Touhid

Bridging The Empathy Gap

Touhid

“Touhid, time to get up!” I opened my eyes, tossed aside the Steve Jobs book that I had fallen asleep reading, and quickly got myself ready for school. I smiled as I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I looked good. My uniform had hardly a crease, my hair was neatly combed, and I was ready for another day at school.

One day that uniform would be a suit. I’d be looking even sharper and I’d be a CEO. CEO Touhid. I took a seat behind my Dad on his scooter and we headed off to school. I embraced the rush of the wind on my face and began my usual routine of taking in all the sights and sounds of Satara. Our city is usually teeming with life – today was no exception.

I could see so many people taking to the streets: chai walahs, fruit walahs, children playing, and bullocks being escorted too. My eyes finally rested upon a few people sitting on the corner of the street. People without a home. The elderly, the disabled, the sick. Just sitting there with nowhere else to go. I don’t understand why our situations are so different. Why I have education and a healthy life and these people don’t. It’s often easy for me to ignore and forget about the pain in our community, but I find it always comes back to my mind.

There’s an elderly home we pass on the way to school. But I think it’s hardly a home; the people in there are always unhappy. I spent time with one such lady who recently passed away. She told me how she didn’t receive proper food or medical attention, and I heard that she ended up not eating in an effort to take her own life.

I want to set up a home for the elderly one day. Not just any home, but a happy home. A place each person feels is like his or her actual home. Where people can be well looked after, enjoy their time, and live joyful lives. I’ve wanted to start spending some time in the elderly home here to connect with the elderly and learn more about their situation.

It’s been hard to find time to do so though. I come home from school around 3 and then freshen up and have lunch until 4. From 4 - 6 and again from 6:30 – 8, I study and do my homework. From 6 - 6:30, I take a quick break to read the news and books, and sometimes I watch TV. At 8, I help my mother with housework, from 8:30 - 9:30 we have dinner, and I sometimes watch 30 minutes of TV before bed.

My eyes continued to rest on the group of sick elders as my dad waited for the signal to turn green. Everyone walking past ignored their pleas for money. Everyone seemed to look down upon them. I thought back to what my mother taught me about the sick. She used to be a nurse for many years.

Whenever she had a patient, her attitude was always “this is my patient, and I must cure them”, unlike many who seem to think, “if he is facing challenges, why should I bother curing him?” Everyone deserves equal opportunities. Everyone deserves to be happy. When I am older I also want to set up a home where mentally challenged and disabled children can come and just be kids. Somewhere they can play games, learn, and enjoy their lives. I want to get a PhD too and cure people of rare diseases. Whatever it takes for each person to have access to equal opportunities, I am up for it!

We arrived at school with a few minutes to spare. Our school is at the base of some hills. There’s a beautiful view from the top overlooking the city and some of the surrounding villages too. My mother comes from one of these villages. I met a boy in her village once who didn’t go to school.

When I talked to him, I found out that education was available and free, but no one seemed to value it. This particular boy just wanted to spend his days playing and even preferred chores over school. Many parents even say, “What is the point of school? Why does my boy need to go? He’s not working on my farm; he’s just playing. We don’t have enough money. There is no need to go to school; he can learn agriculture and work on the farm”.

I was asking my Dad recently about how much it costs to go to school and how this compares to how much money one of these boys would make if they didn’t attend school. He told me travel fees to get to a school could easily be 1500 INR yearly. Uniform and shoes could cost 1000 INR, notebooks would cost another 100 INR, exam fees cost 600 INR or so for 6 months, and stationery and other bits and pieces could easily come to 500 INR a year. On the flip side, if one of these boys worked in a restaurant or helped on the farm, they could make 100 INR a day.

I am grateful I get a wonderful and practical education. I want to learn as much as I can, study as a software engineer in the US one day, and then come back and help my community. I want to help my people, and I want to be a CEO too!