Saying Goodbye

I’m back in Delhi, back in the comfort of my room, back with my family, back to everything normal.
But I am restless.

I open the folder on my Pictures Library which reads “Deepa Academy”. Within a minute I find myself smiling. I always used to wonder how someone could feel happy and sad at the same time. Now I know.

Friday evening was supposed to be our last class with the children. Before 4 o clock, Shruti and I were busy in getting the manual printed and bound. After days spent on the editing, formatting, additions and omissions, we had finally managed to finish it on time.
After the manual was in our hands, we picked up a few empty boxes, some paint and a few brushes. We had something different planned for our last class. 

Surprisingly at 4 o clock we found them in the park instead of the class. After my experience with them, I know a visit to the park is like a treat for them. I didn’t know if it was a good idea to ask them to come for class leaving the park, but nevertheless I went ahead.
They stood up immediately when they heard us call their names. Instead of the disappointment of leaving the park that I had expected, I saw them feel glad that we had come to meet! And within loads of chattering and smiling, we were back in the class.

We spoke about the trip, each one trying to form sentences to express their favourite part. Shruti and I were a little out of words that day. The feeling of us leaving Bangalore in a day was sinking in, and the part about us not meeting the girls for a very long time was, um, not really good.

We wanted them to make us a promise, like they had made us promise when asking for our mobile phone numbers. They all laughed when they repeated after us “We promise to do what you want us to”.
Within a few seconds, I had the boxes out, paint in them, ready for the girls to put their hands in. We wanted them to give us their hand prints, something that we wanted to keep with us for a lifetime. And the excitement on their faces when they selected their colours was the best part of the day!  

After each one of them had given us two pairs of prints, we gave them what we had made for them. We couldn’t leave without giving them something to remember us by, could we?

Shruti and I had used the water bottles accumulated over the month and cut them to make 8 bangles. Bangles, because they are something that each one of them is very fond of.
Using newspaper and tissue paper we had covered the plastic and had then written their names on it.


                                    


All of them were happy. And then?
They wanted us to come back the next day. The next day, some people from All India Radio were supposed to come to Deepa Academy due to which we could not meet the girls. But they wouldn’t hear of it!
When we told them we would try, they surprised us by saying, “No Akka, DEFINITELYY!’

The next morning at 9 30 we were back at Deepa Academy.
The girls gave us little gifts, and we were not given an option to deny them. They also wrote their names on their handprinted sheets using Braille.

After a moment of silence, everyone was crying.
I can’t express what I was feeling and Shruti’s tears told me that she was feeling just the same.
These little girls were more than just our students. They were a part of our lives, people that gave us fond memories of the past month, who brought infinite smiles on our faces, who didn’t want us to go back, who we didn’t want to go away from.

We talked randomly, about 10^th standard marks and how they should all aim for a great score in their final exams. Talking to them was like talking to my younger sister, giving them advice and sharing my own experiences.

When we finally saw the time it was 2 hours late. Saying Goodbye was probably the most difficult thing I faced this month.

3 hours later, when we were ready to leave the hostel we were staying at, Shruti and I decided to go and have one last look at Deepa Academy.
Standing under the Gulmohar tree, the whole month raced past my eyes. The laughter, the sadness, the contentment, the excitements, everything!


                                      



When no one from the academy was in sight, Shruti and I tied a helium balloon on the academy’s gate. The balloon had a post-it on it which said,

 “Thank you for the amazing time! We will miss you all!
Hope to see you soon!

Love you all,
Shruti and Jayasi”

The trip

Firstly Iet’s get to know the place where we were going for the trip.
Away from Bangalore, is this camp set up by the name of Xtreme Zone. It is situated off the Mysore Road, right on the banks of Machinbele Dam, in the middle of a jungle. They have a provision of some adventure sports along with Kayaking and swimming in the lake. You are provided tents on a sharing basis to rest for the night.

50 km away from the city, at an adventure camp, post 10 pm with no light around, my head out of the tent, looking up at the cloudy sky and I was doing nothing literally, or so it seemed! Usually such a place takes you away from the humdrum of the city life, with me it was no different. I was away too but with a difference. I was away from the tiny tent, from my hostel, from my home. I was where my thoughts took me that night.  My head was full of thoughts racing past one another. There was a quick recap of the entire day playing in my head.

Jayasi and I got out of bed earlier than usual, all pepped up for the trip and looking forward to spend some time with the girls, but to our dismay, after reaching Deepa academy we learnt that we wouldn’t be able to make a move before 10! With our stuff packed, rooms locked and not having much to do, we got all cranky as we waited for the clock to strike 10. It sure wasn’t the best start one could have to a day we had been waiting for from almost a week! We decided to wait outside the academy and pass our time somehow. Suddenly a little later than 10, we saw the girls coming out all wearing yellow T shirts, with bags on their backs and smiles on their faces, wishing us “Good morning akka!” and starting with their round of questions “Had your breakfast akka ? “, “ What did you eat for breakfast akka ?” standing in their pairs. They were all set to go. Surprisingly in the following five minutes all the crankiness was forgotten and, Jayasi and I were as excited as ever. Such was the effect of these girls on us!

