" Yes, the next time I visit the community, I will post and express my happiness upon seeing their smiling faces and hearing their joyful talks ! "
That was what I had said and that is what I still stand by. It's not that I haven't visited the kids during this entire time, but it's just that I couldn't get myself to write about it.
I have been to the community twice in the past month, but never really found myself disconnected from the kids there, courtesy the presence of mobile phones and their knowledge of receiving and sending text messages. It was just yesterday, the first day in the past month or so when I did not receive any "Good Morning Di" just as the sun had risen or a "Good Night Di" exactly at the time when I was about to enter my own world of dreams and retire for the day.
That left me with a weird sensation, a sense of incompleteness perhaps, and that is exactly what compelled me to write this post and share my experience of the last two visits.
Shivangi, Prateek and I visited the community the previous week. When I had called them up the day before we went, I could clearly sense their excitement over the phone and it was so contagious that I found myself to be in extremely high spirits till I did not meet the kids the next day.
Owing to their fascination with gel pens, we took one for each kid along with chocolates. When we entered the community, the room in which Prateek and I used to take the class of the senior kids was occupied by children below the age of six years and two girls of the Senior Section were teaching them some words of Hindi. Despite never having talked at a one-to-one level with those young kids, all of them stood up and wished us "Namaste" when we entered the room. There was a huge smile on our faces as we three recollected those mornings when we would travel from our houses in the scorching heat of Delhi and our moods would instantly improve exponentially just upon seeing their smiling faces and hearing their enthusiastic "Namaste" .
We sat in that room for a while, saw those two girls teaching the younger ones as word spread around the community that "Didi Bhaiya aagaye hain " (" Didi Bhaiya have come ").
For the kids who were studying in the ninth grade and upward, school had already begun and they were busy attending their classes. The night before we had been made to promise that we wouldn't, under any circumstances, leave before those children came back from their school.
I have been to the community twice in the past month, but never really found myself disconnected from the kids there, courtesy the presence of mobile phones and their knowledge of receiving and sending text messages. It was just yesterday, the first day in the past month or so when I did not receive any "Good Morning Di" just as the sun had risen or a "Good Night Di" exactly at the time when I was about to enter my own world of dreams and retire for the day.
That left me with a weird sensation, a sense of incompleteness perhaps, and that is exactly what compelled me to write this post and share my experience of the last two visits.
Shivangi, Prateek and I visited the community the previous week. When I had called them up the day before we went, I could clearly sense their excitement over the phone and it was so contagious that I found myself to be in extremely high spirits till I did not meet the kids the next day.
Owing to their fascination with gel pens, we took one for each kid along with chocolates. When we entered the community, the room in which Prateek and I used to take the class of the senior kids was occupied by children below the age of six years and two girls of the Senior Section were teaching them some words of Hindi. Despite never having talked at a one-to-one level with those young kids, all of them stood up and wished us "Namaste" when we entered the room. There was a huge smile on our faces as we three recollected those mornings when we would travel from our houses in the scorching heat of Delhi and our moods would instantly improve exponentially just upon seeing their smiling faces and hearing their enthusiastic "Namaste" .
We sat in that room for a while, saw those two girls teaching the younger ones as word spread around the community that "Didi Bhaiya aagaye hain " (" Didi Bhaiya have come ").
For the kids who were studying in the ninth grade and upward, school had already begun and they were busy attending their classes. The night before we had been made to promise that we wouldn't, under any circumstances, leave before those children came back from their school.
It was a wonderful feeling to see the kids rush upto you, especially those of the Junior section, hug you and tell you how much they had missed you. I had noticed this before as well, but this time's visit reaffirmed my belief in the fact that being a kid brings along with it the ease with which one can express their emotions. It was just clearly visible how simple it was for the kids of the Junior section to express their emotions as compared to the Senior ones.
We soon left that center and accompanied by around ten children, reached the other center where Mr. Vajpai was sitting. We met and conversed with him. There didn't seem anything formal, it was actually like we're all a part of a big family. Somehow all the kids got assembled there and we sat with them for an hour or so. We talked, laughed, they imitated us, sang songs, heard jokes, discussed studies and most wanted to know when we would be coming back again.
One thing that they all were eager to know was whether we had done our homework or not. Our homework ? Create worksheets for them ! Not having known that with school and regular studies at the community on at full pace, they would still be expecting worksheets from us, we were definitely not prepared for this. We did promise them that the next time we come, there would be worksheets for all of them. During the visit prior to this one, we had prepared and distributed worksheets to the children of the senior section and this time I was not surprised when I found a few of them had it completed, ready for us to check them.
It was time to leave, they were very apprehensive of the fact whether we would be able to come and meet them soon since our college is about to open now, but I was sure we would come soon.
The reason ? While leaving one center to go to the other one, when a young girl perhaps of about five years of age came upto me, tugged my hand, signaled me to bend, kissed my cheek and asked me to come again, I knew there definitely are more visits in store for us.
We soon left that center and accompanied by around ten children, reached the other center where Mr. Vajpai was sitting. We met and conversed with him. There didn't seem anything formal, it was actually like we're all a part of a big family. Somehow all the kids got assembled there and we sat with them for an hour or so. We talked, laughed, they imitated us, sang songs, heard jokes, discussed studies and most wanted to know when we would be coming back again.
One thing that they all were eager to know was whether we had done our homework or not. Our homework ? Create worksheets for them ! Not having known that with school and regular studies at the community on at full pace, they would still be expecting worksheets from us, we were definitely not prepared for this. We did promise them that the next time we come, there would be worksheets for all of them. During the visit prior to this one, we had prepared and distributed worksheets to the children of the senior section and this time I was not surprised when I found a few of them had it completed, ready for us to check them.
It was time to leave, they were very apprehensive of the fact whether we would be able to come and meet them soon since our college is about to open now, but I was sure we would come soon.
The reason ? While leaving one center to go to the other one, when a young girl perhaps of about five years of age came upto me, tugged my hand, signaled me to bend, kissed my cheek and asked me to come again, I knew there definitely are more visits in store for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment