Kids teach us- 2

The school where I teach stands on one of the busier streets of Mumbai. There's a vegetable vendor, a fruit seller, a famous chaat waala and various other hawkers nearby. The street connects two main roads. A construction site right opposite the school. In fact, the day when they brought down the old building, all of us- teachers and students stood in the school compound to watch how they're bringing it down.
The result of all this. Commotion. Total commotion at almost all times of the day. Be it 10 a.m. or 6 p.m.
My classroom- on the first floor. I realise that most of the times, I am shouting on top of the traffic noise. Rickshaw engines. Cars honking. Big cars. Rich educated people. Honking, picking fights on the road for their cars. Everyone removing their frustration. I wondered- did anyone realise what impact they were causing. Did anyone bother to look at the silence zone sign before honking. Did anyone bother to think what would happen to all those kids trying to concentrate on Greek Latin in school.
I realised I may not be able to do much about the current problem. But I wanted these values instilled in my kids. Values of respecting someone else's place. Their rights. I wanted my first graders to learn about noise pollution. So that when they grow up, when they have big cars, they know what they are supposed to do.
I decided to take up a project. We spoke about pollution. What is pollution. Particularly noise pollution. And this was not the geography book definition which we had been studying all the years in school. These were answers from the kids. In art class, the little artists created posters- children at work, please be quiet. Silence zone. Our ears hurt.
And a kid wrote- please don't honk. Children are painting. We went down on the street with these posters, the same day.
This was such a success with the kids at least. Maybe the state of the road is still the same. But I will be at peace, thinking that I have instilled such important values in at least one out of the thirty-five kids, if not more.
This is a small thing. Not honking. But it can make such a big difference to someone. Sometimes, we as adults, forget to empathise, to care. Kids can teach us so much!

And yet another diwali!

It's festival time again! The year has gone by so quickly. A year ago, at this time , I was so excited about diwali. Then again, in the hustle bustle, busy life,everything forgotten. It seems i had forgotten the pleasure, the fun, the excitement. But once again, today, as I lit my home with diyas, as I put rangoli to welcome the goddesses, I realised how exciting this festival can be! Diwali! Everyone seems to enjoy this festival. There's something for each one of us. Some love crackers. Some love the sweets made by dadi. Some of us love decorating our home. If i had to choose a favourite, it would definitely be the diyas on the window sills. Rangoli. Learning sweets from grand mom. It just gives an inexplicable pleasure. I don't know why. What's the fun? In lighting diyas across all window sills? The sight of it. So beautiful! So soothing! And then again the beautiful rangolis! Are we really welcoming the gods and goddesses? I don't know. I am not much of a believer in god. It's a complicated topic for me. But there's something about diwali. Gifting sweets. Meeting family. I'm again, not a very social person. But this festival is different. It's just so festive! Roaming outside, in the streets, to see all the houses, the shops. Some lit in yellow light, some pink, some blue, some all colourful! Wow. Waiting for family and friends, staying a thousand miles apart. Finally meeting them. The world feels different. Today, again, after a crazy busy year, feeling nostalgic, I realise, how important festivals are, how exciting traditions are, and how amazing it feels to keep following them.

Who is the teacher in class?

Monday morning. Grade 1. I enter class with the day's agenda in my hand. I put it up on the board, like every other morning. It is 13th of October today. 14th and 15th are going to be holidays, due to elections in the state. We start class as usual. My class is lively, as always, wanting to talk to me more everyday. They are more like friends and less students to me. The naughtiest kid of my class asks me," Didi, we have a holiday tomorrow, right?" I say "yes". Another kid, " yes Didi, Diwali holiday".
I tell them no, these two holidays are for elections. Since our school is a voting centre.
I realise that these 6 year old kids have no idea what elections are. I decide, immediately, that we'll do a class election that same day. I explain the whole process. Rights and responsibilities of a leader. Why elections? How does it happen in state. How do we do it in school? 4 children stand for elections. For the post of the class leader. All others are excited. They cheer. They form strategies during lunch time. They discuss. Rationalise. We conduct quick 5 minute campaigns. Each one tries to convince why we should vote them and not others. "But Didi, I'll help the class." "I'll make the class more fun". Such answers from those little politicians!! We create ballot boxes. We vote. We select a leader. Children celebrate. Just like how we adults do. It's the same. The talks, the thinking, the ideas, everything.
This got me thinking of how true it is that there's a child in all of us. We all function the same way. Our minds function in similar patterns. Whether it's a 5 year old or a 50 year old. We all are the same. But there was a major difference that I noted in the kids' behaviour. These children, all of them, including the competitors, were so happy to celebrate one winning candidate. There was no ego. No negative emotions. Just joy. Pure happiness. Here, I was trying to teach them GK and they taught me life lessons. And I wonder the same thing over and over again. Am I their teacher or are they mine?

Work hard, harder, HARDER!

This question has been haunting me since quite some time. I have seen people being passionate about their work. I have seen people work hard. I have seen universities, colleges, workplaces having impossible deadlines. And I have seen students make those impossible deadlines possible.

This makes me wonder. Do we have any other life? We talk about work-life balance. Isn't work-life balance important for students? Isn't it equally important for people who are passionate about their work? But then again, this is a crazy world. There's competition. There's tough competition everywhere. Really tough. If I wait to talk about my work-life balance, I am going to be left behind. If I give time to myself, someone's going to overtake me.This makes me question- Isn't this leading to an unhealthy work atmosphere. If we look at the big picture- A work routine which is going to be harmful to the society in the long run? If we foster this kind of environment in colleges, this is what students are going to learn. It is being imbibed into their lives. These students are going to be at their workplaces tomorrow. What work culture are they going to cultivate? Work hard. Superb! But work crazy? No. This is no what we want.What about family? Friends? Life? Yourself? Where are you losing yourself in this? This big world of the internet, social media, career!
And then of course, there is the question of money. There's poverty everywhere. People don't have food to eat. They don't care about a work-life! It's a fight, not just competition. It's a circle. A cycle. It's much bigger a problem than we think. Who is going to break it? Why do we have so many cases of depression? Anxiety? Various other illnesses. Where does it all start from? How do we end it? We certainly cannot stop working. We cannot start working less. And as I write this post, this question still haunts me. What does 'hard work' mean, in this crazy world of ours?