Recently, I happened to meet some amazing people and had been longing to write about them ever since. It was Alcatel-Lucent's International Day of Caring (IDoC) and these people belonged to the Association for the Mentally Challenged (AMC), Bangalore.
Believe me, they are some of the most extra-ordinarily wonderful human-beings I have come across in recent times. They belong to a class of their own, beyond our match.
They personify purity. Their smile, their joy, their excitement, their anxiousness - everything is so pure! Their emotions, unlike ours, are very genuine. Beyond that, they are not very different from us. As one of my friends mentioned, it's on seeing these kind of people that one feels like singing, "Tujh mein rab dikhta hai..."
They value achievements as intensely as we do. During the various running races that were conducted for them, I could see, in their efforts, the desire to succeed. Some would win and start yelling in joy. Some others would come last, give a smile and join the victors in their celebrations. Intensity during race and camaraderie then-after - they showed how healthy competition should be; wish everyone on earth could be like them!
Their desire to explore new gadgets is as strong as ours. They had somehow figured out that a snap captured by a digital camera can be immediately viewed on its opposite side. As soon as I would click a snap, they would entreat me to show them the image; not to mention the joy with which they would pose for the photograph in the first place!We painted together, we played together, we ate together, we sang together, we danced together, we celebrated together! They enjoyed our presence; we enjoyed their company. Those were some of the most memorable moments I have ever spent anywhere!
My sincerest thanks to all the organizers of IDoc 2009, you gave me an opportunity to interact with my more fortunate brethren. Congratulations to all my co-volunteers, we showed that we care...
P.S.: Here is an official report on IDoC 2009 at Bangalore.
63 comments:
I must thank you for giving me the honor to be the first one to read your and the first one to comment as well. Your post is really touchy and it only shows that in this materialistic world , there are still people like you and the organizers (but unlike me :)) who take time out of their busy schedule to give some joy and happiness to these extra ordinary human beings.To be frank I m moved by this article of yours and I can only image the nobility of heart that you guys have. These extra ordinary people are not as fortunate as we are.Notwithstanding all this , your pics and the commentary that follows , It is very much clear to me and to everyone else reading this article ,that these people know what sportsmenship and brotherhood in essence stand for . Great work Rakesh , you should consider yourself lucky that you got this rare opportunity to spend time with pure human sole . I wish .......
Great work mama. Good to see ALcatel Lucent doing the world some good, even if it doesnt sponsor Shaastra :)
iCare ! I guess every tech company should engage in such activities once in a while. Only then do they holistically reach out to the niche sections who otherwise just get media coverage and nothing else
Its quite a heart touching and inspiring post.AMAZING WORK !!!!
great one misraji......beautiful one....looks like you will come back with something more than just a completed intern....blessings....you use your spare time really well......
Nice one Rakesh..!! Gr8 to see having a wonderful time. I hd been to sm places when i was in school, ever since nvr gt a chance. Hopefully I would in near future!!
Very touching to learn that you have been part of the volunteer team!
@ Kripal: Join the NSS team da! After this experience, I wonder if we did the right thing opting for NCC instead of NSS (both of us didn't get selected for NSO, that's a different matter :P )
So kind of you to spend time on my blog! Looking forward to your continued patronage :P
Great work Rakesh!! There are very few caring people like you in this world.
@ Gravy hunger: Have you tried approaching Alcatel-Lucent for sponsorship?
It's a stud place, mind you! I might be writing more about it in one of my upcoming articles.
@ Sibasish: Feels nice to see your comments :)
@ Shankar: True! But frankly speaking, I didn't do much at the venue that day. I was new to Alcatel-Lucent and was new to this programme (IDoC) as well. Most of the time I was bulbing about what to do. But I did whatever little I could to entertain them...
@ Ishan: Thanks! Btw, which all places had you been to for such activities during school? I don't remember you telling me anything about it!
@ KStar: Feels nice to see your comments here! :)
@ Tens: So flattering! :)
Great work sir..true! each thing u said. though i havent been confronted any time with such people or anything like that but still i could feel all the things u said. great work man, keep it up. :)
@ Vaibhav: This experience is something that can be only felt, not described in words! Though I have attempted my best to describe as openly as possible, yet, believe me, this is something that you can just 'feel'!
Great work! I wish I could have been in Bangalore at that time.
Nice volunteering for this da! Amazing stuff. Hope I also get this opportunity in my next job experience :)
-Anand
this is sumthin tht makes u people different from the rest of the world...well i wud hav honestly never thought of anything like tht unless u made me think so now...this will bring some difference nd tht too positively...carry on wid the work of spreading smiles...will surely be returned to u wid interest wen u need them sumday....hats offf!!!
