Project Green Book- Week 8

This blog was written by Sarath S P.

I woke up early in the morning at 5 on August 7 2011 (Sunday) cursing myself. Sunday is my favorite day of the week just for the only reason that i could sleep till 12 ‘o’ clock. But today i have nominated myself for an Outreach program which hindered with my most enjoyable part of the week. I snoozed the alarm twice and at last got out of bed at 5.45.I got ready in half an hour. By the time my friend Aby was waiting for me. We rushed to MMC where joined my teammate Anand.

Anand was the person who told me about the program and he had already gone to the school once. We met the WWs coordinator Kiran and collected the books from him. Then I, Aby and Anand started our journey to Topslip in a white Tata Indica Cab. I was a bit excited as well as afraid. I had no previous experience of teaching kids and i was not sure what I will do there, this made me worried.The way in which I spoke Tamil added to my worries. I was also excited because i am visiting a new place which I heard is very beautiful.

Our Team

We reached Sethumadai at 9.30 where we met Mr. Sabhapathy WWS joint secretary who joined us in our further journey. He told me that he is a regular visitor of Topslip for the past 20 years. He also complained that he had not sighted a single tiger for all these time even if it is a tiger reserve. We reached the school at about 10.30 a.m. We met the new Range Officer. He informed us that most of the students are sick, have left for their homes and will come back only on Monday. We decided to spend time with the students who were present there. There were sixteen students in total and a classroom was opened for us. All the students assembled in the class. They were of different ages.  Some studied in second standard some in third some in fifth etc. But they were all very happy to see us. Sabhapathy was a familiar figure for them. He was a regular visitor to this school and was doing many things to improve the conditions of that school. I was inspired by his efforts. He greeted the children and they greeted us back. Then we invited the new range officer to start distributing the books.

Range officer distributing the books

We handed over a book to each of them. They were all delighted in getting a new book which made me think of my childhood days. I had everything that i wanted new books, new pen ,new pencil and never i was so excited about those, but always asking for those that I don’t have. But here these children are now so happy that they are getting a new book .I appreciated in my mind the effort That CTS and WWS put together for this noble purpose .Their happy faces showed how eager they waited for each visit to see all these new faces and to learn something more.  Some kids in the front row called me and asked "Anna unka peru enne?”. I told them my name and asked them whether they know the names of people who visited before. I was surprised when they started saying names of people who visited them last week. This showed how much they loved these visits.

Our team member Aby distributing books

After distributing the books Anand started taking some basic mathematics for them. I realized how good a teacher Anand was .He was able to get the minds of children very fast. Soon he started becoming their favorite teacher. With his extreme patience and care for the children he taught some basic mathematics. I was amazed by the way with which he was teaching them.Then we conducted a small quiz by dividing them into two groups.  We asked them to name a cricket player where all of them told 'Sachin '. This lasted for one hour. slowly I began to realize that language was not a great problem in communicating with them. I spoke to them with whatever Tamil I know and they spoke to me like a person whom they know for ages

Study Time, Anand teaching the kids

Then they told we will play some games. We joined them .Our team member Anand soon become one among them. I saw him being like a kid when he played with them, laughing making expressions. We all returned to our childhood days in each and every minute that we spend with them. By then it was time for their lunch but none was willing to go. They told they will go around 3 ‘o’ clock or even after that, All they wanted was to stay with us and make them a part of our life for some time. We played some songs for us in my laptop and asked them to dance . Initially they were shy but soon they come up and did some beautiful steps when Anand Aby offered them a chocolate . They were imitating the steps of Dhanush and were dancing so well to the steps of ‘Aadukalam.’

Back to Childhood days

 By now it was getting late for them as well as us. We asked them to go for lunch. Without full mind they went. By the time we did some discussions, took the remaining books to store room, and was about to close the room they came back. We told them that we ll come next week and said goodbyes to them. At about 4 we started our journey back. Sabhapathy bid Goodbye to us at Sethumadai. I told him that I will never forget this experience in my life and I was so pleased to meet him. On my way back from there I again started thinking about the kids. Yes we have so much but we still complain about what we don’t have. They have very little yet they are very happy with whatever they have.

I regretted for cursing the day in the morning. I decided I will go to the school again if I get a chance; this is something good that I can do for myself and my society.

We can do no great things, only small things with great love...

