The yellow Rose

     The kids were escorted to the first floor ‘green room’ for make-up. Some of them were excited, some all lost. A boy fascinated by the lip color demanded the make-up didi to apply some for him; the girl went on hating her costume until she was convinced she looked pretty.  Yet another little girl, proudly took care of the boy (just a little littler than her) –  she wouldn’t leave his  hand. Some were waiting, all set & prepared to go to the Stage-Hall; one or two of them started dance inside the green room as soon as they were ready, lost in their own world!

…...

     The show was about to begin. One of the hosts gave a pre-start call and then the program kick-started.

     One by one, the participants were called out. The groups of kids / adults alike, not taking time, immediately took their places for performing, as & when they were called out. The kids happily danced to the tunes they recognized were theirs – a few mocking their teachers (who were dancing side-stage). Nevertheless, they danced and sang their hearts out. The anchors, in between performances, gave their thank-you’s and dose of audience-entertainment. And there were also performances by the show supporters, Mothers and the Staff. The atmosphere was a typical cheer, fun & talent filled with energy.

     A super-kid, who had recently won an International gold-medal in para Olympics was honored. Show-stealer as she was – she took everybody’s breath away with her dance performance (one could not forget)! Three hours of time floated fully alive; with passionate singers, dancers, speakers, photographers & organizers at work – all with just their hearts and a spirit to make a difference.

     The show ended with a final dosage of 'Thank-yous'; and then a happy note of declaring a school day off.

     Soon after the show ended, one of the show anchors prepared to wind up (she had a bag of mixed emotions to carry and contemplate). Just then, a little boy stood in front of her from no-where, showing her a yellow-rose. Surprised, she gestured the boy asking whether the flower was for her, and that she wanted it. The boy signaled it was not, and disappeared as quickly as he had appeared in front of her. Little importance did she give to it, when the little boy returned to her and patted on her back, with another rose in his hand – gesturing this one was for her. There was an innocent grin, a joy of selflessness, on his face...and the anchor..was 'awe-struck'! (....and so a friend who was watching all this!)

Yes. The child was Special – not in the sense the world calls him; but in a way that he had demonstrated what it meant to make someone 'feel special'...


                                                  Goodness does not need a state-of-mind. It just needs an open heart…

Courtesy: Annual Day Event at Sambhav Foundation – a center for rehabilitation of mentally challenged, disabled children and slow learners…

                                                  

Another walk into a Govt school..

Importance of ID cards – Take 2!

     This time it was a visit to a more interior Govt school. The talk was to be delivered during the first period, since the teacher was on leave. I was asked to come few minutes earlier (which I did). It was 9.20 am, precisely. The kids were already standing in their respective Queues, in the school ground, and were just about to start their prayers; when I entered the School gate. The teacher (who was my contact point), signaled me to join the staff on stage. I just stood at a corner, waiting for the prayer session  to get over.

The Prayer Session:

      The minute the session started, nostalgia started playing its chords in my mind – the prayers, followed by news-headlines-reading, and then proverbs-reading took me straight to my school days (experienced this typical school-prayer atmosphere after a little more than a decade!). The only difference being, I wasn’t doing any of those this time :P

     Some of the kids gazed at me, simultaneously while reciting ‘Jai Bhaarat maate, Jai Karnatak maate’  [no! I was not their Bhaarat maate; they were just suspecting me to be their new Miss [teacher :P]

Enter into Class 7^th:

     The school does not have a high school, hence the authorities decided to keep 6^th and 7^th class kids as my audience. Fair enough.

     Before I could begin, unexpectedly, the students once again filled me with warmth by chanting Omkar and few other morning shlokas (as a gesture of welcome) – and then gave a sweet collective wish of -  ‘GOOD MORRNIIING MEEES’. [Purely Indian!] I was humbled!

