a newfound addiction

Collateral Damage

Anyone viewing above picture will have an obvious conclusion that this is an school,infact a good school.Partly their conclusion is true this ofcourse is a school but much more than a school.The place is Vaatsalya Niketan at Raipur.Dr.Arun Madhriya ,an orthopedic,is a kind man who is a true devotee of Gayatri Mata and an active member of Gayatri Parivar.For a sense of kindness for Humanity which he has ample in his heart,Dr.Madhriya under aegis of Gayatri Parivar has adopted 30 children(all girls) and took responsibility of their education and upbringing.It is important to tell that these are not ordinary children they are the worst affected victims of the internal war going inside our country.They are the tribal children who have lost their parents due to State -Maoist fighting going on in Bastar.These Children have came straight from Bastar and Dantevada many of them don't even know the place of their birth because when they reached their ability of understanding things they were in some or other camps.Many belong to Kutru.Their caretaker told us that different chapters of Gayatri Parivar at Jagdalpur and Rajnandgaon have also adopted such children.When i inquired how they feel here,hat obviously he told that obviously they were felt uncomfortable at starting.Raipur is quite different from their jungles.The children there used to live in such extereme conditions of malnutrition that they had only Pasiya (rice soup),so when they were served rice and dal they could not eat it.Also the sweet taste of Mithai so unusual to them that many threw the mithai pieces given to them at Chief Minister's Residence.But as it is always kindhearted efforts never go waste,children were able to adapt.Now they eat healthy although milk still makes then little uncomfortable but Dr.Madhriya instructs to give them milk in form of supplements like Dahi,Paneer,etc.When we asked about education we were told that Children had a great loss in education due to State-Maoist problem but they are coping up quickly due to efforts of Doctor sahib who has arranged for tutions.Also some kind ladies are providing tutions to these children without any fees.The women club of adjoining colony have came to the Niketan and celebrated New Year with the children by having a small but interesting cultural programme.The club has decided to come to Niketan whenever any child has birthday to celebrate the same.Instantaneous blessings emits for Dr.Madhriya from heart of any one who sees the smile on face of these children when he visits Vaatsalya Niketan.

Children are the worst victims of any war,fight,revolution or tragedy,especially if the incident happens when they are too small to comprehend.They incidents are engraved in their memories and its long term impact is felt often.Regardless a quarrelsome home or a war a child's soft mind goes through a stressful process of assimilation and accumulation of images,incidents,sound and events.Its better to bring out child from such pathetic conditions as soon as possible.Our society needs to augment efforts of people like Dr. Madhriya and stop this ongoing war which has resulted such collateral damages .

A girl name Janki i remember her smile with shyness i would never able to forget.Another girl sang gayatri vandana so beautifully that i thought Gayatri Mata herself is sitting on her tongue.

Although i felt so glad to find there children happy and enjoying, i talked to them as i am of their age,but i forget i cant be fool the fact.Thse was reminded to me by the incident when after chit-chating with girls we bade goodbye my Sister flew her hands and said buy all girls in a single voice sweetly bid her bye.

Children will be children.Innocence has no language whether its my sister or these wonderful kids.