by Anuradha Bakshi | Apr 8, 2010 | Uncategorized
The child comes toddling in, and young and old
With smiling eyes its smiling eyes behold,And artless, babyish joy;A playful welcome greets it through the room,
The saddest brow unfolds its wrinkled gloom,
To greet the happy boy.Victor Hugo, Lorsque l’enfant parait
This was the poem that came to mind when little Agastya was born. Today as he once again has left us after two months of pure joy, I remember these words again. Yes for the last sixty days
the saddest brow unfolded to greet the happy boy. Time flew as I have never seen it fly. It never seemed to stop: mealtime, play time, bath time, park time, sleep time and somehow we all feel in line, our world revolving only in the tiny crevices left between those baby times, when we tried in the best manner possible to fit all the other things we needed and had to do: the sad brow and wrinkled brows times!
Since he has left, barely a few hours ago, time hangs heavy, like a lid, and another poem comes to mind, this one from Baudelaire.
When the low, heavy sky weighs like a lid
On the groaning spirit, victim of long ennui,
And from the all-encircling horizon
Spreads over us a day gloomier than the night;
Wonder how a little child can conjure such a transformation in supposedly well honed and regulated adult lives. But then are not children images of God, sent to remind us that all that is pure and beautiful is very much alive. It just that we have to remember to see with our hearts.
Perfect love, it is said, sometimes does not come until the first grandchild. I am sure it is true for many but I have been blessed in more ways than one. For the past ten years many little smiles and toddling feet have entered my world to wipe the sad brow, albeit for a few moments. Many little grubby hands have held mine, conveying more than a million words and many furtive kisses have been planted on my cheek as a token of perfect love. Nothing is ever asked in return, there is no need. The heart simply melts and you find yourself breaking rules with alacrity and suddenly tired feet and aching backs vanish as you find the best way to fulfill the unreasonable demand that has been made.
Children are precious, we all seem to have forgotten that!
by Anuradha Bakshi | Apr 8, 2010 | Uncategorized
Empowerment to ownership! I wrote the title of this blog some days back and then somehow writer’s block or was it the God of lesser beings at play? I do not know. When I did write the title I was feeling a little saddened as my dream of going from empowerment to ownership seemed to be a tad turning sour. The blog was supposed to be logical extension of my cri de coeur written a few days back.
I had ended that blog with the words I had said my bit. As usual the teacher has not uttered a word. I asked him to think about matters and get back to me. I know he will ultimately accept to move. The other option is still too scary. But a see has been sown and I hope it will bear fruits sooner than later. I had perhaps also sent a silent prayer to the God of lesser beings urging him to show the young teacher the way as all said and done I was quite fond of him. That was also the time when I must have decided to write a blog about ownership, at least to make my views and thoughts clear. I must confess that when I wrote the title E to O, it sounded grand and somehow outlined the initial mission of pwhy. However over the years as the project grew somewhat organically the O got lost en route. Any feeble attempt to bring back the concept of ownership was met with such resistance and furore that one quietly hid it under the carpet. Maybe it is was too early, too scary, too ambitious.
However all this changed and the clouds lifted when the very teacher who had first refused a posting for some flimsy and inane reason and then retreated into a state finally came to see me yesterday. I must admit that as once bitten and twice shy I feared the worst. Was it to be another trip to the dreaded courts? He sat silently as he always does and needed as usual to be prodded to talk. I asked him gently what he has decided. To go to my village in Bihar and start a branch of pwhy he said in a barely audible voice. I thought I was hearing things and asked him to repeat what he said. He did and I wanted to whoop with joy but noblesse oblige! He slowly explained how he wanted to go to his village for a few days and explore the possibilities of starting something there. Yes, yes, yes was my excited answer. This was my dream come true: to empower people and show them that their real future was in their place of origin. Th real success story was to teach people skills they could then take back. This was more than I has asked for. The excitement was palpable but it was also time to quickly regain composure and be Anou ma’am the wise one. And above all it was imperative to guide the young man and show him the way.
