Jalandhar @ Unique Home

11.22.08
7:00am

Jalandhar @ Unique Home Orphanage (new setup)

The sky is a lavender color with a streak of white clouds. I'm looking around for the sunrise but I don't see it yet - only a cool dawn. There are trees and fields all around us, a beautiful garden just behind this home. The birds are chirping mixed in with gurbani from various sources. Gurbani (Guru ki bani) or kirtan is the music played at Sikh gurudwaras - the guru granth sahib (Sikh holy book) is written in verse, since music is deeply rooted in our culture. Amritwela (morning time) is considered an auspicious time, many people tend to wake up early and start their day by listening to bani and remembering God. It is getting cold - Simla has had it's first snowfall and I can feel it's cold wind visiting us from up north.

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Mum and Dad have gone on their Tirith Yatra (pilgrimage). Mum has always wanted to go visit many of the historic sites where we have gurudwaras (Sikh temples) and dad's happy to accompany her - they should be back tomorrow night. Since time is limited, I think I'd rather spend it with the children so I'll be staying here with our hosts. We're staying at Bibi Prakash Kaur's place. She's a woman that runs an orphanage, mostly for abandoned girls since boys are generally desired and kept. She's an incredibly dedicated and strong woman who is doing a tremendous amount of service for these children and the community. She's devoted her life to this cause, a real compassionate soul. Since she landed up in Nari Niketan some 18 plus years ago and saw how neglected the children there were, she has built this unique home and invested her life into ensuring these kids are loved, and their needs are met by the donations people give. Many of the girls who live here were abandoned when they were very young, and Bibiji not only ensures they're fed and clean, but also sends them to very good local schools. Despite the fact that the government in India does not provide many social services as we have in the west and the systems are corrupt - the local people fill this gap. It is likely their faith, their gursikhi that causes them to provide these social services and improve their communities. Bibi Prakash Kaur gets a lot of support from the community, despite her many struggles in the beginning.

They're building a new home for the kids just a couple of miles outside of Jalandhar. We came here yesterday, and I was delighted to see all the space, the trees and the plants. It's still close to the city but just being in open spaces has such a relaxing influence on the mind. The place is still under construction and there's a lovely gursikh family down below who've been generous and kind in taking care of us; Nirmal Bhabhi fed us a wonderful home cooked dinner last night. The GT road from Amritsar is lined with Eucalyptus trees.

Aside from Bibiji's service, people have set up trusts that provide practically free medical services to those who cannot afford it. In Amritsar, we met a young woman who is a physiotherapist. She works at a clinic where a lot of older people come for therapy in the early stages of arthritis. Knee replacement surgery is expensive and still not very common. Evidently, therapy helps seniors manage the problem if caught in the early stages. There was an older woman who could not even afford the Rs. 10 (20 cents) co-payment. The young physiotherapist took care of her regardless since that is the purpose of these clinics. The lady's husband had passed away and she had 5 sons, though not one of them was willing to take her in and support her, so she does some sewing that enabled her to take care of her basic necessities.