11th to 20th Dec-huhh

This is the shortest time interval in which I am writing blog since I think after 2nd week of insti, i.e around 6 months back. Last 9 days have been actually on better side. Mostly grammar in school, integrating with PMC teacher, Aniket's observation on 13th was decent. He asked me to work on Investment of kids, ate dinner at Iyer's. It was good, chutney and sambhar were pretty concentrated. Wednesday was start of almost a change in my life. The experience of Urban ashram was phenomenal. I remembered my comfort on Saturdays. Awesome. Well Friday after the school went bad but on Saturday I went convinced that it will be good and taught loads of maths and it was almost. Sunday was conference. Hmm. I will call a below average overall. I felt the sessions could have been better planned. The hopping around in Pune with Abhimanyu and Karthik was good. Monday also I spent on maths. Tuesday on Unit test of maths and then PT and games.

November till mid December

I came back to Pune confused, disheartened not sure if anything had changed. The journey before vacation had taken away full energy. Sunday I came, train late around 5 hours. Tensed completely what would happen. Got to know only a few days back that Monday is not school. Sunday evening went in just arranging the house slightly and  slept. Monday went in checking mails and replying. Work of Unit plan 4 had just started. I went school on Tuesday to find that only 5 kids had come. So on Tuesday we just played, miscellaneous ways. GK and some more time pass stuff. Vineela hadn’t come back so had her kids also. Wednesday the number just increased to 7 but that also meant no serious study. Thursday was a holiday for some crap. So I went on Wednesday to Ramneet’s home. Stayed there, talked about all sort of random stuff. It was a good time. Defense people get so much luxury, ya I agree their work is also very hard and it is well deserved. Ramneet’s sister and brother in law are both pass outs from AFMC that means both are in army and are working as Major. At night we talked about how profitable is the BPO sector. You just need the right contacts, but isn’t all jobs about having to do right kind of work. Just work to find the needy, finding provider is easy or else you can create also and lead it. Thursday morning, Ramneet didn’t wake up but I could not sleep more. At around 9 I got a call from Divesh saying that holiday is cancelled and I should come. Then I called kids and informed that vacation has ended and forcible called Pinku to school for some study. I meanwhile arranged the cupboard. Friday the attendance increased a little and Saturday a little more but still it was less than 15 only. On Friday it was birthday of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and teachers called me to speak on him, I hadn’t prepared anything but just gave a random speech with the little knowledge I had. Weekend just got over in more planning stuff. From next week the attendance of kids increased, Kalpesh had got seriously ill and Hruthvik shifted to village. I was sad, chatted with Sandeep and he consoled me. I had started reading Teach like a champion. I met Sivaram a couple of times, it helped me a lot. The PDPM debrief was more a formality. The conference was good, some good sessions. On 1^st December, there was co-observation with Sandeep and Aniket. I was so nervous that I slept late, woke up early. Phonics went good, grammar not so good. I got confused in explaining “But”. Sandeep left a quite positive note. Meet with Aniket also went good. He said it was the my best lesson he has observed. Then I met Sivaram, it was good, I felt very good, learning so so much from his experiences. Then meet with Siddharth- It was better than I expected, as should be with a city director. He gave a book Swift, which is about how change happens. Next day in phone check-in I told Aniket what all I need. I realized that I have full technical support but what I need is emotional support. I told him this completely, but he didn’t quite understand it. Ok. I let it out from my side. The week went overall good. Tuesday again a holiday for Muharram. I went to Anwesha’s place. It was such a good day. May be the best after I came back from home. Good food, good conversations, all in all an amazing day. In phone check-in I asked Aniket about many doubts related to TAL which I read on Sunday. On Wednesday, meet with all new teachers and my co-teacher didn’t attend. By the way she stopped coming to my class from that day because few teachers were absent. Well Thursday and Friday were normal routine stuff. On Friday I had a wish to do exercise, so exercised for around 2 hours. On Saturday I went to Upper Otta met all kids, got to know to Raghwan’s home also. I was very happy to see Chaitrali studying and also only planning to study whole day.

Mid Sept to Nov

Well September went only in trying to get class in decent position. Initial work of "What will I do about it" started. It was a nice experience working with Ashwin, Seema, Swati and Sunny- all of them among leaders both in classroom and clearly in coming years. First meet in Barista in which I got late. Second in TFI office, where I was late again. Uhh.. I had stopped being late since last 2 years. Pune traffic is jam in evening. I didn't expect that having a smooth experience before this. And in 2nd meet, guilty of being late I was standing out of office when Chaitali spotted me and asked me to come in. Next few meetings were in Seema and Swati's home. Well they have a beautiful home and also had Dabeli for snacks. Abhimanyu and Anwesha remained a constant support of pillar all throughout. Jagriti also became a friend in the meantime. There were some One team events where we got a chance to meet different people. One in East street where the organisers were also late, then in MG road park for Joy of Giving where the junta was quite less, may be also due to the rain that day. Well I also went through a time or may be a week of ill health. Bad time but at least got some help from Divesh when needed. Also went through a rough time with Hruthvik, to the extent that I went to his home before vacation to teach him mother phonics. I gave holiday homework to all kids and a photocopy of history book to all.

