I experienced another moment of truth at Anurag Homes Services on 27th March’10.
It was a sunny morning of 27th March’2010 when we started our journey with a couple of colleagues from office.It took us around ½ an hour to reach the venue.On entering the building, a lady approached us from whom we learnt some interesting facts about this place. She was one of the teachers who has been imparting education to the special children (mentally challenged) for some time now.
Anurag Homes Service was founded in 1990 by a person named Jaya Thakur Madhav .It initially started off with only 15 members and currently gives shelter to 55 special children and 25 old aged people aged 6 to 60 years.
These children also goto a school specially setup to provide training in color concepts,body parts,shapes,money concepts, speech therapy,etc.They also have vocational courses for students aged 18 years and above teaching candle, phenyl making,Book binding,Tailoring,carry bags,greeting cards,etc to enable them to earn names for themselves.
We were then introduced to Rama , the warden of the place who informed us that the home gets its donations through sponsorships from organisations, adoptions and sale of the items made by the students at various places, the cost of adopting 1 child being 12k for a year.They also have arrangements for a psychiatrist visiting the children every 2nd 4th Saturdays. Their IQ’s are also being tested on a regular basis.
Rama took us to the rooms where the children and old aged people reside.As we were heading towards the kitchen, we found 1 thin frail man sitting on a sofa...Seeing us he greeted us with folded hands on a smiling face but a long prevalent sorrow was clearly visible in the sad eyes.We entered the dining hall and kitchen after that.We met 2 cheerful ladies named Vijaylakshmi and Ratna who have been cooking food for 125 people for 5 years now!!
Finally,we stepped into the big hall where all the residents of Anurag Home were waiting eagerly for us.The plan was to celebrate birthdays of the children of the home and dance with them .We were introduced to Giri(fondly known as “Babai”) , a mentally challenged individual ,around 55 years of age.He seemed to be extremely delighted to see us and won our hearts with a warm smile and hand shake. We made him cut the cake and served refreshments to everyone. The happy emotions and radiance were clearly visible on everyone’s face!!
The next event to follow was dance.One of our colleagues had brought a couple of cds .The moment he started playing them the magic began.The enthusiasm and spirit with which these kids danced was mind-blowing. Its only when you come across such people that you can truly experience this great feeling of being happy with small things of life!!
After an hour of sweat,a song contest began where the participant would be awarded with a chocolate.We encountered a couple of great singers (Bunny,Shahrukh)who picked up tunes ranging from “Chaiyaa Chaiyaa” to “Aaati kya khandala”.They made the atmosphere highly pleasant with their liveliness.
And finally it was time to bid adieu to the home and we again had 1 more day of our lives worth remembering and cherishing.
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