Kids at Ber Sarai...

KHOJ- In Search of Love.........Chal ab "kaam" likh.......ab yeh padh.."kaan".....

Well, this is what i had been doing for the past 6-7 weeks. Actually, all this started when i joined a teaching project at Ber Sarai with an NGO called KHOJ to complete my NSS hours. After a really hectic and absolutely dull day full of boring lectures and Labs in the college, spending an hour with the lovely kids is amazingly refreshing and enriching. As days rolled by ,it started to mean much more to me than just a casual and mandatory activity to complete my nss hours.

For the first few days i was really confused and clueless. Seeing kids having Gutka, little kids speaking in a language too vulgar even for the boys hostels....learning abt kids who sleep on pavements many times on empty stomachs...begging and working all day....was a little too much to digest during the first few weeks. I am not sure if i had been able to teach the kids anythng but the kids have sure taught me about the brutal realities of the world in which we live in. Seeing all this plight right outside the gates of the temple of education "IIT" is a cruel joke which i am not able to get.

But the kids have proven to be very very worthy and caring friends.They get concerned when i seem worried and they have now started confiding their secrets in me. The Other thing which keeps inspiring me is the amazing learing capability of the few of the kids. In a few weeks, right in front of my eyes one of the kid Jamshed has grown from a street brat who could'nt identify alphabets to one of the most responsible kids who now understands the concept of words and sentences. Yes even i would have to admit that he has become my favourite student in the group. I had become so attached to all the kids in these few days that runnning to the centre is the first thing on my mind as soon as my lectures come to a close.

This experience had a profound impact on me and the way in which i see my world. I have planned to devote all the time i can spare to spend with the kids and in helping NGO's like KHOJ in their noble mission. This is a feeling much bigger than charity .i really feel my heart out that caring for the poor and the under priviliged is one the major social responsibilities that has been long neglected.

Suneet Kumbhat

Karakoram hostel