There is a quote by my favorite philosopher Albert Camus – ‘You cannot create experience, you must undergo it.’ And I have lived all my life in pursuit of such experiences where I could submit myself to the people around me and feel the contentment of living my life in those moments. My recent visit to the Shivganaga Vrudhashram gave me exactly the same experience, thanks to the Odser volunteers who I got connected with through their Instagram handle.
Being familiar with the excitement of doing something new for the first time and having heard of Odser and how professional they are with all of their announced or launched programmes, I was extremely satisfied with the smooth conduct of the visit. I absolutely loved how it was evident from the faces and gestures of the senior citizens of the Vrushashram that the senior citizens have a lot of things to look forward to when the Odser volunteers visit them every Sunday. And the niceties of seeing the cheerful faces of such senior citizens are complemented with the schedule of activities you make as you do it by the book. Like my partner volunteer, I gave a rose to a grandpa the moment I entered the place and said ‘hello I have brought this rose for you.’
One of the loveliest experiences of the visit was how I demonstrated the origami paper plane making and seeing how they all attentively complied, with the usual chatter of looking at each other’s creations and titles and the laughter it brought with it. The brief moments that passed between the activities showed how I was really enjoying myself around them. A grandma, while talking to me, revealed how good she is with palmistry as later she read my palm. Another grandma told me how she loves reading the traditional mythology and how reading should never stop. I was absolutely amazed to see the creativity they all had when all of them were given the sketching papers and crayons, one grandma drew a doctor and a nurse, another one drew a very special avant-garde bird, and one grandma was filling the colours in the given boxes so precisely and so perfectly that it motivated me to take up the crayons and start filling the colours.
It would be an understatement to say that the team-work and organization of Odser-Hadapsar volunteers was wonderful. The team-leaders, junior ambassadors, etc. have shown me how exactly the NGO teams work diligently for every visit and carry out every activity. The brief interactions I had with the volunteers was what I really needed to understand how those who devote their time and energy for the social causes (like this Odser program) have successfully integrated their personal life goals with their ambitions for society. And working in the same enthusiastic vibes, my visit turned out to be unforgettable. I owe a lot of it to the volunteers who worked with me.
The real joy, though abundantly present in the activities while teaching them how to make a slant fold to make an origami plane or holding their hand when they write their name on their coloured papers, was profoundly present in the small moments when I realized how they anticipate in every moment something exclusively cheerful in our company and how during the brief moments we both felt the warmth of each other’s words. I never knew such amazing storytellers are right around us in our society and I never knew I could be such a curious audience, wanting to hear more about Astrology, books, and their other professional life experiences. It was extremely adorable how they always wanted to talk more and it made me really -really overwhelmed with the opportunity of working with Odser for a day. And quite honestly, it was an experience I would love to have again.
Omkar Ingale
Visiting Volunteer for Odser
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