by Anuradha Bakshi | Jul 9, 2005 | Uncategorized
Dear Nida,
Thank you for your lovely mail and of course you can call me Anu!
I chose to answer your mail in this weblog, because much of what I would like to write to you, is what I would like to say to the young women of a land I love with deep passion. I must confess that sometimes I feel very defeated when I see the youth of today, and wonder where, we as parents have gone wrong.
To read that I have inspired you is not only humbling but a vindication of my deep seeded belief that everyone has a heart, maybe we just have forgotten the way to it. I am sure that everyone of you has the potential to make a difference, we just have not been able to show you how!
I do not what what motivated you to spend precious holiday time in the dusty and hot lanes of a slum rather; I do not even know what you were looking for.. I just hope you found it, and I do not think I am wrong, in the eyes of Aditya.
I can also see that you are a woman of substance as you were able to catch the essence of my approach. Yes, Nida deep concern without pity. Pity is a word far too often associated with, what in page 3 terms, would be ‘social work’. Yet it is the one thing that ruins it all.
I think we should all feel some reponsibility towards what we think is wrong, and I do not think that anyone would argue with the fact that little Aditya sleeping hungry is wrong or that young Arun having his operation money diverted to pay for funeral rites is wrong, or that a child’ s school fees going to pay the father’s evening tipple is wrong, or that .. and the list is endless..
The time you spent with us at project why must have shown you how little it takes to set things right. And yet it is so difficult to get even the tiniest bit of support.
I hope you will take this message to your friends and help people find the way to their hearts. And I hope that you will continue to be the woman you are, that you will always find the strength in you to do what you think is right, even if all others think differently.
We will miss you… particularly Aditya….
Note: Nida was a volunteer who worked with us during the summer.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jul 6, 2005 | Uncategorized
I am an Indian expat – living in San Diego, California now. I was born & raised in Delhi, and, like so many others, had become immune to sights and sounds of abject poverty surrounding me everyday. I came across your project while doing some random net surfing during my lunch hour at my work place here, and was touched by the plight of the children. I think you & your team are doing a terrific job, and I wish you every success. I cannot even begin to imagine the kind of hurdles you face in your day to day operations, & I just want to commend you & the rest of your team on your spunk and spirit.
Betsy
I do not know Betsy… I do not know if we will ever meet… maybe we walked on the same street as she grew up in Delhi, two unknown strangers that nothing could or should link.. she went to fulfill her destiny thousands of miles away and I stayed on to fulfill mine… and we should have remained strangers but for project why..
When I wake up at the crack of dawn every morning to catch up with the ever increasing load of work, and switch on my computer, I am often greeted with a message like this one.. and the grey clouds lift to let rays of hope in.. and I am strenghthen in my belief that I chose the right road, even if it is the less travelled one..
I have often been criticised and even sneered at for insisting on my decision to fund project why with the now almost proverbial ‘one rupee a day’! But it is that very ‘one rupee’ that brings to project why the love and good will of so many people dispersed the world over, of people I would have never come across and creates invisble bonds that are priceless..
a rupee a day does make the world smaller!
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jul 5, 2005 | Uncategorized
If you look at the picture you will see a little tear that is about to fall… why is aditya crying as he clutches his pink bag?
Some of you may remeber a post in the June archives of this very blog entitled ‘the other WHY’, and the same little aditya asking questions no one would answer..
why did my father die ?
why is everyone so nasty to my mother?
why did no one give me medicine when my face was hurting so much?
why do i hear my mama weep at night?
the questions will remain unanswered.. and many more will appear… as life will continue its often cruel course…
Aditya, who never misses a day at project why had not been coming for the past few days.. This morning we sent Urmila, his favourite teacher, to find out what had happened and my blood ran cold when she came back: Aditya was alone at home, and Neha his mother and his grandmother were out.. a kind neighbour told a stunned Urmila that for the past three days the little proud trio had not eaten anything. The gaz cylinder was over.. and as Urmila perused the tiny kitchen she realised that all the diminutive containers were empty, barring one which had a few grains of lentils…
The neighbour went on to reveal that this proud family never asked for help, and often went to sleep after drinking water to calm the hunger pangs… a message was left asking Neha to come by and Urmila returned and shared what she had seen and heard…
We set up our little support network and decided to fill up the empty boxes and the cylinder so that the little family would not sleep hungry tonight and then we would work out something..
