2nd August 2009 - Friendship day. One of the most memorable days for me.
2 weeks back, I thought '
This year's frndshp day is gonna suck. No friends in town.' And I received a mail from a social-service group formed at my work, with a subject line 'Friendship day celebrations!'..
Assuming, it will be some program where u spend money, which goes to donation and bla bla bla, i opened the mail. Apparently, it was a mail for volunteers, for the Friendship day celebration at Salvation Army, in pune. (It is an orphanage, run by a world-wide organization Salvation Army.)
I decided to go for it. Anyway, my day had to suck. Lending a helping hand wouldn't be so bad, I thought.
0930 : We(Volunteers) gather at a central point. Crosscheck the inventories, Make sure we got everything we need, and then we leave for the SA.
1010 : We reach the place. Kids are playing on a small park made for them. They knew we were going to come. Right after seeing us, they come to us, saying 'Happy friendship day, bhaiya!'
After that, they introduced themselves. I hardly can remember names of 8-10 people till now though.
(One guy, named Akshay, commented bout my hair.
"Bhaiya mere baal aapse lambe hain!"
)
1030: We go in a large room, which is their common room. We arrange the chairs, and kids start trying their hands on drums lying in the room. Some of them could play it really nicely!
Then, due to public demand, DJ starts. Few himesh bhai ke songs, added with few Marathi songs do the job. Their dance reminded me of my own dance
1130: Finally, the
is over, and we divide the people in teams. We tie friendship belts to each other, and then start playing Musical chairs. Man, i enjoyed playing Musical chairs with those kids.
After musical chairs, we play Hulla-hoop.
Fun game to play!
1230: Time for lunch! We arranged for the food too.
Menu:
Chapati, Mutter paneer, Dum aloo, Rice, Daal, Boondi Raita, Sheera, Salad.
Trust me. Serving food to 500 adult people is easier than serving to 100 kids. But I enjoyed it.. Seeing them eat with great pleasure was enough to satisfy our stomach!
1430: Lunch part is over, Public demand for DJ again!
Let the music play!
1530: Each volunteer had to come with a skit, and get his/her group perform that one on stage. We had 30 mins of time to prepare a 6-8 min skit. But well, getting some acting done from kids can be really tricky.
But that was
fun too!
1730: After the skits are over, we distribute prizes and wind up the stuff. A kid asked, "Bhaiya, fir kab aaoge?" And I cud but smile. I really wished that they had a better life.
PS - There are very few moments in my life, when i cud not answer a question(Correctly, or Politically correctly, whatever
). I do manage to come back most of the times. Got clean bowled today. Apparently, a volunteer had come with his son, who was 6-7 years old. Almost the same age-group as those kids. One kid asked, 'Bhaiya, woh bhie anaath hai kya?' (Trans: Is he orphan too?) I was completely stunned, not sure of what to say. The kid sees my confusion, and continues 'Achcha Aap ko pataa nahi? Anaath! Anaath matlab jiska koi nahi hota na! Na maa, na baap, na Bhai-behen, Na dost.. vo! Jaise main! ' (Trans: 'Oh, u dont know? Orphan is someone who has no parents, no siblings, no friends. Like myself!')
All I could come up with, was 'Haan, but hum sab tere dost hain na! Toh tu anaath nahi hai. Samjha na beta?'. ('Yes. But we all are your friends, right? So, you are not orphan. Understood dear?'). He nodded.
Its almost 1230, I am tired. But sleepless. I suddenly feel shameful for the much luxurious life I have been living and still cribbing about little things i didn't have. I feel sad for those kids.
Sharing some pics:
Friendship day celebration @ Salvation Army, Pune 
) 
