Category Archives: The Journey!

Know about my journey with SBI Youth for India Fellowship. Live among nature, among forgotten people, for a good cause.

Philosophy, Poetry, Articles, The Journey!

Chinky & Cheeti! – A Story on financial literacy.

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100 little listeners!

Once upon a time there lived a young girl of 12 named Chinky in Haripur Krishna village. Her parents had a big farm where they would grow different kinds of vegetables but it was the Neem tree, standing tall in the middle of the farm, which was her favourite. She called him, Neem, her only friend who would listen to all her stories and make her problems go away. She used to love eating all kinds of candy-bars from the money she would get from her parents. Eating them with Neem was her favourite task every day which would make her very happy.

However, today is the day when Chinky is happy for another reason too. It is a day when her younger brother, as foretold by the local priest, is going to get born after 12 long years. The atmosphere all around is filled with laughter, chatter and happiness.

In the midst of all that, Chinky is sitting alongside her father and gulping a candy-bar that she has bought from the money that her father gave early morning.

“If you spend all your money on eating candy, what gift would you give your little brother?” her father asked.

“You will give me the money, Daddy.” Chinky grinned.

Both father and daughter were laughing when suddenly the doctor came out and said the words they all have been waiting to hear.

“Congratulations! A baby girl is born.”

The celebrations and the laughter stopped out of the blue. Chinky’s father sat on the floor crying looking up at the sky. As for Chinky, she could not understand what has happened.

“Why is everybody sad? I have a sister to share my candy now. This is a good thing, right?” she asked herself.

She ran down to her father who was talking to the local priest.

“You told me that a boy will take birth today. How can this be true?” he sobbed.

“Daddy, give me some money. I want to buy a gift for my sister.” Chinky asked politely.

“Go away! You will not get any money and the girl will not get any gifts from anyone.”

It is for the first time that Chinky’s father had talked to her in a rude manner. She started crying and ran towards Neem hoping he would help her somehow; the way he always does.

“I don’t understand why my father behaved in such a manner, he was so happy for
the arrival of the new baby and all of a sudden he became tensed and even shouted at
me, I have no money left with me after spending it daily on candy-bars. Please help me
get a gift for my sister.” she told Neem.

Of course, there was no answer from the other side.

She asked Neem again; begging him to give her the answers but there was none.

Devastated, she got furious at Neem and shouted, “This is the last time I am coming here, Neem.” and started to snivel louder. A slight thought of how she could have not eaten those few extra candies crossed her mind.

Suddenly, just as she was to leave his old friend behind, something painful bit her on the right leg. Looking down she saw something which would change her life.

“Hi! My name is Cheeti.” a little black ant said coming out of the cracks below Neem’s roots.

Before Chinky could say anything, Cheeti spoke, “I live below these cracks and when I heard that you will not be coming again, I started to fear for my family and decided to come out.”

“Why? What do you fear?” Chinky asked in astonishment.

“Every day when you come here and eat your candy-bar you leave crumbles all over the floor. After you leave, me and my family take them away and deposit it in our Food Bank. So, if you’d stop coming, there will be no food left for us.”

“What is a Food Bank?”

“It is a place where we save our food after we have eaten ours for the day. A food manager saves our food from other insects and after sometime gives us more than we initially submitted. This way we save our food for times of crisis.”

Chinky never thought that even small crumbles of her candy-bars has been helping an ant feed for her family.

“Don’t worry Cheeti, I will not stop coming here.” Chinky said wiping off tears from her eyes.

“Thank you. Also, I can tell you how you can get your sister a gift.”

“What? How? I don’t have any money left.”

“No worries. Just like ants collect little crumbles of food and save it for later, you need to collect and save little crumbles of money and then ask your father for help. He will guide you and take you to the money bank. And when you have enough money saved there, you can buy your sister any gift you want.”

After listening to Cheeti, Chinki got excited and thanked her and Neem for helping her.

“Thank you for helping me, my Neem and Cheeti!” she smiled and wrapped her arms around both of them.

At home, Chinky’s father was searching for her all around. He has realized that it was not decent of him to shout at his daughter and wanted to apologize. When she came home that day and told him the entire story, he was moved by her daughter’s desire to give her little sister a gift. He took her in his arms, apologized and promised that he will help her.

