Stand Up for what is right, Even if you stand Alone...!

There's a big controversy going on based on what actress Parvathy has said about Kasaba malayalam movie in which Mammootty is the main actor. 

When this movie came out me and my husband tried to watch this and we couldn't even go forward with it after 15 mins. It was disgusting and the only reaction I had was, how come the actor didn't feel anything in doing such a film?

Well, time went by and then I saw Parvathy's opinion about this movie in the film festival and to that I thought of writing a blog post and then I said to myself, ah! leave it!!
And then I started getting news about this everyday as Google has its way of feeding in based on what I read online.
I see there's a lot going on because what Parvathy has said about the movie. I find it so useless that people forget the main point and start attacking the person without understanding what the person is trying to convey.

"Social media is about sociology and psychology more than technology"

If anyone is watching that Kasaba movie, try to put yourself as a woman or your mom, sister and relative in that and try to understand how you will perceive for your own people. It's that feel is what is expressed by Parvathy which is not respectful and should not be glorified by the hero of the movie because in India that is considered as the hero's personal view even though he/she might be working on it based on the money they are receiving for acting in that movie.

Cinema is one of the medium which brings awareness and openness in the society. We all learn and sometimes we see what's happening in the society is also shown through the movie. At the end of every story there is a moral and what message we are trying to convey is what matters and I am not sure if Kasaba has that moral at the end because I have not seen that movie.

Having said all that, I think Mammootty being a senior actor of the Malayalam film fraternity should stand up next to Parvathy and support her opinion as anyone in this world has a right to have their opinion and freedom of speech. Mammootty should show at least that much of maturity. I have more respect for his son Dulquer Salmaan - who is also an actor who supported Parvathy and not went wild with Mammootty fans.

"Maturity comes when you stop making excuses and start making changes."

This is the time when one should stand together and show some respect for the industry that they work together, instead he is sitting quiet and people are taking a troll on this by harassing Parvathy and by using disrespectful words which again goes against women, against feminism and that shows the basic thinking of people how they are raised or being fed with such thoughts that they don't respect women and their freedom of speech.

Sad, Mammootty is one guy who can stop all this nonsense that's going around online. Show some respect towards your colleagues and members of your film fraternity!

"The world suffers a lot. Not because of the violence of the bad people, but because of the silence of good people"

~ Dawn

Life should not only be lived, it should be celebrated...!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Born and raised in a country where more than 22 languages are spoken and at least 9 recognized religions are practiced, I was a privileged citizen of India.
I enjoyed every festival luckily only because I was raised in National Defence Academy Pune, where people from all around India live and share their culture, festivities, food and clothes. This is where I learned about humanity.

"The past makes us who we are, celebrate it".

Twenty years ago when I decided to take off to an unknown journey to Toronto Canada, I had no idea where I would land up but here too I was lucky. I landed in the month of April and by the time Christmas came I had a family here in Canada. I call it luck because knowing people in a country where you have no idea about the people, culture, weather which you have never felt before and then the loneliness all surrounded with early darkness by shortening the day - this was all new to me specially when I have never stepped out of India to experience this.

"Nothing ever goes away until it teaches us what we need to know" ~ Pema Chodron

Meeting Carol on the phone while selling her a Visa card turned out to be a friendly gesture. I somehow felt the closeness or was I looking one for? No idea, but while talking to her she recognized me that I was not from here yet she loved that I speak British English and not the Canadian or American English. I spoke about India and she spoke about husband's love for Saree. I decided to get her a saree as a christmas gift and she too took that seriously.

Before it was Christmas she came home with her husband to get Saree as her gift. More than the gift, it was her visit to make sure if there are such people who talk on the phone and make friends for real.
I helped her wearing the saree and gave some of the jewelry that will go with the outfit and makeup. She was so thrilled and to her husband Stuart I gave some roti (Indian bread) and potato sabzi along with Indian mango pickle as for early dinner. 
Both of them were mesmerized by the Indian hospitality and the next question comes to me is enjoy your Christmas with family. When I heard family, it gave me the chills as my family is far away and how am I going to enjoy anything with them? Stuart, immediately guessed and invited me to his home in Milton, Ontario.