Project Green Book- Week 7

On 9th of July 2011, a fine Saturday morning at around 7am we started on this trip to Topslip from Coimbatore. Two days prior to the journey I was asked to join the team. Initially I hesitated as I had to spare my plans with my family but later the coordinator briefed me about the trip and the specialty of it. As it was associated with kids and social responsibility I was ready for it. If I hadn’t accepected his invite, there is no wonder that I would have missed an awesomely beautiful weekend.

We were racing through the highways and I was eagerly waiting to know about my cousins counseling results. I received a message from him that he got admission in his dream college, which was the last time I used my phone and we were phone free for the next two days, probably due to the signal strength there. It gave us a bright new start to the journey, helped us orient ourselves more with the scenic there and we enjoyed our journey getting ourselves prepared for our mission to motivate the younger minds, inspire them and help them dream big. Our journey through the woods lasted around two hours which gave us a refreshing break. Finally we reached our destination "TOPSLIP".

 We were four of us Ashwin, Kiran,Tamilarasan and I (Kaushik). Kiran was the organizer who invited us for the trip and he had a better reception from all the little ones, which we envied a bit in the beginning and was very curious to know why? But as time passed on all the little ones started getting along very well with us too. Later we learnt that Kiran had an upper hand because he visits them regularly and he had organized a similar visit the previous week too. We had a touch of compassion, a heart throbbing happiness something which we don’t experience every day.

We had a great beginning we started by introducing and getting ourselves introduced which also gave us a power packed refreshment after our journey. We learnt about their daily routine, their educational curriculum and the major role that CTS plays in their life. We felt really proud on being a part of such a wonderful organization which attends to its social responsibilities equally. With that bright start we focused on our agenda, we began with a general knowledge and motivational class which lasted for around two hours from 11am, we helped them imbibe the importance of general knowledge and their duties to keep themselves updated.

After an hour of lunch, we screened the footage of the movie ‘Taare Zameen Par’ with our own Tamil translation. We emphasized on the importance of being kind, being unique and excelling in education which was a playback of the motivation. We then addressed them about the importance of communication through English, playing a vital role in day to day’s life. We encouraged them to develop the    habit of communication through English.

Then we broke for tea after which we engaged ourselves in keeping the environment clean aspects. We enlightened them about global warming, air pollution and soil biodegradability. We also appreciated them on their part in keeping top slip clean and pollution free.

Then came the most entertaining part of all, the screening of a tamil movie. It was real fun when we asked the kid’s choice, with no surprise all girls voted for Paiya and boys for Singam. The slight higher attendance of girls made us all watch the romance of Karthi and Tamannaah. The movie lasted till 9:30pm and in between which we had our dinner with the kids. At the end of the day, we all retired to our beds with a great satisfaction and plans for the Sunday.

Sunrise at hill stations are really beautiful, it looks completely green everywhere we turn around, especially the little droplets of dew in the green grass blades when touched gives us happiness like bliss. So was the beginning of the second day, we enjoyed the coldness in the air, we also got a chance to inspect around the school’s kitchen and the other facilities. After a steaming bath and a hot breakfast we started our day with an early morning journey to Parambikulam. It was a real beauty to see the reflection of the huge Western ghats on a silent undisturbed lake. The journey covered various places through the forest and they were all awesome. This was the only time during the trip, we parted the kids to enjoy the nature.

After around 3 hours, we were back to address the kids about the importance of unity and coordination. We spoke to them on the importance of team work and how it works in planning and organizing things. We taught them how to plan up their daily work. The importance of time management and planning which would help them survive any hardship. We also spoke about the examples on self-confidence, motivation, determination and the spirit of leadership which will make them great personalities of tomorrow. We didn’t want to keep them bored so we kept narrating short stories then and there.

Then it was learning time for us. The kids really have lots of fun in store. I have never played such games even in my childhood. The last 2 hours was like PT period of my primary school. Except that we were not asked to do the exercises 1, 2, 3, etc., After all of the mutual sharing we bid adieu to the future of India with a snap to remember.

Things that I personally learned from those little ones were lessons for my lifetime. Their interest in learning new things were amazing, their way of sharing whatever that was given, adaptation to the difficulties, narrowing down their requirements and still excelling in their tasks were honestly great lessons. After all these we had to start on our journey back with a heavy heart. The two days were beyond awesomeness in my life, gave me a new energy to work and a great experience.