Aarambh: From Frowns to Playgrounds

The day that I first walked into the Ernest Borges Memorial Hospital, where Aarambh is situated, started a chapter in my life that I won't ever forget. Little children walking around in stuffy moldy corridors, heads shaven and wearing green masks. It was a perplexing sight, but it was at that moment that I realized that this was it. I was finally there, seeing and realizing the tales I'd heard of children being diseased by the poison that cancer is. Seeing this new side of the world, beyond my comfortable bubble, was a rude awakening for me. Walking amongst the despair to the activity room I was told that the youngest child there was at the tender age of 4.

Aghast for the rest of the minute's walk up, I saw a crowd of children waiting eagerly outside the activity room. Smiles on their faces, they greeted us and welcomed us in.

For the next hour, we played catch, we danced, sang and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. For this one hour, I'd forgotten all the things I'd experienced at my first glimpse of Aarambh, and I understood that this one hour was the children's hour to enjoy and distance themselves from their harsh reality. Their smiles and laughter were worth more than a billion dollars in heart currency and have motivated me to go back every week and find fun and exciting activities to not only brighten their lives, but also mine.

Advait Deshpande