Ganga Maiya .. Not Ganga Bhaiya...

Om Sairam

The country has taught us many ways of worshipping Womanhood.

It honoured them as Bharat Mata (not Bharat Pitha), 

Ganga Maiya (Not Ganga Bhaiya) etc.

Now it seems such a noble idea is relegated 

to academic circuits, enabling the students to earn a couple of marks

if they spell them right or a few more 

if they write about it in detail,depending on teachers' mood.

Going by the stories of atrocities against women, 

as carried by the Newspapers and channels almost as daily menu, 

it seems as though the entire country has only two major groups.

Active Perpetrators and Passive readers 

dying to know more on them through media.

The left over minuscule are helpless.

Can we do a reality check.

Have our mothers, over centuries,

diluted their Mamta ??

And whether that in anyway led to dilution of the Reverence?

No. As you may discover below in the new Chinna Katha'Live'.

Motherhood is intact. Pristine. Wholesome.

Against all odds it throbs ceaselessly even now.

The media should target the perpetrators

to push them to see these values.

And mentally pay reverential tribute 

every time they encounter a woman.

Including the young ones who are future mothers.

And also the girl children who are li'l deities 

springing alive from Saundarya Lahiri .

If this divine vision is blurred in a country,disaster is certain.

But unfortunately we see a big Industry at work

to bundle women with media objects and deliver.

To derive media mileage. TRP ratings.

Cut. And over to our own ..Seva Lab.. the Footpath

opp.Tata memorial Hospital, where life teaches new lessons 

as we interact with them everyday while transporting cancer

patients from Sarvodaya Ghatkopar to Tata mem Parel daily.

The 'Chinna Katha Live' - No.10

Villagers in Khutauna,Dist Madhubani

would never have imagined that some day the village's

name would get into Tata Memorial Hospital's Registry

as the native place of the most pathetic child cancer patient-

Master Rajaram Vinod Sah. All of 7 years. 

Bubbly and playful. Son of Vinod Sah, landless labourer.

\

All that the poor Sah family could aspire for

is two square meals for all three children

-two girls of 10 and 8 and Rajaram, 7yrs. 

Destiny doesn't stand ghost of a chance

if it has to physically catch little Rajaram

as he can scoot away in a snap, as we tried and found.

But Destiny's dirty trick worked.

It caught him unawares. 

Not once but twice over.

Just  a year back, little Rajaram fell over burning oil,

got burnt and recovered with scar all over.(see photo above)

Before the wounds healed, destiny struck again,

as though with a vengeance.

This time with a more deadly blow of Cancer in Pelvic region.

The child was traumatised.

Forced to carry a catheter and a plastic bag

attached to the body, the child would

still run around and play as though 

asking Destiny "So what" and

singing "Catch me if you can"...

As it happens in most of the poor Indian homes,

the poor father Vinod Sah was shattered.

While the illiterate mother Lalita devi 

had to bear the full brunt.

But she was determined.

The child was moved to Tata mem. Parel on 22.1.09.

And landed on the infamous Footpath, 

the last Port of Call of

Destiny's conducted tour of agony.

The war was declared. The mother was not to give in.

Typical Poor Indian Mother. 

Whose only weapon is Sahen Sheelta.

(But God has assured victory to the ones who possess that)

She set up a make-shift kitchen in the new found 

civilisation around her in the footpath which looked 

like some variant of Mohejo Daro and Harappa.

The little fellow made lot of friends in the meantime

and was always playing around holding his 

plastic bag connected to the body in one hand.

That was precisely when our ChemburSeva team spotted him.

Mother Lalita devi was determined to do her best to save the child

and sought our help in keeping the show going.

We agreed to provide the basic essentials including medicines 

prescribed by the doctors and guide her to tap the doors of Trusts.

A fortnight ago, destiny wanted to have some fun 

at the cost of already battered Rajaram.

A rat-bite on the footpath saw him again in the hospital, 

now for a different reason.

To add to that,during that time only, a coconut fell over his mother 

from a footpath tree and she got injured though not fatally.

It is as though everything in nature is running errands for Destiny

ganging up against little Rajaram.

But Lalita devi is more determined, with each stroke of misfortune.

She says that she feels nice and confident 

on seeing our members of ChemburSeva.

We make it a point to visit her every morning (except weekends)

during our daily trip to Tatas.

It is a Sangarsh of an unfortunate Indian mother.

Amazingly she never complains about others indifference,

Govts apathy or how it is pointless to live in such a wretched world etc 

as the Metro Males mouth in English at the first encounter with a small tragedy.

She only knows to put her best foot forward to save Rajaram.

And fight it out with her only weapon - Immense Patience-SahenSheelta.

Like Lalita devi, there are many women 

who silently suffer but dont give up. 

Mothers who have to raise sick children like Rajaram,

Mothers who have drunkard husbands refusing to redeem,

Mothers who have no steady family income 

but very very steady expenditure month after month,

Mothers who get no in-laws support nor husbands support

but a mega family to support,

Mothers who are clueless about their college going kids 

who almost run a mutiny against mothers but cant share it with anyone

 Lalita devi and litttle Rajaram on footpath        (husbands blissfully unaware),

Mothers whose EMIs don't allow them to leave the jobs

while the health doesnt allow them to continue,

The woes of Indian women are endless...

It is their Stree Shakti that keeps the show going.

And such noble and divine Shakti is portrayed in the media 

to the avaricious consumers as one more consumable item.

And the society has no issues.

Not even a whimper. 

As Lalita devi is getting ready to cook her next meal in the footpath

advising Rajaram to stay away from Rats,

we move on with a heavy heart

saluting the indomitable spirit in her 

that is the essence of real India.

And from our inside raised a silent "Jai Ho",

only we could hear.

What has happened to the wisdom enshrined in our scriptures? 

What has happened to the noble examples of the 'great men and women of the epics

and puraanas? Since they are ignored, life has become dry, barren and miserable. Restore them

and follow their teachings; life will again become useful and purposeful. - Sri Sahtya Sai Baba

Sairam 

ChemburSeva

N.B.

Anyone interested in directly reaching help to Master Rajaram can 

find him playing near the side gate of Tata memorial hospital Parel

right under the bridge connecting two buildings.

He likes toys, chupa-chupi game and complains of heat on his 

clean shaven head all the time after the third chemo.