They are innocent. They love colours like other children. They want to paint their lives with colour of joy and happiness. Despite all that, they missed the most important colour, parental love, required in the life of any child that fate ran off with when they were born. The children, living in Sri Shradhanand Bal Vanita Ashram, are all set to celebrate Holi, the festival of colours, that comes with a mixed bag of emotions every year.
Talk of Holi sparked a radiance of delight on faces of seven-year-old Amit. He, looking at his friends, said, “Holi, mai to jaroor khelunga rang (Surely, I would play holi). I would paint face of my friends here. And dada ji (as secretary of the Ashram is commonly known among the children) would get colour for us.”
The little child has big future plans. “I want to be an engineer so that I can earn a lot of money to purchase plenty of colours,” he said. As he finished his sentence, his friends laughed loudly, leaving the hall filled with peels of laugher. All sixty children, including 32 boys and 28 girls, of the Ashram are case in point.
Tanu, 11, will also play colours. She likes green colour the most. “I would paint faces of my friends here. Dada ji have got gulal for us,” she said, adding that she liked the gulal most. Asked about her future plans, she instantly replied, “I want to be a doctor. I want to make a very big house where all my friends can live together.”
Anuj, a student of ninth standard, is vocal about celebration of Holi. “Get ready to be painted with the colours on Wednesday. Nobody would be spared from face painting” he said. “Hopefully, gulal would be given to us on Holi-day that would smear on faces of one another,” the boy said.
Holi is an affair of enjoying ghuzia more than playing colour for nine-year-old Aman, who innocently said, “I would get ghuzias tomorrow. So far I am aware, Dada ji would have surely done some arrangements of ghuzias for us,” he said, looking towards OP Nangia, secretary of the Ashram.
Nangia didn’t disappoint the children. “All the children would get gulal on Holi-day along with sweet dishes,” Nangia said. “We have made arrangements of special dishes for the children for Holi. Dishes would be served to them in the morning,” Nangia said. He did not forget mentioning that father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi laid foundation stone of the Ashram that tries its best to take care of interests of children.