by Anuradha Bakshi | Aug 10, 2009 | Uncategorized
As expected Dear Popples did not make it to the short list of the Golden Quill award. Its brush with fame was short and fleeting. It did sit proudly and bravely for weeks next to giants but then got knocked off. Did I believe it would ever make it: I guess the heart did while reason screamed otherwise. Was there a tinge of disappointment: I guess there was, I am but human.
The story of a little poor boy written by a dotty old woman is not what is crowned and feted in our world. It is not a burning issue of today or yesteryears. It may touch your heart but only if you allow it to do so. Sadly many have forgotten how to do just that: look with their hearts.
The saga of dear Popples finds its genesis in the dream of a teenager. The dream was turned into reality by two beings: a small boy and a big man, both wonderful beings and surprisingly similar though you again need to see with your heart to see that! An unusual book launch was the culmination of the dream saga and then it was time to get off the clouds and get back to one’s life. Dreams only last till the first knock of dawn.
Imagine my surprise when more than a year later I get to know that dear Popples has been nominated for a literary award. Time to dream again, even if it was for a few moments. And one did just that. Now things have again fallen in place, and dreams laid to rest. But the story of an extraordinary little fellow continues to haunt me and will do so for the remaining days of my life.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Aug 7, 2009 | Uncategorized
The Right to Education Bill has been passed. After 62 years of Independence the children of India have finally got the fundamental right to free and compulsory education! Wonder why it took so long but then today let us simply celebrate the event.
It is true that millions of children have been excluded, those below 6 and those above 14. Wonder why as both these age groups are extremely vulnerable and need adequate care and understanding. We do hope that our lawmakers will make amends at a later date.
Once the celebrations are over, it will time to think about whether words will be translated into action. It will be time to ponder at how the piece of legislation will actually affect children or whether, for the time being at least, nothing much will change. If you look at things around you you soon realise that there is still long way to go before every child born in this land will be schooled. Education alone does not make any sense. It has to be linked to a broader vision where employability is addressed. As we know, many jobs today require a class X if not a class XII certificate. 14 is the age where you are just in class VIII. Social needs must be part of any education policy. If education leads me nowhere why should I study. Free education has to lead somewhere: to a school leaving certificate at least!
Before and after August 5, 2009, the ground reality has not and cannot change. Children may have acquired the right to education but education will still be imparted, at least for some time, in the same conditions: the same schools, the same teachers, the same environment. No teacher will look at his pupil in a different way post 5/8/09.
If ones looks at the Bill closely one finds many lacunae, each one needing to be addressed. How will one ensure that every child does go to school? How will one ensure that quality education is being imparted? and so on.
The RTE Bill also states that 25% of seats available in each public school will be reserved for the less privileged. This in itself is a contentious issue in many ways. It has been on the cards for some time now and we all now that free and equitable education for ALL the children of India is not around the corner. There are still many hurdles to clear and though the neighborhood school was mentioned in the Bill, its definition was too vague. One would have liked to see it mentioned as it is the only way one can truly ensure the free and equitable education for all.
In today’s India getting your child into school is nothing short of a nightmare. No child should be subjected to rejection and yet the society of schools is a reality one cannot circumvent, and better schools come at a better price. It was a relief to see the Bill address the capitation fee issue. But again who bells all the cats? A question waiting to be answered.
True the Bill throws up many questions and each will need to be carefully addressed. Let us just hope it is a step in the direction of the still elusive common school that would truly give every child its newly acquired fundamental right.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Aug 5, 2009 | Uncategorized
Yesterday the girls of the special section tied rakhis on the wrists of the boys of their class. These were very special rakhis as they had been made by the girls themselves!
The moment was solemn and touching as each girl got ready to proceed with the small ceremony. The brothers were seated on a small stool and the girls had their box of sweet and tikka ready. The ceremony proceeded with clockwork precision and in silence. Each brother ‘s wrist was soon full of bright and colourful rakhis.
It was moving to see these children of a lesser God create bonds that one could not really qualify and yet what linked these extraordinary children was hours of laughter and fun, of sharing and giving, of fighting and making up. It did not matter whether you were rich or poor, whole or broken, whether you could hear or walk, what mattered was that you belonged to the exclusive group called the special children of pwhy.
