Every year on this day Appa sponsors the lunch at the blind school on the Panchkuian Road, New Delhi (near connaught place) to celebrate Ma's birthday! So we go there and serve food to the children.
It is such a nice feeling to see them enjoying something as basic as 'matar paneer' and going 'wow' over it. I said basic because that's how we feel about it. But not them. For them its something really special. Seeing them relishing the matar paneer, boondi raita, bhindi and roti gave us such a satisfaction. Whenever we would serve them something, most of them would without fail would say 'Thank you" so sweetly and sometimes in a sing-song tone. And that's when I felt, its worth it! Worth everything.
Since the lunch room is not large enough to feed all the members/children in one go, there are 2 shifts. In the second shift, as I was serving a boy of about 12-14 yrs, I saw that he suddenly smiled and said "Kya hua chhotu?" I wondered who he was talking to and looked around. I saw a little boy of about 5-6 yrs of age walking in the lunch room. He followed the voice of the elder boy and reached him. I think the little boy sensed me standing close to him and in a low tone said something to the older one. The elder one grinned from ear to ear and stood up and hunched towards the little boy and told him to speak in his ear. The little boy said something and the elder one replied "Aata hoon!" and then the little one shyly went away. And then I happened to glance at Appa who was also looking at these boys talking and was smiling. Appa and me just looked at each other and smiled. And thats when I felt that these children are no different than us!
This was the first time I took Anirudh to this place. I had told him that we will go and give party to some children because of Nani's birthday. But I guess I should have told him more about these children because he was getting a bit uncomfortable seeing them behaving a bit differently. I did try and tell him that they cannot see because they got hurt in the eyes. He nodded as if he understood but I do not really know how much he did!
Happy Birthday to Dear Aunty !
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ReplyDeleteHappy to know about Ma's birthday celebrations.
ReplyDeleteAnirudh surely did understand as much as it is possible after seeing them for the first time. It is just like something new children learn at school. Repetiton or discussion over the topic is important to understand things better. It is really good that Anirudh has had a chance to meet such chidren at a young age And he will surely get many chances to meet disabled children again. You should use auch chances to talk to him about it in as much detail and tell him how and why it is so, if he asks you in speech or just through his body language. Like you did today. I am saying this as it ias important that they learn that these children are and should be as much a part of our society and our lives as any other person.
That's a really nice gesture ~nm. Aniruddh is blessed that you are leading by example.
ReplyDeleteA very nice way to celebrate the birthday..
ReplyDeletewhat a sweet and generous gesture! I hope more birthdays are celebrated like this one..
ReplyDelete@all: Thanks.
ReplyDeleteWonderful! Will try to start donating money here as well :-)
ReplyDeleteWow! What a wonderful way to celebrate Ma!
ReplyDeletewhich blind school you visited? i wanna celebrate my sister's bday with these kids... help..
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