I should say I am pretty hard-boiled, having worked for many years in the field of clinical biochemistry—that too, for the first few years as a technical assistant collecting blood specimens from a variety of patients, which has inured me to the hardships of disease. But what I experienced on the 3rd of April wrenched my gut! My friends Ajit and Raja, who are connected with a leading restaurant, wanted to do something for children who were really deserving. My wife Asha, who is the President of the Child Welfare Committee and in charge of many such children’s facilities, suggested feeding the children who were in a special home for the HIV-positive. So we decided to do that. She also suggested that it was not just giving them something that was important, but also making them feel that they were loved. So, on the day of providing them food, we also decided to visit them and see for ourselves.

There are two such shelters for the HIV-positive children under her supervision—one for the boys and the other for girls. The smaller ones are accommodated along with the girls, who also take care of them. There were 24 in the girls’ home and 36 in the boys’. It was a really moving experience for the three of us who were going there for the first time. The children were like all others of their age group: affectionate, playful, and naughty. They were very thankful that someone had given them good food to eat. On the day we had gone, their school vacations were about to start. Piped up a little one—that her maternal uncle was coming to take her home; another one said that her grandmother would come; so did a third one! Some of them who had no one to take them, however, put up a brave face and conveyed that they were going to stay there itself, as if it was their considered decision and not thrust upon them! Suddenly, the President of the CWC, who happens to be my wife Asha, was quite stern—she ordered the person in charge that if anyone were to take them home, they would have to submit an application, appear personally before her, and bring them back a week before the school reopens. They also had to see that their medication was properly administered.

All of them had two things in common—one was that they were HIV-positive, and the other was that they had been abandoned by society. There were a few babies found in dustbins, orphans whose parents had died, and some with one parent dead and the other not able to take care of the child. They had all been infected at birth and doomed to a short life despite the medication. In fact, there was no one in the institution who was above 18. There are special rooms provided in the facility for taking care of them when they have minor ailments, and also nurses to tend to them. One good thing was that all of them were going to school, and only government schools, because no school can refuse admission to such a child. First, we went to the girls’ home where the older girls were tending to the youngest ones. There was one baby who had been thrown in a dustbin. There were quite a few pre-schoolers and a few attending junior college, too! Several were not keeping well and had been hospitalised. We were greeted with great affection by these children, who thanked us for having given them that day’s meals.

Then we went to the boys’ home where they were all busy in one room. They were all being given their ART medicine at that time. The stories of the boys, too, were similar. However, as boys tend to be, they wanted to play the rough sorts of games that boys usually play. There were some facilities like a sandpit, seesaws, swings, and such. When we wanted to photograph them with the donors of that day’s meals, we had to ask them to turn their backs, as their privacy has to be maintained. They were quite sad that they were being asked to do that! However, soon after, I made them pose together and photographed them with their smiling faces, which I would have loved to show, but cannot due to the above reason. When I showed them the monitor, they were so delighted and were arguing with each other as to whose pose was better! They, too, fall ill, and when their immune systems get weak, the cycle of hospitalisation and death is the same as for the girls.

The three of us were very much moved by the experience and found it very difficult to control our emotions. Fighting back our tears, we came out, and I remembered the motto of the Roman gladiators: We who are to die young salute thee! However, these young gladiators were doomed since they were born, thanks to their careless parents and shunned by a callous society. The sadness was in knowing that all of them are doomed to die in a few years, and yet they were not aware of that and were living happy lives like all children of their age. We were told that there has been a cut in the grants to this home run by an organisation called CARDTS. Would you like to make them happy or like to contribute something directly to them? We could cooperate with you in making their short lives a little sweeter and happier.