jump the band wagon

by Anuradha Bakshi | May 19, 2005 | Uncategorized

why is it that if one person thinks you have done a great job then everyone wants to say the same..

then you wonder whether there is any value at all to the ‘awards’ and ‘merit certificates‘ that get thrown at you.

strange that some of those who call and write praising you, have not even bothered to come and walk the hot streets and look into the children’s eyes..

for us at pwhy it has been ‘recognition month‘, newspapers, tv channels rotary Club and more…

I feel both amused and livid when I have to answer a call where after saying that the person wants to do a shoot or interview or hand a piece of paper he quicly asks: by the way what is it exactly that you do? or what is the nature of your work?

A dear friend who holds most of the media of today in contempt is even upset that I accept and go through the motion each time and get hurt almost every time…

But then when you hold the future of trusting children, like the one who sleeps in the picture, in your tired and feeble hands you cannot afford to brush anything away, as maybe, in spite of all the galling occurences, there maybe one person who will reach out…

So you carry on…. and deal with the hurt and the upsets by writing blogs such as this…

And sometimes add a touch of humour laced in sarcasm… as that is the only thing that helps..

Maybe all this is just a reflection of our times, when everyone is in a hurry, where ridng piggy back on others is the accepted norm, where a good story is the one that makes you cry in dispair or run in disgust…

So just as there are food festivals and commercial promotion weeks, there is maybe also pwhy award month

And as all things must past, this is will also go by and we will get back to our normal life.. a little angry, a little sad and a little tired… but ready to move on

C’est la vie!

A bone to the dog is not….

by Anuradha Bakshi | May 18, 2005 | Uncategorized

A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog..
goes the proverb

The past days have seen a flurry of activity as an entire network of whyBees have been buzzing in order to ensure that young Arun’s hurting and tired heart is repaired..

There has been no dearth of support in terms of concern, love, time and all those intagible things that add real value to things..

Money too.. of course!

In everyone’s mind only one thought and the same silent prayer in everyones’ heart: Arun has to make it!

nothing seems important at this moment..

We all know that the surgery has been made possible by the help of the big O.. the details of which i will share one day, but beleive me when I say that I fell of my chair when I got a call, yesterday, when Arun is still battling for life, and the operation a week away, requesting me to be part of a pr excercise highlighting the achievements of the O family!

I was to learn later via the net that ‘they‘ wanted ‘us‘ (that includes Arun who is not allowed to move) to get to a Reliance web world (whatever animal that is).. etc etc

I just answered that at this moment I felt that decency demanded that we just focus on Arun’s well being!

Whether the big O had come by or not, Arun’s operation would have taken place, we had set our famous “Virtual begging Bowl” in motion..

Is charity the latest fad to get publicity… and at what price

Can the pr excercise at least wait for the child to be well… it would just be humane and decent..

Let me share a quote of St Exupery, the pilot who conjured the Little Prince I so love:

Charity never humiliated him who profited from it, nor ever bound him by the chains of gratitude, since it was not to him but to God that the gift was made.

and blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting

Have we lost the ability to see with our heart as the Little Prince urged us to!

whose heart is it anyway!

by Anuradha Bakshi | May 17, 2005 | Uncategorized

Arun, a dalit boy of 13 who looks 9 will undergo heart surgery next week…
Today we were worried as the doctor feel his condition is deteriorating…

A wonderful support network has suddenly been set in place by the magic of the net and people from all walks of life, people who maybe a few moments back did not know each other, or project why have been by woven by invisble strings into a beautiful web of love and concern for an unknown child.

Arun should have been operated 2 years back; his parents had even collected part of the funds requirted, but the sudden demise of both his paternal grand parents led to the funds being used for funeral rites.
The family could never collect the sum again as the father lost his job and two sisters had to be married..

Arun waited in the wings, nursing his hurting heart…

Did the child ever question the unfairness of life or did he simply accept the reality he was born into: that children are very low on the scale of priorities..
Time went by, slowly taking its toll of many hurting hearts…

We got to know about Arun only a month back and set what I have decided to name why’s support network in motion. mails were sent, calls made and slowly the impossible seemed possible..

Then came recognition, media glare, celluloid promises and hope that maybe this time things would be different. They were as arun’s main operation is taken care of by a complex nexus that I will chose to ignore as it gets the worts out of me. There were battles, and some home truths spelt out but then things fell in place and the date has been set.

But silently, in the background the little whyBees continued to spin their web and fill all the spaces still left, always ready to work harder should nexuses fail!

maybe i should get the yoga teacher back

by Anuradha Bakshi | May 15, 2005 | Uncategorized

last week a TV crew came and spent many hours filming projectwhy

in spite of many disappointing experiences in the past, somehow the arrival of cameras and mikes never fails to send a rush of excitement in everyone…
everyone puts its best foot forward, the right words are found, and hopes ride high..
maybe this time what one wants to convey will be said, be it one’s view on vital maters or the need for support that is ever present..
maybe this once the journo will add that one little word that could make all the difference..
then one waits for the appointed day and time..

what never fails is the sense of sadness as one watches the ‘show’ and the ensuing feeling of anger that always ends with the famous ‘never again’!

the feeling of having been used to get the much sought TRP points..
words you so carefully crafted are taken out of their context and lose all their meaning..
images truncated, smiles eliminated and tears magnified..
and the final result is something in which you look desperately for something familiar..

where is the happy place one had built with so much care and love..
where is the spirit, the energy, the images that give hope …

all i saw was one woman whose back seemed bent and who suddenly looked old to me…
and a silly thought crossed my mind: i need to get the yoga teacher back into my life!

and i felt happy to note that at least i still had my sense of humour..