Entering the bus, Jayasi and I were invited by a 10^th standard girl Pallavi to sit with her for the journey. Initially we were amused at her excitement to sit with us rather than her friends, but gladly accepted her invitation. 15 minutes through the way two tenth standard girls came and gave us our promised bangles. A day before in class we were told that is a tradition for girls to wear bangles when they are leaving the house. On getting to know that we didn’t have a pair of bangles, the girls promised to get us bangles even after repeated refusals.

The camp was a twenty minute trek from the point till where any vehicle could come. Walking along the path, we started wondering if bringing the girls to such a camp was really a good idea! There were steep passages, big rocks, and slippery sand ways, all that we had to cross just to reach the camp. But like always these girls never fail to amaze me, not only did they successfully find their way, they managed to complete some activities at the camp with such ease which even we were faltering while trying to complete. There was no fear seen in the girls when they were given the option of trying the rope course activity at the camp that included walking on the rope and walking on the steps without any support. Rather we saw them fighting among themselves on who would go first and then later on pushing us to go and try as well as convince us to not get scared as it was not very difficult!

Rest of the day was spent doing some more team building activities which everyone seemed to enjoy. As it started getting dark, everyone proceeded to the area where usually the food was served. Sitting there, singing Kannada songs, everyone seemed to have a gala time! Not knowing the lyrics of these songs Jayasi and I were simply sitting in one corner and trying to hum some of them.

All of a sudden, between the songs and not so known language, we heard something familiar, we heard our names being called out by Mr. Shantaram. He was requesting us to come and stand in the centre, we noticed that the girls sitting on the mats placed on the floor had made some way for us. Before we knew it, we heard Mr. Shantaram, principal of Deepa Academy acknowledging us ,our work and the time spent at the academy. He was followed by our supervisor Mr Murali appreciating our efforts and in no time we saw ourselves receiving certificates with all the girls giving us a huge round of applause. Surprising us further were the girls singing the English song we taught them in the class infront of all the people present there.

Receiving the certificate yesterday night was something! Something I am sure Jayasi and I will never forget. I did not have words to express what we felt at that time. We couldn’t stop ourselves from getting nostalgic when we were asked to say a few words describing the time we spent at the academy. The classes, the thinking, planning, the games, the smiles, everything was special!

Yesterday night I saw Jayasi carry the broadest smile. And deep down I know I saw myself in her! That smile I know, was just that way on my face too!


Before my head went inside, it was decided that the morning would be filled with water activities.

Today, as the sun came out, the girls were taken for a swim in the lake. All wearing life jackets entered the lake for what they called “a swim”. There were some who decided to go boating. In a while, hearing about the breakfast being served, everyone came out of water and rushed to get ready.

 

Soon coming to the end of this short but memorable trip, we had a small group photo that was taken before we made a move back to the academy.

This trip was different, yesterday night was different and we knew the days ahead were going to be different from the past month. We were excited about receiving the certificates but knew that now, things won’t be the same anymore.
That one night, this one day trip, this one month is something that is very special to me and will always remain close to my heart.

Promises

Wednesday and Thursday, everyone from the ‘Deepa Academy family’ would be going out for a trip to an adventure camp located around 50 kms from Bangalore. Shruti and I are the newest members of that family.

When we first heard the news, we were anxious. Things like how the place would be, how we would be travelling, how safe would it be, were bothering us.
Then? We had the Monday class; the first class of our last week in Bangalore.

That day, they entered the class with happy faces loaded with questions for us.
After we discussed about how our weekends went by, pointing to them their improvement in English and formation of sentences, we started talking about what the girls had learnt over the past three and a half weeks which they spent with us.
They knew we were leaving soon and finally asked us, exactly when. We quietly answered with a ‘This Sunday’.
Nobody spoke.

“Akka, why do you have to go back to Delhi?”
I sat there with my head bent low, not able to give a suitable answer to that question.

“Will you be coming back next year?”
I promised myself that I would. They smiled, differently this time.

Shruti and I decided to bring up the topic of the trip to lighten the mood a little. We asked them if they knew where they were going and got answers like “climbing mountain” and “playing in river”. When we told them that we will all have fun together, they looked puzzled. One of them asked, “Akka, you are coming with us? “. I swear, I had not even completed the word “Yes” when all of them started clapping and went into an excited “Yayyyyyyy!” together. ALL of them!
Both of us were dazed.

