Grama Seva

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Wow, what a day!

Today I joined the Hyderabad Sai Young Adult group to do grama seva (service to villages) in a small hamlet called Pitalagudem. Pitalagudem is made up of several half built brick homes, thatched huts, and homes built out of plastic and bamboo sticks. The people here live in abject poverty, work as day laborers in a near by village, and get by on eating a watery rice mixture called "Kangi." Apparently two to three years ago, the Indian government made a pact with the village chief (referred to as the Sarpanch) that if the villagers paid a minimum sum to construct the basic foundation of the homes, the Indian government with subsidize the remainder of the cost to construct the homes. Somewhere along the way, this deal fell through leaving the villagers with half built homes in the middle of nowhere. Tied to this land by a hope that the government will one-day return to complete these houses, these villagers continue on with their lives with an air of hopelessness and resignation to their fate in life.

When we first entered the village we came across a man lying on his stomach, unable to move his legs. Apparently two months ago, this man lost all use of his legs and has been unable to move since. This may be a result of high level of fluorine in the water that is a common problem in rural villages in India.

Myself and three other Young Adults rounded up the kids in the village and held a mini-medical camp. These kids were unbelievably loving...they were shy at first but later felt comfortable enough with me to hang all over me like monkeys. At one point, I had one kid clung to each leg, two on my shoulders, and one sitting on my head :-)

The medical camp consisted of teaching the children basic hygiene such as how to take a bath, how to brush your teeth, and how to avoid Scabies (a common skin disease). We soaped up each child, gave them baths, applied ointments to open soars on their bodies, and gave them kits containing basic toiletries like soap, toothbrushes, lotion, etc... After the medical camp, we gave children candies for getting up in front of the group to sing, dance, recite poems or do whatever they could....it was amazing! The best performance was done by two 7-year-old twin brothers named Ravi and Ravindra who danced and sang film songs.

Later we taught them several bhajans (Indian devotional songs) and taugh them games like simon says (I modified to "Savariamma Says" .. hehe) and paper football (yes, the NFL has now reached the villages😊.

I'm still trying to sort out all the things this experience has taught me...I guess the thing that captivated me the most today was the simplicity, sincerity, and love of the children in this village. I saw divinity in their eyes so clearly that at times today, I couldn’t take me eyes off of them. I wonder…when you have no judgment, no fear, no animosity, and no ill-will towards others…is divinity all that is left?

Pictures I took from this grama seva can be found here:

Photos

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Comments

[Sangita]

Wow!
This experience sounds amazing. Can't wait to hear the real details. Can you send me your current cell #?

[Sid]

Wow, thats great...
it must be really nice to work with soooo many young kids.. i would like to watch their performances..

[radhika]

woww.
Sounds absolutely phenomenal. Gave me a chance to realize how lucky i am [looking at the pictures]. thanks for sharing such a wonderful experience with all of us and [me].

[Soumzy]

This is way cool...
Aww...I love the pics of the kids. They are absolutely adorable. I really got a crack out of the end pictures where it looked liked the kids where ready to jump into the camera :) Keep up the awesome work. I'm really proud of you.

[Sridhar]

God Bless
Shyamalee.. it was touching to see the blog and pictures. Mom, Dad, Babu and myself were looking at the pictures.. you all would have touched these children..this pleasant memory will live in those children's minds indelibly Shyam..You are right with your last statement, I think - 'Nethi' for everything and what remains is divine..Cherish that experience.. it does not come by to everyone so easily.. Sairam Sri

[Prasad]

SEVA
Shyam, Many of the scriptures extol about seva. I look at it this way. When one does this kind of service/help somebody expecting nothing in return, there is a feeling/experience/(?)satisfaction -I guess there is no word to express it. But I am sure you know what I am referring to. That's is a wonderful feeling! The very realization of that feeling prompts a question - "Am I doing this to enjoy that feeling?" which means selfishness. If we analyze, whenever we help/do a seva, we don't think that if we do this, we will get that great feeling. Only if it is a spontaneous and natural act, we experience that feeling and not if it is premeditated. But selflessness is invariably rewarded! Is this where selfishness and selflessness merge and become meaningless? I am very happy happy for you Shyam!

[Kalyani]

You go Shyam! I'm proud of you!
Good job Shyama. Very inspiring! Keep up the good work. Love you much.

[Gayathri]

...
Shyam..that is incredibly touching. Its absolutely amazing how just one day can bring so much hope and many smiles to so many people :) Doesn't it seem that with these children, there is little room for lavish/many desires? Especially with such pure and untainted hearts and having not seen a world outside of these few comforts. Interesting, perhaps these innocent, ever-smiling children are paving the avenue that we should ourselves follow :)

[Lalitha]

Amazing
the immobile gentleman and the picture of homes without roofs really depict a power of hope in the 'apparant' hopelessness. Just so powerful.

[suresh]

Inspiring - keep on going!
I know that this is a long awaited dream realized for you since the time that we all listened with rapt attention to the famed "Hyderabad boys". I am proud of you, Shyam!