Health Checkup Camp............Healthy India, Stronger India

Look to your health; and if you have it, praise God, and value it next to a good conscience; for health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of; a blessing that money cannot buy.

Slowly and steadily, the Guardian of Angels project is moving at it’s pace with some more volunteers adopting the little angels; Raj Kishore, Rajeev and Shikha to name the new guardians in the project.

We Volunteer held a “Health Checkup Camp” for the little angels today at our Office.
The kids present at the camp were Najakat Ali, Abdul, Muskan, Shabnam (younger), Rubeena, Sapna, Shamsher Ali, Chanda, Sabeena, Neena, Shabnam(elder), Sher khan:)

There were more kids expected from an another sector but due to some unavoidable reasons, they could not accompany us to the office for the camp.
Anyways, alls well that goes well and ends well………as much clichéd as it seems :)

The kids were ferried to the office at around 10:00 AM. Meanwhile, Dr. Vineet, who was supposed to examine the kids, was already ensconced in the office….accompanied by a make-shift nurse (Kaval) :)

The kids were let loose in the park at a stones throw from our office. It is an amazing phenomenon that wherever the kids see a park with some swings and sea-saw, they go berserk. And to no surprise, the same happened here aswell. Most of them climbing from all sides upon the sea-saw; some on the seats, some on the bars, and the very little ones hanging in mid air clinging to the bars. The Sea-Saw looked more like branch of a tree with birds chirping over it. Abdul, as always, was smiling all the way - hopping from one place to another. Dr. Vineet called the children one by one into the office for the health examination. Meanwhile, we played a few games with the children. I don’t know how to translate the names of those games into English. But I’ll tell you what we played and you can make out yourself. Game I – all the children were made to sit in a big circle and one of the players has to go around the circumference of the circle and drop the handkerchief behind a sitting player and that player has to get up, carry the cloth and catch the previous player while he/she is still running. If the previous player sits, the second player has to perform the same thing. GAME II – Dog and the bone….if you understand this then fine enough….else forget it…I am bored explaining so meticulously :)

Everybody had a gala time in the field, with the volunteers joining that circle wali game aswell. By noon all the kids were examined by the doctor and were prescribed some medicines. None of them had any grave health problem. Just the usual calcium ki kamii and lack of vitamins….I bet all the volunteers have the same:).

Only the little Chanda had some chest problem…was referred an X-Ray………
Guardian..Please note

One funny thing happened……:)
We had distributed them biscuits just before the Health Examination was about to start. So when the first kid went to Dr. Vineet, he asked the kid to open his mouth to do some oral checkup.
Dr. – Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa karoooo
Kid – aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaa…..and all the biscuits he was eating earlier was still in his mouth………….

Later the kids were given sugarcane juice and bananas. The event went pretty well..and without any interruption. After the event, Preet presided over a meeting with volunteers for some feedbacks and updates over the We Volunteer.

Nice cute event I would say:)

Volunteers at the Event:
Preet, Karan,Kaval,Ankush,Raj Kishore, Rajeev, Sudheesh, Kanupriya, William, Ravi(first timer)

Sincere thanks to Dr. Vineet

We Initiate..............Do You????

Mellifluent Symphony…….Provoked

Mera Bacha Sabse Acha (Guardian of the little angels) project is very well into its first phase with some positive signs from both, volunteers and the angels. The project found its way into this week with the distribution of clothes to the Angels by their respective Guardians. (All thanks to Preet for the clothes)

Meanwhile, Rajdeep and Bikram also got involved into the project picking up two kids.
Rajdeep-Sher Khan
Bikram - Sapna

As decided in a meeting, every weekend event would be planned around the kids in the “Guardian of Angels” project. The first event according to this plan was held yesterday at the Lake Sukhna in Chadigarh. To be true, this event was first of so many things.
It was our first outing with the kids in the new project. It was their first visit to the lake in the city. It was the first day that we had a confrontation with a cop and finally it was the first time when I felt that our RIGHTS are slaves to the whims of the police.

