A week later, Luv , an older APAAR client, also with autism, visited two historic gurdwaras by Phillaur with his family.
The air cooled and a breeze indicated the coming of rains when Luv and his mother got to the first gurdwara where Guru Arjun Dev ji stayed on the way to the second spot for his wedding..
Luv sat on a brick bench in the gurdwara complex grinning and people watching. He had missed the annual Haarh mela by a few days. But this new spot, holy and pleasant was a change and delight today for Luv who enjoys traveling to new places but had not been able to the last two or so years due to family circumstances.
Luv sipped sweet tea in steel glasses. He helped himself to milk cake from a box in the gurdwara office. He declined langar.
At the next gurdwara of Mata Ganga ji, Luv literally jumped in glee. It had rained here, the wet mud under our parked car and the open rice fields around pleased him no end.
His sister took him up to the gurdwara complex's terrace where the cool moist breeze was more vigorous and these photos were captured .
Changing lives-- with attention to our clients' love for travel and aiming for nature's healing touch on mental health each time--- that is APAAR's creed. Freeing souls into nature which most clients have no regular access to is vital to changing their maladaptive behavior which stems from no choice in their lives, no attention to their pleasures and pastimes.
I quote and bring to families' attention Diana Woodcock , a poet I read this morning:
that a person can be fully awake and yet see nothing . hear nothing of Earth's grandeur.
To be sure, few of us are fully awake
Someone needs to shake us out
of our complacency. Such a pity
to share the earth with trees
and never to notice the beauty of wavering leaves on the feel
of the first breeze--------
