“Maaya” Kannan

Around six months back, I had the opportunity of meeting Kannan, a student of the RT Nagar Tamil School. The occasion was the Lucent Day at the school. By the end of the day, I realised that it wasn’t just an opportunity…in fact, it was an honour to have met him.

I am sure there are countless stories of him that the volunteers at his schools would have, but for me, just a single day’s interaction gave immense insights into various aspects of him. It was a truly amazing experience…and here I try to recount a few of the multiple facets he possesses.

The first thing that struck me was the ease with which he ragged people. They could be his teachers, his fellow students, volunteers, chief guests…it didn’t matter to him. If he found something funny about them, he would go ahead and crack a comment right away. And this was done, not because of a lack of respect, or any malice…it was just the way he enjoyed his life, the way he perceived everything as something that would bring a smile to him, make him happy.

Then came an exhibition of his helping nature. The chairs had to be arranged…call Kannan. The stage had to be set…call Kannan. The shamiana had to be dismantled…call Kannan. School wasn’t just a place for him to study, play and leave. He took part in all the activities, and helped arrange everything. He helped people out of his own free will. In many ways, it was a double gift. Not only does the person being helped get the benefit of Kannan’s hard-working nature, he also gets to listen to some of the wittiest comments.

If the above qualities somehow gave the impression of Kannan being someone not that interested in studies, one couldn’t be far off from the truth. Instead of talking about his academic records, marks in exams, etc. I think this small incident should be enough to let you know how seriously he takes his studies:
All the students who had attended the function that day were given a gift. The gift was two huge slabs of chocolates, something that would have most boys his age very happy. But he turned to me and said, “idhikku badhila oru geometry box kuduthirndha evlo nalla irundhirikkum!” (Instead of these (chocolates), if you had given us a geometry box it would have been so nice!)
Speechless!

In between, there was the charming bit of innocence, when he was hesitant to pose for a photograph as he felt his “aayisu koranjidum” (his life would reduce). But his eagerness and enthusiasm for all things won over, and he came to us at the end of the day, requesting for a photo of his to be taken. He also wanted it delivered to him in a week’s time…which was duly done, and a geometry box was also given to him for good measure.


And finally to yet another feather in his cap. He was telling us about how he had played kho-kho at the district level, how he worked on his muscles, how he practised a lot on his running…and the fruits of all that labour has finally arrived in him being selected for the State level 400m sprint! Here is My3’s mail on this:

Kannan (std 7th RT Nagar Tamil school) qualifies for STATE level
400m run !!

Anyone who has ever visited the RT Nagar Tamil school could not have
missed this kid. An enthusiastic youngster - " School Headboy"
welcomes you with a broad smile and stick in hand (which he claims
he does not use for hitting, only pretending to hit:-) ) Catch him
working confidently on the computer (thanks to Sunand & Thiru),
making ppts and docs. Speaks some English, always keen on learning
more. Entrust a responsibility to him and he is sure to deliver.
With this all-round talent, he certainly has the potential to go
well ahead in life!

He won the block level, taluk and district level 400 metres and will
now compete at the Karnataka level. He gets Rs 5000, complete sports
gear and training for a week from the State Athletic coaches.

All of us at DSF wish him all the best for this race and hope he
also does equally well in the long and gruelling race of life! And
maybe here, we have a role to play, to ensure such kids do not fall
back in the race of life!

I think I need to re-emphasise this – it truly is an honour to have such a kid amongst us. Let’s wish the best in life for him.

He is truly set to achieve magical heights. All the best “Maaya” Kannan!

(posted at DSF blog as well)

Navrang UTSAH

The DSF conducted an ice-breaker session at the Rajajinagar 2nd block (Navrang) school this Saturday, the 24th of June.

Volunteers had turned up at the school from different parts of Bangalore –
Ashwini, Avinash, Nisha, Pacchi, Pavithra, Sowmya, Thiru, Vikram and me.

We had noticed a couple of things concerning this school in our previous two visits.
One was that the Head Master was quite open to our involvement, and assured us that the kids and the teachers would co-operate with us in anything we planned.
And the other more significant point was the behaviour of the kids. Discipline, which is an almost alien concept to the kids at the Malleswaram school, seemed to be in plenty among the Navrang school kids.

Both these factors aided us in spending some fun time with the kids, and possibly laid the foundation for sustained involvement.

The school has a skewed class strength – 60% of the 110 kids belonging to 6th & 7th, with 1st to 5th making up the remaining. We decided to split them into groups along this parameter.



We played Pass the Parcel with the bigger kids, the box containing the chits of actions provided to us by Megha. Barring a few shy kids, most were quite enthusiastic to come forward and perform the act. In fact, for every activity, there were always a bunch of extra volunteers.





