21/05/2020

Have you ever seen a bird weaving its nest? If you do, I think you’ll be able to appreciate the enormous efforts they put into it. Starting from collecting materials, protecting those from all sorts of nuisances, and finally crafting a little piece of art out of those waste materials, it’s a scene to watch! But here we are talking about people—the people with sweat and blood, No, they are not intellects—they aren’t the speakers; they are the doers, the builders, the backbone of society yet most neglected! This group of people isn’t protesting in the streets for electricity or water, although they are the hardest hit by the supercyclone and have been suffering the most because of the dual effects of the lockdown and the cyclone. You must be imagining this as a scene from Sundarban; no, it’s not; they live just outside the Dakshineswar “Maa Bhabatarini” temple premises. You have not noticed them, right? Naturally, their faces have not appeared in the news flash!
Just a few months ago, a catastrophic, demolished fire swallowed everything that belonged to them, except their lives. Just when they started to bounce back, “Amphan” hit them hard where it hurts most—one more time, making them homeless, starving, and stripping off all their belongings.
Deepa, nine months pregnant, does not know where her child will see the first ray of light on Earth! Babul, handicapped with both of his hands amputated, is helplessly watching his 82-year-old mother starve. Ratul, who recently broke his right arm in an accident, is vehemently searching for a plastic bag—no, not to cover his head, but to save the only earthen oven he has as a possession. He does not care about the harmful aspects of plastic to human health; in fact, a starving stomach does not care about anything in the world except food. Sumit, an auto rickshaw driver by profession, has lost the only shelter built with all his toil and blood; this lockdown did not just stop the engine of the auto-rickshaw; rather, it stopped the only engine ensuring two ends meet for his family. Sumit’s two-year-old boy is incessantly crying as he does not know a better way to express his anguish of starvation—his tears and feeble gibberish rattling us to the core; we could not stand long there!
No, we do not dare to call ourselves “Messiah”, Only God can ease their pain and suffering. We from PETALS are only trying to stand beside them firmly in this testing time. The fact always mesmerizes me that these people, with almost everything lost, can so easily be happy after just getting a piece of “tarpaulin,”, yet we, the privileged and far more blessed, curse everything under the sun for just missing a thing or two in life. With all your support, we can ensure that, from tomorrow onwards, Sumit’s two-year-old son does not have a dinner plate filled with dirty rainwater dripping over his head.
PETALS is grateful to “Tiffin Ghar” and all its members (who have been arranging two meals for 500 starving people and milk for the children every day since the lockdown started) for the wonderful support. Shri Shansanka Bhavsar, the pioneer of the “Tiffin Ghar” rightly pointed out, “Someone had to take the responsibility, and we stood out; we’re determined to ensure that no one is starving in our locality”.
PETALS thanks Pritwiraj Paul, a wonderful person and a member of the PETALS family, for introducing PETALS to the noble cause here at Dakshineswar. Along with Pritwiraj, a new member, Amalendu Banerjee, not only stood beside us but also helped in all possible ways (including financially) to get this through together. The “Tiffin Ghar” members were all helping in fixing the tarpaulin sheets as a temporary shelter and distributing the clothes among the homeless. The renovation work for the completely collapsed structures has also started, but there’s a lot to do yet. Mother Ganges was looking beautiful and shiny today, promising new hope. While passing through the Bally bridge and conveying the prayers towards “MAA Bhabatarini” the glorious temple dome was reminding me of “Rani Rashmoni”.

Ranima, you’re utterly needed now, not on TV sets but among these distressed souls. We know that had you been here today, the temple door would not have shut but rather provided these poor souls with the shelter they need. The temple canteen would have served thousands of people every day! An old lady was repeatedly blessing us, although we had nothing to offer her as we were done with the relief work and were returning. I don’t know why, but the repeated blessing of the old lady instilled an incredible feeling within me, and I could not be more sure of “MAA Bhabatrini’s” presence among us all. I started murmuring.
“Bohurupe sammukhe tomar, chhari kotha khunjichho Ishwar, Jibe prem kore jei jon, sei jon sebichhe Ishwar.”
Where are you looking for God when he is in front of you in every living being, in many different forms? Those who serve mankind (and any other living being) are serving God.

Written by Murali Mohon Ghosh