Vacation: I went home by the Azad Hind, had to pay 200 for Auto, then my ticket was not confirmed but RAC, the train also had a pathetic rush, so it didn't matter if I had confirmed ticket also, the bogey was full due to Diwali rush. Got to meet an IT proffessional while going to Kol. Reached around 4-5 hours late. Took bus only to home, to see Sanjay mamaji there. Next day I went for new home opening of Arun chachaji, and on the way back bought a 32'' TV. On small Diwali I went to nanibari. Met Madhu mami for first time.Well we could not talk much, maybe due to 2 reasons- I was a bit confused and secondly because it was late night. Diwali was not so special, just like any other day. Next day just went by. On Bhai dooj I got many good food to eat. I also went out with Prerna and Trisha. Good time spent in City Centre 2. Saturday my uncle and aunt came. Sunday we went to Science City. Good time. Then there was feast in nanibari. My father and Kitty both got ill that day. Monday was dull. Tuesday we went to South City(Pizza hut meal was good) and also to Natural Height.Wednesday they left. Thursday and Friday just went by like that and again Azad Hind express. There was a lady who had AC waitlisted e-ticket who had first experience of travelling without ticket. She started crying and I assured her that it would just cost some money nothing else. She was a teacher too. Another person in compartment was doing BeEd. Wow travelling with 2 teachers in same compartment. Another difference I noticed was this. Never did I see or may be 1 in 200 times did I find a girl in 20s travelling in sleeper during trip to Kanpur and back but in this trip I could spot many. :P

Mid July-August

Today is 26th November and am writing for July and August.Well I am writing this 2^nd time because last time’s writing got lost because Microsoft office crashed so everything in very short now:

Conference:

·       Lady helping in shifting and all young people relaxing

·       Bus’s clutch failed so got into last bus which was full of luggage too.

·       Rutika’s vomiting

·       Binu’s boyfriend, Aniket’s shave and Neha’s parents

·       Electric Diva and some performances

·       The chart written by everyone and visiting card

·       Final hugs.

·       Luggage left in bus

·       Meeting with Ishpreet in Divesh’s home

Other small things:

·       Recharge by Sumang and Archana’s sim

·       Talk with Anuj and Sanket

·       Rangoli welcome by kids and management going bizarre

·       Assurance by Divesh

·       Scholarship exam, Jyoti teacher’s nuisance and meet with Hitesh

·       Registration of house and being late in school

·       Splitting of class.

·       PM debriefs-phonics and grammar.

·       Independence day sound system

·       Amazing Sinhagad trip with Hitesh, Binu, Prashant and Nishant. The wind point, the tasty food, the pure fun.

Mom’s visit:

·       Mobile discharge and enquiry counter confusion

·       Cleaning spree and shopping.

·       Surat trip: Bus late, mall visits, shopping, the alchemist, taiji’s home food- chowmein and dosa, return back.

·       Heavy rain and coming back.

·       Late night drop at station.

Weekend before School

Friday night: Well we had planned for a surprise party for Madhukar. With the leadership forum ending of Jayashree we met in Tagore 2, called Jagriti who was not very happy with so late information from my side but still came cancelling the plan. Madhukar himself also wanted to go out and so he had already asked us to meet in parking lot but then came in Tagore 3 himself to call us up. Anwesha took her out so that we could make our arrangements but ended up doing a serious talk with him. Then when he came, we did the events as planned. Then we all went out to Tadka house again for the last time. All the tables were already booked so we took one room in the outside. Pritish and Prashant joined later. As usual we played games(ya the GAMES). We then had Truth and Dare. Never ever did I know that Truths can be something difficult too and more difficult than Dare. With the expected level of openness, the questions were simply more than what I imagined could be even uttered in front of girls, but now we are working proffessionals and anyways I was in a completely new world so had to adapt fast. Managed to keep myself calm and asked and answered questions. Well my answer as usual was very blunt and no further questions or responses evolved. :D
Neha, Sathya and I forgot the name of the 3rd person(I think saurav) were there in Tadka house. Me and Jagriti went to meet them many times. They were enjoying themselves a lot while relaxing. They came back even after us. Later I had to start packing. Well most of my apartment mates were towards end and I started. No problem. Since ultimately I also finished. 
Saturday:

Last week at institute.

