Dussera at Prayaas school

I took a decision today. On one hand I had truck loads of mugging to complete, n i hadnt started nething. On the other hand, I wanted to go and see dussera being celebrated at the Prayaas school.
I chose the latter. The result is that I wont be sleeping for more than 3-4 hours tonight. But no regrets, I am happy bout my decision.

Lemme first tell u wat Prayaas is.
Prayaas is the name of a student initiative started by the students here.
They run a small school which imparts basic knowledge to children from the slums. Also conduct outings and workshops etc for these children.

I have volunteered to join. I went to the Prayaas school the other day. Saw the children there. It was a mixed feeling. On one hand I felt thankful for what I had. And on the other hand, the feeling that I should n would do something for the society was reaffirmed.

But wat I felt best bout was the faces of these children. No sadness. No tension. No worries. The ignorance of childhood reflected on their faces. The ignorance which so many of us would give anything to get back.

I saw a couple of guys playing with a pencil box (remember the pencil boxes with a maze in the cover, wherein u have to find the way to move the ball to a specified place). Reminded me of one of my friends in school in Delhi who used to get all these fancy things to class and I always used to look at them wide eyed and always had a mixed feeling of jealousy an amusement.

God I wish I could be child again.

Ok. Now coming back to today's Dussera celebrations at the Prayaas school. We made a ravan ( i could not locate the prayaas office so could not contribute to the making of the ravan :o( ) and took it to the school.

I was a bit late in reaching the school. When i reached there, the ravan was standing there in the middle of the courtyard (Prayaas school is not a school actually. The students are taught in chaupal of the municipal school). The children were sitting there, all in rows on the ground, with expectant eyes. Few of us (not me :o)) gave them some gyan on dussera and Gandhiji.

Then a few crackers were burst. The light in their eyes and the joy on their faces was brighter than the fireworks. And I am not exagerrating here. Few of us (again not me :o)) held the hands of a couple of children and let them burst the crackers too.

I had to come back at that time coz i had some other work lined up. But then now that I am feeling sleepy and still have over 2 hrs of mugging to do, when i look back at the decision i took, i can remember the smiling faces of those children. And then i know that i made the right decision. No. There was no decision to be made. It was something I had to do. Coz the very thought of those children and their joyous faces brings a smile on my lips too.
Adios