For the next few days, Chinky saved every penny her father gave her and finally took all the little crumbles of money to the village bank. 

“Please save my money here and give me more after sometime, I want to buy a gift for my little sister”

Amazed, the manager looked at her and giving her father a form to open a bank account, asked, “What will you give her?”

“An ant home.”

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The Journey!

My Little Date!

It isn’t the best of times to be in a place like Bihar. Summer has just started and it is getting at its playing best slowly but steadily. But, there is no fun when you start feeling yourself comfortable in one of the difficult places to live in; you need more. Mosquitoes, 13 – 15 hour power cut and hot weather conditions will give you exactly that.

It has been an amazing journey with SBI Youth for India  so far. I have done things which I always wanted to do and have also managed to pull out things I never imagined I ever could.

The past 2 weeks has been the most challenging 2 weeks of my entire life. Managing the whole campaign of “Palak – A Story of Start for the Children in rural Bihar”  haven’t been easy. When you do something of this sort, you need to talk to a lot of people at the same time and the best part is the need to talk to every person differently.

Amidst all the lovable chaos of running a campaign and deprived sleep, I have met the most wonderful people in my life right now; my children. There are days when we create stories and they are happy and there are days when they just want to learn computers and hence not so upbeat by the fact that we are still in the process of arranging the funds for the same. But, this is how the kids are supposed to behave, I believe. Sometimes, it is tough to keep the motivation level up for both me and these children but we are hanging in there.

But, there are some stories which takes away all the worrying and gets etched in your memory forever. Moments!

Yesterday when we were giving final touches to our second edition of children’s monthly magazine, Palak, one girl named Saloni came up to me and said something that made my rather gloomy day worth remembering.

“Will you come back tomorrow?”, she asked.

“No, I have work to do tomorrow. I will come the day after.”

Suddenly her face lost its smile and she said, “Aapke bina mann nahi lagta school me (I do not feel good without you in the school)”

The other children second her thought and said, “If you will not come, we are also not coming tomorrow.”

I was left speechless at the moment. At one end, I felt loved by the sincerity of these children towards me but at the other end I thought, “What will happen when I go?”

Later that day, Saloni asked if I could give her a ride back home on my bike. I was happy to do the service. With all the other children laughing around us, Saloni hopped on the bike and smiled with all the smiles she could gather. Amongst all the laughter and chatter, we took a turn out of the gate of the school and went on our little date!

PS: Our campaign Palak – A Story of Start has gathered momentum. We have arranged 86000 INR in a matter of 10 days with 75 people contributing. “Palak” stands to break the monotony of cynicism which exists in this world. It stands for all the goodness in this world. Do not judge me for doing what I am doing. Judge the work I am doing. Have a look. If you don’t like it, do not give a penny. If you do like it, give us a penny and help overcome the cynicism. Are you with us?

Pictures of the day: The front cover, the back cover and one of the published story in the children’s magazine, Palak. Photo Album Coming soon!

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Carpe Diem!, The Journey!

Let’s break the monotony of cynicism!

I have been called a maniac many a times because sometimes when I speak, people would be like, ‘Kya bolna chahte ho bhai?’ I have had difficulties making people understand my view points quite often. Not that I could not communicate my thoughts but mostly because the person in front of me would easily mark me a maniac listening to what I had to say; quite literally. I thank  SBI Youth for India for giving me a platform where my voice was heard. Well, the setbacks haven’t stopped me from doing what I truly love. My love for people has always exceeded the melancholy of negativity which has surrounded the human race for so long now.

Well, it has been a while since I wrote on this blog, but I have been occupied a lot over the past month. Not only have I been enjoying; travelling to Bodh Gaya, a 3 day extended trip to Ahmadabad, a journey in a crowded passenger train, meeting a 94 year old man who has been running a school all alone without money, a 29 year old storyteller who changed my perspective towards life, a talk at Reserve Bank of India, and the stories my children create in a small village of Haripur Krishna, I have also been learning important life lessons.

Well, I am about to start something more wacky; something which will push me to the limits, even more. Not that SBI Youth for India has given the fellows less on the plate to push them to the boundaries; another addition will add on to the fun.

