Enjoy the moment

A little boy Saddam Pathan. His father, Aman is an alcoholic. Aman runs a fruit stall, but does not do so regularly because of his addiction. His mother, Zahera tries to work as a maid servant, but very often is not allowed to go to work because Aman does not like it. His older brother, Abdul is 17 and works as a painter, has ended up becoming the sole bread earner for the family. His sister, Shehnai is 15. He has two other sisters who are married and live with their husbands. Saddam is studying in the 4th standard at Deep Griha Society’s Juvenile Guidance Programme for school drop-outs. He stopped going to school 2 years ago, after having passed his 3rd standard. He is constantly being counseled to study, but his teachers say that the environment in his house is not very conducive to education.......And mind you, I have just been giving a broad picture. I haven't even begun describing the day-to-day hardships that this 12 year old has to go through. At this young age Saddam is expected to work at the fruit stall and the money is used by Aman to consume alcohol. Saddam also does a few household chores at home to give his mother a helping hand.

This is what life has been for Saddam.... Would you believe that the happy little boy at the top of the human pyramid in the picture is the person whose situation I just described? Saddam is engaged in one of the festivities celebrating the birth of Lord Krishna (a Hindu deity - yes Saddam is a Muslim). This festivity, called 'dahi handi' (curds filled earthen pot) involves building a human pyramid to reach and break the 'dahi handi' for the prize money. This is all while people around are throwing water at you, tickling you, trying to break your concentration so that you can't make it. The people in the pyramid also dance between tries to form a successful pyramid. You should have seen Saddam in action the other day, dancing away to the latest Bollywood tunes (for at least a couple of hours), falling down and getting up again, egging his friends to enjoy falling down as much as he was and dance with him.

This is what amazes me... people whose routine lifestyle is so full of adversities, can still enjoy a moment so fully without the least bit of self-consciousness or inhibition.

Maybe I am speaking for myself, or maybe I am speaking for the average person out there, to even imagine myself in Saddam's situation is hard for me to gulp down. Let alone, living in the dull four-walls-and-a-ceiling, an excuse for a house that merely manages to shade the four people living in it, and calling it home. I would have cursed the place, cursed the surroundings, cursed the people who got me there, cursed the system. I am not saying Saddam doesn’t complain about anything in his life. But, he surely manages to do one thing that I wouldn't have been able to do had I been in his situation, enjoy the moment. I am not saying Saddam has understood or accepted the philosophy of 'being content with what one has'. But he sure is living it when he gets the chance.

I have been associated with Deep Griha as a volunteer for the last four years. While I have learnt and improved on a lot many things at Deep Griha - people skills, managerial skills, organizational skills - I have learnt a lot more about life and its niceties from these little girls and boys. It is amazing what a school drop-out, a counseled-to-at-least-finish-primary-school, a child from an illiterate family background can teach an educated person....or...would it be more amazing if this same person would have never been in the situation that he is in or if he was not an illiterate anymore.....