Politicians are leaders come election year whereas, leaders are leaders everyday of their lives – that’s what I learned today 🙁
It’s 9: 06 PM on day 195 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to watch Letters to Juliet on DVD while eating pizza and garlic bread – leftovers from last night’s dinner– for breakfast – it was completely sappy and I knew how it was going to end even before it began but I LOVED it nonetheless the less I would recommend it to all the hopeless romantics out there – brush my teeth, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – again I woke up to find that someone had made a donation to my campaign after I’d went to bed last night – thanks Rachel (@theWriteRach) for your contribution it means a LOT to me 🙂 –feed myself rice and curry for lunch, listen to music for a few hours, feed myself Chapati – an unleavened flatbread – filled with tomatoes and chilies for dinner and tweet about campaign some more – no new donations were made.
Today I was watching the news and I heard the leader of South Africa’s official opposition party, Helen Zille say something along the lines of people should vote for the DA – Democratic Alliance – in the upcoming local government elections because it is very hard to make a difference when you’re the opposition party and not the government and in that moment I realized with great sadness that politics had become nothing more than a game because I knew firsthand that you didn’t have to be in the President’s office to make a HUGE difference. Are your elected representatives politicians or leaders?
It’s 3: 58 PM on day 194 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, make sandwiches for the people in our housekeeper’s neighbourhood (if you have no idea what I am talking about refer to ‘Day 184’) – I buttered the bread while my mom put the jam on – it was SO much fun the only thing I would do differently was tell my mother to buy foil instead of using the sandwich wrap but still all in all it was great day 🙂 – tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – I woke up to find that four more people had made donations to my campaign after I’d went to bed yesterday which brings my grand total raised on my birthday to $161.68 –a special thanks to Anonymous, Melanie, @dianarusso (Diana), @laurajteacheroz (Laura) and Anonymous for their generous donations 🙂 – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, go visit my cousin who came back from university for a week and feed myself pizza and garlic bread for dinner.
Today I signed up to be a part of Earth Hour 2011 hoping that all of the members of my immediate family would participate unfortunately for me I didn’t take into account that Kevin – my 10-year-old brother – couldn’t survive an hour without watching TV so we reached a compromise I told him he could use everything in the living room provided that everything else in the house was switched off and although I tried my best to my okay with it I remember feeling so annoyed that he refused to cooperate but then I realized that sometimes you should stand for something even if it means standing alone. Do you only make the right choice when you’re in the majority?
If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants. – Sir. Isaac Newton
It’s 11: 35 PM on day 193 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, cut my birthday cake (see pictures below) and feed it to myself while watching the Cricket World Cup match: South Africa vs. New Zealand–we lost and are out of the world cup and of course it stings a little but in the bigger scheme of things it’s just a game … people are dying in Japan – and tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – someone who prefers to remain anonymous donated $54.92 – both you and I know who you are thank you for your donation 🙂
Today being my birthday and all I would like to dedicate this post to:
My mother who does things for me that nobody else would do
My father who has taught me everything I need to know about myself to survive in this world
My siblings who never complain even when my parents give me more attention just because I am on a wheelchair
My extended family who show me every day that I am not in this alone
Virginia – our late housekeeper – who has taught me how to love unconditionally
Gerda – my physiotherapist – who expects me to go out and do great things in spite of my disability
Nelson Mandela who has taught me courage of conviction
Oprah who has taught me that you receive more when you give
The cake
The cake out of the box
Me cutting the cake (my eyes appear closed because I am looking down at the cake)
By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. – Confucius
It’s 9: 08 PM on day 192 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a cheese and lettuce sandwich for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no luck – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, tweet about my campaign some more – no donations were made but you would never guess who responded to one of my tweets … country music superstar Leann Rimes I know she’s just a person but come ‘on I’ve been listening to her music since I was 10 so naturally I was a tad star struck … it was a nice early birthday present from the man upstairs 🙂 – feed myself Chapati – an unleavened flatbread – and mutton gravy for dinner continue to tweet about my campaign – still no luck – and watched TV.