     Quickly dusting off the clouds of emotions (before they could take over me), I started the Introduction section [which was in the same format as the last time, since it had worked out then. The 3 points I have listed here]. And then slowly, we slipped into the world of ‘chalk-piece-and-blackboard’, through my half-cooked-kannada – discussing ID cards for the next 40 minutes. [this time I somewhat felt like Amir Khan of TZP, perhaps because the kids were comparatively younger than my previous audience, and I had to keep them engaged; by being one among them]. To add to it, I learnt another kannada word from the kids - ‘Mane vilaas patra’ that is synonymous to ‘Residential proof’ [learning is always mutual, u see B-)]

     Post the session, was the Q&A – where again – the kids left no stones unturned in answering to all the questions that I and the teacher [who accompanied me, to supervise the kids, just in case] had asked. Every kid I pointed out, walked up confidently to write the answer on the board. This was my victory.The purpose was again – served!

     The Q&A was followed by a counter ‘Q&A’ – this time the kids really bowled me over by asking questions ranging from ‘White board - yellow board vehicles’ to asking ‘LIC policies’. The time was almost up, when I finished clarifying them about the difference between the ID cards, LIC policies and LIC agents. Quickly, I closed the session by, once again, taking a promise for getting their ID cards done – and receiving a collective yell of ‘YYYYYessss’

After a short thank you speech from my end, I packed my bag and walked out of the classroom, to find the kids opening up the windows to bid me a good-bye (they had realized I was not their ‘hosa miss’, but just a guest speaker)

     Another feather in my cap! After few formalities with the school staff, I walked out of the school still basking in the warmth the kids had showered on me.

Wonder if while volunteering for something.. are you really Giving? Or in fact, Receiving….

Express my gratitude to: Govt High school staff, Thippenahalli ; iuindia; Mohan from iuindia. And Aunt, who once again, was the main connect!

Cheers!

[This is about my talk on Importance of ID Cards – Voters ID, Aadhar Card and LL-DL – a part of my assignment from iuindia. The experience of my first talk, you can find here]

A-Z in Dots and Signs :)

...gone are the days when 'I wanna grow up once again' was just a song lyric...

     Ever since I happened to randomly watch a group of students communicating in Sign language at a bus stop ( a couple of years back) - a strange chord had struck me! Inspite of being a people watcher - strangely enough - I was not able to comprehend a single action of theirs. Wouldn't mind missing a bus or two, just to sit and watch them (yes! have done that :P!) and try to understand their communication - but all that I could grasp was - just their state of mind (by their body language). nothing else. A clear message out of this was - I need to learn sign language!

     The 'Fun World' experience (October, 2013) added my interest in learning a New language - Braille.

     Come Jan 11, 2014 : When a long-awaited dream witnessed a start! Quickly enrolled the Batch 2 of  'GiftAbled's Mini Braille and Sign Language Workshop' class [an initiative organized by Gift-abled - http://www.giftabled.com/; further details shared at the end of the post]. A perfect package!


All about the Session: Role-plays, Fun-n-Learn, Signs and Braille:D

     'Aao school chalen hum' – the song kept running in my mind, while travelling all the way to the i-volunteer venue. [of course, we were gonna learn just 'A-Z' - all in a new and different way :P]. After the registration formalities, the Session started with the series of events - all in an order:

Role-play: 

     Soon after the introduction session, we had a quick role-play wherein the participants were paired into groups of 2 - one was blindfolded acting as a visual impaired beneficiary; and the partner was a  helper. We had to do an exercise of 'road crossing' with our respective pairs [Did u ever know that there are certain 'techniques' to follow to help a visually challenged person? - I didnot until I did this exercise]. The 15-minute session was just enough to make us understand what kind of challenges might be faced by the Visually impaired in their daily lives, and how diligently we can assist them. The role-play eventually turned into an ice-breaker among the participants - who were now little familiar with each other. We moved onto the next session - Sign language.

Fun-n-learn: Sign language:

     The session started with our ' Prarthana teacher' demonstrating and teaching 'A-Z' in signs; and then the students practising the same. It was a totally 'school-like' atmosphere, and learning felt amazing! The session was followed by a test [and I was one of the toppers -yay!! :D]; and then we had a short exercise, wherein we had to communicate with our partners in Signs! [ain't as easy as it sounds! if you lose your track you might well end up wondering, what the hell are u doing with your fingers and fist - and then, erase everything u wrote in the air - and then start afresh :P!] The sign-language session was truly knowledgeable, and fun too! (we were literally acting like kids playing dumb-charades)

The Braille-session:

    The sign language session was followed by Braille-training. It was wonderful to learn every aspect of the Braille basics. Each alphabet consists of a specific punching pattern within 6 dots (6 dots - is where the braille basics starts from) [some additions with marking 'upper case' letters - u need to join the basics sessions for more details ;)]. Again, as a simple assignment, we were asked to punch our favorite quotes in braille [which was quite a challenge too, nevertheless fun!]. Our art of copy-from-others-notes literally went for a toss, as we had to put our independent imagination into it (after 2 failed attempts I managed to punch my quotes correctly in the 3rd!) :P. 