That was something unexpected, but something which made us realize that this trip was a wonderful opportunity which we had got to spend more time with the girls.

We started talking about the things that they will be carrying along on the trip with them. The conversation steered with us asking them what chocolates they liked to eat. Each one of them mentioned their favourites and asked us about ours. We sat and discussed about other random things for a while, laughing and joking together. They told us about each other’s nick names; Chuttu and Buttu were the funniest ones!
I felt content looking at each one of them, the improvement from the starting of our internship was evident. They tried to use English sentences, even though the struggled with the formation of words, they had started trying. They talked about themselves more openly now and their shyness was slowly disappearing.

It was 5 : 23 PM when we realized that we had extended the class! But the girls didn’t get up to leave when we mentioned the time, “We don’t want to go” is what they told us!
Both of us could only smile.

We asked them if we could bring some of their favourite eatables for the trip, to which they all declined. Then all of a sudden they started talking in Kannada! Shruti and I tried to get them to talk in English, but the only part of the reply we understood was “One minute!”
Then one of the girls said nervously, “There is one thing that we want, but you will have to promise us that you will have to give us that! “
We insisted on knowing what they wanted before promising, but they wouldn’t hear of it. After Shruti and I had repeated after them “I promise I will give you what you want”, they said, “We want your mobile phone numbers”.

I’m going to miss these girls.
But as of now, there is a trip I am looking forward to!

We learn by teaching.

I can recall, my teachers saying, “It’s not just you who come here to learn, we learn new things too.” never really understanding what they meant. The fact seemed so meaningless, because at that time for us, our teachers were the ones who knew everything, how can they possibly learn something from us.

But yes, these kids made me realise the meaning of this sentence I have repeatedly heard during my schooling. Yesterday just before we were about to leave, we were waiting outside the girls’ class on the third floor at Deepa Academy to get some data for the manual on basic computers, which Jayasi and I have been working on, from the person who was in charge of computer education at the academy. Seeing no teacher in the class, I entered the class and randomly tried picking up a talk with the girls when something caught my attention. It was a Braille frame and stylus used to write in Braille. I then noticed the huge textbook written in Braille kept in front of each one of them. My curiosity about all the things that I had been observing around them pushed me to ask them to teach me how to read Braille. What followed was unexpected! They all got so bubbly and started assembling around a desk I was standing in front of. All of them started giving their inputs and started trying to explain things to Jayasi and me, telling us that first we need to learn to write then only can we learn to read. Nonetheless, they explained us what it actually is and how can we write and how is it read and before they let us go, we were told to get a pen and paper the next day so that they can help us learn the symbols used while writing in Braille.
All this while, they had sensed our feeling of the task being difficult and consoled us by saying it is very easy and they were just lazy hence they took about 2 years to learn it and we could learn with without any issue.

In the communication skills session, we had the girls talk to us about any one family member of their choice. This time, such a simple topic brought out such deep emotions expressed so simply by them. Most of them spoke about how the family members motivated them to study, encouraged each one of them to be successful and not consider them to be any less!
I salute the family members who have taken the pains to stay away from their children and send them to the city for the first step to live an independent life,to get them educated.

On the Manual front, we have completed the validation work of the content with the girls. Assembling the content, editing and formatting is what takes up most of our time now.

On noticing some girls missing from the class, we got to know that they were busy with some dance practice.  In a while we were informed about the dance routine they were working on for their audition in Chennai. On our walk back to the hostel we noticed them practicing in the lawns, which just got me all excited. It was like I just had to see them. Imagine our disappointment on seeing a lock on the park gate from the inside! We were extremely disappointed on learning about the park being locked. Pleading and requesting the gardener we managed to enter the park and silently observe the routine. It was something extraordinary. The girls were just brilliant. Our efforts to enter the park, our delay in reaching for the lunch at the hostel mess, everything had just paid off. Seeing them dance was something special, something my words fail to express.

A Visit to the Mall

A mall, something that is so common for us, holds immense wonder, curiosity, excitement and joy for the girls at Deepa Academy! Tuesday was “Mall Day” for them as suggested by Mr Shantaram. At 11 o’ clock they all lined up outside the academy, the college-going girls holding the hands of the girls from tenth standard. As they said good bye to Mr Shantaram, he asked them if they knew where they were going. They said in unison, “Orion mall”. When he asked them what it was, they remained silent.

As we walked till the mall, which is about a kilometre and a half from the academy, we could hear the girls giggle nervously as they ignored our calls for talking in English and not in Kannada. I confess, making sure that the girls reach the mall safely got me to be at my alert best! Crossing the road was the biggest task ever; I had to stop the 2-way traffic for 10 seconds so that the girls could cross safely! That day I felt responsible in a different way! 

