A day well spent with the rising stars of a Delhi slum

Hey all...Have you ever wondered how it feels to live a less privileged life like slum children. Well no doubt it is a life of penury and hardship and there are many in India who lead such a life. Sometimes I really feel that God has been kind to me that I was born in a well-do family in Delhi and have always lead a comfortable life. Many of you like me would have led a comfortable life and would agree with me on this.  But there are many who are not as privileged as us. These are the people who are fighting everyday against their circumstances, fighting for food, fighting for a healthy and respectable life and fighting for their survival.

I had never personally seen them undergo hardship but I had seen alot in movies. One such movie Slumdog millionaire set in Mumbai, left quite an impact on my mind. It was so difficult to even imagine what all the slum children have to go through. In Delhi itself there are many people living under poverty line and many live in slums under very poor conditions. It is not uncommon for slum children to take a short cut for money by begging on street or indulging in anti-social activities. But still there are many other children who want to read and study to live a good respectable life.

Ever since my childhood it was my dream to educate the poor children who could not afford to go to schools. In Vasant Kunj area of Delhi, by the side of a road, few people are running independent, free of cost morning tuition classes for the slum kids staying nearby in Harijan Basti. There are about 40-45 children who are given free tuition classes by four noble people, two of whom are retired officials, one is a PhD student and another one is a lady teacher.  I had always wanted to educate these less privileged children but I always used to think whether to do it or not. One day I mustered courage to listen to my heart and chose to spend a day with these slum children and teach them. I met Mr. Shyam Bihari Prasad and Mr M.M Vig, both of whom were the retired officers and they were the ones who were teaching the children on that day.

I was really amazed to see how the children were too enthusiastic  to learn, to study and to defeat their less privileged conditions with a desire to do something really big for themselves and for their families. These children were so engrossed in the study, sitting on the bamboo mats on the service lane by the side of the road, that the noise of the traffic and vehicles hardly affected them. I taught a group of about 10 children who were in the age group of 10-15 years. Almost all the children studied in some Delhi government schools and there were only a couple of children who did not go to school at all. What struck me was how well mannered all of them were and they took so much interest in what I taught. I was really glad to see how most of them were able to answer my questions. It was evident how those people who had been teaching them, had really worked so hard on them.  I spent about about 3hours teaching them and never realised how the time flied so fast.

​Teaching these children and spending time with them definitely made me feel really proud of these little stars. I had bought pens and notebooks for these children and gave 1 to each child as a token of my love. It gave me a self satisfaction that I have done something meaningful today. Instead of wasting my money on some junk food or some dress for myself, I have put it to some good use that will benefit these little stars in my little way. These few hours that I spent with these children had definitely left a huge imprint on my mind. For me this is definitely not going to be the only day I spend with them and there will be many more such days that I am going to spend with them now.  These children just need some love and some guidance to tread a right path and to carve a bright future for themselves. And education is one thing that will surely not encourage them to do any anti-social activities or to indulge in begging on roads. We all need to show some love to these future stars and no matter  what we do, we all can contribute something in our own way to help these poor underprivileged children. Its my sincere request to all who can afford, to please help underprivileged children like these so that they don’t become a burden on our society but become torchbearers for the growth and development of our society.

Do check out below the pictures of that day.

Hope you liked the pics. Also do check out a small video below that I had made capturing some priceless moments of that day. Do let me know if you like it..!! Ciao till next time...!!

​PS: This post is a late post about an event that happened two months back but I could not post it then because of some issues.