Monday, December 28, 2009

Balloons for Christmas

On Christmas morning, we all woke up to a truly 'cheerful' story hogging the headlines - about how the MCD has demolished a night shelter on Pusa Road for 'beautification' prior to the Common Wealth games. And how over 250 people have been rendered homeless, including women and infants: the youngest of them being 3 days old.

All this at a time when the mercury was merrily swinging in the 6 degrees range. Wind chill factor not counted.

As I sipped my warm cup of coffee and attempted to read the story out to Ranjit, while our daughter romped around in 3 layers of warm clothing, Ranjit said 'whats the point of reading this? What are we going to do about it?'

That started a conversation and a chain of events that has led to Balloons for Christmas...

The writer of the article was Ambika Pandit from the Times News Network who Ranjit managed to reach thanks to the Central Address book of timesmail! Ambika was genuinely happy that her article had made an impact, and was extremely helpful, passing us on to the right person....

The right person was Dr. Amodh Kumar, who is with St Stephen's Hospital and works for and with these homeless people. When Ranjit spoke to Dr. Amodh and asked if we could bring across blankets etc he assured us that all that had been taken care of for the time being. But he would definitely solicit our help for other requirements.

That very evening we had the most amazing conversation on Dr. Amodh's speaker phone - with some of these street kids and adults... He put them on line, and Ranjit put his own phone loudspeaker on... and here's how the conversation went...

R: Hello!

Kids: Namastey!

R: Aap log theek hain?

Kids: Haanji

R: Aapko kambal wambal kuchh chahiye?

Kids: Aap hamein balloon laa deejiye bhaiyya!

R: Balloons? Itni thand mein aapko kambal rajai nahin, balloons chahiye??............

Kids: Hum balloon bechenge bhaiyaa... abhi to season hai...

Ranjit and I had been laughing up to that point thinking these are carefree kids who want balloons rather than blankets. (gosh, what a bubble we live in). Which is when they made us realise it was not for fun but for income that they needed these balloons...........

Since then Dr. Amodh has done some groundwork for us and informed us that:

a. The entire lot of balloons to keep these people going during the festive season, costs Rs. 23,000. They have already picked up the balloons in order to maximise the season's sales.

b. They have promised not to use children to peddle these balloons and Dr. Amodh hopes they will at least try and stick to their word.

Oh, and you know what? These street people want to take this money purely as a loan!! They are very clear that once they tide over the winter months and make their living, they want to return every penny. Obviously, while none of us expect anything back, I think this attitude is great. Great for their sense of self, their personal dignity and their pyschological freedom.

Dr. Amodh obviously wants to encourage that, for these very reasons. These people are very clear they want to pay us back whenever they can. Isn't that amazing?

Ranjit and I have promised to get the money across to Dr. Amodh by this evening. The entire amount. I wrote a mail to a selected few, those who would trust Ranjit and my word, because needless to say we would not be able to give any paper, any NGO receipt, any sort of documentation whatsoever for any contribution. We are simply collecting cash and going there this evening.

Barely a couple of hours into sending the mail and I've already received more than half the amount, either as cash or as a pledge.

Its amazing how much goodwill and generosity there is out there. And shocking how so much suffering carries on, none the less.

I am moved by my friends' and colleagues' trust, generosity and sensitivity. I am happy I know such wonderful people.

May 2010 be a genuinely happy new year.

1 comment:

kaaju katli said...

What a lovely thing to do, Riya & Ranjit! Really, really nice!