In a group of four CRY volunteers
headed by CRY senior manager Chandra Ramamurthy i got an opportunity to visit a
community called shanti nagar, under one of CRY projects on 5th May
2011. We took the 2.14pm local to kalwa from mahalakshmi. After an hour’s
journey we reached kalwa station. Shanti nagar is hardly five minutes away from
the station. At the start we were welcomed by pakka houses then when we went
inside, to my surprise the houses were made of tin. The point of surprise was,
all i thought at first shot was my mouth is dry and i am sweating but after
seeing the tin houses i realised that
these 100 tin houses were serving as
home to many families. I was there just for few hours, wonder how hot these
houses would be for these people. Though the residents of shanti nagar, have
much better ways of keeping themselves busy then to put their mind at this
thought.
The minute we entered the main
play ground area of this community, it took a split second for the ladies
around to recognise Chandra, who was graced with a warm smile by them. It was
just not about meeting a CRY volunteer, it felt by their conversation that they
know what CRY is and what CRY wants to do for them. Some of the ladies knew
Chandra well and honestly answered all her questions. Those who were not aware
were eagerly listening to the conversation.
All Chandra wanted to know was if they were sending their kids to
anganwadi(started by CRY), few said yes, few spoke about how they felt about it
, few enrolled their kids on the spot. It was not only Chandra but all the
ladies who made sure that all their doubts were cleared. We then went ahead and
as we passed across the narrow lanes, i couldn’t figure out a single child who
was just doing nothing and wasting time. Some were playing, some were busy
fiddling with whatever they got some were busy trying to do something creative
with whatever waste material they got and it was just not the kids but i found
the elders playing one similar game throughout.
The emphasis here is on the fact that, in spite of having so much
facility we waste so much of our time and these kids who are unaware of all
that they deserve to get and can’t afford are taking full care of their minds
by utilizing it to the best. We went through the whole community and saw the
municipal school and then on our way back saw the anganwadi and met the
community secretary, an old lady full of energy. I also realised that this
place had sanitation and water crises.
Every one of us has heard of many
such trips and might have gone to one too, but what is special about this one
is that i believe, it had a lasting impact on the villagers. We could have been
just taken around and shown everything but when we were walking through the
narrow lanes, were ever required or felt or were ever she met anyone, Chandra
spoke to them and it was just not a brief formal conversation like, “are you
sending your kid or is all going good with you” but “how is your kid, how are
you, what is your experience of sending your kid to study, are you satisfied,
what problems are you facing” and they spoke back. It was just not them but the
kids too who spoke to her. There was this lady who said, “There is no point
sending our kids to study as we can’t keep n eye on them. We have to go to the
fields to work and the kids instead of going to school, play”. She had her
valid point and Chandra made sure to prove here valid point invalid. Lost in
this conversation i was unaware that i was standing under the open sun, this
village lady very causally in between the conversation told me, “Humare liye
kyu dhoop mai khade ho madam, chaw mai aa jaoo”.
Chandra did a lot of talking and
so did the villagers because that is exactly what an underprivileged person
requires. “ A voice”, to guide them towards a better and meaningful life. A
simple example to relate this is, suppose a child body is burning with high
fever and he is unaware of why he is suffering with such kind of a pain. All he
will do is cry or ask God or someone to help me, someone will even take him to
a doctor and get him treated, but that will not solve his problem because he will
still be unaware of what happened to him. He will need someone to sit down and
tell him exactly what happened to him. Make him aware about, what is a fever is,
what are its characteristic, what are the consequence if not taken timely
action and how to face and overcome it. This is what he deserves to know for himself
and this is when he will actually have a change in the way he will take care of
himself. Thus this is what exactly CRY
does to the underprivileged and Chandra is just one of the many active CRY
voices.
It is just not this trip, every
time a CRY voice will visit Shanti nagar, it will have a lasting impact on not
only the children but everyone who are connected in giving them a better life.
