Flower of Paradise

From being left to die on the road, Suma had come a long way to become the director of the ‘Young Flower Orphanages’. The orphanage, of which she also had been the first inmate, had seen phenomenal growth since the time Suma took helms. And then came the announcement of being the youngest ever recipient of the Indian Technology Industry for Social Responsibility (ITISR), the prestigious award for social work, all at the age of 30. This story was too good to resist. Within a short period of time she had become a darling of the media. Just when future looked bright for this New Kid on the Block, she did the unthinkable. She declined to receive the very award for which she had gained recognition. And she did it in style; she walked off the stage in the middle of the ceremony.

This news spread like wildfire. A twitter escaped from the very auditorium few moments after Suma had walked off. It was picked by a couple of news-blogs by evening, and was on in the main stream media next day. Nothing can be more ‘chewy’ than the fall of a rising star.
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20 years ago.... It had been a usual morning for Mrs Kumar. She always woke up an hour before her husband and took a quick morning walk along the tree lined avenues of Bangalore. This was 1990, the technology industry which was to transform this sleepy city into a bustling megalopolis was still in its infancy. And the roads of Jayanagar were still lined with giant ancient trees.

As she approached the gate with quick strides, she noticed a little girl in an half sitting/half sleeping position along the compound wall. A security guard was trying to wake her, but had so far failed to obtain a reaction.

Mrs Kumar soon found out that the child had high fever and was in a fever induced delirium. With the help of the security guard, Mrs Kumar quickly moved the girl into safety of her own house and called for her family physician. Doctor’s verdict half an hour later was that fever was the symptom of food poisoning and treatment had to be started immediately to prevent permanent damage.

It took two days before the fever reduced. When the girl was strong enough to tell her name, a search was made in the neighbourhood first then the issue was taken up with the police, but nobody seemed to be searching for a lost girl named Suma. Suma in the meanwhile was trying her best not to reveal her past. She seemed to prefer the sight of the kindly Mrs Kumar to her own family. Finally after a fortnight, Mrs. Kumar gave up trying to return Suma to her family.

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Monika Gupta. Aged 33. Wife of Mr. Saurabh Gupta who had recently returned from US to build the Indian office of the MNC he worked for. Mother of a 5-year old boy and a homemaker by profession. She was also the reason why Suma was in the city and not in the village where she grew up. Monika had explained Suma’s presence to her kitty party friends thus, 'I got Suma to city so that she can get good education. The schools they have in villages are so dirty. Also, she can help me with small chores. You know how difficult it is to raise a kid now-a-days.'

The second part was true atleast initially. For some weeks Suma had light work of taking care of ‘Golu’, Monika’s child. But that changed when Monika realised Suma’s true value, as a maid who was completely under her control. Day after the kitty party, the maid assigned for washing utensils fell sick (intentionally, Suma realised later) and Suma was requested to help with the washing of sink full of utensils. Within 4 months, the regular maid was fired and Suma was entrusted with the old maid’s duties till a new one could be found. New one was not found for next 1.5 years.

The ‘schooling’ part of the Monika’s statement was never true. For 6 months Suma was not admitted to any school, it being close to end of academic year. Later when she was actually admitted, the school turned out to be much worse than her village school. The teachers were sadistic, the facilities bare and teaching pathetic. Adding to that, Suma’s regular duties made her irregular at the school. Helping Monika was always higher priority. And Suma anyway was not expected to study once back from school. Thus Suma slowly became dejected and nobody noticed when she stopped attending the school entirely by the end of the 6 months.

The only saving grace in that house for Suma was the food. Suma could eat on the same table with Gupta’s and the same food as well. Well, almost daily. There were days when the family ate out, sometimes Suma was asked to accompany if it was a private affair. However when a party was being arranged by someone else, Suma was generally left out. Monika took care to get something packed for the girl on their way back which would be cold by the time Suma had time to eat. Suma was not allowed to cook when she was the only one to eat at home and had to eat the stale food from the hotel, which was atleast once a week.

On a particular weekend, Monika had to attend a function. Saurabh being out of town, Monika asked Suma to stay at home and guard it. There was leftover food from previous day which Suma could eat. Monika intended to come back the same day, but insistence by friends made her stay over that night and she returned back only by Sunday evening. When Suma did not answer her doorbells, Monika used her keys to open the door only to find Suma lying in the drawing room floor too weak to even get up. Monika panicked.

