Written as part of WOW!
“Punit beta, you have lost so much weight. Are you not taking care of yourself
well? Is Nirmala cooking everyday for
you?”
“Yes maa.
She is fine. It’s just that I
have been having hectic work hours and I sometime tend to skip meals. You know I am eying for that promotion for a
while now. Its just the nature of being
in a finance department in a huge corporation maa”
“I see.
Take care beta. By the way, what
are these men doing downstairs? And what
is that unpleasant smell?”
“Our apartment has been having issues with our
sewer disposal for more than 7 hours. We
have complained to our secretary. He is
calling the workers to fix it now. They
are probably opening our drainage – and hence the smell.”
His Maa continued -
“Beta, you know, when you were young, your
father had struggled to feed you and your 2 elder sisters on daily basis. He did a daily labor in a nearby village to
bring back some food and money he earned for that day. Having to own a toilet was a luxury that day,
son. You were too young to remember those
days, but I know how difficult it was for your sisters to go to school and
share a common toilet with the boys. Do
you know how many days they have come home crying of embarrassment and shame? Sometimes they will resist their nature call
all through the day just to avoid awkwardness, or had to walk 100 more yards
from their school to find a nearby private open space. They were in their teens, so you can imagine
how they would have felt.”
“By god’s grace, we moved to Bhuhaneshwar once
he got a construction job in that city.
We were able to send you all to a corporation school which provided free
lunch, and more importantly had separate toilets for girls and boys. Fortunately things changed for the good for
our family and all three of my children are in a good position – socially and
economically. I still keep thanking god
for taking our family this far in life.”
“But son, you know the rest of our villager’s
were not fortunate enough as we were. I walked
through our area – 25 years after we had left and nothing much changed
there. It pains me immensely to know how
Toilets are still a luxury for our people.
I see feces still all over in the open and mothers feeding kids just 100
yards away from that ground. You have to
do something about it son. I think god
has been kind to our family just because he had hopes that we will reciprocate
that kindness to our people. You know I
have always been proud of you lad.
Trust me, your actions towards this will give you immense pleasure. Will you do this for me son? Will you do this for me?”
“Punit,
wake up…wakeup. It’s Aug 15th. We have to get ready for our flag hosting at
our apartment building.” His wife
Nirmala waked Punit up.
Nirmala
was worried seeing Punit sweat profusely.
“What happened dear? You are
sweating like a pig. Is everything ok? I hope you did not catch a fever because of
our drainage problem in our apartment.
Should I call a doctor?”
Punit
had part clarity / part confusion.
Confusion thinking about weather did he just wake up from a dream - and -
clarity about the message that he got from his mother.
Punit
lost his mother 9 years back battling cancer. She still lives with him in spirit, but never
had such a personal and specific dream with her, ever before.
Semi-confused
and shaken, he took his morning shower and came out right in time for the live
telecast for Flag hosting at Red fort. He
munched on this Aloo parataes while listening to the Prime Minister giving his
speech.
He
was shocked to hear what the PM had to say.
It was quite eerie that the Prime Minister would speak about building
separate toilets for girls across India.
He also talked about why
cleanliness is vital for our nation, and his vision to build separate toilets
for girls in every school in India by 2015.
The Prime Minister also urged the corporations
to spend their funds allocated for corporate social responsibility - on building
toilets in schools.
Then it struck him. He now knew what he had to do.
Puneet just got promoted last month as head of
Finance for multi-national IT organization.
One of his additional responsibilities includes managing the fund
allocation for their company’s outreach and social responsibility
programs.
He then realized that it was Mother India
herself in the form of his Maa in his dream.
He also understood there should be no difference in treating both
mothers with the same level of love and respect!
Jai Hind!
This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.
Pic Credit
Aug15th-Full Text for PM's Speach
Aug18th-Some nice updates after the post was published!
Pic Credit
Aug15th-Full Text for PM's Speach
Aug18th-Some nice updates after the post was published!
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