by Anuradha Bakshi | Sep 5, 2005 | utpal
Look at poor yash… now did anybody ask him what he felt before smearing his face with talcum powder…
we adults seem to forget that children, even tiny ones, have egos, self -esteem, likes and dislikes and that even if we are bigger that does not mean we have the right to do what ever takes our fancy…
and not only did they smear his face, but then laughed at him and took his picture for all to see..
Adults often do this, and somewhere , without even realising it they create little hurts that one day turn into complex behavioural problems..
But that it not where it ends, there is much worse.. a pattern that is visble everywhere irerspective of class, creed or even nationality.. we were witness to one such incident last week when our darling Utpal was beaten black and blue by his mother, for no fault of his, but simply to vent her anger towards someone else.. and everyone watched stunned and silent at motherhood at its worst..
We forget that little children are fragile and tender and need to be loved and nurtured not beaten and hurt… the scars remain for ever…
Children are our responsibility as we hold their futire in our hands.. why do we often forget this simple truth
by Anuradha Bakshi | Sep 5, 2005 | Uncategorized
n’s article is out. it was published today in the Asian Age .
It was great that it appeared on teacher’s day when all roles were reversed.
We sat down to read it with some of the kids and imagine Vicky’s pride when he heard the opening words “ Vicky Kumar, 12, is concerned about the water problem plaguing the capital“. and then the ones that sounded like music to my ears: “Vicky, who hails from Saharsa in Bihar, wants to become a scientist when he grows up. “I would like to go back to my village and set up a water plant there,” he says with a glint of optimism in his eyes.”
It was nice to see an article that went to the core of what we believe in and talked about the importance of making good citizens, and of revalorising going back to one’s home.
The children were thrilled and you could see pride in their eyes as they poured over the newspaper trying to read the sometimes difficult words and asking for explanations…
I watched them and wondered whether we had finally found the right road… to the future
by Anuradha Bakshi | Aug 29, 2005 | Uncategorized
There is something about India that never ceases to amaze me and that is her ability to contradict everything negative that you may think about her.
She does play games with you, wears you down, makes you angry or even sad, but then when you are just about to lose all hope and give up, she makes up for everything..
At pwhy we have never been media savvy, and most of what has been written about us has been either by friends or by accident. We have had our share of request for telephone intreviews politely rejected as we felt that someone in Delhi could make the effort to come and see us; we have seen copies of what was written by someone dear, lifted time and again sometimes without even a mention of the source; we have had journos come in a hurry for token visits and photographers that never had the time to go beyond our front door..
when a young journo from a leading newspaper called on a sunday afternoon wanting to write about us I must confess I had thought that it would be another journo in a hurry who would appear for a fleeting moment.. well that was not so.
N came on time and gave us the feeling that he had all the time in the world for us.. he interacted with the children and even saw them present a project, he chatted with the staff , shared lunch with us and came and saw our okhla project too..
for all of us it was special as we felt that someone was looking at our work and giving it due respect… and we were touched..
N is a journo with his heart in the right place, and I just wish it stays that way..
Project why wishes him all the success possible
by Anuradha Bakshi | Aug 29, 2005 | Uncategorized
asiya and fatima, the two year old twins sleep reaching out to each other for comfort… while rabiya takes a much needed break.. like any mom would.. only rabiya is four, just two years older than the siblings she looks after with great care and maturity..
rabiya is not an exception.. she is almost the rule in urban India’s slums!
on my way to project why I often drive past what we sometimes refer to as ‘potty nager’. It is a rickety camp known as sudhar camp and is home to migrants from as far as Karnataka, or Tamil Nadu.. most of the women work as part time household help, and the men as security guards; the place is crwaling with toddlers who can be often seen easing themsleves on the road as the only bathrooms are a set of public conveniences where a rupee needs to be paid! As many of our children from the creche have moved to the primary section I thought it would be a good idea to get some of the kids from this camp.
Last Seema went to survey the place. the story she had to tell was chilling: in the day sudhar camp is almost like a neverland, as most of its inhabitants are children.. with a few elders hanging around quite unconcerned.. many of the children came to meet her, ready to listen to waht they had to say. Many were quite excited about going to ‘school’ but it did not take long for them to tell Seema that they could not as they had to look after their siblings. seema told me that it was then that she realised that something was not quite right: every child – and they were between 3 and 5 – was carrying a younger child in his arms.. and what was difficult to believe and heart rendering was that they did it with a sense of responsibility that could match that of any adult..
Seema came back crestfallen and perplexed as to what could be done in to answer the tiny voices who were all saying: I want to go to school but who would take care of my sibling…
i am still trying to answer that question…
by Anuradha Bakshi | Aug 25, 2005 | Uncategorized
last week I decided to take a class..
this decision was prompted by the constant complaints of some of the primary teachers who felt the kids were getting difficult to handle…some not doing their work and disturbing others..
as all the advise meted had not worked, I thought best to see things for myself..
I asked for the rowdiest class.. I was given the boys of class IV and V…
when the teachers asked me what I was planning to teach, I simply answered that I would let the children guide me…
we decided to sit outside on the floor, in a circle and as I looked around I saw lovely eager faces with big eyes staring at me..
I decided to ‘take it from the top’ and ask them simply why they were studying… they all looked bewildered, not knowing what to say…. the teachers were as amazed as the kids. I repeated my question gently addressing myself to one child, then the other, and then the next.. after some prompting I got my first answer: to change things in the world… to have a better future said the next.. to gain knowledge said the third…
stereotypes that no one really undesrtood. so we sat and talked about education and the different subjects studied and picked up social studies… for my little pals social studies meant learning from the book..
we sat and talked about why we should learn about our social system, about laws and rights and duties; how they could change our lives and help change the world or better our future..
at the end of the hour, the little ones were asking for more.. somehow in their minds boring subjects had acquired a new meaning: hindi or english would help word petitions, maths would help calculate losses, and civics would tell us how we could play a role in building our land.. redressing wrongs.. remaking te world..
actually what i was witnessing was the making of true citizen India!