The security check at the entrance of the mall got the girls to be a little scared; I could see that they did not want to pass through a door which beeped as they walked through it.  Once in though, they couldn’t wait to roam around and explore a ‘huge hall with air conditioning and foreign music’. 
One of the girls with partial vision spotted the escalator and literally started jumping with excitement.  
Others were scared and in doubt, we ourselves suggested that they take the lift, but the girls wouldn't hear of it! They all wanted a go at the moving staircase! 
Their amazement and wonder was worth going up and down 6 times to get them up one by one. Senior girls also assisted in bringing a few of them. 

We walked past big brands all labelled as ‘shops for clothes’. I found myself without an answer when one of the girls asked me why there were so many shops for the same type of clothes. The concept of ‘Brand’ was alien to the little girls who were roaming in the mall in their uniforms. Their simplicity got me to smile. 

Our next stop was the food court for which we took the lift. This wasn’t as exciting as the escalators for them, but fun nevertheless! 
At the food court, after shedding a few layers of shyness, the girls finally told us what they wanted to eat. They went in for things like Chaat, Idli, Dosa, Gobi Manchurian( A favourite this side!), Chilli Chicken and Paani Puri. As they ate, they called Shruti and me to give us small bites from their plates. 
When we suggested that we should leave, they expressed that they wanted to roam around for a while, and that we did. The reactions of people in the mall left me with mixed emotions! While some looked at our group with pity, some laughed! There were some who tried to ignore us after giving a first look, but there were also some who came and congratulated Shruti and me for doing a great job!

The mall also has an adjoining open area which has an artificial lake, our next destination. The wind was perfect and the cloudy sky added on to the beautiful atmosphere which the girls had managed to create. We sat on the benches for a while and just talked about casual things. They told us that they enjoyed coming to the mall and talked about their favourite things. Something about the way they described their favourites gave me a very satisfied feeling. They were improving; they were opening up and were able to talk in full sentences now. Also, our worst fear that the girls would feel out of place at the mall, had finally gone! 

They left with bright smiles as they climbed up the stairs of the academy. We turned back with brighter ones! 

Switching Roles!

“Aka come. Aka please come, nothing will happen “was what the girls were again and again saying to Jayasi and me in order to convince us to try the different swings.
Jayasi and I had decided to take the kids to the park, right opposite Deepa Academy on Thursday. And it sure was a wonderful idea. Not only did that one hour get the girls excited and happy but also this one hour with the kids at the park that day made me look at things differently.
These girls were already so mature, such little girls understood life in a way which probably many of us take a lot of time to and maybe some of us never even do get a chance to understand the life they do, throughout our life.

As soon as we left the academy for the park, amidst the squeals and excitement I noticed that the girls with partial vision had held hands of the ones who have severe problem. They didn’t need our help. They were set to go! And this attitude could be seen even during their play time. Silently they would help them find they way, play games, get on to swings and so on.

On Friday, the morning at Deepa Academy began at a hilarious note when one of the girls forgot her password of the G-Mail account she just had created a day earlier with us, leaving all the other girls in splits, trying their hand at guesses. The rest of time was basically spent in explaining them how to use a G-Mail account and why.

Same day, during the communication skills, we had planned to introduce the girls to the idea of drama. All of them were not really open to the idea of drama and didn’t even know much about it, hence their timid behaviour at the beginning of the class could be explained. But as the time passed by and they got the hang of it they seemed to be enjoying it thoroughly. What we did was switch roles in class and did a scene of how the communication skills class is. All this was done without a prepared script to give them an introduction to this concept. We do plan to do a prepared one in the coming week. Towards the end, while enacting Jayasi and me, the girls introduced some new games they all wanted to play and carried on with several rounds of the same game. It was amazing to see how they picked up the little things we say in class like “Smile” and “No talking in Kannada”( the latter changed to “No talking in Hindi “ :P ) and said it the way we did in regular course of the class. Also very wittily in the end, the girls playing our roles made the class speak on the topic we had given them a day earlier on which they all had to speak at least four lines at the end of the class. So that day the class wasn’t ended by us, it was effectively ended with the girls playing our roles and happily so.

It was a nice day with some of the girls, otherwise silent in the class, trying and making an effort to speak seeing their friends become the teachers for the day(even if it was just a little bit, it was a start! ) I hope they enjoyed the activity as much as we did.

Play Day

At 3: 55 PM today, there were hardly any clouds in the sky and the sun was shining brightly above us. The park just had two or three people sitting in the shade of the trees while the swings were completely deserted. As we walked towards Deepa Academy, I wondered if it was a good idea to get the girls to the park today.

They were already seated when we entered the room, and surprisingly they stood up and greeted us as we came inside. We mentioned the idea of going to the park; brighter smiles and a few squeaks of excitement followed with a lot of clapping!
They held each other’s hands as we got out of the academy and walked towards the park. We could sense their impatience and excitement to reach the swings, as they started walking quickly once they were on the jogging track.
What happened after this . . .

