What mistake have I done???

The traffic on the roads just started to increase as the evening had just begun.

A group of kids, who were studying fifth standard, have just returned from school, carrying school bags that are almost one fourth of their weight.

“We are already late. Come back soon”, told one of the kid to the others

“I really hate going to school. Why don’t the evening begin just after the morning, so that we would never be going to school”, an  innocent kid added to the conversation.

“It’s all in the game. Let’s get ready and assemble again soon”, told the other kid

The kids were given a warm welcome in their home, as their mom opened the door and carried their bags into the house and told the kids to freshen up before eating the evening snacks.

“Eat one more dosa. You will get tired soon if you do not have strength”, told one of the moms keeping one more dosa to her kid.

“Mom, am already healthy enough. How much you expect me to eat?”, a kid in the neighbourhood told her mom, as the mom was trying her level best to make her kiddo eat.

As kids in each home got ready to go out, each of the mom warned their kids to not to join with Rahul while playing.

“Mom, Rahul has not done any mistake. Why do you always say so?”, was the reply

“Either you listen to me or stay back in home”, came the reply

“Please mom”, pleaded each of the kids in their respective home. 

Their pleading fell in deaf ears, as they had to promise their moms that they would not play with Rahul. It was routine for the kids to come back from school and then spend the entire evening, playing in the ground located in their flat premises.

As the kids were playing, Rahul was looking sadly as usual watching the kids from the balcony of his house. As one of the kids noticed Rahul, he signalled his fellow mates and everyone looked at Rahul pitifully for not being able to include him in the games. 

Rahul was studying in second standard, when their family moved to the neighbourhood, a year back. He slowly obtained the friendship of the kids in the neighbourhood. They used to study in the same school and move together all the time. The kids liked Rahul, as he is the youngest among them and very much entertaining too. 

A month back, Rahul fell ill and was not able to join the kids in their routine.

Days rolled on, and one fateful day, Rahul went to join the kids in their routine. But, the parents in the neighbourhood did not allowed their kids to join with Rahul.

“Dad, what is wrong in playing with Rahul? He is our friend. Please allow us”, pleaded one of the kids.

“You are a small kid. You will not understand if I tell you. Just listen to what I say. Do not try to counter me”, the angry dad replied.

“Dad, we are also aware about AIDS. Our teachers have told us that it is a deadly disease during the awareness programme conducted in our school. But, this does not spread by touching or by playing with someone”, told one of the kid to his dad.

“How dare you speak against me?”, told one of the dad and slapped the kid for speaking so. This is not only the case in his home, but also in every other house in the colony, with whom Rahul used to play. Thereafter the kids were allowed to play if and only if they do not have Rahul in their group.

It was during a blood transfusion given to Rahul, during which time the blood given to him was not diagnosed properly and HIV infected blood was transfused to him. Once the neighbours came to know that Rahul has got AIDS, they were completely against him staying in the flat and even complained to the manager of the flat to vacate them from their premises.

It was very painful for Rahul to bear this, as he was just a small kid and was not able to understand what AIDS is? Or why the kids were not allowed to play with him? From then onwards, it has become a routine for Rahul to stand in the balcony and watch the kids playing in the ground. 

"What mistake have I done?", Rahul used to ask himself daily.

Rahul is just another kid, in this world who has been deprived of happiness for no mistake of his.

Even the present generation kids are aware of the disease, but as a grown-up, how many of us have neglected them?

How many Rahul’s are there amongst us, who are still not able to understand the disparity being shown to them?

How many of us are aware about the details of this deadly disease?

How many of us are aware that Dec-1 is recognized as the World AIDS Day?

To know more about this deadly disease, visit WHO:

Key Facts (source-WHO):

·  HIV is one of the world's leading infectious killers, claiming more than 25 million lives over the past three decades.

·  There were approximately 34 million people living with HIV in 2010.

·  A cure for HIV infection has not been found but with effective treatment with antiretroviral drugs, patients can control the virus and enjoy healthy and productive lives.

·  In 2010, around 6.6 million people living with HIV were receiving antiretroviral therapy in low- and middle-income countries, but over 7 million others are waiting for access to treatment.http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs360/en/index.html

Do the needy need us????

I had a nice lunch in a restaurant and was roaming in the city, before spotting McD and felt like having a snack. Even though it was just one hour after the lunch, the look of McD attracted me to grab a burger. I entered the fast food chain and joined those bunches of spend-thrifts in that long queue, before ordering my favourite burger and a soft drink. Having spent half an hour there, I came out of the outlet with my friend and was standing on the pavement, as usual chatting on things around.

One small kid begging for alms spotted me and continuously asked me for money. After 5mins, I told the kid that I would not provide money, whereas I can get something to eat. The happy kid in a composed way told, Bhaiyya, nariyal pani chahiye, spotting at the road side shop nearby. I went with the kid and got a tender coconut and handed it to the kid. To my surprise, the kid did not even take a sip from it and took the coconut to his dad and two brothers, sitting on the pavement. Four of them shared the coconut. Looking at the bright smiles in their face gave me some sense of achievement in spending Rs. 20/- in a useful way. Who knows, maybe, it‘s the first meal of their day, whereas I have already completed my lunch and snack.

This is just one case, which I came across to tell you all. There are many more cases, which never comes into limelight.



Ours is a country, where the imbalance between the rich and the poor is sky high. One part of the country is becoming rich day by day, increasing the demand for gold on a daily basis. On the other side, there are people, who do not have food even once a day.

Even for a clap, it needs two hands to get united. I can keep on writing a lot more like this and can speak a lot about charity and helping people, but this is not the job of a single person. May be the next question that might come to your mind on reading this is, what’s wrong with this guy? What has he done to tell us to do something?

It’s not about what someone else has done, it’s all about what have I done?

Most of our reactions are instantaneous, reacting to the situation on hearing about these kids and later on tend to forget that or react unless another incident as such occurs. The World seems to be very small, that there are very few people, who try to constantly be in touch with such occurring and help the needy.

Think about the bigger picture. Why do these kids beg for alms? Why don’t they go to any orphanage or institutions, where they get chance for education and other facilities for free? Have we ever given a thought to this.Issue is, only the big centres get financial aid as well as manpower to support the kids.

Think about thousands of small institutions, which are opened and being run by those men and women, who have taken the responsibility to take care of such kids. These institutions lack financial support as well as manpower. We, as responsible human beings should spot out such institutions and support them for the great cause they try to achieve. It is not necessary to donate money; just our physical presence would provide a sense of belonging to these kids.


We devote so much of our time to movies or friends or outings, but, have we ever considered spending time for those needy kids. Try devoting just one hour of your time once a week with these kids and see how much self-satisfaction you would obtain, which will be unmatched to the satisfaction derived by spending money on fun stuffs. Once these small institutions gets enough backing in terms of manpower, they would be able to accommodate more kids and provide them a better future, rather than allowing them to roam in the streets begging for alms.

Let us be united in giving back something to the society from which we came from……