A little explanation

Keshav:

It has been long since the blog has been updated. And there have been a plethora of events that have happened in this period. One of the major events was the arrival of a whole new batch, arrival of many fresh, independent thoughts. And there was a question- Why do we write the blog? Some pointed out that its nothing more than showing off. Some were silent. For them, here's a little explanation.

The activities of YATN aim at economically weakest class. And that's why, we need donations, less in terms of money, and more in terms of time. People evaluate nearly everything in monetary terms, even charity. Well yes, for carrying out activities, money is needed. But the reality is it plays a relatively small role. It provides the base. Building everything else on it is a different ball game. Donating time is really important for carrying out such activities.

With this little background, let me deal with the doubts. The blog covers activities from the start, how it all started and what we do. This actually helps to keep a record of the activities. Some may argue that the 'account keeping' could have been sober. But then it would have been like capturing the minutes of a meeting that we had with the kids! It would not have served the purpose. The greater purpose is to spread awareness by recording first hand perspective. Ground reality can be very different from what it seems like from a distance.

There are many skeptic enthusiasts unaware of many things happening around them. This blog is also to invite them by telling what we do. No doubt, the blog may seem boastful, but let me assure you that it is written in good faith, keeping the labourers' kids in mind. Probably that's why the reader can feel a personal touch (or probably much more) and so feel doubtful about our activities.

Another aspect of the blog that may be seen as objectionable is mentioning the names of people who contribute, appreciating them. However, I feel otherwise. Appreciation is needed, it motivates. And on a different note is another thought. You must have heard- 'Learn to take criticism'. But never has it been told, 'Learn to take appreciation'. The person appreciated should humbly and confidently accept it. This way, it seems graceful. And the others should probably acknowledge it.

With that, let me mention three names, Harshita, Sharmi and Pradeep, from the MS10 batch  who took interest in the activities and joined us over a weekend.

I cann't find any one.....

On last Saturday me & Ankit went to mohali ,but I was surprised to see that there were no children in the huts I could rarely found one or two. After some time I came to know that all the children are in school....
I was "the happy man" there since our all efforts were now in front of us. 2-3 are still left for the school, we talked to there parents and now hoping that they will send them to school.
As Nilmani told HOPE IS A GOOD THING.....I THINK BEST OF THE THING...........

- Manish

The First Medical Camp- The Preparations

 Keshav:

 It was 1^st May. We had gotten over with our exams a day before and were planning to leave for home.  So we decided to visit the campus site once again for whatever we could do before we would break. There we were greeted by Didi!

Let me introduce you to Didi first. She is Dr. Anjana Sathyamurthy and she has just finished her MBBS from Manipal University. She is our director’s younger daughter. And for some weird reason, which I shall not disclose here, lest it gets too informal, we have named her ‘Didi’.

Didi told us that she came to know through Amit sir about this activity. So she decided to contribute to the cause and visited us on the Saturday. The group does not have a concrete plan as of now. And so its positive side is that we are open to any plan that is reasonable and feasible. Didi noticed that the general health of those kids was very poor. She told that all of them required de-worming and most of them had skin diseases. Moreover, they had malnutrition. She offered to give the kids a full body check up. We asked her if she could come the next day itself for the check up, and she agreed! We had finally got a direction and a plan to execute... that Saturday; she joined us to teach the kids in the shade.

Isn’t it very thoughtful to treat the kids? Do you know, none of us had earlier thought about getting a medical check up for those kids. Our aim was to educate the kids, and to interact with the kids so that they could be integrated into the mainstream and can lead a better life. The aim still remains. But now I realize that all through, we had missed an extremely important aspect- a point of view that differed from ours. We had started as a closed group, and the activity was continued for some days without telling anyone, till the time people came to know about it and we were in need of funds. That was important to lay the foundations. But as the activity grows, we should realize that we need assistance from diverse sources.

