Children in Aman Ghars

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Bangla Sahib Gurudwara visit

Bangla Sahib Gurudwara visit

By Shaweta Anand

The older Kids at Kilkari were so excited about the visit to Bangla Sahib Gurudwaraon 20th May 2014. It was organised as a yet another value-education and life-skill development initiative here. I am not sure if children fully understood what exactly constituted ‘sewa’ (or selfless service) at a Gurudwara until they got a chance to experience it for real and reflect on it. Here is my diary entry from that day, as promised.

After a short metro-ride we reached Bangla Sahib and hurried through the crowd to deposit our shoes and get hold of scarves to cover our heads with. The summer sun was slowly heating the marbled floor, making it difficult to walk barefoot. Soon enough, ‘sewadars’(volunteers) were seen splashing water on the ‘tat-patti’ (jute-carpet strips) while chanting ‘wahe Guru’ ‘wahe Guru’ (‘the wonderful Lord’) for the comfort and benefit of others. And that was something Anubhav, CES representative and the main in-charge, immediately made children take note of.

After taking a round of the ‘sarovar’ (holy pool) that had enough orange and brown-black fish to fascinate the children, and after tasting the ‘karahprasada’ (sweet sacred pudding), we finally went to the place designated for people who want to offer sewa before distribution of ‘langar’ (free food to all visitors). Some girls quickly washed hands and joined the group chopping vegetables just outside the huge community kitchen. Others moved inside the kitchen where men and women prepared meals together, and later served them through a big common window that opened in the dining area.

Some people prepared the flour dough for making chappatis (hundreds of them!), some made just the ‘pedas’ (flour balls), some rolled them flat while others took turns to roast them on a huge gas stove. There were also those who ran between counters passing on raw food material and bringing back the cooked food stuff from there. Children blended in beautifully, doing whatever was required from them at that spot.
Accompanied by most girls, I sat down to roll chapattis, one after the other. The girls seemed very good at it. They were fast, efficient and were even able to joke and giggle occasionally while rolling out nearly perfectly-shaped circular chappatis. They performed the task without much impatience or complaining. The united effort was beautiful, even felt surreal for a few divine moments as the ‘shabadkirtan’ playing in the background filledour ears with the sweet words of gratitude to the lord. Some girls even went a step further by deciding to serve food to others first and eating later. That was quite a sight as these were young children after all, who insisted on serving others before they sat for their own lunch!

Langar food is tasty, period J. There was kali daal (black gram), laukikisabji (bottleguard), chole (white 
gram) and chappatis. Someone came along and served us cold water too. Gorging on langar food has only one disadvantage: you tend to overeat and feel sleepy! Anyway, after the meal got over, it was time to wrap up the trip and go back to Kilkari, but not without spending some time introspecting and sharing of experiences.

A memorable comment came from a differently-abled child whose hand is seemingly not properly aligned with the arm. She said that while serving at the Gurudwara, she felt absolutely comfortable in preparing chappatisand didn’t feel shy or reserved about doing it at all. This opportunity had made her very happy as she could contribute her bit. Another one said that she had come here before, but only with an intention of eating food so this behind-the-scene experience was a pleasant and a very meaningful eye-opener for her. One girl also shared how she felt overwhelmed by the many ways in which one could offer sewahere without feeling ‘less’ in any way. Another one was overawed by the sheer number of people volunteering at the Gurdwara.

Anubhav probed the girls further to facilitate more introspection among them. He questioned if anyone was treated un-equally, or differently at any point in time at the Gurudwara? The answer was a unanimous ‘no’. He asked them if they knew anything about who exactly made the food they ate during langar? ‘Was the food made by ‘Hindu’ hands or ‘Muslim’ hands, ‘Sikh’ hands or ‘Christian’ hands? And does it matter?’ He emphasised the importance of love, gratitude and the belief in humanity over and above divisive and undesirable categories of caste, class, religion, gender and disability.










Saturday, September 15, 2012

Appeal for Contributions for Relief Camps in Assam


                            Appeal for Contributions for Relief Camps in Assam

Over two lakh persons are still housed in relief camps in Dhubri, Chirang and Kokrajhar districts of Lower Assam, in the wake of a series of violent clashes. This is down to about half the peak of nearly five lakh people in camps, making it one of the largest humanitarian emergencies in independent India. All these internally displaced persons fled from their villages in fear of violence, and many because their homes were torched and belongings looted. There is little hope that everyone will be able to return home in the immediate future.

