by Anuradha Bakshi | Jun 17, 2011 | Uncategorized
Man proposes, God disposes goes the saying. Never have these words been as true as today and I am so say the least totally lost. I can only pray as hard as possible that God disposes kindly!
Many of you know Popples. Some have met him and others have heard about him or read about him. Popples landed in our lives in 2003. He was at death’s door having suffered terrible burns and though many gave up on him, we did not and nursed him back to health. Man proposed and God agreed as he was soon back on his chubby feet and a little bundle of pure joy. He walked into many hearts and people the world over reached out to him. Some time later we discovered that his mom was an alkie and decided to help her by checking her into rehab. Man proposed again and God nodded in agreement. What to do with the child though. A boarding school was the answer and man proposed again and God agreed enthusiastically. All was well. We sat back and watched our performance smugly. Lost in our hubris we started making lofty plans: Popples would go to school and then university. The world was at his feet and mom would be given a job and a place to stay. We were on cloud nine.
Man had proposed.. we simply forgot God.
Popples was doing well in school. His grades were good, his reports better. Everyone loved him at school and we thought that the next 11 years were well on course. Mom on the other hand was not doing well and refused our road map altogether. She was diagnosed as bipolar and treated but to no avail. She soon went back to her old ways. The bottle was too big an adversary and the only child she cared for. We went into damage control, knocked at the doors of justice and got Popple’s legal guardianship. Mom just disappeared. The child started hurting as he was missing mom and soon his grades fell a little and his mood got sombre. We were not unduly worried and tried to assuage his pain as best we could. Man proposed as best he could, God was watching. Things went worse and Popples became aggressive and sometimes difficult. The question no one wanted to mouth had to be asked: could he have inherited his mom’s ailment? Could he be bipolar… Man did not dare propose, God needed to be petitioned.
Visits to the psychologist followed but did not bring much result and then the inevitable: a visit to the child psychiatrist. This was done last week and the news was both good and bad. The good news: it did not look like the child was bipolar. The bad: he seemed to have SMD ( Severe Mood Dysregulation) and that would require long term medication. My world stopped for an instant. All the plans and dreams seemed to fall apart and the new ones were too scary to fathom. Would he be alright was the only question in one’s mind. Man did not want to propose anymore. God had to intervene and set things right. Popples had to come out of this as his whole life depended on his well being. Why did this child have to suffer so much. Third degree burns, a severely dysfunctional family, an AWOL mom and now SMD.
We were geared for the normal mishaps that happen to a child: a scarped knee, an open chin, a dog bite, a broken bone, even falling grades but this was way out of our league. Man did not dare propose any more. Now it was left to God and God alone.
Ina few hours from now Popples will meet the doctor and his treatment will be chalked out. I urge all of you to pray for this child. His life is at stake and mine too.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jun 13, 2011 | Uncategorized
I stop all to write this blog. We have our own Breaking News! Believe it or not our very own Sanjay is walking the ramp for the Paris Fashion Week. The designer is…. you will have to wait for June 26th to know that! I am so proud of him and moved to tears.
I remember Sanjay as a young boy barely fourteen or so, almost a decade ago. In those days we held classes for the Lohar camp in an open park and Sanjay and his pals you use to hand around, at the periphery, not quite decided to join the class, and yet drawn by the sight of the young volunteers that use to teach. I of course use to try and get the young boys’ attention and urge them to join classes. Many did not but Sanjay did and I must confess today that I was attracted by his incredible looks even at a very young age. I guess I must have been the first to suggest that he become a model in Europe were dark looks are in and as I use to say to him in jest: you can then earn a lot of money for pwhy!
Even I who normally believes in big dreams did not ever think that a decade later Sanjay would walk the ramp in Paris. Yet he is and it is huge day for all of us at pwhy. And even though I am sort of inured to miracles after 10 years of project why, this one is humongous even by my standards. A boy born on the road side, destined to beat the iron, first becomes a teacher and the an international model. Wow! I am speechless.
June 26 2011 will be a very special day for all of us at pwhy, one that proves beyond any doubt that anything is possible if the Gods are on your side.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jun 7, 2011 | Uncategorized
One always tends to highlight the achievements of the pwhy kids. One talks of their school results, their Board results, the jobs they get, their successes and so on. This has almost become a norm as every year and in all our centres children do us proud in more ways than one. What we tend to forget is the fact that none of this would be possible without our incredible band of teachers! It is they, and they alone who make all the small and big miracles happen.
