I saw her early in the morning, a small, tentative woman. She would come close to the truck for a short while then retreat, afraid to have hope. I knew by her manner she would not be on the list for a blanket. She tried to tell the list-makers to include her name also in […]
You can not simply drive to a village with an open heart and start handing out blankets. It would cause a riot. Instead, we rely on “The List”, a hand written record of all the village families. Depending on the accuracy and integrity of the Panch (Village Mayor), his list will ensure a fair and […]
It is the end of the road. The edge of nowhere. Vast marshland receding into Wular Lake. Aid comes slowly, if at all to Baneyari. Nearly 10,000 people live here, scraping a meager existence from the land and water. At first hostile as they thought we were government, but they soon warmed as they realized […]
Laharwalpora was an area that had its structures under water for more many days. Long queue of people gathered in no time as soon as we started or medical camp there. After those dreadful waves of flood, soothing waves of Amma’s love and compassion was reaching out to this village via the medical camp. For […]
The trucks had come ahead of us. Just as the sun was setting, we stepped out into a pool of Kashmiri faces which surged upon us. Concerned for my safety as a foreigner, there were frantic shouts of “Get him back in the car”. Our jeep retreated to the edge of the crowd. What to […]
Kulhama was another village devastated with floods in the Kasmir valley. As the team of our doctors arrived there, the smile on the people’s faces charged us up. A health sub centre at Kulhama was where we were asked to start the medical camp. Some local people offered their help for patient registrations. Soon the […]
Amma has sent thousands of blankets to Kashmir. Delayed in the same traffic jam that stopped our medical vehicles, they have just arrived as the weather is turning colder. District Magistrate Shah Faesal is directing us to more remote villages where people have received no aid at all. We pass large areas around Lake Wullar […]
Called the most glamorous city in the world, and famous for its sophisticated culture, residents of Paris lined up for hours to receive a quick hug from a spiritual teacher from a far away country, born in an obscure fishing village. Although many were coming for the first time, Amma didn’t seem to be unknown […]
While some of our doctors started seeing patients in Sub district hospital, others were directed to Primary Health Center in Ashtangoo. After an hour of drive, the team went through an uphill trek. Our team of doctors started patient diagnosis and disbursing the medicines. Soon we were directed to another area in plains – Ashtangoo […]