an unequal world, different stories, one destiny

I was overwhelmed for the first time in my life. I pride myself in being able to hold myself together atleast in front of people 'cos the friends who know me have already seen the emotional outbursts at one time or the other.

When Jadav garu, the freedom fighter hoisted the flag at Rasoolpura, I was overcome by a sense of what the future holds for me. The tiranga and the National Anthem never fail to conjure up images of the struggle for Independence, malnourished children, a victorious Indian cricket team... but on the morning of 15th August, 2006, all I could think of was the massive responsibility we'd taken on. It is no small task to convince a community which was used to NGOs and NGO-like people coming there, sometimes with fair-skinned people, intruding on their space, taking pictures of their misery. We did the same. We obviously needed the before-after photographs. I thought their skepticism would turn into active hositility but when they saw that we were determined to change their deplorable living conditions for the better, despite the odds,it gave us a lot of credibility in their eyes.

What amazed me was that we fought as a unit. We fought our feelings of disappointment and didn't let that hamper our Spirirt of Independence. We fought against our immediate reaction of blaming the Government and politicians for the miscommunication that happened between the two agencies and instead, immediately thought of an alternative. We fought to ensure that our next step would be the right one. We contemplated hunger strikes and involving the children in our agitation but what finally won was our courage to move forward regardless of the roadblocks.

We made the right decisions, we resolved to make Freedom Under Construction a nation-wide movement. We built 3 classrooms. We painted the entire school which was covered in symbols of wheels and hands and photos of greedy men, promising the moon, thanks to the recently completed elections there. We cleaned out the rubble around the School and filled out the road in front of another Govt. Girls' High School which was always overflowing with water when it rained and did not allow passage of the students into the School. What used to be a dumping ground for garbage and an open toilet is now evened out and was used to hoist the National flag.
There were crackers and music. It was a celebration. We sang along to A.R. Rahman's Vande Mataram and worked all night. Volunteers made human chains and passed the bricks and cement. We climbed walls to paint the roofs. We literally lifted stones and moved them out. We helped in the demolition work. Members from the community, students who were alumni of the School and high School students all did their share of the work. We were no longer that group which "visits" Rasoolpura everyday, conducts Health Clinics every Sunday and a Blood Donation Camp once in a while. We were BHUMI, a team which would ensure that the people of Rasoolpura got what we consider as basic necessities - Education, Livelihood, Health Care.

People heard about the event on the radio and joined us at the spur of the moment and stayed on from 11:30 in the night till 10 in the morning. Some came all the way, just to see the work we're doing. It wasn't about making history anymore. It wasn't about showcasing our patriotism and undying love for our beloved country. It was about remembering that we live in an unequal world. It was about reinforcing our faith that transformation is indeed inevitable, as long as we remember that fact every single day and work towards it.

It is not about "helping" them, it is about being able to live with myself, knowing that our worlds are this different. However, that day at the stroke of midnight, these differences didn't matter. Our future is now entwined with theirs, tomorrow is promising and it is all just a matter of time.

Jai Hind!

FREEDOM Under Construction