Good job! Nice to see that it's had such an impact on you. Try following it up with this organization or something similar. Clearly you love it! :) way to go
@ Shoban: ALU organizes IDoC every year, I guess; you can take part next year :)
@ Anand: Hopefully, you will...
@ Durga: Hopefully, I shall get back the smiles with compound, not simple interest :)
Thanks for reading the article!
@ Santosh: Yes, I do love such activities. Hopefully, I shall get more opportunities in future.
Nice article dude!! Though I feel a bit jealous of you that why didn't I also go even when I had the opportunity to do so . Koi naa.... I guess u were equivalent to 5-6 people :)
kudos to u man..well its good to knw tht u were there..i wud like to be a part smtm and live what u did..but ur feelings could be well read in the article..well put man..
Nice post misraji...i'm sure you guys made their day by showing them you care :)
@ Rahul: Learn to get up before 7am on weekends. Only then will you be able to go for such activities. :)
@ Aroused: Let's put fight and make IITM conduct such activities; I'm sure we'll have great support!
@ Adhiraj: Like Rahul, you too need to get up before 7am on weekends :P
A bit late to read but a really good deed.
you are very lucky person dude that u had got such opportunity... they are really "Tare zameen par". Great work dude and keep it up.. your post has really inspired me and if i will get a chance to meet them i will never miss it..
good work da
@ Harish: Better late than never. :)
@ Dhamki: I feel so proud of myself when I hear that I could inspire someone. Thanks for reading and getting inspired. :)
This post inspired the same emotions Tare Zameen Par did.. Nice work dude..
Must have been a wonderful experience. Maybe our wing should go to some place like this sometime next year :)
@ Anoosh: I'm surprised you watch Hindi movies. :)
@ Prasanna: Brilliant idea! Seriously! Instead of going out on wing treats and wing picnics, it might be a much better idea to go on a wing charity and utilize our budget as donations rather than expenditures!
I'm surprised that this idea never struck me!
We'll talk more about it when we meet next at insti.
that was touching, mishra... and about prasanna's suggestion, cud give that a thought..
@ Sufu: Yes, do give it a thought. It'll be awesome if we can come up with a nice plan of doing something as noble as this!
A very touching subject... articulate writing. great work !!
Kudos to Alcatel-Lucent family for their spirit... especially considering the recession...
A very inspiring work by all you guys !! A sense of responsibility and touch of humanity. I believe this noble attitude of service, and this article in itself will radicalize the youth of this day to strive for the betterment of society. Great Work !!
@ Shobhit: Yes, kudos to the ALU family for their outstanding contribution!
@ Srinivas: Ah! Your comments make me feel so good! :)
Beautifully captured. Your post makes me look back at my GE internship days last summer when I volunteered GE foundation to teach blind polytechnic students. It always feels special to care for and be taken care of. I can totally understand how you must have felt.
@ Srinath: I concur...
!! Wow !!
That was a wonderful account.
@ Taz: Thanks for reading! :)
Its very good to know that you have had such a wonderful experience. It reminds me of the summer of 2003 ( not 69 :-) ) that I spent teaching some underprivileged children (along with many other activities) at the Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama in Coimbatore.
hat's off to u people man......
@ Kushal: Congratulations that you have been involved in such noble activities since quite sometime! You also spend some quality time as part of the Vivekananda Study Circle!
@ Justin time: All hats off to the organizers of IDoC and the contributors at Alcatel-Lucent!
Its very touchy.Time spent like this is worth remembering forever. so nice of you to share it with all of us.
I have become a fan of you sirjee. Without exaggeration, an admirable act..and a big thank-you for sharing this with all of us. Like always, a pleasure reading you. :)
Kudos! This is wonderful. It was an excellent idea to write this post and good to see so many comments here.
@ Shanky: So nice of you as well to spend time reading this article! :)
@ Hippo: And like always, a pleasure seeing your comments. :)
@ Ramanathan: Feels nice to see you on my blog. Keep coming back! :)
okay, Ra, you have got some pretty long list of comments already.. nice. You have don a commendable job - through your visit, as well as your article.
