Brick Walls

        Hey there! I apologise for not posting anything on the blog for a little while. I’m posting this now because I wanted to update readers about what is going on, on the Nanda ma’am and Nilesh front. After Nilesh’s second disappearance it was decided that I would try and connect with Nanda ma’am and pay no attention to Nilesh. We assumed that in doing so Nilesh would later desire attention and voluntarily join our meetings and as such the whole experience would be fruitful for not only Nilesh and me, but Nanda ma’am as well.

         Here too certain problems arose. I was to meet Nanda ma’am during the time of Navratri but somehow she always had a reason not to participate. I was getting the hint, so I probed further and she revealed to me her worries about what people would say about this young man who was coming to meet her almost everyday. She was afraid of the questions people in the slum would ask. After all, however much we may proclaim our own independence, we are all afflicted (to a certain degree) with society’s constant gaze and policing. Why should the case be any different for her?

        And so Nanda ma’am displayed resistance to our efforts- a resistance to change. Change is indeed a very difficult thing, but absolutely necessary. So then we’ve reached a Brick Wall. However, as Randy Pausch (lecturer from Carnegie Melon famous for "The Last Lecture") once said - "Brick walls are there for a reason. They help us prove (and learn) how badly we want something."

Hope we can clamber up this brick wall and move forward.

Will write again soon, Auf Wiedersehen.