It is time I paid tribute where it is truly due: the terrific staff that holds the fort and holds it so well.
Let us begin at the top: the two souls who run the two arms of project why with utmost efficiency and like a clock work orange have been with us for almost a decade. One of them was barely sixteen when she joined our wagon as an unpaid volunteer who use to come and run a small medical post that we opened for two half hours a day. She then graduated to distributing nutrition and that is when I discovered her inborn managerial talent. She learned at the speed of light and slowly but surely carved her place in project why. Today she runs her part of the show single handedly. Over the years she carefully selected her team, hired and fired with the needed aplomb. I have never seen her buckle under any circumstance, she always conjures a better solution. When she joined she was what you call a school drop out, not because of lack of aptitude but because she was beaten mercilessly and her mom decided that she should not go back. But she is not one who gives up. While working with us she completed her class X, XII and is now sitting for her BA final exams. What is amazing is that she never took a day off. You may have guessed, I am talking of Rani.
Rani is aptly seconded by a vibrant team of teachers. Some have been with us for many years, others have joined more recently. Each and everyone of them is committed and diligent. Come to think of it most of them were not destined to be teachers. Many were simple housewives whose education had been truncated by an early arranged marriage. Others were young people who had finished their studies in some remote place and come to the city to seek greener pastures. They learned on the job and boy they learned well. I can only say Chapeau bas to all of them.
The other arm of project why, namely the women centre was created from scratch by a young man who joined us a a teacher but soon emerged as social activist at heart, someone who strangely echoed my way of thinking: almost a kindred spirit. He soon graduated from his role as a humanities teacher to being the one I turned to in moment of crises. When we decided to set up the women centre as a case of force majeure, it was he I turned to. The result is there for all to see: a vibrant centre catering to more than 300 souls. And here again there is a superb team that runs the show. Well done Dharmendra.
The true measure of the success of team project why is my redundancy. Quite frankly project why does not need me to run. And though my team will vouch for the contrary, I can recognise the writing on the wall: I am really de trop! My only utility is as a fund raiser. That is the only thing my team has not mastered in spite of my best efforts. In hindsight I should be happy as otherwise I would have been completely superfluous. That is not quite the truth as I am aware of my shortcomings and of the fact that I am not eternal and for project why to run beyond me, my team will have to master the art of fund gathering. Maybe that is what needs to be done.
If planet why does see the light of day, and that would be my fund raising master stroke, my real swansong. I know my team will be able to run the show and carry on the work. If that does not happen then they will have to explore new ways. Deep in my heart, I know that many of them will not let project die wither and die.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jun 3, 2011 | Uncategorized
My little grandson left last week after spending nine months with us. An eerie silence pervades the house making it uncanny. It is almost as if its soul had suddenly gone missing.
For the last eight months the house had been commandeered by a little bundle of energy and joy. Everything moved around him and was tuned to his needs and demands. Even the old biddy had adjusted her ways to his schedule and my work day for the past months looked a little strange. The house itself had lost its erstwhile pristine look. Toys lay strewn in every nook and corner, the drive and garden were requisitioned by brightly coloured cars and cycles of all sizes. We had to learn to live around all these alien articles. But I am not complaining far from that! We all loved the new arrangements.
For the last eight months a new vocabulary became ours as we followed a little boy’s forays into mastering a new language. The air conditioner was christened as thanda machine or cold machine, and Namaste became Manaste and stayed so. When any task was completed be it a meal or a painting session a loud fini was heard and no force on earth could challenge that. We simply adopted the new lexicon, adding new words as they were mouthed by a little lad. The months flew at an incredible speed and the day of parting dawned. Never were Lamartine the french romantic poet’s words more true: one person missing and all life goes away. Even if the missing one is knee high to a grasshopper.
We are slowly learning to live without little Agastya. It means filling up time that hangs heavy, adjusting our ears to eerie silence, getting used once again to an immaculate house. Somehow when he was around one had learnt to complete all our work in the time slots when he slept or was away at pwhy. I must admit that we all managed pretty well. True some things were never quite done but it did not matter. Today we have to learn once again to fill our time with what once was ample but seems so deficient. Time to revive what was put on hold, easier said than done as one seems to have forgotten what filled the days before Agastya.
I miss my little man!
Man proposes, God disposes goes the saying. Never have these words been as true as today and I am so say the least totally lost. I can only pray as hard as possible that God disposes kindly!