Thing is, none of us have been to the place where you have been. and, being human, we admire the effort you took for someone else. But, even then.. as "normal" people, we never can actually empathize with these people. We see them through our eyes. But we never know what goes on in their minds. We can predict logically, how they are going to behave in a particular situation, but.. we can not understand what seems logical to them. We are, people, who stand up and applaud for a film like "taare zameen par", but.. any day the gloomy clouds looming over their heads do not leave them. Its always nice to see, institutions coming up to help these kids. But, you know what? As i see, it.. - as they say charity begins at home - it is the love and care from parents and relatives which acts as a healing touch. It is the only thing which becomes their permanent shield from failures, embarrassment...and stand as a constant support . It is actually very difficult to understand the agony of a parent, when he/she sees his/her child being "abnormal". On a realistic plane, no one wants a child like them.And i pray God, it is a punishment to them and to their close ones. He is depriving a human soul- a very genuine soul- from achieving big things in life. At times i wonder, is it that, because they can not understand all the complexities of life, and that they are simple and clean within, they are seen s people full of joy? And coz, we are normal, we have to be the ones behind all troubles?
I agree, that i see God in them,... but if you question me should i place their pic on an alter and worship them?..maybe no. But fact is, they understand everything in binary levels.. its either pain, suffering (which they may not understand again) or, love and comfort (this , is a personal choice they get, as time passes, if they are given all the love)
All they need is, genuine and proper care ,a mind to understand them as individuals, time and patience from us.
@ Amit: /me bows to you!
They certainly need genuine and proper care. As you said, the love-and-care of their parents and relatives is all that matters to them; we are just like passing clouds in their lives who come for a day, entertain them, make them smile and then go away.
But that's the little contribution we can make and then just hope and pray that all subsequent days in their lives will be like the day that we spent with them!
great work man. U were lucky enough to get an opportunity to visit such a place , a truly divine place to be.
It was a new world for me too. I could see myself getting transformed from being sympathetic to just being with them as friends. I don't think they really need sympathy, they deserve to be equal, they live life fully vis-a-vis most of us.
Great lessons to be learnt from them. Nice sharing Inner Tunes :)
@ Mukunda: Thanks, man!
@ Ankur: Very true! Thanks for reading. :)
(@ All: Ankur was one of my co-volunteers at IDoC 2009 and is one of my mentors at my internship here at Bell Labs, Alcatel-Lucent)
This is the real Taare Zameen Par!!
I wish if everyone in the world could be made to fell the same as you feel for all of them.
I wish if I could live a simple life as them and be as happy as they are.....there is so much to learn from them..
@ Nimit: True, there's too much to learn from them!
All of us have interest to do this kind of work like Rakesh has done deep inside but we do not have enough enthusiasm to find the way and time to do it. In chennai, there are places like Annai illam in vadaperumbakkam where just one or two people are taking care of around 50 PH people of all ages and orphans of age below ten. I suggest you people to just see that once, know its functioning and then if u like it, then help it by supporting financially (a little every month),donating them some useful things, spending time with them in the weekends, bringing some more people lying outside on roads to this organization. The last one would be the best if you could find time. I dont want to write much by exaggerating the greatfulness if you could do these things, as i know that people who are interested will do without force and who are not will not do even with force. As most of us will be passing out from IIT next year, we can continue this support in a better way as we start earning.
Thanks so much, Sarat, for informing about Annai Illam. We (I and some of my wingmates) were actually on the lookout for such places for a possible wing charity trip. Your inputs will be very useful. Thanks again!
Good that you are doing charity work as well.
Agree with Sarat Chandra.
@ ksk_blog (Karthik): Just that the organization where I'm interning gave me a chance to be part of such an activity; I'm yet to do something on my own.
hats off to u guys! :)
@ Kaushik: As I had mentioned previously, hats off to the organizers, hats off to all the contributors and hats off to all the volunteers!
hey ra..i read your article n was really glad that out of your busy time schedule you took out some time for those who are in real need of it...n TIME-it's like the greatest gift you can ever give to someone as when you have done that you have given a portion of your life that you will never get back....and these small children they just need our time and nothing else....they understand nothing other than the language of love and care...for them that's the world....sharing some moments with them may not be that a big thing for us but the happiness which they get by our company may it be how small-it's priceless.....for them life means nothing and its our duty to make life worth living for them and the only way to achieve this is by spending some time with them.....and give them the missing joy and charm of their life....a noble act yaar....hope you keep taking out time like this for those who are in real need of it.....it makes your friends and relatives proud of you!!!!
Thanks Amruta, I was moved by your comments!
Man, this is awesome.
Apart from the concept, I liked this particular articulation abt human emotions:
'Their emotions, unlike ours, are very genuine.'
Well, I donot know how else to end this comment, other than congratulating you
Hey Jimmy! Thanks a lot!
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