My First Day at Akanksha

Teach India a TOI initiative, the program which started a year ago in almost all metropolitan cities finally took off in Pune on 14th November,2008.

After being advised by my sister I registered myself with Teach India. For some months now, I had wanted to join a NGO for basically 2 reasons.

1) Wanted to see that part of India which is deprived from basic amenities and share some of my non-materialistic gains with those underprivileged children.
2) On the selfish front, hope to reflect it on my profile for higher studies which I plan to undertake some day.

So, here it goes.

TOI has associated me with an NGO named “AKANKSHA”, perfect for me as I opted to teach children from slum areas.

After a proper induction program by very able volunteers of AKANKSHA, I underwent a classroom management program.

The classroom management program was something I had never experienced.
The details that had been taken care of and the schedule of the events planned were commendable.
I along with the a group of volunteers were made to play all those games which they had designed for children at centers and believe me it was after a long time that I felt so relaxed. The brainstorming and the hard work that must have been invested in designing such activities and the way it was being executed by young members at Akanksha was a delight to see.

I immediately knew this is the place I had been searching for long to find solace to my otherwise very monotonous and tedious life. This would give another purpose and dimension to my horizon.

Next, in the row was the centre allocation task. Thankfully, AKANKSHA has centers all over Pune and therefore, I could find a centre close to my residence. Traveling far for some volunteering work may hit the spirit sometimes and so the idea of placing volunteers to centers of their choice would make things easier to a large extent.

I have opted for a 3 hours of service once in a week, timing 8:15 to 10:30am.

After all initial formalities,a telephonic introduction was finally established between the teacher of the Karvnagar and me. We fixed a suitable day, Wednesday.

Today was my first day to the centre.
The first hindrance was to find the venue. After numerous telephone calls to the teacher in charge I was finally able to locate the classroom. Yes, it was in interiors, slum area. The room, owned by Maharashtra Nagarpalika was a single large room with 2 cupboards which had all stationery and accessories to facilitate children in the class.

After a brief introduction to the teacher in-charge Gayatri, I went through the courseware.
The other teacher Seema had gone to pick up children from the bus stops. Akanksha has also arranged for buses for children to come to the centers.

Soon, the room was filled with about 40 children all of age varying from 9 to 16.
After a brief prayer, the children were divided into 3 groups
Level 4, Level 5 and Level 6.

The teachers took charges of their groups. The interesting thing was that every child was wearing a T-shirt endorsed by Akansha, which I am sure gave them a feeling of belongingness.

I took charge of Level 4 which had 5 children present. Sameer,Yogesh,Sagar,Ajinkya and Madhuri. They were given a task of writing table from 2 to 11.
While Yogesh finished it 1st, I found others quite fast as well but there was something wrong with Ajinkya. He was slow, confused and weird.
Full of enthusiasm to try my hands in teaching a kid who probably was not very bright I started trying all sorts of trick to get his attention in the task he was suppose to do. My attempts were noticed by the teacher who took me to a corner only to make me realize that Ajinkya is a special child suffering from “dyslexia”. I felt sorry and guilty for my thoughts that had gone so far without even giving it a second chance. However, I am sure Ajinkya would be able to make it with his/his teacher’s/his volunteer’s hard work.

Next, I was asked to make them read a lesson in English. The chapter was named “Brahmin and his dream”. Each one of them read a paragraph, and I then explained them the meaning and asked them a few questions.

The lesson was about a poor Brahmin who one day by luck got a pot full of flour. He out of excitement started daydreaming about making it big by selling this pot full of flour to a villager during famine and then came a series of planning which also made him marry the princess. The story finally ended with Brahmin crashing the pot in the sandy ground and Alas! All his dreams were shattered. The story was common and the moral well known to me but the freshness from the point of view of those innocent children who didn’t know the old story gave me a sense of fulfillment. Their eyes full of questions and queries made me think that “yes, these could be the wasted youth of India had they not been taken care of by some responsible citizens of India”

Thanks to TOI for giving me a platform where I can stay in touch with the real India.