When you speak sentences like “I am eating.” and “I am running.” they don’t mean much us. They really don’t and why should they? They’re just normal sentences, nothing else. But for some, these sentences when spoken in english represent a lot. They carry more of a Godly significance than the literal one. To some of them these sentences explain not only the literal meaning of verbs, nouns and their daily actions but they find a ray of hope in it by which they can feel that become one of us, one among the privileged. You guys might be thinking what is this article trying to talk about? I’m trying to talk about these children.
These children are the children who see our lives as something of a luxury. When we complain about how our parents nag us to study and do something rather than wasting our day, these small children, without any complaint contribute to the earnings of their families. These children make me shame on myself. The spirit that they show, their willingness to grasp what they are being taught is just out of this world. Even their drawings, which have colours coming out of the lines have a different kind of a feel to it, which I have never felt. It mesmerizes me and makes me want to do something for these young guns. Such is the feel here.
When I asked them what they want to do in life, they did’t say a doctor or an engineer at first, but their whole group said in a single tone, “Aacha insaan ban na hai bhaiya!” This touched my soul. While all I wanted was to earn money and be happy, these children wanted to become a better human first, help children like them, and become like their idolized and loved Jaspal Sir, who is behind this beautiful initiative which goes by the name of PRAYAAS. All these children come from the slums of Khatipura, an area in the pink city of Jaipur. Banti, Ankita, Sagar, Nikhil, all took their time to open up to me, one could notice their innocent and introverted nature. Nikhil and Banti work in a canteen to support their family, and they love the activities that Prayaas conducts. They are made to visit places which we well to do children don’t find that amusing. McDonalds, the zoo and visits to restaurants make them feel more self confident and happy. Dance and music workshops, self defense classes and the personality development coaching help them a lot.
The main goal of their teacher, Mr Jaspal is to make them ready for studies in normal school. The story of Prayaas is rather interesting, this extremely humble and down to Earth man, who goes by the name of Jaspal is an engineer who did his B.Tech from Amity University. Seven years ago, this science geek took active part in the social activities of Anna Hazare, which influenced the whole nation. After finding out about the conditions of the poor children of our nation, Mr. Jaspal never looked back and after seven years, there he was, in his extremely calm and composed stance, serving milk to the children, occasionally scolding them for being too naughty, an idealistic teacher indeed. Prayaas has no source of income, they rely on donations and the pocket money of their volunteers. Today, Prayaas has a team in 7 different colleges, they teach in different villages in and around these colleges. They teach in those villages on weekend basis and the villagers really support their cause. The response of the children is also satisfactory. Their volunteers have spread as far as Chattisgarh and many of their students have been admitted in Navoday Vidyalayas.
Though I spent only two meek hours of my day here, I felt a little good about myself. I know I did absolutely nothing, So my readers can just imagine what their wholesome volunteers such as my good friend Abhijeet might feel everyday after making a big difference in the lives of these children of God. He has been working here since the last 1 month and already he has befriended the children around here. There are many more volunteers like him who are members of Prayaas, who do their bit for the children and for the society.
What I felt here by the efforts of Prayaas was wonderful. The time I spent here with the children was amazing and I wish each one of them a good luck with their future endavours.`b
Prayaas facebook page- https://m.facebook.com/prayaascorps/
Phone number- +91 77270 48984
If you have any articles that you think are worth publishing email us at- [email protected]
