From Panchamritam by VSK
Selvi, 16, learns sewing at the free vocational training class for poor girls conducted in north Chennai by Sewa Bharati. On Diwali day (November 12, 2004), along with her classmates, Selvi went to the government maternity hospital in Egmore, Chennai. They took with them dresses for newborn babies and sweets for the mothers. The group draped every infant with new dress and had a chat with the mothers after giving them a bit of the cake they had brought. The mothers were surprised at the kind gesture of those young visitors. The girls from Sewa Bharati greeted over 100 mothers and their babies that day. As the distribution was in progress, a woman in the ward started weaping. Her newborn child had died the day before. Selvi went to her bedside and consoled her with the words, “Amma, we will come here on Diwali next year also. We wish to see you then with a baby in your lap. Give us the opportunity to offer the dress to your child on the next Diwali day”.
