My other excuse for coming to Delhi was a TFI event - "Meet-a-Fellow"......met some potential applicants and helped clarify their doubts....
Two days after i returned from Delhi I went to Pune to meet up with friends.... Was in Pune for exactly 24 hours and met about 15 people....dint get to sleep for more than 45 mins or so....
I thought both these trips would give me a break but i guess there is no such thing as a break in a TFI fellows life....I am constantly thinking of things I can do in class...stuff that is incomplete....etc.etc..sort of gets on my nerves at times....
Anyway, the school highlights were the second unit assessments on which my kids did badly! Thanks to the rains first and then the festive season (Ganesh Chathurti and Eid) and huge amount of holidays we had low attendance and for almost 3 weeks I was unable to teach much (thats about 53 hours of wasted time!!!)
Yet there were some kids who showed massive improvement....Sameera and Harendra were among the best endeavourers for the month!!
Sameera is the only kid who comes to school regularly...she loves school so much that she even came for extra classes when she wasn’t evn asked to...rain or storm...nothn stops her from coming to school....I remember twice she stepped into class soaked to the bone but still smilingJJ
During a visit to her home Namita and i found out that her parents had been through major financial crisis and her father had to move to Gujarat to find work leaving his family (6 children and a wife) behind in Mumbai. Her mother told us how their relatives wanted to adopt Sameera to give her a better life but the kid dint want to leave her parents.
I dint cry on that story...What moved me was the tears I saw in her Sameera's mother's eyes when her lil girl won the prize for the Best Endeavour of the month...I dont think any feeling can compare to what a mother feels when she sees her child do well...
One of the sweetest moments of the month was when Kashiyan came up to me after the PTM and kissed my hand....it was his way of thanking me since he had got the prize for highest marks in English....
We had invited the corporator of the area, Sarika Austen (part of congress) for the prize distribution and she gave a simple msg to the parents - Love your kids when they do well...hug them and let them know that you are proud of their achievements no matter how small or big they are.....
After the PTM got over, few of my kids took the corporator to the area behind the school where there is alot of muck and water gets accumulated and explained to her about the problems we were facing due to the unhygienic conditions...The most amazing line was said by Zahoor - "Ma'am, isske baare mein kuch kariye varna hum school nahi aayenge!!" (Kids are awesome with threatening!)
My kids are participating in a competition called Design for Change....they are supposed to pick up a problem and solve it...so we chose the problem of not having a clean school and home...so they spoke to the corporator, took a day and cleaned their entire class (including removing cob-webs)...i havnt seem them as united as they were when they were cleaning their class.....we also took them into the community area around the school as part of the cleanliness drive and they cleaned up streets and shouted slogans, asking people to keep their roads and surroundings clean....there were people who were curious, some who found it funny, but nothing deterred the kids and they went on doing what they had set out to do....i almost got into an arguement with someone when they said it is the job of adults and not children to do this..all i said was - When adults forget their responsibilty children take it on... my class now understands the need for cleanliness and hygiene.....
Last month we also celebrated my co-teacher Namitas bday...the kids and i made a card with our handprints on it and stuck her pictures on it and everyone signed it....we did most of this infront of her....yet she pretended to be surprised.....a parent sent a cake fr her...few kids also got cute gifts for her....it was an awesome day and we all went to play in the school compound.....
Off late I have also had a lot of volunteers coming to my class....infact any person i meet or speak to, i make sure i invite them to my class...so you all are invited to my class as well.....but know that it wont be easy...i feel all my senses are being tested to the limit...the noise level makes me wish i had ear plugs....the amount i have been stretching my throat makes me lose my voice everyday....my nose cannot differentiate good and bad smells anymore.....and more than anything my eyes are tired of staring at the computer screen for completing deliverables....i need a break and i am really looking forward to Diwali vacations....
Oh btw, I have shifted my house....I no more live near the beach:(.....and the view from my balcony now is of a slum! thats real mumbai...opposite every high rise there is a slum....the heat is also killing......i guess ppl were right in saying that if u survive in this city you can survive anywhere in the world.....the only good thing iv liked abt mumbai so far are the plays - I saw 'Get rid of my wife' recently
I am off to school now...took a half day off since i wasnt feeling well...the weather can really bog you down!
Go thru the pics if u find time.....also, do write back and tell me whts up with ur life...fr all those who have been marking my mail and thinking that they will write back one day some day...do it now!
Oops...before I forget...Its very weird for me to ask this...but I require funds for my school....I want to get my school painted, get the toilets fixed and get the ground behind the school cleared out so that the kids have a place to play.....If you can please help me with this...let me know if you are interestd and il give you more details....just know that its not a compulsion.....but if you do want to help in anyway, even by donating books or stationery, it will be great.....
Also, if you know ppl in Mumbai who would like to volunteer in my class and take on the responsibility of one kid by teaching them every week for some hours during school hours please let me know......