The day (Saturday) started when I and Preet set off from our houses at 10:30 in the morning to inform the kids about the evening event. After informing the kids in sector 35(the family which lives in a sewerage pipe), we moved to sector 36 market where Rakesh and company are usually found. Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait or were not ditched as on some earlier occasions. They were busy in their so called mundane activities in the market. Some more facts came into light about them at that time. A new kid had arrived on the scene to join the flock. Name – Arjun, brother of Bheem and Nakul(twins and very innocent). Arjun, Sonu and Manoj(Panda) are bullies who snatch money from other beggars and also from the children who roam around collecting money on the name of “Shanii Dev.” Amazingly, we stopped some such kids and asked them whether they knew the meaning of the oil they carry every Saturday. Our guess was right. None of them knew what it really means. They just set out every Saturday morning, extend that container of oil infront of the passersby and people, all thanks to superstition, drop a coin into it. Anyways, on Saturday the three elder kids were more aggressive towards the little ones (Rakesh and Nakul). Shoving and abusing them even infront of us. We segregated the younger kids from the three and I gave a few sermons to Rakesh and Nakul. Meanwhile, Preet tried calling up the Child Helpline for Arjun, Manoj and Sonu. But they all ran away from the spot. We talked for some more time to Rakesh and Nakul. We told them to meet us in the evening and accompany us to the lake. Rakesh had been to the lake with me earlier aswell. They hopped on our bikes and we went to their homes to talk to their parents and take their permission. Nakul’s father is a rickshaw puller and incidentally we met him on the way to their homes. We asked him whether he knew about his kids begging in the market places. He said that he himself was fed-up with them. But we told him that they are just kids and need special attention. We also assured him that from now onwards we are going to take care of the needs of his children. He asked us to talk to their mother. So we moved towards their habitat. It was a typical jhuggi settlement, with filth and dirt everywhere. But we could not talk to anyone. No one was home. Anyways, we just told them that we will come back in the evening and take them to the lake.

Then we spent of couple of hours in the office and finally returned home to gear up for the evening.

Act II - The Event @ Lake

The kids from sector 35 hopped on an Auto-Rickshaw with Preet. Me and Karan geared our bikes, with Rakesh pillion to Karan. We reached Sukhna Lake in some time and re-united with the other children and Preet.
Meanwhile,Shyam,Sudheesh,Bikram,Rajdeep and Kaval poured in one by one.
So the event started pretty well, with the kids brimming with enthusiasm and excitement, just like the majestic Sukhna. We gave them some pop-corns to eat. Preet’s kid Abdul had invented a new pronunciation of Preet’s name – “puhlees” or “police” :)

The fun had just started with the kids enjoying the ducks, the boats, the crowd, the evening and with the volunteers. a gentleman asked us about our organization and also donated a sum of rupees 500 for the cause. We all were having good time and even the crowd moving along were pretty happy that we were doing a good job.
But as they say, you need one “Asshole” to ruin the show. Same happened here. A policeman accosted us started question us and about the kids. I will not go into details, because I just don’t feel like talking about it and this is the reason due to which this post is one day late. You can well imagine what could have happened with the due course of the events. All hue and cry was just coz of one damn illogic from his part. Anyways, we just decided to move away from the spot to a different place to have some solace. We sat there for some more time. clicked a few snaps, had some juice and signed off the day

But I just want to say one thing,

Had the kids been in Nike T-shirts, Pepe jeans and Reebok shoes, nothing would have happened. And we thought, sitting infront of the TV sets, that there are equal rights, irrespective of cast, creed, color and status.
Anyways, we are not perturbed. We have initiated and we will make a change.

Volunteers at the event: Preet,Kaval,Karan,Shyam,Sudheesh,Bikram,Rajdeep,Ankush,Shikha
Angels: Abdul,Muskan,Shamsher Ali,Rakesh,Sapna,Rajeeb,Sher Khan, Mohobbat

"parindon ko milegi manzil ek din....yeh faile hue unke pankh bolte hain. Wohi log rehte hain khamosh aksar, duniya mein jinke hunar bolte hain"


We Initiate...........Do You?????

Mera Bachaa Sabse Acha! ( Guardian of the little Angels)

Confused over the topic??
Ok I’ll explain.
The We Volunteers have contrived a new strategy into the organization where each volunteer will be adopting a slum kid/beggar under the name
“Mera Bachcha Sabse Acha:)” or “Guardian of the little Angels.”

The key aim of this methodology is to be more target-oriented and accountable towards the cardinal objective of “We Volunteer.” Every volunteer will take care of the basic needs of the kid assigned to him/her. The basic needs could be clothing, education, nutrition, health care and recreation. The We Volunteers will still be working as a cohesive unit but with this methodology in place, the progress would be defined in individuals rather than in groups. The impetus for this new approach is that every kid has different interests and attitude. Thus, dealing with them in groups will make some children neglected. Moreover, the volunteer will have a clear understanding of his job and duties. The finance for this project will be borne by the “We Volunteer” inhouse treasury. So volunteers find your kid and start the process of individual change.

