Mere words won't be able to do justice to describe the kind of majestic experience which we had on that eventful day. A school trip is always a memorable one, but when it is to such a pious place, than it gets all the more interesting. To be honest, we went off from school in a picnic mode. We were all so excited and pumped up. We were sitting in the buses and there were mimicries being done and songs being sung.
But when we got to the Old-Age home, the whole ambiance and the mood just changed in a dramatic manner. It was a big and a well maintained building. The girls were given the opportunity to see them first, while we boys were standing on the ground, waiting for our turn. After around half an hour or so, our teachers told us that we can meet them now.
So while going upstairs, we could see girls gushing out of the room and barely able to control their emotions and just breaking down, while the majority of them had moist eyes.
When we entered the room, a gleeful lot of old, yet gracious old women welcomed us with open arms. Some of them were having visual problems, some of them having mental problems while some barely spoke anything. But that did not deter them from showcasing their love to us.
Now I personally went to a lady named Sarita. I asked her many questions, and not so surprisingly, she didn't answer to any question of mine. If you see a person sitting in the corner of the room staring blankly at the wall at a time when the whole room is being erupted with laughter and chatter, it hardly takes any mental effort to make out that she is shy and a bit introvert. I decided to walk away from her, because I did not wanted to cause any kind of discomfort to her. Then I met another lady, her name was Anne. Now if Sarita was shy, then Anne was just the opposite. She was gregarious. She is so kind, so loving and so compassionate that even the most elegant adjective would fall flat in front of her. She held out my hand and said the following-
'You are Jesh, I remember you. You had come to visit us last month too.'
'Yes, I'm Jesh'.
Now, obviously I lied, but it was simply because of the fact that something inside of me said not to disagree with her, on any point, on any given day. We later sang a song for them, just to cheer them up. They were also kind enough to reciprocate it by singing a melodious song for us. After around 10 minutes, we bid adieu to them in a rather reluctant manner.
'You can take this if you wish to', I offered.
'Nah. Our sisters say that you should never take anything from strangers', she replied.
Well, I must admit that I was taken aback by such a profound response coming from this little kid.
We met several other kids there. Then we went to a room which was filled with beds having specially-able kids lying on it. They were crawling and trying to move their fingers, but it was being done with tremendous difficulty. My heart goes out to them.
There was a farrago of emotions that was running deep inside of us. It was that of anger-
God, why does this have to happen to them?
Why does this have to happen to those children who have been deprived of their biological parents at such a tender age for absolutely no fault of theirs?
Why does this have to happen to those old women out there? They were just trying to take care of their children and their parents. They didn't commit any egregious sin to be punished like this.
It was that of agony-
When we find that their whole world had been confined to those 4 walls with hardly any visitors to show up.
And finally, it was that of hope-
That one day they will be able to achieve their personal freedom.
That they will be freed from the shackles of the society and live their life on their own terms.
That they will be able to create their own destiny which is obligated be universal laws to concede to the demands of unwavering faith.
That they'll be fine.
So that was it friends. We went off from the school for a picnic, and got back after getting a taste of life.
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