Over 5000 miles from home, but the sense of Christmas was very strong for us this week as we celebrated with the children of Parijat. The festivities were organised not by us, but by ‘Sarala Birla Gyan Jyoti’ – a social development club run by students from Years 11 & 12 of Guwahati’s best school, located on the north side of the Brahmaputra. The club has had a relationship with Parijat for a couple of years now and its socially responsible teenage members regularly run sessions for their underprivileged counterparts.
This time they brought Christmas to Parijat. This meant forgiving a few word changes in Jingle Bells and difficult pronunciations of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer concentrating instead on enjoying the party. The celebrations themselves were very nice for the children and rather moving for us.
India is unusual, but rather magnificent in the celebration of all the major religions no matter how large the following is. Despite the Hindu majority, national holidays are doled out for Eid and Christmas and everybody seems to revel in joining the party. The mantra of inclusion and acceptance is one the rest of the world would do well to follow.
Unsurprisingly, Parijat’s children keenly anticipated the eventual sweets and chocolates within Santa’s bag rather than any long tales of the nativity or other spiritual messages. Being Indian, they also really enjoyed singing and dancing along to the Christmas songs and making sure that we were also strutting our stuff (‘O’come all ye faithful’ was a little difficult to ‘get down to’ admittedly).
The sight of the children enjoying themselves was great to see however the scene was most moving due to the marked difference between the children from Guwahati’s best school and the children of Parijat. The confidence brimmed in those children visiting – their English was superb and they had no problems approaching and politely chatting with us, something none of the children from Parijat had felt comfortable doing. It was easy to see how the future would transpire as a result and although Parijat offers some hope, there is still so much to do.
Less moving, but nonetheless shocking in its obviousness was the physical difference between the children. The build of those children from the prosperous families was so much more solid than that of the children from Parijat. Doubtless, some of this is a result of tribal heritage, but much is still as a result of malnutrition and lack of dietary awareness. The children are not starving by any means, but the difference between rich and poor can easily by measured by the waistline. An investment in a ‘Weight Watchers’ India might be a good long term bet as the country gets richer.
While on the subject of getting richer and this being the season of wishing good will and prosperity, if anybody would like to make a contribution to Parijat however small, then they can do so at:
Please make sure that ‘Parijat Academy’ is selected as the beneficiary in the ‘Apply to’ box. The children would be very appreciative!
No comments:
Post a Comment