Thank you Avantika

It all started with a phone call from Nandita.......

She is a dear friend who I both admire and adore.

She wanted to take her daughter Avantika to an orphanage and donate a large portion of her piggy bank! What a beautiful thought and to think that Avantika is only 6 years old! Avantika is a high achiever- academically brilliant, speaks german, aces her violin and kumon classes, super creative (she makes puppets out of toilet paper!) and most importantly she has a loving heart. I have often written how parents invest so much time and money in sports, music and other classes but not enough time in giving experiences that make their kids socially sensitive, grateful and humble --so it was wonderful seeing a mom do just that.

But then came the shock ……

and with it a good learning for me personally…….

When I requested my 9 year old son Vir for his piggy bank contribution for this orphanage visit (as little as Rs 300) he flatly refused!

First counter argument – “but mom we already do so much” (with my money not his by the way, a little fact he forgot). The best was – “but mom you wrote on your blog that it is more important to give time and I am doing that so that should be enough” (nowhere did I mention that you need not give money!)

I didn’t realize how tough it would be for Vir to give money from his piggy bank

After 15 minutes of rationalising and half hour of giving him some quiet time to reflect, he agreed but then changed his mind the very next day and then finally the day before our visit, grudgingly handed me the money, I am still surprised that it took so long. Learning – start them early like Avantika, it then gets progressively easier to become more giving and socially sensitive.

And now more about our lovely outing with Avantika…….

We took off to an orphanage (since Avantika is so young, we picked a happy place, Gurukulam – this place has 360 children and a unique education model). It was a pleasure seeing Avantika, Devyani, Vir and Jai hand goodies to the children. Mr Prabhune, the head of Gurukulam took the kids on a tour, kids were especially inspired by the Ayurveda garden, ‘goshala’ (15 cows and a 3 days old calf), pottery classes and the best part was the Gurukulam kids put up a lovely show of malkhamb just for us!!!

A lovely afternoon in the outdoors, a refreshing change from TV and hectic classes. Time truly well spent. When we left the place, Avantika had a big smile, a feeling of achievement; she had used her hard earned money to bring happiness to others.  As we left, so sweetly she said “Mom I feel soooo happy”. Avantika thank you for taking this initiative and inspiring us today!!

(To learn more about Gurukulam and how you can help with their “needs list” please visit our website at www.indiacharity.org - tab NGO database)