Stand UP!!!!

The past few weeks have kept me super duper busy and taught me a great deal at the same time.
I was recently involved with the Maidan clean up campaign. There was so much garbage, most of which was “government sponsored” that one could not even see the ground. I , personally threw nearly 15 sacks of thermocol and there was still loads lying there. The high point of the clean up was when six little kids, living nearby, enthusiastically started to help us, with no slippers to protect their tender feet, they just kept going. Baku said to me, “didi aaj yahaan park banaake hi chorenge. Phir hum log yahaan ball ball khelenge”.
To him I said, haan zaroor khelenge, to my self I added “ek din”….
I am looking to do something for these kids, I dont have funds, i know it will take time, but where there is a will, it always finds its way!

As part of the stand up and take action campaign, My friend of two decades now, Vibhu and I organized a little play called “The Crazy cockroaches” (my little sis sana, friend ash, vibz and I played the roaches)… we sang, danced, acted, distributed things like pencils , soap, jute bags to the school kids, to street kids who saw the play. It felt nice. Through the play we taught them the importance of cleanliness of living harmoniously, the problems plastic can cause and by the end of it all, the kids, before leaving made sure that there was not one piece of garbage on the floor. The dustbins were full! It felt even better.

Today is diwali and I think I have had one of my best Diwali’s till date. Vibhu, this kid (he will kill me for calling him a kid, he is in college 2nd yr) Dhruv and I went around Russell street and park street distributing paper bags and pamphlets detailing the end poverty campaign for about an hour and a half. Some of the experiences were just amazing. Outside this dry cleaning ka shop called “shanghai” in Russell street we stopped a lady, elderly, handed out a bag to her and said “happy Diwali”! she refused to take it and said “I am sorry I am not giving you people any donations”. We smiled and told her we don’t need any, this is her diwali gift from us, and ours in return would be her promise to us that she would avoid using plastic bags and discourage people to use them as they are main cause of the flood menace and other hazards for our city, our country, our world . She was so impressed, she forced us to take a 100 rs from her, use it for one of our awareness campaigns, she also gave us her number and said she would love to be a part of our future endeavors. We stopped about 80 people on the road today, and explained to them why its important for them to stop and think and not pollute the environment. And you know what, they smiled, and listened and said they will try. One of them said, “don’t you guys want anything in return?” and we said, “no sir, happy diwali!” After all teh hardwork we came back to Vibhu's place had pizza, pasta, icecream, laddu, kaanji vada and made a beautiful flower rangoli! I love my life!

My peace workshops now called "Peace for Youth" will resume now as vacations are over. Really looking forward to that now. We have got a beautiful banner made for the same!

And if you liked the post but thought that it could have been written in a more crisp manner, pardon me, pardon my fever.

Until the next post
Stay conscious!

Peace...