While she tried to get Suma to the car, Monika cursed a thousand times. ‘Saurabh is always missing when something like this happens!’. She got Suma to a local hospital where a junior doctor checked Suma.‘Its a case of food poisoning. What did she eat?” the doctor asked. Monika was upset. She remembered that she had left some chicken and some bread in the fridge. Chicken was left over from a packed dinner on friday. And today was Sunday. She knew that she will be blamed if something goes wrong.

Assuring the doctor that she would get Suma admitted in another hospital, Monika got herself and Suma into the car. She drove for sometime around the area, not knowing what to do. Suddenly impulsively she stopped her car and got down. The area was completely unknown to her. It was dark and silent, except for some dogs howling far away. She asked Suma to get down. Suma responded after 2 commands. Monika helped Suma get down, made her sit down on a stone nearby, got into the car and drove away. This was near mid night. Suma was found the next day after 6 AM.

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Mrs. Meenakshi Kumar was in her early 40’s. She was tall, slender and graceful. She kept short hair and a beautiful smile. On seeing Mrs. Kumar, Suma had assumed for some time that she had died and a fairy was standing in front of her.

For 7 days Suma lay on the hospital bed thinking. She had spoken only once till now, to tell her name. She had developed a distrust for anybody and everybody and was looking at passing doctors and nurses suspiciously.

She hated the Gupta’s and she hated her parents more. Her father had sold her to those monsters. And her letters which cried for help remained unanswered. Suma was angry, she was adamant and had decided not to go back home ever. Suma felt that she was unwanted there anyway.

From the hospital Suma was directly taken to Mrs. Kumar’s house. There Mrs. Kumar tried her best to ask about Suma’s home but failed as decisively as all her previous attempts. This event finally precipitated a long standing desire of Mrs. Kumar of helping the under-previleged and the ‘Young Flower Orphanage’ was inaugurated 6 months later, with Suma being its first inmate. Untill then and even later, Suma lived with Mrs. Kumar.

In time Suma regained first her health, then her spirits. Yet even after one year she would not tell anything about her past, except in bits and pieces. Mrs. Kumar, who by then had got busy in managing the orphanage, let the matter at rest. Yet she suspected something. Suma in the meanwhile was attending school again. In the spare time she was also helping with small tasks of the orphanage. Though technically Suma was an inmate of the orphanage, in practice she was more a partner in managing the institution.

It must be 2 years since the fateful day since rebirth of Suma. During their usual after dinner conversation Mrs. Kumar mentioned that a new girl will be joining the orphanage soon. Mrs Kumar informed Suma that the girl was around the same age as Suma and had a tragic past. Suma got interested and wanted to know more about her.

‘She is daughter of a small farmer, one who rents farms from the others and grows food. She had a happy childhood or rather happy initial childhood. Because the situation in her family got worse. No, it did not get worse because her father was a drunkard or a gambler. He is a decent man even today and tried his best. But somethings are out of our hands.’

‘A new trend started few years ago when somebody discovered a new cash crop. First a few farmers gave up growing traditional food crops for this new crop because it gave them big returns. This initial movement of few farmers soon turned into a revolution of sorts in the whole region. The girl’s father was not greedy for money, but then because others started getting bigger returns per acre, the rents for the farm of that area increased. So finally reluctantly he also shifted his crop to this new cash crop.’

‘However there is nothing like free food in this world, and this was no different. The girls father fell ill and had to take a lot of medicines. It has now been proved that the pesticides are the cause, but that was not known at that time. This crop required lethal pesticides. The cost of medicine had almost bankrupted the family. They did not have enough to eat. The girl did not know about this situation as she was young and her parents did their best to keep her ignorant. Many nights they used to sleep hungry so that their children could get enough food.’

‘Then one day the girl’s father met an old friend. The friend had settled in the city and was in the village on a mission for his boss. His boss and his wife, a young couple with a small child, wanted to support a girl child from a village. They intended to raise the child with them, send her to school and in general take care of her. The girl’s father saw an opportunity here and when he was satisfied with the couple, he struck a deal and sent the girl away with the family.’

‘But the farmer and his child had a raw deal. The girl was mistreated in the house. They even received a letter from the girl to take her back. But the farmer had again fallen ill and could not reach in time. When they finally arrived, the girl had run away and nobody knew where.’

