A RUN AND A REVELATION

We have just come through our Eighth Rural Outreach spell, here in Dhasa. Although every single one of our girls is inspiring in their own way, there are two in this Junoon squad photograph whose stories need to especially be told.

Through a morning run on what was to be our last day in training together this time round, Sunita and Khushi (both aged 14) tell me their daily routine. They awake every morning at 4am to cook, clean, work the fields, feed and dress their younger siblings for school and then bicycle to school.

When school is out, they pedal back home, only to return to the same list of activities that they wake up to, as dusk approaches.

It is 10pm by the time their household and farm chores end. If the electricity hasn't failed them, they will then read or study. Else, sing themselves to sleep. Only to awaken well before dawn again and repeat the same cycle.

As I try to navigate a multitude of emotions, - guilt, anger, sympathy and sadness - I only react with a question,
"Why then are you both attending Junoon? It must be so much more exhausting. So much more difficult to add to your day!"

The Program we run here is in no way easy or relaxing. The girls are in training for hours on end - Running (Athletics), Strengthening, Conditioning, Stretching, Dancing Classical Dance and other forms, Playing team sports (most recently, Football) and going through multiple other drills for added Agility, Balance, Length, Endurance and Control. And this they repeat, day after day, when amid an Outreach spell.

To my question and concern and completely disconcerted face, they simply answer, "Because all those things at home we do for our families, for other people whereas Junoon, we're doing for ourselves."

Staring at a Sun settling into and setting up the day with slightly moist eyes, I think, "This is inspiration. This is Junoon."

We are, because of our girls.