First of all I feel ashamed of my lethargy for postponing this post for 3 days..Before all those moments fade away from my memory...i ll have to pen down everything...Impact day in short is supposed to be the day where we deloitees go to several places like orphanages,old age homes,jails etc and make an impact on the lives of people in a positive way..As a part of it v ve several threads like swadesh,Young at heart,Happiness behind bars etc.....Initially I was skeptical about the very concept as i felt it was next to impossible to really make an impact even on a single life in 1 day..:)But the feeling at the end of the day was really overwhelming..Here goes the story of the paradigm shift in my perception...
I opted for "Happiness behind bars" as it seemed class apart from the other threads n it was clearly evident from its fast closure of registrations in the record 30 minutes of time from the receipt of the mail. It all started at 8 where we started off from E-Block in a bus...The endless songs rendered by all of us in antakshari made me loose track of time n almost 2 hrs of journey seemed to have finished in 5 minutes...Finally It was around 1130 we were let inside the gates where i noticed the bewildered expression on the faces of some of the inmates staring at us from their barracks as if we r from some unknown planet ..:)I was surprised to find the campus so green that in no way it was looking like a prison(a complete contrast to the depiction of prisons in the movies)...n ironically some of our mates brought some saplings to make it more green...:).There was an amphitheatre in the midst of those lawns where a tent was already laid across and some prisoners were already sitting there eagerly waiting for some programmes to happen on the stage.....n we were slowly made to occupy places amidst the prisoners in the amphitheatre.While everybody was busy njoying the super hit numbers being rendered by prisoners,I was busy violating the instructions given to us before boarding the bus about strictly refraining ourselves from interacting with the prisoners.:)... i happened to interact with a prisoner who was convicted for theft and sentenced three months of imprisonment...sadly he had a family...when he revealed the fact that police bring liquor to them unofficially from outside..i cudn't stop myself appreciating the humanitarian side of them..:)
The person who hosted the programme was so well-mannered n decent that anybody who was there wud ve got immersed themselves in to a deep thought thinkin about him on how such person cud ever loose his rationale and commit any crime that has landed him there....v broke for lunch n after that it was our turn to entertain them...Their excitement was so infectious that it tempted a gentleman with horrible n pathetic voice render songs n movie dialogues for them(that's me..:))I was utterly satisfied with what i did n there was not even a minute question of embarassment that arose in me for singing so pathetically..A magic show and antakshari competition between them n us were followed by it..n another matter of surprise was their spontaneouness n agility in rendering the songs without even taking a second in thinking as soon as they get their letter while we were struggling on our each turn...n obviously they won it...:):)Volleyball competetion n shuttle competition were held betweeen our team n their team n again here they won..Kudos to their physical fitness too.......
Now our event has come to the final lap i.e. a short jail tour,Decent living conditions i would say...the farm in their backyard where they cultivate almost all kinds of vegetables..i fell in love with that...jailor was so cooperative n patient in clearing all our doubts(how much ever foolish they sounded...:))That 5 hours of time has bagged me memories for life time...Finally my earlier perception about the impact day has been proven wrong.....Now I can proudly say"Yes,I made an impact!!!!!!!!"
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/lingadharduggirala/ImpactDay2010#
I opted for "Happiness behind bars" as it seemed class apart from the other threads n it was clearly evident from its fast closure of registrations in the record 30 minutes of time from the receipt of the mail. It all started at 8 where we started off from E-Block in a bus...The endless songs rendered by all of us in antakshari made me loose track of time n almost 2 hrs of journey seemed to have finished in 5 minutes...Finally It was around 1130 we were let inside the gates where i noticed the bewildered expression on the faces of some of the inmates staring at us from their barracks as if we r from some unknown planet ..:)I was surprised to find the campus so green that in no way it was looking like a prison(a complete contrast to the depiction of prisons in the movies)...n ironically some of our mates brought some saplings to make it more green...:).There was an amphitheatre in the midst of those lawns where a tent was already laid across and some prisoners were already sitting there eagerly waiting for some programmes to happen on the stage.....n we were slowly made to occupy places amidst the prisoners in the amphitheatre.While everybody was busy njoying the super hit numbers being rendered by prisoners,I was busy violating the instructions given to us before boarding the bus about strictly refraining ourselves from interacting with the prisoners.:)... i happened to interact with a prisoner who was convicted for theft and sentenced three months of imprisonment...sadly he had a family...when he revealed the fact that police bring liquor to them unofficially from outside..i cudn't stop myself appreciating the humanitarian side of them..:)
The person who hosted the programme was so well-mannered n decent that anybody who was there wud ve got immersed themselves in to a deep thought thinkin about him on how such person cud ever loose his rationale and commit any crime that has landed him there....v broke for lunch n after that it was our turn to entertain them...Their excitement was so infectious that it tempted a gentleman with horrible n pathetic voice render songs n movie dialogues for them(that's me..:))I was utterly satisfied with what i did n there was not even a minute question of embarassment that arose in me for singing so pathetically..A magic show and antakshari competition between them n us were followed by it..n another matter of surprise was their spontaneouness n agility in rendering the songs without even taking a second in thinking as soon as they get their letter while we were struggling on our each turn...n obviously they won it...:):)Volleyball competetion n shuttle competition were held betweeen our team n their team n again here they won..Kudos to their physical fitness too.......
Now our event has come to the final lap i.e. a short jail tour,Decent living conditions i would say...the farm in their backyard where they cultivate almost all kinds of vegetables..i fell in love with that...jailor was so cooperative n patient in clearing all our doubts(how much ever foolish they sounded...:))That 5 hours of time has bagged me memories for life time...Finally my earlier perception about the impact day has been proven wrong.....Now I can proudly say"Yes,I made an impact!!!!!!!!"
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/lingadharduggirala/ImpactDay2010#
I think your next place to explore the humanitarian side will be a Whorehouse....Added to the visit,and conduct skill games like kabaddi, cuppling, spoonling, jalabalajung there and please don't forget to appreciate or give kudos to their ever lasting physical fitness..Your impact on them depends on your physical fitness mama...I am really surprised and dumbstruck by your writing skills and the ease of use in vocabulary...I am ashamed to say that i stayed in a western country speaking english daily and lack the vocabulary and writing skills that you posses...You rock mama.....
ReplyDeleteYou did make an impact ! Keep it up :)
ReplyDelete