The Start

A meeting of the Beggar Rescue Team was held yesterday to implement the concept.
Volunteers Present: Preet, Ankush, Karan, Kaval, Shyam, Sudheesh and Akashdeep.

As the discussions over the “Mera Bhachcha Sabse Acha” methodology went forward, we all decided to start the project right away. The question was, Where to start from? The first answer that came to mind was to initiate with that family living in a sewerage pipe at the Piccadilly crossing in sector 35. We all made a beeline to that so called home of that family. Reaching there we all saw the same dismal conditions in which the kids and their parents were living, eating, sleeping and playing(meanwhile, Akashdeep had to leave for some urgent work). The kids met us with same enthusiasm and affection. It is very funny that everytime we meet them, we have to tell our names again and again. They don’t seem to remember for some unknown reasons, Preet had some tough and hilarious time making his adopted kid remember his name :) I’ll come back to this episode a few lines later.

We talked to a lady who was the mother of two kids in that group of 15. She was willing to let her children take up school, but due to lack of money and income she could not make arrangements of their education. All the kids in the group collect garbage from house and shops. Yes! Garbage…at the sight of which we just shut all out senses….and these little kids make their living from it and also stay in its vicinity. Meanwhile, there was one more family which had come from Ahemedabad, Gujarat to make some living. They had some land to till back home but just to make more bucks, they travel to Chandigarh to sell and buy articles to resell them at their place. They had three kids.

The most interesting thing that we got to know was that the adults had voting cards issued on their names. Amazing isn’t it. The politicians are concerned about their voting rights but none so ever about the other most important right. The right to education and the right to live a healthy life and eat three end meals. Now you’ll argue that people like these go for voting just to make some money being offered as the lure by the politicians. But why shouldn’t they? If an IIM graduate can drop a National Company’s offer to join a firm in London because of more moolah, if the government servants take kickbacks in most of the development works in the country, why can’t these people think about in terms of money?

Anyways, we all decided to pick one kid each and start over with the project. The following is the first list of Guardians and their Angels.
Preet – Abdul and Muskan
Kaval – Neena
Ankush – Sabeena
Shyam – Rajeeb
Karan - Shamsher Ali
Sudheesh-Mohabbat:)

All the volunteers will take care of the needs of their respective kids from now on.
With each volunteer taking up his/her kid, the process of making these kids remember our names began.

Sudheesh and Shyam were the lucky ones since the kids who were assigned to them were elder as compared to the others in the lot. So they could recall the names easily.
As every other volunteer tried to make the kid remember his/her name, some funny incidents came into light. I’ll start with Preet:) his kid Abdul made different noises while uttering Preet’s name. This name evolution of Preet continued till the very last moment.
Preet – Apkaa naam kya hai?
Kid – Abdul
Preet – Mera naam Preet hai.
Preet – mera naam batao abb?
Abdul – naaaaaam
Preet – arre mera naaam bolo
Abdul – mera naaam
Preet – tumhara naam abdul hai, mera naam kya hai bolo?
Abdul – Mera naaam,,,lolz
Preet bhi kartoos…uska kid usss se bhi badaa kaartoos…lol….he was just repeating what Preet uttered:)
Me- tell him your middle name..may be he can remember that.
Preet – Acha mera naam Arjun bhi hai…Bolo Arjun….
Abdul – ashfoooooshshshshs…(this was the most hilarious)

The same happned to other kids. Though they didn’t murder our names like Preet’s kid did.
But, they had difficulty in remembering our names. It could be due to that fact that they are not used to names like ours. And this is the reason that the name of the Mascot of our organization is “Chottu”, which complies with the understanding level of the slum kids and beggars.

We talked to the few adults of the family standing there; meanwhile, Kaval played a few games with the kids.

As Preet says, if every rich takes care of every poor, there will be no poor.
So we signed of the day with some thinking to do.

All those who read this post, please take a look around and take up some initiative. For those who are in Chandigarh, we are always looking for motivated and compassionate people to join in with us. It’s not difficult…..just needs time..
If you have any suggestions, views, ideas or comments………do reply through comment posting/email/phone call/meet in person.

We can and we will…

We Initiate………….Do You??