I told him that it was a wonderful idea but that he had to take it one step at a time. The pwhy model would not just be replicated in a Bihar village. It had to be modified to local needs. I suggested he went to his village for a few days to assess the situation and then came back with a short term plan that we would support. Then he would have the necessary time to work on the field and slowly craft the long term needs and make a proper plan. I reminded that we too started with spoken English classes for just 30 kids!
This was truly a ah ha moment for pwhy, the vindication of the seemingly absurd dreams one had held on to: to be able to empower people and have them go back to their villages and create better options there. I know the road is long and tortuous but I know we will overcome all and I know understand why the blog took so long to write.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Apr 7, 2010 | Uncategorized
Off with their heads.. says the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland. Hide them away is what the Queen of Delhi has decreed for the beggars of Delhi during the Commonwealth Games. You cannot wish the dross away so you simply conceal them. Do read this article, it shows you the human horror of the CWG and gives some startling figures for all of us to ponder on: 3 million homeless after the games, 100 00 families displaced to beautify Delhi, 2000 children working as labour on CWG sites, 50 000 adult and 60 000 child beggars to be removed from the city for the 15 days of the games and parked in camps on the outskirts.
For good conscience, the state government does mumble that something will be done for the homeless after the games. Knowing the reality of things one can simply translate something and after into never!
Courtesy the games, families who have been living in the city for over a decade find their homes destroyed and are now squatting on pavements from where their children go to school. They fear further eviction as the games approach. Maybe they too will be parked outside the city for the duration of the Games just as the beggars in some insalubrious make shift camp and let loose again once the show is over.
The CWG Damocles sword been looming large on our heads for some time now. For some time we feared about our very own slums, but thank heaven’s we managed to escape as we were not on the routes the visitors would grace. You see Delhi is only getting a selective make over. We were apprehensive about how the CWG would affect us and I did share my concern many times. Now it is a matter of months and one can already get the feel of what awaits us. I wonder whether we will be the ones shown off or the ones hidden under the tattered carpet.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Apr 6, 2010 | Uncategorized
Wonder if you remember Mehajabi and her mom! The ones who lived in a room with a strange view. The one whose open heart surgery we sponsored some time back? Well she was back to visit and what a delightful girl she has become. But that is where the happy story ends. The last two years have taken a huge toll on this little family.
During the recent floods that ravaged Bihar, Mehajabi lost 3 of her siblings. The children had gone to spent their holidays with their grandparents. Only Mehajabi and her kid brother remained in Delhi. The waters came and wiped her entire family and whatever little land they had. The family was now truncated to four: Mehajabi, her brother and her parents. The father had lost his safe job in the small town madarssa ( Islamic school) he worked in and having no qualifications had no option but to work as a daily wage labour in Delhi. The mother took to cleaning homes for a pittance. The little brother was sent to a local private school and Mehajabi left to play and look after the tiny home.
But her mom had other plans for her and that is why she came to visit us. She wanted to put Mehajabi in the same school as her brother, only she did not have the means to do so. She needed our help. When we asked how much it would cost to educate this spunky girl the answer was: 200 rupees. We smiled and told her we would give her the money provided there would be be other child. Should that happen, we would stop all help.
She gave us her disarming smile and promised! Only time will tell whether she will keep her promise. Till then Mehajabi is off to school!
by Anuradha Bakshi | Apr 5, 2010 | Uncategorized
My birthday was to be a quiet day after all the revelry on the previous night. For the past few weeks my life had been dictated by a little bundle of joy, my grandson, and moves like a clockwork orange: 1 pm lunch time, 2 pm siesta time and so on. And believe you me nothing can alter the pattern, I would never allow it to. When Agastya is here, only the granny lives! Anyway birthday or no birthday 2pm on April 4th was siesta time.
