by Shyam Gokarn

Created on: January 11, 2010

First date: How far do you go

I was a travelling vagabond, a geek, so to say. During our December holidays, I heard that, my distant relative of my age, a fairly good looking girl, Niki, for quite some time, has been complaining to her friends that she needs a good man to go on travelling rampage out in the wild in Kenya to take her around, look after her and protect her. So, it flashed in my mind to capture this good opportunity. This would be my best chance, I thought, to pamper this cutie, charming and talented chick. This was in 1978, way back in Kenya, where we lived for many years.

We both had an inner desire to go wild and venture far outside fields trekking, travelling and seeking to find an unknown into deep forests of the African countries. Our intentions and the desires were filled to set out with no plans, no specific holiday destination, just an imperative to wander, to understand nature, embrace the wild and beautiful, to seek, to explore and to find. The results, of course, were beautiful. Therefore I met Niki.  

Niki was 22 years then, graduated with English major from UK with history and psychology as her other subjects. She was a travelling freak and she looked to me as an exotic beauty mixed with a fierce intelligence, self-confident and assertive. She has been a lively figure to go along with, full of enthusiasm and courage.

She was struggling to set up a Cancer Hospital, going around for raising funds. She wasn’t inclined to ask for donations, as she thought it to be a sophisticated begging. Hence, she preferred her way of conducting several exhibitions, fun-fairs, competitions and the proceeds of the profits went to cancer hospital. This way, with her sheer determination, she could manage to role in a few thousand dollars after every few months. She never looked tired of working for this cause. She felt it to be her duty to serve for the welfare of humanity by way of collecting funds for the hospital.

There weren’t any of her close relatives suffered or died of cancer in the past. Still, she somehow felt that there is no specific reason for anyone to have cancer and felt pity for cancer patients and wanted to give her helping hand by setting up the hospital.

Also, with her few innovative ideas, she managed to auction some items of tourists. Being a marketing genius, she collected a minimum bidding figure from all those who participated in auction, and as an incentive, she allowed all those bidders, regardless of whether

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