Though I generally tend to forget the details of events but I do remember a few of the day we went to stage the play for Zari’s school kids. I remember how enthusiastically the teacher greeted us when she saw us, and even though the kids had an exam going on, agreed to collect all after the exam to witness the play. I remember how all of us rehearsed in the nearby temple almost thrice, never being able to control our laughter either at krushi’s kiddish hindi, or Varsha’s more than real Pinky performance, or Avanti’s perfect gyaan-guru cum doctor act. I remember how a group of kids already amused by our rehearsal, and Pinky’s antics, kept on laughing around, only to run away shyly when we looked at them.

At around 11 I remember the kids being brought to the temple, in a queue (yeah the play was in a temple, and I m sure even God didn’t mind the extra entertainment!), how excited they were to see these crazy youngsters, with sum TV kindof things, and a supposed camera that ‘the thin chap’ would transform into a phone if he wished. I remember the tremendous enthusiasm they showed when we asked their names, and the moment I asked if someone can dance or act, 4 girls jumped out of the crowd and said they would dance on a folk song. And then their was no stopping them, from nursery rhymes to folk songs, they so enthusiastically carried out the performance, which all others also joined in, that I was simply amazed, by the sheer liveliness of these young birds.

After all settled down, we began our performance, and the temple was transformed to a completely still abode, where the kids seemed to rapturously hang on to every word we said. There were not a few chuckles at Pinky’s mischiefs or her mom’s eccentric scolding, and after the play when we thanked the kids the applause was so thunderous (more because of the kids’ generosity than our ‘drama-skills’), that all of us just looked at each other in astonished happiness.

When we quizzed them about whether Pinky had typhoid or malaria, and what did the doctor tell about these diseases, we were amazed at how well they had been able to understand our act, and every interaction with them made us learn something about them we hadn’t known before. We distributed toffees to them and I remember their innocent thank-yous and the shyly grateful smiles on their faces. When we interacted with the headmistress later, we found that she comes to Zari every day from Madgaon (which is almost 20 kms).

We had gone there with the sole intention of making the kids aware about cleanliness issues, but I realized that we had so much more to learn from them too. I learnt the importance and power of education and the impact it can and does have if responsibly given to the kids who are already so smart, and need but a real teacher, who has the desire and the commitment to share with them all the wealth of knowledge he can. I learnt that there are people who so easily take on enduring inconvenience for the sake of doing something good, and most importantly don’t even consider it so.

Though I generally tend to forget, I don’t think there are many things about that day I will…It proved to us that change can always happen…It’s just waiting for us to invite it in…And together, We can!

PS : Thanks to our friends Jayasree, Avanti, Ramanuja, Vidya Shankar and Mr. Yadav, Mr. Hanumant and all the people of Zari who welcomed us into their lives.