Akshar Jyoti

  
A Sparkle of Knowledge

While roaming around in the scarlet evenings, some of our team members based at Silicon often came across a bunch of children with muddy feet, innocent eyes and faces laden with cement dust. The sight would sometimes stop them in their tracks and they would ponder, could we do something for these kids, who belong to a nearby slum area. These children used to play in unhygienic conditions. Their parents being out to work since early morning, they were left out to look after themselves. Excepting one or two of them, none of the rest went to any school.



After thinking for a while, our team members and the Executive Director of SIT, Mr. Nitai Gaur Dhall, together came out with this idea of spending our evenings with these kids, teaching them the basics and playing with them.



The dawn of August 15th 2004, heralded a new promise and brought about a sense of newfound freedom in the form of ‘Akshar Jyoti’ – the light of knowledge. Some students of SIT also volunteered to carry on this work along with our team members. We have been allotted a classroom in our college for this activity. With the support of Mr. Dhall, we collected and distributed clothes, bags, slates and books among the children.



Initially it took a lot of cajoling and chocolates to make these children aged between 3-11 years, come daily. Gradually they began to enjoy their playtime that preceded or followed the study hour. They basically learn counting, alphabets and small sums.



Then came the question of hygiene. We personally interacted with each of their parents. Gradually they understood the importance of hygiene and started practicing it. We arranged for medical checkup of all those kids and distributed medicines to the needy. The main concern for us is that these parents are unaware and illiterate. So we are continuing in our effort to educate these elder people also and we hope to succeed soon.



“The greater use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it”



Akshar Jyoti continues to be an integral part of our lives. It gives us immense pleasure to spend some quality time with the underprivileged children of the workers employed at the construction site of Silicon. The foundations of love, trust, and friendship that were laid between us on the 15th Aug' 04 have strengthened further over time. Being inspired, some other students of Silicon also joined us in our pursuit of bringing the light of education in their lives.



But even though the children learnt their alphabets perfectly, they still came in dirty clothes and chose to walk barefoot despite having slippers. We realized that if they had to be nurtured and their personalities refined, some values had to be inculcated in them. The importance of education, cleanliness, hygiene and nutrition had to be instilled in their lives.



It is said that:

if u teach a man, u teach an individual,

and if u teach a woman, u teach a whole family.



With that in mind, we set about getting the parents of these children involved in the process too. Sadly, out of around 60 people, only a few turned up. Nevertheless, it was an interactive experience. Though some of the parents had had primary education, they surprisingly did not believe that their children’s future lay in education.



These meetings, however, were not continued for long as the workers had to attend to their household chores in the evening. Our dream is still a long way from being realized. In the meantime, we continue teaching the children, playing with them and helping them grow. Being a part of their lives has been a humbling experience. It has taught us o value things we often take for granted in our lives.



As time passes, some workers migrate to different locations, taking their children long in search of new jobs, new lives. Will this life be better than what they already have? Maybe, it will, if we realize that it is our responsibility towards humanity to make small changes in this world. No matter where we are, we can light up the lives of these unfortunate people, just by spending few hours with them. That way we can pay some of it back to our nation or, pay it forward perhaps?