It was a few years back, when I was just done with my first year of graduation i.e. somewhere in June 2011 that it all happened. We shifted to a new area, to a new home. A lot of excitement we had and with the same feel we started setting up our new home. The cartons were being opened by my parents,one by one, while my younger brother and I were busy searching for the T.V. remote (the T.V. was just installed and we badly wanted to switch it on and watch our favorite show) and my mom called us..she said, "Here is the carton of your games and a few toys. What do you wanna do with these? Keep them or you want me to dispose them?" For that we said we can dispose them as we no longer used play with them.
Finally, by evening the whole house was set and we sat at the dining table for our first dinner. Eating and talking are done simultaneously specially while having dinner so it was then there came a discussion of how and when to dispose all those things that were no longer in use. For most of that collected stuff being 'Our' stuff like games,toys,books, clothes, lunch boxes, pencil boxes, other stationary, we decided an orphanage would be the best choice.
Next day, I opened my dad's laptop and started searching for orphanages in google. To my luck, the first orphanage itself in that list was located very near to our place like some 10 minutes away. I took the contact details and asked my mom to call them and ask the details like do they take all these things if we give? when can we go? where is it exactly? etc. As soon as she dropped the call she asked us to get ready so that we can start as soon as possible.
We reached there and I was the first person to get down of the car. That place and its environment amazed me. We unloaded all the stuff from our car and carried them to their office. We handed over all of that to a lady there and started talking to the head of that orphanage. He told us that it was a home for street children and this particular branch was meant only for boys.
As the conversation of my parents and that person extended for a little long, my brother and I went out of that room to explore. It was not even 5 minutes since I left that room that my dad called me in. They introduced me, "She is our daughter, Preneeja, She is doing her Grad. in Psychology.." and before my parents could complete the whole thing , that person - Father of that Orphanage asked me to sit and eventually we got into a conversation all about psychology, kids etc. Meanwhile there came two kids Raju and Rajesh. Raju was 2 and a half yrs and Rajesh was 4 yrs old. They were the youngest kids there told the father.
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| RAJU! :') |
I called Raju, he came and straight away slept on my lap. I thought okay , little kid , let him sleep and continued my conversation with father and started caressing Raju's hair. After almost an hour , when our conversation ended, I asked him to get up so that we can leave. I stood and started to walk when that little boy Raju held my hand tight and said
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| RAJU :) |
(with a lot of innocence on his face, heaviness in his voice , tears in his eyes) "Akka (sister in telugu), no one ever made me sleep like this. Will you come again? When will you come?" That moment moved me, his words straight away pierced my heart, my eyes were moistened and I realized how lucky I was to have my parents.
I replied, "Raju, I'll come soon, and come whenever possible" and left.
As soon as we came home I shared this experience with a few of my friends and started going there from the very next weekend. Who ever could join used to come and there were times when I went alone and in a very less time it became my second home. Many birthdays of my friends, family and mine we celebrated there and every festival specially New Years, Christmas, Rakshabandhan, those kids and I celebrated together. Now its almost a relation of 5 years that I have with them and hundreds of memories but the memory that is still so fresh in my mind is the day I met Raju, the day I met them. They made me realize many things, They made me a better person.
Now I live in a different state, a different city but yeah I see many like them. There are a lot of Rajus around us who aren't as lucky as us. Who need just love and affection. I know many people who do charities, but more than a monetary help they need a satisfaction, a feeling that they are not alone. Every child in every orphanage has a story.. a sad story.. when they share it with us they feel better. Giving a shoulder to a person in pain is the best and most satisfying thing one can do. Accepting our life for what it is and trying to make it better and staying happy with all that we have is what I learned from them. Even if you are alone, You can still be happy if you want is what they made me realize. They being in an unimaginably miserable condition, always smiled. They inspire me, they made me stronger.
For what they taught me, I'll always be thankful and the last thing - experience that happiness and satisfaction at least once before you die. Life can be long, life can be short but one inevitable thing about life is that, we have it only once.
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| RAJU, RAJESH AND AVI |
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| LOVE :) |