There was laughter, and squeals of joy. They urged us to sit on the swing with them, play with them, go on the slide with them. They sat on the swings and competed on who was going higher, something that got me terribly scared. When I asked them to be careful, I got a reply saying “No worry Akka!”
We watched them play a game in which there is a “denner” who has to run and catch everyone else, who are supposed to be clapping so that the denner knows which way to run.
Watching them laugh, have fun and forget everything else in the world, made me feel nostalgic about my childhood and had me realize the joy little things can hold.

We didn’t realize when it was 5, the girls had to be dropped back at the academy for their evening prayer at 5: 30. We were pretty surprised when they themselves insisted on sitting on the benches with us and talk about their hobbies, a homework which we had given yesterday. Each one said 4-6 lines and wanted us to talk about ours. We could sense how they felt more comfortable with us; they openly asked us questions and joked about my inability to dance!

When we finally left them till the stairs of the academy, each one of them waved back with a huge smile on their faces.
Mission successful! 

Que Sera Sera

"When I was just a little girl
I asked my mother, what will I be?
Will I be pretty?  Will I be rich?
Here's what she said to me

Que Sera, Sera,
Whatever will be, will be!
The future's not ours, to see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be!"


That was what you would have heard the girls sing, if you came to our communication skills class with the tenth standard girls at Deepa Academy around 4 o’clock today. To help them improve English, we had suggested that they listen to some English songs. Being a new thing for them, we had taken some selected songs for them to the class today. The favorite amongst the ones selected was this song Que sera sera sung by Dorris Day.

Never having sung songs before, it was rather surprising that how I didn’t mind singing for the girls and demonstrating how the song should be sung. It was something that came subconsciously just to make the girls comfortable and help them in whatever way I could.

After singing some songs, we had a session on the telephone etiquettes. To make this interesting we had made the paper cup telephone and taken it to the academy. To make the paper cup telephone, take two large paper cups and punch a tiny hole in the centre of the bottom of each with a sewing needle or something similar. Take a piece of non-stretchable thread and thread each end through each hole. Either knot or tape the string so it cannot go back through the hole when the string is stretched.To use the paper cup telephone let two people have a paper cup each and make them stand apart from each other till the string stretches and is absolutely straight. Now if one person talks into one of the cups while the other listens, the second person should be able to hear what the first person says.
With each girl holding paper cups and standing in different rooms with the string joining the paper cups completely stretched, they spoke to each other and us taking turns as if it was a real telephone. Initially shy to talk to us using the new instrument they got, they took no time getting acquainted with the paper cup telephone and making it their new toy to talk amongst themselves.


In the morning session we covered the basics of internet. The eagerness to learn all that they could, gave us a different sense of contentment. We were glad they were bubbling with excitement and wanted to learn all that they could. While some of them opened Deepa Academy’ s website and then tried navigating through it to reach the gallery and see if there were any photographs with them dancing or singing ,some others were super excited to use the E-mail, make their own E- mail accounts and understand how to send and receive mails.

Time flew by, we wanted to tell them as much as we could. But somewhere we knew learning about the Internet is not easy for them. It is very easy for them to get lost between the numerous buttons, links and options the browser offers. We had to give them time.So we had to stop, even though their eagerness to learn made us want to keep going.

Seeing these girls, Jayasi and I knew we had a lot of homework to do, but that never bogged us down, just pepped us up and raised our spirits to work harder and find out the best possible way for them to access the internet despite the given restrictions.

Happy Hour

After an exciting weekend in Coorg, staying in the luxuries of a hotel with no worries of washing clothes or mopping the room, one would imagine that getting back in routine would take time and would get us cribbing. But just the opposite happened.
As soon as we entered the room, I had the broom in my hand while Shruti did the dusting! We couldn’t wait to get all tidy so that we could work upon our plans with the girls for the following day.

The computer session in the morning went well. We started with Internet and were glad to see the amount of interest the girls showed in learning it. When we asked one of them to take rest since she was unwell, she refused, explaining that she had limited time with us and didn’t want to miss out. It is this spirit of theirs which I truly respect.

At 4 o clock, we were waiting in the usual room eager to finally meet the girls after the weekend.
It was 04 : 07 when we finally heard the pleasing sound of the payal which most of the girls wear. The sound became lesser as they neared the classroom indicating that they were standing outside. It was then, when one of them peeped in and smiled broadly when we asked her to come inside.
The atmosphere of the room suddenly changed as the eight of them came in, greeting us with a warm smile! We talked about their weekend and told them about ours. They happily described how they had had a visit to the temple and had sung songs there.
We went on to discuss the importance of English language, one of the main reasons being that the screen reader which they use for learning computers, speaks out in English. All of them told us that they wanted to learn proper English and even recited a poem for us. Most of them blushed when we told them how good they were with the recitation.
After they promised that they would strictly converse in English from 10 : 30 to 11 : 30 pm, we asked them, on a lighter note, if they knew what a ‘kachori’ was.
It is a north Indian snack, and none of them had even heard of it. When we handed one to each, they seemed shy and even confused about how to eat it. Some broke it and ate, while a few nibbled on it. It was funny to hear their mispronunciation of the word ‘kachori’.
But after they finished it, they thanked us and conveyed that they liked it.

