Personal Journey

How many years do we spend finding out the meaning of life - a reason to live? 10 years? 20? 25? a lifetime? Some find it within themselves and some outside - a TV, a car, a house, a secure relationship. No answer is a wrong answer.

Like most people I had found the right equilibrium in life. A house, a well paid job, a great set of friends and a good relationship. Until I wanted a bigger house, a gentler Nasdaq, a different relationship. I finally realized my answer did not lie in external objects.

I want to live and die a life where there is less of "me and myself" and more of "they and them"; where keeping others ahead of myself is pure joy and not a part of an agenda. I want to live and die a life where trust is not a virtue relegated to a Moral Science book and being empathic not considered wastage of time. I want to live and die a life where people value true feelings and have the time to nurture them - where reading to my child before tucking her in bed is a priority and not a choice that I debate in my mind.

Is there a world like that? Can I live a life like that? I don't know. All I know is that we make choices in life and we build the world around us.

Little Twinkle is a 15-year-old dream come true. After sponsoring kids around the world and working with mentally challenged children in Ceshire Home and Asha Kiran in Jamshedpur, India, I know the power of a simple squeeze of the hand.

Maya was a girl in Ceshire Home who could barely walk and couldn't talk. I still remember that winter afternoon in 1992, when she held my hand for 4 hours and communicated the world to me. I wouldn't do justice trying to put that experience in words.

Little Twinkle is an endeavor to return the twinkle in their eyes!