The Art of giving

“It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” 

― Mother Teresa

He sat on the bench in the garden looking at nothing, his attention focused nowhere. He was dressed in bermudas and a loose checks shirt which made him appear like a  school boy. There was a lady too, in a frock with a walker trying hard to move. The gates were closed  but the inner shutters were open. The outer gates were huge with the upper portion made of Iron bars which let a visitor look in. There was stillness which reminded me of fear, death and other ghastly things. I wished I had not come here. Everyone craves to visit a fun  filled place  booming with joy and laughter,’ may be a place where there are new shops or malls inaugurated or where there are carnivals and fairs, a place where people flock. But no one longed to be  here. The loneliness was profound with the rustle of leaves,and the groaning sound of a few vehicles passing by. These are the reminiscences of my first visit to this place. A few little kids were sitting outside the gate  forgoing their evening play time in all persistence. This was the only spark of life. I wondered where to centre my attention,  at the innocent kids or the purpose of my visit. My love won and I began talking to the kids. They all had Plastic carry bags which were empty. They sat silently but spoke to each other in gestures,yet there was a mystery in the air. I asked them in a low sound their purpose. The young kids said they were waiting and gestured their arm towards the guard.

My eyes looked on at the board. It said  'Mother Teresa Home for the Dying and Destitute.’ A security  guard enquired the reason for our visit. My husband said he wished to meet the head of the home. We were led to the head . My fear overtook me and so I lingered in the garden. My husband went into the neat sparsely furnished office to donate a few clothes and toys. On coming out he said that the clothes would be given in the church as only old people resided there. He also said that the home would like charity useful for the people like toothpaste, soaps, raw rice, dal etc. This was revealed on my husband’s insistence to know what would be useful for the home.  I realised that clothes are donated by everyone but money for expenses and the basic needs are mostly overlooked, above all precious time for the needy is never  met with. Many a times charity is what we do not fancy at home, in other words we may call it trash. He showed me an open veranda where hot food was being served. The inmates were old and so needed to dine early. They were now slowly pouring out. One of the inmates wandered out till the gate as if he was searching someone. The whole place made me feel weak,here were the destitutes and the dying  left by their families. The guard lovingly brought the man back to the seat in the garden and made him sit on a bench. He now looked on listlessly. I wanted to run back home perhaps I was running away from my own conscience. As we reached the gate I saw another person lugging huge vessels of cooked food near the gate. All the little kids were now ushered into the gate where they formed a line and noiselessly filled their carry bags with rice and curry. It was the fresh food left after the inmates dined. The greatest disease is the feeling of unwantedness  said Mother Teresa

On one of the visits to the University I was waiting out in the garden. As usual I was trying to sort out and remember if I had finished all that I wanted to do. I saw a young man ushered by his father. The man must have been a student in the university . He had some disability perhaps was a victim  of autism . He walked well with his father’s support till they reached a place where the path had been dug. Now the boy halted but the father cleverly pulled a leg and placed it on the other side and quickly positioned himself to push him. They crossed the path and the father took him along. While returning back the father took care to change the path to avoid the hitch. I was reminded of the home for the destitute . Here was a parent loving his son unconditionally and there in the home were parents who had been abandoned by their children for having loved them unconditionally.

“Love is not patronizing and charity isn't about pity, it is about love. Charity and love are the same -- with charity you give love, so don't just give money but reach out your hand instead.” ― Mother Teresa