A Share Of Life

  A plate of morsel seasoned with a little love and care

A teacher I call mine, no blackboards empty to stare

Is all I wish in school, without having to give any fare

Is this any treasure of millions that I seek as my share?

Take a bird’s eye view and it will look like our nation is crossing enormous milestones in various fields despite the scams and rackets that flourish in our administrative systems,or so our records say.And all that we are good at doing is,patting our back ourselves.Tragically when we [try] and look at the ground level,the scenario is completely different.We all know that our children are our country’s wealth,what we do not remember is that they are a vulnerable group.They compromise around 31 percent of our Indian population,but the attention their issues receive is not any close to what those which hit our daily headlines.

Malnutrition and illiteracy are amongst the many social issues that hinders a child’s progress.Sadly these are not due to diseases,illnesses or lack of resources.These are problems because we as citizens do not care enough.There are multiple matters intertwined,the causes and reasons,the results and effects which have brought this failure.Undernourishment starts right from the womb of the mother,after birth the prevailing poverty makes it worse.Most of the children do not even get to know that food and education are basic rights.

Many organisations, people and a part of the governance are striving and helping to meet these critical demands.Amongst them a noteworthy effort comes from The Akshaya Patra Foundation an initiative initially begun in Bangalore by ISCKON.I remember those days when we used to first sight their vans on Chord Road near the temple in Bangalore.The pictures of joyful kids on the van never failed to make us smile.Their motto“No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger”,with which they have grown on a magnanimous scale with teachers,volunteers,missionaries and the governments working to reach children across the country.

Hunger or poverty should never be a reason for a child to turn into a school dropout.As they say a fed child can learn better,children with filled stomachs now can concentrate more in the class. But for most of these kids food is not a mere incentive for attending school,it is their only nutritious meal of the day,such is their plight.And therefore they invariably attend.These problems cannot be made better overnight,they need efforts from each one of us.

If you see a poor hungry kid on the road and offer no help,do not blame the state of affairs.Do think for a while if there is anything that you can do to make his life better.Some food or money might do for a day but if you care to look beyond and can really help,make sure that he joins a school.Believe me you will be a special someone whom the child will always for his life remember.

Do visit and care to contribute:

Akshayapatra-Online Donations

This was around an year ago,a wonderful bunch of kiddo gangsters in a government school put up this act only because I agreed to take a video,hope this makes you smile!

"We make a living by what we get,but we make a life by what we give"
-Winston Churchill

-R