Shreevatsa- an orphanage from eyes of my friend Srija

To give you all a little background, SOFOSH or Soceity of Friends of Sasoon Hospital is a NGO which has an arm "Shreevatsa" where abandoned infants are brought and raised till the age of 6 ( they are adopted by that age). Special kids are also raised in this beautiful home. I recently went to this place with two of my collogues- Srija & Shraddha. We all were deeply affected and my friend Srija penned her experience as below:
Was I visiting an orphanage for the first time? No. Was I involved with charity for the first time? No. Yet, there was excitement…an unexplained happiness at the mere thought of visiting an orphanage to donate clothes and other accessories collected from our office. As pre-decided, Ankita, Shraddha and I reached SOFOSH at 11 in the morning. After completing the formalities, we moved to Sreevatsa where children from 0 to 6 yrs are housed. I knew I was stepping into a different world the moment I crossed the gate to enter into the premises of Sreevatsa. Soon, my ears were filled with sounds of infants crying, toddlers screaming, kids laughing…some vying for attention while still some conveying they either wanted to play or are hungry.

It was a busy hour. It was time for lunch. The mothers’ (that’s how the caretakers are addressed) were busy feeding infants in the age group of 3 to 6 months. While some gobbled down the food hungrily, some were savouring it and yes! There were a few who put up a hard fight to not let the food enter their mouth.

The In-Charge welcomed us with a broad smile, and after accepting the ‘gifts’ we brought for the kids she took us around showing us the kitchen where all the meals are prepared and have to pass quality test everyday. She then took us to a section where kids from 0 to 6 months are cared for, and to where outsiders are not allowed in, lest they may pass on any infection on to kids. So, we stood at the threshold and watched them play, turn to their sides, and then all of a sudden a kid looked at us and gave a wide toothless smile and then he gave another. I am sure there’s no need to mention that this lit up not only mine but my colleagues’ face too.

We were transfixed until the words of the In-Charge requesting us to move on to the next section (housing 6 months to 1 year olds) brought us back to the real world. But that was only for a few fleeting seconds. Soon we were transcended to the beautiful world yet again. At the entrance of the section we were greeted by a year old boy who was enjoying his act of pulling out clothes from the almirah. And then our attention was caught by a high-pitch cry of a baby lying in the cradle. A mother deftly making her way through cradles and kids playing on the floor, holding a tray filled with cap full of different colored medicines, administering them to the kids who required it, mentioned the baby had constipation. And I realized that along with the medicine what the baby required to ease the pain was human touch – For, the moment Shraddha held the baby in her arms she stopped crying. The baby named Kanishka was a special child.

My attention was drawn towards another baby who lay in the cradle quiet. She too was a special child. And, somehow I had this feeling she was enjoying the attention I was giving her. Ankita too was drawn towards this kid. Soon the kid was in the arms of Ankita, enjoying the cozy comfort of her arms. But she broke into cry the moment Ankita lay her back in the cradle. Those few moments made me realize how badly these kids yearned for human touch! Yes they do, because every mother out there has to take care of four kids.

Sure, it’s a different world - a world, which I would like to visit again – to help these little angels.