The camps are lodged mostly in schools and college buildings; sometimes a few classrooms and a courtyard house a few thousand people. The Assam state government assumed full responsibility for the camps, and its officials coped with the sudden explosion of the refugees. The state supplied food, some money for utensils and clothes, and ensured primary health protection.

So far the camp residents are only surviving on bare rice and dal everyday. They need at least a plastic sheet to sleep on and mosquito nets. The camps desperately require many more toilets and clean drinking water, the lack of which threatens epidemic outbreaks of cholera, gastro-enteritis and malaria.

Children suffer in many ways. There are no arrangements to study in the camps, and most students lost their books to the fires that consumed their homes. Since most camps are housed in schools and colleges, local students also cannot study.

The state and humanitarian agencies — the latter regrettably substantially absent so far — must help people return and rebuild their homes, schools and livelihoods. Children and young people must be assisted to resume their studies and normal life, without fear and dislocation.

The major duty for relief and rehabilitation lies with the central and state governments. But in a humanitarian emergency of this magnitude, it is important for people of goodwill everywhere to reach out to help and heal, to assist in relieving immediate suffering, but also as a gesture of solidarity and caring with the suffering people of both affected communities, the Bodos and Bengali Muslims.

In a very small initiative, humanist young people have decided to work together for relief and reconciliation. This initiative would be in collaboration with TISS Guwahati. Initially joint teams of young Bodo and Bengali Muslims will supply relief materials and services in the camps together. The initial focus is to support children and youth in these camps with textbooks, play things, clothes, etc, and women with clothes, sanitary napkins etc; and also utensils, treated mosquito nets etc.

We reiterate that this is a very small modest effort, and is not suggesting that this is contributing to any solution of a very complex and old problem. It is just intended as a very small gesture of collective caring. We have set a target to raise at least around 20 lakh rupees initially, to make a small tangible contribution.

We appeal to people of goodwill everywhere to contribute to this small effort. The entire money would be transferred to the joint youth group in Assam, to use entirely for purchase and distribution of relief material in both the Bodo and Bengali Muslim camps. The accounts will be managed by the Centre for Equity Studies, which will get these independently audited, and the audited accounts will be placed in the public domain.

We would also like to request you to widely circulate this appeal amongst your friends and family.

With best wishes,

Amita Joseph, Amitav Ghosh, Anu Aga, Aruna Roy, Avi Singh, Bela Bhatia, Biraj Patnaik, Dipa Sinha, Harsh Mander, Jean Drèze, Karuna Nundy, Kavita Srivastava, Mathew Cherian, Nandita Das, Nikhil Dey, Pervin Varma, Rahul Bose, Ram Punyani, Reeta Dev Barman, Ritu Priya, Sajjad Hassan, Sejal Dand, Sharmila Tagore, Vandana Prasad, Vijay Pratap and Warisha Farasat

For Aman Biradari

For further details, please contact
Jeevika Shiv (9899572770, jeevikas@gmail.com) or Ankita Aggarwal (9818603009, aggarwal.ankita87@gmail.com)

Details for donations

For Indian citizens

(Please mention the purpose of the donation while making the contribution and e mail your PAN card number and postal address at anoop_wdk@yahoo.com)

Name of A/c: Aman Biradari Trust
Bank Name: IDBI Bank Limited  
Branch: 1/6, Siri Fort Institution Area, Khel Gaon Marg, New Delhi 110049, India
A/c No: 010104000156950, IFSC Code: IBKL0000010, BSR Code: 110259002

For foreign citizens

(Please mention the purpose of the donation while making the contribution and e mail a scanned copy of your passport and postal address to anoop_wdk@yahoo.com)

Name of Organization: Centre for Equity Studies
A/c Number: 4114000100539095, Swift Code: PUNBINBBISB, IFS Code: PUNB0411400
Name of Bank: Punjab National Bank  
Branch Address:  Plot No.7, C-1, Nelson Mandella Road, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi 110070

Cheques can be mailed at:

Office of the Commissioners for Supreme Court
B 68, 2nd floor, Sarvodaya Enclave, New Delhi 110017, India

For any financial queries, please contact Sunil Snehi (9811190160, sunilsnehi@yahoo.com)

All donations exempted u/s 80G of the I. T. Act, 1961 vide Letter No. DIT(E)/2011-12/C-693/3069 Dated 17 Oct 20122 issued by the Directorate of Income Tax Act (Exemption), Delhi for the period 1 April 2011 onwards