We traveled to Ujjain to begin the third week. It is about 45 minutes from Indore. Ujjain is a district and a city. In the city of Ujjain there is approximately 500,000 people. It is considered a small city by Indian standards. In addition, it is considered a rural area. There are farms on the outskirts of the city that produce lots of agricultural products that are sold in Ujjain and Indore. The traffic in Ujjain is considerably better than Indore. The methods of driving are still the same, however the amount of vehicles and animals on the road is much less. On the itinerary for Ujjain were a couple of NGO’s and universities.
Out of the visits we had there was one NGO that had the most impact on me. It is called the Sewadham Ashram. It was founded by Sudhir Bhai Goyal in 1989. The Sawaghram Ashram is at its most basic level a homeless shelter. The NGO takes in individuals that have been left on the road-side because their families can no longer take care of them, it takes in derelicts of all sorts. For example, we met an individual who was chained up for 16 years because he had a mental disorder and his family did not know how to care for him. There was a small child that was found atop a pile of human bodies after the terrible earthquake in 2001 that struck rural north India. The one person that touched my heart and soul the most is Bharati. Bharati is bed ridden due to a severe case of cerebral palsy. Her home is in one of the back corners of the 15 acre ashram in the women’s section. We saw the bed ridden ward about half way through the tour. We passed through a heavy metal gate painted in terracotta red. Upon entering there were 30 or so women playing instruments and singing. We were asked to come closer because they wanted to sing a song to us. One woman was playing a traditional Indian base drum (find name) and the rest were singing and clapping. The song was in Hindi. I asked the executive assistant Rajeev Sahal (a chartered accountant now dedicating himself to the ashram) for the meaning of the song. He told me that they were singing about a caged bird and how no one will ever know the caged bird’s thoughts and feelings. Little did I know how foreboding this song was.
Moments later we arrived at the “bed-ridden ward”. It was a small white, cement, cylindrical building with a pointy roof. The ward was run down like most of the buildings in India. The exterior was painted white. There were cracks in the plaster along with dirt stains growing from the ground up. It took about 5 steps up to enter the ward. I was immediately impressed by the smell and appearance of its cleanliness. A nurse stood to the left and we exchanged Namastes with each other. I spun around the room to see three individuals that have involuntarily claimed residence to this space. All three were imprisoned by a square mosquito net. I remember being told that one had spinal dysplasia, the other had an ailment I cannot remember, and in the final bed lay Bharati. As I stated before Bharati suffers from cerebral palsy. She will never walk on her own. She will never ride a bike, she will never drive a car, she will never stay up late and gossip with her girlfriends about the cute boys in school, she will never walk hand in hand with her lover, and most of all she will never be able to fully express her thoughts and emotions to another human, at least not conventionally.
Bharati drew me in with her gaze. Immediately I was hypnotized by her spiri, as if in a trance I knelt down in front of her and gazed back into her eyes. I did not know what this would accomplish; I intuitively knew that this is how she can communicate best. As I gazed into her eyes my friend Elaine began to sob. She rushed out of the ward to collect herself. Everyone else left the ward after a couple of minutes. I continued to gaze into Bharati’s eyes with my hands in prayer position. Doing my best to communicate non-verbally with her I hoped and prayed that she is happy. I wanted to tell her that, “I am here for you. I think you are beautiful. I care about your well-being and what happens to you in the future. I hope that you have a long and full life of happiness and prosperity. I want you to be healthy and happy, what ever that means to you.” So, I did my best to communicate this to her as she communicated to me, with my eyes. All of my intention and energy went into expressing these thoughts to Bharati. Could these efforts help her? Could these efforts bring happiness into her life?
The tour of the facility continued. We were shown the children’s ward, the rehabilitation area, the beginning of their hospital construction, and ended up back at the administrative offices. Sadhir ordered some snacks and chai for us as we discussed the our views on the ashram. Everyone was thoroughly impressed with how much work has been done to offer the unfortunate of the surrounding area. Due to Ujjain being a religious destination the city receives many pilgrims. Because of the increase in travelers there are more people left to the side of the road. The reason behind this phenomenon is the families can no longer take care of the disabled children or the old grandparents. So, they leave them to the roadside. This is common occurrence in India, but as mentioned before the religious destination allows for this to happen more.
As I sat there a nagging feeling kept arriving in the forefront of my mind. The thought kept saying, “You need to go see her…”
After three or four times of hearing this thought I asked Rajeev if I could go see her again. He responded, “Who would you like to see?”
I said, “I would like to see the girl that is in the bed ridden ward, I cannot remember her name?”
“Of course, of course. Come, come,” he said.
After a little bit of confusion of to which location I was talking about, we were off. Sadhir’s assistant asked me why I wanted to go back and see this girl. I replied, “There was just something about her, she just touched my soul. There is no other explanation then that.”
As we were walking I kept asking myself, why am I going back here? What was it about this child that had me so enthralled with her?
The approach was the same as before. As we were walking the assistant and I conversed some more about the challenges his organization is facing. It is an unimaginable feat to overcome. This feat of providing aid to 30,000 people in a land that the central government has forgotten, or simply does not have the resources to supplement. The helping hand can extend only so far. Some major benefactors supply the seed money for a lot of their projects, but more help is needed. For example, a hospital is in their future. Diagnostic machines are their biggest need and desire. With the help of these machines the surrounding villages that rely on this organization will be that much better off. The increase in basic healthcare services will help extend the average life expectancy of the area.
We arrived at the bed-ridden ward. The nurse came running over from another building as she saw us approaching. Again, Namastes were exchanged. I climbed the now familiar cement steps. I was then greeted by the happiest face I think I have ever seen in my short life. Bharati vocally expressed her excitement in the only way she could, with a few grunts. These grunts seemed to come out with so much effort. It was as if she did not like vocalizing anything because she knew it did not sound like the people who are taking care of her. Needless to say this effort she made moved me deeply.
The nurse motioned to move the mosquito net. I concurred with her efforts. The mosquito net was removed. Bharati's face continued to beam with elate happiness. I could only imagine what was going through her mind. Her expressions told me that she felt special. I felt from her that hope was instilled again. That hope coursed through her veins once again. The fact that this stranger from some strange land cares for her. It felt so right. This was what I was supposed to be doing. There was no doubt in my mind.
It was effortless for me to have knelt in front of Bharati and hold her head in my mind. I think we both needed each other that fateful day.
The trip had not been easy up to this point. We were demanded to be on cue where ever we went. Our traditional American identities that we were so accustomed to back home had been stripped from us the moment we arrived in Bhopal two weeks earlier. As a team and as individuals we all had to acquire new identities. This is no simple task. Questions ran through our minds such as: How are you going to act around the press when they approach you? What will you do if someone offers you something you don't necessarily want? If you are feeling worn down and have been greeted by 200 people that day how will you act when one more person wants to meet you? Don't forget that you are representing Rotary in every action you take. Don't forget that you are representing America in every action you take. Don't forget that you are a guest in a foreign country, dissidance is not an option here. So, what identity will you have today?
Thank you to Bharati and the hope that you instilled in me. Thank you to the founder Sudhir Bhai Goyal for creating the Sewadham Ashram, and may prosperity and success flourish in your midst.
Please visit their website at: www.sevadham.org
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