Thank you! – From Sitare

By Deena Pariyangat, ECE

We came, we met, and we conquered! I just got back after attending the event that was the point of conversation with all my college friends for the past year or so—Our college reunion. It has been 25 years since we graduated from Engineering college and about 150 of us; friends and acquaintances met for a night and two days. I have to say without a doubt that it was the best time of my life in a long time.

When the planning for the event was happening, it was around the same time that I had launched Sitare. It was my close friend Anjana who came up with the idea that I should have Adi create something that could be given out as a gift at the event to all the participants. I was nervous since that meant to make 200 pieces of something that is easy enough for Adi to do and should be easy enough to transport across the globe. After a lot of thinking I decided on what we were going to make. Then came the planning, procuring the materials and finally the making of the product.

Adi worked for about 2 hours everyday for at least 3 months to complete the job. Once the items were ready, the next task was the packaging. I involved him in the packaging to an extent possible and finished the rest. Now came the challenge. How do I take this huge number of items by myself? Once again to my rescue came that one person- Anjana. She said, “Don’t worry we will figure something out.” She then came up with the suggestion that we could ask people traveling from North America to carry a few along with them. While I was hesitant, I did not have a choice, and so I started asking around. A few people reached out and agreed to take some with them. However, we were still short of people.  As soon as word spread, my good friend Bridget, who is extremely well connected with a lot more people than I am, started contacting people. Within a day she gave me a list of 16 people who were willing to take some packages with them- Abraham, Manoj, Rajan, Vimal, Bridget, Reeni, Priya, Bindu, Jacob, Ann, Sreeja, Seema, Nicee, Mini, Reshmi. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you all!

A month before the reunion when I went to the Canada Post to send my first shipping, I was informed that Canada post was on strike from midnight indefinitely. Panic struck me and I started brainstorming on how I can get everything across to my friends. Jacob came to my rescue first. He suggested giving the box to his uncle who was driving across that weekend. He even offered to take more than he agreed initially although we decided not to do it. Thanks Jacob!

 I started contacting the 16 people to see who among them would have space to take a little more. Abraham, Manoj, Rajan, Sreeja were happily willing to take more. Thank you! I then remembered I had my good friend Mareen right here and hadn’t asked her yet. She was more than willing to take as many as possible. Thank you Mareen! Once all the packages reached home, we needed to collaborate with everyone to ensure that all the items coming from different parts of Kerala and in different trains were consolidated in such a way that they arrive at the venue at the earliest possible time. Special mention to Jaisen who was behind this huge task and carried the entire package and brought it to the venue. Jaisen, I still can’t forget that image that was shared with the giant blue bag on their back 😊. But I appreciate you so much for helping with that. Anjana, your support in this is beyond what my words can describe. I am truly blessed to have you as my friend. I am not sure if you had 10 Red Bulls during the event, but your energy is unmatched. 🙂 (JK)

When I decided to take up this work for Adi, I had no idea how it would be received since I have not met about 80% of the people who will be receiving this gift. But after the event I realized how big of an impact it had made. The response I received from my batchmates was overwhelming. I got messages of gratitude and encouragement from so many people- people who I had never spoken to before, people who just knew me and Adi through our social media posts. Several of my friends sent me pictures of the gift. It was incredibly moving. Thank you for all the messages.

 There were so many who did not know about Adi’s condition, and through this gesture I think I was able to create an awareness and give a peek into the world of special needs to a much wider audience. Anjana, thank you for being so pivotal in this whole project. I could not have done it without you and without all the people who helped through the entire process.