Picture this: Two people are having a conversation in a room out of which one is a visitor. A third person walks in and happens to hear them. When the visitor is being introduced to him , he interrupts them and chips in some details about the visitor's native place, the last time they had met etc wanting to confirm if he correctly remembers them. Hearing the details and the accuracy of them the visitor is in a state of shock because the last time he had met the third person was for just few minutes maybe and that too TEN Long years back! Still the details provided were perfect. ..
Picture another situation when this third person mentioned above is introduced to a lady for some official work and while leaving she tells him to note down her number. She says it once and without noting it down the third person remembers it for days to come. Sounds like a miracle!
This person whom you have pictured and I have got the chance to meet today does not only have the unbelievable sharp memory but also has been to many countries across the world and has been the founder of 'Samarthan', an NGO started in 1997 (http://www.samarthanam.org/samarthanam.htm). This was functional for 10 years i.e. till 2007 without a formal fund raising department involved! This organization is providing livelihood for more than 200 differently-abled children in Bangalore. More details can be found on their website. By the way, the person I was talking about is Mr. Mahantesh and is himself visually impaired but it's difficult to make that out even after spending an entire day with him.
I feel that my day today was very well spent and indeed an important one. Some days definitely have greater affect on your future than the others. Today was one of them. It reminded me of some days of my past which always would hold special memories in my mind and brought me closer to my future aspirations in the area of serving the society..
We had our V day today at ANZ.. The Volunteer day for one of the departments. I don't belong to that department but I am happy that I was given the chance to go. We reached there by 10 am and for most of the day before lunch, almost till 1:30pm, we were being taken around various buildings where Samarthanam operates and were given some formal inductions about their working. Though it was very informational and it was good to learn about JAWS (Job Access With Speech), a software which helps the visually impaired to learn computers by spelling out all that is typed, my eyes were still searching for something else . It was impressive and I think technology would definitely do more wonders for them! I was waiting to see some children, talk to them and spend time with them. But they had all gone to schools and apparently would be back only after lunch time. There were some women working in the kitchen though. The building seemed very old and was more of a house converted into the organization. They had a separate building for their IT center and resource mobilizing center. It was very well managed and seemed like well funded too. After having the tour of the organization we were told to sit in a room where we would be served lunch. Finding nothing much to do I opted for spending some time with the girls who were busy with the lunch preparations. It was good to see their reciprocating smile and I am always surprised with the embarrassment they face when someone from outside try to help them. But it doesn't take them long to mix with the outsider and make her feel at home :) I enjoyed making the small balls for the chapatis of the kneaded flour. We had some casual chat in between and they were surprised to hear that I am married :D
I somehow don't like the feeling of acting like an outsider and getting amused and having the feeling of pity for a day when you visit such an organization. I want to be a part of them for every moment of the little time I spend there. Anyway we started our lunch and finished it quickly. It was a complete tasty meal with lot of varieties and very well prepared. By the time we finished our lunch it was already 2:30pm. We were 10 of us and 8 amongst them had already chosen their post lunch tasks. 4 were to help the fund raising department to come up with more ideas, 2 for some scanning tasks and other 2 for voice recording in Kannad. Only Subin and I were left and we were ready to take up anything. I wanted to do anything which would keep me close to children there rather than the technical work. And luckily we were told to serve the children during their lunch.
After waiting for sometime we went upstairs on the terrace where the children sat in 4 queues waiting for the lunch to be served. The various items came in buckets with big spoons in them and Subin and I instantly started with the task. It felt good to see the children smile with every spoon that I served and their 'thank you's were soo real :) They kept addressing me as 'akka', 'aunty', 'didi', 'miss' asking for various different items to serve them. I was enjoying it completely! Though I wont deny that after sometime my back started paining badly by bending down to serve them. But every bend was worth it just to see the happy faces :) The mere sight of children makes me soo very happy. There is a special feeling which I cannot completely describe. As I had mentioned in my earlier blog about rains making me happy, kids take a position up in the ladder of my list which makes me happy :) Seeing so many of them together sitting there and eating blissfully was so good. They looked more innocent and sweet to me maybe because they fell in the 'differently-abled' category of visually impaired.
After finishing the lunch serving session we came down and sat idle for some time waiting for the next task to be given to us. Then one of the members of organization asked us if we would be interested in teaching and we both nodded in agreement. We went in a room upstairs with Suresh and sat in a corner of one of the computer labs. Suresh has done his BA and is giving some SSC (Staff Selection Commission) exam for which he needed help. He had a book in his hand related to the exam and once we sat down he told us that he would want us to teach him the general awareness topic from that book. One impressive thing I would like to mention here is that the command on the English language which these children have is commendable and really amazes me! Even Suresh, though not a child, was no exception. The book had multiple choice question and answers which he wanted me to read out to him. How different is the life that they lead but yet so self sufficient! I read out loud the questions and the options which he guessed, most of them wrong ;) . I repeated them after every 5-6 Qs to make him remember the answers. Subin chipped in the details of the answer from his GK box ;) We managed to finish 20 odd Qs and then the clock struck 4 :( We had to leave though reluctantly. Suresh wanted me to teach him tomorrow too as he has his exam dayafter. I was so surprised to hear that he comes from Rajaji nagar all alone in public transport just to learn here. Such is the dedication and willpower! I really wish that I should be able to make it tomorrow. If I do I definitely would continue this blog and even if I don't I wish him all the very best for whatever he takes up and to all others too.. :)
