Assemble School Kit

Ok, so we have a "Giving Back" program in our company called "Outreach". And I'd registered as a volunteer some time back; but due to various reasons, I could only go for one event, (BAT - Be A Teacher), which involved going to Government or Government-aided schools and teaching the students a bit extra.
This was my second event, quite literally named Assembling School Kits. I’ll be honest, the main reason I decided to go for this event was because I’d have company in the form of a roommate who was also going.
So we started off at around 9.30 from home, we were supposed to be there on site at 9.30, but got delayed due to unavoidable circumstances! Anyway, we took a bus to half-way, and then reached the place around 10.30. Got ourselves registered, and straight to work!
First we checked the bags for any defects in the zips or the materials. And we also had to strap in the back straps, and leave all the zips open after checking so the next step of putting the materials in would be easier (This was suggested by a boy, who probably faces similar issues on a daily basis!!).

After this was completed, the assembling of the school bags started. We formed rows, and the bags were passed from one person to the next, down the rows. The items to be put into the bags were: Pencil Boxes, Red & Blue line notebooks, Single-line Notes books, Drawing Books, Text Books, Colors. I had the Single-line notebooks, and each bag had to have exactly four of these, place in the middle compartment of the bag! Sounds easy but it took me a while to get it right!

Finally took a break at around 1 PM for lunch! Ahhhh, the cramps!!! Took a while, for me at least, to get used to standing! There were tiny breaks in-between, but since we hadn't gotten up from our places, those didn't count! Since we were tired from all this work and a late night, we decided to call it a day.
It was a nice enough experience, though we didn't directly interact with kids, knowing that we were helping in some way, however small was a good feeling. Hope to do some more in the future.
A few pictures from the event:

Checking the bags for defects:
 

A tiny break from assembling:

Please visit the site for details on how you can help:  http://www.sevasahayog.org/school-kit

Shaadi Hai!!!

Ok, so last night I attended the wedding of a friend from work. It was a typical North Indian Wedding, and a first for me, since the only Hindu weddings I've attended have been Goan ones, and those are quite simple, when compared with the North Indian weddings.

The groom was from Bihar & the bride also was from somewhere around there (not sure where exactly). We reached in time for the Baraat to start. The Baraat consists of the Groom's side people.There was a lot of dancing, to the music provided by the band-wallas. A distance of around 250m was covered in 2hours!!
Since the wedding was taking place at a hotel, the baraatis just went around the hotel once. Otherwise its a long walk from the groom's place to the bride's place.

After a lot of crazy dancing, we reached the entrance of the hotel, and were greeted by the bride's mother. She performed some pooja/aarti and welcomed us all in. The bride and groom then went on to the stage, and exchanged garlands. After that is was just wishing the couple, followed by snacks, and eventually dinner.

The actual wedding was scheduled to take place at 11.30 PM (muhurat), and we couldn't wait till so late. So, we didn't really get to see the actual wedding! But the parts we did see were really colorful & fun. A few snapshots from the event:

The Dulha (groom) with the Bandwale (Band people):

Dulha-Dulhan (Bridal couple):

With friends: