VEDANTA KHUSHI : Care for the Underprivileged Children
Khushi presents you a story sent to us by Bharti who taught a child of 13-14 years and made him enough literate to give 10th class exam. Bharti became another example of taking forward the message of Vedanta’s Khushi initiative, `Care for the Under-privileged Children’.
We had a driver Manoj from Bihar who use to perform all the household chores. One fine day, Manoj brought his younger brother Sunil along with him to help in washing the car. Sunil was just about 13-14 years old and he addressed me as ‘Didi’.
I came to know that Sunil was illiterate. I scolded Manoj for bringing Sunil for work and not sending him to school. Manoj told me that they don’t have enough money to afford his education. I told Manoj that from now onwards, he should not make Sunil work and in return I will increase his salary by Rs 100. Manoj was surprised and asked me what will Sunil do if he will not work. ‘I will start teaching him from tomorrow and also will provide him copy, pencils to study so no burden on you’ – I said. Manoj agreed.
Sunil and I fixed up the time at 12.00 pm in noon. That very day I went to the market and bought pencil, pen and notebook for Sunil. Initially, it was difficult to teach him from the scratch but as they say, ‘where there is a will there is a way’. Sunil had the determination to study and his recall value was very sharp. Every day he used to come for at-least 2 hours a day at my house to study. He very soon learned the basics and then the sentence formation. Then gradually, I started giving him other books to study to improve his writing and verbal skills.
This continued for about an year and a half and our hard-work paid. Sunil was now able to read and write. He could also read the newspaper. For another six months, he worked on improving his other skills.
One day he informed me that he has decided to give 10th class next year.
What would he do of his first salary when he gets a good job, I just asked him casually. Tears rolled his eyes, `I will buy you a sari didi from my first salary’.
He touched my feet and left.
Dr. Bharti Sankhla, Bikaner
