TRIP 3

Our 3rd trip to “Vidya Nivas” was scheduled on 24th July, 2008. It was Ethnic Day. Everyone in the class decided to come dressed in saree on that day. We six hesitated because we didn’t know whether we would be able to manage ourselves in sarees during our trip to Kotturpuram. We therefore requested Ms.Mercy madam to postpone the trip. She suggested that we can come dressed in saree to college and change to salwar before starting to the school. We readily agreed. But somehow God was determined to stop us from wearing saree. It rained buckets, that morning and there was no way one could try a saree! But still the others [non group 1], the strong minded ones, came dressed in sarees. Hats off to their will power!

It was 1 P.M. This time we all agreed to follow Sahithya’s directions. We reached the DMS by walk and got into less crowded 18A. I got a window seat just before the second door of the bus. It was a cool day and hence the breeze [coming through the window as well as the door] was simply enchanting. Mira was sitting next to me and was enjoying the breeze with me. We got down at Little Mount. Sahithya said that we must board a 21G next. But we waited for long and no 21G turned up. As it was a new route which we were trying, we thought that 21G might not stop there. So we enquired every bus that stopped there, whether it goes through Kotturpuram. Unfortunately none of them did. We were quite tensed. After much wait we rejoiced at the sight of M21G. We quickly got into the bus and started moving towards our destination. By about 1:45 p.m. we reached the school.

This time Vignesh was absent owing to high fever. I missed him a lot! As there was only one student [Lokesh] Mira volunteered to teach another class. Lokesh chose to learn Geography. The lesson was about The Earth. Lokesh found it hard to pronounce the terms like “geoid”, “latitude, “longitude”. I kept repeating the terms to make sure he was able to pronounce as well as remember the terms. I drew Earth which gave him a faint idea how Earth looked like. Then he was eager to know where Marina beach was! So I highlighted India in my diagram and then drew India separately and pointed where Tamil Nadu, Chennai and Marina beach were. He was excited. Then he pointed to me where his village was, by estimating its distance from Chennai. Unfortunately he pointed to some place in Kerala. He thought it was part of Tamil Nadu. Then I drew the country borders. He got confused. I didn’t want to confuse him more and hence left it there.
Then we learnt the names of the oceans around the world. I made him memorize the names of the Continents. This attracted the attention of Sahithya’s students. They joined Lokesh in learning the names of the Continents and Oceans. Each student was given a chance to tell the names of Continents and Oceans without referring to the book. With a little help they succeeded in listing out all the names. Then we discussed about Olympics; what the five rings in its symbol signified.

After the lesson was completed there was a small questioning session. The students enthusiastically volunteered to answer the questions. Then we decided to relax and have fun. The students started exhibiting their drawing talents on the desks using chalk. Lokesh drew a beautiful peacock and claimed that his sister had taught him how to draw it. Magbul Baasha, Sahithya’s student, came forward and asked me whether I knew how to draw a ship. I said I had no idea. He smiled [meant: hah! You don’t even know that huh?]. He took my rough note book and drew a ship and proudly presented it to me. I praised the artist inside him and accepted his work with a big smile on my face. Seeing this, everyone started drawing ships and compared each others work. Everyone felt that their piece was the best. I was happy that they didn’t fight amongst themselves owing to the difference in opinion.

It was Three P.M. I was quite exhausted at the end of the day. Sahithya advised me not to strain much in teaching the students. Anyway I did enjoy my stint at the school though I was tired at the end. Then we started walking back to the bus stop. Mira was making her students list the days in a week. It was lovely to watch Mira walking with her students and listening to her students answer. We finally bid the students good-bye and reached the bus stop. Within few minutes we boarded a 21G. I safely reached home by about 3:45, had something to eat and slept off.