Week 2 with Compassionate Clowns

We gathered at St. John’s Medical College on a cloudy Saturday afternoon. All of us got our faces painted with bright colours of red, blue, green and pink. Before we went inside, we formed a gratitude circle and each said one thing which we were grateful for. 



I was very excited to be visiting the paediatric ward because I love kids, but the moment I saw the words “PAEDIATRIC WARD” on the hospital wall, I froze for a moment. It suddenly dawned on me that the children we were going to be seeing were kids who were suffering and in pain. That initial shock quickly wore off as I entered the ward.

The first child I interacted with was a four year old boy who had cancer. While playing with him, I unintentionally touched his tumour. At that moment I shook a bit as I realised the seriousness of his situation. The fact that a four year old boy, who was running around and playing, was suffering from cancer, broke my heart. It made the situation so real to me. 

While playing with him, I saw a boy who was very much older sitting and looking at everyone playing with the kids. I went to talk to him and saw his right leg was completely bandaged. I spoke to him for quite some time and he mentioned doing his second year diploma in mechanical engineering. He told me that he underwent surgery to do a biopsy and that the result would be out on Monday. I keep thinking about his biopsy result, but since I have no way of knowing if it was positive or negative, I hope and pray it was negative. 

I also met a child who wouldn’t talk to or smile at anybody. She just held onto my fingers and didn’t let go. Using actions, I got her to repeat my name and even got her to smile! Her response brought a huge smile on her father's face.  

In between all these interactions with the kids, I experienced a mix of emotions. There were times when I was just so happy to be playing with them, and at times I was just so overwhelmed by their situation. 

After each session, we have a reflection circle, where each of us describe our experience. When we have such experiences, we often tend to get upset and only see the downside of the situation. During that circle, Harish said something that stuck with me. He said, “think of the contribution that you made today, be it to the kids, by playing with them, or to the parents, by just listening to them.” 

We ended the day with another gratitude circle, thanking everyone in the hospital, the nurses, doctors, parents, patients and then had a prayer.

Eagerly waiting for next week! 
Location: Sarjapur Main Rd, John Nagar, Koramangala, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560034, India

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