The ritual began. Setting the pillows, getting the favourite soft toy, trying to get the bundle of energy to lie down. As I was doing all this I heard footsteps. It was Popples who had come back from the market with my birthday gift: a small car to add to the collection on my desk, as it seems I get one each time he is home, and two key chains with God figures that will soon hang on my handbag. I hugged him and as I did, he whispered: can I sleep with you too? Of course was the answer. And we settled on the bed. At first he lay next to Agastya and murmured endearments to him. This simply melted my heart. This was something I had hoped and prayed for, to see my precious Popples and my priceless Agastya get to know each other and bond! As Utpal caressed and stroked the baby urging him to sleep, little Agy, seeing that this was not the normal afternoon drill, perked up and thought it was bonus play time. It was time to set things right and I shifted in the middle. While I patted the baby to sleep, I felt a little arm move across my body and hug me. It was Popples. Then a few kisses till slowly Morpheus prevailed and the little boys slipped into his arms.
The only one who did break the rule was me as I did not and could not go to sleep. The moment was too precious and I wanted to savour every moment of it. Initially it is was a pure sensory delight of having these two little boys I so love sleeping next to me but then my thoughts drifted and my mind went on overdrive. This was not just two little boys it was so much more. For me personally it was two souls who had changed my life and giving it a whole new meaning. Each in their own inimitable way had given an old biddy a new lease of life and fulfilled many dreams. They had added a spring to my gait and a song to my heart. But that was not all, as they lay next to me in deep slumber, they also proved beyond doubt that all schismatic attempts to divide human beings and hence society did not and could not have divine sanction. The Gods had made us all equal and love knew no barriers. And if man was the creator of such aberrations, then only he was the one who could redress the torts.
It was time we did…. Little Popples and tiny Agy juts showed us the way.
What a blessed moment.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Apr 3, 2010 | Uncategorized
It was a party. One you could never imagine in your wildest dream. Would beat the Mad Hatter’s one hands down.
The guest list was unique and could never have been drawn by even the best event planner. Only the magic of pwhy could conjure that one! Age was no bar. You had one year olds and eighty years olds. Country was no bar. Social origin was no bar as some were born on streets and some were to the manor born.
There was little Agastya my grandson who sat with his big eyes and serious look wondering at what was going on. Then there was Utpal the miracle child who should have not been walking this earth but who beat all odds and today is in class III in boarding school. Young Kiran was there too, the lovely girl born on the very week we began our work and who is the best friend of our special class and little Ishaan whose mom and I actually began project why! These were the little guests.
Then there was the young boy born on a road side who became a teacher and then walked the ramp, the three wheeler driver’s son who always stood first and today is also a teacher with us. His name happens to be Prince and he is one! Next on the list were two young lads, both from simple homes and both teachers at pwhy. They had just come back from a 15 day tour of Rajasthan as special guests of our Enfances Indiennes friends and were still on cloud nine! There was of course my A team Rani and Dharmendra who have made me almost redundant as they steer the project with perfection. Two lovely volunteers Lorianne and Lewis added their charm as Lewis is a singer and Lorianne a wonderful lens woman.
Then there was a lovely group of people from many parts of France who had come all the way to share in the celebrations. People from different walks of life who believed with me that every child had a right to blossom and bloom. They had come to renew their support and commitment to my swan song.
And then there was my family, who has stood by me like a rock, who had shared all the moments of joy and sorrow, even those that were never expressed. The ones who have believed in me even when I faltered. My lovely daughters, my son-in-law and the one I chose to be my partner.
It was a perfect meeting of heart and hope. The culmination of 10 years of a wonderful and thrilling journey and it could have just been a celebration of this very fact. But that was not the case as hope is eternal and cannot and should not be walled in the confines of a human life. Hope lives on. Two wonderful souls were also present and they held the key to the door that would enable us to anchor our work in time. It was a privilege to have Deepika and Manav with us and to know that they too were willing to believe in our dream of planet why, or should I say planet hope.
I stood there humbled and proud. Was I really the one who had orchestrated this night, a true night to remember? And if the answer was indeed yes, then I feel no guilt in giving myself a silent pat on the back, not forgetting however that the journey is far from over and that I do have miles before I sleep.
The child comes toddling in, and young and old 
