(Sunday, 6th November 2011)

Sunday morning at the Zoo

It could have been just another sleepy Sunday Morning for me but it wasn’t! The long wait was finally over. A month of metuiculous and frenetic planning with our partners Bank of America (BoA) and SPROUTS (Environmental outfit) and all the internal communication, the pay day finally arrived. In fact it all began after Jayshree went to Bandhavgarh with SPROUTS and came back with a great connect, Anand Pedharkar – Wildlife Biologist and educator and founder of SPROUTS Environmental trust!

Over 45 students of classes 5 to 7 of the VIDYA Beyond School Learning Program - Umang, visited the Zoo at Byculla last Sunday. They were accompanied by teachers from Umang; volunteers from BoA and their families; Tanya from United Way of Mumbai; and Mary Dias from VIDYA along with her daughter Angel. Of course I was also there as a cameraman, co-ordinator and most importantly as a student – intently listening to what all the knowledge shared by eco-volunteers from SPROUTS.

My last Zoo trip was almost 7-8 years back and my experience was not that great and the way the authorities cared for the wild ones there, left a negative impression of a Zoo on me. But I guess there are some ‘good’ ones and some ‘bad’ ones. Byculla Zoo in that context is in a much better shape, though there are many areas where immediate attention and investments are required (and after the 480 crore revamp proposal was turned down in May this year, I dont think things are going to get better anytime soon). Ignoring the 'animal rights' debate, Zoos in general are very effective in protecting some of the endangered species.

They are in a way like Noah’s ark, preserving (and breeding) the species from becoming extinct. Add to that the opportunity that a well maintained Zoo provides to educate and sensitize both children and adults about the wild in an urban setting and you couldn’t ask for more!

The plan was to start early on the Sunday morning given the heat and the chotu kids who were in the majority. And then there was this problem of the zoo getting overcrowded on Sundays. Smartly clad in the green tees, the VIDYA contingent set out at 7:30 AM and after having delicious ‘puran-poli’ (my suggestion :) as breakfast, boarded the bus and reached Byculla around 9 AM.

For most of the kids it was the first time they were going to see the wild animals in flesh and blood. While they had seen some of them earlier on television, in the newspapers and in the schools books, but never from such a close range. And they were visibly excited about this outing! Anand and his team of eco-volunteers were waiting for us at the entrance along with Team Aspire volunteers from BoA.

We split into four groups for the first leg of the outing and each group was lead by two SPROUTS volunteer who took everyone around the place showing various animals, telling kids about their origin countries, characteristics, natural habitat, their uniqueness and many more related things. The kids were quite curious to know about them and they filled pages with all the ‘gyan’ the volunteers gave them on every animal they saw. Words like canon ball tree, pelicans,‘pan ghoda’ etc. were the vocabulary of the day. I could see most of the kids relate to what they saw, thanks to Anand’s pre-visit orientation / presentation at VIDYA Chaitanya nagar couple of day back. Even for the teachers and the volunteers from BoA it was a good learning experience. To know why some animals behave the way they do is something that needs observation, research and a lot of effort.

For me the beautiful birds were the main attraction. It’s been ages since I saw a bird that didn't belong to a pigeon or a crow family. Yes that’s the only two you get to see in a metro like Mumbai every day. The pelicans, Japanese cranes (endangered) and other huge but beautifully coloured birds are a rare pleasant sight that only a Zoo can provide here! And not to forget the pitch ‘white’ crow and the real black wild crow in the cages (not the duplicate ones found in the cities). I had better treat the pigeons with respect as Jayshree tells me that the green pigeon or the hariyal is the state bird of Maharshtra :)

It was a hot day indeed but the sun didn’t deter the kids from walking around for over 3 hrs, curiously watching all the animals and learning more about them. Around 12 noon, all four groups re-assembled and took half an hour lunch break before moving on to the fun activities that SPROUTS had planned. These activities that included drawing, map activity and quizzes were designed to set them thinking about what they just saw and learned at the Zoo and reinforce the curious element that every child is blessed with.

As the kids got busy with the fun activities we had the opportunity to introduce our teachers to the donors. Sarita, our Science Teacher said " iske pehle mein do baar gayi hoon aur enjoy kiya par is baar maine bahut seekha aur enjoy kiya". Everybody was thrilled when Geeta Joshi shared her story of how she dropped out from school but later turned her failure into success with the help of VIDYA's National open School Program. Geeta now teaches English to the Umang Chaitanya Nagar students and considers this as a give back to the community. From a VIDYA alumni to a VIDYA teacher it has been a journey of growth and confidence and an endearing friendliness and a humility!

We wrapped up the day around 3:30 PM but only after a photo shoot out session with all the teams – Team BoA, Team VIDYA, Team Sprouts and Team united Way - and thank yous to everyone.

I have been on outings and field trip with these kids before. But this one was unique and one of its kind. As a former employee and member of BoA fraternity and now as a part of VIDYA family, I had the best of both the ‘worlds’. What really makes me happy is that I was able to act as a bridge between Team Aspire, Team SPROUTS and Team VIDYA to make this field trip great success.

