We reach St. Vincent’s Convent School in Balasore to one
of the most royal welcomes we’ve come across so far! There was a full marching
band with a swirling baton with all the drums and trumpets and horns escorting us
to the stage. Seriously, people have made us all out to be such celebrities!
The St. Vincent’s experience was a really awesome one!
They performed this dance on national integration where they fused traditional
Odisi dance with theme based dance/drama depicting Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and
Christian prayer and at the end they formed the Indian flag.. The most unique
thing was that in the song that they were all dancing to had excerpts from a
speech given by Indira Gandhi on national integration, in her own voice. The
whole thing put together with the dance and the flag and the expressions by the
young school students was so powerful..
I didn’t tell anyone, but it actually brought tears to my eyes..
At the end of the program, this young girl came and spoke
to conclude. Her name was Aakanksha Das and what struck me about her was that
she spoke so crisply, without a touch of nervousness, and with such aplomb that
you just had to admire her. I
remember back to when I might have been her age, but if I had to something like
that, it would scare the daylights out of me! She had a maturity within her,
but it didn’t disturb her innocence of being so young. But she really made an
impact on me for being able to balance all that out and come out on top with
all that confidence.
Next, we’re at Jyothi Hospital in Balasore interacting
with the nurses from the nursing college there and it’s the most touching thing
– this young nurse stands up and says, “I really like your team and how you are
spreading the message of peace and harmony wherever you are going. I have a
small request – I am from Darjeeling and there are many problems there and
people keep fighting with each other. Please go to Darjeeling and spread your
message there also. They need people like you.. Please go there..”
I sincerely wished in that moment that we could have
remoulded our program to accommodate Darjeeling too.. If any from Darjeeling
are reading, please know that all of us care and are praying for you and
praying for peace and harmony in your part of the country.
In the evening we reach Rakesh’s own MCP College in
Baripada. Despite it being Eid and the
college being closed for the occasion, a whole bunch still turned up and came
for our program. Rakesh was vibrant,
being back in his own land, where he was Youth President and had such connect
to the place and its people. But here Ravi also spoke and I dont know what
particularly inspired him today, but the way he spoke was the most uplifting
we’ve seen. He spoke about being from a small place and how people can really
put you down for it and say that you can never reach anywhere or make something
of yourself, and how not to listen to any of that coz it’s not true. He was
using himself as an example (being the National Youth President of the Indian Catholic
Youth Movement from Muzaffarpur, Bihar) just to prove he wasn’t talking all
fluff. We had never seen him bloom so much before during his speech, standing
amidst the crowd, instead of in front of them, and addressing them, increasing
the feeling that he is more like one of them. The expressions of the youth were
dramatically different by the end of it.
After this we reach the Ashutosh Maharaj College of
Management & Technology where we have a small session with about 30
students here. The response was a little more dismal than we’d have liked, so
Rakesh decides to pack up a little earlier and head to the next place on the
program. Just as we’re about to leave, a couple of the students call us back
and say that they want to share something with us. We go back inside to a small
room somewhere and sit on the floor with the other students. In front there’s a
garlanded picture of Hindu saint and next to that, this young girl kneels on
the floor, quiet in meditation, and waits for the shuffling to dissolve before
she begins to speak.
She starts talking and it’s all this rich, spiritual
truth. She’s not reading from anywhere nor looking at
anything for reference, but she’s saying the Sanskrit shlokas and their meaning and relating them to life in
todays world. I recognised it was all from the Bhadwad Gita and it was crisp,
solid spiritual truth, which had less to do with religion, rather it was more
about how to live life and be a good human being. She sounded like those sadhus who hold satsangs and give out all this wisdom to the devotees who flock
every week. And the most astounding thing was that she didn’t look a day above
25!
We end up having to leave early, but we meet Mr. Ansuman
Mohanty, the Member Secretary of the college on the way out who told us that
this young girl of spiritual wealth is named Rosalyn Behera and that she also
holds such talks on the Bible, the Quran and other holy books and treasures of
knowledge. People have always talked about young prodigies in music, mathematics,
science and the like, and this felt like that, but totally different. How many
times do you see one in your lifetime? That too, whose gift is spiritualism?
Sure, there’s the Dalai Lama and all, but how many of us get to see something
like this in person?
We must’ve sat there for some 20 minutes and despite it
being near the end of a hectic day, we came out feeling fresh, rejuvenated. Wow..
Our last stop of the day is Rakesh’s own home in
Baripada. His mom greets us and takes us all in to a warm meal with vivid
flavours and variety. After being on the road for so long, it felt wonderful to
have that homely feeling with the soft togetherness of family. It was like the
perfect end to a long day.
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