Anubhuti- Story Writing Contest

Congratulations Debalina Haldar for being the winner of Anubhuti A short story writing contest organized by Sarthak Foundation during Literary Festival 2014

The Little Crayons

The lanes of Mumbai were glowing on the winter morning. The paanipuri stalls lined themselves by the footpath. The cars got impatient with every passing minute as they moved in the dirty air. The roads got filthier every day. As the sun got hotter, vada pav and tea proved again to be an integral part of the city.

“What an odd place to sleep,” a passerby screamed, “We don’t have any place to even walk.”

Raju and her elder sister, Deepali broke open the winter shackles to face a new morning with new difficulties, new hardships and new stories of livelihood. They lived on the footpath in their small one room home made out of large plastic sheets with their mother. Their mother worked hard all day and usually left home while the two of them were still sleeping.

‘Deepali’, said Raju, rubbing his eyes, ‘what shall we do today?’ Deepali yawned loudly and kept sitting on the torn blanket. She took the paper ball and rolled it repeatedly. The ball was their only means of entertainment… their toy, their joy, their frustration, their destitution. Raju stared at the ball as it went up and down. ‘Let’s do something different today’, cried Deepali,

‘We’ll make Rishabh Bhaiya a gift’ said Deepali.

‘But…’

‘Raju… Rishabh Bhaiya tries so hard to teach us the LMNOPs…”

“And counting 123”

“He loves us so much.” They looked at each other and smiled.

“But what should we give him? We can’t buy her gifts. I don’t have money, do you?”

“Remember what Bhaiya said on the first day in school, Raju?”

“To wish each other good morning?”

“No silly! He said that in this world no one is rich or poor. We all are gifted! So Raju, when we all are gifted, can we not gift him us or our gifts?”

“I can’t understand… what do you mean?” Raju was confused. He looked at Deepali as she scratched her once white sweater.

Deepali took out a white paper and a small wooden box.

“So you see this box, Raju? I found it lying near the City School back gate.”

“What’s inside?”

“Very small pieces of crayons. Let’s make a painting for Bhaiya.”

“Don’t you think we must give this to the guards of the school?”

“I doubt if we should. I was thinking the same. But children in the school have better bigger newer crayons. We can have the smaller used ones.”

“But what will we make on this paper?”

“First, I need a table… which we don’t have. I need something hard.”

“The ground is dirty. The white paper will turn brown. And then the background of the painting will be brownish,” Raju put his tiny thumb inside his mouth and giggled.

“Do you see that bike on the other end of the road, there, near the photocopy shop, beside the brick wall?”

“There are two of them, one and two, a red and a black bike.”

“No. The black bike, it is there since morning. The red bike has just come, I didn't see it since morning. I think the black one will make a very good table.”

They quickly crossed the road. Deepali carefully opened her notebook and put it on the bike seat. Then she placed the paper on it.

“What do you want to make?” Deepali asked.

“I can’t draw… will you make a jumping mouse for me?”

“Sounds very nice. I’ll make a jumping mouse and a colourful, smiling crow.”

“But crows are black and they don’t smile.”

“But I've got crayons which will give it colours and I’ll make it smile.”

Deepali used shades of blue, green, orange, red… they laughed all the way down the beautiful picturesque moment.

“The mouse!” Raju shouted.

“What’s with the mouse? Does it look funny?”

“No! It looks absolutely like the movie Bhaiya showed us last day in school.”

“Really? It looks like Jerry! I think my crow looks more like a parrot!”

“Do you think Rishabh Bhaiya will be angry that your crow isn't like a crow?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t ever imagined an angry Bhaiya. I don’t know if he gets angry.”

Suddenly, a pair of hands in black leather jacket hugged both of them from behind, “So what are my little friends up to this morning on my bike?” Raju and Deepali turned around.

“Rishabh Bhaiya!” they shouted.

“Bhaiya, do you get angry?” Raju asked.

“Will you get angry? The crow doesn't look like a crow,” Deepali said.

“Yes I do get angry at times. And when I do, it’s bad. But a crow can always look like something else if you want it that way, Deepali. The crayons are in your hands and you’re absolutely free to do anything with it… you’re in complete control of the way you want things to be! So is this beautiful drawing for me?”

“Yes, Bhaiya it’s for you! A gift!” Raju said.

