Jamshedpur, Jharkhand - 20th Feb 2011

“John ki kya spelling hai? J-o-h-n   ya   j-h-o-n?”

“Abe saale, abhi tak pata nahi hai tere ko???”

Ravi and John are coordinating as we enter the 4^th phase of the campaign, and anyone who knows them will know it’s gonna be a fun ride! They’re both very responsible, but they put the ‘nau’ in ‘nautanki!’ They’re both towering above the rest at like 6 feet something, but they jump around more than the rest of us. They also have this ability to make light of every situation.. That is very important.

We’re having puris at breakfast at some dhaba after leaving Kolkata and I remember Solomon remarking that they were tasting really good and he kept giving credit to the ‘West Bengal’ breakfast which was so amazing. (Solomon’s from Kolkata and was in charge to handling the previous phase with Melwyn). John kept insisting that it doesn’t matter whether it’s West Bengal or not, it was the first breakfast of the 4^th phase that was awesome. And they went on about till we finished.

It’s funny when guys have a friendly fight. It’s almost like when some of us girls have a real one.

We have our program at the St. Joseph Welfare Center and Ravi is in a fix. Uptil now, every state had a different language and he would learn a few lines and start his speech with that. Here the language was Hindi only. It wouldn’t be anything different.

So he spoke in Hindi. It wasn’t anything different.

In the interaction with Rakesh, one girl raised a question saying that these days, the youth have a lot of energy, but they have no unity among themselves. What is a solution to this?

I was wondering, if I had to answer, what to say.. Rakesh thought and said that, in his opinion, the youth are in a lot of competition these days, but that competition is not with themselves, rather with each other. Only when they learn to stop this will there be more unity among the youth.

Come to think about it, he’s so right..

Towards the end, a whole lot of people were beginning to move out of the hall and I was just thinking how much of a morale killer it must be to be conducting something and have that kind of a response. But I’m watching this happen and Rakesh is unruffled, saying, “I’m noticing a lot of you are leaving. Is it really hard to listen to these problems? If you cannot face the problems around you, then how will you fix them? It is so important to care.. If you care, you can make a difference, even if it’s small. But only if you care will you take initiative to do anything. We heard that the youth of this place itself took it in their own hands and held a drive to collect money for the victims at Kandhamal after the riots. And not only this, recently they collected supplies for the education of 300 children in Kandhamal now. Did anyone tell them to do this? No. They just cared. And they cared enough to make a difference. Can you?”

My question is – why can’t we?

Jamshedpur & Ranchi, Jharkhand - 21st Feb 2011

The morning today was very special. There was Mass, but after that we got to interact with some of the physically handicapped children who were from the area. Their energy was vibrant, just like their spirit and they were so wise beyond their years. They made us feel that we should be understanding towards them - not be sympathetic, rather be encouraging. It was a lovely experience to feed off of each other’s energy and optimism like that. Our prayers are with them.

One really touching thing I saw was that when we were meeting the children, one of them like Jennifer’s earrings. Without a second thought, Jenny took them off and gave it to her. It was such a moving gesture, so simple, so kind. The kind that stays with you long after the moment’s gone.

We were having breakfast after and Fr. Sequeira was talking to us about the youth participation here in Jharkhand and the sorry state it’s in. He was saying that the parents here don’t support their children in youth activities like singing and dancing and all, even if it’s in the church. Many times priests have also intervened, trying to convince the parents to allow them to participate in extra curricular activities, but in such cases, parents have actually told the priests to quit. They tell the priests – there’s no need. They tell the children - when your time comes, you do what you want. Right now, listen to us.

Fr. Sequeira reflected. “I don’t know if their time will come also or not.”

It is so heart breaking to get to know about this. If anyone out there can suggest a remedy for this situation, please please do. It’s not right to suppress anyone from their potential, especially your own children. There has to be a solution for this problem.

On our way out to Ranchi, we got some newspapers – We were in them! Yay!

On a lighter note, something really funny happened today in Ranchi. Rakesh and Joice got into a fight of sorts and Joice ended up saying that she’s not going to speak to Rakesh for 2 days coz she’s so upset with him. She even goes to the other bus while travelling.

Before our program in the evening in Ranchi, we get a little time off, so some of us wash clothes or go to the market or sleep or whatever. Joice comes back from the market and calls Rakesh and tells him that she’s got a kurta for him and that he should wear it for the program. He agreed.

Later, she called him again, but the program had started and Rakesh wasn’t the type to change his clothes halfway and ‘surprise’ the audience.

At dinner, Joice is telling Rakesh about the kurta and then she realises that she wasn’t supposed to speak to Rakesh for 2 days.

Joice’s expression of realization was soooooooo funny!! But it got me thinking.. If only it were so easy for the rest of us to forget that we fought with each other and unhold grudges, there would be sooooo much more peace in the world. It’s very funny, what happened, but honestly, in the bigger picture – wouldn’t just forgetting about conflicts make life so much easier?

Sometimes the most silly and amusing things teach us the most profound lessons.