A l'il MUSKAAN on Valentines Day

Doesn’t happen much too often with me but this time around, what I wished for, happened within a matter of a few days time (though the time horizon set for this particular activity was flexible).

One fine morning, a couple of weeks back, I told one of my friends.. ‘Dude! I want to do something..’ ‘What’s on your mind’ asked he. ‘I want to spend some time with Cancer patients’, I blurted out…

These days I got loooots of free time, what with this being the last trimester of my MBA studies. And hold on!! I am, like many of my peers, yet to land a job. But the companies, this time around, simply don’t seem to be in a mood to hire people. So every now and then, I start brooding on what to do next, what to do next. And this thing that I told my friend the other morning was one of the things I had been wanting to do for quite some time now (started thinking of this way back when I was working at Bangalore). And now it once again had grabbed an A+ priority.

Fast-forward some days (brooding over this and brooding over that) to 4 days ago… Usually people start ignoring the myriad posters one finds on the college campus’s walls. And if you are in an area where there are multiple colleges (yes.. including Mithibai ;) ), you get to see the posters of various events whenever you look up at the walls. So its not abnormal if you simply start ignoring them. But wait there!! Whats this!! Pink color?? The poster is pink in color. WoW!! Valentines Day!! The day of the Lovers is not very far either.. Hmphhh!! Mithibai must be at it again.. They celebrate a looot many days!! Valentines Day, Rose Day, Ethnic Day, Chocolate Day, Sunday, Monday, this day, that day and what not.. Must be just one of those days. But then isn’t the name of this event a l’il different.. MUSKAAN!! That means a ‘smile’, isn’t it.. Okay!! Now you guys have my attention. I ran through the poster and what I saw was an opportunity which had come knocking at my doorstep. It was an event by the Social Responsibility Forum, College of Commerce (or SRF as we call it), a call for people to spend time with Cancer affected children at the Tata Memorial Hospital on Valentines Day. Wasn’t I looking forward to doing just that. The very next day I registered myself as a volunteer.

Now the wait had started… TICK, TICK! TICK, TICK!! In between, the organisers sent mails with the details for the visit, the itinerary, etc.

Knock, Knock!! Now who’s that??!

Oh yeah!! The D-Day, or so to say - the V-Day, had arrived. The Day I was looking forward to.. since sooo many days (or was it years!!)..

I am a strict believer of reaching a place on-time. I don’t like being late for an appointment. But yes.. there’s a catch there.. I don’t like reaching the place early either. I believe in the JIT philosophy. But nah, no JIT for this one here. For maybe the first time ever, I wanted to be before-time at the venue. Hence I started early from my place.

After I had registered for MUSKAAN, I asked around.. asked a few of my friends whether they would be interested in joining me for MUSKAAN. Unfortunately, everyone seemed to be pre-occupied. But so what!! I was interested. :) Then came this friend of mine. She too, like others, said that she won’t be able to come to the Hospital but that she was interested in the cause. She cited some personal reasons, which I am afraid, convinced me. Hence I didn’t pursue the matter. But she asked whether she could contribute to MUSKAAN in any other manner.. like buying the kids some gift, chocolates, etc. SRF had opened the window for contributions and now the time for that was over. But then, this girl, she took one of the co-ordinators phone number from me, rang up the guy and got permission to send some gifts for the children through me. So I met her on my way to Tata Memorial. I had expected just some chocolates. But then, she handed me a big, heavy package. She had packed in a Valentines Day card, a Diary Milk and a Writing pad together for each of the 28 children I was going to meet. And each of these cards had the hand-written words – “Happy Valentines Day!! To World’s Best Valentine :)”. Your gesture is very much appreciated my friend.. by both me and the other SRF volunteers. It would have been very much better had you handed over the gift packets to the kids yourself. Hope you make it the next time.

I reached the Hospital well before time; so thought of purchasing pens for the children to write with, on the Writing pads. Bought a set of glitter gel pens and proceeded to the Hospital.

The children were on the eleventh floor of the building. When I reached there, I was welcomed by the sound of the latest Bollywood numbers blurting out of the speakers. Balloons were hanging from the ceilings. Organisers were milling around in their Red Ts. I could sense the warmth and enthusiasm these volunteers had brought in with them. The event had been divided into three sessions of one hour each. Every hour a new set of 10 volunteers would come up and interact with the children. The first batch was supposed to put the children at ease, establish a rapport. Once the party mood had set in, the second batch would come. The children would be taken into the playroom and a game would be organized for them. There would also be a joker for the kids’ entertainment. The last batch would then come in, interact with the kids, show them magic tricks and distribute more gift items. In between all this, the kids would be given refreshments like cake, biscuits, chips, etc. Every detail had been carefully planned…

So as scheduled, me and the others in the first batch visited the Children’s ward. The view there was heart-rending. There were children of different age-groups. The youngest of them being just 6 months old (God!! She was so small.. Not her at least!!!). The oldest being in the ninth grade. Though many of them mustered smiles when we handed them the gifts and the chocolates, the pain and suffering these children endure was quite evident. Intravenous fluids being administered to the l’il ones. Some of them had gone bald while the other few, really small ones, got afraid whenever anyone approached them just ‘coz of the fact that they thought that someone was approaching them to administer the injections. We interacted with the children, trying to put them at ease and cheering them up.

Before we knew it, the time was over and the second batch had arrived at the hosp. Hospital, being a hospital, shouldn’t be noisy. Hence we, the first batch, had to move out. With an overwhelming feeling to stay back with the children in our hearts, we bade goodbyes. Am sure the next batches would have entertained the children as well.

I must admit everyone did a great job there today. Would like to mention the joker’s contribution in particular. All of us liked jokers as kids and some of us still do (Nope!! Not the Batman’s nemesis guys..). Initially, when the games began, the children were a l’il reluctant. But then the joker, with his amazing story-telling skills (he narrated Tarzan’s story to the children through a picture book), got them into the groove. You did a great job dude!!

Thanks to SRF and thanks to all the coordinators, volunteers and contributors, this Valentines Day I got, not one, not two, but TWENTY-EIGHT sweet, little Valentines. Team SRF!! You organized and managed MUSKAAN very well. Thanks Guys!!!

Signing off with the hope that we were able to put a l’il MUSKAAN on the children’s face.