During the soaring heat of March this year, an incident occurred that touched me very deeply. On a day that could have been easily forgotten in a blur, a small gesture made it into a very memorable one.
In my project location in Ballari (Karnataka), the JSW Foundation’s local CSR team undertakes initiatives and projects in a range of sectors- livelihood, solid waste management, arts & culture, education and so on. One such initiative was to take the students from government high schools in the nearby villages to the Inspire Institute of Sports (IIS) for an exposure visit, during the two-day ‘All India Open Throws and Jumps Competition 2023’ being held there. As a JSW Foundation fellow working with these government high schools, I was a part of this as well. It was during this exposure visit that the incident that made an impact on me occurred.
I was to coordinate the morning and afternoon batches of students during the two-day exposure visit. I accompanied the students and the teachers as they started their journeys from their respective schools, and every single time the excitement and the high energy of the boys and girls as they boarded the bus for the visit never failed to surprise me. For them, such opportunities are rare and come only by chance. But anybody could tell, more than worrying about where they were being taken to, simply having this opportunity to spend a fun time with their friends and classmates was more alluring to them. They sang songs, clapped and laughed away as the bus took them to their destination.
Standing in front of IIS’s gates, the students finally realised that they were afterall on an exposure visit- though that didn’t dampen their picnic spirits! Once they started making their way in, we were all told to maintain the decorum and not cause disturbance to the players or the ambience until we reached the athletics ground where the event was being held. But we were with a bunch of around 50 excited, high-spirited teenagers, so it was not an easy feat for the coordinators at all. After taking the visitor ID cards, we made our way to the spectator seating to watch the competitions going on there.
After being briefly told about the individual sport events that were going on, the students began to understand the games a little better. While they didn’t know the detailed rules, it was very clear on what they wanted to do- cheer up the players! For example, during the event of women’s Hammer Throw, although they didn’t know what was the current national or state record for the throw, they were immersed enough to understand that the further the throw landed, the harder they had to cheer for the player. The cheers were quite motivating to the players as the players even encouraged them to cheer louder during their respective turns. We can all attest to the fact that there is definitely some magic in sports to ignite our inner fire and passion, so this was not any less true in our case as well.
As we cheered and yelled, we were given snacks, took bathroom breaks and just bathed in the moment that was so different from our usual routines. I even took the girls in small groups to the washroom which was located in a different area. As the place was something very new and had a distinct aesthetic, the girls especially were very conscious of their surroundings and took caution before doing anything. So when I took them to the washroom, they were all very hesitant as the facilities there were something they had never used before. Some girls went to the bathroom stall but became unnerved and came back without using the toilet. This often happens with all of us, especially in a new environment where we’re clueless on how things work, but I guess this is why exposure is important, it allows you to experience a new world, become familiar with it and expand your worldview.
The IIS staff then took the students on a campus tour. The excitement was impossible to miss as they visited the museum, training base for Judo, Wrestling and Boxing, and the various buildings for the sportspersons. Whenever they came across a sportsperson on the way, they never failed to click pictures with them or convey goodwill wishes. A huge countdown timer for Paris Olympics 2024 surely grabbed all of our attention- the kind of dedication it takes to achieve something was so simply conveyed to us all through it.
After all this, it was finally time for the students to board the bus back to their schools. As I stood at the side, sending off the students back to their bus in a line, one-by-one they shook my hand and thanked me. I got flustered and baffled! I was flustered, because I felt like I didn’t do anything to deserve their gratitude, I had only coordinated the exposure visit.
But this happened not just with one batch of students, but with all the batches. It was something that was so sincere and heartfelt- nobody had asked them to do it, nor was it required. So their gesture greatly baffled me. To think that each group of students were moved enough from this exposure visit to show gratitude freely, meant that they surely did take something out of the visit. A few students who played sports in various district level or taluka level competitions had already expressed that they had received inspiration, but to think that such a short but significant visit to a renowned sports institution could touch all of their hearts, was truly motivating.
A thought suddenly popped up in my head as I shook their hands, “Ah, this must be why people like to work in the development sector!” The feelings of gratitude that were conveyed to me through their happy faces and enthusiastic handshakes remain with me even now. Although for me it was an ordinary exposure visit, the fact that for somebody else it could be a deeply inspiring and life-changing experience, made me realise how much just a little initiative or effort can go in touching people’s lives. This incident keeps motivating me whenever I need it and has become an incident close to my heart.
I’ll end this with a question for you all to ponder upon- what’s a story that inspires you?
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