Journeys to remember: December 2015

Gone on lots of long journeys, but this one’s always going to remain special.

Purpose:: Started with talks on helping Chennai, post floods. And what started as a discussion turned out to be a mission that got accomplished with lots of smiling faces.

Destination:: Hope Foundation Matriculation School, Kannagi Nagar, Thuraipakkam, Chennai

Mode of transport:: 1 Force One & 4 Bikes

This was a maiden journey for ThROTLS team on some social work and so was it for me…something that I have been wanting to do for a long time. Coming out with an idea was quick, but to make it happen took about 10 days. Once the plan was put in place, there was no looking back. The ThROTLS team put in their best efforts to collect all the material from every corner of Bangalore city, amidst their busy office schedule and not to forget Bangalore traffic.

What we collected:: Hats off to the team who managed to collect about 80k and one the most active members Reena who single handedly managed all the purchases- Approximately 250 bags along with school kits for about 100 bags which included a pouch, pencils, erasers, crayons, sharpener, Lifebuoy soap, notebooks & a towel. Basically making it look like a goody kit for the young kids of Hope foundation school. She also thoughtfully picked up a box full of Pencils, scales, chalks, markers etc for the teachers of the school. Looking at the way our ForceOne got filled we wondered, how she managed to do all this all by herself.

Apart from the cash collected, we also received huge lots of clothes for all ages, Sarees, Lungis and bedsheets which we decided to donate to another organization.

We also picked up 100 bedsheets which will be donated to an NGO supporting flood relief victims.

Goody kit getting ready; Little Samhita helping with packaging; Bags ready to be boxed; Packages ready to be taken

My experience:: I was already excited about being involved in such a noble cause. Husband only asked if I would be interested in being a part of it and I jumped at the opportunity. We got the handle bar ribbons ready with ‘Ride to Relief’ written on it. Also made 2 ThROTLS flags for the bikes.

Morning of 19^th, 4.30am alarm rang and I was up n ready by 5.15am and husband by 5.30am. The plan was to leave by 6.00am take 2 other biking friends along in the car and meet the 2 more bikers on the way. But once we started unloading all the stuff from the car & started loading the boxes on top of the car and plastic bags into the car, we realized we would be delayed. By the time we started it was 7.45am!! Delay of more than 1.5hrs. Good breakfast & coffee at Shri Krishna Inn, Krishnagiri. While the bikers were able to move fast on good roads to Chennai, we kept getting stuck at all the toll gates. We took 2-3 short stops to give the bikers a break from their ride. We were supposed to reach the school by 2.00pm, but by 1.00pm we realized we were running late. So without stopping for any lunch break, we continued to drive on…while nearing Chennai we realized that the roads were getting worse. With bad stretch of road and a fully packed car, we ended up slowing down further. Disappointingly delayed by another hour.

Next was to find our way to school at Thuraipakkam. Google maps managed guide us to take the shortest route, but that ended up being a busy road and a bad road. We gave some hope to the hope foundation team that we would reach in another 30-40 mins…but ended up reaching only by 4.45pm…delay of close to 3hrs. Upon arrival, I jumped out of the car, and moved in to see what’s in store for us…and what I saw & experienced was just too overwhelming.

A WELCOME placard held by 1^st standard kids..and nicely shouting out, welcoming us to their school. Even after a 3hr wait, the little ones had managed to keep their energies high. I couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down…why did I get emotional?? Am not too sure, but I think the thought of making the little ones wait for so long after a day long outing they had had, made me feel bad! The parents of the lil ones sat waiting outside under the shade of trees in the hot afternoon sun.

The boys started unloading the material, while I took the chance to take some pictures of those happy lil faces and interact with the teachers. First ones in line waiting for their goody bag were the LKGs & UKGs, then came the older kids. Each one quietly following the queue…no pushing..no pulling. Each one’s face lit up the moment a bag was handed over.

Priceless expression accompanied with a thank you Sir or thank you miss. Each one of the 8 of us took turns to give away 100+ bags and I think all of us enjoyed watching the smiling faces of the kids. Once the school kids were done, we had 15 other under privileged children who had come to the school to for free computer education at the Computer Lab, which is sponsored by Dell. We were told that there were 100 children who would come through the week to learn computers for free at the lab. The 15 kids we handed the bags to looked like the 14-15yr olds…or may be older. We also left another 25 small sized bags for the nursery kids who were not in school on Saturday and another 60 bags for some more children.

I also proudly handed over a bag with 2 board games and a packet with about 3 dozen pencils…a contribution from my kids to the school. Once we were done with distribution, we sat with Mr.Santosh who along with his wife runs the school. Mr. Santosh spent a few minutes explaining to us about the work that is done in school and on the contributions they make to the society. The children who come to the school are apparently are the kids of the slum dwellers and Hope foundation is giving them an opportunity for education. Kannagi nagar is like a slum rehabilitation center. Hope school is an English medium school and I was happy to hear good English from the teacher who spoke with me. Currently the school has been given the permission to run till the 8^th standard and Mr. Santosh announced that good amount of relief material actually comes from Bangalore too. It was good to know that the school was spared from floods and was used as a shelter for children in and around thuraipakkam for 2-3 days. We were served some hot tea at the school before we started back for the service apartment that was booked for us at OYO, No.21,Vasudeva Nagar extension, Thiruvanmaiyur. Neatly maintained double bedrooms. They charged us Rs.1800/- per room with complimentary breakfast. Dinner was at Keys restaurant which was at a walkable distance. We got back to the room by 12.45am or so and headed straight to bed. The boys had a good time singing staying up late.

Next morning I was woken up by a call from my daughter giving me all her updates. Post the call, I realized how hungry we were. Finished up with bath & packing up bags and headed for some light breakfast- at 12pm :-P . The boys were still struggling to get out of bed. By 2.00PM we checked out and Madhura our only local guide & member at Chennai took us to Thalappakatti for lunch. We were lucky to get some tasty vegetarian food for ourselves after a long wait. Once we were done with lunch and seeing off Madhura we started back home to Bangalore…a long journey back again with few short stops and one long break at Ambur for leather goods shopping. Post late & heavy lunch none of us were in a mood to eat heavy…finished up with light dinner & kulfi.

The hugs, handshakes & the tata-babyes happened at Silkboard.

Enjoyed every bit…the work that we did, the team, the talks, the drive.
Missed this earlier....special mention:: Thanks to everyone who contributed time, material & money to make this relief work a success :)

Update:: A must see...our journey & work dedicated to those who helped us achieve our 1st mission..on YouTube>>https://youtu.be/XYo60-DgL-o