Tag: heartwarming

Two more kiddies!

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I took one of my regular trips to the local SOS Children’s Village a couple of days ago. When I first started receiving my student stipend years ago, I began supporting two children there: a 9-month old baby girl, Maria Merlin and a few year old boy called Venugopal. Today, six years later, they’re both growing up to be cute, playful children.

Merlin and her mom

While sitting at the SOS offices to pay my yearly donation, it occurred to me that I really should be doing more, since I have come a long way (financially) since those early student days. So that’s exactly what I did! Starting from this year, I am proud to announce that I support two more children. Introducing Nagarajan (foreground) and Veeravimin:

Nagarajan and Veeravimin

Now, doesn’t this bit of news make you feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside too?

Progress reports

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Most of the time, I’m in a phase where I feel remarkably self-centred; not particularly beneficial to anything bigger than myself. (Come to think of it, even whether I am beneficial to myself is debatable, but that’s a story for another day.) But on occasion, the news that I was actually responsible for something meaningful reaches my ears, and I’m gladdened. This happened a few days ago, when my parents sent me scans of recent letters chronicling the development of the kids I help support in my home town.

Letter with Maria's progress Letter with Venugopal's progress

You must read these in the spirit they were intended and not mock their vocabulary, sentence-construction or spelling. There’s no need to be mean.

Stars among us

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Emerging from the south of my country, moreover so from a city and community rife with anti-Hindi sentiment, it’s not surprising that I hadn’t seen a single Hindi movie during the course of my entire life. All that changed a couple of days ago, when my kin dragged me along to a screening of Taare Zameen Par, a quaint little feature with a moving social message.

Hindi movie ticket

It’s because of this heartwarming message and the wonderful acting all across the board that I’m willing to overlook the fairytale ending, the needless random breakouts into song and dance, and the overly colour-saturated cinematography, to proclaim that it was a very moving and delightful experience; something which I had least expected.

I can heartily recommend this movie to anyone who’s curious about what Indian cinema has to offer (it screens here complete with well-written English subtitles) though I recognise that it isn’t even remotely representative of the standard fare, to anyone who knows someone with a learning disability or mental handicap, or to anyone who’s experienced a certain very third world mentality I try hard to rally against: That if you’re not the absolute best at what you do, be it anything from not scoring at the top of your class in an inconsequential test in first grade, to not earning the most amongst your peers upon completing your education, you’re an utter failure.

In summary, if you belong to any of those groups, please try it. You won’t be disappointed.