Pallavi, one of the shy ones in class, took out her little hen doll and we had a little puppet play with it. Everyone laughed as we all played with the doll, their pure smiles filling us with emotions indescribable.
The one hour spent with the girls in the evening gets over before I know it, and is my personal *Happy Hour* of the day!

We completed two weeks today, but it seems that I’ve known each one of them since a lifetime. 

Smiles

Sitting in the computer room, on the second floor of Deepa academy, I could hear the leaves rustle, while waiting for the girls to prepare what they would be speaking in class today. The class was unusually silent today. Jayasi and I could sense something missing. Without a second thought we knew what that was. It was the smile on their faces we get to see each evening.

We had a couple of things in mind today which we were planning to cover, but sensing the mood of the girls we decided to let the girls  talk about their favorites. It could be anything which they like, their favorite food, fruit, vegetable, person, singer. Just anything they liked. This activity was carried out in the form of a game. The game was called Fire in the Mountain. The girls were made to stand in a circle, with both of us standing in the centre. As we called out “Fire in the mountain, run run run “, the girls started moving in the circle. When they did so, we called out a number and the girls had to rearrange themselves into groups. The number of the people in the group was the number that was called out by us. Those who didn’t manage to make a group were supposed to speak about their favorites.

The game seemed to lighten up the mood a little, with someone speaking about their brother, someone about their favorite musician, someone about their favorite fruit .Everyone in the class spoke well.
Most of them seemed to have cheered up, but the Smile was still missing somewhere.

Instead of discussing anything further today, we decided to play Antakshari with the kids. Antakshari is a game played between two teams, where each team is suppose to sing a song by the last alphabet (of the last word) of the song sung by the other team. They all seemed thrilled with the idea instantly, but wanted us to allow Kannada songs. When we told them that we didn’t mind, they seemed to be showing a different level of excitement all together.

Like always, the girls didn’t fail to amaze us. All of them turned out to be brilliant singers. Not one, but ALL of them sang so well. One important thing that excited us in class today was that a couple of girls who rarely took part in class activities were happily singing songs with full enthusiasm. We got an idea of the area we need to work on. They were definitely not shy of us, but it was the language that was acting as a barrier. Even though Jayasi and I hadn’t heard the songs or couldn’t even manage understanding what they meant, we surely had a good time! Not only because they were full of melody but also because we could sense the smiles returning.

Antakshari brought about the high point in today’s class. There was this girl who had hurt herself day before  and had been appearing to be very low since then, just something during the game finally got her to smile. Her smile got all the girls excited and soon they all filled the room with their chirpy laughter which was such that even the songs sung by them couldn’t match the magic of their laughter.

Today while walking back to the hostel , Jayasi and I left a little later than usual ,but that didn’t matter, because today we had left the academy with a different feeling , a feeling of contentment , a feeling of satisfaction, something magical.

We had finally seen the girls back with the smiles.  

Changes

When my alarm goes off at 7 o clock in the morning, I feel lazy and try to snooze it as many times as I can. When I do force myself to get up and get ready for the day, I have a zillion thoughts in my mind. I miss my family, I miss Delhi, but then I think about meeting the girls and I feel a little better, in the hope that maybe something good is coming out of our efforts, and that their smiles make everything worth it.

With Computers, I believe we’re moving at a good speed. We’ve finished Microsoft Word, and are hoping to finish Microsoft Excel by Friday. The manual is taking shape day by day and Shruti and I give each other a *hi-5* each time we finish a topic in it!

The communication skills classes are what I look forward to the most.
We try to make it fun, and something that they would want to attend as much as we do. By playing games, we try and come up with indirect observations that they might use in everyday life. Since they don’t interact with the world outside their academy much, they feel nervous when it comes to talking to a stranger. It is this lacking confidence that we want to build up.
Yesterday we came up with a scenario, when Shruti became a shopkeeper and everyone had to come and buy something from her. In the initial round everyone was a little apprehensive, but when we conversed in front of them as an example, they were On-The-Go! We changed the shopkeeper to one of the girls and soon the little room was filled with laughter when everyone started broken-English bargaining for things like ice creams and soaps. They learned about greetings and the importance of asking everything about the product that they intend to buy.
I asked one of the girls to make a conversation to buy a pen; the witty one that she is, she asked to try it out before buying, something that really impressed us. When Shruti handed her the imaginary pen, she pretended to try it and returned it saying that it didn’t work properly and demanded a new piece.
It is an absolute joy to watch these girls open up, laugh and joke with us. When they enter the class, they all look nervous and shy, but within 20 minutes most of them have a bright smile on their faces, something that makes us feel proud.