     Along with the fun we had during the entire session, we also got to learn new techniques - some do's and dont's while giving a helping hand  - and more importantly - gave us an awareness in terms of volunteering with the HI's and VI's. 

The session was truly an enriching session - an attempt to bridge the gap between the differently abled and abled. Serving the society had been a thought since childhood, and few additional gyan that our 'Prarthana teacher' used as fillers, helped in putting some of my own thoughts in place:) 

A big Thanks to Prarthana, Gift-abled, and all those who were involved directly / indirectly in this initiative. Hats off! The session was truly a start of one of my dreams-coming-true :)

P.S: Loved attracting public attention, when Shilu & I were trying to communicate in Sign language while walking towards a restaurant for lunch (after the session got over :P). The 'new learning' just ended up making us feel like a child :)

Gift-abled Store links:

Official website: http://www.giftabled.com/

Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/464549333613878/

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/GiftabledAnInclusiveGiftstore?ref=br_tf

Cheers!

Swatz

My First talk of 2014!

Jan 04th, 2014

It was a nice Saturday morning at around 9.35 am [the first Saturday of the year]. The school was buzzing with kids of all ages chirping around classrooms, as I entered the Nagasandra Govt High School premises.

 The teachers had gathered all the students from 7^th and 8^th Class, for my Voluntary talk.

Topic was: ‘Importance of ID cards’->; a talk that I have had been planning since a while (an assignment from iuindia).

So here I was - standing right in front of a 150+  pre-teenage kids in a long classroom (2 combined into 1), along with few teachers.

I had to be slow..not because my audience were kids. But because I had to manage my just 10-year-old language skill – Kannada [one of Karnataka’s regional language]! My only funda was -> Keep it simple and clear!

The Start:

One of the school teachers kickstarted the program, by giving a brief introduction of myself and the audience. And then, Over to me!

With half-cooked kannada, I started off with the below 3 points:

1.  Wished kids a Happy new year

2.    My name, of course!

3.   And then shot out to them – “nange Kannada baralla” [meaning - I dunno kannada]. I could see the little surprised expressions in my audience (as expected) –  this was an intended move!

     

After confessing my level of expertise in the language and a heads up to the teachers’ that I might need some shadowing, in case the kids were unable to comprehend my way of talking kannada language, I started my ‘Actual talk’

So here goes the show…

Firstly, I had to put across the basic idea of ‘Identity’ to them. And so I randomly chose few kids by identifying them with the color of their sweaters, and asked them to call out their names. Exemplifying as to how the color of their sweater had become a part of an ‘identity’ for the moment, & taking them to school ‘Roll numbers’; I went on to explain the greater meaning of ‘identity proofs’ and why is it necessary in the outside world. This gave a clear picture of the agenda to the students; and in the process, I too learnt that in kannada - ‘identification’ is called as ‘gurthu’ [which invariably meant that..I was on a right track..:P]

I continued by stating few examples of identity proofs (the core matter) ->; Aadhar card, Voters’ ID and LL-DL (had selected a few that would be the most relevant to them in near future, and sufficient to cover 45 minutes of talk). The students were all set to take the gyan. (not going to put down the content hereJ)

The rest of the 30-35 minutes turned out to be quite interactive! [and strangely but slowly, i came to realize that ‘language’ was hardly a concern in the process!]. The knowledge of these ID cards, was meshed with explanation of the terms – ‘proof of Age’ and ‘proof of Residence’ , wherein a couple of students were picked to read out few important points from the notes that I had got for reference. I circulated copies of these cards and showed them the fields (of course - cracking jokes in between :P)

The entire program was in a flow – smooth sailing, lively and interactive. [just loved the energy that had built up in the classroom!]

