Aasra

“Whats your name?”
Bajrang…!
What will you be wen u grow up?
Hanuman..!!

Prompt came the reply from the 6year old Bajrang at Aasra….after which we couldn’t stop laughing. He was serious about his ambition. He dint like it that we laughed at him. He even showed us his muscles and smiled. Yes, we had been to Aasra on the 11th of Dec that was a Saturday as decided. This was our last meet for the year.

With a big bag full of clothes for the girls, a few toys for the boys and party caps for all we headed towards Aasra with lil information that there were boys present at the centre too. The last time one of our friends had been there , the centre had only girls. Luckily we had carried a few toys along with us which we then gave to the boys there. There were only four boys present , the rest of them had bunked their classes today …so did the girls.





Aasra is a day care centre where street kids come and study, eat , play and in the evening go back home. It has a lot of centre’s all across Mumbai. The one we went was at Thane east , we had to walk through narrow lanes , passing a lot of small houses before we reached the place. The Teacher there told us that the kids usually bunk classes on Saturday as they go begging to the Temple closeby so that they can collect money. They get atleast Rs.100 on the Saturday which is like too much money for them and hence prefer begging to studying. This shocked us.



We then settled down with the four boys present there who were more interested in studying than begging. There were 2-3 youngsters who had come from their college to voluntarily teach the kids maths. They gave the kids a hour an hour break so that they could spend some time with us. The kids were smiling when they came to knw that we had gifts for them.



We asked everyone’s name , gave them the party caps and the toys and settled down with them talking and hearing their stories. One of the boy when asked “what will you be when u grow up?” replied , “ Main bada hoke bada aadmi banunga didi”….we said, “ bada aadmi banne ke liye padhna chahiye”….”Main padhunga didi..praaaamise.” The confidence in him made us really happy.

We even asked them to solve a few Maths sums, 3 of them were confident while the fourth one ..the smallest of all ran screaming” arre baap re yeh bohat bada hai mereko nahi aata “ when we asked him to add 10 + 10. :P They then played with the toys and showed us how to operate the car we gave them. We loved the way they kept telling “didi aap firse aaoge na?” “firse aao …apka number do….main aapko fone karunga” :P





After spending an hour with them , we left the place with memories that we shall cherish all our lives. The Innocent smiles, the twinkling eyes and the naughty talks wanting us to go back to Aasra once again, perhaps, one day we will.