"Life is what you celebrate. All of it. Even its end." ~ Joanne Harris

I am coming to pick you on Christmas Eve morning and I will drop you back home on boxing day :), you are now part of our family. That day and then until Carol lived I celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas as part of Carol and Stuart's family. It was good to be part of Canadian family as it taught me about the culture, food and festivities and the way of celebrations which is different. I consider myself to be lucky and today I have my own family in Niles, California and feels blessed.

A tradition, celebration and loads of memories that I am reflecting upon today and want to say live life with happiness and joy as at the end it's these memories which will give you much happiness and peace in life.

"I have a handful of close friends, and I have my family, and I haven't known life to be any happier" ~ Brad Pitt

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

~ Dawn

Freedom of choice is more to be treasured than any possession earth can give...!

These days we see so many incidents, messages, tweets, videos in social media talking about 'stand up'!
Yes, I don't want to mix this with the usual tech industry norms of 'stand-up' meeting.

Standing up for self and for others is basically asking defend and be strong. This is what I teach my kids because I always have this fact behind my mind that one day I will be gone and kids will have to face this world all by themselves.
We all know how this world is and it's not easy to live in. My thinking used to be that as we move forward in life we will be more intelligent and will be more human but that's not the reality.

"Charity begins at home, and justice begins next door" ~ Charles Dickens

My son is a big fan of Katy Perry the American songwriter and singer, since he was 5 years old. He loves her songs and he sings them as well. Since then he has been after me to go for Katy Perry's concert and not only this but he would also check if she is performing anywhere. Years passed but he would come and tell she is performing in London or Costa Rica, can we go and I had to tell him it's far and expensive to go for a concert in those places.
Finally, it happened and Katy Perry's tour was announced on the 101.3 radio and I got excited about it only because I could imagine my son's excitement if he would know about it.

I went ahead and booked the ticket even though it was way too early. His excitement and happiness had no limits and at the same time he thanked a million times for this opportunity to watch Katy Perry's live concert.

He also requested if possible can we buy her t-shirt at the concert and I said sure!

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything" ~ Plato

The concert was good, we all enjoyed it as by now we knew all the songs that Katy Perry has sung and more over those who have attended her concert know that she is a great performer and entertainer as well. We bought t-shirt and my son was so happy and excited that he was ready to wear the t-shirt to his school and let the world know that he finally did attend Katy Perry's concert.

I was really happy for him being a music lover I know the excitement of attending the concerts as I do all the time.

He went to school wearing Katy Perry's t-shirt and couple of kids teased him why he is wearing a t-shirt that has a girl on it. We got to know all this only when he returned that afternoon from school. What I saw was a strong person in my son. He clearly told them he is a big fan of Katy Perry and he likes her and hence he is wearing the t-shirt. He also said, I support her, don't you support your mom and/or sister?
I was amazed at his stand! However, I didn't like when I heard his friend was nagging about this as why he wore that t-shirt. I felt this should be reported to the office, because no one should tell anyone what they should do. It's everyone's individual choice.
I was reading few quotes to my son on the internet and I showed some of Martin Luther King Jr. quotes which spoke about standing up for self and for others. I told my son, today what you did is for self and I am proud of you.

"Our children have to be educated in the values of equality, freedom of choice and democracy" ~Ehud Barak

Couple weeks went by and as I was folding the clothes from the laundry wash, he sees the t-shirt is washed and the response comes, yay! I see my t-shirt seems got washed, nice and clean so I can wear this tomorrow to school!
I was surprised and happy too!
I was surprised because last time when he wore that t-shirt he had an incident at school and now he is again going to wear it and I was nervous again things will be different. So, I asked my son, 'are you sure? You want to wear this even though you know what happened last time?'

My son's response was cute, 'I don't care what anyone says. I like Katy Perry and I will wear the t-shirt again.'

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter" ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

This made me feel very proud about my son. It could be a small thing but this is important step in life, to stand up for self. One should have the freedom to choose what they want and not others to choose for them.

His best friend asked again, why you are wearing that girl's t-shirt and my son had an answer for him.
'Would you support your mom, sister and your girl cats?' If your answer is yes, then this is for Katy Perry and I support her!'

It is very important to have that freedom to choose for self. Today he stood for himself and I am sure he will stand for others too!

"There is no such thing as freedom of choice unless there is freedom to refuse" ~David Hume

~ Dawn

The Ones That Love Us, Never Really Leave Us!

Today is a sad day! This morning when Dad called and said that my Uncle (Mom's brother), expired I was more like a professional receiving a bad news and handling the situation very sensibly. I even told my Dad, tell Mom not to think too much as Uncle has been suffering a lot lately and we all should think it's a relief for him from all his pains.

