A Journey to 25 | Day 19

During my first year of graduation, I took an initiative that I am still very proud of and when I look back at my first year, this is something that would always come first. It was a Friday. All of us were waiting for the bus near the clock tower. Our Ethics & Values course professor had arranged for an industrial visit. For other courses the term was apt but in this case, it didn’t really mean an industry. We didn’t know exactly where we were going. Unaware of the sensitivity of our destination we were enjoying our bus ride. Some playing games, others chit-chatting, some listening to music with their earphones on. That’s how usually our bus rides from college would be. After reaching the destination our professor broke the suspense. We had come to a school. A school for speech and hearing impaired. The idea was to spend some time with the kids in the school and understand how they see life. We were in for a surprise. The vibe of the whole group had shifted. Not once but twice. The first shift was towards empathy while the second was towards pure joy. The joy of looking at their smiling faces. The joy of feeling welcomed in their classrooms. The joy of interacting with them and learning the unique traits they possessed. Initially, we felt sorry for them. However, after interacting with them we were all proud. Proud of how they foresee life. Proud of their zeal for learning. Proud of their dreams and their amiable nature. It was truly a life-changing experience. That evening after coming back home I couldn’t stop thinking about the whole experience. I chose to put my thoughts into words. I ended up writing a poem. A poem conveying all my thoughts and emotions. When I was done I had tears in my eyes looking at its perfection. And that’s when an idea swung through my mind like a soft breeze. I couldn’t wait for the coming Monday to put it into action. On the following Monday, I went to my professor, the one who made this life-changing experience possible and showed my poem. My idea was to make a video for the school. I had clicked a lot of pictures from the visit and I had my poem to keep it engaging. I planned to put it into a CD and use it as a fundraiser for the school. He liked my idea of the fundraiser and doing it so creatively. He was supportive of my initiative and with his permission, I began working on the project. I was new to video editing. I didn’t know what to do, where to start. This was my passion project and I guess the very thought behind the whole thing pushed me to explore further and make something out of it. I had big ideas without any knowledge of how I could implement them. All I knew was I had to do this. And I did. I figured out everything as I progressed. I made the video. My professor liked it. I had to mass-produce CDs. I thought I could do that at home. I was trying to make a good label for the CD. It wasn’t working out well. So I decided to get help. I went to a printing shop and explained what I needed. The person over there was very helpful and we created a label for the CDs together. I placed an order of about 300 CDs. The day it was all ready and I got the CDs home, I was jumping with excitement. I had done it. It was exactly like how I imagined. I was halfway through the journey. I put the labels on each CD and packed the box to take with me to college the next day. I don’t know if the people in college were actually happy about my work or thought that I was just plain crazy. But it didn’t matter. All that mattered was I made my project a reality. I began with the fundraiser. Going around college, explaining the concept to people. While some laughed some were supportive. It took me a while but I was able to raise a good amount to help the school. I couldn’t have been happier. I handed over the money to my professor for him to officially hand over to the school through college procedures. My family was proud of me. My professor was proud of me. A few of my friends were proud of me. And most importantly, I was proud of myself. My heart was full of joy. The joy I felt on the day I decided to start this. The joy of seeing this through. The joy of being able to help one of the most amazing groups of people. The joy of being able to cherish life the way it seemed perfect.