How petty we are!

A couple of days back, my organisation planned a community service initiative. About 20 of us visited the Thane centre of Access Life, an organisation that provides shelter and care for children suffering with cancer and their families. This facility is primarily for those families that cannot afford a place to stay in Mumbai. In a world where there are several financial support initiatives for the disease, this is a unique initiative as it takes care of the other side of the disease that gets unnoticed though is equally challenging.

We reached the centre and were introduced to the children and their families. There were 6 children at that time though the total strength of the centre was 11 children and their families.

All the 6 children were patients of blood cancer. One baby was only about 2 and a half year old. The oldest was about 12. All of them are currently undergoing treatment at various hospitals in the city. Having seen a cancer case closely in my family, I cannot even imagine the emotional stress the parents of the children are going through in making sure that the treatment is complete and the child recovers. We were told that 2 of the 11 children were in the last stages of the disease. We all understood what it meant but none spoke the words.

I am fortunate to be working for an organisation that believes in these initiatives. Not only did we get the second half of the day off for the visit, the company also spent on food, games, transportation among other incidental expenses. Had this not been taken care of, we would have been confined to the four walls of the office thinking that our world is the only world that exists.

Ever since my father self was born, I have started looking at the world at large and children in particular with an emotional view. The suffering of a child makes my heart ache and my eyes swell. Not just the children that I saw at Access Life but even the children of street dwellers. The reaction that comes next is a feeling of gratitude to my guru Aniruddha Bapu and God Almighty for giving my son a life that is so comfortable, happy and fulfilled.

Back to Access Life. We spent about 2 hours with the children and their parents. We started off with an icebreaker session with the ubiquitous selfie and moved on to a magic show. The children were thrilled to see the illusions and so were the parents. Then we did some sketching and painting, and finally rounded up the evening with some snacks. The time just whizzed past. We were revelling in their joy. Not for once did any child put up a face of a critically ill child. They were enjoying every second that we spent with them. They have thrown a challenge to life – pin us down if you can!

A visit to such places puts life in perspective. How petty we are complaining about the heat, about traffic, about water supply, about our bosses, the bonus, the government, the programming schedule on television, the absconding house maid and so much more! These kids don’t know how tomorrow would be. They are battling life. And they are smiling through it. We chase sales targets. They chase the sunrise. We have the comfort of eating what we want, they look at and then look away. We (not me) use all kinds of hair products to prevent that split ends, they enjoy the baldness. We forget God in our pursuit of a lifestyle, they have daily conversations with Him.

The visit made me question, what am I doing with my life. Why do I complain? Why do I not count my blessings? Why do I focus more on what I don’t have? The children made me realise that I am a small, a very small human being. They are the young, yet large hearted people, who deserve the world. They deserve the smile and the laugh. They deserve the good times and the fun. They deserve the comforts that they don’t have.

One thing is for sure, I will keep trying. I will keep creating opportunities to meet such children, old people, less privileged (or more?). I will yearn to put a smile on their faces. Thanks to my organisation, I will get such an opportunity every quarter but I will look for more such opportunities. Very few people, those who I am very close to, will get to know about the donations I make towards such initiatives. I believe spending quality time with those who need it is as much important as money for these causes, . Money provides for the treatment and the necessities. These people need more than that – they need smiles, little joys of life and times that make them forget their ailment or sorrows and help them live every moment to the fullest.

I know a week from now, I will be sucked into the usual. Targets, daily cribbing, complaints, and the likes. The reason I want to periodically go back to such places is that I need a thwack on my head. Time and again, I need to realise what others are going through. Time and again, I need to see the realities of life other than the four walls of my house, the four walls of my office and the confines of my car. I would urge you to do the same. We all need time out to see what life really is. What we live is not the real life. We need to get the true perspective.

May God give the children strength. May God help them deal with their agony and pain like every petty problem they deal with day in and day out. May they get cured and see happier days forever.

PS: For not a moment am I saying that your problems are petty or small. To each, his/her problem is huge. However, if you had to give weightage to a problem that has a small aspect of life versus a problem that is a problem of life and death, which one would you give more weight? There, you now know where I am coming from!