Monday: Again some lectures. After the lecture I talked with Sanket Patil, Divesh and the landowner Divesh introduced. Was thinking of going to meet him that day only but when I asked to Maureen she told me that attending the evening lecture is important and Tuesday's one is also important and allowed me to miss office hours on Wednesday. Then at summer school, we started the RF for EOI. Then Rutika was teaching and I was co teaching. I didn't see my class so quiet ever. Her GP was inspiring. She taught addition with many chits. The evening session was on Solving the Educational Puzzle. Nakul went up to share that he wanted to be a minister and called me also on stage. :) Well it was a nice feeling, because of him people started considering me also as a politician, Vineela shared that she wanted to be a part of UNICEF. In others I don't remember now. After the lecture the amazing "Secret Angel" Event started. It was a real fun event. Mine was Renu. Later that evening I went on walk with Sathya and Neha at midnight. I can't forget that walk.
Tuesday: Again some sessions and then I had to take the two classes today because I was the lead in co teaching and you know what I had to take the AIT class also as a class because Srilekha had gone home searching and we were lagging in our RF assessments. And that class which was my last class was my worst summer school class. I was tired, tried a new strategy which completely failed, Rutika came late to class to help in co-teaching and class was huhh. Then was the session on Communicaitons. Well the secret angel event could have started today also. I am not sure.
Wednesday: 1st lecture by Siddharth and I was late. I fell in the ditch behind our hostel. Had to go back to room and was sure to not come back but only because of Nishant's insistence I went to lecture. They were on our placements and how schools are selected and how to invest various stake holders. For a change some good content in presentations. Planned to go to see home. After taking Maths assessment for EOI I left for Bibvewadi. Reached in time to find that landowner whas not picking up phone. So had to stay at Divesh's home and met Sanket at dinner.
Thursday: Had an adventurous trip back to Flame. Miss the exact bus at Swargate because of some nuisance, then paid extra in bus, then took the 6 seater from correct place to wrong destination and coming back to Chandni chowk by lift from someone. Then Auto wala sucking money unnecessarily when 6 seater could have very cheaply dropped me there. Then walking uphill in rain and getting Flame bus when downhill was just about to start. Drenched in rain sat outside Tagore 2 chatting and making a card for Renu. Then went to Chanakya 2 to find a chart paper with everyone's name there. Wrote a full essay for Anwesha for the many help she did and wrote a lot for so many people. Enjoyed writing. Summer school went in remaining RF and taking remaining Maths assessments and preparing for EOI showcase. Came back clicking photos and all. Then the open forum by Sandeep. And my god, that was the day. Ok. Let me hype you all first and then explain. I have been brought up in a completely non female environment. I was in a boys school(till 12) and tutions also had boys only(till 11 somehow some girls were there in class 12 tutions). Then my college was in IIT Kanpur,again a boys(94%) college only. And here the session of Sandeep ended with the words, " And its time for FREE HUGS". Man what did he just say? I sat for like 20 seconds just thinking if I heard it correct. Then seeing other people hugging each other, I confirmed that I did not have hallucinogenic experience. I was literally afraid of hugging a girl, well not my fault, I had never hugged a girl before I came to TFI. I still can't forget it was Priyamwada who was the first girl who hugged me. It took me time then also to absorb the fact that it was normal. I know I am sounding like someone from I don't know which obscure location or time period but believe it will happen if you grow in such an environment. Ok lets come back to the evening, enough of blabbering. The time became highly senti, the background senti music also had an impact. I then went to the Mumbai group room also. :)
Friday: Last day of sessions. Tired enough to attend but just dragged myself to it. EOI showcase was good. Realised that in no case you should allow kids to hit iron benches even in a small game. The high they feel because of the sound is too much for us to control. Huhh. After the showcase we had a cake party. The way back I click photos like anything. Then we headed to Chanakya 2 where the Secret Angels were revealed. Mine was Nishant, whom I had said in the afternoon itself that whey were most of the gifts by my secret angel delivered through him only. And Renu has happy knowing me as hers. I tried being a good secret angel. Then a small(almost 2 hours) reflection session by Shaheen and an amazing Leaders Forum by Rajshree. She was simply inspiring which was clear not when she spoke on her own but when she replied to our questions with such fire. The fire in the answers clearly showed her committment.For later incidents read the next post. Well it deserves a post. :)

Sunday 10th July

Well today is 3rd August and tomorrow is Nag Panchmi and hence lower work load today and you know what instead of writing blog daily as expected I am writing for 10th July. You can understand how ill managed my time is now.

Day started with me waking late due to the last night fun and I reached mess eating the regular (but still very tasty) breakfast and clearly by chance I sat beside Prerna that day having breakfast and Prashant came and wished her breakfast. WHAT??? Ohh god. How was I expected to know that it was 10th July. I did not login in Facebook since midnight and hadn't checked the date that day and I didn't know and then. And then I could see the anger on her face for me not wishing her. So I decided to talk to her even after breakfast and found that actually VERY few people had wished her that day there. Well it was Sunday and people do wake up late on such a hectic training, so it was neither her nor other fellows's fault. Then I bid her good bye after some discussion and finished my weekly chores. And it was time for lunch again. Well I could feel how bad it feels when you are not made to feel special on your birthday so I made a card for her(hand made obviously) and got a choco fantasy ordered for her in the CCD and gave her a surprise. The smile on her face made up for all the effort. Well after that the day had some sessions and after 3 weeks I don't remember. actually.

Friday and Saturday of Week 4

Ok. Today is 20^th July, a Wednesday and it is around 12 days since I last wrote. So again a symbol of how busy my days were. Well this week was relatively easier but the point was that I did not have any internet. Ok let me stop the crap and start writing the experiences.

Friday started with a session on Integrity taken by Sandeep and just on a lighter mood, I am sharing it. I was just browsing internet and got a ping to make a proxy. The session was on Integrity and a person asking me to mark proxy. I loved the irony at the time and told that I won’t, to the person replied that it was a joke, well I am not sure if it was or not. Doesn’t matter also. 

Well after that also was some session. Then summer school. Being Friday I just had to take assessment, but my PM asked to teach a lesson since the class was lagging behind. I did not make any proper lesson plan and just revised the maths I had taught that week, which included shapes, clock and a few minutes on I think addition. After coming back we had the city meeting in which we were shown a presentation where some improvements were cited and a ppt was shown with quotes from parents or relatives. Anamika had an amazing ppt made by her fiancé. Well that was truly exemplary. I envied their relationship that time. Well that made a benchmark for me as to how good people can be when they are in love.

Friday ended and Saturday started. It was the day when I was supposed to go on Community visit and we reached school to find that parents teacher meeting had ended before we came and we were to go to homes on our own. Then I called Payal’s home to find that they are not in Pune and had gone for some family function. What??

I wanted to go to home of Priyanka and Payal.Former’s grandmom denied my arrival and later was just not there. Then I went with Pritish to Pratham’s home. In our path we crossed a saloon shop which reminded me of my hanging long hair which needed some maintenance. While finding Pratham’s home, in my simplicity(:P) I even asked a prostitute on the road the way to the building. After she said that she did not know the path I had a thought that what if she had misled me. Well this incident made me think for some time. How much biases we hold to people of some profession. How we judge people on what they do and not what they are. Profession need not always be a matter of choice but many a time forced in our country at least. With our country still tied in the chains of caste system we still have not got complete independence to decide what we want to continue as our profession. And prostitution is much more a less thought profession. People are forced into it more that what they chose. Some people are just traded in them and kept forcibly in it by various forces. Some people are just raped by their families and the only place they find peace are brothels. Are these people choosing or are they forced by the society? Can anyone answer it? Well these were my thoughts and just thought of how constrained we are even with some much education. Well the design of the lanes where they lived reminded me of my home. Just for those who are reading it, there were numerous brothels near my home, so I know very precisely the design of locality and dressing of residents. It also reminded me of some sweet(sarcasm intended) memories back home. Just another piece of information for the readers- Asia’s biggest brothel which had a market of more than 100 crores (8 years back) was also near to my home.

