Friday, July 22, 2005

Sweet Child

She is the darling of the place. All of 2 years and 9 months old. She knows she is going to be adopted and is looking forward to it, to have parents and siblings to call her own.

If you ask her who her mom is, she replies intelligently according to who is around. If the aaya is there, she takes her name. If the founder is there, it’s the founder and if her foster parents are around, it’s her.

I hope to meet this gem. Please wish me luck. While chasing a dream, while contemplating my career, next jump, next hike, I may forget to enjoy the simple pleasures of life as one thing is sure, I am never going to earn enough to feel like giving to charity. Some friends had been to a children’s cancer hospital from the convent. I didn’t. I did’t want to come back thinking some them would die. I am not that strong yet. Perhaps, there will never be an Arunima Charitable Trust. There is an Arunima Education Foundation and it’s not mine (sigh!!) Perhaps, I’ll die a mediocre. I want to do it with passion. Perhaps, some of you are into it and don’t write about it. I am writing it because I want to. I am promising myself.

A year back Paddu and me had made some phone calls and enquiries. We were met with cold shoulders. Some of them said that the children won’t appreciate people coming once in a blue moon. We respected that too as our priorities were different too. We were busy dating guys. She is engaged now. ( her caller tune sings the gayatri mantra. It used to sing “tu tu hain wahi…” :-) ) I have met enough guys who’ve tried to impress me. Yes, I have found some well meaning friends too.

I wish to be amidst some beautiful minds who woudn’t try to impress but inspire me to be a better person because I believe, "if you inspire, you will impress."

I need to be there for my own happiness.

17 comments:

d4u said...

At the end of the day, your happiness is what that matters, cos if u are happy ull automatically spread happiness around:-)
Nicely written..

Jo said...

It is okay if you go to a pub or disc once or twice a month, if that can let you go freakout yourself a bit from the hectic schedules. But it would be more nice, if you spend once or twice a month with these kids, or help in an old age home -- visiting them, talking to them, listening to them, to see the happiness that can bring to their faces, to see what they demand is just love and caring and nothing else -- It is divine.

But it should not be a decision of a moment's thought. I have a friend who used to spend his Friday evenings at Purple Haze, a hard-rock fan and one day he said he got changed and started spending Sunday evenings at an orphanage. He said its good to have kids around and when I invited him for a drink when he came to Kerala, he refused. I thought the changes such as this wouldn't exist so long. Thus, he got reverted back after a short while. :-) Its always good to be normal, not in the extreme high or low. Then we can smell life and the pleasure and happiness it has in store for us.

About the insipration, you inspired me to improve my vocabulary and language. :-) (and am not saying this to impress you!)

Jo said...

And I think its so cruel to ask that cute little girl who her mom is. Whoever did that must be saddistic to do such a thing.

I hope you're going to be the best chechi (Didi) to her.

IdeaSmith said...

So many dreams, so much to achieve...I hope you get it all.

Dreamcatcher said...

Good luck while chasing your dreams.

Amit said...

Arunima - lovely post - amazing.

I think I am having a great day today. I just posted on my blog, how my 1 year old daughter taught me the meaning of life and since then I have come across some really inspiring blogs (including yours).

Thanks for the blog. Take Care

|| sbk || said...

You Go Girl!

Arunima said...

@Jo,

I think you have misunderstood. The questions were not asked by someone sadistic but someone who really cares for them. They are taught to associate to someone or to the phrase 'Mom' as someone who is really loving. They are taught that they can be accepted anywhere and that mom from soewhere will still love them as much.

It's your adult mind that decides that it is mean to address a question like this. For them, it is just taking the name of someone whom they really love and who loves them.

Stone said...

somehow I found it quite a dis-jointed post!!!

Arunima said...

@ stone,
I know you are having some mood swings. :-)

Stone said...

:-)

manuscrypts said...

yes, if only we could learn humility early, and in permanence..

Pallavi said...

live life your way and dont regret it a bit... coz thats your choice.. :)

claytonia vices said...

You inspire so many of us who are so starved of it. That's charity too... of the Arunimic kind!

hitchhiker said...

just stumbled upon ur blog..
i met this 90 yr old woman at a railway station.. i noticed her when she spoke to me in absolutely flawless english, which was a real surprise considering her shabby dress and condition.. ended up getting involved in a conversation with her.. she told me how she got robbed of her property and how she has to spend everyday in the shambles like a tramp..
the point is, i felt good thinking that she might have felt good finding someone she could talk to(though not for long).. but i felt guilty because when she offered me share her lunch, i had to politely decline the "offer:.. does this qualify as charity?

hitchhiker said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Rangakrishnan Srinivasan said...

i guess this is the first time i am making a comment. i have been reading ur blog for quite sometime. i must admit, that i do look fwd to ur posts.. and believe me, this is no flattery.

hmmm... well what u r doing rite now is also commendable... maybe in a small silently eloquent way... but then, u do make ppl think about something. a good beginning towards the destination called "getting there".

irrespective of whether u r a dreamer, idealist, realist, practical, or whatever.. let me end with "may all ur dreams come true".

PS: hmmm.. so this post finally brought me out of the inertia.. :)