“What’s this written on your bike? I can see a two and a zero and a zero,” Raju said.

“That makes a two hundred, Raju. We’ll learn all that very soon.”

There was a little gift shop nearby. Rishabh Bhaiya bought Deepali and Raju a new box of crayons. The two of them walked back towards the other end of the road.

“What will we do with this new box of crayons? We have one already,” Raju turned towards Deepali and said, “This is so new and we've never had new things.”

“I was wondering if we should go back to the City School and give it to the guards. And when these crayons become as little as these, we can bring them home.”

“What if they don’t give you when they’re small?”

“Don’t worry, Raju… they’ll be near the back gate of the school.”

Childhood

There is a phase in everyone's life they never want to forget, there is a time frame in everyone's story which they never want to get over, the time which draws a curve on our lips whenever we talk about it. The time when we were free like a wind, chirpy like a bird, bold as a king and fast as a tiger. This magical epoch is called 'The Childhood'. 
The childhood gives everything one would want to have to enjoy one's life. It sublimes our lives with the most beautiful things in the world…freedom, ease, carelessness, selfishness and most important Happiness. The childhood lets one to enjoy the most enjoyable part of one's life. The part which one can never forget about, which one will always miss and which will never come back. This is the most important part of our lives, this is when we learn the most and this is only when we actually see things without any pre-formed perception. During childhood, we are considered as the ones with lesser understanding but this is the only phase when we can see things like they actually are, without thinking of any profit or loss, without any selfishness being involved, without any assumptions and perceptions already formed, we see things exactly how mother nature created them for us. 

The best thing about childhood is, you always enjoy whatever circumstances you are in. Even if you are living in the streets or in a slum, you accommodate yourself with the surroundings and you start liking the place just like the ones living in the mighty palaces. You don't complain, you don't wish for better, you don't ask for more. All you do is to live your live to its fullest. There exists no terms such as a ruined childhood or bad memories or under-privileged, when you are in that stage. These terms actually take place in our lives when we grow up and our childhood leaves us behind.
Even today, whenever we 'Grown Ups' look into our past and recall our childhood, only good memories come into our mind. The childhood never leaves any bad memory because there is no bad memory when you are a child. It's always winning or learning. But the only bad thing about this epic era in our lives is, it doesn't last very long. With the blink of an eye, it leaves us behind with nothing but memories, such sweet memories for life - carefree, selfless and daring childhood memories are left behind. So hold it tight while you are still a child, for once gone, there will only be memories.

Interview- Manas Mehrotra (Overall Coordinator)

1. From where Sarthak foundation initiated?

Answer: Initially, when we started working on 'Educate A Child' project under Sarthak Foundation, there were three of us. Most of the members of our team belong to Amity some way or other. So we used to come across these beggar children near the malhaur railway crossing. Then we decided to start teaching these children from crossing and that's how we started our first open study centre in Malhaur Basti.

2. What exactly is the purpose of your organisation? How do you achieve it?
Answer: We basically go to the slums, identify the children nearby and start teaching them. Before starting, we divide them into two groups depending on their level of knowledge: A- Tender Feet (Those who have never been introduced to any sort of education) B- Advancers (those who have dropped out or those who attend government schools). Then we start teaching them basics of English, Maths, General Awareness, basic manners, cleanness and these things. We plan to teach them till their primary education and then get them admitted to main stream schools depending on their capabilities.

3. How do you feel your organisation is serving the nation?
Answer: There's no doubt that one country can never be civilised and developed leaving its Children and Education behind. These Children And their education are the foundation of the nation. We are trying to do our bit by spreading education as far as possible. We haven't achieved much heights yet we are working in the direction and we dream of a nation which is full of such sweet and educated children who are not at all deprived of anything.

