Few days back I met a boy, I don't know his name, but kept it as Ansh (in Hindi it meant a small part), a green eyed boy, around six years old but what was special about him was that he was not special.
Ansh is a beggar who begs all day infront of all the big malls, where I met him for the first time. What caught my attention was the way he was looking at other children who came to these malls with their parents. His eyes twinkling, tear drops rolling to the cheek leaving a mark. I asked him what happened, he dint even hear me as he was so immersed in his thoughts', finally when I touched his shoulder he turned his face and looked at me. Those green eyes said a lot without whispering a word.
I dint know what to say because it's not everyday you meet someone who touches your heart without saying a word. Somehow I managed to ask him where did he stay, he dint say a word, wiped his tears, gave me a brave smile and just walked away. But something just stayed back with me, the way he looked at me.
For the next few days I could not think anything other than that boy. I started seeing this world somehow through his eyes. I went back to that place and what I saw was this.
A parent holding his son kissing him on his cheek, playing with him and the child kissing back. A girl around 5 or 6 yrs old pointing at a beautiful skirt and asking her father to buy that for her. A mother feeding her two year old son.
I somehow realized what he felt. What it is to be loved and what it is to love back. What it is to get what you want and what it is to be taken care of. May be this was something that little fellow must have been thinking deep in his mind.
I moved out, and when going back to my place I saw that the city was mother to many like Ansh. You could find one anywhere, let it be at traffic, roadside, outside Temple, church, railways station, etc. What struck my mind was that these people have become a part of our life and to be frank no one cared.
We all somehow have managed to show a stone face to all of them. A woman holding a baby and sitting in the street begging has become a normal thing for us. A blind kid or an elderly person singing a song in the train to get some coins is also the same.
So, Christmas is not about only celebrations,
evoke the Santa in you. Help people, even when you know they cannot help you back.
We humans are designed to evolve at every stage of our life but somehow we have also managed to evolve emotionally towards these people as well. May be this is the reason that it doesn't matter for us when a child comes and begs and we “shuu” him away as if he is a menace.
It doesn't matter for us when an old lady with a plate sits on the railway over bridge and begs in cold weather cause she is not our concern, it would only matter if someone we know happens to have a situation that we run to them. It doesn't matter because I am only responsible for the people I know. No one has any time to think that these people don't have anyone to love them to care for them to look after them.
May be this was what Ansh must have realized that he is a forbidden member of the society and that's why he dint say anything to me. We all have been taught that we all are children of God, if so then why we don't care for them? Why don't we feel anything when they cry and beg? Why we don't feel like loving them or caring for them? Where is the Good Samaritan in us? May be we have evolved so much that humanity is not a part of our emotions.
So, Christmas is not about only celebrations,
evoke the Santa in you. Help people, even when you know they cannot help you back.