Our Storytelling Class !

If any of you have been following my posts lately on Facebook or blog, you must have seen me surrounded with kids. Now, some of you might think that I teach these students or I am just interacting with them. I am doing both, actually. But, I am doing something more, I am learning, from them.

It was a day of one of my storytelling sessions with these kids. I told them a story of a girl who was very good at almost everything she does, be it, Math, Sports etc. However, there was one thing which she couldn’t do, no matter how hard she tries. When her teacher would ask her to draw a perfect shaped circle, she couldn’t make it. She will do one mistake or the other every time she tries. Her teacher would scold her, tell her to try hard, to focus, but the girl started to believe that she will never be able to make a perfect “Gola”.

One day while she was sitting in her room depressed, she decided to try her hands one more time at drawing the perfect “Gola”. She tried and failed. In her frustration, she decided to tear apart the piece of paper. As soon as she was about to tear the paper apart, she saw the irregular shaped “Gola” coming to life. It grew bigger and bigger and slowly his eyes became visible. Then, his nose, ears and finally, his mouth also became visible. The girl couldn’t understand what is happening with her. She got frightened and a thought came in her mind that she might be dreaming. She pinched herself on her hand to wake her up.

“That is what they do in movies” she thought.

But, it seems that she wasn’t dreaming after all. It was absolutely real. She has now started to get worried. It was then that she realized that the piece of paper is still in her hands. She decided to tear it apart, in the hope of destroying the creature that has come alive. Just as she was about to tear down the paper, she heard a sweet timid voice murmured.

“Please do not tear me. I am here to help.”

The sweet voice melted the girl’s heart and she decided to not tear the paper down and listen.

“How can you help me?”

“If you help save me, I will teach you how to make the perfect me.”

The girl wondered how did this creature know that she was struggling to make the perfect circle (Gola). Nevertheless, she had come to a point where she wanted to try everything just to bring the perfect shape alive.

“Save you from what?”

“This is not the real me. I am equally fat everywhere and now I am irregularly shaped. If you do not rub me and draw me again, I will always live my life like this and other Golas will laugh at me. If you save me from laughter today, I will tell you the magic trick to make a perfect Gola.”

The girl wanted to learn the magic trick which could end her agony. Thus, she rubbed off the “Gola” and drew him again. It was still irregular. But the girl was not frustrated anymore. She rubbed him off again, drew again. For the whole night, she did the same practice again and again but it was still not perfect.

Just before dawn when she had almost given up, she tried for the 1001st time. And this time, she found a perfect shaped Gola.

The girl couldn’t be more happy. She was jumping with joy and laughing with her long lost soul.

“Thank you for saving me” Gola said.

“It is okay. Now, please tell me the magic trick.”

“You already know.”

“What? But you didn’t tell me?”

“I did not. But you learnt.”

“Practice. That is the trick.“

When I stopped telling this story to the students, they were all filled with ecstasy and looking up to me with amazement. You never know, maybe, some of them will try to make their own “Gola” someday.

What did I get? I learnt. By telling these kids stories, I learnt the satisfaction of giving, the joy of being with them. I am sure that I will learn more.

The Storytelling Class!

A kid trying to make a perfect Gola!

The Journey!

The Story Teller!

I did an experiment with 10 of the students who were a part of the Skill Development Programme of Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India), the NGO I am currently associated with as part of SBI Youth for India Fellowship. I call this experiment “Story Telling and Learning“ experiment which follows the philosophy: Words can change the world.

I was asked to take a class on life skills which involved teaching certain life skills to students by means of stories. Not only was it something which I personally love to do but it was also something that I wish I’ll do during the course of this fellowship. I love taking classes and if it involves motivation and that too via telling stories, it was gonna be really fun. So, I was up for it.

The class went really well. I told them a story which involved a little boy named Ganesh whose mother died due to lack of medical facilities in his village. Since his mother died because of lack of facilities, Ganesh decided to become a doctor and help the needy. He was mocked upon by the wife of his poor father’s employer but he made sure that he was the one who saved her life at the end by curing her of cancer. The main theme of the story was Ganesh’s decision to take up the challenge and to fulfill it by hard work.

So, at the at the end of the story telling session, when asked upon, out of 10 students, 4 were able to come in front and tell their own stories of how they faced challenges in their own lives and overcame it. It gave them immense happiness. I could see that from their eyes. It was a small win. But to make these students talk about real life challenges, it was nothing short of magic.

These students are very hesitant. Some of them are in their school days, some in graduation, some even housewives, but what they lack is self belief. This is what I wish to provide them. Self belief. How to give that? Recognition.

After the session got over, 4 boys out of 5 and no girl (girls being more apprehensive) told their stories. But I could see that each and every one of them had a story to tell.

I asked them to write their stories and bring it to me the next day. They agreed readily and the session ended!
What happened next? Something interesting. 🙂

Pictures of the week:

The Journey!

Laugh like him or Laugh Not!

It has been a wonderful journey so far with SBI Youth for India fellowship. My friends, family and colleagues, all have supported the fact that I have taken up something which is close to my heart. However, I am not sure whether this is just enough? There is a long way to go and there are a lot of things which still needs to be done.

