Wednesday, October 7, 2009

The art of dislodging your head.

So my brother in all his juvenile wisdom , had heard about my dark phase and then decided to bring me down to this place.

For your information, next time you want to kill yourself, please don't inform your mother about it . It just kills the purpose.

But it did get me a free holiday. Man, I should have tried this earlier. Hmmm

Amma, I feel like killing myself, totally depressed, life is not having any meaning, so goodbye. By the way, I heard Paris is great at this time of the year.


So I have been here for about 3 days now and I should be really depressed.

Trust me, its not easy to get your head out of your arse once you have managed to put it there.

Thing is this place is doing something to encourage young people who have gone through some terrible events in their life, survived through it and now wants to give something back to the society. Man, Iam just depressed typing that.

Now hear their stories.

There is a young guy from Tibet, blind, who was sold off to be beggar when he was a child. He was rescued later on by an NGO. Now he wants to start a Braille Library and a Braille printing unit in Tibet.

There is this lovely girl from Kenya who is an albino. In Kenya, albinos are considered lucky. So lucky in fact that they are normally murdered and their body parts are harvested as lucky charms. It gets worse during the election, when the budding politicians wants to have lady luck by their side, even if its a piece of her. She wants to go back and start an awareness programme back in Kenya about people with her condition.

There is a guy from Liberia who when he was a kid, watched his family being murdered by the rebels during the civil war and was made to watch the rape of his sister and then was made to drink her blood. He wants to go back and start a center for rehabilitating the war orphans.

There is a guy from Sierra Leon, whose family had to escape to the bush to avoid being killed by the rebels. They survived in the bush , coming to the town to forge for food in the night. One such night they are captured. His sister was dragged away. He escaped. He later on learned that she was raped and then killed. He wants to go back and set up a center that can give micro loans to war widows so that they can sustain themselves.

There is a young blind girl from Tibet, where blind are considered as bad omens. Their condition is thought to be the result of their evil deeds in their past births. People cross the streets to avoid them and to reinforce their intention , spit on the ground. She grew up along with her blind twin younger brothers and a blind father in that surroundings. Only her mother was sighted. She grew up friendless. She wants to start a kindergarten in her village in Tibet, where blind and sighted children can come to.

There are more. Victims of human trafficking; victims of mine explosions, of war, of human violence.

I sit in the corner of their class, away from everybody, absorbing. Iam just here to heal. They are here to prepare themselves to go out there and realize their dreams. Their experiences are going to be their sales pitch to some potential funders.

This is the world we live in. In an ideal world, they shouldn't be here.

I can see the worst side of humans in their tales. Which kind of men would throw all the children of a village in a well and seal it? Where one can hear their cries for three days before it dies out? What kind of men asks a pregnant woman to predict what sex her child will be and then verify it by cutting open her stomach to pull out the foetus?

Then you see these bunch.

From situations that can destroy souls, these came out stronger. They see no need to let the situations overcome them, they overcome it by raising above them. They do something about it. They are all going back to the same situation that made them. This time they are going to fight back.They are going to save as many as they can.

They are warriors in training.

If this cant get my head back where it belongs, ie on my shoulders, I dont know what will.

I think I will go swim in the lake at the campus and pretend to be a hippo for a while.

That always cheers me up.

13 comments:

Manasi said...

such stories never fail to give me moistened eyes and a lump in my throat but the realist in me really wants to ask - what skills are these extraordinnary people amassing at this workshop as they are gearing up to go back to battle human savagery and greed by empowering fellow citizens who still stuck there?

simply put, what is their strength in bringing about the change they seek? surely it is not their brilliantly glowing soul because a trigger-happy fist will not see it any different from a wimpering dog lying at his feet.

to bring about real change, not only the people need to change but the endemic circumstances also need to change! an absence of any of these two conditions will be akin to sending the sheep back to the wolves... It brings to my mind the poem by Tennyson - The Charge of the Light Brigage (http://poetry.eserver.org/light-brigade.html)

-Manasi

ps: reasoning fails when we are helpless... thats the kind of people who seal off kids in wells and tear up wombs. they are helpless in extricating their conscience from the black-hole of darkness in their hearts that will not see a glowing soul... atleast not in their lifetime.

Shruti said...

uh.. my god. this is way too gross. Such things happen? Why should.. cant they just..

..
we have a good life na?

Arky said...

These people changed my life. Every morning I wake up and know I am changing the world.

Unknown said...

Awwwwwwwww am so impressed that that our stories inspired you.together we can make a change no maatter what it takes

Jules said...

This totally brought me to tears.. and I've never been so proud of you, Tys!! Truly!!!

Also, thank you for changing the look of your blog.. it's way easier to read now... a byroduct of where you are?

xo

Bramha's Reflections said...

When it comes to healing, the mind has a mind of its own.

Lucy lighting up the world said...

Amazing, I didn't know we(participants) are that strong. Mmmmh, another reason to face a new day with new strength and touch a soul.

Anonymous said...

oh wow. people never cease to amaze me with their resilience and spirit. (you're included.)

maggi said...

OMG...how determined and geat ppl r part of this world!
Glad u shared...
Makes me realise tht .. v r part of better world!

Sagar said...

there was a mallu from india who lives in dubai and thats it.
He now drinks jd and blogs.

I wonder who it could be?

Anyway this was a feel good post, kind of like a chakde india.

Tys on Ice said...

manasi : it touched u didnt it?...truth is i have no great expectation in humans..but iam glad that it always takes only a few to make the change....we are all such fucking follow the herd fucks...but whn i went there, took it all in, my life seemed like a blessing...its selfish, i know...drawing on the misery of another to reconfirm urs..i dont know mans, but we need people like this...who draw strenght from perils...it helps to belive that there is some hope in a world where even the gods are absent...its only us...

@shruti : it does..every day...we live a charmed life...

@arky : change it...atleast try...truth is we find meaning to our life in an ideal...it mite work or it mite not, but in the end, u can always say u tried...tht speaks more volume than in a life that is spent burying ones head in the sand....the kitchen stuff will be send, i havent forgotten...it was a pleasure knowing u..

@janette: watching u is wht i do...observer...never a participent...what u do is in my eyes unbelivable....i wud have been broken, more than iam now..u made me see...and thats ironical.

@jules : :) u r always so sweet...but in reality theres nothing i have done to be proud of...i was there for healing....to get perspective and i have...nothing more....i just saw...in my 3 foot by 3 foot life everything will be always be abt myself....iam not alone...if theres comfort to drw frm that...

@brahma : when it comes to healing, its best to negate the mind...its just automation driven by conditioning...theres no u that hasnt been influenced by another...snake eating its tail...we r the cause and the result.

@lucy : dont lose focus...u need to let others in...its easy to be caught up in urself, it will even be expected...but dont lose focus...wht u do will effect thousands...it was an honor to have met u...

@ki: people disappoint...thats the truth...me included.

@maggi : u really think so?...which part of the world?..we r the cause and we aim to be the cure...how much more crappy can this get.

@sagar : iam glad u think so..btw, these are real people ...more real that u and me who exist in the perifery trying to be noticed...

Anandi said...

great my son, take the life as a chalange and find out what good you can do for others. Amma.

Anonymous said...

@ TYS
We moan, we bitch and say, we need this and that until we see others and realise how privilege we are to have what we have.

If this doesn't change you, nothing will, and I am glad I had chance of this experience in my life.

H