Ashwini, Pavithra and Sowmya took the smaller kids under their control, and conducted their games. The highlight of this was the running race where chota Chethan, despite facing senior competition, hung on to complete the race. Here is that kid…



A lot of kids asked us whether we would be coming every week.
Hope that their enthusiasm continues to remain unabated, and we can make a difference in their lives with the co-operation of the teachers.

Thanks to all those who could make it, and the others like Pooja who helped us with the ideas behind the games.

(Posted at the DreamSchool Forum as well...)

Bannerghatta School Picnic

My blogging cycle seems to be following some kind of a distribution (Chakku, could you please specify which? ;-)), and here I am once again after a brief hiatus.

Anyway, the past couple of weeks has been fun. A lot of fun. And today’s post would be dedicated to the best school picnic I’ve ever been to. Nope, this is not a nostalgia post.

The volunteers of the Dream School Foundation organized a trip for the kids of the Thiruvalluvar Government School, Malleswaram. There were 65 kids in total, from classes 3rd to 7th, and they were taken to the Bannerghatta National Park. Accompanying them were 5 teachers and the headmaster, and 11 volunteers. And me being one of them (the volunteers, that is) gave me the chance to enjoy a picnic like this after a long time.

Before I begin the narration on the picnic, these are what this particular set of DSF volunteers does:

• conduct vocabulary sessions for the 3rd & 4th standard kids
• helping them to get acquainted with a slightly advanced level of English before they formally face it as part of their curriculum
• get them acquainted with words used in day-to-day life, and hence hopefully aid in sentence formation

(Oh, and then there is me, who, as all the other volunteers insinuate, cause the distractions in the class, and prevent the kids from being serious.)

The 11 of us who had volunteered (headed by Megha) were:
Achuth, Akshai, Ameya, Anu, Dhimant, Indrashis, Megha, Pavithra, Pooja, Vikram and me.

As a result of the many “not being serious” exercises with the kids, I came to know their musical tastes quite well, and took the job of the DJ, dishing out one gaana paattu after the other. :)
[Though most of the volunteers braved the music, there was one who decided to opt out of the musical extravaganza-filled bus during the return journey…and paid a good price in the other bus. :P]

The bus ride to the zoo was an eye-opener for me. Just the initial tinkling sound was enough for the kids to guess that the song being played was Appadi Podu, and up they went in unison! And what followed after that was pure mayhem…of the good kind.
Knowing the initial lines of all songs is great.
Knowing all the lines of all the songs is exemplary.
Knowing all the lines, and all background music of all the songs? No words to describe that!

The official requester of songs from the kids was Suresh (on whom I could write an entire post…one heck of a kid!), who forwarded his requests to “Pepsi Uma” Akshai, and I did the needful.

The bad conditions of the road led to a few…err…unpleasant incidents in the other bus. While the kids in our bus were quite oblivious to the road conditions, and enveloped by the incessant music being churned out. (thank to me! thanks to me! :)))

After reaching the park came the toughest part of our job - trying to hold all the kids together and prevent them from scampering away. And surprisingly the kids behaved quite well. Perhaps not so surprisingly actually. They were staring with rapt attention at all the animals and the birds. And in the few places where the creatures weren’t clearly visible (the goddamn snakes (!!!!), for example), one of us did a recon and managed to spot it for them.
[At this point, we were faced with a sudden crisis situation. Something that we hadnt’t prepared for; a few of our volunteers decided to turn into kids themselves, and encumber us even more. Inder did the job of goading this cattle…I mean these Kids (Pavithra & Anu)…both of whom, as Achuth said, sat down in most places to memorise the biological names of all the animals. :-)]

After a tiring tour of the zoo, the kids (and the Kids) all ended up relaxing at the playing area, while the guys went out to carry the food from the buses. Vikram, who had taken care of the food arrangements, also proved to be a master-thief by entering a locked bus through the window, and letting us all in. And then began the arduous task of carrying the huge barrels through uncertain terrain. All that hard work and effort prompted the highly chauvinistic “Women…now go serve the food!” from me, and won the approval of all the guys. ;-) (Before all the women’s lib (creatures ;-)) start baying for my blood, I would like to make it noted that the guys also helped in the serving.)

While the volunteers themselves had their food, it provided a lot of comic moments…like Dhimant’s photo-op joke, and Vikram’s bombshell on Ameya with his “Leos do not like Cancerians”. All that I could say is, “Dude…how can you say such a thing!!” :)))

And then we were on our way back; the other bus with the same “unpleasant incidents”, and Dhimant, again, showing everyone his workplace and the bus went “oooooohhhhhhhhhhh”, and that helped things a bit.
And our bus; with the same song and dance, with an unintended joke by Megha on a Rajni song, and the lecture on Tamil movies to both Vikram and her. :)

We rounded off the day with a hot cup of filter coffee at CTR, and the tired souls trudged back to their respective homes.

Amidst all the fatigue, the feeling of fun never died down.

It was a great day for the DSF and its kids.