Like we all do some news takes time to sink in. My mind unconsciously was processing this news though I was attending meetings and adding value to come up with a business decision. Even when I went to the gym I was telling myself I am going to release all my stress here.

I came back to my desk and while having lunch I wrote a note to my cousins

"Heard the news... Don't know what to say I grew up with him. All my childhood memories are covered with him... It's sad yet feel good that I was able to meet him when he was serious first time... I will always cherish the best and will feel happy for having such a Ammavan (Uncle) in my life who was a kid with me when I was a kid and he walked through with me as a friend, guide, advisor always ♥... I don't want anyone to feel sad because being so good he suffered a lot in the past 21/2 years and he needed this rest but he pulled along because of the love that he has with all of us. Peace and Love"

As soon I wrote this tears rushed into my eyes, as if the writing made me to sink in that news and I was all of a sudden feeling that a big part of my childhood is gone and now it's only memories.
I couldn't stop at that as things started rolling in mind... 

He was very close to my Mom and then when I was born he really spoiled me. My first time eating beef that too in Jayanti Janata Express train, I remember writing a post on this.
I was always a special niece for him as all my other cousins either they are scared of him or out of respect they will never come in front of him.

I was always different because I never believed that one needs to be away from someone you love and respect. I remember how my Uncle used to play pranks with me and he used to lift me by my legs and put my head down hanging. All this circus I used to enjoy while my Grandma used to get worried.
There are so many memories that it just brings the moment live in front of my eyes.

I remember one time when my neighbor friend called me to give him company to go to the nearby grocery store to get some item for his mom to cook in the kitchen and I agreed to go with him.
It was not dark as sun was still there however, sun was planning to set and by the time we came back it was little dark and my Mom was waiting for me with a stick in hand. That day my uncle was visiting us and he was also standing next to my Mom.
The moment I saw both of them, I knew I am going to get it today and that too a good one.
I started apologizing from far and said Mom, please don't hit me I will never go again. But my Uncle came forward and by holding my hand he brought me closer to Mom and said but this is important so that you remember very well next time. I was totally surprised at that. He always  pampered me and always supported me in everything but this time it was different. 
I wondered what happened, but yes he cared for me dearly and never wanted me as a kid to be in a crowded place that too without my parents or guardians when it was about to get dark.

The best thing about life is that small incidents no matter how old it is the person makes it special and memorable that no matter how old you get it remains fresh in mind as if it happened yesterday.

I have spent a very good portion of my childhood with my Uncle and when he is gone from this world, all I feel is a big part of my childhood is gone. It's a big void and I hope wherever he is, he should be in peace. I will dearly miss him always!

"The most painful goodbyes are the ones that are never said and never explained"

~ Dawn

Country roads, take me home, to the place I belong...

This time of the year, I really miss India, specially Pune. Growing up in Pune as a Malayalee (Keralite) is one thing but I grew up watching and being part of Diwali celebration.

I think every year I did something or the other and celebrated in my way but this time probably I am feeling its all fake. My friends say I should still do it that's how kids are going to know and learn about it. But Diwali is not only about one person it's about everyone celebrating and when you don't have that kind of unity it's a failure.

"The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate" ~ Oprah Winfrey

Being in NDA, Pune I celebrated diwali with friends and family by wearing new clothes, exchanging sweets, mom used to make sweets at home- I miss karanji the most and play with fireworks (Laxmi bomb, Vishnu bomb, paanpatti, phuljhadi, ladi, captain bomb, rocket and so on) - it was fun. But when I got to live with Maharashtrians in the family I fully lived the 6 days diwali celebration and each day had its meaning and purpose and there was so much of enthusiasm that no matter what issues you have all goes away during festivity times. The weeks ahead preparation of sweets, shopping for 6 days different clothes and matching jewelries and so on... the crowd used to be fun and late nights coming home with eating dinner out as no one has time to cook and yet excited with the whole nine yard celebration. 

"We don't call it homesick. We call it missing home. There's not a sickness involved, it's a state of mind."

I miss all that today and feels a vacuum everywhere. So many messages, celebration pictures on social media and all this is reflecting on me and my thoughts.

A diwali where I am missing my mom's homemade sweets and the traditional aspect of the celebration.