Once in a while when one or two of them are quiet and don’t interact in class, we get worried. They still get a little afraid when we talk to them individually rather than in a group. We hope that this is something that wouldn’t be bothering us by the time we leave.

As I was climbing the stairs at my hostel yesterday evening, the power went off.  In a moment, there was pitch darkness around me. I tried to find the railing but was just moving about my hands in thin air without any success. I tried climbing the stairs but almost fell off and decided to stay still in the hope that the lights would be back!
When they did come back after a minute I could hear myself thank God as I quickly came back to my room.
That one minute was horrifying. I felt helpless and even scared. But that one minute gave me a tiny taste of the girls’ world.

Today, when my alarm went off for 7 o clock, I was out of my bed within a minute. 

Of Games and Learning

On Friday, Jayasi and I entered Deepa academy (where we will be interning this month), and went straight upstairs to the second floor where we sit and work with the girls for our manual. The girls came in slowly one by one. During this time when we were waiting for the other girls to come, we had interacted so much with this girl who had come early, that we didn’t even come to know for how long we had been waiting there! We had come with the intention of making these children comfortable with us, but here this girl had made us feel completely at home without us even having to realize!
With each passing day, I had noticed the little change there was in these girls, with each day they were a little less conscious upon seeing us and a little more open with us. On the same day during the time we spend for communication skills, we had planned to play the game Chinese whisper and hence explain the importance of proper communication. Chinese whisper is a game in which one person whispers a message to another, which is passed through a line of people until the last player announces the message to the entire group. The player should make as much effort as possible to hear that phrase. During Chinese Whispers, a phrase should not be repeated if it was not heard the first time. This player should now whisper what they think was said to the next player, and so on, until the last player shouts out the phrase so that everybody can hear.The girls seemed to really enjoy the game and even pick up what we were trying to tell them by playing the game. As in the subsequent games the given sentence was hardly distorted, showing how well they had responded to what we were trying to explain. The fact that they understood what we were trying to tell them gave us immense satisfaction.
On the following day, we had reached the academy fifteen minutes prior to the scheduled time of the class, what I saw there really put me into thought. We saw some girls playing carom board sitting in the room inside and they were not just playing carom, they were playing it brilliantly. You had to be there to believe what I am saying. In the meanwhile a tenth standard student came up to us and made the effort to ask us how we were and if we had had our lunch, and so on! I was taken aback the moment that girl held my hand and refused to leave it even after the handshake. Her hand didn’t let go of mine, as if wanting me to guide her, asking for support and comfort.
Today in class, we had to cover basic interactive skills in English, which we decided to teach them in  the form of a game called Passing the parcel.During the game,music is played as the parcel is passed around.Whoever is holding the parcel when the music is stopped is given a task. The only difference being that whenever the music stopped instead of being given a task, the girl had to ask the girl sitting on her left a Basic English question. One could feel the girls really open up with some extremely witty answers coming up.
It went onto a girl saying that her best friend was a dustbin simply because she liked it. By the end of the session, the girls requested us for a game of Chinese whisper (they call it telephone) but with a Kannada word this time. We happily played it and rather really enjoyed. Though we are there to teach them English, these girls teach us some words of Kannada each day. And to see their excitement to tell new words and teach us makes learning the language completely worth it.

The one hour we spend with these tenth standard girls really takes us away from the fact that we are all by ourselves in this new city away from home, learning to live in an entirely new way.

A New Relationship

Day 2, we entered the academy all geared up for the following day. While the girls finished breakfast, Shruti and I sat in the balcony. The Gulmohar tree with its red flowers was swaying in the cool breeze of the morning. The clouds in the sky, giving way to very few rays of sunshine, added on to the beauty. The sight managed to give me a soothing and peaceful feeling which was replaced by a glitch in the throat as I thought about the girls who couldn't experience such a sight.
“Good morning Akka”, came a voice from behind. A girl studying in 10^th standard had just come into the balcony and had a shy smile on her face. Something about these girls is really special; their smiles lift your mood in an instant.

We started with the basics of the computer with 3 girls who had gone through a training of 2 – 5 years for using the keyboard and a screen reader. They seemed to know about the computer hardware and were validating the content for our manual. We were comfortably able to cover the basics and the details of every key on the keyboard in 2 hours.

