Rain and Shine!

Well, am into my sixth semester now...a lot of decisions to be taken; something I am terrible at . Maybe the very reason why I took up my branch, Engineering Physics, was in a way trying to delay the decision-making. Whatever, my mind is in a complete mess and just read some friend's blog...decide to do something about my rotting page...so I am here, but got nothing to write about except for some really mundane stuff like slots and electives, or interns and projects.

So, I'd rather show you some pics...sunset is something that I've clicked most often but that's because I am not around at sunrise. The one above is at Hardwar(yeah there is no 'i'). I was in a cable car when I took the pic. :( blogspot isn't too happy with me putting up too many pics - so one will suffice for now.

I can't call myself a globetrotter as of now but sure will be someday. I am going to mark off all the places I have visited on a world map like a general planning his conquests.
First few places on the itinerary : Scotland, Belarus, Venice, New Zealand, Canada.

Sometime last sem, I visited this orphanage at St. Thomas Mount. It's a beautiful place, the highest place in chennai, just abutting the airport. There is a memorial in honor of St. Thomas and the orphanage is run by the church administration. This being the first time I was going to an orphanage I was all excited and we did put in that extra fight to get there. It was cyclone time and we did have umbrellas, but they soon gave way to the unrelenting downpour. We arrived at the orphanage - not exactly soaking wet, but we were pretty damp and chill.

We passed a room with babies, less than one year - unfortunately we weren't allowed to go in there. I was amazed by the sheer number of them. As we went further, we kids from various age groups in different rooms,running upto the corridor to get a look at the 'visitors.' We got to the room where everyone else was huddled, the kids had put up a music performance. They were stunning - the guy on the drums had the attitude also to go along with it. And they were just five years old.

The plan was to play something with the kids in the playground but since it was raining, that option was out. So we ended up running around chairs, lifting the kids in the air , getting the silent ones to talk. Those among us who had younger sisters or brothers had it all right the first time, they could get even the shiest among them to talk. I even gave some people lessons on how to hold kids :). There were still kids who refused to speak to anyone and started crying the moment anyone tried to. I wonder what was going through their mind ;that we were just putting on an act and we don't really care for them, or that this is some temporary simulation of a family they would never have.

The whole experience was rather humbling and led to a decision of doing something for these kids, later on in life. I have always known about orphaned children in India but I did not realize that there were so many of them until that day. This particular orphanage was only for kids upto the age of 8 and there were close to 200 of them.

Later, we checked out the view of flights taking off - that is really something everyone should see. The rain had stopped but the water clogged streets ensured the return journey too was something short of a trek. It is definitely a place you must visit when in Chennai but if you are going there, do find sometime to slip in and say hello to the kids. The smile on their faces when we would lift them or throw them up in the air is one of the most genuine smile I have ever seen. To know that by just being with them for a while you have made so many kids much happier, even it was only for some time, is a wonderful feeling.

When we returned, I did have an extra tinge of gloom , but that is life for somebody else. We conveniently like to keep ourselves aloof from all the unpleasant facets of the world and would rather not hear about the plight of the 'underprivileged.'Even the ever-increasing crime rates, as publicized by the 'mass media' are almost never pertaining to the masses - they concern themselves only with the elite. Crimes committed against the underprivileged are hardly even reported.

As always the chain of thought broke off there; anything that followed would mean 'doing' something and that's for 'sometime else.'