“Aastha’- The word in the dictionary traditionally mean’s faith, for me Aastha means salvation; a meaning and a purpose of my life. Aastha is a home of around 100 odd children from different walks of life, who live and work in this home. Some of them were abandoned on birth, while others were rescued by the police, during the process of being track fired to a completely unknown location. From orphans to juvenile criminals to rape victims, Aastha has been the only place of solace for these troubled souls, whose faith in life is something we try to re-establish.
My association, with Aastha began since my college days, when I was a student of clinical psychology and was required to do a case study about kids with traumatic experiences. During those few months, while interacting with those kids, I actually realized how fortunate we are as individuals. I could not imagine how horrible human greed can become. Since then, it has been almost 5 years that I am a regular there. I am supposed to teach them, but I guess, every day, they end up teaching me more than i could ever imagine.
In Aastha we, generally celebrate, all kinds of Indian festivals, like Holi, Diwali, and Christmas and so on. Festivals, not only break the monotony of existence, but also help us to bond as a family. This year, I however decided to celebrate Rakhi with the children. When I made the suggestion, I received mixed reactions. Some of them were apprehensive, while others were hopeful but ultimately the proposal was accepted.
It was my duty to arrange the function. Before I started any arrangement, I made sure, I told the kids what Rakhi was all about and why it is so relevant even today. I had no idea about what they thought and understood and I had to trust my instincts.
I went for rakhi shopping with my mom and bought different kinds of rakhi sets. Some of them were traditional, while others were a bit modern and elegant in appearance. My sister ordered a set of 5 rakhis, while my cousins each helped me with set of 3 rakhis. My mother bought a set of 2 rakhis for the youngest members of our home, a young boy and a girl, who was left abandoned in a dustbin right after birth. Besides rakhis, I bought small gift items like crayon sets, chocolates, balloons and sweets for everyone.
On the day of rakhi, we had a small Pooja in the neighbourhood temple and the girls picked a rakhi of their choice and tied it on their friend’s hands. They even tied the rachis on their teacher’s hands. It was a grand day and we had a picnic with all kinds of delicious food items followed by a day of fun and games. On that day I felt our bonding was complete as a family and as I headed back home I felt a sense of immense peace and happiness.
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