Teeing-off with the Sultan!

To be the guest of someone who is not less than a Sultan is more than a red-carpet welcome(literally), from the car door being opened to being chaperoned by the endless number of men and voila, to be waited on with chilled lime-juice just as the mind was beginning to think that the body would die of the heat. Magic? Not exactly but I was wont to wonder if I had chanced upon a wonderland as a car escort guided me to an area which seemed as if someone had just a while ago laid a leaf-green carpet in the undulating plains, surrounded by untouched dense foliage.

As someone hurried to open my door, I was fixated by the bounteous beauty of my surroundings and like a person in a trance, almost got out of the car dramatically in slow-motion. “Woah! Gosh! What is this place?” I almost thought out aloud. And to give my answers, a man in a pair of black tracks and a collared black tee-shirt with ‘Jodhpur’ embroidered diagonally across the chest in black over an orange appliqué, with a black straw hat and an orange sash around it to match his ensemble, came up to me and welcomed me with his usually affable smile.. For a second I couldn’t recognise him from his usual royal gala-bandhs and jodhpurs that he is almost always seen in one of our parties. He is the GOC of the Army, General Cheema and I had this special invitation from him to join him for golf and breakfast on Sunday morning.

I had simply no idea about golf at all. It is a far cry from what I am good at and am passionate about. I just knew Tiger Woods was doing a great job at it. I still looked disinterested in the offer by General Cheema to show me the ropes. I mean, I just can’t imagine myself sweltering in the heat, getting a tan and then trying to hit the ball closer to the greens so that I could hole it. I mean, how could a person like me who hates getting a tan and gets massive migraines have any affinity of walking miles of greens to hit a mere white ball with clubs of all different shapes and sizes? And that too, it wasn’t even anywhere close to winter. I would rather sit at home and write.

But now since I was there, I decided that teeing-off with the General would seem a better idea than just sitting around and sipping lemonade.

Before we hit the greens, we decided to cool off in one of the tree houses adjacent to the main building of the golf club. The club compound was maintained to a T and looked as if it was recently done up with paint and all.

All around us was this endless carpet, which covered around 200 acres; dark and light in places, interspersed in places by water bodies which were all linked to each other. Trees of different varieties all around was the speciality of the golf course. Swans, ducks and migratory birds swam around together and made the place look ethereal. What a great place this would be to sit in some corner of the coffee-house overlooking the golf course through the huge bay windows and just write.

Anyway, my initiation into golf started with the General taking me on a round in his electric golf car and showing me around the 18-hole golf course. Since, he was the patron, I had the privilege of taking a ride in his golf cart and going from one point to the other where he demonstrated how he teed off. Things got interesting when he told me to do a practice session with one of his personal golf clubs. I was shaky but I am good at taking instructions. As the General kept telling me to concentrate on the ball and swing, I was surprised when he exclaimed that I am doing extremely well. I only had to improve on the way i held the golf-club; just like I would hold a toothpaste tube, he said. Looks like the General will make a golfer out of me after all.

After several hours in the cruel sun, a tour through the whole golf course and a mild tan later, the General treated me to a scrumptious breakfast of aloo parathas and yoghurt, washed down with coffee.

As I left, I told the General that henceforth, I would call him the Sultan; The Sultan of Narangi. He seemed mighty pleased and guffawed heartily. Looks like I might go back to try my hand at golf again in the Sultan’s sultanate, sooner than I can spell Tiger Woods.  

Dreams are but real!

There are some people who dream not for themselves but dreams for the people who might have never known the meaning of dreams. And these people we call angels on Earth. There are many who silently go about doing their work without a qualm. One such person who has relentlessly, brick by brick put together a dream has been Fr. V.M. Thomas, SDB, Chairman for the underprivileged, homeless, orphaned children of the city. A couple of years back, this dream might just have been a piece of paper but today, along with Fr.V.Thomas are some of the people from the city and abroad who have committed themselves to dream for a Child Friendly Guwahati City!

Child Friendly Guwahati convened a meeting on the 7^th of October 2013, at Don Bosco Provincial House, Panbazar, Guwahati. This meeting was aptly titled “Interface”, between the visiting delegation of journalists from FAZ, Germany and the Civil Society partners of “Child Friendly Guwahati” campaign. As the Project aims to create a civil society movement in the city in favour of the underprivileged children especially those out-of-schools and ensure their right to education, the Interface is an occasion to review and plan further the Project in collaboration with the German delegation and the other stakeholders and resource groups across the city of Guwahati. 

