Diwali, orphanages, and acts of 'charity'

If i was an orphaned kid living in an orphanage, and if a group of strangers decide to celebrate Diwali with me(and the other inmates), i'll start wondering "What do they think we are? A distraction available once a year to make people feel good about themselves?". But i am not in that kid's shoes, and cant begin to imagine his mindset.

Folks from my company celebrated Diwali last evening with the kids of a home for orphaned and handicapped children. I did not go because such acts look like sacrilege to me. I call it sacrilege because it is a one-evening-stand, an indulgence whose motive needs some more soul searching. The recipe for the kids' 'evening of joy' was crackers, chocolates and games. In the din of the ensuing Diwali our folks will forget the kids, the kids will forget our folks. Life will go on.

I do beleive in the idea of taking some social responsibilities. It is not a level playing field to start with. Some are lucky to have parents who think, educating their kid is important. (besides, that kid was plainly lucky to just have parents around to fend for it when it was a child). Some are'nt. There are organisations that make an honest attempt to show such kids a way. The idea of able people helping out these organisations monetarily and/or otherwise, to
carry on their jobs, appeals to me. I am not romantic enough to think that if a penniless, parentless kid is relentless enough, it would go from the streets to the banks without help. Such cases may exist, but that cannot be an excuse to shy away from what we could possibly do. But there is something about the idea of a bunch of strangers spending an evening with orphaned or handicapped children that does not ring right.

I might be totally wrong here. Folks from my company say that it was nice to see those kids laugh and play and burst crackers and do such rosy things. Such intermittent sun shines(?) in those kids' life is probably good for them. I dont know. I fail to be convinced though.