The Aarambh and You
“If you’ve ever wondered what it feels like to put smiles on people’s faces, then you can surely make it happen at The Aarambh. When you have given a lesson on integers to children who don’t go to school, when you arrived with medicinal supplies to take a burden off of an elderly, at an old age home, when you filled up a plate with a delicious meal, for a child living in a slum, or when you went to distribute pads to the mothers and sisters of that child, you had put a smile on their faces.
But before you did all of that, you woke up to an alarm that said ‘Aarambh drive’, got ready, and left to meet with the members of the team to make all the necessary preparations for the drive that was going to happen at 1 PM. The drive is happening in south campus and you’ve planned a small evening lunch with your friends at a cafe, but right now it’s only 11 AM. You are excited about the people you will meet and the things they’ll say but nervous about your responsibilities given by the unit coordinator. You have to bring a choco-bar crate from the vendor.
You arrive at the HQ and the coordinator reminds you to leave 30 minutes earlier, for the ice creams. There is time so you can chill with your buddy from the social media department. You’re talking about the way reels work and how you don’t like doing much publicity on these social welfare drives when your watch buzzes and it’s time for you to get the package. You see everyone rushing to leave and so do you.
The drive went well and the team was back at the HQ after two hours. Most volunteers have left but the core team still has to do cleanup, and the social media team hasn’t even started.
You’re relaxing, staring at the clock, willing it to strike 4 PM so that you may leave for the lunch you had planned. Your social media buddy plays one of the recorded videos from the event and you hear the laughter of those children. You close your eyes and are reminded of each one of the faces that lit up when you told them that they will also get ice creams and then handed each one of them a choco-bar.”