It is difficult to describe the mood that permeated the air for those magical moments. All I know is that the Gods were smiling.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Aug 4, 2009 | Uncategorized
I received an email informing me about a new initiative: the joy of giving week! The mail said: The “Joy of Giving Week” is planned for Sept 27-Oct 3, 2009 as a national movement that aims to engage more than two crore Indians in different “acts of giving” -money, time, resources and skills. The week aims to engage every Indian citizen in “giving back” to society in a way that s/he chooses. From a billionaire writing a large cheque to a poor villager sharing 1 out of his 3 rotis with someone less fortunate, the idea is to create a “festival of philanthropy” that can, over the years, become a part of the Indian ethos, with the Week being celebrated every year covering Gandhi Jayanti. Wow what a great enterprise and how one wishes it works. Actually it should as it has all the ingredients for success: stars, celebrities, media campaigns and more. The email solicited one to spread the message… and let us do just that. The details of the campaign are available on the link given above.
What I want to do is to extol the joy of giving and share with you some of the very gentle ways in which people have reached out to help project why. I have been in the business of soliciting and panhandling for a decade now hoping against hope to ignite the flame of giving in individuals, corporates and others. That it seems to have worked till now is vindicated in the fact that we have been in existence for almost 10 years
. The price one has had to pay is another story waiting to be told. You can find glimpses on it in blogs written in times of despair: be it about the art of giving or the way to do so. If my blogs were ever to be published, they could be happily titled: the saga of giving!
We too initiated our joy of giving week/month year in the form of the one-rupee-a-day initiative and encountered many a storm. Somehow our joy of giving pitch did not quite take off the way we would have wanted. And yet over the past years we have been privy to some of the most beautiful and generous ways of giving that anyone could imagine: the efforts of a very special young lady who refuses to give up on us and has the knack of lifting my spirits when they drop well below zero, the spirit of an incredible woman who puts on her running shoes to ensure that pwhy children keep smiling, the initiative of young business school students who come each year and spread their brand of love, the effort of a young volunteer to make sure that the life of a little scalded child is not wasted, and the many others miracles that drop our way with obsessive regularity urging one not to give up! The tiny efforts of huge hearts that make us believe that all is not lost, even when everything urges you to think otherwise.
There is joy in giving, but it requires you to make a huge effort: that of looking deep into the eyes of a little beggar child knowing that you run the risk of getting lost forever. One does not need to run festivals of philanthropy. Philanthropy lies dormant in each one of us and needs to be awakened and often it happens when you least expect it.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Aug 2, 2009 | okhla, women centre
For the past three weeks Project why has again be touched by the magic of the SARI Kids. These are a bunch of young students from an ivy league business school in France. They come each year and spread their own brand of love to the children of project why for a whole month.
Sophie, Daphne, Justine, Yves, Ted and Simon landed in Delhi on a Tuesday morning and were all set to start their work the very same day. This time we were a little better organised and had made plans for them before their arrival. Two of the four would go to the women centre and live there, and the remaining four would work in our different centres. What never ceases to amaze him with these kids is the ease with which they slip into the role assigned to them. As if it was something they had done all their lives. Never mind the heat, the language barrier, the cultural differences they are here to conquer everything with their hearts.
But that is not all, this unique bunch of kids had spent the whole year raising funds for us. We were tickled to learn that Simon had even made chicken tikkas and mango lassi at the many sales they organised. Armed with their bounty of love they set out to work. This year it is Okhla, the creche and the prep class that are the chosen destinations. Nothing is too forbidding. Never mind the heat, the flies, the torrential rain or the spicy food, these kids mean business.
Within no time at all they have comfortably set into a pattern. Every week the duo that sets out for the women centre changes. Those who go to Okhla set out with the teachers and travel by bus to the centre. Soon bonds are created with the children and the staff and smiles and giggles abound. Plans are made. The bigger children will be taken to an outing this time to the planetarium. The smaller ones will go to a park.
But that is not all. Sophie the President of the association tells us that they would like to buy us things we may need. More plans are made. The women centre decide to spent the money of extending their class by making a new shed on the terrace. Other centres want books, toys, mats, plastic stools a cornucopia of things that would make everyone happy. So it’s shopping time and we are again touched by the generosity of these very unique youngsters.
As I watch them go about their chosen tasks I cannot but wonder at what makes these kids from well to do homes and privileged lands take a whole month off their holidays to come and spread joy and love to a bunch of slum children in India? They do not have to do it, they chose to do so. Just a look at them is enough to know that they do so with their heart braving all the challenges that slum India throws at them each day. And as I watch them I wonder why youngsters of privileged India do not walk the same road. If that did happen things could be so different.
In less than a week the SARI kids will leave us and go their way. They will leave in our hearts an indelible mark and the comforting feeling that all is still well in our world.
God bless them.
As expected Dear Popples did not make it to the short list of the Golden Quill award. Its brush with fame was short and fleeting. It did sit proudly and bravely for weeks next to giants but then got knocked off. Did I believe it would ever make it: I guess the heart did while reason screamed otherwise. Was there a tinge of disappointment: I guess there was, I am but human.