Little Guiding Stars

Rohit with the little kid he is taking care of. 

When we reached Ram Mandir at Sulgav, we saw a teenage boy holding his grandmother's hand and gently leading her somewhere. He saw us entering the temple and quickly ran to get a plastic sheet for us to sit on and rest. He is then busy answering questions from other pilgrims. He makes quick runs to a nearby shop and gets things for pilgrims. He takes us to the place where lunch was being served. In between, he is also playing and taking care of another kid younger than him:)

His name is Rohit, and he is in class 7. Swara calls him and asks about the grandmother. He said she is blind and that she wanted to go to the temple, so he was just helping her out. We asked him, "How about serving all of us? Why do you do that?" He said, " You are doing something good. You are serving the river Narmada, and I am serving all of you.

This little tot was in his school uniform, so we inquired about the daily schedule. He said, "Before going to school at 10 am and after returning from school at 4 pm, I am at the temple. I will be late at school as the person who takes care of the temple and pilgrims has gone to the market. He gave me the charge of taking care of everything until he is back. I will tell my teacher the same thing"" :) As soon as the temple caregiver came, he took his school bag and ran off to school.

It was so amazing to see this kid tuning in to everything that was happening at the temple. We were struck by his gentleness, prompt response, mature conversation, and his inclination to serve with so much love.

In the evening, we met eight-year-old Shyam. Before responding to any of our questions,s he would

Shy, am my little teacherTake

Take these little pauses. We could sense his thoughtfulness and the genuine sharing. 

We were having dinner, and he was partly sitting with us and partly watching television. I was telling Swara that the food was a little spicy for me. 

Shya,m who was still looking at the screen,n told me as a matter of fact, " You eat what you get,t and some day if you don't get anything,g you just eat a packet of biscuits and sleep, that is how it is when you are on a pilgrimage." I did not expect anything like this coming from a kid, but yes, my youngest teacher was telling me to just go with the flow. 😊