"Sometimes you will never know the true value of a Moment until it becomes a Memory"


Happy Diwali!!!  

~ Dawn

Dear I Love You!

Dear, I love You
Where are You
Why I miss You
When I know
I am far from You
These were the words
For You!
The voice came across

Dear, I love You
I am here for You
Always and forever
You!
They were far away
Not even reachable by highway
They were in different country
Yet,
They never stopped dreaming
For their togetherness
And kept accompanied with love
And hopeful words and expressions
The only thing kept them alive was and is
Love!

~ Dawn

Discomfort is always a necessary part of the process of enlightenment...!!!

Many times we follow certain tradition because we grew up watching others. As we understand sometimes we do ask questions and sometimes it doesn't bother anyone as part of tradition it's more of celebration and social engagement hence it doesn't come out as a question as why do we follow this norm.

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought" ~ John. F. Kennedy

My story about 'Durga Puja', is somewhat similar to that. Even though born in a Keralite family (Kerala, in South India), I grew up in Pune (in Maharashtra State) and that gave me the exposure to diverse India. The people, food and festivals and traditions. I always felt I am privileged as I got the opportunity to be part of every celebration or festivity whether it belonged to East, West, North and South India - I had friends and their family who had these traditions and festivals that they maintained and celebrated and I just merged with them.

It's with the same spirit I enjoy all festivals here in USA as well. "Sindur Khela" is where every year I look forward to attend as part of Durga Puja, and my thoughts and understanding was limited to as it's part of Durga Puja and it's a fun game. Being a feminist, for me Durga is a symbol of girl-power and every girl must feel proud of being one. It's interesting how we start reading about these when we have to explain to our non-Indian friends about these festivities. 

As I read about it, it totally changed me. My excitement and enthusiasm somewhere vanished. My heart started questioning why do I call this a celebration when it's not something that every women can enjoy?
At the same time Durga Puja and Sindur Khela is all about power of womanhood. If that is true then why every woman is not allowed to participate in Sindur Khela?
Why unmarried, widows and divorcees are not allowed to be part of this Sindur Khela, aren't they women? Aren't they powerful? 

"Tradition is an explanation for acting without thinking" ~ Grace McGarvie 

These thoughts really crushed me and made me feel dejected. In the name of Durga Puja and Sindur Khela it's again the hypocrisy of manhood that is celebrated in the veil of womanhood. The male dominant society created another tradition which seemed like for women to socialize, celebrate and pray for the happiness of husband and children. Shouldn't that be the same for the husband too? He should also pray for his wife and children's happiness so why not men has any traditions to follow? How do we justify single moms or widow moms? Don't they also want their kids to be happy and safe?

"Myself worth isn't determined by others"

Marriage and sindur is all about men and about their manhood. It's not about women celebrating themselves. 
I am an ally at the LGBTQ community and I believe in equality in every respect and this is something against my belief. Hence something all these years I rejoiced getting decked up and getting colored in red sindur and socialized with friends and others has made me to think.

I don't think there is sindur khela for me next year because I don't support something that discriminates any human being at any level.

I have though seen and witnessed some of the divorcees participating in Sindur Khela in the events that I have attended and it only made me happy to see that but my real thoughts are with those who are barred from participating in Sindur Khela. In their name, I decided not to enjoy anymore such traditions.

If we believe in all traditions then 'Sati Pratha' was also a tradition that was followed in ancient India and one should follow that too, isn't it?

I think we all must question these traditions just like how we question our constitution because things have to change with time and for the betterment of the human beings and our society. Otherwise, unknowingly we are supporting discrimination and we must not give wrong message if we are sure that we don't support it.

"Life should not only be lived, it should be celebrated"

Now, I am only going back and thinking about those moments where without any idea my heart was enjoying the celebrations and festivities with friends and family...and someone from inside says, 'It's okay because you didn't know about it'!

"Sometimes your heart needs more time to accept what your mind already knows"

~ Dawn

I have him to rely...

There's a warmth in him,

A soothing care,

An inspiration to rise and shine,

A perspective to look forward,

A view that makes you fall for,

The aura that gives colors to your dream,

The hope that I can depend on him,

The dream that as long as I live,

I have him to rely...

I love him for being my strength,

For bringing my Moon to me

And soothing my nights with love ❤️

~Dawn

"Children are great imitators. So give them something great to imitate."

