I DON’T TEACH THEM… THEY DO!

Someone has told me that, “Two days are important in your life- the first is the day you were born and the second is when you get to know why you were?”

Everyone will agree that after making a long journey to a small corner of Rourkela, “Chhend Shisubhavan”, where our arrival is awaited with great expectations, we are greeted with the most warm welcome and a kind of reverence in the eyes of those innocent kids that each of us steps into the shoes of a Responsible Person from being someone who dons the hat of a carefree Engineer.

The only time I run away from them is when they approach us to seek our blessings by touching our feet. This indeed makes us feel uncomfortable, yet the look on their faces can melt anyone’s heart.

I joined Aasra with the thought so as to get close to the second most important day of my life and  I tried to give them moral support and learning stuff. Then we tried to enable them to learn by themselves. But at certain times, their innocence, behavior and their life taught us to appreciate and be grateful for all the comforts of living given to us by our parents.

Our bonding with these little hidden talents goes to great depths, such that they once made my mind to call my parents and talk to them without any reason.

My Chhend buddies were less interactive during those starting days but even then I found a fun loving face among the crowd, whom my friends used to consider as the naughtiest kid. With the gradual passage of time, we got to know and become close to everyone, yet the naughtiest kid has always been my dearest.  I still vividly remember how we used to get him to listen and to learn. He used to have never ending energy and enthusiasm for everything except studies, and to make him do the very same thing was quite an uphill task. Every Aasrite must have had experienced this at least once in their respective workplaces. The kids thank us for teaching them everything. But meanwhile I am a little amused, because I didn’t teach them. It is them who TAUGHT us to analyze and seek an answer to- “WHAT WERE WE BORN FOR?”

-Sourav Seth 

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