By IANS
New Delhi : For the 25 young students from a far flung village in Jammu and Kashmir, the thrill and excitement of coming to the national capital will be forever etched in their memories.
The children, in the age group of 10-17 years and belonging to the shepherd community of Dras – the second coldest place in the world – are here as part of an army initiative to expose children from Kashmir to the world outside.
“It is the first time these children have travelled beyond Jammu. And since they belong to the shepherd community, it is our effort to show them the world outside, educate them, improve their standard of living and bring them into mainstream society so that they don’t remain shepherds for generations,” said Major Sanjay Yadav of 290 Field Regiment.
The fact that these children are cut off from the rest of the world can be deciphered from their reaction on seeing an elephant along their way.
“I have never seen such a huge animal in my entire life. It was bigger than the size of our bus we came in and occupied a major part of the road. I really got scared seeing the animal, and I am equally surprised to see people walking past without any fear,” said the youngest member of the group, Mohammed Sartaj, 10. Sartaj was accompanied by his father, Abdul Rashid.
Reaching New Delhi Tuesday, the kids went to the Appu Ghar amusement park and also took a ride in the underground Metro.
“The air-conditioning in the Metro gave us respite from the scorching sun, we even took photographs inside the train, which we will proudly show to our friends back in Dras,” said 17-year-old Altaf Hussain.
“I enjoyed driving the striking car but had a tickling feeling when I took the roller coaster ride,” Mohammed Pervez said about his visit to Appu Ghar.
The children also met Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury early Wednesday and had breakfast with her.
The minister, who hails from south India, had carefully selected the menu.
“I knew these children would never have had delicacies like idly, dosa and vada sambar, and so I decided to treat them with these,” Chowdhury said.
The children liked the food and enjoyed every part of it even though they found the names peculiar.
“The food we had today was very different from what we have back (in Kashmir). I liked the idly, it was so soft and white,” said a pleased Shaukat Ali.
The children, before returning to Dras on Aug 14, will visit the Jama Masjid and Red fort here and will conclude their trip by going to the Taj Mahal in Agra.
And the message these children are taking home apart from the small gifts they have bought for their loved ones is: “Go to school, study hard and become big one day!”