It isn’t the best of times to be in a place like Bihar. Summer has just started and it is getting at its playing best slowly but steadily. But, there is no fun when you start feeling yourself comfortable in one of the difficult places to live in; you need more. Mosquitoes, 13 – 15 hour power cut and hot weather conditions will give you exactly that.

It has been an amazing journey with SBI Youth for India  so far. I have done things which I always wanted to do and have also managed to pull out things I never imagined I ever could.

The past 2 weeks has been the most challenging 2 weeks of my entire life. Managing the whole campaign of “Palak – A Story of Start for the Children in rural Bihar”  haven’t been easy. When you do something of this sort, you need to talk to a lot of people at the same time and the best part is the need to talk to every person differently.

Amidst all the lovable chaos of running a campaign and deprived sleep, I have met the most wonderful people in my life right now; my children. There are days when we create stories and they are happy and there are days when they just want to learn computers and hence not so upbeat by the fact that we are still in the process of arranging the funds for the same. But, this is how the kids are supposed to behave, I believe. Sometimes, it is tough to keep the motivation level up for both me and these children but we are hanging in there.

But, there are some stories which takes away all the worrying and gets etched in your memory forever. Moments!

Yesterday when we were giving final touches to our second edition of children’s monthly magazine, Palak, one girl named Saloni came up to me and said something that made my rather gloomy day worth remembering.

“Will you come back tomorrow?”, she asked.

“No, I have work to do tomorrow. I will come the day after.”

Suddenly her face lost its smile and she said, “Aapke bina mann nahi lagta school me (I do not feel good without you in the school)”

The other children second her thought and said, “If you will not come, we are also not coming tomorrow.”

I was left speechless at the moment. At one end, I felt loved by the sincerity of these children towards me but at the other end I thought, “What will happen when I go?”

Later that day, Saloni asked if I could give her a ride back home on my bike. I was happy to do the service. With all the other children laughing around us, Saloni hopped on the bike and smiled with all the smiles she could gather. Amongst all the laughter and chatter, we took a turn out of the gate of the school and went on our little date!

PS: Our campaign Palak – A Story of Start has gathered momentum. We have arranged 86000 INR in a matter of 10 days with 75 people contributing. “Palak” stands to break the monotony of cynicism which exists in this world. It stands for all the goodness in this world. Do not judge me for doing what I am doing. Judge the work I am doing. Have a look. If you don’t like it, do not give a penny. If you do like it, give us a penny and help overcome the cynicism. Are you with us?

Pictures of the day: The front cover, the back cover and one of the published story in the children’s magazine, Palak. Photo Album Coming soon!

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