Today as I was lying on my bed staring at the TV I couldn’t help but make a list in my head of all the things I’ve learned in my adolescences and this is what it looks like on paper:
Lessons I’d like to pass onto the next generation
People will only treat you how you treat yourself e.i you have to love, respect and accept yourself before others can
Everything is in the way you see it e.g. you don’t have enough money to ride the bus you can either whine about it or you can say oh well I can walk I need the exercise anyway
Always be grateful for what you have because there’s always someone out there who has less than you
The media is making parenting very difficult – that’s what I learned today 🙁
It’s 9: 16 PM on day 191 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself rice and curry for lunch, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no luck – and watch TV.
This evening I was watching my brother watching WWE – World Wrestling Entertainment – and I realized with great sadness that the media was responsible for the increase in violence and promiscuity amongst kids having said that I would like to tell all the boys and girls out there that you don’t have to get into fights and have sex to be cool and have fun just ask my friends Sophie (@SophieBrown95 on Twitter) and Kendall –Sophie is a 16-year-old from the UK who’s raising money to raising money to build a school for village children in South-West Uganda while Kendall from the USA founded Kids Caring 4 Kids – an organization which aims to raise awareness and money for AIDS orphans and other highly venerable kids in Africa and to inspire kids to care for others in need – in 2004 at the tender age of 11. Are you parenting on autopilot or do actively seek out positive role models for your children?
The whole is more than the sum of its parts. – Aristotle
It’s 10: 31 PM on day 190 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no luck – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, tweet about my campaign some more – still no luck 🙁 – feed myself Chapati – an unleavened flatbread – filled with salad and mutton gravy and watch TV.
Several people – my mother included – have told me that I am wise beyond my years and although that this is true to a certain extent I think that they have forgotten that I am just a nineteen soon-to-be twenty-year-old girl trying to find my place in the world with that said I would like to take this moment to introduce you to all aspects of me – from my favourite music, movies and books to my greatest hopes, fears and future travel destinations – like me or leave me I don’t mind either way 🙂
Nisha: The Human Being
I hope to:
Learn how to do things by myself
Become an author
Buy a house
Travel the world
I am afraid of:
Public speaking
Rejection
The possibility of having to live with my parents for the rest of my life
My disability has made me a better person – that’s what I learned today 🙂
It’s 8: 34 PM on day 189 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Batura – deep fried bread – for breakfast, watch the movie Life as We Know It staring Katherine Heigl, Josh Duhamel and Josh Lucas with my sister (in South Africa March 21st is Human Rights’ Day so we are given a public holiday)– it was a heart-warming story of two people who hated each other coming together to raise a child after the death of their mutual best friends I would recommend it to anyone who likes romantic comedies – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – two donations were made today: the first one was a $10 from @bonuschief (Frank) and the second one was a $110 donation from @LegalEagleStar (Tom) of EARLY & BALDWIN SOLICITORS – thanks guys you make me want to get up in the morning and do this all over again 🙂 – feed myself Chapati – an unleavened flatbread – filled with butternut and mutton gravy – I made a conscious effort not to ingest any meat because I was on lent and it paid off in spite of my brother who was doing everything in his power to get me to take a bite LOL 🙂 – and watch TV.
Today I was watching an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show titled Sister Wives it was about a man, his four wives and sixteen children and I caught myself thinking what, how, why … this is wrong and in that moment I decided that I would not do to others what others did to me because I knew what it felt like to be on the receiving end of judgment every time I went out people would stare and make up their minds about me before I had even said a word. Have your limitations been a blessing rather than a curse?
The best things in life aren’t things. – Art Buchwald
It’s 10: 30 PM on day 188 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Batura – deep fried bread – for breakfast, join Triberr – the concept of Triberr is really simple everybody in your tribe automatically retweets your blog posts for you and you do the same for them – tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no luck – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, watch TV, feed myself butternut and curry for dinner and tweet about my campaign some more – still no luck 🙁
Two weeks ago on Saturday I woke up to hear that my father and uncle had made a joint offer to buy another house – they already owed one together – and I remember thinking we already have four houses let’s leave some for other people and I said as much to my mother who’s response was God will provide houses for the other people and in that moment I finally understood that the reason I felt like an alien in my own family was because their primary aim in life was to consume and own while mine was to gather and give away. Have you become so obsessed with the accumulation of things that you’ve forgotten what it means to truly live?
