दिल की कलम से : कुछ समझ नहीं आया

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कुछ समझ नहीं आया- 

तकरीबन कोई 3 km की दूरी होगी कानपुर में टाटमिल चौराहा और बिरहाना रोड में. ऑफिस में 1 घंटा बाकी था तो सुबह पैदल ही चल दिए टाटमिल चौराहे से बिरहाना रोड. कुछ दूर चलते ही एक flyover पड़ता है जिसकी चढ़ाई आधे पुल तक ज़रा ज़्यादा है. 

यूँ ही कुछ सोचता हुआ जा रहा था तो देखा कि एक औरत वो तीन पहिये वाली साइकिल चला रही थी जो विकलांगो को मिलती है और उस चढ़ाई पे उस साइकिल को पीछे से धक्का लगा रही थी एक तकरीबन कोई 3.5-4 साल की बच्ची. अब गरीब के पास जूते कहाँ साहब? नंगे पैर वो बच्ची जो पुल की चढ़ाई पे अपने से ज़्यादा भारी साइकिल को धक्का लगाती वो और बेइंतेहा कोशिश करती उसकी माँ कि चढ़ाई पूरी हो जाए. 

न जाने बच्ची को देखकर क्या हुआ कि मैंने पूछ ही लिया उस औरत से, "मदद चाहिए ? धक्का लगा दूं? ". शायद इस बात के लिए वो तैयार नहीं थी इसलिए उसने चेहरा मेरी तरफ घुमाया और देखने लगी. तब मैंने देखा कि वो एक आँख से देख भी नहीं सकती थी. उसने मना नहीं किया तो मैंने झट से पीछे से साइकिल पकड़ी और उस बच्ची को बैठने को बोला. वो फटाफट पीछे से कूद कर आगे आधी बैठी, आधी खड़ी स्थिति में हैरानी से मुझे देखती रही और मैंने धक्का लगाना शुरू किया. पीछे से भागती आती गाड़ियों से बेखबर मैं बस एक अनजान औरत की गाड़ी को धक्का लगाए जा रहा था..

कोई मुश्किल नहीं हुई और आराम से मैंने उनको पुल के उस हिस्से पे पहुँचाया जहां से ढलान शुरू होती है. उस औरत ने मुझे हाथ से बस करने का इशारा किया और चल दी. बच्ची मुझे तब तक देखती रही जब तक नज़रों से ओझल न हुई. और मज़े की बात कि आज के वक़्त में कोई किसी के लिए रुकता नहीं वहाँ पूरे रस्ते मुझे 4 अलग अलग लोगों ने लिफ्ट लेने के लिए कहा मगर हमको तो वक़्त काटना था तो चलते ही रहे.. 

जो मैंने किया वो मुझे खुद भी नहीं पता कि क्यों किया मगर शायद सड़क पे नंगे पैर एक नन्ही सी बच्ची को अपनी माँ की गाड़ी को धक्का लगाते देख बिल्कुल अच्छा नहीं लगा. 

बस समझ नहीं आया कि वो बच्ची मुझे इतना हैरानी से क्यों देख रही थी?

D cafe 16 : The place where you get smiles, love and a cheerful Namastey

Today I visited a cafe and a place which is not easy for me to describe because emotions have choked me up to quite some extent. This is the second different cafe in Lucknow (after Sheroes Hangout) but the first of a kind which I visited and this is its story and a home which is beyond description. 

Welcome to D café 16 at Janaki Puram extension Lucknow. This Amul cafe cum outlet is run by the special children of Drishti Samajik Sansthan, an NGO founded by late Mrs Neeta Bahadur, a well known social activist of Lucknow. The children of this shelter home run the D cafe, the abandoned children suffering from various mental and physical disabilities of various levels. The cafe is just two months old (Jan. 2019) and the children being trained there are getting a chance to face the real world by interacting with the customers. Along with the various snacks and ice creams you also get served a smile, a namastey and memories which are hard to forget. I visited the shelter home Drishti along with my friend Govind and the overall experience left us well beyond what either of us could ever comprehend in words. There are more than 200 special children with various levels of physical and mental disabilities who have been abandoned by their families and Drishti takes care of them and provides them with vocational skills so that they can easily stand up with the crowd with their head held high. 

According to the various levels of abilities of children they are segregated into different classes. The moment you enter any classroom you are greeted with loud, jovial Namastey from all the children. Despite their conditions, the staff is constantly motivating them in fields of greeting card making, candlemaking, art, craft… Things which would easily stand among the best. Their drawings seem so much perfect. Me and Govind had interaction with every child and the moment they used to grasp our hand in a handshake, time used to stay still. There was so much warmth and eagerness. I can’t describe what I felt. These kids are multitalented. Rajdeep who is visually impaired was expertly operating a loom. The clothes were being stiched then and there. There is also a small shop where all the products manufactured by the children are for sale. Be it fabrics, candles, jute bags, keyrings... Probably anything you can think children can make. Right now they are also trying their hands at glass engraving. 

Rajdeep... he cant see but that doesnt stop him

There are also excellent in sports. We met a few children who were excellent runners in state-level and beyond level competitions. Expert marksman shooters who can easily give abled children a run for their money, others who love singing and dancing. Food time is held in batches where all have food. 

