While it has been a consistent endeavor for me to learn 3 new things every day...The last couple of days had been enlightening!!! I just returned back from a visit to my home town. I was there to receive my mother and my Brother's wife & kids - who were here on a holiday.
Phew!!! What a holiday I had!!! Enjoyed every bit of it...my nephew kept me on toes all the time & my darling niece was garnering almost everyone’s attention. Did have some challenges answering the intriguing questions posed by my nephew, though he is less than 5. But sometimes you tend to agree that Kids can be master teachers...they teach you some of the most important basics of life which we keep forgetting and these learning’s can be life transforming...absolutely life transforming.
Now coming to the point - it was my Niece’s 1st birthday and we decided to celebrate the arrival with some kids in a local ashram. It’s nice to have a family where your loved ones understand the value of what your are gifted with & would love to contribute back...
We reached Ramakrishna Mission Ashram by morning 7.30 Am to be awe struck by the visuals we saw there. As we entered the gate we saw a group of tiny tots not more than what my Nephews age, all bathed and tidily dressed in their school uniforms (They did not have other changing dresses - I came to know later...) entering a big hall (Later found out it was a prayer hall) in absolute silence & order.
The clock struck 7.45 Am and one child (There were a total of 53 of them - aged between 4 to 18) stood up from the group to start their prayer...the next 15 minutes was BLISS !!! Pure unadulterated BLISS !!! the kids all sang their prayer in such unison they could put a symphony troupe to shame. 8.00 sharp the prayer was over and a kid walked upto the front of the group & loudly announced it was time to take their oath. It was a oath as I never heard, never experienced - they promised with utmost sincerity to respect and love anything under the sun for everything was created by god for them...
8.15 Am, we had arranged for a breakfast for all the kids and to have experienced the gift of me being there with them then - I can be born again to say the least. All the kids sat down with their respective plates with absolutely pin drop silence. We requested that we serve the food to the kids but they declined the request saying that we were their guests and 5 kids stood up from the group & volunteered to serve us all (They should have been as hungry as others for sure...)
What food actually means & how much it has to be respected - we learnt it all again with the Kids teaching us the same with utmost humility. The food was served - but no kid (Including the tiny tots....) touched their plates or the food until the same was served in all the plates....they waited to check whether everyone had enough served in their plates as theirs (And I had tears in my eyes....). They all in unison prayed for my Niece's well being and then blessed her for giving them a meal that day.
There were kids who were orphans, there were those whose parents abandoned them in public busses & even childrens parks and there was a mentally unsound kid too - eventhough none would have known the other ever before, they were all brothers now...loved each other as their family !!!
After the breakfast, the chief of the ashram introduced us to three kids who had just then completed their 10th & 12th Std exams. With all the shortcomings & days where they might have had to sleep empty stomach these kids went on to score fantastic marks in the board exams. Each of them with the barest of resources and facilities had scored a whooping 80% + in their exams.
I spoke to them & without mincing the words let me agree with all humility that they were heros !!! real heros !!! for what they want to accomplish is not less than any heroic act. Two of them wanted to become Engineers so that they could help their ashram run a vocational training institute, the other wanted to become a Collector for he was derermined to bring about a change in the society on how orphans are looked at !!! I had no words....NO WORDS were needed....we offered any assistance that we could provide for their education and graciously they replied back that the Government does have a support system for kids like them & in case they need any further assistance they would come back to people like us.
It was time for us to leave & we started gifting the T-Shirts we had got for all the kids...thought we might add some color to their lifes - a small contribution we thought we could make in their lifes...WRONG...instead they thought us the value of true giving....when one kid said he did not like his T-shirt and wanted an other color he had the other 52 hands stretching towards him to take theirs !!! I couldnt help but laugh at people who only but crib they do not get what they want....
Those kids taught me again that did not want sympathy (You cant sympathize when you are to be sympathized...can you) they only wanted one thing that we could give them with no costs - Love !!! They seemed to have everything else and they were on their path to write their own destinies...how about us???
Destiny is not destined - it is - DESIGNED !!!
