Styrofoam Suren ****

Suren was fiercely passionate about this issue. He preached it wherever he went. He practiced it religiously too. “Styrofoams are evil”. Suren led a campaign through his Centre. First he ensured no Styrofoam was brought into the Centre. Next, he targeted events organised by his Centre, and later widened it to all events organised by the Organisation. The awareness created was so great that many devotees at the Centre came up with their own strategies to eliminate this evil product. In a faintly ironic twist, Suren became known as Styrofoam Suren.

In the meantime, the abominations caused by this evil product became common knowledge among people, as Styrofoam became the target of numerous “green” campaigns.

***
Several devotees were visiting the poor family as part of the Centre’s seva activity. The devotees sat in the tiny home – on the floor, on the threadbare sofa, and on stools, and listened to the lady relate her troubles.

“My husband is in jail. He has not even seen my youngest,” everyone glanced at the year old girl she was carrying. The girl looked sweet and innocent. She was skinny, had tousled hair, and a runny nose. The other four children scampered about the sparsely furnished house. Suren had one of the boys on his lap.

The lady continued. “After he was jailed, I started working as a operator in a factory. They had a place to leave my children at the factory. There were people to take care of the children. Many of the single mothers here worked in this factory. Then suddenly the factory shut down, about 2 months ago. Now I am unable to find work. Even if I get a job, how can I leave the children at home?” She sounded desolate.

“What factory were you working in ?”

“They make packaging material. Now it seems the Government has banned this product suddenly. That is why we are all affected. They used to make Styrofoam products.”

Everyone looked at Styrofoam Suren.

On the way back, Suren was silent and thoughtful. But he could see the triumph of the higher dharma. He also marveled at the spider web theory in action: this family was indirectly affected by their anti-Styrofoam campaign, and now Swami had sent them to help the family !