Save-Invest-Repeat. Blog.
We went to Europe in May for a 16 days family trip and visited Switzerland & Italy covering few cities with a layover in Paris. In coming days (..or weeks) I am going to share the complete itinerary including flights, hotels, trains & rental cars; places we visit, expenses, valuable tips and of courses lots of pictures, right here! Please stay tuned. For now, here is the gorgeous and world famous tower you don’t need the name of!
If one is fortunate and blessed with money, we believe it is our responsibility to share it with the society. At times we keep deferring it with others in anticipation of a “better situation” for ourselves, which rarely comes. It is a human nature to keep satisfying never ending materialistic goals and targets, which is not totally wrong but then at the same time we should be mindful towards the greater good. We couldn’t have been brought into this world just to satisfy our own materialistic needs, but also to help each other especially if we are capable. There is no right (or wrong) time to share our fortune with society and my better half taught this to me with her more aware approach. Currently we are in a solid red situation financially due to a chew-more-than-you-can-swallow project and my approach to giving was to shelve it till we are in a comfortable position, my wife went ahead and kickstarted it nevertheless. Situation may never get ideal and perfect for us but there is so much suffering and need in the world requiring our assistance that you can almost always come across a needy when you go out and observe. While we have been helping randomly since we started earning on our own and have tried doing “our part” in helping people (both relatives and unknowns), I think this is the right time to put some structured and calculated approach to it.
We have decided to start sharing 10% of our passive income to start with and see how it goes and we will surely increase our contribution to society when we shed some personal responsibilities. Since our 2020 passive income was about $28,000, our aim is to share $2,800 with various organization and individuals, as we see appropriate. Below table will be updated on monthly basis to keep a tab. 🙂
If you are in Canada, it is highly unlikely that you haven’t heard of them. They are not just a hospital, they instil hope in every parent who is in extreme pain and fear due to their child been sick. In a very delicate and fragile situation, they with their Compassion, Integrity, Expertise & Excellence, help people from all walks of life. Their vision is “Healthier Children. A Better World.” and we strongly believe in this. We have witnessed two second hand cases where SickKids went above and beyond to help sick kids and parents. My wife’s timing to donate was absolutely perfect, all the donations till 31-Dec-20 was tripled matched by Levine Financial Group (up to $1.075M) meaning our $200 turned into $600, just like that! Not only this, all new monthly donors registered before 31-Dec-20 will have their donations triple matched all year long by a generous anonymous donor (up to $3.5M) and hence we registered for $100 monthly contribution as well. You can read more on this here.
We canceled our monthly automated payments after receiving the generous “triple-matched” benefits for few months but we continued ad-hoc donations throughout the 2021 and intent to continue in future as well, as long as we can. Please join us and donate generously to SickKids!
World Vision India is one of the country’s largest child-focused humanitarian organisations and they works across India impacting around 2.6 million children and their families to address issues affecting children in partnership with governments, civil societies, donors and corporates. With over six decades of experience at the grassroots, they employ proven, effective development, public engagement and relief practices empowering vulnerable children and communities living in contexts of poverty and injustice to become self-sufficient and bring lasting change. We are personally associated with World Vision since 2011 when we adopted a child for her education and believe me, there is no feeling such as knowing you are giving a child an opportunity to grow and one day she could be the light in other people’s life. We contribute towards her school expenses in March & September of each year till she completes her schooling.
Please donate to World Vision to uplift children from poverty and suffering and help them make this world a better place!
Anonymous
An old friend recently contacted me asking for help due to Covid making a mess with his family’s life. His sudden approach took me by surprise as we haven’t been in personal touch since our school days and it tells a lot about his need. It appals me how this pandemic has impacted lives of the majority and the helplessness it can cause. I am glad he contacted me and I could help and really wish everyone in need have someone who they can reach out to without hesitation, in a desperate time like this.
