A Year of Giving

2010 is upon us, and we’ve all been busy partying hard and long to welcome it. Long weekend is what we call it. I was busy doing the same as well, until the truth hit me hard, first thing in the new year. 3:00 AM approx, my friends and I went all across the city to meet another friend, who had just returned to town. As we stood there waiting for him to arrive, we could see an old lady sleeping by the side of the road. Just another routine scenario in our country, one would say. She got up, and started begging for some money. We gave her some money, even though my friends and I prefer donating useful stuff instead of giving away money. Meanwhile, our friend had arrived, and we got busy exchanging new year greetings with him.

A couple of minutes passed by before I glanced to see the old lady, shivering in the cold chilly december night, trying to ignite a fire using cardboards boxes to help her keep warm. She tried matchstick after matchstick, but could not light a fire. I decided to try and help her, so I went to her and said “Amma, main jala du?”. The old lady could not believe her eyes, for being offered a helping hand was abnormal for her. Shocked, expressionless, she handed over the matchbox to me. She said “Beta, bahut thand lag rahi hai, aur is wajah se so bhi nahi pa rahi hu”. I opened the matchbox to see no matches remaining. “Yaar kisi ke paas maachis hai kya” I yelled. To the lady’s rescue came my ‘occasional smoker’ friend, who just happened to have a pack of cigarette and matchbox in the pocket of his blazer. “Yeh le” he said, and lobbed the matchbox towards me. I caught the box and tried to light the fire, but was unsuccessful after two attempts. The wind was no help and the thick cardboard didn’t really want to catch a fire even after a lot of peeling.

“Gareebo ka koi nahi hota” the old lady said. I wanted to reply, but couldn’t get myself to say anything as I knew that the old lady wasn’t off the mark by much. So I went back to the task, now joined by all my friends. In a few minutes time, we were able to light a fire. The old lady now seemed happy and thankful. Enjoying the warmth from the fire, she blessed all of us as we left for our friend’s home. On the way back, there was only one thing on our minds: the state of poverty and helplessness prevalent all across India and how we can contribute towards improving it.

The next day, I went to the market and picked up an extra blanket, pair of slippers, socks and hand-gloves and handed over the stuff to the old lady. It didn’t cost me much, but she was shell-shocked! I asked her to keep the stuff, and use it to protect her from cold.  She said “65 saal ho gaye beta, par aaj tak aisa kabhi nahi hua”. I could see the happiness in her eyes. My new year had started with a noble gesture of giving.

Have a look at the following video. I know most of us have seen this video, but I’m posting this link for those who haven’t seen it; those who have seen this video might not mind a replay either.  

Do you get the idea? Did you ever imagine that Rs. 500 could mean so much to someone? Did you ever imagine that Rs. 500 could do so much for someone? And what does it mean to you? A pizza? A movie show? Another tee to grace your already overloaded wardrobe while people don’t have clothes to wear? Or just another pair of shoes? I’m not saying that it’s good or bad to have that kind of wardrobe or to have pizzas and so forth. Just suggesting that watching one less movie or buying one less tee wouldn’t harm us at all. Especially to my friends who have weekends off and watch atleast one movie every weekend, if not more.

What if we all could do that. What if we all could utilize that money in donating to the poor, or providing education to underprivileged children. What if this new year we all chose to help the government change the face of poverty rather than just sit back and blame it? What if we all turned back and proved that “Gareebo ka bhi koi hota hai ”?

Those who are not open to the idea of ‘investing’ in the country could look at donating surplus stuff. I’m sure we all have plenty of clothes/shoes/blankets and other stuff which is surplus to our requirements. We can donate these things so that someone else has clothes to wear, so that people don’t struggle to remain alive in the cold, so that people don’t have to walk barefoot and keep getting multiple cuts. Others can always go the extra mile. Folks, a little sacrifice from your side, could really make a lot of difference to the lives of the poor. Let us all try and do our bit to help the poor around us. Let us be more giving than complaining. Let us make 2010 ‘A Year of Giving’.

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