Reaching Out
She
wore tattered clothes. Her innocent face was nearly lost in the mud covering
it. But that didn't matter. When the ravenous child was handed a plate full of
food, hers was the brightest smile I had seen. But behind that bright smile, is
a grievous story. She is perhaps, an unfortunate child, whose
poverty stricken family cannot afford to feed her three square meals let alone
send her to school. This is not the story of one little girl. It is the
appalling story an entire nation. It is
my story and yours too.
From the narrow temple streets, the busy traffic
to the buzzing markets, they are everywhere. Their little, precociously rough
palms stretch out to any stranger who seems to have some money in his pocket
and a small heart in his body. Regrettably, many have the money but few have
the heart. Speaking of one such stranger, a man hurled a coin onto the ground.
He yelled, "Ei" at a street child and pointed at the coin on the
ground. I watched, mutely. I wished the child wouldn't pick the coin up. But
how would an ignorant kid know self esteem? How would a deprived kid know
humanity? All that he may have cared about was money to buy some food for
dinner. I wished to tell the child if he would leave the coin on the ground, I
would hand him more money. However, I could not gather the courage. The child
took the coin from the ground and hopped away. I wonder who sinned more: the
haughty man or the silent watcher?
In another instance, I was waiting outside a
store. A small, shabbily dressed girl loitered around too. I held a toy - a
plastic flower with oscillating leaves - in my hands. It was an inexpensive
amusement I had bought myself. The girl stared at it. I smiled and so did she.
I saw the delight in her eyes. After I left, I wished I had at least let her
hold the toy. I had wished too late.
It did not take me long to realize that this story
is as much about the mum watchers as the deprived and the offended. I now
believe that instead of pitying the poor, we must pity ourselves. We need to break
the glass walls of taciturnity. To realize our dreams of a peaceful world where
everyone shall be treated with dignity and everyone shall have access to the
bounty of nature, we must free ourselves from this reticence. We have to
seek enough courage to do what is right. After all, how unworthy is a
voice that does not speak for the voiceless! How timid is the heart that
fears to reach out to the world!
Comments
Post a Comment