'Friendship Day' has been gaining significance in the city of Mumbai over the last few years. We usually celebrate it in school, or college by spending time with friends, or tying 'Friendship Bands' or Bracelets around each other's wrists. Inspired by our recent 'Generosity Internship' at Moved By Love and the beautiful Seva Cafe weekend in Pune, we thought of stepping things up in our own way :) During a session with the the children that we've been working with, we asked them about their views on 'Friendship'. The answer - 'Friends are those who serve us unconditionally' And so, we thought - what if we spent Friendship Day offering Gratitude to those who have been working hard to make our lives more comfortable? 

And that was it - on 4th August, 2013, a few of us armed with notes of Gratitude and 'Friendship Bands' set out on the streets of Mumbai. We began at 7:30am at McDonalds, and had no clue where it would take us. But what followed was nothing short of a miracle. From Newspaper vendors to Bus-drivers, Vegetable vendors to Coffee shops, Petrol stations and Malls - we visited them all and offered them a simple bracelet and a card, with a 'Thank You' for serving us all these years :) 

What's more amazing is that we were greeted by beautiful smiles everywhere. The Newspaper vendor offered his support to us anytime. The vegetable vendors offered to buy us bands the next year! An aged lady offered us her blessings with a big smile - asking us to keep walking :) At one point we reached the Fire station. As we offered our gratitude for all the invisible service they had given us, they opened their hearts and insisted that we stay for lunch with them! 

The next thing we knew, 5 hours had passed. We couldn't believe we had walked for all this time :) We looked down at the bracelets we had offered to all those beautiful souls - just a few hours before they were simple threads! But it was incredible how a few words with pure intentions could transform them into something so magical. 

As we returned home, we were blown away by how special the day was. The ripples in the community were many - but what was immeasurable was the transformation in our own hearts - overflowing with gratitude!

 

Posted by Drishti Trivedi on Aug 6, 2013 | permalink