Well all these were my thought processes. We reached Pratham’s home and guess what Pratham’s family was a proper Rajasthan’s family. They were happy to meet a Marwari and I also hadn’t heard Marwari(language) since a long time. They were good people. Pratham’s mom was a teacher in Pratham till 4 years back when she left school as she was expecting another child. Well she had one girl and she was roaming around when were talking. Pratham’s mom told me about some of the problems in R N Shah school. Then I came back to school. Then went to Revati’s home. As I had a rough idea of where she lived, I went to the 3^rd floor of the expected building and found that I entered a wrong building, the residents told me to go to the building behind and showed me also through the balcony. While going I found a kid coming so I asked for help and he left me in a home. I called for Revati and was informed that she was in bathroom and hence I waited. A lady came out whom I expected to be Revati’s mom and started talking. She did not know hindi and she was conversing in Marathi. Well that was not quite unexpected and I was talking till a time she said, “ ME REVATI”. WHATTT??? She is Revati. My Revati can’t grow like 15 years in a day. Well again I entered a wrong home but this time a home with a girl with the same name. And just to add to it not only Revati but Revati Bokhare. Her surname was also same as my Revati had. Then we came to level ground. Actually the conversation was going on till now as I was introducing myself as teacher and she was herself undergoing a training too, a typing training. She was saying that I was not her teacher which was correct, completely. I wasn’t. Well then she told me how to go to the home to correct Revati. And she was not far away, just the next building. Then I reached. Talked with her. Revati’s elder sister was also there. She was studying in class 10. We had a good time talking, well we mean me, Revati, her sister and her mother. Then I came back. Bought a mango in the path. Having a mango after so long time and that too in month of July was amazing. Although the single mango costed me 20 bucks but still it was worth it. Then I had Bhajiya and some other snacks too with Prashant. Then I had a haircut, then a head massage too and a shampoo. It costed me 80. Welcome to Pune City. In Kolkata I remember started getting haircut at 7 bucks and now I am spending more than 10 times for the same thing and I am not getting anything, just paying to give my hair which in the end the barber is going to sell to get more money. Uff.
Forget it. Then I bought another yummy dish from roadside stall, the name of which I don’t know. After going back, we had a reflection session, in which I shared with Neha and 2 more people. Only Neha had the chance to go to a slum, we all others went to proper apartments. And guess what. The day does not end here. Our PM group went out to Tadka house for outing as it was last weekend. And I wasn’t actually interested in that and had already refused my PM. I was just doing my weekly weekend chores when Anwesha called. She asked me to come with same stuff that it was the last weekend. And on top of that I heard Rutika’s voice in background commenting that I should come. Well I did not have much choice now. 2 among the 3 girl fellows whom I just could not refuse anything(out of respect) asking for the same thing, that was too much, I just freshened up and got ready for leaving. Well the experience was fun. And there was hukka too and I had fun. The QnA round was fun too and I still remember Rutika’s remark and that was such a confidence booster. :P
We had the staff also there and we called Sandeep, Maureen, Sanaya and Anirban at different occasion and for different purposes and all of them were sport. We went back and the party still did not end. We went to Tagore to watch a movie “Stanley ka Dabba”. Till the end of the movie I think only 4-5 people were awake. And 4 of us were so sleepy that we decided to sleep the night from 4 AM in Tagore itself as it was raining heavy but on Madhukar’s insistence we went back to our rooms in Hitesh’s car. 

21st July started and experiences from 10th July have to be written down still. Ohhh. What an amazing life. :) 

Week 4

See again I am writing after more than 1 week simply indicating the fact that I was busy the last 8 days to the length that I couldn't even write down the daily expectations but I am not complaining. After all I am here for training and that was going at full length. Let me cut the crap down and write about daily experiences.

Tuesday: Started with another session from Romana followed by Kayt. Sessions were no different from what they present in every session. Then in school I tried continuing shapes again but this time from assessment oriented. After coming back I had the option of going to a Ballroom dance session by Madhukar but didn't go because of a discussion at the apartment.

Wednesday: Started with a session by Aniket. It was fun and about number sense. We were also introduced to the Pi family contest. In school I tried teaching clock but to no avail. Kids could not understand it. I made a clock out of chart paper but the hands got off in the journey. After coming back I attended the recruitment focus group session. Then that night the placement results also came out. I was allocated a school in Bibewadi and I was the only 2011 fellow there. I was excited that night.

Thursday: After attending JAM sessions by Kayt, Sanaya and Alica I edited the lesson plans. That day there was a waiting line of 1 hour for Print outs. I taught place value to kids but they didn't understand it much and just to add to my woes, my assessment had questions of word problems which constituted 80% of my assessment which I couldn't even teach. In the evening there was a fellow led discussion wehere we discussed the problems in Educational scenario of India and some possible solutions. It had 4 major solutions:
a>KIPP type schools, b>Consultancy for schools, c>Centralised data bank, d>Mobile education vans.


Well I am tired now. Will post about later experiences when I have strength. Good night.

Monday Week 4

I missed the Insanity Workout of Maureen and RC session thats why I am unusually writing today.

