Bhajans at the psychiatry ward was interesting… why? Perhaps ‘caz I was in an interesting mood? I simply cracked jokes and said the silliest things and tried to make one of the caretaker girls to sing. We all had fun. The patients kept asking me, how come you never have any flowers on your hair? I was like, I don’t know… perhaps I’ll keep it one day. Then a lady says you must wear a saree everyday and be dressed up all the time with flowers or else we won’t talk to you. I replied saying that I don’t know how to wear a saree. They all said that they’d be happy to teach me and that they would help me put it on. I said okay… but who will stitch the blouse for me? They agreed to do that too. They were super excited thinking about me being dressed up in a saree. I was happy to see that these people loved and accepted me so much, very easily! Also, even as I was walking in the pathway to get to the psychiatry room today I was bombarded with the question of how come I didn’t come yesterday. They said they were waiting forever and then someone told them I wouldn’t be able to make it. They were simply super excited to see me. Isn’t this what life is about? I mean… on one side, we’re just bombarded with our “To do” lists and we’re constantly running behind something. Why are we running so fast? To chase money? But does that ever give us the inner satisfaction of being fulfilled internally? We still need to be balanced and earn money for our living… however chasing money will not give us peace. People noticing our absence and bombarding us with questions of why we didn’t come one day brings much more peace and happiness than being bombarded by our “To do” lists any day!
I then proceeded to play with the little ones again today. My mom was super excited hearing about the little kids that she wanted me to treat them with a few cookies. Coincidentally, I went right around their snack time. I gave them the cookies and they were quiet. They were busy eating. They enjoyed the cream fillings in the cookies. It was really cute to see them eat the cookies. One child was stuffing the cookie in her mouth and asking for another one… another child was licking all the stuffing and breaking the cookies into pieces… I was happy to see that they were enjoying it.
What was so unique was that there was no fighting for the cookies. They all shared and ate it peacefully. I had told them when they ate one cookie, they can ask for the next one. The older ones ate it faster and by the time they came for their 4th cookie… the little ones hardly finished their second one. I explained and asked if I could give the rest to the little ones. The older children smiled and accepted it. Then I had given it to the younger ones and when it was all done… I said “gali” –meaning all done. They too waved their hands in the same manner and laughed.
I was in awe… think about it… if there were cookies that your family loves the most… wouldn’t you fight for it? If there were cookies that both my brother and I love, we’d see who gets to it first. Then that person would consume quite a bit… sometimes even hide it in a secret spot, as if the cookies were so scarce. As humans most of us run with the fear of scarcity. However, these young children ate their few cookies with lots of joy and by sharing.
The feeling of being around them and making them happy for a few minutes was priceless. Yet, if you were to put a price on the cookies… it wasn’t even 2 dollars. They sang the song Radha Radha so well. This one girl always says – jingle bell paadu (sing) – and I’d sing it for her and she’d look at me with awe. Soon they were climbing all over me, and playing with me. I then had to leave to teach classes.
With a smile on my face, I then proceeded to teach classes. During one of my classes my new roommates joined the crew. They wanted to play games and slowly the mood changed and we were playing games with them. The girls loved it.
I must say that that the girls enjoyed having them as visitors. They played games with them and made it a beautiful night overall. The girls even adored the Hong Kongers by putting Bindi & Kunkum on their foreheads. The evening was quite eventful and I enjoyed it too!
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