There are always people and experiences that you encounter and experience in life that alter the way you perceive the world or change your way of being, always for the best. But never have I experienced such a lack of integrity in the milieu of "humanitarian" work, which in itself is based on integrity. I am thoroughly disappointed in the capitalist ways our society has evolved into and that is being perpetuated. "Business" is never 'personal', or so they say, but what if we keep going the way we are? When machines take over, they won't need us to do the work. Eventually, they won't need anybody to work. Why? To maximize profit. But hey, it's "not personal". 

So why do we need businesses in the first place? To share our passions, to create spaces and things that are to be shared with the world. So how and when did business, the art of sharing your passions with the world, turn into being about power and money? How did it become so impersonal that people will put their own integrity on the line? Where people will straight up lie, hurt the feelings of others, and put dedicated and loyal workers out on the street to make an extra penny? 

I couldn't digest it. And still can't. 

A sense of business is good. But being penny hungry isn't. You lose sense of your humanity. And that is dangerous especially when you are working closely with 'humanitarian' causes. 

I'm not oblivious to business, I've been managing a family business with my father for the past decade. But, losing your integrity to gain a few extra dollars is never how we made our money. What do you think?

I had been working at a call center as a fundraiser for the past two and a half months primarily to save up for university and to pay off my debt incurred throughout the past couple months away in Toronto. The fact that I was calling on behalf of NGO's was a total plus, not to mention, the great people I work with that makes our work that much bearable. 

    Appa woke me up bright and early this morning, I hmmed and through one eye barely recognized that it was a bit past 4AM with the ray of light from the hallway beaming through the open slit of my doorway. I closed and my eyes and made a conscious effort not to fall asleep. I heard the shower turn on a few minutes later and realized that I had a few more minutes to enjoy the comfort of my bed. I lay in bed, although my body could not sleep as I was well aware that I'd have to be up in a few minutes. Like my own personal snooze button, my father was out of the shower and signaled that it was my turn.
   "Five minutes. That's all you've got. Prahlad said we had to be there before 6:30", he said as I walked into the foggy and misty bathroom nice and warm from the shower he had just taken. 
   I brushed my teeth with my eyes half closed, still not accustomed to the bright lights and hopped into the shower. I quickly damped my hair and conditioned it and soaped the major areas of my body. Surely enough, I heard a knocking on the door signalling that my five minute bathroom allowance was up. 
   "Coming!", I hauled as I washed the soap and conditioner off of me as quickly as possible. I hopped out of the shower and into my room as my father called in my brother for his 5-minute bathroom time. By now, it was five o'clock and we were on schedule. Much to my surprise, my brother rose quickly, despite the two hours of sleep he had gotten, and entered the bathroom looking more like a zombie than I. I turned on my morning meditative music and dried myself with the towel in my room. I found a very simple black top and chudidar pants that I slipped on and matched it with a black shawl that was lying around. This was barely the Bollywood outfit, I opted for comfort this time. I quickly lined my eyes with the liquid liner and applied some mascara, sprayed some perfume, and was out the door. 
    I walked into the kitchen to see everything packed and ready to go. My mother had been up since 2 AM preparing the vadas, the murukkus, the leaf and vada necklaces, and preparing some food for the priests. She saved picking the flowers for last as I knew this is something she took great joy and pride in. With her silver flower basket in the grasp of one hand and a whiney tone from the long morning she had had, she finally entered the car. I was jostled between my mother on the left and my grams on the right, who--for most people who've driven her around--know very well that she is not the most pleasant guest to have around simply because she doesn't have a sense of control over her tongue and every car ride inevitably turns into an hour long lecture that we've all heard several times before. 
   Regardless, I suspected she would save her comments and lectures for when she wasn't in the presence of my father--who, lucky for us, was the driver. I closed my eyes and pretended to doze off and was surprised to see or rather not hear my grams the entire car ride. Pleasant morning. Pleasant morning indeed.

The Hanuman at Val-Morin is considered to be our family's surveyor. Every year, without exception, we gather family and friends and are most often accompanied by numerous Ashram staff to perform our annual pooja and offerings to Lord Hanuman. This year we decided it be best to keep it quaint and intimate as our family has been dealing with some serious life roadblocks that have stumped our family and forced us to re-evaluate.

We arrived at precisely 6:28 AM and unloaded the car with the pooja items. Prahlad met us a few minutes later. My brother was appointed the bell boy for today. So he was asked by Harish to help him bring the Hanuman statue out of his home and outside. He was facing west now. This was the first time in twenty years that Hanuman had been facing this direction. 

Harish started up with the puja, first cleaning the statue with oil and then pouring kumkum, turmeric, yogourt, rose water, and water on the statue. The washing of the deity with various powders and essences are meant to evoke divine energy and to manifest maximum benefits to the worshipper. 

The puja lasted about two hours. At the conclusion of the puja, Harish handed out some puja water collected to drink and it was divine to the taste buds. Harish then handed us a tray of holy items that had been blessed and to conclude the prayer, had to circle the hanuman statue three times. When standing directly in front of Hanuman, the sun shines directly at you, and that's when I realized why Harish had put Hanuman at that precise location. Among the trees and the leaves, it was only when you stood directly in front of Hanuman that the sun smiled at you. Every time I stood facing Hanuman, I basked in the divine energy and that from the sun. It was glorious.

We then helped ourselves to prasad; vadas and murukkus. Yum. Swami Ambika joined us today and her presence is always a breath of fresh air. 

We cleaned up and by 9:15 we were off. A wonderful morning indeed. Om Sri Sri Rama Jayam!