Ok so day started with LPC with PM. He reiterated the same stuff which Sandeep told few days back. The was a session by Alika on Writing. It was good but I wasn't listening, just didn't feel like paying attention. In school we were greeted by heavy rain for some time and then there was a session by Sanaya on INM execution. The theory part was fine but I doubt many people actually learned much out of it. Then my AIT time was ok. I was teaching 4 kids then. I don't know what and how to teach. Sakshi and Yash are good for the group and there is Payal who doesn't know both numbers and alphabets also. Sahil is so distracted but still smart. He acts as if he doesn't understand any english but I don't feel that because when he looks at me, I have a feeling that he gets what I want him to learn. Then was my session to teach. My objective was to teach basic 2d shapes, unlike my lesson plan I started it in more traditional way. I drew triangles and circles which everyone knew, some got confused between rectangle and square but overall it was good. I tried to push them to also explain sides but found myself at a lack of time. I gave them the assessment and found that kid didn't note down the spellings and none of the kids could identify all the 4 shapes and name it properly. I will teach that again tomorrow. I thought of attending Insanity workout by Maureen but got engaged in few discussions and didn't wanted to go late. So writing my blog. Oh just not to put much light on it, but yesterday realized that you talk of the devil and devil arrives. I discussed with few people that how our stay had been so peaceful compared to a set of people and there was some problem yesterday itself. I will think now once before being happy about some peaceful situation.

Week 3

Well I hope this week blog should be a bit detailed as the chances of memory being fresh is even higher. Ok. From where I left
Saturday: Woke up for another session in morning, then followed by one of Shaheen as expected another senti one. I think it was on Child Protection. Then we had sessions by Romanna on RC and phonics. As boring as expected them to be. Then I went out with Neha for a small walk around campus to the temple and lake. In the path we also went up and down a hill. In mid we also found Santhosh on our way. We 3 then went to an Emu farm, then crossed a stream, sat on a rock between the stream, had good discussions, then went through some bushes, reached back end of the lake, then reached a horse stable. The horse stable had 6 horses- 4 brown, 1 black and white and last but not the least, one grey one too. He looked amazing. Then we went through some marshy lands, crossed few ponds, picked up some stones on the path of green, yellow, white and blue colour, washed them in pond and came back. Well that day first time a movie was also screened on idea of someone. I actually ended up sleeping there.
Sunday: Slept for 9 hours, woke up and had breakfast and came back just to lie back to bed and sleep for more 2 hours. Freshened up, had lunch and started making LP's, washed some clothes and other pending minor works
Monday: Based on requests of many fellows, the starting sessions got delayed by an hour and we had starting sessions from 8 AM. I had my first RC session when I introduced vocabulary. Well that went good.
Tuesday: I gave my first session on actual teaching RC. Maureen came to my class and sat for more than 15 minutes. I had already decided that I am not even going to look at a staff member and I didn't pay any attention to her face as that would have surely depressed me. After the class got over, we got to know that a kid named Danish was not there, whose mother had come to collect him but he wasn't there. We searched in all classrooms, bathrooms, all directions outside school but to no avail. The kid was in a class taught by another collab of my PM group only. 1 fellow got really tensed and upset over not being able to find him. But after we reached the Flame campus I got to know that he was found. Because of the searching time, we reached campus late and I found out that Maureen praised me in the session for giving explicit directions in class. It was such a mood healer and encouragement. The session was on values by Shaheen and was a good one and told about a story in which a person went to many places and had to show perseverance and had both good and bad times. Even though it was a kids story but many of us also found it good.
Wednesday: Started with a session on Bias to which I could relate to a good extent as I myself was having one. The classroom was fine. But after coming from class, I was unable to accept the fact that I have a bias and talked with around 5 people as to what to be done. Got many ideas and suggestions, helped slightly.
Thursday: I hate Thursday. I have to continue teaching something which another fellow had been teaching for 3 days and on top of that my PM would observe me. Due to the pressure I came up with an idea of  There were 2 sessions on thursday and both were good. Session in the morning was on Colours and was such a mind opener. Got to know about various people's thinking and their nature and characteristics. Got to know how to deal with them. Being blue and during discussions I realised that talking with Blue people is the most difficult thing. Session by Kayt on co-teaching was helpful in making my opinion about co-teaching clearer.
Friday: Last day of the week. Started by a session on Sense of Possibility. A part of speech of Martin Luther king was showed. I am planning to see the full video today. Then we were asked to write a speech on our vision. Anamika gave an inspiring speech and I got to know that there are people here who have amazingly good and highly convincing thoughts. I hope many people could have such views. I haven't seen anyone till date(only in videos of great leaders) with such views. See such repetition just points out that I am still in awe. I didn't have any class as Alika was modelling my class. The kids were sitting like anything. How were they understanding what was going on. I also realized that my kids are so good at cheating. Except 4, all others were just copying each others. In the GP Alika took, only 3 kids were able to come up with answers and every kid had their eyes on them only and as soon as a colour was lifted, in 2 seconds 70% of class would have their hands lifted. In IP, cheating was at its peak. I asked Alika that what should be done to discourage it, to which he suggested me to make a sad smiley on paper in front of kid and not to evaluate it and then make that kid do the paper in AIT time. I liked the idea and have to discuss that with my PM group. Discussion is more of a formality. My PM group is good. Very rational and open to ideas. Then observed Aniket's class also and made a sheet for my AIT group kids as through the weeks experience I now knew the level of my kids. I gave them to read at home but lets find out tomorrow if they do it. In evening we were greeted with a PPT by sandeep which was highly encouraging. In the middle of PPT we were supposed to get a paper stuck at our back and people were writing all sort of things. It was so much fun. And at the end a PPT with our photos teaching kids was shown. I felt good. Then I tried discussing my problem in first person, I don't know how successful the meeting was but to a certain extent yes it was. Got into a discussion with another person that day.
Saturday:
Another wonderful day. Started with a very boring lecture by Sanaya and in few minutes, people came dancing. Then it was told that we had to get split into 2 groups-one for dance and other for art. I went for dance and the 1 hour and 30 minutes of training was so good. I loved the dance time. Then all the fellows were divided in 5 groups-red,green,yellow, blue and black. We were also asked to dress as much as possible in the colour and prepare a chant. We displayed our chant in football court. Then we had Tug of war in which our group came first. Then was a relay race with 3 couples for hand barrow and 3 couples for 3 legged race. Then we had a pass the marble game which had to done twice due to not clear instructions. Then we had a catch the water balloon game. And at the end we all received a diary and a water bottle. Oh. what an amazing day. Then came back, washed the clothes and other minor pending work. Day just ended so soon.
Sunday: Woke up with 9 hours of sleep to find a mail from Maureen stating that brunch would start at 10 AM. I was very hungry so was just waiting for 10 AM. And I reached mess just to find that mess people were not informed anything like brunch. But due to the many people who were coming they extended the brunch hours for more half and hour. After coming back I had to work on one of my college project work because my proffessor wasn't able to understand few things. I had replied him that I would reply back on weekend hoping to be able to do on Saturday only but didn't get much time then so finishing the project work was no. 1 on my priority. Finished that, then had to get hold with ISAT data updation, then started LP. Then went for a jog till a slight distance ahead of " The spot" to meet a friend. It was good and very tiring physically and conversations on return was icing on the cake. Enjoyed the communication. Coming back took us around 45 minutes. Came back to finish my LP. From this week a system of Buddy review was introduced by our PM in which another PM member would review my LP and I would do his/her. I had given very harsh review on my buddy's LP so I was trying to make a good one myself. After finishing that, I started the chatting and all and now I am writing this blog. Huhh. Finally completed noting down all relevant details of the week. :)

