Trivial but significant realizations - 2

I am a volunteer. I believe in making a contribution that focuses on making a small change at least in one person's life. I go to a government school on Saturdays to teach the kids there. These are kids who already come to school and we go there to enhance their level of education and also to provide them better exposure to things in whatever way we could. Well, through the years that I have been going there I realized change is something that is extremely tough to bring about. The kind of change I am talking here is change in attitude, change in the way they approach things, change in their opinion towards education, school and teachers, change in the way they lead life and change in their expectation of future. It looks a little bleak at this time and I only hope that all this takes us somewhere. I am a droplet in the ocean of people who are rising towards making this change. Even a step ahead from here is victory.

Everyday when I walk to and from office, I have to go past a series of huts. I normally just wiz pass that lane. I always had a feeling that people living in these kinds of houses aren’t normal and they might harm me if it’s a little dark. Yesterday, in my regular attempt to just speed up that lane I did not notice 3 small kids playing in front of their huts. Just when I was rushing the smallest one among them came and pulled my hand. He said “aunty” and gave me a huge smile. He looked beautiful. A naughty look in his eyes teeth all over his face and little hand pulling me; he was dirty and wore torn clothes and so were the two others with him. I gently bend down and asked his name for which he said something which sounded like “ajith” to me. I spent a couple of minutes there and left. It stuck me that we have work right from home. Whoever bothered if ajith went to school or not, I am sure his parents are poor and earn just enough to feed him or may be not even that? These children grow up doing nothing and then become either child laborers or continue to do what their dads did. Unless the parents get aware and send them to schools they would probably not go to one ever in their lives. Apart from catering to kids in govt schools, labor camps, ashrams, NGO’s we have to start looking at children in the streets and slums. They exist and have no idea where to go.

An artist who paints for a different world!

This man has based the theme of his paintings on something so different yet means a lot in everyones life.

Read on at the Diversecity sectionof Sattva:
http://www.itihas.org.in/SattvaNovember2007.pdf

A life so different

It was one of the most boring trains one could be in on a sunday afternoon....
I watched out of the window for a long time.After a while when i got used to seeing the paddy fields and the dark green shrubs that was all way through the journey, i got back to doing the most common time pass in trains. Indulge in a not so intersting conversation with my sister where there was more of listening and less of speaking to do [:P]
We were in the midst of a time pass discussion about what is the most important thing they look for when you go for a UK visa interview..(yawn..) and there was this dark figure who crawled into our bay. He would be somewhere around 10 to 12 yrs. He was topless and his brown skin tanned due to the heat was exposing his ribs. He was wearing a rugged denim which protected his limbs as he crawled through the dirty rail compartments. With the dirty cloth in his hands brushed the dirt in the passage. He got into the bay and collected the spilt food particles and black remainants of god knos what with his bare hands while removing the footware and luggage lying there.
I was shocked at the plight of a 10 year old. I looked at my sister and we had the same thoughts running. I picked up a 5 rupee coin from my bag and gave it to him, while the others in the compartment continued to function oblivious of a soul who just picked up their footwear and cleaned their bay. The boy tried his luck by calling people, touching them and begging with his hands out. No one gave him a second look.
Half an hour later, an old haggered looking man walked in. This was something really unusual. He came in to the bay and and had his shirt unbuttoned. He had a huge scary looking organ hanging out of stomach. It was the dirtiest and scariest thing one could ever have. The moment i saw this man, my immediate reaction was to just close my eyes and just wanted him to get away from the place. The first thing in my mind was not pity, it was to just get rid of the dirty feeling and seeing something extremely disturbing.And my companions continued to be in their own worlds. In fact, nothing could make a difference there.
Sometime later, i thought about my attitude change towards these two underprivilidged human being i came across. Why was it that i wanted to help the boy and not the old man? May be because i thought i had to help the boy, he was trying to earn money by working. But why not a dirty suffering old man? I dont know.
In my entire journey i met a couple of more people in similar situations to whom i did not know how to react. I was confused about the attitude i had to show towards them. I really cant go around helping all the ten people i see everyday. But i also cant close my eyes to a 10 year old who picked up my footwear to clean it.

Colouring All The Way

Colouring All The Way

A cacophonic small room filled with people of all ages, including a bunch of school children, fell silent when ‘Colour Wheel’ walked onto the stage.

Read on.. at http://www.itihas.org.in/SattvaSeptember2007.pdf