Acknowledgements

There's never one too many times when it comes to saying thank you to the people you care.

I am truly the result of my mom's efforts. "Only the good traits of your personality", she would say. If I have harbored the desire to start Little Twinkle for 15 years, it is because she taught me to love unconditionally. I remember that day, 20 years ago in India when she told the family she wanted to feed the homeless. We thought it was a noble idea but weren’t sure how she would gather the funds to feed so many. I was very young and don't remember it well. Since I could not be left alone at home, she took me with her to all her friends. They donated generously as she shared with them her vision – as if they believed in her dream instantly.

When I think back today, it simply amazes me what she did single handedly. That winter morning 20 years ago, she collected a group of friends, rented a room in a school and started cooking for the homeless. As I stood there in a corner, I watched them carefully wrap up rice and lentil soup (khicdi) in small packets made of banana leaves. First they came in small groups. At the end of 4 hours my mom had fed 500 homeless people!

It’s the good experiences and the bad ones that have helped me be ‘me’. Special thanks to all who’ve helped me experience them – to dad who gave me a secured environment growing up, to my brother who stepped back and let me the ‘special one’, to Ajay and Cassandra for being by my side in my darkest and brightest moments, to Shona for making me believe in pure and true feelings deep down in the soul, to Murali for giving me the courage to take the leap, and to life for helping me know myself better.

One evening as my friend Raminder and I sat at the bar during one of his business trips to the Bay Area; I shared with him my vision to start schools in India. Having been a successful businessman for several years, he enquired about the expenses to run schools in India. It didn’t surprise me that he asked those questions but it blew me off when I received a generous check in the mail exactly 1 week later. His generosity and true support for Little Twinkle over the years is something that will always be special in my heart.

I would also like to thank my good friend and extremely talented photographer Nistish Naharas for sharing his work with Little Twinkle. His sensitivity to life comes across in all his works including the one on this site.

Lastly, my heart felt thanks to GetACustomSite.com for contributing their time to re-design Little Twinkle’s website and continuing to support it year after year.