I have always been passionate about kids and imparting education to those who can’t have it due to some circumstances. I remember giving lessons in Math to a girl who was of my age but had no access to education. For 2-3 months, we had our teaching sessions. The next when I heard of her, she was 14 and married. This childhood memory is still pretty fresh in my mind and pokes me now and then.

Out of a variety of project areas available, I wanted to take up education as my main project area. However, there were some good projects in social enterprise as well. The issue of women’s empowerment is also close to my heart. I was in a dilemma, really. I still am, kind of. So, I came here to Bihar taking education as my main area of interest. Here in Bihar, we will have our first interaction with the community tomorrow. This community belongs to Scheduled Castes, minorities and Other Backward class people (that is how they are classified by our society). After meeting them and listening to their problems and needs, the intervention for the next 11 months will be finalized.

Let us see how it pans out. No doubt, these 2 months will test my mettle. These 2 months will throw electricity cuts, mosquito bites, food troubles on me. What I will throw back at them is what will define me.

PS: Over the next few days, I will try to interact more and ask solutions to the problems I might face. I will need inputs from all of you.

Picture of the day: I met this kid while on a field visit to one of the villages in remote areas of Gujarat. He is a part of a vicious circle of poverty and has very little access to education but the way he smiles, mesmerizing. He needs very little, he demands nothing but he gives his everything in his laughter. We shared this laughter for about a few seconds and the whole world seemed nice.

Carpe Diem!, The Journey!

Love thou fear!

I still remember the day when my mother asked me to go to Noida from Meerut and I got frightened by the thought of taking the bus, alone. Today, within a year, I have travelled all alone to Bangalore, Pune, Madurai, Ahmadabad and will soon travel to Bihar.

(Noida is a place around 50 kms from Meerut)

Since my childhood days, I have been a lazy bum. I would try and limit my travel as much as possible and would also make sure that there is always someone with me whenever I’m traveling anywhere outside of my comfort zone. Before traveling to Bangalore, the farthest place that I had gone to was Vaishno Devi, that too, with a group of friends during first year of my college.

The last one year has changed this habit of mine completely. I am now more comfortable in traveling anywhere and ironically, I prefer to travel all alone. There is a reason for that. When you travel the length and breadth of the country all by yourself, there’s a high chance of finding who you are. Not only that, you become more responsible, confident and self reliant.

Today when I called up my mother and told her that I am going to Bihar, she couldn’t resist and said, “One year before, going to Noida was such a difficulty for you, now you are going to Bihar.”

These words were just a part of a normal conversation. But, when I think about it in silence, it tells me how far I had come from the good old days. It tells me that in order to overcome your fear and to start loving what comes after that, you ought not to face your fears but to live them.

The life that we all live today is the result of some of the fears that we faced yesterday. Still, we are here. Living our lives. The fears that we all face today will result in our life tomorrow. So, why get afraid of them? Why not love them?

Pictures of the day: Journey so far.

The Journey!

Every Year They Gamble & We Ignore!

You know that one or more member of your neighbor’s family will not survive because of the drought that happened in the village this year. You and your family somehow played it safe and will survive the year and also have some money to lend them. However, there is uncertainty in your mind about next year in terms of rains. Less rains might result in your family being in danger. What will you do? Will you give them money on no conditions applied and gamble on your family’s life? Will you ask some sort of security in terms of land, cows etc which makes you an exploiter? (Open to your opinions and answers)

This is just one situation which our farmers all over the country face year after year. They gamble; to survive.

Before coming to the fellowship, I had a myopic vision of how things can be done in order to improve the life of the people living in rural India. I had no clue that their issues are very much real, complex and do not have simple solutions which a person sitting behind the table might think. The past 6 days of extensive but brilliant orientation programme for SBI Youth for India has shown us, the group of 28 fellows from all around the country and with diverse backgrounds, that there exists a world which is actually struggling for its identity. This world has been portrayed in a completely different light from what it actually is. The village that you might see in a movie or to an extent in local/national media is not the real image of rural India.

Let us take a scenario. We come across a child in one family who is not going to the school and instead working in the field with his father. What is our reaction to that will be? Most of us might think it as a case of child labour and would feel that the child should definitely be sent to the school in order to continue his studies. But, if we dig deeper into the realities, the child is working on the field because his family is hungry. If his father does not have an extra working hand on the field, some members of the family will die. Did we ever think about this?

Let us take another scenario. What is the first thing which comes in our mind when we talk about the term Education? Many of us would think that teaching the future generation will solve most of the problem. Right? But, have we asked the following questions?

Do only kids need to be taught? What about teaching the teachers? What about the quality of education? What about the teaching methodologies? Is there any focus on creativity and innovation involved in the process? Are we promoting rote learning? What is the drop-out rate in the schools? These are just some of the questions which we need to ponder upon. There might be many more.

The point I am trying to make from all this is that we, people sitting behind the desk, need to broaden our vision and see that there are people in this world who are really struggling to make their ends meet. Just because we are born in one way and they in the other way does not mean we are the better ones. We might not be able to change the lives of all of them in a fortnight but, we can at least try to be sensitive towards their issues. This is the least we can do.

Post Written on: 10/Oct/2015

PS: Posting regularly on the blog is a challenge as I am pretty low on the networks and have been travelling a lot. Please be patient and keep interacting.

Pictures of the week: