The Dawn of Bajra Cares
The team capped off the prior night with a gleeful message from Sandesh dai
Let’s meet outside Banasthali school at 7:45 AM
followed by Roman dai’s screenshot that showed he had set three different alarms for the next morning.
Sandesh dai arrived at 8:15 AM whilst Roman dai arrived close to 9.
Thrilled by our arrival, Manavsewa residents greeted us with warm tea and smiles. Although now that I look back to it, perhaps their smiles had a hint of dubiousness since they had a massive chore list for us which was rather taxing to our physique.
Rallying behind the lead of The Great Sandesh dai, we divided teams based on the chores and promptly went at it. The masterful kitchen help from Shanta, Seema, Dipti, and Prajwal was much appreciated by the team. I do firmly believe that Prajwal played a big role in overcooking rice. The next team was ardently shoveling dirt and pebbles. The day was so hot that Ratish dai and Suprim left their sweat taps on; one could create a desert oasis with it. Anita di and Jenny, who also helped with the intense shoveling work, appeared to be allergic to rest. They endlessly picked up stones and cleared the gravel.
The emphatic ‘heavy lifting’ team was held back by the lack of tools. Roman dai and Prashant sweet-talked their way into borrowing some tools which finally enabled their task. They started dismantling all the heavy beds, took them to their assigned spots, and assembled them again. Ramu and Sudeep added a ton of muscles carrying all the beds to the roof. Oh, and Sandesh dai suffered a minor cut on his forehead from a nail. There was a meticulous argument on whether he should get a Tetanus shot. Sandesh dai had firmly decided not to get a shot but his decision was swiftly changed once Bhauju showed up later with her superior debate skills.
Serving food to the residents was a different beast. Whether it was because they had brand new residents, or whether they wanted to take advantage of our cute innocent faces, it was chaos. The troops amassed enough skill to each be a highly vetted line server. After the dining debacle was dealt with, we moved on to cleaning the entire living quarter. The team’s diligence and teamwork were on full display. The only sad part was Jenny changing her mind on jumping through the window.
Done and dusted! We cleaned ourselves up, took a bunch of pictures, turned Ramu into Nepal’s next top model, and bid our farewell to the residents of Manavsewa. Alas, we were challenged with the most difficult question humanity has ever faced, “Where shall we go eat?”. After a thorough discussion in the middle of the road full of Google maps, bouncing ideas, spot recommendations and more, we decided to make our way to Tukuche at Naxal. The only thing missing in our mid-road Bajra Cares Standup? Gang Jackets to signify just how much we looked like a biker gang.
Navigation is difficult, as it was proved by the set of Prashant, Jenny, Roman dai, and Anita di as they ended up going God knows where. Sandesh dai, on the other hand, dawned a new name of Punam who apparently was also a team of 14, much like us, and had made a reservation. Punam’s got nothin’ on Sandesh y’all. ( Punam was a no show)
With a full heart and a full stomach, we headed to Golfutar Basketball Court where Avinash dai was awaiting our arrival. Energized and excited, we divided ourselves among teams and started a game that was supposed to be basketball. It was…..interesting to say the least. We all had fun is what matters. We saw glimpses of head table tennis mastery from the lads and some world-class badminton targeting from Seema. We were pleasantly surprised by the crate of doughnuts Avinash dai brought along and some warm tea. After a closing photoshoot, where model Ramu shined yet again, we called it a day and parted our ways.
On my way back home I figured out the reason behind the immense traffic jam in the city; Jenisha Bogati.
The kickoff of Bajra Cares was all smiles, bonding, and an acute sense of accomplishment.