The smiles of these children get all the happiness they get from whatever activities they do. It takes a lot of effort to do even a little bit for such special children and everybody at Drishti is wholeheartedly looking after the children. While talking to the Director Mr. Atharva and Ms. Shalu alongwith the various support staff I felt that these people would be really happy the day when these children show even a slight improvement in their condition. Gauge from the fact that I met a girl Malala, who could not walk on our own year back and now she was climbing ramp while holding the railing, that’s the level of magic which happens. All the names of the children are kept by the people at Drishti.  

The creations

That joy knows no bounds

We guys had gone with some drawing books and art kits for the children. More than the joy and smile which they had on receiving that was nowhere compared to the joy which we had while distributing those. At the last we got a group photo with the class with a bit of gulal smeared on the faces of every child. The coming holi for surely going to be memorable to a lot of them. More than that it was ultra special for Govind who had his birthday on the same day it was the birthday of Mrs Neeta Bahadur. This was about the home, now let me talk a bit about the café- D café 16. 

This cafe is situated just in front of DPS sector 7 Janaki Puram extension. With the seating area both inside the cafe and even outside you can choose from a range of hot Chai, cold beverages, shakes, snacks, Maggi, Pizza, sandwich and also something for the sweet tooth in ice creams and sweets. The payment mode is both cash and digital. A side of the glass door serves as a stick-on wall to leave your messages and love. The children being trained their help in all the aspects of the café- cooking, serving with the other staff in the cafe. 

While we were about to leave we were held back, because the children and the cafe wanted us to have a pizza. Probably one of the softest pizza I’ve had since the very beginning. Along with the bill you get a thank you for visiting tag too. 

The Drishti home doesn’t take monetary help and instead requests for materials in case you wish to help those children. In case you’re confused as to what to give to them, the staff encourages you to visit their home and see for yourself and then decide that what materials would be suitable for them. Items of daily use which are used in every home are used here too. 

My and Govind’s journey to visit might make you think that when people become passionate to achieve an objective they do it no matter what. I had read about the cafe on twitter, decided I would visit it after Holi to discover a new cafe. Googling about the children led me to Drishti and just talking about these children with Govind one day idly, he decided to do something for the kids on the occasion of holi. I was busy on Facebook with enquiries and Govind on the phone regarding the requirements. He decided to celebrate his birthday with these children and I think that we had created quite a bit of a commotion because when we actually met with the staff we were introduced as “ the people who were constantly in touch over Facebook chats”. Few of them were a bit surprised to find out that Govind had come all the way from Kanpur (80 kms) for the children to celebrate his special day. It took me just less than two weeks to first read about the cafe on social media and actually visiting the place. 

Wish to see the cafe go places…….. 

हाथों की लकीरों पे मत जा गालिब 

किस्मत उनकी भी होती है जिनके हाथ नहीं होते हैं

Those superstitions during exams

Exams are the dreaded phase of life of every student and with exams comes superstitions, the ones which help you pass or the ones which are considered as lucky. Is been 17 years since I last passed school but exams have never left me even during my present time, this time I’m struggling with exams for my departmental promotions and all. 

So here are a few superstitions I followed/when it comes to exam time than passing. Please let me know you also did the same- 

The lucky colour dress is something which might not cater to school going children but would be applicable to the ones going to college and beyond. How many times did we wear either the same shirt on exam days or wear a particular colour?? 

The lucky pen must be common to all. The same pen to be used in all exams irrespective of the fact that other pens can also be used. A few of my friends used to write with a particular reynolds and in case the refill ended, they used to take out the brand-new refill from another reynolds, inserted into the old one and just do the exams. In my case I remember giving my company secretaryship foundation level exams with a particular pen in all the exams and passing just on the line in the first attempt. 

Even while drawing it used to be the same pencil used in all exams from start to finish even though it meant that constant sharpening made it no less bigger than your average finger and was extremely hard to grasp. 

Who can forget the age-old custom closing the book and opening it with your eyes closed, whatever page opened that was surely going to come in the exam and this was done three times so it meant that three questions were minimum sure shot to come and you had to mug up those six pages at least. 

Don’t know whether any of you have actually heard or even tried this trick. Unfortunately I still do this and the variation depends on my mood. You add up all the numbers in your roll number and divide it by your date of birth, only the date not the month. The addition should be such that only a single digit number is obtained at the very last which should be fully divided by your date. If it leaves no remainder you will pass, otherwise down the hole… 

The last one is fairly common. It’s called twitching of the eye or आँख फड़कना in Hindi. Its said that twitching of the right eye is lucky for males and left for females and the vice versa of the other eye is the arrival of bad luck. Many a times it has happened that I’d dread that twitching of the left eye after I am done with my preparation. At that time I just hope that the right eye twitches so that the negative effect is cancelled. Even during exam time it has happened that the right eye has twiched and I felt fairly confident during my exam. This thing is seen in conjunction with the above-mentioned number superstition. Both go hand-in-hand and even though the number superstition might have failed me in the prediction during quite a few times but this twitch God knows is almost accurate. 

So these are the few exam time superstitions I thought of sharing with all but these do not mean that you don’t study for particular subject exam, these are used as top ups with the basic condition that you have fully studied the whole’s subject matter your or the syllabus first.