Success Story

Every child has a dream of Education which can nourish her/him for a bright future but when the dream come true gives a feeling of heartiest satisfaction.

Kaarwaa.N has such a story of a child name Roopmati, belongs to a family of poor background but her will for education is strong enough to defeat such barriers. Her parents always encourage her even they sit for hours during her studies. She selected for Gyanodaya where she can achieve her dream whatever she wants to be.

"Kaarwaa.N always works for children like Roopmati and their success."

The Story of a chaiwala :

For those of you, who begin reading this story with a presumption that at the end of it there will be a slum dog millionaire, will require more control on their imagination. This story is more realistic and could well be the story of every middle aged chaiwala selling tea along the streets of Jabalpur. This particular story is set not very far away but just outside the JEC, Jabalpur.

It is an honour to be involved in the activities of Kaarwaa.N… and presently we are preparing the fifth standard students of Shaskiya Prathmik Shala, Engineering College, Gokulpur for JNV examinations. The school is just a few steps from the IP department, JEC, Jabalpur. One fine morning returning from the classes I sat at a tea stall the owner of which happens to be the father of Anuj. Anuj is a fourth standard student of the same school. “Bhayya ek chai.”

After a few minutes he hands me the cup of tea and asks me,

“Sir, Anuj ki padhai kaise chal rahe he?”

I reply, “Anuj hoshiyar he bhayya, aap chinta mat karo, hum uske saath mehnat to kar he rahe he, uski padhai achi chal rahe he.”

“Sir, bas baccho ke liye he sab kuch chal raha he. Wo acchese padh likhkar bade ho jae.” ...

At this moment I can see clearly in his eyes the aspirations of a father to give to his son the life he himself could not have as a child. Drinking tea alone can be an intriguing experience at times. Between a few sips of the tea, I recalled the impoverished condition of this chaiwala. The 5m*4m (room+kitchen) house where the family of four stayed, thatched roofs, mud walls, the torn clothes hanging from the nails on the wall and everything else which was a reminder of his poor condition and I found myself blurting out inadvertently, “bhayya, didn’t you ever wished to earn more?”

He looked at me, paused as if to judge the real intention of asking that question and then answered,

“Every moment of my life sir, I have wished to earn more money. But when I look around me and make a few observations I feel no sadness for it. For example, what you are doing for my children involves a lot of goodness. You are helping my children is one thing and the goodness in you because of which you are doing this is another thing. I could have bought the first thing by sending my children to private coaching classes, but how much so ever may I offer you, I will never be able to buy the goodness involved in you teaching my children and they getting taught by you….”

In a few rough words a 10th pass tea vendor summed up the philosophy of self-abnegation and selflessness without having the slightest hint of it and I realized that life itself is such a great teacher.

“….Sir, the lack of money teaches one more, than the abundance of it. Whatever I do, I do it for my children Anuj and Shalini. The last time I bought a pair of shoes for myself was in 1992 at the time of my wedding. They told me that I needed to look good on my marriage and I only asked, ‘Can’t you get married without shoes?’ Everyone laughed and called me a miser but I really have never been able to do anything which involves my own self…”

I am a strong follower of Swami Vivekananda and his teachings. These words reminded me of a line I had read somewhere while reading about the great philanthropist ‘Only those who live for others are truly alive, the rest are more dead.’

“….they say that happiness and poverty cannot stay under the same roof. It is only partially true. We have many reasons to be sad about but somehow we double or triple those small reasons to be happy about. I feel so happy sir, to see how understanding my children are. There is an ice-cream vendor who would come at times to the shop and if the children would be around, I would buy ice-creams for them. One day, the vendor came and was calling my children to come and take the ice-creams but they would not budge which was quite unusual because usually they would run to the vendor at his very first call and hover around him. Even when I asked them to go and take the ice-creams they did not. Later, when the vendor left, I called Anuj and asked, why he didn’t take the ice-cream. With a very serious face and an air of concern about him he replied, ‘No baba, ma told us that the business is not going very well and so we should not nag you for things now’. Even now I am in lot of debts because of a series of illnesses in my family and that day his old T-shirt got torn. His mother stitched it up to sustain few more months and all he said, ‘Baba, in March next year if you have money we will buy a new T-shirt, okay a green coloured one. Now because of Shalini’s illness you have had to spend a lot so please don’t bother buying anything now, ill manage?’ Sir he is just 8 years old and his understanding leaves me surprised at times...”

I asked what was it in march?

“…Oh sir, there is nothing particular. It is just that sometimes I give Anuj rupees 5 and Shalini 10 rupees which they save, and when they have saved enough or I have some money we buy clothes for them…”

Inadequacy is in itself such a great teacher. A childhood spent in the want of better amenities can teach you more about fund allocation, priority management and sustainable consumption then textbooks on the same topics.

have food in our house and these instances do make me feel sad. But I like to look at the brighter side of life and be happy about those things in life infront of which money has no worth at all…”.

How do you manage your debts? Don’t your debtors ask you to pay it back?

“…Oh.. no sir. These debts are on friends. In Bhai Bandhu (comradeship or bonhomie) everything gets sorted out. Sometimes they help me and when need arises I help them. We are there for each other. They don’t pressurize me because they know that I will pay them back in time…”

I had finished my tea and I got up to pay and leave, but I was in for a surprise

“…Sir you please don’t pay today. I liked talking to you. People don’t usually care about what a chaiwala has to say. You gave me a patient listening and on top of that I can never repay you for what you are doing for my children. Please don’t pay today...”

I smiled and left.

That even in the midst of many difficulties this chaiwala is happy is surely something we can congratulate him on. His selflessness and comradeship is definitely commendable. We may also take a few lessons from him on tackling depression. But for a conclusion I would like to draw attention towards the millions in our country struggling to just survive. Such a fundamental thing as a good education system gets stuck at letters only and never gets transformed in reality in some schools. Basic infrastructure such as separate toilets for girls and boys, drinking water facility, playground is missing. I will not take the help of statistics to emphasize on the issue here. Statistics is not required to view the situation. Often we will see children of school-going age are picking at dustbins, begging or working as child labour. The number of crimes related with minors is constantly on the rise. These facts undoubtedly indicate a lacuna (shortcoming) in the education system of the country. As educated citizens of the country we have certain responsibilities. When a mere chaiwala talks of such philosophical things as self-abnegation and selflessness it becomes even more important that educated mass especially the young generation takes note of it and understand that our responsibilities do not end at casting our votes in the elections. In fact that is where our responsibilities start. Whether or not the policies and acts passed in the upper houses are having an effect at the grass root level is something for the denizens to observe. Such observations may not be of any direct benefit for us but the feeling of doing well to someone in itself is very fulfilling. There are many children around us who have witnessed so much difficulties and atrocities in their lives, tales of which can sadden us to the point of tears. We cannot change the lives of these children in an instant. But what we can do is make a small effort in that direction as our moral and social obligation. At least try to build these children a foundation for a better life.

Story by –

Mr. Shourav Kumar Deb