It was a fairy tale day for all the Enactus members. The sun
was shining bright and clear, bubbles of mirth were floating in the air
prickled occasionally by bursts of laughter, a perfect day spent with inspiring
people. Here, I am talking about the tiny tots who graced our college for LEAP
– Life on Wheels Escapades Adventure Program, the children of our rickshaw
puller community who had kindly taken time out of their overly hectic
schedules, to be with us.
As a part of
Escapades, The Traveller’s annual adventure festival, LEAP was an initiative to
gift a fun morning to the little ones by making them indulge in zorbing, bouncy
boxing, trampoline volleyball and flying fox ending with a yummy snack!
I was super excited by the idea of finally being amongst my
own kind, it did not feel like a trip down the memory lane, rather, it felt as
if my time had just begun! The day kicked off with the kids coming and taking
over the place with their infectious energy, and without knowing we were all
sucked into the mayhem. It was refreshing to see Enactus members falling off
the trampoline, getting boxed up by a little one, running after the notorious
ones, jumping around with the hyper ones and becoming a horse for the demanding
ones (the last one was done for an adorable six year old who refused to be
satisfied by any of the adventure we provided and was intent on riding a
‘ghodagadi’).
My feelings were fluctuating between intense paranoia and
absolute joy, the former reappearing every 15 minutes when we would perform a
headcount of the children and even if one naughty ponytail was missing; our
hearts would stop until it was relocated. It was a HUGE responsibility,
handling 20 kids in a state of perpetual motion, but we were far from
complaining!
As the morning progressed, the kids opened up to us, they
had some extraordinary skills, rapping Honey Singh’s songs being the least of
them! We on our part taught them how to do a HI5 in the ‘Enactocool’ way.
Finally it was time for their snack and the tearful goodbyes as we parted with
many promises to meet again.
As I saw the last pair of feet run back to their parents, a
sense of complacency enveloped me, the childhood which I thought was over for
me at this stage was still intact, and would always remain so. It was my gift
from the day.
By Akanksha Sinha
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