The Unbearable Lightness Of The Sinking Mind……..

Serendipity is by far one of my favourite words……simply coz it fits into my life well….coz if someone asks me to describe my life in one word…it would be –SERENDIPITOUS……..

Life’s been full of surprises…..that come across when I least expect them…….

The very thought of walking in the areas of Pharganj would beat the crap out of my senses….horns blowing at my face….i din know if I could be a part of the areas regular procession of stampede….for me,every rikshaw coming my way almost ran ova my feet……I wasn’t used to the smell…was it rotten carcass..i thought….or jus too many men peeing on these walls for years…….i wonder when they got their last coat of whitewash……maybe we’ll have to wait for the monsoons to wash it all off….

Why was I here?…I was fine in my posh colony where neither the smell nor the traffic had set foot……I squeezed my body through the tight streets of Paharganj following my boss and a man who was specially called to help us find our way to where we were going –The Salaam Baalak Trust…

The Salaam Baalak Trust is an organization that works with street and working children,who run away from their villages at a very young age due to poverty,alchoholic parents,or domestic violence.Most of these children get on trains and reach the metros where they are further victims of the police,mafia,and hunger…forcing them to beg on the streets or get into drug trafficking…The organization that has it’s shelter homes in different zones of the city rescues these children from the streets,keeps them in these shelter homes where they receive the necessary education and vocational training before they are placed in various sectors as responsible citizens..

I walked through streets which probably would be hard to find even if we looked through a map….dead rats,overflowing drains,men letching,more cows than people itself….the day couldn have been any worse….n then my mind kept churning ova the thought that I was going to meet a shelter full of children….all with a uniquely sad story of their own…..how unfortunate it is…I said to myself….many of them don’t even remember their parents names….others don’t want to….n still others who miss their loved ones…..i hope I don’t break into tears hearing their sad tales….During our festival at the National Bal Bahwan,one of these kids sang a song for his mother he had neva seen…..i still remember and audience of 800 children….all in tears ……I wasn’t ready for this….not yesterday….i had enough stories of my own that were bothering me…let alone someone elses….

So I finally reached one of their shelters called –Apna Ghar….we walked up to the first floor…entered an empty hall which was soon full of 50 children,who came running from all the possible corners…Namaste..Namaste…said each one of them as they settled on the rugs….Puneeta-my boss started interacting with them…asking them for their feedback on the festival….wait a minute!….none of them was sad…..as a matter of fact they were a family of 50 kids who talked more than all of the students in the Government schools all together,laughed like crazy….one of them wanted to participate in The Great Indian Comedy Show-his friends said he was the entertainer in the lot…another learnt karate…yet another loved to show me his moves on-Ashique Banaya….one room….n so much energy…

There was too much to wory about…..only before I set my foot here….there were no sad faces…no complaints…only eager eyes…and joyous souls..who wanted the outside world to accept them….as equals….

So after a while we walked back to the station….climbed the first floor of the police chowki which was now one of the organization's offices….its ironic when sometimes what you dread the most turns out to be a sole player in making your day…..i've neva seen the Railway station like I saw it yesterday….from the police Chowki’s balcony….the birds flew in circles around the setting sun….The hustle-bustle at the station din bother me for a while….infact it all seemed just perfect..

I thought I was in pain...before i saw them...
I thought I was alive......before I saw them...