Service to strangers
Sanjay and Tula, an engineer and a computer professional, got together several years ago to bring about a small change in the world through Vishwagram, Yuvagram and Karunagram initiatives. They decided not to seek any funds from private or public sources, national or international agencies. Their belief was simple, if they are useful to society, then society must find a way to sustain them. Not a bad logic, after all. They decided to live in a small village, work with school and college teachers, and teach children themselves.
They also created an ashram for children who ran away from their homes and were found loitering at railway station. These nineteen kids of varying age are being enabled to face the world with greater hopes and faith. One of them used to run away often. Sanjay asked him, why did he do that?. His answer was, he missed his home, the railway station. The kids whose concept of home is a place like that deserve a home, a place under the sun, a chance to grow as a worthy citizen of our society. Even one such child rehabilitated means, one lamp lighted to make the world a better place.
Sanjay and Tula organise workshops of teachers at very low cost. I recently attend one of such workshops at a resort where the place was donated by the owner apart from boarding facilities at cost basis. A very frugal workshop thus took place in which a whole range of ideas about education were discussed. One of the questions I asked was, are there questions which teachers could not answer? What have teachers learned from students? There were children who asked a question as to why did they have to study all the subjects and achieve better marks in them? Why could not they focus on only a few and excel in them? And perform just satisfactory in others. This is a question that is at the core of educational policy. One day, perhaps children, who need freedom of this kind, will get it. Another teacher mentioned how sometimes teachers are so full of themselves, that they don’t pay attention to the questions of children. It was a lesser problem that one could not answer question, but bigger problem was not paying attention. The question should carve out some space in our consciousness.
Sanjay and Tula have created a lot of space for such questions in the mind of teachers and through that, expanded the space for the questions of children. They also work with youth and organise camps for them to ask basic questions. One such camp, sanjay had met Tula. They get help from all kind of quarters. Some religious preachers make a contribution, some friends do so and some times strangers also extend helping hand. They don’t ask, they wait.
Issue is that we need more and more such volunteers who contribute to a social good, help abandoned children, conserve nature, trigger hopes among teachers and thus help in making a difference. But there is not an organised platform for supporting such change agents. SRISTI wishes to support such silent, scattered and significant forces of change. Creation of public goods, strengthening the society’s moral fabric through practice and not preaching, and expanding space for free spirit, questioning minds and communitarian culture are necessary for inclusive development. The concept of social enterprise is rather very restricted in scope. Bringing about new consciousness among youth, children and teachers is not an enterprise for Sanjay and Tula. Let us look within ourselves. May be we will find a path and that may pass through service to strangers.
Anil K Gupta
