Competition? Bring it on!!

13 October, 2012

Venkata Ramana School, Alwarpet.

     The Social Causes Club was back in action at VRS, after a month of studying for exams. A team of 8 volunteers reached the school at around 10.30 am which is the usual time sessions for VRS begin. After rounding up the 20 kids at the school, we split them into 4 groups. Saying rounding up makes it sound so simple that I feel the need to elaborate:
     These kids belong to 3rd, 4th and 5th grades. They are at the peak of their energy and the boys can barely sit still for a few seconds. They are exceptionally interested in tackling each other to the ground. We would get a couple of them to sit, but by the time we get to the rest, they would start running around and the cycle goes on....Outnumbered, it was a while until we could finally get them settled.

     Each group was led by utmost two volunteers.As they settled into their groups, we handed each group a chart and asked them to draw something relevant to their topic after which they would talk about it. The teams chose their own topics for making presentations - family, Pongal , Deepavali and  maps. We found that they could come up with a lot of ideas for both speaking as well as drawing. Given sketches and crayons, their indulgence knew no bounds. We gave them close to half an hour to finish drawing and then they started their presentations. Each team went on stage and spoke about the topic assigned to them. While some kids were more comfortable speaking in Tamil, others tried to learn by talking in English.

    For their age group, being barely ten years of age, they did amazing. They could learn whatever the volunteers taught them very easily and competition made them more enthusiastic.At the end of the presentations, we chose the winner to be the team Family - Kavya, Lokeshwaran, Vaishali and Swetha. We gave them their gifts and then distributed biscuits among the kids. After that the volunteers spent some more time with the kids before winding up.

    What we realized after the session was that handling primary school kids was getting tougher day by day. Settling them and making them listen is easier said than done. We realized that we could handle high school children much better than primary school kids. Yet, we knew we had accomplished a lot that day - making the students come forward on stage and speak in a language they were barely fluent in, was an achievement in itself. It makes me proud to say that the Social Causes Club has made another event successful and there shall be many more to come... 

We talk, we dance, we play, we learn...!!!

          Do not train children to learning by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.

Oh boy, didn't we learn that! 

11th August, 2012

            It was only the second school visit by the Social Causes club, yet the number of volunteers had risen to hover around 20... After the first visit none of us could actually wait to meet the kids at Olcott again but our agenda included visiting multiple schools, so we steered ourselves toward another school - Venkata Ramana Primary School... Clearly, it was a challenge since we were to handle kids of grades 3,4 and 5. So,  completely perked up, we made our arrangements with a different set of activities and set  off.
        In the short while that we were settling the kids down,we realized one thing that hadn't changed from the previous visit - the excitement of the kids. They were extremely active and indulgent. We started off with the usual introductions by the kids followed by some fun games...
             We split the kids into 4 teams of about 5 students each and had  one or two volunteers with each team. We took some general pictures with us which we asked them to identify. The kids could identify most of the pictures and the volunteers helped them out when they couldn't. They were more than willing to answer, thanks to the chocolates we handed over to the ones who did!!
              After that we had a crossword quiz containing the names of toys. We reckoned it would be easy but we were way off the mark on that one. The kids knew the words that we had chosen but they didn't know how to spell them, which made guessing a hard task.. We understood that we should teach them simpler stuff before trying out these kind of games.  Then we arranged the kids into a circle and played a word building game which was fun too.

             To end the session we had them dance to the tunes of 'Why this kolaveri...'  which brought most of the kids to the floor. They were enjoying themselves so much that we could just sit and watch them dancing with all their heart. Yet again, we were surrounded by pleas to come again and to spend more time with them.Finally we walked out the school with the same sense of happiness that we'd found in Olcott Memorial School and the longing to be with these kids as often as shall be possible....  

iPads, art and kids....

        When you haven't slept in on a Saturday, yet you're found cheerfully talking to people or walking with a skip in your step, clearly something out of the ordinary has happened.Only this time, the 'something' that had happened involved a certain group of middle school kids who had made my day worthwhile.