People who feel insecure within themselves will try to tear you down – that’s what I learned today 🙁
It’s 10: 58 PM on day 187 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, make sandwiches for the people in our housekeeper’s neighborhood (if you have no idea what I am talking about refer to ‘Day 184’) – it was a relatively drama-free morning with the only snag being that there wasn’t enough foil paper but that too was not a problem without a solution we decided to stack the sandwiches on top of each other – a HUGE thanks must go to mom who helped me every step of the way – I LOVE you mommy 🙂 – feed myself a bread and jam sandwich for breakfast while watching TV – food tastes better when you eat after you give to other people 🙂 – feed myself rice and curry for lunch and tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign only stopping to feed myself Spring rolls for dinner – @sharoneden (Sharon) made a donation of $53.85 – thanks again Sharon 🙂
Today as I sat at our dining table buttering the bread for the sandwiches my mom and I were making my dad came up behind me and said why don’t you do two first and in that moment he made me feel so incompetent so I said if you’re not doing anything shut up and although I don’t regret saying it I do regret the way I said it because those words were unbecoming of me. Are your insecurities causing you to be mean?
It’s always good to remember where you come from and celebrate it. To remember where you come from is part of where you’re going. – Anthony Burgess
It’s 8: 12 PM on day 186 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself French fries for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no luck – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, exercise for 5 minutes, tweet about my campaign some more – @whoamitome (Juliana) who by the way has donated once before made another donation of $20 – thanks Juliana 🙂 – and feed myself butternut for dinner
A couple of days ago I was watching a Cricket World Cup match held in India on TV and I suddenly felt a twinge of guilt because I saw how proud the people of India were of being Indian while I was not and to make up for that I would like to take this opportunity to bring you the best of India – from architecture to food, music, movies and celebrities – enjoy 🙂
Welcome to my motherland
Taj Mahal – Wonder of the World
Taj Mahal, a mausoleum that was built on the southern bank of the Yamuna (Jumna) River, outside Agra in India, by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife, Arjumand Banu Begam (also called Mumtaz Mahal, of which the name Taj Mahal is a corruption). She died in childbirth in the town of Burhanpur in 1631, after having been the emperor’s inseparable companion since their marriage in 1612. The building was commenced around 1632 by plans prepared by a council of architects from India, Persia, Central Asia, and beyond. More than 20,000 workmen were employed daily to complete the mausoleum itself by about 1643 and the immediate adjuncts (mosques, wall and gateway) by about 1649. The entire Taj complex took 22 years to complete, at a cost of 40,000,000 rupees.
The Golden Temple, Amritsar
The Golden Temple was first built by the fifth guru, Guru Arjun Singhji, to house the Granth Sahib – the holy book of the Sikhs. It was rebuilt in 1803 by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The temple is also known as Darbar Sahib or Hari Mandir Sahib. The temple is located in Amritsar and is the holiest place of the Sikh faith. It is built in the middle of a holy pool. The dome of the temple is covered by a gold leaf. The interior decoration consists of inlay work done with semi-precious stones in a delicate floral design.
The Akal Takht (or the immortal throne) was established near the temple by the sixth Sikh Guru, Guru Hargobind Singhji. It is the seat of the supreme head of the Sikh religious authority.
India Gate
This 42-meter high structure is located on the other end of Rajpath from the Rashtrapati. Also designed by Lutyens as a war memorial, it has the names of Indian soldiers who died in World War I inscribed on it. An eternal flame, a tribute to the Unknown Soldier, was placed under the arch in 1971.
Chapati/Roti
Thin bread cooked on the griddle.
Biryani
A fancy rice casserole, often containing meat, poultry, seafood or
vegetables
Dosa
Crispy, crepe-like southern Indian specialty filled with potatoes or vegetables