This trip was unique in ways more than one. It brought VIDYA kids, teachers, donor and their families together. A true opportunity to bridge the gaps, to break the barriers and I believe we succeeded in our endeavours. Special thanks to Jatin, Aalok, Dhara and Mehul for bringing the little ones along.

Loging off with a hope of more such wonderful outings in the future and some lines from a beautiful poem I just read – ‘I build walls..” - just that there were no walls to be broken that Sunday morning!

I Build Walls

I build walls:

Walls that protect,

Walls that shield,

Walls that say I shall not yield

Or reveal

Who I am or how I feel.

I build walls:

Walls that hide,

Walls that cover what’s inside,

Walls that stare or smile or look away,

Silent lies,

Walls that even block my eyes

From the tears I might have cried.

I build walls:

Walls that never let me

Truly touch

Those I love so very much.

Walls that need to fall!

Walls meant to be fortresses

Are prisons after all.

Alok Jha
VIDYA Mumbai

First Byte

" Where is the mouse? " 3.5 year old Aryan promptly showed me his Mickey Mouse school bag, while his mother Janki Khatri, pointed to the correct device on the computer table in front of her. Janki had walked in the previous day to enroll herself for the computer orientation course - Computer First Byte - at VIDYA Computer Learning and Resource Centre (CLRC). She had not been anywhere near a computer before this and was quite jittery about the 10 day course. Nonetheless, she came everyday alongwith her son whom she picked from school right before starting her session. When I met her on the last and tenth day of the course, she proudly showed me her folder containing a Notepad file 'Myself.txt', a desgin in MS-Paint, her MS-Word resume in 'Janki.doc', and a sample marksheet in Excel for the marks scored by 5 students in 5 subjects complete with average, aggregate, minimum and maximum scores! All this within 10 days, I was as proud of Janki and the computer centre at VIDYA, as she was of herself. The volunteers who are ex-VIDYA students of the NSVK and who underwent a VIDYA and BG sponsored course at Jetking were indispensable in making this magic happen.


The participants ranged from 10-year old Vanshika, who would eagerly walk in 10 minutes earlier than the scheduled time to 50-year old Mrs. Manju Pandey who needed a lot of convincing to join the course along with her daughter. "Ab umar nahi rahi seekhne ki" was what she had said when I asked her to give it a try and I countered it saying "Seekhne ki koi umar nahi hoti". With shaking hands when she first tried to control the mouse she almost gave up, but I reassured her that those hands had handled much bigger responsibilities of life than a mere computer mouse. And thus she took off. Soon she was drawing a collage of colourful circles in MS-Paint.

The impact of a ICT4D - Information and Computer Technology for Development - is showcased in these examples of Janki and Manju. Not only the individual's knowledge, technological advancement and self-confidence receive a terrific boost, but it also breaks barriers paving way for a confident and daring exploration of the unknown.

Manvi Singh
VIDYA Volunteer

"All i want is a place of mine"

The Umang Study Circle is in full swing!

Functional since the past four months or so, the three small rooms at Navy Compound Centre at Chaitanya Nagar have proved to be haven for the children of classes 9 and 10.

The 10th especially with their preparation for the Boards loves their silent reading time undisturbed by anyone.

The children go back from the regular afternoon remedial classes at Umang, grab a bite at home freshen up and eagerly come back at 6 and stay on till 9 in th night. All this is done with parental permissions and supervision by a young collegian Rita, who keeps an eye .

Rita is an old student of the Umang coordinator, Pednekar Sir and diligently maintains a register of the students and reports on the goings on, and yes arranges for a healthy snack of brown bread and jam, and sometimes cheese.

A big thank you for the help with nutrition to Lubiana, of Rotary Lakers,Powai.

All the children who come there, say " didi ghar pe bahut chyaon chyaon hota hai aur padh nahi sakte, yahaan ache se padhai hoti hai"

Our children have learnt the art of facing the brick walls to find solitude and also learnt to break walls of prejudice!

Sunitha Kumari

Mentor, Umang,

Core Management,VIDYA Mumbai

VIDYA Umang - Inspiring Confidence

On November 27th, 2010, I had the privilege of attending the Science Exhibition put together by the students who participate in VIDYA's Umang program in Powai, Mumbai. As a former volunteer with VIDYA it was a real pleasure to attend this event and see familiar faces. More importantly, I had a fabulous time being explained the various science projects the students had put together for the exhibition. Each group of students had clearly rehearsed their presentations and worked very hard to express themselves clearly and thoroughly. They of course spoke in Hindi and Marathi, but made an extra effort to practice their English skills with me. On my way out of the exhibit, if there is one thing I took away with me, it was the smiles on the students' faces as they teemed with confidence while presenting the projects they had worked so hard on, to all the guests that had come to see and learn. Just being able to see that impact that this event had on those participating children made the whole exhibition a huge success in my view.