“A desire to help others and give to the world before saying adios to this place, it was that desire as a seed, seeded inside me and Good Gigs let that seed sprout out.

What is born needs to be nourished well for it to grow and spread the good health across and hence Children were always special to my heart.

By helping and supporting the education for children will layout the foundation that will let these children to grow and flourish and spread the goodness across and this will multiply, so at Delta Utah my focus was children throughout and hence the planning to make sure the training we give to the teacher initiators and teachers are easy enough to adapt and in return the teacher's roll this out to kids in an easier manner.

"Every child you encounter is a divine appointment" ~ Wess Stafford

In doing this, the preparation brought the best of the minds together to brainstorm and the outcome was incredible.

It was not easy to be frank. When we prepared our training deck, it was easy to believe that we captured every detail to show how the tool works. The challenge was how to deliver this simple deck to the teacher initiators who are actually well educated with full of awareness. Teaching a teacher is a challenge and believe me or not it needs lot of preparation, guts and confidence to hold their hands and walk along with them.

Good thing to be part of technology industry where it allows you to play with the tool and learn the hard way. To get to the level of each teacher initiator based on their understanding of the technology and then take that ride to a standard level was a worth learning experience for me personally, as it helped me to learn from the teachers and the details of the tools as well.

How to teach without intimidating and be part of the learner group to discover and explore the findings.

The teacher initiators and teachers loved each and every small thing that they learned about technology be it a copy/paste or right click and select. It taught me how simple things can bring happiness to you it doesn’t have to be expensive that costs money.

"Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated"~ Confucius 

Though VMware and Dell and other institutions took that expense to support this cause and the result was happiness, full of confidence, achievement and looking forward with technology in mind as a goal. It was an emotional ride for everyone be it the Millard School District High-School members, teacher initiators and teachers, people of Delta Utah or even the students of Millard School District schools – it is an emotional bonding that lead us to win everyone’s heart, it's the people!

The personal touch with each training helped me to connect with each individual of Delta Utah that we associated with. Be it CoSN, SEDC, Millard District Office members, teacher initiators... the parting was painful yet the emails and connections through messages is keeping this bondage going with the hope to support each other going forward.

The motivation, giving confidence to make that first mistake and letting them to correct themselves with support, perseverance, and letting others to grow is the key to be a leader.

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you're a leader." ~ John Quincy Adams

While doing all this, there was not a single thought of what I am getting out of this because all my actions and thoughts were triggered towards to give the best to them to make a success for their day to day life. In doing so I learnt a lot from others about the approach, individual thought process, perceptions, emotions and vulnerability, those hugs and caring moments all adds up to climb the tallest mountain in the world. To let others to flourish with your support is the key I learnt in my leadership role.

There is no race, there is no game, because we all are in this game and have to make the team be comfortable. It doesn’t matter who made the goal in the goal-post as long as we have made efforts to make that goal to win the game. ☺

This Good Gig has given me an opening to the world which I was thinking to enter after my retirement but I guess I don’t have to wait that long if I have to do a good gig I can do it anytime. The journey continues for me... and I am happy if you want to hop along with me ☺

"Never get tired of doing little things for others sometimes those little things occupy the biggest part of their hearts"

~ Dawn

The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart..

It's been 5 days in Delta, Utah Millard District School. When it began I thought I will be able to write each day about the experience but I realized it's tough.

Each day things change and we adapt it as best as we can. My team has the job to teach the teacher initiatives on Google Suite for education and we did came prepared before we took our flights to Utah.

After coming to Utah, two days we were learning and understanding the requirements which were sometimes different than what was assumed by us prior to our landing here at Utah.
We had some great teacher associates, principals who graciously supported us by giving ideas what may work best with these teachers.
There were some teachers who were totally unaware of technology and then there were some who had some idea but didn't had the confidence to use.

Much of the time would go in brainstorming and discussions and finally we will come to a solution which usually used to be at midnight or past that and then once the solution is out one need to work on getting things ready on slides.

"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success." ~ Henry Ford

I literally had to count to check how many days are over because it seems like we have been here forever.
Everyone is tired yet they all are contributing because the goal is to uplift this District Schools with technology for the better future of the children of Millard School District.

