Visit to MANAVYA (A NGO taking care of HIV Positive kids ): A life time Experience !! Its well said “Everybody knows, how to live life but masters are those who knows how to surpass the deadline of being dead”.It was a very unusual afternoon, I was very confused about meeting HIV kids regarding what all should I be well aware of before meeting them ,How exactly these kids would be behaving, what would be their social life, whether they are also normal playing kids and being an MBA student, whether to bunk my Finance Class to visit Manavya as an opportunity cost to pay for it :-)
These all were concerns kept surrounded me for around 2 hrs but never thought these worries deserved a very pleasant treat. The moment our bus reached campus and I entered MANAVYA’s compound,a kid requested me “Bhaiya,do you play cricket ?”.I was amazed that these kids are even normal than me as even I don’t find that much time to enjoy my life so casually. We went through orientation all across campus arranged by one of the administrator and he told us how team MANAVYA take care of 53 adopted kids.All of them were having their own tragic story, 18 of those kids were from Red Light area, few were left in front of police station, few were thrown in dark corner of street and some were came through legal process
Everybody from caretaker to careless kid were HIV positive but trust me, I never seen such a positivity in any social sphere, they were not interested in cribbing about somebody, they didn’t had any complains, they were so happy with themselves. We conducted few games and cultural events for them to better mingle with them and to better understand them. What a learning event it was, never seen such a team dynamics, where everybody was supporting their colleagues to better present their talent to get recognized, ever body was so happy to clap for their friends to gift them a very special moment.
It was also nice to watch new face of our dear senior faculties Bharathi Sir and Rajool Mam as well as of my dear friends.
I remember one 9 yrs old kid, who was such an outstanding sketcher, everybody from our troop were amazed to see his artistic skills but he was completely lost in his work without giving any attention to anybody until he finished off his sketch. What a serious aspirant they were and when I asked his what you want to be in your career, he vey cutely answered “Bhaiya,main to painter banoonga”.I never thought they are such a masters to give so many strong lessons in such a small time to all of us .
What a spirit it was to win a game, which outside the world seems to be an already a lost game.Suddenly a boy hold my finger from back and asked me “Aapka naam Ram hai,mera bhi naam Ram hai”.Afterwards,he just kept roaming around with me and kept asking questions ,which really forced me to think other perspective of my life. It was truly an unforgettable experience.
Finally, it was our time to depart and we left that campus but somebody called me back to wish last greet of the day and took promise to visit regularly for a cricket match with him.
May god grant him all the success and best moment in his life.What we can give,is just few moments to make them feel that they are as well very very special :-) So, try out once to Visit MANAVYA,Pune!!
Really, feeling proud to be member of Team SSR of Symbiosis’s SCIT (Student Social Responsibility)!!