Archana Pandaya,Volunteer

“ ----- VIDYA Umang(150 children) worked out of the comfort of the IITBombay Campus School till a few months ago when they were stopped from entering the IIT Bombay by the security. They decided to shift their classes to a Ram mandir, located in the poorest part of Powai and instead of complaining about the difficulties of working out of this new space they adjusted in a day, found a new found happiness and organized an outstanding science exhibition for the entire community children and were reported in the press!

I am really proud of these amazing children and their teachers and leaders!

Bravo!”

Rashmi Misra

Bonding over books

23^rd October,2010, 10 Am. Crossword BookStore, Nirmal LifeStyle Mall, Mulund

This was an impromptu from the heart visit spurred on by the enthusiasm of VIDYA Umang staff,Geeta Joshi, the planning by Gurav Sir and support by Balaji Sir. 11 children of class 9 and 10 children hopped on to a BEST bus, bought their own bus tickets accompanied by the 3 teachers,reached NIrmal Mall in Mulund. For Manisha it was the first ever ride in a BEST bus. The morning's plan to browse at Crossword a sprawling bookstore. The mall was quite colourful and the Diwali colours were still on. They began the visit at the art exhibition by 71 year old, national award winning Prabhakar Mohite's oil colours. The art work was human faces and the children were freely expressing what they felt about each picture. Rekha spotted a huge Buddha painted on the pillars and was ecstatic.

At the store they were given a brief of how the books were classified under various heads- fiction, classics, crime and mystery, art, business management. A little in awe and hesitant to touch the books, once they were encouraged that the whole idea was to choose the books of their own liking there was no stopping them.

The colourful atlases, the Amar Chitra Kathas, stories of India's musical genius A R Rahman, Lata Mangeshkar, recipe books, and a small section on the Marathi books too. When Raju asked me what was an octave and getting a break meant I was happy beyond words. In the traditional classroom not often we see them letting down their guard. Here, neither right nor no wrong just touch, read, feel talk and explore...words like black mamba, was part of that day’s vocabulary. Dipesh, was looking at Surinam in a kids atlas and as he looked at Egypt in the atlas, the pyramids were familiar- courtesy Singh is King! And yes, the Colombian coffee beans- when asked to guess what it was he said it was chocos!! For Mohan, it was the Ramayan and the Dasavtar in Marathi which held him spellbound. Priyanka and Preeti were busy copying the fact file from the atlas for the presentation on Egypt and US for the UN Day.

Tarla Dalal's books and Sanjeev Kapoor's books had them excited! For each one the morning's expedition meant something- be it depositing the bags at the baggage counter, putting the books back in the right rack, being frisked by security and the escalator ride! .

It was a reluctant group that had to be gently asked to put down the books for their return to Powai.

Over Diwali faraal which they had brought and Masala Dosas and chai, they boarded the bus back to UMANG in time for the afternoon session but not before extracting a promise for more visits! It was truly a bonding over books especially for the adolescents who felt special to be part of an intimate group. Crossword Mulund was very helpful and told me it was the first time that such a visit had taken place at their premises.

Jayshree Murali

Mentor,VIDYA Umang

Core Management,VIDYA Mumbai

Earlier this year-'A School Like Mine'

In a gesture of generosity and compassion for the people of Haiti, the children of Pappankalan have shared this week further to one of my classes, in the project A school like mine the idea of contributing in thoughts and images with their friends of Haiti during this time of great sorrow.

I know Haiti well and have worked there in the past. Haiti has a special place in the heart of all French Canadians for being the only other country in the Americas that share our culture and language. This community is well established in Montreal and in exile for most of them. Being known as the poorest island in the western hemisphere, I am sadden to see such destruction afflicting Haiti and I know that the task of reconstruction ahead is phenomenal.

I just wanted to share these drawings with you all so that together we can in thoughts of love and compassion contribute in creating a positive energy for those who have lost everything in Haiti

Daniel Legnomedgl
Mentor\coordinator Pappankalan Community Outreach

Sharing - Shared Reading

When Shared Reading started at Umang in VIDYA, we just did not know what to expect. It looks fun, vibrant, and such energy, but we didn’t know if we can have uninhibited participation from all our children. But a few sessions old today, I can share that Shared Reading is an gem of an addition to our Program.

Shared Reading is done with Big Books, which are blown up representation of small story books with big drawings and more colour! Big Books are created so that the stories can be read out to a group of children together. Drama, sound and action reinforce meanings and language usage is followed by session on creative art expression, or writing and closing the session the children are encouraged to look through numerous story books.

The animated voices from the story, little elements of drama and freestyle body movements bring out the children in all of us alike and such joy with the kids! The children are asked to act out words, lines and stories and sometimes just be themselves. When one of first sessions ended a little chick made an appearance from one of the volunteers pouches and asked what the kids will do next? They all shouted, “Study” and “me too” said the chick. The chick is a regular at the sessions nowadays.

I reckon, somethings are just instant hit!