Can a person be more hapless than the one being abandoned by his/her own parents? An involuntary response to this question would be ‘No’. But, here, I beseech you to re-evaluate your answer for once. By discussing a real incident, I do not expect you to transfigure your answer into a ‘Yes’, but rather understand that why the answer to the question can’t be a ‘No’.
In India, we continually come across stories depicting the crimes and the atrocities being committed on children. These cases vary from mildly disturbing like that of bad parenting, corporal punishment, meting out stress, child labor, etc to very grave ones like that of child rape, trafficking, abduction, etc. What does not vary is the grim nature of all such mishaps that happen with the children of our country. There is a pressing need to counter these demons in the most impactful way.
Sometimes, not much, but a few optimistic stories manifesting the occasional, but possible triumph of the good over the evil can inspire, as well as show the correct path to those trying to combat such evil forces.
Keeping the same view in mind, I am about to share a real incident that took place in the city of Indore which, on every level, will reassure the faith of the reader in a term called ‘Humanity’.
It was around 4 in the afternoon on May 28, 2014 when I made a visit to the Mother Teresa Foundation (will be referred to as ‘MTF’ further), a charitable trust that gives shelter to orphans, to abandoned children and to the suffering adults as well. It was an urge to donate a modest amount of self-earned money and to converse with the inmates that took me to this place. Throughout the course of my brief stay at MTF, I got the opportunity to learn about the past life and the current experiences of many inmates. But, there was the story of this seven-year old boy which touched me the most.
His name was Amol. I asked one of the nuns about his background and the reason behind his admission into MTF. According to her, Amol was found abandoned, in a groveling condition, on the sides of one of the busy roads of Indore. Soon after finding him, the people of nearby areas had, in what can be termed as a prudent step, handed him over to the police.
Later, after failing to acquire any proofs of his actual identity, the police handed over the child to a hospital, Maharaja Yeshwant Rao Hospital, to take care of him and get him admitted to the Mother Teresa Foundation within a fixed frame of time. It was this moment (or decision) with which the good days of Amol had come back, if at all he saw any before getting thrown away.
After knowing his story I talked to him. Besides the general questions, I asked him whether he misses his Mummy and Papa. He replied, “I don’t, because I’ve got Sister and my friends here.” Though innocent, but it was an equally perplexing answer as to why a child of his age wouldn’t miss his parents.
Then I asked him that whether he knew the meaning of his name. He, with coyly expressions, replied, “No, actually. But I know that it starts with an ‘A’.” I am not very sure why, but irrationally enough, these words of him left a heart-wrenching effect on me.
Yesterday, on May 30, 2014, I came to know that Amol has been adopted by a very good family and that now, for him, a shining future is assured. Doesn’t it feel so good to hear a story of child abandonment with a merry ending? Doesn’t it restore, though only some, faith in the fact that humanity still exists in our country and the world? I hope it does to everyone.
It was shocking to hear that Amol’s very own parents had abandoned him to die. But, what’s relieving is to learn that humanity doesn’t end with one’s parents. Humanity is the virtue of every human being and that love doesn’t come in different colors with different humans. It just comes and embraces a stranger as well as an acquaintance in the same way.
Note: Image used in this article is only for representational purpose.
This post is a part of our #SaveTheKids Campaign. To check out more posts from this campaign, click here.
