WOW: A drop in the ocean

Every once in a while we come across such things which touch our hearts, makes you think and you want to reach out to help. This is the existence where years back what I did was just a drop in the ocean but looking at the larger picture, you realise that the drop in the ocean would go a long way in fulfilling many dreams. What you considered trivial, is more than substantial to someone in need. Here I recount a few small instances where water didn’t then went a long way in the whole effort.

In 2014, Tata capital came up with Half stories, an initiative to `do right` where an adventurer travelled all the way from Dharmshala to Guwahati in search of such half stories which need a happy ending. He came across various stories and I was happy that I was able to help.

1. At a school in Megma , West Bengal, there is a school which housed 20 underprivileged kids and tried to give them education. With just two blackboards, lack of stationary, peeling walls. The teacher Miss Neela and the retired headmaster ChandraKumar Pradhan tried to give the kids the education they deserve. This half story needed 2 blackboards and stationery kits to reach a happy ending. When the time I saw the story, all I could fork out was just 500 bucks from my end and I thought, “This is too little for such a cause, but that’s all I can give right now”. Within two days the half story was completed and these kids got stationery kits and the school got 2 boards so that the education can continue here. Just like me there were other dorighters too, who pitched in and helped to complete this story.

2. At a school in Maharashtra, there was another half story waiting to be completed. The school was unable to pay its electricity bills. So the dorighters got together again to fund the need for solar panels so that the school has its own electricity supply and the children there can now concentrate on their studies. The amount this time out of my pocket was the same as the last time. I was happy to get this at the very last when all but completed.

In each of the half stories all I did was to pay Rs. 500, which was all I could fork out at that point of time, even though I wanted to contribute much, much more. What I contributed was just a drop in the ocean, considering the amount in each half story of substantial, but looking at the bigger picture I realised that every drop counts and this is what has happened in the two seasons of stories.