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. :)