How UNICEF earns all that money

Unicef gathers huge funds and resources, year round, and the paradox is that no matter how much they raised, it is never enough to help everyone.

I have been taken by surprise by a beautiful thing they did recently: I have received a letter of appreciation of my efforts to support the campaign to help Bangladesh children. I must say I have done extremely little...the minimum I could do: support the campaign on Facebook and mentioning it on Twitter. And still, for that little effort, I have got a signed and stamped letter of appreciation. Now...THAT makes it clear to me how they gather the funds, and it also gives me a large amount of trust that they will know how to manage that money best.

On June 1st, UNICEF Romania will be be focused on the TV show fund raise: http://www.unicef.ro/teledon/donatie.php, so I will just take the opportunity to say Thank you for what you do! !

Mumbai to Bangalore

I have one day in Mumbai. To meet a load of people and close a series of negotiations.
Mumbai is bustling with life, unlike Delhi. The streets are actually walkable, there are sidewalks, new buildings, old buildings, ancient cars, the latest Mercedes model ...and then the slums that make me shiver...

I am falling in love with Mumbai, with the relaxed look on people's faces, with the warm sun caressing the walls of the office and with the smell of incense that brightens up the new day.
I can now distinguish the dialects. PJ speaks differently from KP, I can tell from the tone and the length of the words. I understand little, but the language is lovely when spoken by people I instinctively click into place with.
Contextually, I gather that "ThIka" means "precisely", or "correct". I think to myself that I am ignorant not to have bought a dictionary before leaving for India, then I forgive myself (I normally do...) and promise to buy one on the return voyage.

During the day I meet impressive people and the ideas flow naturally, as I find things in common with such a distant culture. I take my time in listening...this is what enriches me the most.

We leave for the airport pretty early (3 and 1/2 h before the flight to Bangalore is scheduled), but the traffic is so terrible that panic starts to install and I am realizing we might not be able to make it in time.

The flight leaves 5 minutes before we arrive at the check in, so there is nothing better to do then do some damage control.

We cool off in a matter of minutes, realize that this is the actual silver lining and we spend together the only time when we would not be talking business, that is around 3 hours of sheer laughter and genuine bonding spiced with details on how (NOT) to be "almighty".

These 3h make this trip worth the while, and i feel I am really regretting the fact that I have to part with this feeling of normality that the city (and the company I have) induce.

We have a flight at 1.30 am and we plan to sleep on the plane to save some time. Air India doesn't impress the critical traveler in me, but at 1.30 in the morning...all I'd ask for is some quiet time...


The arrival in Bangalore at 3 am is terrible..My body is used to sleep deprivation for a few days now...but this night seemed an abuse. We have 3 more hours to sleep before the next meetings, and I do make the most of this time:).

Bangalore by day is the home of high tech city, very different from what I had seen of India in precedence. Gardens and green spaces surround the office buildings and the weather is better than in Mumbai. People nod the wrong way.... and, at some point, I have the urge to tell PJ that, but I refrain...as this is another cultural pattern that I simply need to learn to interpret:)
I remember I wanted to buy Rahman's album and I realize there is no place I can find it in, just like that...
However, I am taken for a shopping spree in Fabindia, a woman's paradise, unless she goes there accompanied by 3 men :))

My Bangalore day is coming to an end, as I move on to another white night, on the plane that will take me to Singapore, a place where I'll be closer to "home" in terms of what I am used to.

Delhi to Mumbai

Last time i wrote anything around here,I had stopped the Indian incursion in Delhi...so I better take it from here and move on through the country....
Delhi is pretty amazing in terms of size. The notions "close" and "far" have absolutely nothing to do with what I am used to.

I am stationed in an office at Nehru Place, for 3 nights that seem the longest of my life. Didn't get a chance to see anything, except for the gray buildings packed full with people and goods and drowned in a chemical smell, meant to signal some sort of "work in progress". Most of the time,I drown my attention in work, so as to forget that I am hungry , trying to avoid the spicy treats, to no avail.

Before returning to my depression-inductive-gray hotel room, where I literally make friends with a number of cockroaches, I do get to finally see a pretty interesting place: a restaurant founded in 1959, serving perfect garlic bread...
Silky, colorful silhouettes, in amazingly beautiful sari, would sway around the tables, leaving a trail of glances behind. I am told that Indian women are just as spicy as the food cooked in these places...I am wondering what this might mean, but I don't dare to ask the question out loud. Dinner is followed by a lollipop ice cream that reminds me of anything BUT ice cream.
My brain is accumulating a huge volume of info in a very short time frame.

I am enjoying the ancient TATA automobile that is taking us from here to there, as i am enjoying the look of the people, their expressions...A tourist can afford to enjoy some chunk of what India can show you.

The people I meet along the stay seem to be more than expected. Every step of the way reserves a surprise, good or bad, to prove (once more, if that was necessary), that India is the country of contrasts...And I start understanding, discovering and loving what seems to be a minuscule , but essential element in this portrait: the people, with their adapting power, their white smiles and their beautifully shaped eyes...

I soon have to move to the next pit stop, Mumbai, where i am to see a different India, the one of the Marathi dialect and of the lively streets.