Day 35 and Day 36 of Mentor on Road, USA

Say, "This misery that I am suffering is of my own doing, and that very thing proves that it will have to be undone by me alone."

-Swami Vivekananda

Day 35 of Mentor on Road, USA started with a beautiful sunny day in San Diego after a delightful road drive of approximately 2 hours from Los Angeles.

San Diego is a major city in California, United States. It is in San Diego County, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, approximately 120 miles (190 km) south of Los Angeles and immediately adjacent to the border with Mexico.

With an estimated population of 1,406,630 as of July 1, 2016, San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest in California.  It is known for its mild year-round climate, natural deep-water harbor, extensive beaches, long association with the United States Navy, and recent emergence as a healthcare and biotechnology development center.

The economy of San Diego is influenced by its deep-water port, which includes the only major submarine and shipbuilding yards on the West Coast. Several major national defence contractors were established and are headquartered in San Diego, including General Atomics, Cubic, and NASSCO.

San Diego hosts the largest naval fleet in the world and is home to 53 ships, over 120 tenant commands, and more than 35,000 sailors, soldiers, Department of Defence civilian employees and contractors. About 5 percent of all civilian jobs in the county are military-related, and 15,000 businesses in San Diego County rely on Department of Defence contracts.

San Diego's commercial port and its location on the United States–Mexico border make international trade an important factor in the city's economy. The city is authorized by the United States government to operate as a Foreign Trade Zone.

The city shares a 15-mile (24 km) border with Mexico that includes two border crossings. San Diego hosts the busiest international border crossing in the world, in the San Ysidro neighborhood at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. 

One of the Port of San Diego's two cargo facilities is located in Downtown San Diego at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal. This terminal has facilities for containers, bulk cargo, and refrigerated and frozen storage, so that it can handle the import and export of many commodities.

Tourism is a major industry owing to the city's climate, beaches, and tourist attractions such as Balboa Park, Belmont amusement park, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and Sea-World San Diego. San Diego's Spanish and Mexican heritage is reflected in many historic sites across the city, such as Mission San Diego de Alcala and Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.

Also, the local craft brewing industry attracts an increasing number of visitors for "beer tours" and the annual San Diego Beer Week in November, San Diego has been called "America's Craft Beer Capital."

Following are the top employers of the San Diego:

• United States Navy 
• University of California, San Diego 
• Sharp HealthCare 
• San Diego County 
• Qualcomm 
• San Diego Unified School District 
• City of San Diego 
• Dexcom 
• Kaiser Permanente 
• Scripps Health

In the evening, Mentor on Road headed towards an interaction with a group of motivated Indian diaspora at a picturesque home in San Diego. The session was immensely interactive and we came across a lot of keen participation with thought provoking issues being discussed.

Many new projects were initiated, one of them included shipping of high cost medicines from the USA to India which are not manufactured in India and are meant for rare diseases, for the poor and needy.

Also, Mentor on Road would be supporting another on-going project which is about promoting women cab drivers in India. Mentor on Road is glad to be working on such notable steps towards women empowerment in India.

After which, Mentor on Road shared the concept of smart villages. Several members from the group had decided to adopt their villages on which we would soon start working. Mentor on Road is truly thankful to San Diego for providing us with such great opportunity and support towards completing our mission of developing our mother land, India.
        

The next day, Mentor on Road headed towards a wonderful meeting with a software company in San Diego. We would soon be working with them on increasing solar power optimization through storage management in India.                                      

There is a saying by Napoleon Hill, “The starting point of all achievement is desire.” Concluding on this point, Mentor on Road feels blessed to have received such a great response just at the beginning of our leg 2 journey. It is truly because of the desire and hard-work that has enabled us to reach so far successfully.

Hope the journey ahead stays as exciting and fruitful as it has been till now.

Jai Ho! (Let victory be yours)