Story shared by Parth J Dave:
Some of us friends were travelling together to Mumbai. In the train journey, my friend Bhumi happened to share a message with me that she had been sending to her friends over WhatsApp and Facebook.
The message moved me to no extent, and would like to share the entire text here:
Witnessing this very noble, courageous act of asking inspires me irrespective of whether I support her in the initiative or not.
Would like to know your thoughts on the same...
Some of us friends were travelling together to Mumbai. In the train journey, my friend Bhumi happened to share a message with me that she had been sending to her friends over WhatsApp and Facebook.
The message moved me to no extent, and would like to share the entire text here:
Hello guyz,
This is Bhumi Bhanushali:)
Where: Mumbai/ Udaipur
Need: A wedding suit/
chaniya choli (non silk preferably) and a reception gown that I can wear for my cousins wedding :)
Because I believe my friends and well wishers have more than Amazing collection to offer me and the part of money I save can find a lil more meaningful purpose to serve :)
A Lil Flashback:
With all the excitement of my closest cousin getting married soon, I was all set to buy a fancy reception gown and a classy choli for myself and look my best for the day until few days back..when something happened that really shook me from inside and suddenly the idea didn't seem as exciting or appealing as before.
So I was in a room with four other friends and as part of some activity had to share my bucket list for life ( which I very excitingly made that included things from going to the moon ..to doing shark diving and manyyyy more) ..but before me, a friend (18 year old) shared the list of just 4 things he aspired to do in his lifetime..that included:
• Educating his younger brothers in an English medium school (that costs just INR2500 a year)
• Owning a house (any smallest of place that he can call home ).
• Becoming a photo journalist(to make world aware of the impact urbanization is having on rural India)
• Just once ride in an air plane.
...And that's it !!!
It hit me hard to realize that someone, in the same room as me is struggling for just the basics (and who was almost going to join the Naxal movement at the age of 18, just so that he could earn enough to educate n feed his brothers). Suddenly, I was so ashamed and unsure of all the things I once thought to be the coolest & so important and wanted to do in my life.. !
And I was reminded of all the big wedding shopping plans and the dresses I was yet to spend big bucks on.. and just the idea made me super guilty. As Somewhere, I realized my addiction to mall culture, brands and all the urban habits & lifestyle might be having on the farmers, not so fortunate ones(financially) nd the real rural India.
For some reason I was disturbed and some friends came to the rescue. One of them shared about someone he knew, fasting once a week to sponsor a meal for the street kids with the saved money and grains..and the element of 'giving up something that is important to u and pass it on to others as a gift' touched me and I decided to gather up courage to do something on a similar line ...
So just to really thank my friend to introduce me to the other side of the world (and the other side of myself as well) ..I decided to give up the idea of going any more shopping for the wedding and instead will ask for support from you guys with your worn wedding collection and would be contributing 20% of what I save for his brothers' education and to make a part of his bucket list come alive ..! :))
Also this is an experiment to take the first towards 'contributing rather than just consuming' and kinda 'walk the talk' thingi..if u know what I mean! :)
.. So yea..finally after all that ..I'd love to have you guys support me in whichever ways in this journey for me to possibly take it to next level even in the years to come :)
This is Bhumi Bhanushali:)
Where: Mumbai/ Udaipur
Need: A wedding suit/
chaniya choli (non silk preferably) and a reception gown that I can wear for my cousins wedding :)
Because I believe my friends and well wishers have more than Amazing collection to offer me and the part of money I save can find a lil more meaningful purpose to serve :)
A Lil Flashback:
With all the excitement of my closest cousin getting married soon, I was all set to buy a fancy reception gown and a classy choli for myself and look my best for the day until few days back..when something happened that really shook me from inside and suddenly the idea didn't seem as exciting or appealing as before.
So I was in a room with four other friends and as part of some activity had to share my bucket list for life ( which I very excitingly made that included things from going to the moon ..to doing shark diving and manyyyy more) ..but before me, a friend (18 year old) shared the list of just 4 things he aspired to do in his lifetime..that included:
• Educating his younger brothers in an English medium school (that costs just INR2500 a year)
• Owning a house (any smallest of place that he can call home ).
• Becoming a photo journalist(to make world aware of the impact urbanization is having on rural India)
• Just once ride in an air plane.
...And that's it !!!
It hit me hard to realize that someone, in the same room as me is struggling for just the basics (and who was almost going to join the Naxal movement at the age of 18, just so that he could earn enough to educate n feed his brothers). Suddenly, I was so ashamed and unsure of all the things I once thought to be the coolest & so important and wanted to do in my life.. !
And I was reminded of all the big wedding shopping plans and the dresses I was yet to spend big bucks on.. and just the idea made me super guilty. As Somewhere, I realized my addiction to mall culture, brands and all the urban habits & lifestyle might be having on the farmers, not so fortunate ones(financially) nd the real rural India.
For some reason I was disturbed and some friends came to the rescue. One of them shared about someone he knew, fasting once a week to sponsor a meal for the street kids with the saved money and grains..and the element of 'giving up something that is important to u and pass it on to others as a gift' touched me and I decided to gather up courage to do something on a similar line ...
So just to really thank my friend to introduce me to the other side of the world (and the other side of myself as well) ..I decided to give up the idea of going any more shopping for the wedding and instead will ask for support from you guys with your worn wedding collection and would be contributing 20% of what I save for his brothers' education and to make a part of his bucket list come alive ..! :))
Also this is an experiment to take the first towards 'contributing rather than just consuming' and kinda 'walk the talk' thingi..if u know what I mean! :)
.. So yea..finally after all that ..I'd love to have you guys support me in whichever ways in this journey for me to possibly take it to next level even in the years to come :)
Witnessing this very noble, courageous act of asking inspires me irrespective of whether I support her in the initiative or not.
Would like to know your thoughts on the same...
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