I scanned my wardrobe to choose what I would wear. My eyes fell on a growing pile of clothes; a combination of old ones and those I had grown out of. Dumping good usable clothes didn't seem like a good idea. Concurring with this thought, my mother suggested that we give them away to the poor and needy. We set off the next day with all kinds of used and old clothes in four bags. Following my mother's lead, I wondered where she was going to take me .She walked out of the Triplicane railway station and stopped.
Another world
Puzzled, I looked around and the scene before my eyes answered my thoughts. Along the stained walls of the Triplicane railway station were clusters of settlements. People living there had nothing they could call a home. Some children wore no clothes while others had torn clothes. In one corner was a woman trying to feed several mouths from a tin plate.
Contrasts
Small children with unkempt hair and dirt-streaked faces slept on the pavement, while a few played with a punctured tyre and bottle lids. This scene evoked a contrasting image of my colourful, well polished wardrobe at home. They would probably have never seen a full meal in their lives, let alone a wardrobe.
I opened my bag and took out a couple of shirts. The next minute I was mobbed by children of varying ages each trying to get whatever they could. One kid only as tall as my knee, took a shirt that was probably too big for her, kissed it and immediately wore it. Happiness radiated from her face. She ran forward and hugged me for something like a lifetime. To me, it was just a shirt, but to her it meant the world, and maybe more…
Roshni Murali, I Year, B.Tech, MNM Jain Engineering College
