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I visited Mumbai right after the blasts had burdened the psyche of the city and the world in December 2008. Newspapers, TV stations were only broadcasting the incredulity of, the anger of, the tragedy of the blasts. Among all the tragic news I spotted one article in the Mumbai times about a guy who believed in doing random acts of kindness. All he did was do something nice – like have tea with the autorickshaw driver, expect nothing in return and ask him to pass it on. There was a picture of the guy – smiling, holding a “Smiley card” Anytime he did a nice thing to someone, he would pass on this card and ask them to pass on the nice deed forward. As simple as that! Inspired, I wrote him an email and asked to meet him. I hadn’t expected him to reply, but Vinod did and I decided to meet with him. I didn’t know what I was going to talk to him about, but the conversation flowed. It was refreshing to hear him speak. He lived for the day, he worked for the joy of working – not for money. He followed his heart and made it seem so easy. It was refreshing to hear him speak, it was also refreshing to hear myself speak. I came back pondering about what I “really” wanted to do. What and When and all the other questions. There were more people like me that had approached him. The coming Sunday we were all to meet at Marine Drive to do a random act of kindness.

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