Simply thanks Chandra

Chandra is a nice human being.
Not because of the cheque she handed over. It was the eagerness to do something by involving her family. So simple yet thoughtful.
This would go towards the cost of books or  perhaps the fees of two children for a full year.
This reminds me I don't need to be a Bill Gates or Warren Buffet.
Being an ordinary person knowing that there are extraordinary  people always willing to help make it a better place to live in is very encouraging.

“No change is too small, For big too was once small”.

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With or Sans Education!

"Educating the educated"  an article by CK Meena under Hindu Metroplus on 16th March 2011 ruffled some  thoughts yet once again.

An instant flashback of an early morning  scene happening just outside my kitchen window at 6.30 a.m

Scene I
Two boys aged 12 and 13 with sacks big enough to hold five adults slung across their shoulder, tightening the string holding the rolled up pants  in place, gingerly hoist themselves on  the wall to land into  a vacant site .

Location  a newly added area of Greater Bangalore with just six houses land locked  with just one entrance to and from the main road  a kilometer away.Garbage disposal not yet organised but invariably dumped in vacant sites as it is an emergency always.

The boys are unaware  that I am watching them from my window. The boys are full of energy early morning and enthusiastic about  getting a good catch from this site.

They pick some iron pieces, empty water bottles,  some plastic pieces and throw them  on to the road. all the while talking . They jump back onto the road and pick up  the pieces and put into their sacks  is when I talk to them through the window.

Scene II
What are you doing?
 Just picking up these useless things , we are not robbers, we have not come to steal. We will go away now.

Why aren't you going to school?
I have some liabilities to clear after which I will go back to a hostel and study.This boy  also has some liabilities that is why we dropped out of school.

You can go to school and study and still clear your loans.
No response at all

You are telling lies , you both don't like to study just telling some excuses that is all.
Okay tell me what liabilities  will a small boy like you have??

I have a liability of rs 5000/.This amount was borrowed to treat my brother for burns.( in the process he shows me some fresh wound on his leg).I have to clear it. I get Rs 200 every day by this  rag picking. I have cleared a major amount . Only a little is left.Soon I will clear it  and join a hostel and study.  This boy  has a couple of thousands as loan taken for his sisters marriage.

Okay.
By the way I have completed 5th std.I can read and write and can read bus numbers also.

Don't you think with better education you can get better jobs??
This  is more than enough. Even without studying further I can manage.

Okay I have some milk covers and some  plastic bottles  and iron pieces do you want them?
yes akka please give.

Meanwhile I  bring a garland of milk covers washed and neatly  hooked on to a metal wire daily  numbering more than a 100 and a  plastic sack with junk material. I hand it over to them and ask them  to  give the metal wire and the  plastic sack back. They empty it on the road and promptly hand  it back to me.

Next scene. the boys are busy counting and dividing their booty. no one gets more , no one gets less.

Now next year I should find you in schools.

Now  they realise they are hungry.
We are hungry can you give us something to eat?

I hand them the  chocolate sandwich wafers  already in my hands  and give them.
They are so happy. They tear it open say a shy thank you  munch on it and tell me "Barthini akka" .

I certainly felt a lump in my throat.We educate our children to the highest level, yet they find it difficult to make choices. But here  is a child who is clear about his responsibility  and goal in life without  a University degree and will dole out  management techniques  from real life experiences.So confidently expressing I have studied till 5th. That is enough I can manage. This brought a  fresh surge of thoughts in me. How true.

 Lot of lessons I have learnt in life.I love teaching.  I have an opportunity to teach underprivileged children . I saw and admire  how children pool in their limited or next to nil  resources to help a  fellow being to buy books and continue education, or how they share their shoes, uniform which they have outgrown with the needy few.

This set me thinking, now I have to raise funds for  the school catering to the intellectually challenged and  underprivileged to give them  better facilities. What will be the response  when I go to the privileged few??

Will it be an exercise of educating the educated first??

O Aunty Shiela too old for Jawani !

O Aunty Shiela,  walking down nostalgic lane  exchanged notes of  growing up with a friend far away from the maddening sick world of so called intellectual brats.The neo brats who have nothing to  think and ruminate about  old times because of a   a mobile to talk in hushed tones or a laptop to  hide a face behind pretending to be engaged all the time.

The pains , the sharings , the poverty, the exchange of dresses, the honesty of conversations all bring sweet  memories of yesteryears matching RK Narayanan's  stories in all its simplicity. There was a reason to live and grow up and maintain bonds and ties earnestly never for a moment forgetting  the foundations  whether it was shaky or strong.

So many thoughts come crowding in, time passes. The old memories are countless.

The old have  quickly adapted to the modern changes and have a whole lot of powerful memories to cling to but the frustrated neobrats  always complaining  and whining have  nothing to think about neither past nor  present. Not only  because of STML(Short term memory loss) but also because they forgot to   learn the simple art of appreciating the uphill climb.

Learning  and getting on with life as a son or daughter,  proud to be  rich even without bank balance or a string of letters post the name.

Amidst  pleasures and palaces though you may roam be it so humble  there is no place like home.

Because as Winston Churchill rightly said, "We make a living by what we get, but we  make a life by what we give".

Tring ! tring

The mobile rang.
A familiar voice.
I was so excited that  an elderly person remembered me.
Tears streamed down my face, this is all that I expect in life.
Not money  nor wealth can buy such happiness. These are the values I liked to instill.
Thank God for making it happen and blessing a thousand showers on me.
Thank you for initiating it.

My Perception

Times moves on at its usual pace not bending to pick someone or push someone. The person who respects  time  forges ahead the other is left lamenting behind. People are of different kinds. Some have a definite aim in life. Some just drift along, some sponge along and some are drivers of change. No one decides it for the other. Reliability, responsibility, credibility, are traits which each one selects to be known by it since they are not inherited by birth but acquired over time.

Sorry used often has no meaning .Everyone makes mistakes. It is quite natural . but when the same mistake is done repeatedly it loses its charm. It just says loud and clear that it is being done deliberately as  a way of life . In all probably the person is acting smart or aping someone. But this is also  a message loud and clear to others that credibility, reliability, responsibility and individuality  is wanting.

Some  take things in stride and move on. Some give priority to how life has been bad all along and moan over fate and everything around  while drowning pots of coffee hosted by friend/s or self at a café or mall to meet often to continue the last conversation left incomplete.

Pretending to be what one is not is just an excuse to wriggle out of an unpleasant situation created by self. These pretensions can prove quite fatal if not checked in time. Some take advantage of situations. It is not hard to come by the many who rush to tuitions  as if life is at stake and giving the  picture of a serious responsible person. But the doer knows best whether it is a guise for going to the mall or being with friends .The thrill experienced is sure to give momentary happiness. The time and opportunity lost goes unnoticed. Many a time the root cause for regrets later in life.

A select few turn around and make up for lost time . Just a hi / bye and  get on with the priorities in life.  

The ones without priorities meet again  loyal to the café , the chair, the same old story to discuss on the bitterness of life, continuing to pretend  while  drowning coffee/ shakes. This time the hike in the cost of coffee /shakes is added to the list.

What a pity!  a shame to the brook ,for men may come  and men may go but I go on for ever.

Abraham Lincoln wisely said “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”