Amongst the guests from the Rotary Club the District Governor Rtn. Arijit Endow, Rtn. Prabhat Kumar Kedia, Rtn. Tinat A. Masood, Rtn. NN Dutta, Rtn. GN Khound, Rtn. Ramesh Gupta, Rtn. Dr. B L Sharma. The members from the Lions Club – Mr. Shyam Barooah, Mr. Sanjeev K. Lahkar, Mr. Krishnanjan Chanda, Mrs. Mandira Chanda, Mr. Prabir Majumdar, Mr. Subhajit Sinha, Mr. Prakash Sikaria, Mr. Pradip Baruah and Mrs. Maya Baruah were present on the occasion.  Mr. Gaurav Khemka and Mr. Ravi Jain from the Round Tables, the CFG supporters and interested individuals from various walks of society have also participated in this meeting as the CFG Resource groups and they were – Ms. Bobbita Sharma, Chairperson of Film Finance and Development Corporation, Ms. Runa Rafique, Manager of Project, Operation Smile India, MMC Hospital, Guwahati, Mr. Dilip Sarkar, Proprietor, Dallas Advertising, Mr. S. Singh, Principal of Guru Nanak School, Mr. Pinuel Basumatary, Executive Director of Food Corporation of India, North East, Ms. Pritty Sangma, Educationist and Social Activist, Mr. Allen Brooks member of Assam State Minority Commission and Director of 4B Satribari Christian Hospital, Mr. Sailen Kalita, Executive member of National Children’s Science Congress -Assam Chapter, Ms. Gitanjali Kakati, Ms. Shreemoyee Raina Sharma from Operation Smile and from the Narayana Superspeciality Hospital Keyur Patel DGM, Dr. Anujit Baruah, Cardiologist and Dr. Shibaji Chattopadhyaya, Director, NH Hospitals.

Members of the Archdiocese were also present for this meeting – Fr. Lukose Cheruvalel, SDB, Director, Snehalaya and Advisor of Child Friendly Guwahati, who has worked for over two decades for the orphaned children of the city, Sr. Alphonsa K, FMA from Auxilium Provincial House, Christianbasti, Fr. Benny Alex, SDB, Director, Don Bosco Technical School, Maligaon, Fr. Johnson Parackal, SDB, Executive Director, Don Bosco Institute, Joypur, Sr. Gemma SMI, SMI Provincial House, Rukminigaon.

The Don Bosco Alumni was represented by a huge contingent of 21 members – Mr. Pradyut Bhuyan, President, Mr. Mukesh Achanjani, Mr. Aashish  Das, Mr. Anjani Jajodia, Mr. Amit Jain, Mr. Veekash Aggarwal, Mr. Deepak Borah, Mr. Shanti Kr. Ghorawat, Mr. Abhishek Ajitsaria, Mr. Subtata Gogoi, Mr. Ramen Ch. Das, Mr. Gaurav Khela, Mr. Ripjit Kalita, Mr. Raktim Dutta, Mr. Kartick Phukan, Mr. Sobhan Barman, Mr. Gias-uddin Ahmed, Mr. Ravi Jindal, Mr. Anirban Sarma, and Mr. Mukesh Mour.

Fr. VM Thomas has an army working for him every day with a dedication that will put most of us to shame. Fr. Dennis Solomon SDB, Project Director, Br. Prasad Kalaparthy SDB, Project Manager, and the CFG team comprising of Centre Coordinators, Social Workers, Teachers and staff – Sr. Mariam SMI, Mr. Deba Dutta, Ms. Regina Sereng, Mrs. Kashmiri Begum, Mrs. Sanjana Banerjee, Mrs. Jesmin Begum, Mrs. Barnali D. Adhikary, Mrs. Latika Dutta, Mrs. Dipanjali Rabha, Ms. Junu Goswami, Mr. Shubhrajit Das, Mrs. Jharna Chakraborty and Ms. Marami Barman are but a few of the dedicated soldiers.

The meeting began with a video presentation named “Children on the edge”. This presentation tuned everyone to the cause. The moderator of Interface and Chairman of the Child Friendly Guwahati, Fr VM Thomas shared that this production which featured different forms of child labour and children on the streets of our city some years ago, is today getting worse. And quoting the news from local daily ”this time puja pandals will be with social theme”, threw up a challenge to the Don Bosco Alumni asking them that all the puja pandals of Guwahati this time should be with the theme “Child Friendly Guwahati”.  Fr. Thomas expressed his gratitude to Mr. Dilip Sarkar for his sponsorship of the Child Friendly Guwahati hoarding of 40’ x 20’, which has been placed near the Ganeshguri flyover. Deepening the purpose of the meeting, a music video “Tell me why” was played, which carried the message of love. It was heartening to see that there was a huge gathering to support this very important cause that Fr. Thomas has mentored for several years now. Sr. Alphonsa K., FMA of Auxilium Provincial House was lauded for her leadership and effort in educating the poor and the deprived children of her neighbourhood, Christianbasti. The benevolence of Mr. Jacob Lais was acknowledged for offering infrastructure of the St. Stephen’s School to run the CFG centre and the response has been excellent. It started only in August and they have already 80 children enrolled at the centre.

The children of CFG Auxilum Centre, Christianbasti, after presenting the “Welcome song” in English, spoke of how they were picked up by the CFG and they now have a reason to dream. Starting with Bijoy Basfor, 13 years of age from Harijan Colony narrated how he had stopped going to school after the death of his father. He then came across the sisters visiting their area and was told about the centre. He joined the centre to prepare himself to be mainstreamed and continue his studies.  Ajay Basfor, 14 years of age from the same CFG centre surprised the audience with his prepared English narration beginning with greetings to the audience and acknowledgement of gratitude to the sisters and the CFG for having given him the opportunity to once again go to school and complete his studies, which he was unable to continue due to his poor financial conditions. He also said that after completion of his studies, he wishes to become a policeman. Nisha Basfor, aged 7 years, earlier studied in the neighbourhood school, Harijan Shishu Vidyalaya. She dropped out due to various problems and is now eagerly waiting to go back to school and continue her studies. The presentation of the song and narration by children are worth a mention as they performed confidently under the able guidance of Sr. Alphonsa and her team of sisters.

