Project "Chappal"

Ranjeet and Sanjeet are two brothers, enrolled with us for free tuition classes. Sons of a rickshaw puller, they would occasionally substitute for their father in the rickshaw queue on the metro station waiting for a customer, while their father would drink a quick cup of tea. Stopping this practice became our pre condition to teach them, and they agreed. They are poles apart in their nature and intelligence level. While one has a flair for Maths, is blessed with a photographic memory, he lacks interest in regular way of learning. Other one makes up for his low IQ with his sincerity and hard work. They are generally on no talking terms with each other.

Soon we all realised that they never come together. They were rather taking turns to attend classes. We all thought sibling rivalry (or hatred in this case) was the reason and closed the file. After all we have seen enough of the world, isn’t it?  One fine day when I had only two students, I managed to get the introvert brother in a talking mood (using all my counselling skills, I must say!). Beside other things, the shocking truth which emerged was that the main reason of their fight was who will come to us for study. The bone of contention here was the one pair of slippers that both the brothers were supposed to share.

I remember watching one award winning foreign film (Afghan I think) on TV once, where a brother and sister were sharing a pair of running shoes. Beautiful touching story, very well narrated. Convincing because that was happening in some war affected country. Believe you me, in my wildest dream I wouldn’t have believed that such things happen right under our nose, in the capital of the country, not in any remote area!

I discussed it with other volunteers of Setu and soon project “Chappal” was launched. Just to maintain their dignity, we decided to buy a pair of slippers for all of them. We were keen to get some “good quality” branded stuff but they vetoed it. All of them had seen and liked something in local “shukkar bazaar“ (Friday market). Girls come to us in the evening while boys attend evening classes in government school. Without mobile phone, assembling at one place was a major task in the crowded market. They coordinated beautifully, bargained with shop keepers, made sure that all the little ones take something, slightly bigger than their current size and made everyone happy.

Children at the local market

Ranjeet and Sanjeet

All the children with their "Chappal"

Getting a lot of happiness by spending a small amount is so easy.