Show climax:

After spending the 30-35 minutes of the ‘core’ talk, I had a brief 10-minute Q&A session (partially to test their knowledge, but more to test whether ‘I’ was successful in the attempt). The surprise was – the children not only gave satisfactory answers to my questions – but also kept asking for more [‘Akka – please explain about Birth certificate and Death certificate also’ – (none of which were in my agenda!) now what more does a Speaker wants than – audience asking for more!

With a brief account of some uses of Birth and Death certificates, I finally concluded the session with a brief thank you speech, and took a promise from the kids to get their ID cards done at the appropriate age. The response was – ‘a collective yes’. My task was accomplished!

After the show ended, the kids started walking out of the room in a line, to start for the mid-day meal that had arrived. Loved the ‘celebrity-feeling’ when all of a sudden few kids took a detour from near the door and walked upto me to just ‘shake-hands-and-thank’ – [this was a ‘real’ takeaway for me!].

All said and done! My first talk of 2014 was thus successfully accomplished. Thanked the school authorities and then, after winding up with few formalities, I winded up my show. It had been a highly energetic morning, the first weekend of the New year, with a difference!

The walk back home:

With the energy that I had picked up, I started walking out of the premises, feeling like a school kid myself. 

Was just basking in the feeling, when a boy [cycling back home] turned back at me, gave a ‘thanks’ and asked me as to ‘when m I coming again’!..couldn’t stop smiling the rest of the day….

My learning – When it comes to sharing knowledge, language is hardly a barrier! 

Credits & Motivation Courtesy: iuindia, Mohan from iuindia, School HeadMaster and teacher who helped in orgainizing the talk. Last but not the least -  my aunt [retd teacher from the same school], who was the main connect! J

Cheers!

The Braille, the language of feel, and their World of Fun!

The Braille, the language of feel, and their World of Fun!

‘KIIIDS’ – I yelled.

‘…what idea have you got about today’s program?’ – the ‘trainer-brain’ in me urged me to ask the kids of my team….

We were a group of 85 volunteers participating in the ‘Joy of Giving’ event at Fun World. The program was about assisting Visually Impaired [‘beneficiary’ henceforth] kids and adults for Joy rides @ the Fun World. The whole bunch of volunteers were divided into 4 teams; and paired with beneficiaries on 1:1 basis. The team that I belonged to [Chak De!] had only kids J [had to be so! especially with ME in it(wink, wink ;))]

‘We are gonna play games’ – was the collective reply. [Fair enough!]

‘So what kind of games do you usually play in school and home’ – I shot back at the already enthusiastic kids

‘Merry-go-round, jaara bande, swings…’ and few other names I’m not able to recollect [blame my poor technical knowledge in Kannada..didnot spend my childhood in K’taka :P!]

‘So, today..its gonna be similar games..but they will be much bigger, speedier and few will be slightly different’ […few imaginations already sketching…few smiles already lighting up!]

‘CHAK DEE’ – with a shout, a round of claps and whistles, we made a grand entry into the Park; thus kick-starting our Fun Event organized by ‘Gift-abled’ together with the Bangalore Trekking Club, Shree Ramana Maharishi School and few other volunteer groups.

Now that the rides were going to be relatively ‘bigger’, we started off  explaining few of the kids (including my beneficiary), the meaning of what ‘Big things’ mean. Touch-and-feel of the of a Giant wrestler’s arms (installed right at the Entrance) proved to be just the right activity for this!

With ‘Awe-struck’ ‘Surprised’ ‘Thrilled’ and ‘Happy’ expressions, the kids n elders, all moved on to the core rides.

She, me & the rides:

My pair was a 10-year old girl named ‘Gita’. A ‘chota-packet’ of talent and enthu, who has learnt Kuchipudi and Bharatnatyam [still learning] and has given group performances in a TV channel!

On any other normal day, joy rides would mean ‘just-sit-n-enjoy’ stuff. Never cared about what direction / path a ride took..how many compartments did it have..where the supporting bars/belts are located..or even the shapes and sizes!