Week 2

Well the point that I am writing it today, i.e. 2nd July, end of 3rd week, that is Saturday after the 2 weeks of teaching itself explains the fact that I didn't get the 15 minutes needed daily to write the experiences. As soon as the work got over, my eyes refused to cooperate. Now also at 6 PM in evening, I know of how the day just went by.
Well let me try to think what all happened between last to last saturday till today.
First weekend and just relaxed, washed my clothes and got to sleep.
Monday: The first day to School and things were very unplanned. As per the schedule classes were supposed to start at 2 PM but it did from 3:10. We had to take Maths and English assessments and the whole classtime I was just engaged taking the PDQ. Oh I missed out the ice breaker session we had before the starting of classes. It was a fun time. We blind folded kids, one at a time and drew a elephants back on board and other team members were to help him point out the tail of the elephant. It was a fun time and I was really surprised to see kids understanding English and also replying back in English. Later while taking assessment I found out that the good kids didn't register for our summer school and only the weak ones did and many kids from other not so good schools also joined our classes. The kids hence were of a very different level. Well not being able to take a class I was sad. We had a city debrief session where people shared their experiences and I got to know that giving stars on hand is a good technique and worked for many kids.
Tuesday: I had my first class and I actually took 2 classes as I missed one the previous day. I taught them the rules and procedures to be followed in the class. Since I was continually repeating them again and again, I think kids understood them. I had to send my kids to toilet after my 2nd class and I managed to get them in lines in good way and send them. Then I saw that Kavita had come that day. She was the one who took my interview of TFI and she said that she liked the procedures. I loved a compliment on my first day of school. Late that evening I told Madhukar my PM about this and he told me that he already knew that. He informed me that when she came, she actually enquired about me from him only and wanted to see my class and after complimenting me she told him also that she liked my class. Then he told me that Kavita was among the godmother of TFI as she was among the ones who were actively involved in setting of TFI. I never knew that I was interviewed by such a big person. She was also the PM of Madhukar so he was impressed and I can also understand the value of any compliment Madhukar would make after my 2 years of experience. I will have to believe it almost blindfoldedly. :)

Wednesday: I took the class on Investment strategy. Well it was more of story telling and nothing else.
Thursday: I was to give my first Reading comprehension lesson and my PM was observing me. I had already told him that it is not going to be good as I don't know the level of kids. And I was teaching the same topic which my colleague had taught for 3 days. So I had thought that kids would bring their books too but to my surprise they didn't and my PM was observing. I was really confused as to what to do. I decided I would just make my kids repeat English sentences to keep everyone engaged. Well I could clearly see that kids are not learning anything but I didn't have any choice then. In my PM debrief again he mentioned these things only. He told me to improve my implementation of consequences and I heard that.
Friday: I just had to take assessment. Well I understood what it meant to keep kids away from cheating. Well I couldn't stop them at all as eyes were just wandering around and I didn't know any solution. Then after coming back our PM expressed his wish to go out with us and so we agreed. We went to a place called Lemon Grass as far as I remember. The non-vegies were happy because they could have non veg after such a long time. Half of us also got drinks. We played two amazing games- "Never ever did I" and "Chuck Fuck Marry". I just loved it and it was more fun because many of us were drunk, so the fun was escalated. There was a pond nearby also and the view, the scene was amazing. As the clock ticked 12, it was birthday of Shravanthi. She was filled with phone calls and Vivek had arranged a paneer cake. I just loved the idea of it. We clicked photos, drunk people made their own insane activities and I being the specatator was loving it. While coming back, we stopped at a place called " The spot" which gave us a very nice view from a height of the city. The view and ambience was so amazing. We reached back to institute at night 3 AM. Well tried to resolve my only problem also in institute then and it quite happened too.

