……for the many orphans on a railway platform in Orissa.
We need more people like Rajesh Singh in our midst, who, at a young age, decided that it was better to make engineers out of orphans than become an engineer himself. How selfless is that?!! Do read the article on how he overcame personal obstacles to do what he thought was right.
It makes me feel cheap and small in comparison. I have a good household, children, luxury of a job and income. I give khairat and zakat as per the tenets of Islam.
Yet, there is something lacking majorly. I do not take out time like my maternal grandmother to visit each house in her neighbourhood asking for old used clothes, washing them and then visiting the slums and distributing them (I did pursue this activity a couple of years back. The reason I stopped doing it was when I found out that the clothes were being sold by those slum dwellers in the local chor-bazaar!). I don’t take out time like my mother to do little things like buy grains, clothes and fruits for many impoverished families and personally deliver it at their doorstep, making sure she hands over some cash too. I don’t sponsor the education of orphan girls like my MIL and the BF do, making sure that apart from the fees, they also support the girl’s lodging, boarding and clothing requirements.
The only thing I do nowadays is give away money. But I have no idea if it is put to good use. Is it charity? Is it worthwhile?
I guess not.
The biggest charity or helping a social cause would mean donating my time. To take out some time to visit orphanages, to visit old-age homes, to call upon old, far off relatives just to check up on their health and well-being, to take out time to actually do something. My friend Srihari speaks Marathi as much as I do, yet, he actively participates in many social causes for children in and around Pune. The language barrier does not hinder him. But it hinders me. For me, if I cannot communicate with words, I’m handicapped 😦 . I clam up and recede into my shell. Just standing like a statue and smiling politely is not going to get me anywhere. And that is my one excuse for not actively going out and participating as much as I’d like to 😦
And when I read articles like the one above, I feel an emptiness, a hollow sensation somewhere deep within, you may call it guilt.
Guilt , for being blessed with all material comforts and yet, unable to give equally in return . Guilt, because there are people out there, much more underprivileged and yet, doing their bit. How clear is their conscience…..and how murky is mine 😦
I know it is not lack of initiative from my side. I’ve taken plenty of them. Conducted clothes drive in office (ever heard of Goonj by Anshu Gupta ?? He guided me on the process of the collection and donation ) , collecting old clothes from colleagues and distributing them among the poor. The poor, ironically, didn’t need the clothes, they just wanted the money…..and I felt all my efforts going down the drain. Post marriage and kids, I seem to have even lesser time for myself, let alone for the needy. I keep consoling myself that when the kids grow a little older, when they start school and are not so dependent on me all the time, I’ll start with baby steps once again. Target an area and help as much as I can.
Till then, its best to read about people like Rajesh Singh and Thank Allah that there exist people who have their priorities set right 🙂
Leave a comment