Over the past one month, I have been working on a storytelling project with the children. We have been telling our stories through different media; drawings, writings, abstract paintings, puppetry and so on. Now, we want to take it a notch above.

Before starting to work in this school at Haripur Krishna, I was told that most of the students haven’t even touched a computer in their lives. It is then I had decided to try and establish a mini computer lab in the school. The next thing which was in my mind is to teach students Life Skills through storytelling. The activities we do through storytelling not only sow the seeds of creativity in these young learners but also show them a world where imaginations are not discarded but celebrated.

In February, we had launched one magazine by the name of ‘Palak’. The origin of the name also has a very interesting story behind it. When Mr. Kumar Shaw (a storyteller who visited us) and I were discussing to give a name to our storytelling team for a group activity, we asked the children to suggest names for it. Some names that came up were ‘Ready’, ‘Khiladi’ and so on. Generally silent Khushi spoke this time and said, ‘Palak’. We liked the name then and there. I was really mesmerized by a class 5 student giving a beautiful name such as this. And, not only did she give the name; she touched her eyelids, gave a beautiful smile and said, ‘Palak’. It was a moment to remember for a lifetime.

Well, these are just a few of the stories that I have in my mind right now. There are more at the back of it. 🙂

We have recently launched a campaign to arrange for funds to create a little difference in the lives of these amazing children. I am glad to say that we have received your love and unconditional support till now. We have been able to arrange 20000 INR in a matter of 2 days with over 1000 views on the video shared on Facebook.

Please support us in this endeavour of ours to bring happiness in the lives of these children. In our madness of creating beautiful stories.

Go on the link to see our work and support us: Palak – ‘A Story’ in making for the children in rural Bihar

See the video of our work at:  Palak – Breaking the monotony of Cynicism

PS: I will make up for my absence by doing something more crazy. Watch this space for more! 🙂

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The Journey!

Project Kahanikaar Computer!

The skills of project planning, management and delivering might look easy at the face value but trust me, it is not. And, when you are trying to do something at the grassroots level and almost on your own, there are a lot of other factors which plays an important part.

Over the course of previous posts, you might have seen me interacting with the kids during the storytelling sessions. Well, this is not the only thing I do and there is a reason why I chose to do what I am doing right now.

When I went from one school to another during the inception months of the fellowship, there were a lot of areas I found needed attention. For one, almost all the Govt. Schools I visited, the toilets are constructed in every school. Good?  Well, these toilets are hardly used by the students for which they were constructed in the first place. In almost all the schools, the toilets were locked and the teachers had the keys to themselves. When I asked the reason for it, one of the teachers told me that the students lack good toilet practices and hence do not know how to use the toilets without making them dirty. This was just one part of the problem. There was no place where students could wash their hands before/after eating or relieving themselves. Ironically, the NGO which I am working with recently distributed soap and buckets so that the students could use them. Just for the sake of whom?

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The Locked Toilets!

 

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Drinking Water!

This is just one of the major issues I observed. Others were the lack of teachers, lack of quality teachers, huge number of students per class, lack of infrastructure and so on.  I realized that I will never be able to make a change which I want to see within a span of 13 months of the fellowship. I had to think of a way where my skills can merge with the aspirations of the students and school. Here comes the storytelling part of my project. Everyone loves a good story and if a good story leaves with a message to these young students, it might make a difference in 1 out of 100 students. Isn’t that worth it?

So, I started to observe what message the stories might give? Toilet practices, importance of washing hands, self cleanliness were the starting subjects. More and more I observed I happened to find myself in one of the training rooms where a trainer was giving a talk on Empathy as a Life Skill. He goes on to include washing hands as another important Life Skill. It made me Google about these skills and their importance. Apart from the importance of reading, writing and arithmetic skills, there are other skills which people need in order to be visible in the world; communication skills, decision making skills, emotional skills, conflict resolution skills and skills needed knowing how to ask for help. I had found some more subjects for the stories. Other skills which I found various stories can provide are listening skills, handling responsibilities, importance of failures in life, gender sensitisation and so on.

