Challenge 49: Special Mother

206. What makes your mom or dad special?

Everybody knows the simple rule of honoring their parents as they are the ones that brought you into this world. However, how do you know why they are special? Over the years, I realized how special my mother is because of the amount of kindness and compassion she shows towards others.

If there is any one person that always thinks of the other person before themselves, it is my mother. She should get an award for that! The extent she goes to help others can get very annoying sometimes. Her health is not a hundred percent and she is very prone to getting ill, yet she doesn’t think about herself and helps others on the streets that have various illnesses. It is not only people that my mother helps, but stray dogs and cats as well! Around five years ago, she saw this dog with a huge sore on its leg with gangrene. She took it the Kathmandu Animal Center, KAT, where treatment was immediately undertaken. The dog had its leg amputated and my mother brought it straight back home, treated her with care and nourished her. Seti, the dog, spent her last few years with us and in those few years became a part of our family.

Just last night, I was reminded of my mother’s kindness. It was getting late and we had to get back to our hotel. The only way to get back was on a rickshaw, but there were none to be found. As we leisurely walked back home we saw an empty rickshaw and the man who was meant to ride it was limping beside it. Before I knew it my mother was beside that man, comforting him and listening to his dilemma. He had been beaten by the police and now could barely walk, let alone ride the rickshaw to earn his living. My mother, being who she is, put some money in his pocket for him to get medical assistance and was even willing to ride the rickshaw as he sat at the back. Tears filled her eyes as the man didn’t bat an eye towards the money as he cried in agony.

My mother is special because she is who she is. Her kindness can be compared to no other and her smile makes everyone’s day.

Challenge 48: Favorite Time of day

237. Describe your favorite time of the day.

My favorite time of the day changes from time to time, depending on when I sleep. It is the short period when I’m in between the real world and my dream world. In that time, I think over what I’ve done throughout the day and also what I plan on doing in the following days. After I have completed all my plans, I think about the far future where I see me accomplishing all my dreams and everything goes exactly the way I want. Thinking stuff like this is one of the few ways I put myself to sleep.

This is the time when I feel privileged to have a bed to sleep in and realize how fortunate I am to be me. As I lay snug in my bed, with my head sinking into a soft pillow, I let all my muscles relax and feel comfortable under the warm quilt. As a cool breeze enters through the open window, I take a deep breath that acts like a catalyst as it gets rid of all my worries, clears my mind and allows sleep to come to me faster.

The rustling of the leaves fits in perfectly with the picture of the night sky as the lamp outside my window giving out light, which makes its way into my room through the gap between the two curtains. I can still see the faint light through my sleeping mask that covers my eyes. This is the time when no one will come to disturb me, unless you’re my best friend who will wake me up whenever she wants, whether she’s bored, wants something etc. This is the time when I appreciate the silence around me and serenity of the still night as I drift off to sleep.

Challenge 47: Wishes

229. Three wishes

“Bippity boppity boo.” By saying those three words and singing the whole chant to perform magic is something I would long to have. Even if it just meant fulfilling three wishes. A utopia is said to be unable to achieve, yet if my three wishes come true, the world will indeed be close to perfect.

-World Peace

Lately, the world seems to be getting worse and worse in terms of security and stability. With world peace no individual will have to suffer because of their race, gender, religion or any other form of discrimination. The super powers will not flex their muscles by showing off their nuclear weapons and no one will have to feel insecure about when the next nuclear bomb will set off.

-Health and Happiness for all sentient beings

If people have health and happiness what more do you need? These things are the wish of every living being whether they may know it or not. Rich or poor, everyone’s utmost desires are health and happiness.

-Free Tibet

Being under the Chinese regime for approximately 50 years is more than enough. A free Tibet means a free Asia. Tibet, the roof of the world, has always been a buffer zone between India and China, until the Chinese invasion in 1959. As you may or may not know, China is diverting the course of nature – the rivers – towards mainland China to quench the thirst of its billion citizens; the impact of which is going to be horrendous for those countries to the south of Tibet. Tibet is also becoming China’s ‘dumping ground’ for all its nuclear waste. The oppression face by the Tibetans in Tibet is also something that will automatically stop once Tibet is autonomous. A free Tibet will make the world a safer place. A free Tibet = freedom of choice, speech and action.

Challenge 46: Dream

242. Describe a recurring dream.

I’m cycling far, far into the darkness from a monster with metal legs, twice the size of me. This dream, a nightmare, haunted my sleep almost every other night of my childhood. I despised going to sleep, just because I thought I would see that monster again. I knew this monster, she was a big built second grader with short hair clipped to the sides, wore high boots with metal supports as she had trouble walking, and would scream at anyone in the younger grades if she didn’t get what she wanted. I was in first grade then and was dead scared of her.