Suma was sobbing by now and Mrs. Kumar had hugged her tightly. Suma had recognised this as her own story, there cannot be another tragedy like this. Mrs. Kumar consoled the girl.

That very weekend Suma was reunited with her family.
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Even before Suma was made the director of the institution, Suma had expanded the orphanage to support twice as many children. Most importantly she had garnered a strong support base of donors among the young professionals who were flocking the city. She assured them complete transparency in the operations of the institute, they in return not only donated money and volunteered for the institution, they also introduced their friends thus expanding the support base. And when this award was announced, everybody felt that now nobody could stop Suma from achieving her dreams.

Then Suma declined the award and the same people who were praising her, started denouncing her. There was speculation whether she had become arrogant due to the success. Another camp speculated that this was a publicity stunt. All the goodwill generated by the Institute and by Suma had vanished into thin air overnight. Donors would vanish soon and the institute could not survive for long. It seemed everything was doomed.

A week later, invitations were sent out by Mrs. Kumar to their biggest donors and volunteers. The invitation did not mention any agenda, yet nobody suspected it to be anything other than an effort to save the reputation.

The event was held in a big hall in the orphanage. It was a simple setting; the fans were rotating at full speed. The stage was empty, yet there was pin drop silence. Slowly Suma walked to the microphone on the podium. She was welcomed with hostile silence.

‘It was a magnificent event; both the award ceremony and the high-tea/reception which preceded it.’ Suma started talking all of a sudden as if picking up a incomplete conversation.

‘Who’s who of technology industry were there along with their spouses. I was the guest of honor and everybody made it a point to come chat with me. Most of them also explained to me how I deserved the award and the work I did, the honesty and the dedication should serve as a role model for today’s youth. Many of them had also got a bouquet in my honor.’

‘At the end of the reception, when it was time for the award ceremony to start, I chanced to look into the room where the bouquets were stored. They had filled up a small room. I was getting uneasy, but decided not to embarrass the audience and I played along.’

‘On the stage, the ceremony started and a speaker introduced me.

“And in the short span of 20 years, a girl who was lying on the road, helpless, deserted by her parents, had become one of the leading figures, raising help to support other helpless children. However this is only the reactive part of her work.”

“We all recognise along with her that although helping children who have nobody to care for is a noble duty, the child will be at its happiest in his/her own family. And most of the times the family does not desert the child for the sake of it, they are forced to. Suma herself would not have been an orphan, if her father had not gotten ill due to use dangerous levels of pesticides. She now campaigns around India in limiting the use of such chemicals in the farming sector and above all, generating awareness among the consumers not to buy such products which impact the farmers and their families.”

And at that moment I realized the reason for my unease. The members of organization which has analyzed my work to judge whether I deserve the prestigious award have to be aware that major target of my ‘proactive’ campaigning has been the growth of ‘Flower’ Farming. Flower is one of the few crops which needs very dangerous chemicals to be sprayed.

And I had been ‘Honored’ by a room full of bouquets, each and every flower of which would have been grown in one of the flower farms. They should have known that it was one such flower farm where my father had toiled for many years. And it was the custom of giving such useless bouquets that had turned me into an orphan. At that moment I could not bear sitting there anymore.

I know that some members present in that auditorium are doing more for the society than many other people in this country. But I expect them to be aware of the work for which they are honoring me. They were not honoring me in that auditorium, rather they were honoring my work. And they were not ignorant of the campaign, yet they never gave a thought to connect my work with their actions.

Every bouquet contributes to create an orphan and hence creating the necessity of one such donor. In their smugness they forgot that social responsibility does not end by giving part of their income back to the society, rather it starts with it. I will accept such an award only when I can influence the minds of the people to act responsibly towards the society. A person whose actions prevent an orphan from coming into being is thousand times more valuable than a person giving away all his wealth for supporting orphans.”

And Suma stopped talking as suddenly as she had started. The only sound in the room was that of fans spinning at full speed. Suma was no longer looking at the audience. She had turned back and had crossed half the podium. At that moment, Mrs. Kumar then in her 60s, walked up to her on the stage and embraced her. There was a huge applause. The audience had accepted her thoughts and they had pardoned her for walking out on the award.

Suma and the Young Flower Orphanage never looked back from that moment.