SBT

The Salaam Baalak Trust is an NGO working for the rehabilitation of orphans and juveniles. The blogger visited their centre in Paharganj area of New Delhi. This one is housed in a rented space on the 3rd floor of a DDA building. This building also has other offices of similar organizations. This particular centre has 40 boys in the age group of 6-14 years. They come from variedly underprivileged backgrounds and their upbringing is undertaken by the SBT.

 The    children live in-house in a dorm. There is a computer centre equipped with 14 PCs and classes are regularly held for the children. There are various educational posters adorning the walls. There is an entire show-case dedicated to the various achievements of these kids. There is also a shot of the child who had a role in the ROAD MOVIE, along with its lead actor Abhay Deol and the director Satish Kaushik. One of their star children [now an adult] Vicky Roy has achieved accolades for his photography. He even had a show in New York. That poster is up too, to serve as an inspiration to the children.

The main drive behind the initiative is to make available to these children most of the available faculties for an all-round development. Their background should not be a hindrance for a brighter and better future! When this blogger went there, with a group of ladies, the children performed various dance pieces. 2 of them even sung songs for us! One of the dance items was a very well-choreographed and fairly rehearsed piece on the song ‘BUM BUM BOLE’ from the hit flick Taare Zameen Par.

Many years ago, this blogger was a part of a short X’mas skit done for a group of children from SBT. They must be all grown ups now, but it felt nice to renew the connection with SBT. Hopefully, there will be better associations in the future.