In his diary lies his heart...

A story is not just a work of fiction which has a beginning and an end. Stories are works of the written art that are often inspired by real day to day circumstances and stay with the reader much after its end on paper.  Udai bhaiya’s stories are such. Stories that make you feel the world is not a bad place after all. It’s actually beautiful!

‘Mithratha (friendship)’ read the first chapter in his book, a book that put out his heart for all to see. Udai bhaiya’s journey in his auto that ran on gift economy lets him meet people everyday just as any other auto driver does. But the only difference is that Udai bhaiya’s relationship with them is a different one, one that grows even into a friendship that is cherished for many years to come. In Mithratha, Udai bhaiya speaks of 2 girls who travelled in his auto with their mother. These three women faced a lot of problems at home due to the father who was an alcoholic. As Udai bhaiya spoke to them during the journey, they narrated tales of the problems they faced at home due to their father’s alcoholism. Moved by their pain, Udai bhaiya promised them that from then he was like family and they could approach him for any help that needed be it any time of the day or night!

                Once when the three women were going to a wedding, they called Udai bhaiya to ask if he could drop them off. Udai bhaiya said that he could and took them to the party hall. When they reached, the three women told him to come to the wedding with them Udai bhaiya was taken aback by their gesture and said that it would not be appropriate for him to go. It was then that the three women said that he himself had promised them that he was now a part of their family and hence he had every right to accompany them as a member of their family at the wedding. This was a friendship that was from the heart, he wrote in Mithratha.

‘The will to give’ read the second chapter in his book.  During one occasion when Udai bhaiya took his passengers shopping on SG Road, he was approached by a young boy who had shoe polish and a brush in his hands. ‘Can I clean your shoes Sir?’ he asked Udai bhaiya to which he said yes. As the boy polished his shoes, bhaiya started making conversation with the young boy and was moved by the circumstances that he was faced with at such a young age. After he was done polishing his shoes, Udai bhaiya paid the young boy for his services and asked him, ‘Would you like to wear a jersey instead of that shirt you are wearing now?’ ‘Yes!’ the boy’s reply was quick and his eyes shone as Udai bhaiya reached into his auto to find a bright red jersey for the boy to wear. It was with a will to give that Udai bhaiya gave away this small present. He watched as the child put on his jersey over his dirty shirt. His world, though for just that short while, had been coloured.

‘Tyag (Sacrifice)’ read the third chapter in his book. Nipun Bhaiya, the founder of Charity Focus is a man who is respected and loved unconditionally by everyone related to Manav Sadhna and by his volunteers from all around the globe. His simplicity and cheer is infectious and just one conversation with him opens the heart to all the positivity and joy that the world has to offer. Nipun Bhaiya is loved by our Udai bhaiya too. On Nipun bhaiya’s birthday, Udai bhaiya decided to gift him something different. If it is one thing that Udai bhaiya has learnt from Nipun bhaiya, it is the sense of sacrifice. So on his birthday, Udai bhaiya decided to give up eating his favourite food, Jalebis. Udai bhaiya before giving up eating his favourite food, distributed jalebis amongst the poor and then after they had eaten to their hearts content, stopped eating them himself. Tyag and the importance of being able to give up things that one holds so close to the heart is one lesson that Udai bhaiya shares with all through his diary.

‘Manavta (Being Humane)’ read the fourth chapter in his book. As Udai bhaiya drove his auto around the streets of Amdavad, he saw a young boy waiting on the road. When asked why he was waiting the young boy told him that he needed a ride home. Udai bhaiya readily offered his services and the young boy hopped into the auto. On being inside the auto, the boy was taken aback when he saw everything that the auto had to offer, from the books to the fan and the reading light, everything was just so colourful, just so different. ‘The boy was so happy when he saw everything, he played around with some things in the auto and asked me what each of the boxes had’, recollects Udai bhaiya. On reaching his house, the boy asked Udai bhaiya how much he would have to pay him. Udai bhaiya reached out for chocolate box and handed him a bar of chocolate. ‘It is free for you.’ Said Udai bhaiya and drove away smiling.

‘Akshayapatra’ read the fifth chapter in his book.  Akshayapatra is the vessel which never gets empty. The more you give, the more you get from it. Doubled with joy! Jyotsana Parmar, our everyday hero, came up with the most beautiful way of sharing with those in need. The idea was a simple one. One plastic bottle with a small cut portion big enough to let a coin through it. All those who had the bottle were to drop a coin into it every day. When the bottle was full, the person could choose how he wanted to use the money to help bring a smile on someone’s face.   Udai bhaiya’s experience with the Akshayapatra is one that inspires and brings to every reader’s face a smile. Udai bhaiya’s bottle that he filled ever so religiously stood waiting one day to burst open and bring happiness to many. And that is what it did. With Udai bhaiya using the money to shop for ingredients that went into making Pulav, the money went into good use. So with two huge vessels full of mouth watering Pulav, Udai bhaiya rode off on his auto distributing it to hungry beggars on the way. The satisfaction that he saw on the faces of all those who ate the food he served was moving and something he would never forget, he told me recollecting the experience.

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Udai bhaiya's first shot...

