I usually don’t post this many times on Facebook in one day, but I would really like to share this personal story with you. Yesterday, I saw a Facebook event to take part in the #RiceBucketChallenge. For those of you who do not know about this, it is an ingenious subcontinental innovation derived from the much shared and written about #IceBucketChallenge – tailored to the most dire need that WE see all around us on a regular basis: hunger. The challenge is simple: give a packet of rice to someone in need of it. (Purists will probably lobby for #RicePacketChallenge) Hanging by the back end of the crowded leguna today – making the long and slow trip back to Dhanmondi from a meeting in Baridhara, the thought of doing the RiceBucketChallenge peeked into my head. The following thought was, “I missed lunch and am so hungry! I’ll do it some other time.” I felt guilty immediately afterwards. How long would it take to do it? 15 minutes? 30? An hour? How does that compare to a lifetime of hunger? I also thought uncomfortably of the fact that people would stare at me. Then I felt guilty again. I realized these rationalizations for procrastination or possible inaction were based on nothing more than minor inconveniences. Needless to say, the experience of giving a kilo of rice each to some people was a powerful and fulfilling experience, far offsetting the “inconveniences” it caused. One old man smiled a beautiful smile at us, saying that he will get his granddaughter to cook it. He also said he will pray for us. (I ran into a bright young fellow, Rafiq, while buying the rice and we then did it together). Another man was sleeping, and looked very surprised at waking up to an unexpected gift. A mother of a mentally and physically disabled child shared her moving story of the struggles of sending Tahmid to a school for the differently abled. The recipient of our last kilo of rice was an old rickshaw puller (pictured). As we offered him a gift, he was first incredulous; then suspicious. “চ্যাংড়ামি করো?”, he challenged. (Are you messing with me?) We convinced him that we were simply saddened and moved that his age, he was still doing such a laborious job of a rickshaw puller to put food on the table. He relented, and his warm smile and warmer কোলাকুলি (a series of 3 hugs as per Islamic ritual) melted our hearts. But as I walked away from him, I couldn’t get his suspicion out of my mind. How much betrayal, hate, fraud do you have to experience in one lifetime to immediately suspect a stranger bearing a gift of trying to do you harm? So, if you are reading this, I nominate you to do the #RiceBucketChallenge. Even if you live in the so-called developed world, I assure you that you will find people who will deeply appreciate it. We don’t need the 5 (or however many tags I’m allowed) more people to do it, we need you and I and everyone else to do these random acts of kindness, not once but regularly to at least the point that it is still just merely inconvenient, not difficult. We need to do it so that no one suspects a stranger offering a gift immediately of malicious intent. We need to do it to understand what we are at risk of forgetting - that human connection transcends all divides.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 17:57:42 +0000
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