I run an evening school and to sound clichéd it just
gives me joy and happiness that can’t be measured in words nor can I say I did
this for any recognition neither to use it to climb the social ladder (trust me
this one has been said). And, as the school year starts I start to call up my
all my friends and ask for books, stationary, clothes and anything they can
give . Indians have this inbuilt mechanism, we hoard the whole year and then we
spring clean to lighten the load and then to collect again. Maybe we all are
magpies.
A lot of times, miracle happen, just like this year,
an acquaintance who became a friend just donated her children’s entire library
of books, the biggest encyclopedia set and clothes of various sizes and just
about anything she could, she sent across!
The day, school started I distributed everything, books to the right
kids, clothes to who ever needed them and then I was left with brand new set of
handkerchiefs.
We all have grown up with them; we all went to school
with them with a safety pin pinned on our uniform. If you’re going to say you
didn’t well you missed out on the best memories or maybe I am ancient (which
holds true).
I gave the set to my youngest set of girls who are
really poor and just have nothing; they are my Radha and Lakshmi (twins). Their
mother works in the fields and they are from U.P. and she is a young widow,
with no hopes of going back and stands out like a sore thumb in this robust
state. So these little girls of four had never known what a handkerchief meant,
to clean the snot it was a rub with the back of the hand or to just use their shirts.
It was joyous to see their reaction! The fact they
owned something that was new, bright and shiny and had a cartoon made on it,
made them light up. Then to have something clean their noses made them laugh
with sheer unadulterated joy! They looked at me when I explained what it was
for and they said madam ji, aap pagala Gaye hain!
With this line in chaste Hindi, the entire school
started giggling and well madam jib also burst out!
Imagine how, we complicate life. Simple things are
changed and we make them out to be so tangled and intricate.
We bind ourselves into so many knots and make it
cumbersome. These children teach me to take life with a pinch of salt.
In fact, these children are happy with so little and
it doesn’t matter if it’s new or is of the latest model. There is no rat race;
none of them are worried about the latest model or of fashion. They are
contended with what they have, what they are given and if it doesn’t fit; it’s
given to the next child without even being told to. The sense of joy and
contentment that these children have is more than one can fathom. Every day
being with them is refreshing and makes me believe we can do with less. Life
for us is now equated with things, material possessions, a person’s worth is by
what he wears, the brands he has or what his outer cover is.
We think poverty is a crunch, it isn’t. It limits them
but they far happier than us. Imagine being told now , madam iski kya zarrorat
and then Radha , tells me that why should one buy a piece of cloth to wipe one’s
nose? One just uses any piece of cloth , if needed.
Point hain .
No comments:
Post a Comment