My Wish by AMANDEEP (blogger)

SOURCE: Amandeeps's Blog 

Today I experienced a sense of complete peace and serenity through the eyes of a 17 months old girl, Swechchha -- my wish...

I entered the room in Matri Chhaya that was reserved for the older children, or "bade bachche" as they called them. These older children turned out to be babies in the age group of 7-12 months. With the exception of Swechchha who, at 17 months, sat amongst them feeding herself a pomegranate with the incredible expertise of a grown up. She looked at me, I smiled, she smiled back and instantly I knew a bond was formed!

Matri Chhaya is an institute of the Sewa Bharti trust and provides a home to homeless infants -- lost, disowned and orphaned babies. People leave babies in a cradle outisde the home, ring the bell and disappear, and they are welcomed in the Matri Chhaya family, looked after and are adopted by childless couples.

I visited this place today and met the babies. There were three rooms with cradles lined against the walls. One room was assigned to the older babies, one to the middle aged babies (middle age here happens to be between 2 to 7 months), and the third room was for the new born ones. It was so heartbreaking to see so many homeless infants. And the saddest part was that even today, most of those abandoned children were girls -- unwanted female children!

After spending some time with the little ones I was sitting in the visitor's room talking to the institute's in charge when Swechchha toddled into the room and stood in front of me. She was brought to Matri Chhaya in December by the district police after they found her all alone on a roadside, apparently abandoned by family. She looked up at me with huge and the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen!

I smiled and extended a hand towards her. After hesitating for a moment she very delicately held it and stepped closer to me. With an overwhelming surge of love I took her in my arms and kissed her cheeks and forehead. She instantly slipped her arms around my neck and buried her face in my shoulder and started cooing softly... after a few moments she looked into my eyes, and fixing her gaze there, arms still around my neck, moved her face closer and rested her forehead against mine... and she smiled... An incredibly innocent and loving smile... 

That was the most blissful feeling that I have ever experienced... That unconditional love, the contentment of being loved even if it was just momentary and the joy that I saw in those eyes at that moment was worth more than anything else in the world...

I had wanted to spend a few hours over every weekend with those babies... but some figures of authority in my part of the world prohibit me from doing that, for their own reasons... I don't know if I'll be able to go again, but I've left a part of me there with Swechchha, and every child who looked at me with those loving and longing eyes. 

They will be in my heart and in my prayers always... And I'm ever so thankful to God almighty for all the love and loved ones that He has blessed me with.