4. How can one help your organisation?
Answer: Being an organisation based on individual helping hands, one can always come forward and lend an helping hand. One can sponsor an individual child's education or a whole study centre for one year at least. Other than that, we are looking forward to get introduced to some corporate for their CSR tie up, in which anyone can help us. Besides these, one can always volunteer at our centres in teaching on regular basis.
Ahh.. M sorry for such long answers. I just couldn't cut it any shorter. I think i can write a short book on Sarthak and its kids. :P
Me: It was an absolute pleasure talking about your organization, the kids, the work you are doing.
Looking forward to help you in some way or the other. :)

Source: People for New India

Dream of Perfection- Nasra

We live in a society where a lot of importance is given to one’s perfect personality and how one can become an ideal character. People spend all their lives seeking perfection. 
I don’t intend to neglect the importance of perfection in our lives. All I want to state is that we run after perfection all our lives but we don’t even know its real meaning. Perfection is not how we walk, talk, eat or sleep. Neither is it flaunting your 99.9 percentile marks in an MBA entrance exam. I’m not saying that these things are not important but you can’t call a person perfect if he talks really well, is good in studies or walks like a show stopper model. It is about how you take things in real life.
If I put it this way, perfection is a way to live your life while you still care for others around you. Perfection is to make your parents smile even in their hardest of the day; it is to make your elder sister laugh with you even when she wants to scold her naughty sibling. Perfection is the urge to study when the circumstances are not really in your favour; it is the effort you make when even your parents have decided to give up on you finally. Perfection is to convey your message when others are not able to understand you properly. 

Here, I’m talking about one sweet little star of our Sarthak family whom we met on the very first day of our project “educaTE A CHild”- Nasra. She is the second youngest child in her family of 5 siblings. Her parents found her a very normal infant until she started speaking. She found it difficult even to speak a small 3 letter word. She used to stammer and her parents tried possible measures for a treatment. But their financial condition didn’t allow them to try hard enough. When we first met Nasra’s Ammi, she was looking as if she had almost given up on her.
Initially it was tough on Nasra to catch up with other kids in our class but gradually she started picking up words. Now after a year and half, with all her efforts and will power, she can speak most of the 4-5 letter words clearly without any hesitation. You can see clear confidence in her eyes which was not present on the day we met her first. Now Nasra shares her mother’s work at home, sometimes goes with her Abbu at work. She plays with her sisters and most of all she’s the one who takes care of her little brother Altaf, most of the time.
We see a perfect and confident lady growing up in Nasra with time. She’s the same shy girl who had never gone to school before and was afraid to speak with anyone. She was afraid that someone would make fun of her stammer. She still stammers now, but the difference is that now she knows that it’s not her fault and she’s working on this. She knows that one day she will get over this.
This is what I call perfection, a perfect combination of confidence, will power, hope, happiness, love, dreams, care and most of all the ability to accept the failure. She may not strike someone as an impressive perfect personality at first but if you go in detail, you will find the meaning of perfection in her. It’s not about how you present yourself to others, it’s only about how you see yourself and utilize your capabilities.

P.S: Our entire team had a healthy argument on "What Perfection is?". We would love if you shared your views too!

Spread the Smile- Ritika

A 'Smile' is such a beautiful feature we human have got from the Almighty. A 'Smile' is one thing that can get the stress off anybody with the blink of an eye. A simple but real smile has the ability to win the hearts. Our smiles may have a lot of meanings but it has only one motive, to let others know that we are good.
Everyone appreciates a smiling person and a smiling face, it blossoms the entire surrounding and can lift the bad mood up. Moreover, it takes nothing to smile.

We have one such, ever smiling, little angel Ritika. Very soft spoken, shy to strangers and naughty to friends but ALWAYS smiling(Touchwood). Ritika lives with her Nani Ma as her parents don't live together. Her father used to beat her mother in front of Ritika and it had become a part of their daily schedule. One day when her poor mother could not take it anymore she left the home with Ritika and now Ritika lives with her Nani. At this tender age of 6, Ritika has already seen a lot but one thing she has always carried with her is her beautiful smile. This is the beauty that even while complaining about anything or anyone in the class, she doesn't lose her smile. She knows very well about her parents and she actually doesn't like them much, may be because her heart as a child has never seen them living happily so she is not very comfortable accepting them as one.

We in our lives can have no better example than Ritika. In spite of all the hurdles, all the problems she never forgets to smile. Smile is something which she carries with herself wherever she goes. She is excellent in studies, stands first in her class, never fights with anyone, is very punctual and diligent when it comes to her homework, but when anyone meets her for the first time, the first thing they get impressed by is her angelic smile.

It takes nothing but a second to smile and all your surroundings get lightened up. People start liking you more and appreciating you more, while all you do is smile. So we'd suggest you to take out some moments off your busy schedule and smile at least twice a day and it will not bite you, trust us! :)