Mera Trek Mera Peak - A happy hiking experience

While post pandemic has mostly been about missing the Himalayas, "Mera Trek Mera Peak" a beautiful book by Ram Narayanan took me to the Himalayas virtually. 

The author starts the acknowledgements section by thanking self for not giving up. This genuine line to begin the book with was a catalyst to finish reading the book in one go. 

While on a trek, it's very natural to remember older treks, and that's exactly how the book sails us thru. The book is about a less explored peak ' Mera Peak' . It's equally about Everest Base Camp , the trek about which the author gets nostalgic at various places thru his journey. 

What makes the book special is not about how difficult the trek was but, the fact that, it celebrates humans & humanity . Terrains are forgotten over the period of time. The people we meet during a trek stay with us forever. 

Ending my blog ,quoting my most favourite lines from the book 

"Nothing stalled on account of my unavailability - be it family or on my professional front. Often , we tend to give ourselves too much importance and assume that people and activities will not function without our presence or intervention - the truth is far from it."

- Charita Kallihal 

SBI Geleyara Balaga

SBI Geleyara Balaga celebrates it's silver Jubilee by silently helping the financially weak yet talented students achieve their goals. We should be a bridge between the Haves and Have nots is the thought behind the group. Many students who have been supported by the group have achieved great heights in life. They are Engineers , Army Men and much more today.

A small group of 6 friends at SBI Main branch Dharwad  Sri F Ramesh  ,Dr. Gururaj Kallihal, Sri Kishore Bhatkal , Sri Dinesh Khatavkar , Sri K Y Badgandi, Sri Laxman Desai started this group. They  contributed a small amount from their salaries every month so that it can be used for a good cause. Colleagues who got to know about this also joined hands in big numbers. Small amounts that would  earlier have been spent on birthday celebrations, cake cutting, buying Dharwad Pheda for special occasions started getting added to the Geleyara Balaga account so that the needy could be helped. 

Vidyaranya High School Dharwad was the school identified to sponsor kids education. Every year 10 - 20 high school kids are selected and their education is taken care of . This has been happening for the last 2 decades.They have been firm and clear not to take support from any external sources. They play a low key and prefer not to publicise their work much. 

Rastrothana School Garag, Kalkeri Sangeeta Vidyalaya were also choosen to be helped with their infrastructure in-terms of School benches and Steam cooking Kitchen facility.

SBI Geleyara Balaga believes that kids should not be deprived of education and colourful dresses and innocent childhood.

Something that started when we were kids is now a Big family and a Legacy. 

SBI Geleyara Balaga is an inspiration to many and an emotion that's really close to my heart. 

Kindness is infectious. Let it spread throughout the universe. 

- Charita Kallihal