Out of the blue, my roomie asked me , "We are visiting Bal-Ashram tomorrow, u wanna cum?"...There being no plans the next day, I agreed...and convinced Sneha to join me... And that's how I came to spend a wonderful day....
Gurukul Bal -Aashram is an orphanage located a kilometer before Nandanvan in Raipur...takes about half an hour by auto from the main city. Placed in a remote location, surrounded by vast barren fields, it gives you that feeling of emptiness and "losing yourself" usually linked to large empty spaces....anyways...what was inside those walls of the ashram...is more important...
Some 54 odd children running about the entire grounds of the ashram, ages ranging from 3-18...Unlike other orphanages that I have visited...the children here looked quite happy and healthy , despite their mud-stained and worn out clothes .We were all welcomed with laughter and chatter...they clung to us, holding our hands, asking our names...we talked and talked...we asked their names: Pooja, Meenu, Sanjana,Parvati....and laughed together at silly jokes...like.."Why did you shave off ur hair??"...."Didi, there were too many lice."
There was a small playground and the children pulled us to the place...there was a slide, a merry-go-round,see-saw and another thing that swings from side to side...but I don't know what that is called...The darlings, jumped about in the sand and called us in...we exchanged wary glances at each other...then in the next second, we had all joined them...shouting at equally-decibled levels...
That wasn't the end...we played kho-kho, others played cricket...we taught the small ones "Ringa Ringa Roses"... and we had a hell of a time...The seniors prepared poori and custard...the ashram people made dal and sabzi...and at noon..all the children sat in a line to be served there Sunday feast...
A beautiful thing happened then...when some of the children had been already served, they did not start eating right away...After everybody had been served, they all closed their eyes, chanted a prayer...thanked the Almighty for the food and then started eating....It was wonderful to see how such a huge family ate together...Funny, how even a family of four is unable to make it to dinner on time so that they could eat together....
Hey friends, I am really sorry if this is getting too long...but really I have so much to say...pls do read on...
The head of the ashram...the one who owned it and looked after it, wished to talk to us...he told us how important it is for youth like us to recognize our social responsibilities, how happy he was that we had come...and so on...didn't have the patience to hear the rest of it....
BUT...what caught my attention was this : there were children who were HIV positive...I shook my head to be sure of what I was hearing...yes, it was true...children shunned by their families because of the disease.There were some mentally ill children and a majority of the children were girls....a Fatal Social Tragedy...
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It was afternoon...and time to leave...the children were given gifts...and some essential items were contributed to the ashram...
And oh! I forgot to mention the animals there...there were some 18 cows...all dumbstruck by the presence of so many people ...a small daschund pup named Boxy or Boxing...I am not sure, some 6-7 huge white swans and a few birds( cackatoo and lovebirds)...Enjoyed cuddling all of them except the caged birds...I don't like THAT....
Back in my room in the evening, I hit the bed as soon as possible...and beautiful dreams filled my head...children running about and laughing...the pup barking and me running around in a dirty dress...there was a girl who had 5 safety pins trying to keep her skirt together...and there was a boat too...I don't know where that came from...and I was in that boat...sailing away...don't know where...