This dream of mine started off in the school playground where I was playing with a group of friends in the sandpit under the warm sun. After building a sandcastle, I walked over the bicycle stand and rode around the school campus. It was at that moment after taking a round that everything around me disappeared, my friends, the school building, and the sound of laughter. After a few minutes of riding on, I heard a faint stomping sound and saw something like a black hole in front of me. A chill ran down my spine as the stomps grew louder and louder and my curiosity made me turn around. It was that girl in second grade, running after me to get the bicycle I was riding. She ran towards me, screaming and shouting in a language foreign to me, but I could make out that everything she said was in a negative context. Her face was in rage and I could literally see the steam coming out of her ears and fire burning in her eyes. I pressed hard on the brakes but the cycle did not stop. I had two choices, fall and get hurt being left with nothing in the middle of nowhere or ride on into the darkness and escape the monster’s wrath. Obviously I chose the second one. I did not like the thought of getting hurt at all, no matter how small the cut maybe, I was not going to consider that option. So, there I was, a first grader, riding in to the darkness filled with fear and anxiety, as a second grade monster chased me.

I haven’t had this dream for quite some time now, and thinking about it today, it doesn’t sound scary at all. This is exactly what I thought the last time I dreamt it, and that was in grade ten. Yet, every time I am actually dreaming it, I am filled with terror.

Challenge 45: Money

220. How money matters in your life

Without money I will not have access to health care, education, the finer things in life, and last but not the least, I wouldn’t be able to help the under privileged and accomplish projects that I enjoy. Is just one of the many things that make me happy.

Have you seen people standing in never-ending lines at hospitals just because they cannot afford to pay for the treatment? One of the renowned hospitals in Delhi won’t even start treatment on a person bleeding to death unless the family has placed a deposit and the doctor is assured that he will get his money. Fortunately, I haven’t been in such a situation thanks to my parents and the hard work they have put in, in their jobs. My parents send me to a school whose fees seem to be increasing at a very high rate, and I don’t really see what the money is being used for. Without money, I wouldn’t be able to get the education I am receiving at the moment and my future would have changed completely.

In my current financial state, I am able to help the poor and needy. Sponsoring the education of two girls in Nepal is something that I would not even think about if I had a poor financial status. Thinking of my own survival would be my primary goal.  Lastly, I am somebody that really likes to shop. The main factor needed to carry out this activity is money. Without money I would not be able to purchase anything for me or for others.

I am very fortunate to be born in a family where money is not an issue because of the hard work my grandparents put in, whom in turn taught my parents. Even though there is plenty of money to go around in the family, we have been taught use it wisely and not to spend it carelessly.

Challenge 44: 10 rules

233. Ten simple rules for dating me

1. Respect

Respect: yourself, the decisions you make, me, and the decisions I make. Be a person that I can respect as it takes more to respect the person than to love him.

2. Smile and be positive

Nothing lasts forever, but while it does don’t think about the negative bits. When you’re positive, you’ll probably always have a smile on. A smile can change my day completely. Knowing that you’re happy will probably make me happy as well.

3. Be considerate

You should think about others before you say or do something. They have feelings too. This tells me a lot about your personality.

4. Tell me

Talk to me. Tell me when you’re upset or if I have done something to upset you. I’d rather have you come and tell me directly, not having your friend tell me what I have done wrong. Also tell me when you’re happy so I can celebrate with you.

5. Have a sense of humor

Make me laugh and laugh with me. Life would be too serious without a little laughter every now and again.

6. Be there for me

Don’t leave your friends completely for me, because I won’t do that. Just know when I need you and be there for me then.

7. Be understanding and comforting

When I’m upset I complain a lot. Be the shoulder I cry on, and comfort me in times of distress.

8. Don’t smoke or drink.

I despise the smell of both alcohol and cigarettes, they will affect you your health as well as mine, and anyone else around you.

9. Trust me

Trust, the foundation of any relationship; without trust it goes nowhere. When I tell you something, believe me. I (should) have no reason to lie to you.

10. I am who I am, and you are who you are.

I’m going to like you for the person you are, the choices you make and your personality. You should likewise like me for who I am because I’m not going to change. 

Challenge 43: Power

217. What you would do with power

MUAHAHAHAHA! Now I can finally carry out my master plan … WORLD DOMINATION!

I would make everyone that has been mean to me and has truly despised me for no reason slog under the blazing sun, carrying bricks of gold to make statues of me. I would just take what I wanted in any store I entered and have a house in each and every single country. With power I would have everyone looking up to me as a leader that they fear and must follow every command. Every word I say would send shivers down their spine and everything they did would be to please me.

Just kidding. That’s not at all what I would do, even if 0.1% of me might want that. Taking over the world doesn’t always have to be in a negative context, but rather a positive one. I truly believe in what Uncle Ben from Spiderman, said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” With this power, I would be responsible with everything that happened all around the world, and I would make sure that it would be for the best. All the criminals would face harsh consequences, very harsh ones. These consequences would then be all over the media so people would be aware of the consequences they would have to deal with for every crime. This would then decrease the crime rate. I would make sure that all everyone living a middle or high-class lifestyle would constantly keep donating to the poor and unfortunate people of the world. The poor getting what they need and crime rates decreasing are my main goals to accomplish for the greater good with the power I have.

With power, I would also like to make many dreams come true and answer the prayers of many Tibetans by making China give Tibet its autonomy. I would let all Tibetans return to their homeland if they wish and make sure that they have a comfortable life there.