By Volunteer Ipsita Sinha, FHI Bangalore
As humans if we could stop reiterating the different labels and stereotypes imposed by the society, we could’ve held a rather constructive role on earth. Rhetoric like ‘a child is a tender flower bud that needs to be catered to with care and compassion’ gives a flawed image of the entire social structure and the societal perception of beings. The scathing reality is altogether spine-chilling. The increasing statistics of impoverished, malnourished children, dying each day on the streets and cramped shelter homes fails to carve the ‘flower bud imagery’ in a world so gruesome. Why not then just see a child as a ‘child’ with basic requirements as care, love, compassion and a home to escape from their unfathomable fate. Now, people who serve as volunteers with renowned NGOs and GOs, sparing a miniscule from their 24 hours are no God. As a part of this community, I believe we are just wanderers on this earth who have proper clothes to wear, proper food to eat, proper source of income and a proper heart to serve our naked, dilapidated and starving brethren. One such event that I can recall at the moment is when I was serving as a volunteer in Fly Higher India NGO –
FHI and was taken to visit the Serene Autistic Care Centre. This was one such event where the crowd concept was not put to practice and a deep sense of sensitivity was imbibed in each one of us. The children were then brought to us and no excitement overpowered my numb state of mind. It was this time that life seemed so unfair, because at Serene Autistic Care we weren’t dealing with the underprivileged section of society but a ‘privileged yet a minority’ group of wanderers. Some same aged, some a little younger to me possessed low attention capabilities, but the few minutes they were absorbed in their cacography, they took me to an inexplicable journey of the heart and mind I was humbled to experience. Undoubtedly, I danced there as well but this time the feeling was different. The grasp of their hands, the gaping sight of their wandering eyes and the glimpse of their distracted smile was not a moment but an emotion of my soul in humble synchronization with their pure hearts. This day, well etched in my heart, nerve and sinew was an experience I wouldn’t do justice to through this short piece. Fly Higher India thereby made me more sensitive towards people with disabilities, their behavioral patterns and their scribbled perception of this gigantic universe. If you think deeply, I feel their perception is absolutely correct yet not rewarded and ours is pompous and flawed yet well acknowledged.
Comments