But today, the experience was something different! Explaining each ride with as much detail as possible - drawing directions in the kid’s arm, giving a rough imagination about the area a ride covered (via sound analysis, while we were waiting for our turn), comparing each ride to the best possible example she could relate to – was sort of, an eye-opening (and of course, my ‘mouth-opening’) experience. [my personal thrill was that - there was none to control the ‘chatter-box’ in me :D ‘touch-feel-talk’ was the key mode of communication with the Specially abled people, to make them understand the surrounding]. Even more thrilling was - when she took all the download from me diligently and we experienced all the rides in the same way! And as we started building that understanding between each other, the girl started asking for more n more; and we kept increasing our pace and Fun :D Thereafter, it was just jumping from one ride to another, meeting the rest of the group here-n-there, shouting, howling, clapping, whistling and ‘Feeling’ the rides - till the day was called off.     

    

Throughout the day, the Event was an energy-packed, thrilling and a Unique experience!                        

                                         

-------------------------------------

The Philosopher’s note:

Frequently, I hear a saying in Kannada which translates to this – “Help done from one hand, should not be made known to another”. A saying which, I guess, most of us believe in.

However, the Fun world event modified this belief in me a bit. Volunteer activities such as these deserve to be promoted and publicized, of course, with the right intentions. It’s the events such as these that bridges all kinds of differences – old, new, abled, specially-abled – all coming together with a common purpose. And this time, it was simple – Have Fun! That’s itJ

And, if you closely look at your own life, come to think of this - We never needed support to live our own reality (each is better off with his own). It was only when we chose to move out, did we Reach out!

At the end of the day, we all are incomplete in some or the other way, and seek support when we truly dare to look beyond our limits! They pushed their limits and dreamed of making it to joy-rides, we just rendered them the support they needed to make this live.

Well, I know the stuff right above was more of a Social science, but equally important for me to let the world know :P The ‘Joy of Giving’ event was truly a joyful event, with a lot of take-aways that would surely count in life down the lane.

My take-aways from the Event:

1.      People, people and more people: Meeting new and old people, all for a common goal, was a very pleasant thing happening over this event. I had no clue, that an entire troupe of my ex-colleagues would also be a part of the volunteer group. Was taken aback, nonetheless, happy meeting them :P

2.      Awareness about the braille: At the end of the event, the entire group of volunteers and the beneficiaries had a gathering. Post the thank-you speeches, there was a brief session on how the braille works. [this was really something new and very knowledgeable!]. Watching the kids happily teaching the rest, about the braille was a kind of delight we get to perceive very rarely!

3.      The real million dollar smile: In the middle of one of the speedy rides, I casually checked with my kiddie beneficiary as to how was she feeling. The warmth and innocence that came with the response, was once again, a rare experience. That genuine expression of the kid, had the power to melt a hundred hearts – I was after all, just one [aint an exaggeration! U feel it, u believe it!]. And to get more of such an effect, I repeatedly checked on her feeling throughout the day :D [greed did this job, not I :P]

4.      Victory feeling: Got a chance to take an elderly VI lady Marisha’s feedback on the event, while on the way back home. As expected, she confessed that she did not want to be sympathized or pitied by other (read normal) people and was little skeptical about the entire event. And immediately she glows with a smile and admits – ‘but it turned out to be a lot of fun and I’m thankful I did not miss it. It was because people were there to support, that we enjoyed’. Yes – they just needed a ‘support’. We all need it at some or the other point of time, don’t we? And yes! This meant that the event was a Success – in its motive, purpose and in every way J So, kudos!

All in all, it was a day filled with fun, and something called as ‘Soul-satisfaction’. You name it as a ‘Social help’ ‘Social commitment’ or any other buzzing term. But for me, the ‘Joy of Giving’ was truly a joy given to me! A satisfaction that no money, flashlights, or glamour can buy.

Thanks to one and all involved!:) A special mention to the Organizers.

..A message to the ‘Heidi’ fan club:

To all the Heidi fans out there! I found a real-life Heidi in the girl I met :D. The way this little girl expressed ‘akka, nange thumba khushi agtaide’ [akka, I am feeling extremely happy] – felt as if little Heidi has jumped out of the book and manifested herself ;) :D

P.S: This post is a small dedication to my beneficiary ‘Gita’ – as a gift for her birthday [October 16^th]. A bundle of energy as she is, someday I hope to see her breaking some record in Dance. Prayers and wishes to all the specially abled kids and elders alike..

Cheers!

*Names of the beneficiary’s changed for protecting identity