As per their website, CEL is a nonprofit organization run by my brother-in-law and they work with schools and organizations to bring coding to elementary grade children so that they learn a skill, much needed in current digital world, to express feelings and nurture creativity and problem solving. However, the skill is limited to few privileged kids only. There are 80 million kids in primary education in India and 80% of the coding potential remain untapped in schools as per a report. CEL conducted Kids hackathon attracted more than 1000 kids!
Please donate to CEL to empower underprivileged kids through coding skills.
Founded in 2003, Sewa International is a nonprofit service organization and is part of a larger movement that started in India in 1989 and is active in twenty countries. Sewa serves humanity irrespective of race, color, religion, gender or nationality and specializes in disaster relief and rehabilitation. Their development programs focus on family services; child, tribal and refugee welfare; women empowerment; health; and education. They undertake development projects in US, Colombia, Guyana, India, Kenya, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
According to their website, April 21 brought a severe second wave of COVID-19 across India and the country’s healthcare system is overwhelmed. The number of new cases are crossing 300,000 every day and the death toll is increasing, due to which hospitals are struggling to accommodate new patients and an acute shortage of hospital beds, ventilators and oxygen is causing serious stress all over the nation. Hundreds of volunteers from Sewa International are serving across India in different ways and they are working on building a digital helpdesk to provide critical information such as ambulance service, hospital bed availability and blood and medicinal supplies to people. As the pandemic is causing economic hardships by forcing partial lockdowns, they are planning to distribute over 10,000 essential item kits to families and assist more than 1,000 orphanages and senior care centers. This is a collective effort that can save lives, defeat hunger, assure distressed people, and help India in its decisive fight against COVID-19.
Please join them in this fight by donating generously to Sewa for this cause.
Anonymous
An old friend of my wife contacted her asking for help, again due to Covid hardship and lack of income. It is heartbreaking to hear individual stories of people’s suffering this pandemic. There are any who can’t pay their rent, school fee or for the food and helping them with whatever we could seems the right way at the moment. Please take care of a family around you in this time of need, no matter how less you can contribute, any kind of help will be appreciated.
Crohn’s & Colitis Canada – Gutsy Walk
Crohn’s and Colitis Canada (CCC) is the only Canadian national, volunteer-based charity focused on finding the cures for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis and improving the lives of children and adults affected by these diseases. Their promise is to cure these chronic diseases and improve the lives of affected by children and adults. They are one of the top two health charity funders of Crohn’s and colitis research in the world, investing over $135 million in research since 1974, leading to important breakthroughs in genetics, gut microbes, inflammation and cell repair as well as laying the groundwork for new and better treatments. With their funding, they are transforming the lives of people affected by Crohn’s and colitis (the two main forms of inflammatory bowel disease) through research, patient programs, advocacy, and awareness. I was diagnosed with Crohn’s back in 2006 and ever since I had multiple flare-ups and surgeries so I personally know how terrible these diseases are. While I will leave to share my experience for another blog, I know how desperately we patients need a cure.
Gutsy Walk is CCC’s signature campaign which is responsible for most of their fundraising. This walk is scheduled in early June every year and had been virtual since past 2 years due to pandemic. People from all walk of life are actively engaged with this campaign for various personal reason and it surely brings a ray of hope and support. I had also created my own page this year, please support us by donating whatever amount you can and help us overcome these diseases.
An Old Friend’s Demise
I woke up one fine day and saw a friend created an online campaign to gather fundings for another old friend’s kids. Although I was not in touch with him post college, my heart sank looking at the campaign. He was almost same age as mine and passed away due to an heart attack leaving behind his homemaker wife with a five years old son and eleven years old daughter to face an arduous life ahead. We spent 3 years together in a college hostel and ate, played, roamed around, had fun together with bunch of other friends. The campaign is aimed to gather money to fund kids education. Please share whatever you can to help this family gather courage and take the journey forward. The donation link is open for about 45 days.
