Just Ask

My first year in India was about planting my feet firmly on the ground to conquer each challenge that was set before me. I am, after all, a veteran of 28 moves. Oh yes, I knew that I would have to fell the dragons and dispel the demons that would make our lives here less than a swashbuckling adventure. I was just naive about how much time it would take to kill those dragons and slay those demons.

On my first weeks and months in India, in spite of the horror of the hyjiras at my door and the terror of discovering rats on the A-block tomatoes, I reminded myself that my life here would be more than just tennis and lunches. For two decades life was about Daniel and Rachel. Now it would be about David and I and our dreams.

Even after seeing O.P. Sharma's basement classroom, and suspecting he fibbed about English being the medium of instruction, I still dared to enroll in his 6-month basic photography course. How could I pass up 144 hours of education working out to roughly 55.55 rupees an hour?

Two years later, my life is truly not just about tennis and lunch. Photography is firmly ensconced in my life. I have discovered yoga. I am rediscovering Spanish. And it is not just tennis and lunch. My tennis friends have become truly dear to me and our lunches are always occasions for the laughter that keeps the Indian blues away!

With the relative stability of my domestic situation, the dragons and devils slain, friends made, and routine established, I decided it was time to add a new dimension to my days. It was always in my mind but the daily hiccups of life here were always a good excuse to delay the "giving back."

I met Mala over lunch. In between the niceties of how do you do and how do you like India, she talked about her kids. She runs a center in Malviya Nagar that provides underprivileged children the opportunity to learn English, math and science over and above what the local schools provide (which apparently isn’t very much). Programs run from morning to evening, reaching out to children of all ages.

Mala invited me to come and see the center. With two minds about giving away my only free morning of the week, I agreed. Mala involved me with the kids enjoining me to make sure they were keeping to their learning levels in their varied subjects. That was easy enough.

One Wednesday, Mala suggested we take the kids on a photography outing to the zoo. I consulted my gurus Jogi and Shailan. They urged me to set the kids off and let them find their own vision. And so the seed was planted. We set a date.

Believing that the chemistry of things eventually work themselves out, I let the idea settle in my head and refused to worry about it. Then I thought, why not get my photography friends to mentor these kids? Yes, indeed why not? I “facebooked” Santosh and bless him, he volunteered to come to the center and give the kids a pre-outing talk. Though I was not present, Mala reported that the kids were enthralled and engaged and were psyched about our outing.

I begged and cajoled Neeraj and Hitesh into coming and being a part of my project. They agreed. I asked Amit, to give his time and in his usual gracious manner, he agreed. Vineet to date has never said no to my requests, he was there too! I found Avika on Santosh’ facebook page. Pratibha too was a blessing from Santosh. All I did was ask! All we ever need to do is ask!

Sunday morning. Organized to the minute, Mala and I divided our energies. I would organize the mentors and she would organize the kids. The 12 eager young boys were at the bus stop at 6:00 am and at 6:30 still no bus had come. These clever boys found a Qualis and negotiated a fare of R200 to take them to Lodhi Gardends. My hat off to them!

The outing was a success. Perhaps we did not produce photographic masterpieces but we had given these boys a wonderful Sunday morning. The mentors were happy to give their time, even graciously thankful that I had thought of including them in our project!

Next Sunday morning, I arrived at Qutub Minar at 6:45 to make sure I would be there before our boys got there. At 650 I saw a group of young boys walking towards the entrance. There was Rafi carrying a big box of sandwiches. Truly, a big box of sandwiches! The box was lined with newspaper; they had carefully laid out cheese sandwiches with the crust sides neatly cut off! These young boys walked 45 minutes to get here! I had 15 boys and 10 mentors! The word of our project had spread and friends of friends were dropping by to give our kids their time.

I said goodbye to the kids two days ago. By this time, we have dreams of an exhibition of the children’s photographs. We spread the word that we need wall space to hang their pictures. I am not certain how it will evolve in my absence but I have the suspicion that merely asking for time, or kindness will take us a long way. It has been an amazing three weeks with the boys. If our dream ends here, we will have given them Sundays to remember. If only for those few hours, we will have kept them safe from harm and given them gifts of time and mentorship that were so outside their realm of possibilities. Thank you, my friends and mentors, I now know that all we really need to do is ask and then open our arms to embrace the gifts that we receive.