Kite Flyers

I love children. To some, this phrase seems universal, but to a youngest child, kids are a bit of a mystery to me. I seemed to have skipped the stage of pleading with my parents for a baby of my own and the idea of children has always been mildly intimidating, I guess it’s the fear of the unknown. But a strange transition occurred around my 25^th birthday… I came to love babies and now in India, I’m a sucker for the little tikes.

Needless to say, the last week has been quite a blast. There are simple truths in the life of children that become distorted as we wrestle with life. I’m not the first to say it, nor will I be the last, but the life of a child is simply beautiful. Why is it no longer appropriate to cry when we are scared or to admit when we’re afraid of the dark. I’ve lived on my own, away from home since High School, but nothing warms my soul like the presence of family and walking into my childhood room still adorned with stuffed animals, a treasure chest of love letters, yearbooks and the journal of a teenage dreamer.

Children see the world with color and smudged lines, where the dictates of life and living are a little more malleable. Have you seen a child hold a grudge? Allow hatred to burn in their soul until their only solace is to recoil to their rooms and sulk. NO. Children are resilient and its evident. On Tuesday, we traveled to the slum school of Katabon to profile the 40 children who find refuge in the three rooms of the school. It is where they are free to play, where their empty stomach’s become full and where they are called by name. It is only at this school that these children are thought of beyond their circumstances, where others dream for them and where the idea of future is not fixed, but a path that is yet to be paved.

That night, after we had returned from the school, I came across this excerpt from Dominique Lapierre, "In calcutta kites were favorite toys, as if somehow those scraps of paper climbing high above the rooftops carried the children's ambition to escape their lot, all their need to flee their prison of mud, fumes, noise, and poverty."... I agree

Today, I met Nusrat a 10 month old baby born with a severe cleft lip and palate deformity. On Friday, December 3^rd, her life will be transformed by one simple surgery. Without the procedure, Nusrat will be unable to properly speak and the social connotation of such a deformity will dictate the path of her life, she will find life much more difficult, much more cruel.

You meet Nusrat and you become addicted. Addicted to her smile, her laughter, and her desire to play. She loves touch and anything she can grab with her two hands. Thank you to those who give for babies like Nusrat, you truly transform lives. And, thank you to doctors like Dr. Ganguly who see the worth in each child.