On right ground

IT’S that time of the year again. The schedule is hectic, after all examinations are a serious business. It becomes all the more important  to perform if you carry the expectations and hopes of a relatively nascent  idea — of providing home and a normal life to the less privileged. 

Life hasn’t been too kind to them. Some have lost parents, others just have one parent, mostly mothers who don’t have the wherewithal to provide for them, and some come from impoverished backgrounds. But once at Bal Ashram in Saliana, near Palampur, it’s future they look forward to.

Set up by the Palampur Rotary Helpage Foundation after a local S.K. Bhardwaj generously gave 17 acres of land, the Ashram is one of its kind. It has children coming in from all over HP, especially Kangra and nearby areas. 

At present home to 30 children, Bal Ashram’s where they get to know life the way they should — among a  family, where duties are shared, responsibility is common and affection the common bond.

So it’s hardly a surprise when the quiet of the day is shattered as the clock strikes 3.30 p.m. There’s a lot to share, the day at school, homework, complaints and tea in the mess. The elders — students of Class V and above are the seniors here — not only take care of themselves but of the younger lot as well. They help them with studies, even do the cleaning for them, in short learn to be responsible. 

Most of the children are enrolled in the local government school, some seniors — last year, three of them — go to a private school at Palampur. Though this session, no one’s sitting for the Plus Two exam, three of them took the crucial make-or-break boards last session. Ruby Mankotia scored a fine 72 per cent. Expectations were high from Ruby, one of the first to arrive when the Ashram was set up in 1995, and she didn’t let them down. Classmates Shakti Kumar and Vijay Kumar, too, got through.

Children remain with the Ashram till Class XII. “The idea is make them self-reliant so that they can go back home equipped to earn livelihood,” says caretaker Bratu Ram.  Don’t they miss home? They  do, but they go home during vacations and the inmates of Apna Ghar, home for senior citizens within the premises, too offer emotional support. 

While shaping young lives, the Ashram has brought about a subtle, but a vital, change in the neighbourhood as well. Locals by way of donations in money, kind and time, are coming forward to shoulder their social responsibility and that’ll stand in good stead for all.