In the evening we met the 10^th standard girls, all of them having a nervous smile on their faces. We asked each one of them to introduce themselves, tell us about their families, their hobbies, their ambitions etc. Most of them aspired to be lawyers, one of them a doctor and one of them a teacher. Soon enough the atmosphere had lightened up and they were giggling and talking in Kannada, their native language. It was hard to get them to talk in English since they aren't used to that much. But nevertheless, they tried to converse in English and asked us about our families and hobbies too.

Their innocence and the purity with which they spoke gave me such a serene feeling. I never felt more comfortable with anyone who've I known for such a small time. I was surprised at my own self when I agreed to sing when they asked me to.

Before we said good bye for the day, the girls agreed to teach us a few words in Kannada. I was reminded of the initial part of the day when one of the girls had called us ‘Akka’. It means elder sister.
We couldn't have had bigger smiles on our faces when we left for the day.

Finding the Way

Coming all the way from Delhi to contribute at Deepa academy and help the girls in whatever way we can, I was living under this huge heap of unclassified emotions. I was excited to meet the girls but was worried about how open will they be with us, I was thrilled to teach them but was not able to help but wonder if language could act as a barrier in the teaching process. Thinking, talking, preparing, everything during the past month had built in so much anxiety inside me that I wanted to meet the kids as soon as possible!

And yes finally the day came, 20th June, when we first found our way to the academy!
Standing outside, looking up and around Deepa academy , we couldn't understand where we should enter the academy from. A girl wearing her brown uniform looked down at us, Jayasi went ahead and asked her "Andar kahan se aana hai?”, soon realizing people in this city aren't familiar with Hindi, she corrected herself and asked her the same question in English, "Where do we enter from? ". The girl standing up pointed towards a gate and showed us our way into the academy.

Jayasi and I entered the academy and were welcomed by Mr. Shantaram (Principal, Deepa Academy) and Mr. Murali (our coordinator) and other staff members of the academy. Following a nice interactive session with the staff and Mr. Murali briefing us further about Deepa academy and what our work would be like, we were taken around the academy. We met girls studying in their classrooms , where they were learning Hindi using Braille , on seeing us they all collectively wished us good morning and one by one gave us an introduction of themselves. Some spoke softly while some were loud. Some were hiding and shying away from us whereas some were interactive and told us to not be shy. But they all put in the effort of introducing themselves in English (which really brought a smile on our faces).We interacted with some girls, they spoke to us about our hobbies and how we found the Bangalore weather, and whether or not we have been to Bangalore before.

Later part of the day was filled with a detailed discussion with Mr. Murali about our project and how will we be working on it, the contents and various other aspects of working with the girls.

It is rightly said that one doesn’t come to know of the time when one seems to be enjoying and liking what one is doing. The girls at Deepa academy seemed to do the trick for us. On the walk back to the hostel we were amazed how fast our time flew by!

On my first visit to the academy, I realized that the girls not only found their own way but one of them even showed us our way into the academy.
The children studying here are really special.
 
I look forward to helping them in whatever best possible way I can.

A start

When I got the mail from AID India almost 4 months ago, about an opportunity to work with visually challenged girls in Bangalore, I was a little worried and excited at the same time. The only time that I had seen a visually challenged person in my life was in the streets, being assisted by someone.


It was soon decided that Shruti and I would be working in Bangalore with Deepa Academy from the 20^th of June.  We’re close friends and were really looking forward to starting the internship.
Deepa Academy is a school which houses about 40 girls from 8^th standard to the 10^th standard, as well as girls who are currently pursuing higher education.

We had many conference calls with Mr Murali, who handles the interns for Deepa Academy.  Being IT students, it was decided that we would be helping the children with computers and would be making a manual for the same. At first I was totally blown away. I couldn’t understand how someone who couldn’t see, could figure out the position of the cursor on the screen to be able to use the computer. Today, as I write this blog I realize how naive I had been.
Another part of our internship would be interacting with the girls from 10^th standard and helping them with their communication skills.


After days of planning and discussions, we reached the time when there was just a week left for us to leave for Bangalore. Excitement was at it’s peak, anxiety following right behind! But between these emotions, I made myself take up an exercise.
That day I tried to dress up with my eyes closed. I tied around my eyes a cloth that would prevent me from seeing anything even if I tried to.
The exercise ended with me having a lot of respect for those who spend their entire lives having a symbolic cloth tied around their eyes. I also ended up saying a silent prayer and thanking God for something that most of us take for granted, our sight.

Mr. Murali himself is partially blind, and works at IBM. I wouldn’t be honest if I said I wasn’t surprised hearing that he was working at such a well known company. I spoke to him about the challenges he faced. He laughed and told me, “Eye sight is simply a luxury. It is mere means of input to the brain. But absolutely nothing can stop a strong willed person! “
I know I would never forget his words.

With hope of being a helping hand and coming back with a wonderful experience and loads to learn, we look ahead.