Just A Little Good

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I woke and saw life was service. I acted and behold! service was joy”

-Sir Rabindranath Tagore

‘Each one teach one’ is one of the most popular slogans in India.

My journey with poor little children began in January this year at the time of a Leadership Hunt organized under a national fest called “Yuva” in our University. I have been teaching poor and unpriveleged children ever since for free. Though I lost momentum due to unforseen circumstances, I have regained it again through VSM( Vivekanand Swadhyay Mandal).

I’d like to clear though that I dont do this for the children alone but for my own selfish means as well. One of them being the feeling of infinite joy when they talk to me as if I were family. The second is that I learn, perhaps, more from them than they do from me. The greatest lesson that these children from the age of 5 to 17 have taught me is how to rise and stand tall and smile in the face of adversaries unimaginable. These days I reach out to them through the Sunday Classes programme organized by VSM, of which I am a proud member.

Last Sunday, an art competition was organized for those children and I was dumbfounded at witnessing talents beyond measure for their humble age and background. They grasped that chance with both their hands, their faces aglow with happiness as they poured all their creativity onto a blank piece of paper. I even learned to draw a perfect rose from a girl named Rashmi of class 5 who eventually stood first in her age group.

These children come from  slums and villages in the vicinity. They come, they learn, they go home with a big smile on their face and so do we. Its a radiant smile, full of hope, life, passion, pure joy, attatchment, achievement, goodness, innocence, courage, and above all, contentment…