What Didi provided is simply amazing- a new view, a new plan and a new hand. Take it this way- If you have the least of pains, you become annoyed and restless and rush to doctor, or at least try to cure it yourself. But here, we have small kids who are in pain. And the worst thing, they have accepted it as part of their normal life. Its because they don’t realize that things can be much better...do you know, they had skin diseases, they had scabies, and we spotted one with an ulcer of his foot. Their feet were bruised...and none of them ever mentioned about any of that in the three months that we have known them. A new leaf was to grow in our infant tree!

The same evening, I, Amit sir and Sanjay sir rode in Sanjay sir’s Honda City(!) to the sector 19 market to buy the medicines and placed order of uniforms for the kids of the Chilla Public School. And we waited for the next day...

HOPE.....................

NILMANI:
Today we put an exhibition cum sale of greetings made by kids we interact at our Mohali campus. The response was truly amazing and extraordinary, everyone willing to contribute something. In words of Keshav" This huge response puts extra weightage of responsibility on us to perform better, and really make some stable contributions in the life of those kids.
Most of you have seen the movie "THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (1994)". Why am I remebering this movie? Because of the message it carried "Hope is best of the things". Today's outstanding response creates hope, we will succeed. I would just like to quote some of the final conversations of the movie in this context:-
This was an letter to red (Morgan Freeman)............

• "Dear Red:
  If you're reading this,
  you've gotten out...
  ...and if you've come this far,
  maybe you'd come a bit further
  You remember the name
  of the town, don't you?
  Zihuatanejo.
  
  I could use a good man
  to help me get my project on wheels.
  
  I'll keep an eye out for you,
  and the chessboard ready.
  
  Remember, Red...
  
  ...hope is a good thing...
  
  ...maybe the best of things.
  
  And no good thing ever dies.
  
  I will be hoping
  that this letter finds you...
  ...and finds you well.
  
  Your friend...
  ..Andy."

When so many good men are helping us , we hope we can do some real good for someone.......
And this is Morgan Freeman saying to himself and hoping.....................

• "I hope I can make it across the border.
  
  I hope to see my friend
  and shake his hand.
  
  I hope the Pacific is as blue
  as it has been in my dreams.
  
  I hope...................."

In the last, I hope ........ "we can make it and make it better".

Great experience

"AREE BHAIYYA EK PHOTO MERA BHEE KHEENCH DO" This kind of comments were there when I was clicking the photos. They were so enthusiastic, just because someone was taking there photo, and many of them was one who never faced a camera before this in there life. It was great experience to clicking their snaps because they were making different poses for their first photo. Finally they demanded for the photos , I will get print out of those photos for the next time.

Finally when I was returning they told me "BHAIYYA AGLI BAAR FHIR SE KAMERA LANA HAM NAI DHARESS MAIN AENGE"

_Manu

A premature vote of thanks

Keshav:

We shall be doing something concrete for the kids in two days time. And after that it, a lot of thoughts will melt away. So I want to hold a premature vote of thanks.

Thanks are due to all those who were sensitive enough to contribute in their own way, even if it was providing colors for kids when not asked or driving here and there for unconnected purposes. Names are, in alphabetical order, Abhilasha, Amit Sir, Ankit, Anshu, Dilraj, Kapil, Karishma, Keshav, Manish, Mehreen, Nilmani, Rajni, and Vikesh. My apologies if I left out on any.


ps- some of our contributors may feel that there was no need for the post, that there was no need to 'glorify' them- does all this blogging business really matter? It does- not in the long run, but for that very moment, it does...

The pleasure of sharing

Amit:

Hey, your pencil is so small that you can't even hold it. These words catch my attention. I turn my neck towards the girl holding that pencil and declare - she must have chewed the bigger half of the pencil.

No! Actually she has shared the other half with her brother, confirms Abhilasha, who is handling that lot of kids. Now I see a quiet boy solving multiplication sums holding the other half of the pencil. We are so much carried away by our limited imagination that the truth becomes almost the last thing we would think of!

So many problems in the world today have their origin in the unwillingness of humans to share. I wish if we could learn the pleasure of sharing from the girl who, we think, is supposed to learn from us.

And here is my bit to share - a picture of kids I took with my mobile camera.