We achieved our 2021 target of sharing $2800 by Oct’21 itself but did continued a little more, because – why not! As I said above, I personally tried postponing the givings till our situation improves, and I totally understand your situation. But as someone said – Sharing is caring, and Giving gives back. You can always do your part, no matter what situation you are in. Thank you for sharing and reading! 🙂
Happy New Year.. May this year let you achieve what you couldn’t last year, along with keeping you and yours safe and happy! I don’t normally make new year resolutions but seeing how terrible 2020 unfolded for many, I realized how thankful we are by not getting affected by it. I also realize how I take things for granted and do not express gratitude when needed. It is not that I am not aware of being privileged in so many ways but mostly due to me being reserved and self contained, lacking expressiveness. Recently I started reading Neil Pasricha’s book – You Are Awesome, gifted to me by a close friend, whilst I haven’t finished the book yet, I got an idea to have a resolution – To write one gratitude (or something good) a week in 2021. This is inspired by Neil’s 1000 Awesome things where he publishes one awesome thing a week, this blog went on to become the best blog in the world, two years in a row! I don’t even remotely aim for such widespread recognition, I just wish to thank people and goodness around me, to feel more positive and be grateful towards life and it’s offering. To begin with, I plan to append one short paragraph to this post, each week for 52 weeks and see how it goes. 😊
#1 (01.Jan.21) – Wife is Life
I met my better half (far far better actually) 20 years ago which is like half of my entire life! As much as I am fully aware of how she make our lives joyous and easy, I must admit I don’t thank her enough (if not at all!) for her tireless contribution. She’s the binding gel who pitches in for everything – be it household chores, emotional support or most importantly making our house a home. She does it ALL for us and make it look so effortless that we often take her hardwork and dedication for granted. I realize her importance and in fact secretly hates it when she isn’t around even for few hours! Her juggling abilities with her own work which also consume a considerable amount of time is admirable. Reflecting back on all these years of togetherness, we have dealt with our fair (or unfair) share of thick and thins and her rock solid support is nothing but a blessing. With my constant struggle with health, I couldn’t have asked for anyone else to be my partner in fighting through it, be it pumping a needle to staying up all night in a hospital. I can’t thank her enough for all she do for all of us and being so supportive and I am fully aware of how lucky we all are for having her in our lives. 🙏🏼 💞
#2 (08.Jan.21) – The First Born
Most father can resonate with me on their experience for their first born! I simply can’t do justice to my feeling towards my elder daughter in a paragraph, too difficult.. but I will try. I still clearly remember my expectation with our first child when we came to know we are expecting, I was very particular in what “I wanted” – a GIRL, extremely demanding, hot headed and spoilt, who can exhaust the freak out of me. To my amazement and joy (and a bit of sweet pain), we were blessed with exactly what I longed for, and more! Now I will also admit that after 10 years, many a times, she gives me complete nervous breakdown and headache but it vanishes in split seconds, when I look at her or hug her, every single time. I now feel (and gladly so) I am born to serve her, right from day one when I lifted the carriage off the bumps so not to disturb her sleep to present days where anything she wants (or even vaguely mentions) automatically comes to my mind when I go shopping. From putting an extra blanket on her in the middle of the night to not moving my arm when she slept on, from completing stories even when she’s asleep to hugging her little extra tight; I am so thankful that so far I am able to provide for her (..oh well a Pet is a big no-no) until she starts asking for a Louis Vuitton or a Lamborghini! So what that she turned into a bit spoilt and lazy and delicate, she’s my precious child and special, my second love. I am so glad to have you in my life, you bring our daily dose of love, affection and challenges, I wish you the best of health, all the happiness and success in life. ❤️ 🤗
#3 (16.Jan.21) – Blessed Again
