arogya _ 150 heart operations given to children in south india

This is the final picture of the day for me - Mohammed Tajdeen is the little boy with his parents.

I had grand ideas of photographing the AROGYA event, where Shakti Amma raised enough money for 150 heart operations for children + teenagers (which at $5000 an operation, is a lot of fund-raising). The event took place on 2 Nov and my grand idea was to photograph 30-50 of the children BEFORE they have their operation + then photograph them again in December...

But it all belly - flopped and I only ended up photographing about 8 of the kids (which in retrospective was EXACTLY what was needed : learning about letting go of what I may envisage is best and being open to what is presented... it was painful to go through but a big lesson in itself). That fine line between having a vision and surrendering to the outcome to the larger forces of Life.

So, although I didn't know it, I photographed the young Mohamed Tajdeen from the moment he arrived.
7.30 am registration
Here is his father presenting the letter of acceptance so that the hospital which will operate shall receive the funds for his son's heart operation.

Here is Tajdeen with his mother, I was sitting next to them as the official ceremony was going on. It was the first time a person had stuck a camera to his face.

Here he is receiving oversized cheque from Shakti Amma (in red), a famous film director (don't know his name) who does very humanitarian oriented films and you cannot see him but behind Tajdeens mother is the Chief Justice of India who gave a moving speech about the importance of supporting human life.


What I love in this little story of 4 images and Nathalie's lesson of letting-be-what-is is that this little muslim boy received funding for a new heart (his new life) in a hindu setting : serving humanity is for the world.