Thank you, friend!

It's great sometimes to interact with people, especially when you feel the interaction has been meaningful. A year ago, I had met Garima Agarwal while doing a story about Peek-A-Boo Patterns, an enterprise she runs. We had hardly been in touch since. This year, I bumped into her somewhere and we got talking. Our conversation centred around Madras Day and Madras Week - I had steered it in that direction, busy as I was trying to network and get things moving.

Garima's interest in Madras and its heritage, and her desire to make the city a better place to live in, pleasantly surprised me. Here she was, willing to get ready T-shirts for Madras Day, go on heritage walks and, what was most heartening, she was keen to contribute long-term for the city's betterment. Garima provided me quite a few leads and, thanks to her initiative, I was motivated to try and rope in some of the colleges for this year's week-long celebrations.

Another aspect that struck me about Garima was her straightforwardness and commitment. And her willingness to find time to help in spite of having to balance home and work. If only more people had these qualities, things would be so different!

At this point, three colleges have confirmed that they would be hosting events during Madras Week. I expect a few more will join in. Thank you, Garima!