When we expected our second child, I must say at least my requirement was cloudy, all I wanted was a healthy child. There was no clear expectation on gender or personality, not even names, in fact we finalized the name of our daughter after coming home from hospital! Don’t get me wrong here, I was super excited but since we had gone through the experience earlier, we quite knew the feeling (and the routine). But oh boy.. we were in for a joyride! We immediately made the “connection” and needless to mention, she’s precious and really special in her own little ways. She amazes us every single day as she’s so different than her elder sister (..makes me wonder if both are our children only), be it her desire to do everything on her own (no matter how messy it gets..) to asking smart questions and giving thoughtful responses! She need to know what all road signages mean and even want me to explain the meaning of hindi songs. Once I told her the meaning of Suhana Safar aur yeh mausam haseen, Humein dar hai hum kho na jaye kahin, and she immediately says – silly Papu we can’t get lost, we have a GSP. She is a non stop chatterbox and if asked to stop, she gives back – Its my house too and I can talk when I want, can’t I? She is just three but would randomly appear out of nowhere and say Papu.. and on asking what is it.. she will say I love you or give a hug! If she finds me lost in some random thought she immediately inquires.. What are you thinking? or will snuggle and say Let’s talk. She’s such a joy to be with and an absolute stressbuster in any situation and I am just blown away by her curiosity (..she even wants to know why are we proud of her!), ability to relate to different things, kindness and her immense care for all of us, at this early age. I didn’t even remotely expected this and we all are so so blessed to have you in our lives and I wish you the best of health, the happiness and all the goodness this world can offer. ❤️ 🥰
#4 (23.Jan.21) – Parents, the Creator
Life is a relentless pursuit towards betterment and progress of oneself and people associated with you, so much that we don’t get a chance to retract our moves. While there is always an option to reconsider and go back to our roots but at times our needs become the necessity and retracting is not easy. In my chase for a better future, heightened responsibilities, desire, and a bit of helplessness; I lost both my parents and both times I wasn’t there in their last days. No guilt even remotely compares to this feeling and believe me it saddens you every time you think of them and moist your eyes. I have immense respect and admiration for people who can hit that reset button, take a step back. Only solace for me is I had my siblings to take care of my parents and I am heartfelt grateful to them for their backing and being there. Both my parents were humble, down to earth and more than anything kind and helpful to anybody and everybody. I remember back in the days, my dad housed a total stranger (..and later his family as well) and ensured he is self-sustained before letting them go! They took every opportunity to assist family and others as needed, within and many times outside their means. I recall most of my phone calls with mom were around helping others and “won’t-you-give” conversations and now when I think about it, I feel so proud to have them as my creators. I am so thankful to both of them to instill values such as care, share, going above and beyond to help people (..even random stranger) and stay away from the noise and greed. Love you Didi and Pappa, while I can’t bring back the past, I try to live by your beliefs and legacy and I am so blessed to have you as my parents. 🙏 😔
#5 (30.Jan.21) – Three Cheers for Laziness!
In my mind laziness and laid back attitude in personal life is a blessing and not everyone possesses it. Work that need to be done, gets done in its due time so stressing it out or making a fuss is unneeded. Once in a while, just focus on a single chore instead of multitasking all the time. In this fast paced environment, your body and mind deserves to be indulged with laziness. There is abundant enjoyment in occasionally lying in a cozy bed till late morning and let the mind go blank, trust me. If you have an option, talk to a child, uninterrupted by anything else and bask in the power of their innocence and purity. Regrettably we live in a world of high expectation and need to excel, all around, all the time. If we are fortunate enough, we also have a special knack to put ourselves in pressured situations! If you can afford (like me..).. go slow, smell the flower, stop to admire the “view”, feel the breeze (..or raindrops), or just stop for a coffee. Laziness is a pleasure. 
#6 (9.Feb.21) – Pleasure of Cooking
I find cooking joyful and calming, it is an effective and a cheap (..well unless you fancy cooking with saffron or truffles) way to relax. You should give it a try but don’t get burdened to dole out delicious and exquisite cuisines. You don’t have to go through high hopes and expectations, consider it as a therapy. The chopping, dicing, mixing, simmering, tossing with a music in the background and sips of beer (..or whatever), transports you altogether to a different zone! It will bring delight to the faces of your loved one if you master the skill.. but even if not, the whole process is quite therapeutic and worth a shot. 
