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On Sunday, Feb 15th the entire city of Mumbai came together to celebrate. To celebrate the spirit of Mumbai, the spirit of sharing, of giving, of the joy of togetherness, of good sportsmanship on the track and in life. It was the Mumbai International Marathon and Pratham was there!
Children from Borivili, Bandra, Santa Cruz, Govandi, Deonar, Kurla, Dharavi and Churchgate were all present.  Some were child labourers working up to 16 hours a day in zari factories and some were little rag pickers from the city's dumping grounds, some were the kids from our railway platform classes and some were the homeless beggar and street children for whom we even have classes on the pavement!
Boys and girls. Young ones and the Older ones. They were all ready to make the 'Dream Run' of 7km. 500 eager participants who had had no training sessions, no practice rounds, no experience ever in distance running - many of them didn't even have any shoes. But this 'yellow sea' of kids all dressed in specially made Pratham t-shirts were brimming with enthusiasm.  Their faces glowing with excitement at getting a chance to run alongside Olympic champions, world class athletes, Bollywood actors and host of local celebrities. Their energy levels were amazing as they ran singing one film song after another in unison. Our Pratham volunteers must have completed the course twice over as they went back and forth, making sure that none of the kids got lost or left behind! Forty-five children managed to run all the way across the finish line, where cheers and whistles from the crowds greeted them. Their vivacious smiles and effervescence, still gave no indication of any fatigue!
As the marathon came to a close, the children all sat down and had a picnic.  They happily tucked into their goody bags and when they did get a word out it was only to say that 'didi bahut maja aaya!' (we had lots of fun!) and 'agle saal bhi aayenge!' (we'll come next year as well!).
Three cheers to that! Pratham will definitely be back next year with the children. To lead and to be lead. To inspire and to be inspired.
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