Sakshamization

While returning from a disgusting short trip to Nehru Place, my friend and I decided to visit Saksham, a school for underprivileged kids run by a NGO. Saksham is located in Nithari, a small village in Noida Sector-31, quite near to the place where the infamous Nithari Killings took place. We had very little idea about Saksham's location. Nevertheless we started navigating about Saksham's whereabouts in Sector-31, street by street. I must admit we had a real hard time hunting it down. Summers had never been this torturous. The fervid weather was making things difficult for us. We were literally gasping for breath by the time we noticed SAKSHAM scribbled on a wall. We had reached our destination. First impression we had about the school as we entered the premises was if we had intruded into someone's debilitated house by mistake. It was a rented premises with cobwebs all around. A faction of kids raised their brightly lit eyes as we entered the small arena they were being taught in. A lady who looked to be in charge approached and inquired if we were the ones they have been expecting. The lady we talked to on phone to know Saksham's location must have told these people about our arrival. Suddenly we felt being treated like surprise inspectors. We were shown the small classrooms. Each classroom had a Black-Board, a box of chalks and a small carpet for children to sit on. The lady told us that one of the teachers who had volunteered to teach a class was absent today. This was a good enough opportunity for us and we grabbed it with both hands. My friend got pulled into a drawing class and i was with kids of Grade-4th and 5th, teaching them maths and English not knowing exactly where to start from. It was easy to comport to the small group of kids. I started with a simple multiplication problem, which everybody was quite happy to solve, perhaps I had underestimated them. "Who is the president of India??" was my next question. Kids replied with interesting funny answers including "Mohan Singh", "Mr. Singh", "MaanMohan Singh". They finally settled with "Dr. Manmohan Singh". Dictation was next on the cards. I asked them to spell "Shoes". A cute dowdy girl of 10 repeated "soooz" after me. I was amused by her pronunciation. I turned around to have a look at the kiddy. I asked her to stand up and pronounce it properly. "Soooz" was the reply and this time even louder as if she had pronounced it correctly this time. Caviling kids had found a new reason to chuckle and giggle. I asked her to either pronounce it correctly or remain standing, I could not find a better way to handle this. Bungler kid was bemused but wasn't nervous at any point in time. I have never shied away from appreciating the intrepidal attitude of the kids. After several attempts she was able to pronounce it correctly. I felt a great sense of achievement. The kids had ceased chatting. There is something in these children which helps them know exactly when to stop chatting and when to start. Kids were generally quiet apart from occasional fatuous pranks they played on each other. The aura was strangely wonderful despite the heat and cacophonous sounds around. A boy had wrongly written his name as Vikky instead of Vicky which he happily corrected after i insisted. I asked the lady if they had any provisions of water. I was taken aback by her answer. There is no provision of water, the children are asked to bring their own water bottles. There is a tap in the corner of the premises but i really doubt if the water was good enough to drink. Children did not drink the tap water fearing it to be the impurest form of hard water. I really doubt if the tap water is aseptic. People back in my office talk of providing DVD players to these kids but something could have been done to provide drinking water. Why even think of luxuries when we are unable to provide even basic necessities. I'm pretty sure this would have been thought over but nothing seemed to have been done or the decision was in abeyance. Perhaps the kids are immune to this water, and this could have been one possible reason. Saksham operates in two shifts, Morning and evening. It has close to 400 kids. My impression about the school is that the teaching staff is quite less in number. NGO has a very few volunteers. Very few people are aware of such schools in and around Noida. The kids were making my stay at Saksham really memorable.They were so curious to learn that even after 6:00 PM which is the official time when the classes get over, they were unmoved as if they had just come. I was amazed by their bubbliness. We distributed some toffees to the kids after my friend insisted . I was surprised by their candid nature, some of them would return the toffees saying "Sir we already have it". Middle class children (i was one) are very much the opposite. There is another thing to add to this, setting expectations is very easy but fulfilling them really takes a lot of determination. They would expect that every visitor would bring some sweets and we have to be very chary in our approach to avoid setting expectations. The last thing they could ask for from someone like me was a game. "Antakshri" - Boys Vs Girls. A sanguine kid wrote on the Black-Board even before i could realize what he was upto. It was already 7:00 PM and i was feeling really tired. "Will you be here tommorrow??" one of the kids asked curiously. I promised them that I'll come back the next Sunday. I have always had a strong affinity towards kids and am really eager to go back to Saksham simply because being with the kids alleviates a lot of stress from me. Kids waved as we left the premises. My friend was gifted a flower and 2 beautiful drawings full of innocence which i managed to snatch. We couldn't interact much with the kids because of the brevity of the session but overall it was an appeasing experience. My friend and I plan to go there regularly to kill our ennui rather than dallying around in malls on week ends.