Day 7

Well a week in and it really seems like a month. So much data so much info and so much activity, I seriously wish I had a break, but you know what my problem is: I am loving it. It is amazing to be frank

• Day started with Maureen's lesson which on an absurd topic. She spent around one and half hour just to tell us that we should trust our own data and use excel. No details on the formulas and stuff. 
• Then was Sanaya's lesson on investing.
• Then Romana's lesson. Well it was clearly the worst session in the whole week. She had a very poor presentation and I think she hadn't even practised otherwise she couldn't have done so bad.
• Then lunch to let us have our airs in , then a session by Romana. Oh god it was heights, I had almost lost hope and started using net.
• Then, a session by Venil and Aniket on Math diagnostic, easy stuff and then a lecture by Sukoon, Impact team on using the ISAT.
• Well PM sesion as always gave the hope that it is possible and don't lose hope. 

After coming back I spent most time on how to do the much stuff left than doing them line by line. I hope someday it would improve. 

Day 6

Fun decreasing and content increasing continually.Feeling utterly sleepy with the homework completely left now.

• Started with Sanaya's session which I reached very early.
• Then another more session by Kayt. Mohit and Neeraj also came to teach us how to make a lesson plan.
• Then a big PM session which taught us on our doubts of lesson plan.
• It got real crazy with some big difficulty. Then I gave up and thought of doing something else easier.
• Another sesssion by Sanaya, this time on Management.
• Then a PM session again.
• Then our collab group met in CCD to decide the rules.
• Ideally I should have written down the rules and completed assignment but now I am very very tired and am hoping to get us soon.

Good night :)

Day 5

Well not much of an entertaining day.

• A very serious lecture by Kayt
• Followed by one of Romana. Was inspired by her enthusiasm and teaching style.
• Then another lecture by Kayt
• Then the better part of day-the PM session.
• And then one session by Kayt. What is going on? First of all her accent is different and then the content is also not so encouraging and sitting for like 5 hours of her lecture. Someone save me.
• On top of that she gave a question in presentation which had no correct options. Well the applause made me feel that they liked it. 
• Then another session by Madhukar for practising lecture plans
• Then a speech by Sanaya of giving.
• Then we had a discussion on what is giving and then we were asked to write one letter to a person in this campus who helped me the most and call a person who has been a giving tree to us in our life.
• Had to call my mother and as expected she asked me why am I talking so absurd and I just told that because I wanted to. What else was I expected to.
• Then came back, had dinner and relaxed in CCD here.
• 
  

Day 4

Serious staff eventually started today.

• We had our first session with Maureen who told us about Goals and stuff and teaching as leadership.
• It was followed by a session by Sandeep, our school director who told us well I forgot. I feel same stuff gets repeated in all sessions. Nothing new.
• Then a session by Sanaya where more than half questions were answered with " I will answer them later." Then we were asked to make a Firki boy and asked to name our group. We did-STAR TROOPERS.
• Then a session by Kayt on "Backward Planning".
• At last we had session with Project Manager and it started with a song, we had reviews from him and started on a real light note. Then the normal regular stuff said earlier were repeated and it was fun. It ended with songs and we dancing and putting our life maps on walls. We enjoyed it, at least I loved it. Well I am not at all a good dancer and the steps were hilarious but I enjoyed. 
• If I were given a choice, I would rate that time as the best time ever. I was free, free from the imposed, artificial bonds of rules and etiquettes and I danced free as a bird is free from a cage after and year in cage. 
• Well stopping a free lion is difficult and I pursued my only hobby- photography. 
• What followed was the same stuff I had already seen in college, hypocrisy pouring out from people(or just my fear) and I was sad for the first time after coming here in Flame. 
• Well it was my fault I started expecting.

Day 3

Its day 3 and I feel free. Wow this time it rhymed. Well free because of today's life map activity. Let me continue the pattern of previous 2 posts both for the sake of continuity and lack of time to write story.

• I started the day with heavy jogging, and then breakfast. We had to sit according to our birth month so I sat in seat of December.
• Well I found out that we were 3 people in TFI this institute whose birthday are on 30th same as me. The other 2 being Neha and Arnav(not sure of the name)
• Learnt a lot about waste management from Neha over the day.
• We had a long speech from Shaheen on her experience with Akanksha and TFI, how they were conceived, her expectations and her journey.
• Then a session by Kanika and Sanaya on the core values of TFI.
• Then we were broken in small groups for reflection with Madhukar on our weakness and strengths on the core values.
• Then started the best activity till date: LIFE MAP, a map which explains the major parts of our life.
• We are 15 people in our group: me, Srilekha, Sayani, Anwesha, Shravanthi, Nishant, Pritish, Vivek, Hitesh, Rutika, Monisha, Roshni, Jagriti, Binu and Pallavi.
• We all shared about our lives and we shared our good and bad times, the times which made us what we are. It was so great hearing to know that all of us have seen such bad times which are also unimaginable. They have all gone through such terrible times that I feel small as I stand before the ocean.I was privileged to sit with the future leaders of my country. I became sure that the vision of both Akanksha and TFI are achievable. If people like this are working at TFI, then WE CAN and WE WILL DO IT. 