Now I had the idea of what the stories are going to be about. During the course of my storytelling sessions in various schools, I happened to meet one teacher who told me something about Bihar which further strengthened my idea of why teaching these skills are needed here and everywhere else. He told me about how most of the girls in the villages always eat their meals after their brothers have eaten and how the same thinking is reflected in other domains of life too. The girls facing such a treatment at their homes always consider themselves secondary to boys in different walks of life as well. These girls need to know about the likes of Kalpana Chawla, Kiran Bedi, Indira Gandhi and Neeraja Behnot. Woman Power as a Life Skill?

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The next Who?

I went ahead with the idea and started conducting more storytelling sessions. During the period, I discussed my idea with the NGO staff and various teachers and realized that some of them do have a sense of what I am trying to achieve while others think of these skills as unwanted to lead a life as we live today. Another point was how teaching these skills can be incorporated at classroom level. I mean, we can’t just tell the students stories everyday and expect them to abide by the message. They need to work with these stories, play with it, draw it and feel it. Only then the message will get delivered.

Thus came the third most part of my project – computers.

The perfect way through which these students can work on these stories are computers. By this way, the students will think that they are learning computers through the stories they are creating and working on. However, they are learning much more in terms of these skills. This is a teaching methodology used popularly by Randy Pausch – author of ‘The Last Lecture’. He described this teaching practice as “head fake” philosophy where the students think that they are learning one thing but they are actually learning something different as well. Things which they are not aware of.

Hence, the project “Kahanikaar Computer” is born. Under this project, I have proposed to setup a computer lab where the students will learn computers through stories. These stories will focus on providing these students not only computer skills but also skills which they will carry on for the rest of their lives.

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PS: Please feel free to give your suggestions on the project!

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Carpe Diem!, The Journey!

Thank You Teacher!

During our childhood days, we always had that one teacher who was our favourite and the one who was not. We would wait with eagerness for the former to come to our class and find ways to bunk the class of the other. Remember those days?

As we grow a little bit older and start to judge ourselves as bold and cool, we would still wait for that one teacher whom we have grown fond of. However, as big as we think we are, we would sometimes try to belittle our other not so favourite teacher. We would make weird noises or thump our desks using our newly found strength or walk in and out of the class without permission. I, for one, was not a very notorious student but found it really fun when one of my classmates would put up such a remarkable show of ‘boldness’. Later, I was also involved in many such remarkable ‘acts’.

My first day at a school where I have decided to do my project in alternate education for the next 10 months went rather magnificently. I had fixed a time frame of about a week giving the students of class 5, 6 and 7 curiosity generation lessons in basic computer education as well as storytelling. It was for the first time I was about to take a class of over a hundred students. I was not nervous but excitedly restless. I did not realize but it was the first time when I was a teacher to these students in the same way my teachers were to me. We discussed about some basic concepts such as what a machine is, different types of machines, how computer is also a machine and so on. The class ended when I told them a real life story of APJ Abdul Kalam which gave him an important lesson; we are all the same in the eyes of God, be it a Hindu or Muslim.

I was upbeat with the way class went and was ready the next day to to take one more. It was on this day that I met someone from the past. I met my notorious friend; a blast from the past!

A class of 100 students is hard to manage and when you have a student who is focused on putting up a show of ‘boldness’, it is even harder. So, here I was, trying to teach them how to use the computer when I heard a weird noise, a loud thump on the desk and frequent in and out of the class. I saw in him my friends and myself. However, I was different now. I was a teacher and he was my student. Initially, I decided to ignore him but slowly and steadily, he was able to put up a show as ‘remarkable’ as we used to pull off. It was getting difficult for me to keep the class under control. It was for the first time I truly felt myself in the shoes of my former teachers. Till today, I did not know how tough it would have been for my teachers to deal with me and my friends.

Teaching is a tough job. I realized it in just 2 days of time. Imagine a single teacher teaching 160 students everyday for 6 hours. At face value, it looks easy. But, it is not. If you do not believe me, please take a chance and volunteer at any Govt. school nearby. 60 students, 1 hour everyday. That is it. You’ll know.

The least we can do for our teachers is to not belittle them and have a feeling of gratitude. I never knew the most notorious student will give me such a lesson. Well, he is now responsible for making sure that everyone is seated in their places. 😉

PS: Thank you Sanjal Jaiswal for the perfect edit. 😉

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