Resuming with Pankhudi

By -

Last week, first visit:

After days of only planning to visit and restart with my classroom now after three years, I visit finally in the last week. With little hopes of meeting all of my old students in one place, I still wish I’d meet them all for I’ve missed them so much. When I actually go to the classroom, which is basically an extra room provided by one of the families from the community, I am ecstatic to meet all of them slowly, one by one coming to the classroom as they get to know that their Arundhati Didi has come.

Pankhudi is a non-governmental organization that works towards providing education to the underprivileged kids in a slum in Pune called Patil Estate. This slum is situated in the middle of probably the busiest locality in Pune that is Shivajinagar. However, the slum itself gives birth to a different life that I became a part of back in 2013. I had served there as a full-time volunteer till the middle of 2014.

All of them are just as surprised as I am, meeting after three long years with appearances considerately changed. We all share that curiosity as to what we did in these three years, what new happened and where are we now in life. The students who were once in school are now college students, aware enough about which course to take in order to become something. Patil Estate hasn’t changed a bit. The kids are taller, look older and wiser for their age but nothing else has changed. The classroom is just the same.

We happily scream while talking for we’re just very happy to meet! As I break the news to them regarding restarting the English language class, unsure whether they really need one as they don’t have to take English examination anymore, all of their faces are lit up with excitement with the idea of the class starting again. Their excitement motivates me and assures me that this isn’t a goodbye. Yet.

Yesterday:

I am more than happy to resume, rethink & get a perspective using this classroom as my base, shelter & a place to contemplate together. Today didn’t begin with hard core lessons. Today we spoke with each other, laughing, connecting the dots and completing each other’s sentences for never did we drift apart. I don’t fear with my kids what I feared before today.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Of Moving Forward- Part II

By -
Image
Sitting here, I wonder if it's about seeing in the mirror and liking what I see. 'Your eyes speak', they say. With every look of myself I get everytime I see, they, my eyes, seem to want to confront me. With all my honesty, I say, I run away from them. I try to. But the next time, everytime, it's a sensation of their coming toward me more hurriedly. They must be knowing the truth behind all the lies under the Sun I may have happened to tell myself in order to keep going. It's what I am used to do. To keep going, not knowing how far but far still. I am not used to the comfort there is in stopping for a moment or two. The comfort doesn't comfort me enough, although the view of it I get is inviting and tempting. I do not like the idea of walking the carpet that could take me somewhere I may be told I could dream. It doesn't completely satisfy me, being somewhere for a long time where there is everything I like. Going somewhere for a while where they may
Read more

Some time off

By -
That moment arrives when a normal day starts feeling like a storm all around you. The air feels cruel. The winds, even more. You hurt. It doesn't go away. It troubles you outwardly. Your head feels empty, but gets heavier every minute. The weight of never-ending thoughts, insecurities and the fear. You try badly for this storm to stop. You try not to let anything enter your mind for you know you'll have to pay for it. But what you avoid, identifies you. What you're supposed to be like, kills you somehow. Every thought leads you back to that same place. You long. You hurt. Like a beggar. Full of regrets. Full of what ifs and buts. You're nothing inside but everything inside you is just too much that you feel the space isn't enough. You feel weightless. But it feels like the burden is breaking you and pushing you down the floor, deep down the tiles of your room and even the sand thereafter. You don't stop trying but the storm always wins. Like it has won, r
Read more

Smokes in the air

By -
Image
Maybe this is because life currently has become steadily non-happening and so I walk in circles these days, without coming to a halt. I find myself sleeping for more hours than I usually do and probably need. I must be going to sleep feeling longing for something or nothing at all for I feel even number when I wake up. I have things to do but I've kept most of them away for a while. I have friends to meet but I don't go out lately. When I do, its with my cousin brother. The fresh street and head lights add a specific feel to the pretty, happy and busy faces I see on my way and I am just shown another side of my mood that doesn't last long; a feeling as I reach home, knowing I'll again be the same person enjoying solitude. The time spent playing old games with the ones I have blood relations with put me at ease somehow and I suddenly miss my family. My own people. They're there in front of me but I end up missing them more than ever. I remember how I was brough
Read more