A day at SURMAN

I wanted to write about it earlier but due to a new job and getting settled in a different corporate life here, I couldn't. In last month I got to live with family after a long time, got a job, got to meet old friends...and among these moments, I had a very heart-warming experience. There is an organization called SURMAN in jaipur for orphan and destitute children, and it tries to give them a secured, loved and happy life & future. I went there and met Mrs. Manan Chaturvedi who laid the foundation of this organization. It was very overwhelming to see her working for the street children and trying to give them a secured and loved life and shape their future.

I came to know about it through a local newspaper of Jaipur and baba told me about it. We both decided to pay there a visit and see how people work towards someone they don't know. Some of the children there....were from streets, some were orphans, girls disowned and thrown into garbage by their family and many more. Talking to Mrs. Manan was like seeing a mirror. She was fashion designer by profession and one day when she came to jaipur and saw an orphan girl of 8-9 years of age wrapped up in torn clothes & searching food from a dustbin, she realized what led her to SURMAN. She said" I asked myself...for whom am I going to design clothes when people don't have clothes to wear on their bodies." She started this organization with 5 kids and now it has 44 children who are leading a life better than what they had before.

When we came back home after talking to her for 2-3 hours, I got immersed thinking deeply about the day's experience before sleeping.When I was younger, I used to think if it was so easy to love and care for people who are stranger for you. We spend a life with our family and why would anyone else other than them will hold importance in our lives. But when I see people like Mrs. Manan, I feel yes it is....She is taking care of her children as well as the children in SURMAN and that reinforces my belief in the concept that even though people are unknown, they are important. The experience at SURMAN & the children there formed a web of thoughts in my mind.

How is it to be an orphan kid? I have seen my family loving & taking care of me from the day I wasn't even able to understand life. But placing oneself on such kids' place, this thought itself is so dreadful and haunting that you don't know who your parents are. One fine day, you find yourself on streets, in a garbage bin or on temple's doorsteps left to die everyday before you actually die. And at a tender age of 8 or 10 years, when a kid only bothers about playing with kids of his/her age and getting to eat what they want to...these kids may be searching food to eat and shelter to spend their nights. Getting education and an opportunity to be someone to feel proud of is a thought next to impossible. We live each day and dream a bright future...and these children die each day towards the day they will actually die.

When I went inside where the children were playing, one kid ran and hugged my legs, I lifted him up and he smiled at me. The innocence on his face, unknown with the fact that I was a stranger to him...and the expression was worth more than what I achieve for myself. For few moments amongst those children...while playing, caressing, loving them...I forgot even my own identity. I have experienced many moments of success and achievements but the moments I spent at SURMAN were unforgettable and most precious ones.

I expressed my desire to Mrs. Manan about joining hands with her and helping her for this better cause. And she asked me a question. She asked" What is your destiny?" I smiled & replied" Ma'm, I don't have any destination. I only have a path." After getting the answer, she said " That is very nice to know. One should never have any set destination for getting into this. If you make a destination, you will expect returns of this work you are doing. And this work can never return you anything other than the smiles on these kids' faces and their secure future. But having a set path of helping people can return you better things. It can give your life a meaning, and I feel thats the most important thing in life."

Those who feel can contribute towards it can go to the website of SURMAN listed here...http://www.surmansansthan.org/....The children need our help to lead a normal life like all of us.

I was very happy when I returned home from SURMAN. That lady didn't have a lot of riches in life for herself, but she was happy, content and at peace with herself in what she was doing. Getting assets and recognition in life is very easy I guess, but getting peace is difficult. And maximum times, the way which leads to the peace of life doesn't align with the way which leads to achievements & riches. The path to the peace of mind begins from one's inner self and culminates in something & someone other than self. I certainly haven't found where my true peace lies, because everything I have done has ended up in me only....Probably, this is the beginning of it....