        The students at Olcott Memorial High School were energetic to say the least. When we (we meaning a group of ten students from KCG College of Technology along with their mentor Mr.Dorai) reached the school, there were karate classes going on. They assembled and sat down at the call of Mr.Ram (co-founder  of NGO Deepam). That was when we addressed them and got the preliminary introductions out of the way. By then, I could see future police officers, engineers and doctors looking at us from the group of about 50 students who were assembled.

       Those few minutes of interaction were sufficient for us to know that we wouldn't be able to handle such a group all at once; so we split up and took a section each.I was part of the group handling the students of class 7B. As per plan, we had 7 tablets including 6 iPads and a Samsung tablet. I cannot tell which one of us was most surprised when the kids looked at the tablet and exclaimed, ''oh its just an iPad ...!'' Simultaneously we were showing the other group some educational videos. We translated the videos for the benefit of those who didn't understand them and had a small question answer session which was a lot of fun...

       We then had a common drawing competition in which the kids participated with a lot of enthusiasm..We didn't give them any particular topic so we could see a lot of variety from dragons to families , you name it. When we finished distributing the prizes to the winners, it was time to go. That was the most memorable part of the day because we could see how attached the children had become to us. They were practically ordering us to come back the following week and we were not allowed to refuse..

      After spending some more time talking to the kids we left for lunch...It was an amazing session we had with the children and it stayed with us through the day. All of us felt so happy and satisfied which we rarely get to be given our daily routine.The smiles on their faces ,the pressing requests(or rather orders) to come again, the relationships we built that day and the joy we brought to them was a lovely feeling in our minds that we would remember forever...

The smile that made my day...

On the way to Central station on a suburban train...

     The sleepless night was catching up on me, I could tell. I closed my eyes for a while and almost lost myself to unconsciousness but was brought back to the grim surroundings of the station platform by the chugging of the train. I looked around; the station was packed. I huddled towards a group of women so that I could follow them into the ladies compartment. As the train came to a stop, I didn't have to do anything but let myself move because the crowd was moving me in. 

     I found myself standing by the door next to a woman who probably worked day and night to feed the little child that clung to her pallu like it was a lifeline. She was wearing a simple sari that clung to her weak body. She was carrying a jholna and a tiny purse. She wore no jewellery except for the yellow string symbolic of marriage in the Hindus around her neck. I couldn't understand why but as I stood by that door looking at her, I felt a surge of sadness. I felt like I was looking into an image of my country. I wished there were some way I could help her. Perhaps feeling my attention on herself, she turned to look at me.    I managed to give her a small smile which she returned with an effort. 

    At the next station a lot of the passengers left the train and we found seats for us. She sat opposite me and pulled a plastic cover out of her bag. It was filled with buds of the Jasmine flowers. She started taking two buds at a time and winding them together with a string . She did it with such certainty and grace that I could tell she did this for a living. How she fed herself and her child with as much as she could possibly earn from this work, I couldn't imagine. The child sat beside her and was staring out the window . He seemed nothing older than 5 years but his eyes had a weary look in them. Like he had seen much more than a child his age shouldn't even dream of...

As I sat across her, I could feel the weight of the difference that shouldn't have existed between us. Had she felt that I was just as ordinary as she was, she might've spoken to me and we might've even become friends along this short journey much like many others. But I could see the barrier she put up between us to make sure we couldn't communicate. Looking at her I felt a sense of selfish gratefulness for what peace and serenity I had in my life and wished that she would get the same in days to come..So she may not have to suffer as she does now much longer in her life. I added a little tag to my wish to God that this time I am not wishing for something for myself so it be grant as soon as possible; that she deserved it..
    When I opened my eyes after my silent prayer I saw her get off the train at that station, as I watched through the window. The little child turned and looked me in the eye and gave me such a bright and happy smile that as the train started picking up speed I laid back on seat with a growing warmth in my heart, closed my eyes and whispered 'Thank You God...'