Day 2

Well day 2 and I had no clue of more exciting day.
Following the same trend as previous post I am putting the events in chronology:

• Woke up, freshened up and reached for the tasty breakfast.
• It followed with introduction of yellow hat and then more description and allocation of work. Well my team got to earn money.
• We prepared the list of 43 things we wanted, only to find that only 18 object were left in our list now. Well it was the yellow hat day so we were not allowed to get discouraged, we distributed the articles we could bring on our own among ourselves.
• I took responsibility of tea and coffee materials and arranged that from the mess but later did I consider that the most important part for making either of them was missing-WATER and MILK. Well I thought ok since I can't make the drinks myself now I will sell them to a Tapri(the roadside tea maker).
• When the destination turned out to be very different from my expectation-I expected a residential colony and it turned out to be a major road.
• I spent next one hour with another fellow who knew Marathi. Well because of his presence I decided to act as the mute guy. Well I thought the Tapri would be more than ready to buy our good quality coffee and tea powder and the disposable glasses we had but alas fate didn't turn out to be on our side.
• Frustrated I quit hope and threw the coffee, tea and sugar on the roads.
• We decided to work in homes or offices as cleaning staff, we were ready to clean home, clothes, dishes or motor vehicles but noone was ready for anything.
• We could convince a iron shop owner to employ us for putting name tag on clothes. We worked for half an hour and he gave us only 15 rupees. WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTT????? For half an hour work only 15 rupees, we requested for an increase, and he increase to 20 total for 2 of us. I was not ready to go for so small money. I went out of the office only when he became ready to give 30 rupees.
• Only 5 minutes were left before the end time and I had accepted that we earned only 15 rupees personally but a few moments later I found that the air conditioner of an office was throwing water on the outside the office to make not only the entrance to the office dirty but also nearby offices dirty. I bargained with the office owner to give me 5 rupees for cleaning the mess and he agreed. I did that and got 5 more.
• Will with spirits a bit higher I thought why not ask the neighbouring offices also as their outsides were also dirty and the neighbour agreed and I got 5 more, and I asked another neighbour and he agreed too and believe me he gave me 10 bucks. Wohooooooooo. Earning 15 bucks in one and half hour and last 20 bucks in less than 10 mins. I don't know how to put the feeling through nicely. 
• Little satisfied but still not completely being able to leave the sadness away I entered by bus to find that my team had collected a total of 1950. Well my team did good. 
• We reached institute back to meet the amazing Akanksha kids and their wonderful teacher-Anjali. They were brilliant.
• This was followed by small group then large group reflection.
• Then was the time for preparation of talent show. Well preparation time made me see a little bit of tension in group with so many people giving in so many suggestions and everyone with belief in their ideas. 
• Somehow we were able to come up with a performance. The performances eventually turned out to be good. Well I would like to mention that performances of Aneesha di, Saibal and Jagriti were exceptional.
• We had a Jo song and the schedule ended with a dance.

Seriously the day was tiring and tiring in all 3 ways-physically, mentally and emotionally. 

Day 1

Due to lack of time I am keeping it in bullets to help me revive memories.

• Woke up at 6:15 and woke up my room mates, managed to freshen up in only 2 bathrooms and 11 people to use them

• Had breakfast among the constant reminders from TFI staff of remaining 10,8,6,4,3 minutes, when I decided bunk the breakfast, go to where they want me to.
• Speeches by Venil and Maureen. Well got to see how to keep a big group quiet.
• Activity by Milind: The ORANGE activity. Personally I found it as a class 2 story classroom where we had to test our minds with imaginative ability and come up with fictitious stories. What do you expect me to say when you ask what do I see when I see an orange? Well smelling and tasting were surely sensible but what were hearing and seeing as something different?No hard feeling here, am just using my blog as the space to just pour out my feelings. 
• We went to community. In the bus we had fun, Shaheen and Alica were there from staff who kept us in some entertainment for some time, then I happened to take Marathi tutorials from Hitesh.
• Reached community. Talked with 2 kids, well spent most time on 1 kid only. Taught him colours, made him draw mickey mouse and discussed various parts of body.
• It was time so came back, observed the silence till then through lunch to the Chanakya 2 classroom.
• Shaheen led the 1 hour large group reflection session. She made us really think in different perspective, be optimistic, patient and asked us to give the other person a chance.
• Then broken in small group, almost same stuff was repeated, the difference being that all people got to speak this time.(Well I found it over moderated from a group discussion point of view)
• Had snacks, changed for opening ceremony and took the bus in a hurry. 
• Prashant led singing in this bus trip. Anagha was another person pretty excited in the singing too.
• Reached opening ceremony, met old fellows and learnt from their experiences.
• Opening ceremony started with speech of Maureen , followed by Shaheen, then I guess Anu Aga,a board member then 2 city directors, then Shashank a Class 4 teacher(2010 fellow) of Sunrise School a talk then his kids gave us info on submarine and their class rules and values followed by quizzes. 
• Then was poetic performances of kids of Shanaya. Well those poems were really good.
• Then there were talks with by one 2010 fellow and another by a 2011 fellow(I guess Meenakshi).
• After that was the best part, we got firki, all of us. I was very excited, we all 2011 2nd insti fellows were on stage in a semi circle.
• We had a good tasty dinner and came back.

Please comment if(and surely I did) I made any mistake or you have anything more worth adding. :)

My Journey through Prayas

Chapter 1

Well let me start with what I how I got into it first. :)
I first read about it in the information brochure I received on being selected in IIT Kanpur. Well it was a simple info that this club is under Presidential council and teaches underprivileged kids. Well I wished then only that I wanted to have an experience with it. Then I came to campus and I think on 3rd day Arvind Kothari, the Student Gymkhana president of IIT Kanpur was telling about the clubs here. He told about Prayas very enthusiastically and asked all of us,"How many of you would go here". I am not exaggerating in saying that atleast 70% people raised their hands. Well then orientation period ended and the "INTERACTION Period" had its own impact and I definitely forgot everything about it. In the December vacations I saw a mail in the Inbox(one in around 80 unread mails) about Prayas and it needing volunteers. This freshened my memory of the earlier 2 acquaintance with the name. And I decided this time that now I cannot forget to go there. Well I reached campus, unloaded my bags(filled with stuff given by mother) and got into refreshment with wing. Next day was registration and we had the first experience of running around completely on our own and get work done. Tired and no energy I didn't go that day too. Next day turned out to be my birthday. And I was a popular member among my friends so no free time that day too. But at last next day I did go to SAC 206.

Chapter 2