First of all, the funding info: #RationChallengeUK, @ConcernUK. Here is the link to the donations: Subhadeep’s Ration Challenge UK 2021

Well, well, well…I never expected this. I never expected that I’d hit nearly £250 mark, starting the challenge with only £36 self-contributions. I never expected either that I’d feel this tired. I feel like I’ve been hit by a bus. So today it was about revelations — pleasant and unpleasant, and I’ll also talk about why helping refugees is close to home for me.

So, the challenge is halfway through. The end is in sight. I have managed to skimp to the extreme. I’ve eaten 720g of rice and 150g of flour. Loads of kidney beans curry is left and so are the chickpeas. I’ve found milk today and on the verge of getting a veg. Looks like on next three days there will be larger portions and more varied diet. I’m craving like crazy and frying those nibbles yesterday was a lifesaver. I want to each something sweet but I got no fruit. I thought about rice pudding, but might instead used coconut milk and make a sort of Thai rice cooked in coconut milk with some spice. I’ll also make some fish cakes with sardines. With all the flour left, I really want to make chapatis but our fire alarm is so sensitive that tiniest of smoke sets it off and it’s bloody loud.

In terms of fundraising, today was a grand success. I’ve almost collected as much as I managed in last 3-4 days. I have posted my page on LinkedIn, to private Teams groups at work — I pulled all the stops. We also managed to add two more members so our group is now completed and we have well surpassed our group target. We also had a good chat amongst the group members and I’d recommend anybody to join up a team. Doing this together makes it a lot less harder.

On the other hand, energy level has hit an all time low. I felt drowsy all afternoon, and the heat didn’t help either. My arms suddenly went achy. I might take some multivitamins tomorrow. After the first day I felt quite okay and thought I’ve managed it well. I think being complacent made it even harder today. There are a number of reasons why I could see that one other challengers are finding it difficult and I thought I’d be ok because they don’t apply to me. Yet, here I am, completely sapped of strength. Perhaps this is where the muscle starts to decay as the body goes in starve mode to keep the fat reserves. Tomorrow I’ll increase portion sizes and hope that will start making things better. I might have a tea.

Today’s diet was totally a replica of yesterday’s but in a different order so I’m not spending much detailing them. I must say the nibbles I cooked seemed to have caught attention of a few, and I’d say that is such an easy fix, it’s a no brainer not to have.

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The last point is about why I feel so strongly about helping refugees. I grew up in India and after the independence in 1947, many families left what is called East Pakistan (Now Bangladesh, where Concern is also working with the Rohingya crisis) in fear of their lives. Both of my parents were born in part of India which became East Pakistan, and they fled to India. Throughout my life I’ve seen people who fled, and also read/heard first hand accounts of their torrid life. I’ve also seen people desperate to emigrate at any cost. When I was young, I felt angry why one would want to falsify documents, pay shady agents just to come over to India and basically disappear off the radar. But as we start learning the background we start to look at things from a different perspective. And I can see why they wanted to flee and risk everything they have in their lives. They saw no other choice. As are the refugees in Syria. This is why I support this cause so strongly. There should be no refugees, nobody should feel that threatened to leave everything behind and run away. There should be no more Aylan Kurdis.

One last thought before we move on to the next day. We are halfway through, so people are upbeat about it. For us, the end is in sight. For the refugees in Syria, this will the the end of just another week. They have not got something to look forward to. I’ll keep that in mind before I rejoice, and I’ll continue to raise funds and awareness even after this week is over. We have done a great job surviving the week, it’s time to carry on and make the most of it.