Flight of fantasy for four underprivileged children, who fly from Kota to Jaipur
A voluntary organisation organised the trip for the children.
When four meals are difficult to come by, dreaming of flying in an aircraft can definitely be a fantasy. For four girls from impoverished families, this fantasy took flight when a non-governmental organisation (NGO) got them to fly from Jaipur to Kota.
“I have seen only seen an aircraft in textbooks, so sitting in it for the first time was like a dream come true,” said 10-year-old Karishma Sen, who studies in class 4 and lives in Manan Sewa Sansthan (MSS) —a shelter home in Kota.
Along with Karishma, Tamanna Bheel, Kajal Bheel and Dhapu Bheel’s dream of flying in a plane was fulfilled by a voluntary organisation named Social Youth Group (SYG) — founded by Rahul Jain.
While Tamanna belongs to Kota, Kajal and Dhapu belong to Asnawar region of Jhalawar and they all live and study at MSS.
Jain founded SYG along with his friends Mohammad Zeeshan, Sunil Godwani, Harsh Jain, Girriraj Gautam and Deepak Makhija. Their aim is to bring smiles on the faces of underprivileged children.
Jain and Zeeshan, who is also the general secretary of SYG and takes care of the children at MSS, travelled with the four girls, whose parents are labourers and cannot bear the cost of their education cost.
Talking about her experience, 11-year-old Tamanna, a class 3 student, said: “It was amazing to have a bird’s eye view of Kota and other places.”
“I felt like I was dreaming while travelling in the aircraft. I was up in the air and the world was below me,” said Kajal (9), who too is a class 3 student.
“I saw clouds from the window. It was a thrilling experience,” said Dhapu Bheel (11), studying in class 5.
SYG said that they could only take four children, out of the total 17, as there were limited seats in the eight-seater aircraft. “We will certainly take other children soon,” said Zeeshan.
Chairperson of State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Manan Chaturvedi received the children at the Jaipur Airport on Friday.
Flight services in smaller aircrafts from the Kota airport commenced a month ago. There is only one flight between Kota and Jaipur. The fare is around ₹2,500 for economy and ₹3,000 for luxury seats.
“We will bring back the children by train on Friday night so that they can experience it too. The children have not travelled in a train,” said Rahul.