Finally, our day came where we planned our training and set the stage. Somehow in my mind I was very confident about we as a team will have a great success and hence that gut feel kept me motivating my team as well.
I kicked off the training and brought others who gave a demo with an equal interaction session where teachers had an opportunity to play with the tool while the demo was shown.
In the afternoon we had grouped in four different countries and took each teacher on a tour.
The teachers loved it and the session was a big success. Teachers were ready to spend more time and some even said, "I am more hungry and want to learn more, some said, wow! I never knew life will become so easy, and some just hugged and said you made my life easy".

I think the team did a great job.  The best part was when the Millard School District people showered with compliments for the huge success, it was a great relief.
The people of Delta, Utah are so simple, loving and caring that they are ready to do anything for us, just because we are there to help the school teachers and children.
When we go to the restaurants, people out there treat us with love because they know we are in town from all around the world to help the Millard School District Schools and this shows how the entire town is focussed on one goal.

The days are hectic with  our schedules and nights goes in brainstorming, discussing and implementing those plans on slide for presentation. However, this brought everyone closer in the team. The Delta community was ready to help us to help the students and teachers, so was our own team. Everyone was ready to give a hand to the other and teamwork not only gave us a successful delivery but it also brought lot of fun and excitement for everyone.

"No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it." - H.E. Luccock

I don't remember when was day 5 as this post I am able to post after my 2 weeks trip to Utah and a week of vacation to Canada. 

There are so many things that I want to summarize whether it's about what we as a team served, or learned or even the emotional moments that touched each other's heart - sometimes words don't do justice at all.

I want to cherish and re-cherish those moments that I spent in Delta, Utah. I probably met the best people on earth and the best people with whom I worked. 

World is full of beautiful people and all we need to do is extend our arms and hug them, receive them and love them.

There is nothing bigger than Love and this I have always experienced in my life, in my journey whether it was when I was in India, or Canada or in USA - people are all same and understand the language of love. 
One warning, it is contagious so watch out to get more love and more hugs in return :)

"The best love is the kind that awakens the soul; that makes us reach for more, that plants the fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds. That's what I hope to give you forever."

~ Dawn

I believe the first test of a truly great human is in their humility ...

Yesterday we all reached one by one at the Salt Lake City airport from different parts of the world. It was amazing to see how virtually connected people get more close when they meet you in person. Life cannot get better if we as human can be nice and kind to each other.

Since many of them are coming from different country, USA residents offered to drive the rental cars and I was amazed and surprised that I was driving a minivan which was a first time for me.
Great drive from Salt Lake City to Delta- Utah, where besides the scenic roads rain was a relief to the heat.
Along with my group members, we reached safely to our hotel. It was nice to connect and regroup with everyone as soon we are going to be rocking with our mission.

Today was day 1 of the Good Gig and everyone was pretty excited to see how the day is going to unfold for us. Delta Utah, is a small town with close community ties, where people take care of each other which gave a feeling of India when I was growing up as a kid. 
People cared for each other and that resonated here too in Utah.

Our day was scheduled with plans but while we were there on our activities things always got changed for the good. The best I liked was that we were spending time with the Millard School District members and faculties who strived through to make digital divide for their children.
The way people came together to support our presence here is incredible, special service, cooked food by the technical director who made sure he met everyone's needs such as those who are vegetarians, or non-onion eating and meat lovers - everyone was taken special care and hospitality.

The amazing part was that for cooking this dinner people who are on summer vacation showed up and some of the officials drove from far to welcome us along with the local press.
I felt as we live this fast pace life in cities, people here in small towns are much more connected with the community, they enjoy life even though there may not be too many options however they eat healthy food. Nice dinner cooked in Dutch oven on charcoals was something always made me very special as it's the natural way of cooking which makes the food much tastier and healthy.

There's lot of dreams that they have planned for their children, however they don't know how we will meet those yet, a ray of hope for them was we as a Good-gigs team.

I learned a lot about the people of Utah, the mormons, the humble and down to earth people who kept on thanking us for coming all the way to Delta to help setting up with technology and support with training for their teacher initiators.
It was amazing to see how the School Superintendent personally came and asked me where I am originally from and how did I come this far... I gave a glimpse of my adventurous move and it made him excited as we were about to leave and he said, 'we need to continue this discussion further...' and the best was that he remembered each and everyone's name and shared with me his Indore, India trip to me as well. 

The kind of gratitude and humbleness in the Millard School District people I saw was something very touching and emotional for me. I felt like giving them a hug and cry.

"There is nothing better on this earth than a soul that you can connect with on every level"

~ Dawn