“The field looks really barren,” Milaksh remarked when the 7 of us walked towards the slum area. All of us turned our heads towards the football field which was located somewhere near the Madhava Pai Memorial College.
We went on walking towards the pondok where we will place all the sacks of clothes we had brought along with us.
Earlier in the morning, members of the Huluran Kasih were sorting out unwanted clothes donated by MMMC students and lecturers.
“Male clothes on one side, female clothes on the other side,” said Kent as some of us started pouring out the clothes that were placed in the gunny or plastic bags by the Batch 19 students. These were actually the excess clothes from the ‘used clothes collection drive’ initiated by Batch 19.
Making sure that the shirts and pants had no holes (to save the new owner of the clothes from unnecessary embarrassment), the clothes were stacked accordingly.
Interestingly, I spotted a shirt which had a bleached spot in the shape of the map of India right below the front design. Either the previous owner of the shirt didn’t pick out the resemblance or he just wasn’t too happy with the new added ‘graphic’.
“Seriously, I will actually pick some of the clothes if I were to see them in the shops,” Haz commented while we were going through some of the kurtas, salwars and Punjabi suits. I had to agree with her as I folded them. “Maybe the owners couldn’t fit in them anymore. That’s why they’re here”, I replied.
“We can send the male clothes to the slum area but what about the female clothes?”
Clothes in the middle of the seminar room, everyone were seated and were figuring out on what to do with the clothes that have been lying in the store room beside the conference room in ICHS for months.
“Previously, the people in the slum area only accepted saris. So this time, we’ll give the Punjabi suits, kurtas and salwars to them”
“Well….we can give the rest of the clothes to the akkas in the hostel” someone suggested.
Everyone agreed with the idea and soon enough, 3 autos were waiting outside the ICHS entrance as we loaded the clothes into the auto and begin our Rs 15 journey to the slum area. (Clothes that will be given to the akkas will be kept temporarily at someone else’s home)
All seated in the auto, we passed by the Madhava Kripa School (the hemophilia camp was held there a few weeks back) and I remembered fondly the well that is situated at the school’s compound. I’ve read about wells, I’ve seen pictures of it and when I finally got to set my eyes on it, it was much bigger than what I imagine it to be.
We finally reached the pondok made from wood and dried leaves and placed the clothes at one corner.
“Want to take a look around the slum area?” Kent asked. It was my first time there and I couldn’t wait to ‘explore’ the area that was situated not far from a lake.
Homes in the shape of camping tents were built on either side of the uneven pathway we were walking on and the number of houses multiplied as we walked further. Plastics and canvases draped the sides of abodes. I stooped a little and sneaked a peek in one of the houses to find no beds, no tables, no fans and the ‘rooms’ inside….well, I wouldn’t call them rooms at all. There were no other walls apart from the 4 walls that support the roof and protect the occupants from strong wind or rain.
“Share it with the others”
The families that were picking through the clothes at the pondok did not understand a word of English or Tamil (Sunthari attempted conversing in Tamil with them but to no avail) save for a young boy who goes to school.
Looking at the faces of the slum people, the clothes and with a hand pointing towards their home, “Share it with the others”, the same thing was said with the hope that they will understand better with the hand gesture.
As more faces begin appearing like mushrooms emerging from the ground after a heavy rain and more clothes were taken out from the sacks, we turned and made our way back to the barren field to flag down a few autos.
