This is a sight in front of the electricity office in the Christian Medical college campus, Vellore. Because it is full of flowers, many stop to look at it. In the late afternoon sun, it was almost glowing. I do not think from what I know of this place during my earlier stay here, that anyone particularly takes care of this plant.
It stays where it is planted and blooms.
A visitor, who dropped in meet us, shared his experience of going to a rural hospital twenty years back in North India, which was in the verge of closure. Now, it is a hospital which provides wide range of health care for rural folks. The hospital became of hub of many development activities such as starting primary schools, self help groups, vocational training, digging bore wells, primary health care in the villages through trained volunteers, etc. He spoke of the last twenty years as the most fulfilling years in his life. He left a specialist consultant job in England to respond to this need.
Many of us choose to be present where we would have professional satisfaction and prospects. It is only occasionally, one hears such moving stories of going and being in a place with a mission, denying many personal benefits, one is rightfully eligible for.
Some of us can take a bold decision to leave the mantle of our comfort and security to walk the 'less travelled path' for the sake of others, still desperate for help and enablement.
Anna and I heard the other day that, the first child, Annie, whom we welcomed to ASHIRVAD Child Development Centre, at Chennai in 1883, died last month. We have been closely in touch with this family over these years. Annie has been bed bound due to several complications due to Cerebral Palsy. But Annie had never ceased to laugh when she met familiar people nor her parents got tired of taking care of her. Anna and I feel privileged to have been able to spend the last thirty years of our professional lives to offer support for children with neuro-developmental needs. It was not our natural choice, but guided into it through some experiences in our lives.
We cannot always be in comfortable setting; but we can bring comfort to others wherever we are located!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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