Later Neha came clutching little Aditya and we heard that this proud mother, widowed at an age when one is still a child, had calmed little Aditya’s hunger with water laced with some sugar and salt and dollops of mother’s love…
But there is a god for the lesser ones and he does send angels in different garbs and Aditya’s angel was a kind lady who had come to visit project why and who decided to sponsor these little bravehearts till Neha finished her course and could stand on her own feet…
Little Aditya sat on his mom’s lap listening to everything and I knew that his little soul knew that an angel had flown by…
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jul 4, 2005 | Uncategorized
this week we made it to outlook and for once the article conveyed the reality of project why and its hopes and dreams. For once readers are spared the ‘ambassador’s daughter’ walking the slums, a cliche that makes me mad and has been used ad nauseum…
project why came of age in what i think is still the best article even written on why project WHY came to be. This article appeared in September 2003, and since we have gone a long way. At that time we were still groping in the dark, needing some kind of recognition that would make us visible and hence help us grow… but then everyone picked the words from the goodnewsindia.com article and somehow rewrote it, giving the impression that nothing was
truly happening..
yet the essence of project why is its ability to change and mutate, as its aim from the very first day was to empower people to take charge of their own lives…
project why was never about the poor little rich girl hoping to become a saint!
project why has always been about making a difference and one again we find ourselves at crossroads and know that will have to take on a new role… and I hope that when we do and succeed there will be someone who will report it honestly!
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jul 1, 2005 | Uncategorized
guess whose coming to tea…
project why’s very special page ‘3’ ladies… seema, sarita, geeta, urmila, vinita , savitri…
never mind if they live in shanties, or jhuggis, they were invited to a farewell tea by friend and colleague Mylene, with whom they have worked for the past four years…
they would have done any one proud as they turned up at the exact time, dressed in lovely colours and all excited to be in their friend’s house…
as they sat with great poise and dignity no one would have believed that one was a dalit , the other a gypsy and the other a barber’s wife!
They ate blueberry cheesecake and drank their tea, and were delighted to visit Mylene’s home, without a twinge of envy as they looked at the kitchen, far bigger than the home of many of them..
And when it was time to leave, there were many moist eyes, and silent tears… and promised to meet again…
I watched with pride at the small miracles that project why seemed to throw my way… with obsessive regularity…
It takes so little to change people.. a little faith.. a little trust and lots of love…
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jun 28, 2005 | Uncategorized
One dream one soul one prize one goal
One golden glance of what should be
It’s a kind of magic
One shaft of light that shows the way
No mortal man can win this day
It’s a kind of magic
The bell that rings inside your mind
Is challenging the doors of time
wrote roger taylor for the rock group queen…
strange that these words came to my mind today… the day after having had to face some of the social ills that continue to plague our society: caste, women ruled by their husbands, narrow mindedness..
yet this morning when i saw the little project why inhabitants getting ready for their morning activities, i was once again touched by the magic of our little planet…
look at the little souls in the picture.. a happy lot they seem, intrigued at the presence of the big ma’am…
did you know that one is dalit, the other a muslim, the third a watermark brahman, and yet another a nepali; one is orphaned, the other illegitimate, another is a gypsy; some are very poor others own scooters, some live in airless shanties while the others in well cooled flats… would you be able to stick the correct label on the right forehead…
and yet they as the song says, they are the shaft of life we seek but do not recognise… soon they will be taught the ugly and divisive side of life, but today they are touched by the magic… the magic of planet why..
shhhh.. do not disturb them… it’s a kind of magic
