Shoes of hope...Happy Feet!

On our last day in Kathmandu we became part of a unique project. One that touched our souls and lightened our feet. Wandering for gifts in Thamel we were accosted by a group of volunteers from the World Hope Asia & Africa Foundation supported by Microsoft as part of the Art Miles Project. In the middle of a market square a box of white keds lay open and volunteers in yellow jackets asked passers by to participate in “painting shoes for Nepali children at work in various industries.” Eager to learn more my son Sahil, his friend Rishu and me stopped to ask what the initiative was all about. It seems each year the volunteer activity picks one nation from the Developing World. Thosands of white keds land in the country, to be painted, tagged and sent off to some grateful hapless child, earning his daily bread and a square meal for his family through his daily toil, never setting sight on a school, a classroom, participating in an assembly line or enjoying the cumbersome routine of completing homework and scurrying to class early every morning.
We painted a pair each—Sahil, Rishu and me. Leaving simple message cards tied to the shoelaces in the hope that someone would read them and be warmed by the love in the effort. Sahil scribbled: “May this shoe reach the person who is in need of it. Love n Peace” Rishu scribbled –“Best wishes n Love” It took maybe half an hour, forty-five minutes from our day but left us with a really “Feel Good” memory of the effort. And on my return I often wonder which child will be trudging to work in brightly coloured rainbow-hued keds with a message written on the front—“With Love from India”

A self respecting artist

A self respecting artist...
He sat there on the cold pavement. Barely in his teens and bare in his vest—deftly holding a pen in his mouth and outlining on a cheap A4 sheet. His legs—or what was left of them—stumps stretched out before him, his crutches beside. Another intelligent beggar boy making the most of his disability to make an earning by the roadside, I thought as I passed him by at first without much notice. I was in a rush to explore the spirit of Kathmandu on my first day in the city after 30 years.
On my return that evening he was there still, the painting however complete and by his side, surrounded by passersby. This time I stopped to read the handwritten notice below his painting begun that morning. Now complete and ready beside him with several others. I stopped to read it...and thus it read: Namaste. My name is Anand Kumar Paswan. I am 15 years old and I have no hands and one foot since birth. I make paintings here every morning and auction them in the evening. The money thus collected goes towards my school fee and living....”
Before I knew it the “auction” had started. Tourists passing by stopped too like me—most , like me, out of curiosity. At the end of the day, as the daylight faded, Anand had sold all his paintings for the day. He beckoned an auto, stood up without help on his crutches and made his way home, his pastels and day’s earnings collected in his bag. A wide smile on his lips...
The next day he was there again...on that cold pavement...making the outline of another painting... starting another day—hopeful, resilient, optimistic! In more ways than one he summed up the spirit of Kathmandu for me—proud, resilient and optimistic! Today and always!

Travel tales---

Starting with an update of stories collected through travels--- to interest, touch, move, humour---whatever. Hope I can persuade some friends on Facebook to follow my blog.