Dr. Martin Kasper, Executive Director, Childaid Network, Mr. Tim Kanning, journalist from FAZ and his wife Ms. Sarah Kanning, Elmees Wolfgang, photo journalist, Karl Heinz Innecuel and Mr. Joerg Giese, SES, Germany were committed to the CFG mission as they promised to go back to raise funds during Christmas.

Archbishop John Moolachira, Guwahati Archdiocese and Patron and Advisor of Child Friendly Guwahati, spoke at length of the importance of service to the society and how important it is to make the dreams of the lesser privileged a reality. Without the help of the civil societies and the people in general, nothing much can be done for the future of these children.

The Archbishop addressed the gathering with his very characteristic, simple yet inspiring message, speaking about “…people should be responsible.... there are problems in the city and we have to take lead to educate the children who have no one to help them and those who are without education.” Talking about the goal of CFG to educate the deprived and underprivileged children of Guwahati, he said that it is not a one’s day’s effort but a decade long. It’s a noble venture. Quoting the Bible, he said “whatever you do to others, the least you do unto me”; it is doing to Jesus, doing to God. Archbishop thanked Fr. VM Thomas for the push, the idea of CFG and assured that the Catholic church will be supportive and urged everyone to join hands to make Guwahati a city to be made greater in India and abroad by the commitment of its people towards their deprived brothers and sisters.

Child Friendly Guwahati – Concept Note presentation was shown which presented the multi pronged strategy of RESCUE – REPATRIATION – REHABILITATION – FOLLOWUP - NETWORKING AND ADVOCACY; the objective and most importantly the rehabilitation of the deprived and the underprivileged children of our city through education and the centre initiation process, making this project a community participatory project. Br. Prasad Kalaparthy SDB the project manager of CFG explained the presentation.

Fr. Thomas thanked Jajodia for furnishing the CFG office and mentioned that the project expenses are being met by Childaid Network. He further informed that proposals are being given to the Government departments to set up 3 Computer centres and installation of Smartclass in various CFG centres. Likewise, there are plans to have centres for painting, arts and crafts. This was followed by a Group Discussion on “What can you do to make this a community participatory project?”  The following were the commitment of the groups –

Narayana Hospitals committed to provide free treatment to the children. Surgery, health care for children and problems related to the heart would be treated free of cost

Rotary Club has already started a CFG centre at the Rotary Multi service centre and now plans to open a CFG Children’s Library at the Rotary centre.

Lions Club said they would mobilize all thee 22 Lion Clubs of Guwahati to facilitate CFG project, and immediately set up 2 CFG centres. Free eye treatment in the Lion’s Eye Hospital and free dental check up will be given to the children of CFG centres.

Don Bosco Alumni has been associated towards the cause of underprivileged childre for last 2 decades and therefore would now like to run a modern centre.

Cultural groups – Prof. Jayanta Baruah of Adhayan introduced his group. There are 35 student volunteers and on behalf of the group youngster, Tridip spoke about their plans to educate the children about the culture of Assam, history and identify their co-curricular skills and tap them. Another Socio-cultural group. the Youthz Korner, represented by Anuprash said their group intends to identify the talents of the children and give them a platform so that they become a part of their socio-cultural group to perform at various level.

Round Tablers of Guwahati – Expressing their motto “Service through Fellowship”, committed to organising a CFG centre and said that the centre will be for the underprivileged but the centre will not be underprivileged.

Sr. Alphonsa said that every religious community will take care of one centre. As there are 38 religious communities in the city to mainstream and give vocational training to the underprivileged children of the city, she hopes they could do wonders with the young people joining us in this effort.

Rtn. Aashish Das offered to give free Health ID cards to the CFG children.

Mr. Sailen Kalita, executive member of the National Children’s Science Congress Assam chapter said the science congress will be happy to assist the CFG children in project preparation and presentation and offer their voluntary service.

And finally, it was the turn for Dr. Martin Kasper; the Managing Director of Childaid Network, who has dedicated his entire life for the underprivileged said that children who do not have proper care and protection is because they are born at the wrong place at the wrong time. “And it is our duty to help them; we are responsible to them who are in need of special care and protection.”

The Inferace closed with the vote of thanks presented by Fr. Lukose Cheruvalel SDB, who quoted Archbishop John, “Manab sewa Madhab sewa”. He said that in 2001 he dreamt of doing something for the underprivileged children and today the dream is a reality and is unfolding, thanks to the FAZ newspaper of Germany, Fr. VM Thomas and the civil society groups for joining handing to make this project a success.

After all, the privileged mortals have only one thing we could do without hesitation- to make the dreams of the lesser privileged a reality! Come join this brigade!