you are NOT invisible – I SEE you 🙂

A good leader must be able to adapt to the current situationchange what’s not working and continue with what is – I learned that yesterday when I was reading Conversations with Myself – a book by Nelson Mandela – and with that said I have decided to change tactic slightly with regards to how I get donations for my campaign – I am looking for a sponsor who will donate $10 each time someone tweets for example, Wal-Mart Water Challenge to Wal-Mart. If you’re interested in sponsoring my water challenge then leave a comment with your contact information or email me at nishavarghese_1991@hotmail.com and I will get back to you ASAP 🙂        

Day 83

Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible.” ~ Scott Williams

It’s 8: 49PM on day83 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself   Sweet Potatoes with an Onion and Chilli dip for  breakfast,      continued reading Conversations with Myself by Nelson Mandela – on page 62 I could literally feel how torn he was between his family and his country – it was heart-breaking 🙁 – feed myself curry and rice for lunch, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no new donations as yet but someone did promise to make a donation tomorrow – I am SO happy!!!! 🙂 – feed myself Semi-homemade Pizza for supper – we bought pre-made bases and added toppings – drink a cup of tea by myself – I so happy this time I didn’t even spill a drop on myself 🙂 – and exercise for 15 minutes – my mom and  I were arguing about whether it was right or wrong that my uncle and aunty didn’t tell my granny that they were going to  India for my cousin’s wedding just because they didn’t want to take  her – I was ADAMANT that they were wrong – I can’t get over how badly people treat their parents these days 🙁      

 Growing up I always had this feeling that I was meant to be great and whenever times got tough – as they often did in our house with my parents beating up on each other – both figuratively and literally – I would close my eyes, count backwards from 10 – 10, 9, 8 7, 6, God has a bigger dream for you then you have for yourself – and today I woke up and realized that I am every bit as great as I once thought I would be and the best part is that I don’t believe that I’ve  even stretched the surface of how great I could be my point is faith is not something you only have when your life is all moonshine and roses… faith is believing even when you have every possible reason not to. Is your faith conditional on your circumstance? 🙂

Day 82

“Reading is a means of thinking with another person’s mind; it forces you to stretch your own.” Charles Scribner, Jr.

It’s 7: 43PM on day82 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself   Whole-Grain Bread and Baked for  breakfast,      continued reading Conversations with Myself by Nelson Mandela –I knew of my country’s history through history books of course but never have I felt the history as I did when I was reading the book – can’t wait to read more tomorrow 🙂 – tweeted with my right-hand to improve my mother skills – it was so frustrating I typed a word, made a mistake, pressed backspace, typed a word, made a mistake, pressed backspace, typed a word, made a mistake, pressed backspace, typed a word, made a mistake, pressed backspace and so on it went for the next 15 minutes until my right-arm started to hurt – exercise for 30 minutes – I was watching my favourite TV show  – Chuck – so I didn’t feel a thing 🙂 –    and     feed myself rice and curry for supper

Before I started reading Conversations with Myself I like many of you had put Nelson Mandela on a pedestal – I was – still am – awestruck by his mere presence on Earth – but reading the first few chapters of the book I realize that Nelson Mandela is just an ordinary man who did something EXTRAORDINARY which suffice to say puts a lot of pressure on me because I too am ordinary. Have you ever wondered what kind of world we would be living in if everybody possessed the same sense of duty that Nelson Mandela has? 🙂

Day 81

The road to hell is paved with good intentions – Proverb.

It’s 7: 28 PM on day81 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself  Upma – a south Indian dish made of rava – and beef curry for  breakfast,   fix my Facebook button – if you want to get to know the real me add me on Facebook – I am an open book open for all the world to read 🙂 – spend THREE  hours tweeting about my Clean Water For All Campaign – I am so frustrated it’s like all of us are waiting for someone to come and fix all the problems of the world only we don’t realize that each one of us is that somebody –      feed myself  Custard  for lunch – not the most nutritious of lunches but it was yummy nonetheless 🙂 –   continued reading Conversations with Myself by Nelson Mandela –just in the first 10-15 pages I began to realize how much respect Mandela had for the leaders who came before him and that is something that I believe is sorely lacking in today’s politics and the world at large – feed myself rice and curry for supper and exercise for 15 minutes – today’s session was just right – nor too painful and  not too pleasurable kinda like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears LOL 🙂  

 Today as we were having supper I saw my brother – who is my 10kg’s overweight – reaching for a fizzy drink inside the fridge and I said don’t drink that have you see your stomach – I know, I know I am a horrible person – what I really meant to say was I love you want you to be healthy and in retrospect I probably should have suggested an alternative to the fizzy drink – I feel like the scum-of-the-Earth right now 🙁 Have you ever said something that came out all wrong?