Travelling with Udai bhaiya is a moving experience for how many times do we really come across one who helps us commute from one place to another so selflessly. Amidst auto drivers who push and pull and scare us into paying them more than what is told by the meter, Udai bhaiya surprises his passengers by smiling at them when asked what they should pay and telling them to pay him whatever they felt like. Udai bhaiya’s book with comments from his passengers says it all as page after page, passengers give him their heart’s best and promise to have never taken such a beautiful journey in an auto ever before. Amit Singh was one such passenger who was so moved by Udai bhaiya’s love for humanity that he was quick to call Udai bhaiya’s auto Bhavana Rath or chariot of feelings. Amit’s short message for Udai bhaiya is what Smile captured as its very first shot. Follow the link to see Udai bhaiya’s first shot, Amit Singh, a fashion design student voice his appreciation on love for Udai bhaiya and his selfless work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI1lQjGHRbQ

Everyday Heroes! Jagat

‘Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs are people to come alive.”

‘Bhaiya! Bhaiya!’ a young boy ran up to Jagat bhai, ‘Is it right, what I’m doing?’ he asked and held out a small crown neatly cut out from cardboard. ‘Its perfect yaar!’ smiled Jagat bhai bringing a sense of achievement to the child’s face. He grinned widely and ran back to his place amongst the 52 children all cutting crowns neatly from a stack of cardboard. ‘Give me cardboard and a pair of scissors and I will make a mess of it! I could never cut like these little designers here!’ said Jagat bhai modestly as he walked to where the children were sitting to fill the space that they had left him in the circle they were sitting in. With Jagat bhai by their side, the circle was now complete.

Jagat bhai, with his long beard and baggy clothes reminds you of a member of a rock band, or better still a biker who had lost his way and come to Manav Sadhna to ask for directions! But when you observe him with the children, you realise nobody belongs there like he does. So effortlessly does he motivate his little designers and so beautiful is the bond he shares with each one of them that time and again you see all the charm in him steal the children’s hearts. They laugh and sing as Jagat bhai runs around the room like a child screaming out directions on how to go about the craft activity. But how did Jagat bhai, a designer by profession begin teaching art to children here at Manav Sadhna? This was a question that kept creeping up my mind and in a bout of curiosity, I asked him. ‘My friend and I had come to visit the Gandhi Ashram.’ He said. ‘And while walking around, we saw some children at Manav Sadhna busy with some art work that they were doing.  

Art was something we enjoyed and so we went up to them to see what exactly they were doing. It was an experience that gave me new direction. These were the children of people who did menial work on the roadsides, children of daily labourers. They studied in different Municipal schools in the morning and came here to Manav Sadhna in the evenings to do some art and craft which earns them money. That day I went with a young boy as he walked from road to road polishing people’s shoes. At the end, he divided his money equally and handed me one half for having accompanied him. I was moved. I thought it only right for me to lend whatever little support that I could by virtue of being a designer and teaching these children little tricks of the trade so that they could fend for themselves better.’ This small visit to the Gandhi Ashram changed Jagat bhai’s life and today much to the joy of every child at Manav Sadhna’s ‘Earn and Learn ‘program, Jagat bhai is one of the main coordinators of the art programs at Manav Sadhna.



One of Jagat bhai's designers with a cap they designed.



‘My little designers set the house on fire!’ said Jagat bhai and I looked on as they did. The 52 young designers were indeed an energetic lot and I doubt that their optimism would ever change considering they have such a gem of a person for a mentor!

To Jagat bhai, for being the most caring guide and friend these children would have ever dreamt of...a standing ovation!

Everyday Heroes! Nilam

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”

She walked into the office, smiling. She had just returned from her paternal village, she said and couldn’t wait for school to start again. No, she wasn’t a student, though she did look like one. ‘I am a teacher’, she told me with pride that shone in her eyes.

Nilam never thought teaching children at Manav Sadhna would prove to be such a moving and satisfying experience. So much so that today she confidently says that imparting education to the poor is her primary goal. ‘Children in private schools have no dearth of teachers’, she says when I ask her why she wouldn’t work in a private school for a better pay. ‘It is the children in the slums who have no access to education. Many people hesitate to work in the grassroots and hence it becomes difficult to get teachers to teach in the slums. It is the children here who really need us so as to help uplift their condition. And education being the only permanent answer to their problem is the key to any betterment that they may see.

 Teaching a classroom of first graders at the Manav Sadhna Community Centre, Nilam also helps organise the curriculum that teachers follow through the academic year in Manav Sadhna. Her worth as a teacher has today won her a place on the team of Ekatva, a special project taken up by Manav Sadhna wherein 16 slum children being trained in the performing arts would be taken to different parts of the country to perform. Nilam is on the team as their teacher so as to help with value based education for these children and also to help the children cope up with all the lost lessons from the classroom due to their hectic schedules.  In addition to Ekatva, Nilam is currently even working on a very interesting project called Swagyaan. Talking about Swagyaan, she says ‘Every child has a dream. He may be living in the bleakest of homes, in the most dark of rooms but his dreams and aspirations are often Technicolor! As their teachers and well wishers, it is our responsibility to make sure that they realise these dreams. Often they know what they want to be but do not know how to get there. Swagyaan is going to be all about helping these children get there.’

Teaching surely is one of the most noble of professions. For, in the willingness to share your knowledge with others is hidden your willingness to give. ‘But the beauty of this art is that the more I give, the more I get’, laughs Nilam. ‘There is not one day when I haven’t learnt more than what I have taught!’

Nilam with her beautiful smile, her selfless love for her students, her enthusiasm for her work and her will to make a difference in the lives of poor children through education is our everyday hero! To Nilam and to all the other teachers who inspire... we bow!