FFC Experience!!!

Volunteering with Funtopia was a great experience...It was nice to meet Vasant, Satish, Paddu, Vanitha and all the rest of the crew after a long time. There is s'th about this UK gang- the energy level, vibrance, passion and a whole lot more!!!

Even more wonderful was bein part of the food committee...Pizza, Curd rice, Sambhar saadham, Kesri, Juices for the kids, pakoda, Tea etc were some of the items v were supposed to manage, distribute and sell...and v sure did it with a bang!!!

There is this interestin incident i probably wudn't forget for a while for now...Everyone knows how difficult it is to keep kids away from wat they want and no one could have understood it better than me!!!
The time was around 3'ish and we were almost done with selling lunch packs. Me and Kumar were chattin and watching glimpses of the heavy classical dances performed on stage by a troupe of early teens who don't seem to be leaving the stage even after a few performances...

Here comes a boy, ~6-8 yrs in age, with a gloomy down face looking at the sprite for sale. He asks me if he can have one and i ask him to get a dollar from his parents...15 minutes later, the kid comes back with an even more gloomy face and tells me tat his mom doesn't have any money and stands there as if the whole world is falling apart infront of him!!!

I thot for a second and had this self realization within me... tat this whole event was supposedly to entertain kids, and me sending a kid home disappointed wudn't do justice to the the event itself. I handed over a sprite to the kid and told him not to bother paying for it. He gave me a smile and started walkin towards where his mom was seated... Me and Kumar were watching all of this. As soon as he reached his mom, the kid started jumping with joy displaying the sprite he had won!!! At this point i felt, i had done something worthwhile :-)

This is where the twist sets in...the kid's mom turns back and gives a nice little stare at the food stall and the guy who is aiding all of this tat's happening beyond her control... It takes me 2 seconds to realize after Kumar utters these words "You are goin to get beaten up, buddy" tat this wasn't exactly wat the mom had planned for the kid!!! Adding insult from the well kept drama, kid's mom hands over a dollar to the kid to pay for the sprite... Helplessly, i get the dollar from this kid watching his 32 teeth smile and put it into FFC cash box!!!