The idea of this write up is to spread awareness about Saksham, to conjure people and let them know how their valuable contributions can bring about a change in some one's life; It is not a conceit but a firm belief that we can do it. Anyone who reads this can call up 9891431148 to know more about Saksham. Nadira takes care of Saksham, credit goes to her for keeping this programme alive.

Hiatus

Unlike last time I decided to make full use of my hiatus this time. My brother-in-law, a seargent in the IAF invited me to srinagar more to kill my ennui than to beat the torturous heat of NCR. An affable young man by my side in the flight mistook me to be a Kashmiri lad and i really had a tough time convincing him i was not one. Although there was hardly any rain in Delhi this season but there was a high likely hood of rain the day i boarded my flight. The weather did not disappoint me; I must have been the only Delhite thanking the rain gods that day. It was a pleasant afternoon notwithstanding the fact that every afternoon would look pleasant after facing the heat of Delhi. The antagonism about Delhi's weather continued in my mind as i geared up for the exciting trip. My brother in law's apartment was at an idyllic spot inside the air force station with greenery all around and i really had a great time during my stay there. The air force station was just besides the air port.

There was still an iota of tension in Srinagar. It had only been two days since the curfew was taken off. The Shopian row was afresh in the minds of the Kashmiris even though the incident took place almost a month back. We planned to visit the Dal Lake and Shankaracharya Temple the very next day. Riding pillion i was quite amazed at the number of security personnels deployed in the city. With army men guarding at every 10 metres, the whole city looked like a kent area. We were about 400 meters from Lal-Chowk; the busiest area of Srinagar which is right in the mid of the city when suddenly we heard three shots of gunfire. Lightening struck i saw people running haphazardly on the streets some towards and some away from us. Amid all this i could see few rancour protesters with banners and it looked like the policemen had just fired the shots to disperse the crowd. The protesters turned violent and set ablaze a police vehicle. The protesters started pelting stones as we hurried into a pussillous street. The awestruck people headed for the airport which was the safest spot nearby and we followed suite. After reaching the outskirts we inquired from a police man about what had happened. He told that a young lad was found with his throat slit and the protesters were demanding a fair probe into the incident. Amid all this I was more interested in knowing how we could reach Dal lake :O After few discussions with local shopkeepers we came to know that there was only one road and that went through Lal-Chowk. To add to the misery the policeman told that the area after Lal-Chowk is infamous for being called "mini-pakistan" and section-144 has already been imposed in most parts of the city. There was no way we could visit the place we wanted to. Burly sergeant gave an askance and i silently agreed. Everyone agrees to the fact that hubris of the crowd under such situations is really uncalled for. I couldn't go places as the blighted curfew kept me away from the city for three days. For the 1st time i felt there is something good about Delhi since places like J&K seem to be baubles. One of the TV interviews had aired a Hurriyat leader Mr. Lone's comments on the recent outbursts in Srinagar. He was quoted as saying such issues need to be resolved between India Pakistan and people of Kashmir. I was taken aback by the mention of Pakistan. What has Pakistan got to do with such issues. Interestingly people like Mr. Lone who have been raising a hue and cry over such incidents did not condemn incidents of militant acts. A youth being murdered is not a small incident by any means but political parties like Hurriyat who lost in the recent polls by a huge margin are everready to blow such issues out of proportion. Politicians have been milking such situations and are by no means ameliorating the condition of the State. I flew back after three days with dismal look on my face. I got to witness what the state is so infamous for. I have been watching such incidents only on television till now. Meanwhile probing into all recent mishappennings has gathered pace with the suspension of Officers responsible for negligence of Shopian case. Incidents of stone pelting and setting ablaze public property can by no means be termed as peccadilloes and action must be taken to stop such incidents in the valley.