I would like to mention two girls in my story today- Tulasi and Satya. Initially I was busy with the puzzle stall and thought there would not be any music stall happening today. But Tulasi kept coming to me asking whether we are doing it or not. When I asked her to...
A simple Caravan
I was one of the first to arrive and there weren’t that many children and there was no one around who knew Kannada, but managed to understand what the children were saying and played the game on the stones that they wanted too. It soon started raining and so we...
Freedom of choice
Today I realized that every kid has picked their favourite volunteer by now. I noticed disappointment on the faces of those whose favourite hadn’t come due to exams. A bond has very obviously been established between the children and the volunteers. But this...
Story telling!
Today i got a chance to do something that I really love and that is story telling. I asked a little girl, Sneha, if she wanted to listen to a story and she agreed. So we found a spot and I asked her to choose a book. I was a little nervous because I wasn’t sure...
Let go, be crazy
… The kids started running around just hitting each other with the ball, playing a modified version of the ‘dodge ball’. But, this time around instead of stopping them, the volunteers decided to join in with them and it was really amazing how much...
Still standing strong
… Finally it was time to go see their houses. Shruthi, Snigdha and I decided to go together and we went with 2 siblings; Keerthana and her younger brother. At first they seemed surprised that we actually wanted to come and see their house, but after they asked...
Community visit
…After the caravan there was a community visit wherein we visit the homes of some of the kids that come to the caravan to get to know them a little better…it was a fascinating experience all the same. Fascinating because even though some would say they...
Barefoot and smiling
Today we got the privilege to go and have a look at where do these children come from. As I entered their locality I was welcomed by the sight of about 50 colourful plastic pots to carry water. As I was led into their tiny lanes and I was passing through...
Stories of Change
Case Studies of various women who made a difference in their...
Photos
The way the lens sees...
Rushed stories, finger painting, and smiles
…I began my task of luring the kids to the stall with help of puzzles and story books. And this kid comes to me, DevaDarshini, and she asks me to read a story, and I read it word by word and she repeated after me and impatient as ever, after...
Learning to get through
…We took out our puzzle boxes and 2 story books and decided we would start our stalls with this. Our regular bunch of children came and in a very organised manner started playing with the puzzles. We volunteers don’t have to tell...
Family talk
…Most of the girls of the stall were very amused by my piercings, so I used that as a base to enquire about them . I asked why they don’t pierce their ears too and most of them said that their mother would hit them. When I questioned them further,...
A night in the tractor
… While we were waiting for all the kids to be done with registration, I tried talking to our in-house ‘Messi’, Prashanth, and this time he actually opened up, probably because of the efforts of Amy who started the conversation. He spoke about how he...
Puzzles and music
…One of the boys was so involved in solving the puzzles that he got very annoyed if anyone (including other children or volunteers) stopped him or interrupted him. The interesting part was, no matter how deep he was into his puzzle, he sang all the songs that...
The football enthusiast
With every passing week, the Caravan is now becoming a part of me. Saturday, though being one of the most hectic day of the week, is still the most awaited day of the week for me… In the games stall, before we started a proper game per se, the kids...
The quintessential older sister
I felt a sense of familiarity as I walked into the school on Saturday for my 3rd caravan and saw familiar faces all around me. The excitement levels never cease to amaze me as every week the children just seem to quadruple their energy reserves which I find to be an...
About a boy
Today was different. Yes, I played with the children as usual. Yes, I danced with them as usual. But it was still different. It was different because today a boy of 14 years old trusted me enough to give me a glimpse of his life story....
Suvivor’s kit in hand, we made it!
I had landed at the Caravan incredibly early and wasn’t very surprised to find our enthu-cutlets waiting for us to come and set up shop. Although, it was just 3 other girls and me at the time, without any resources there was little we could do. Some...
Slipping on the big boy shoes
The day began with a challenge to turn pro as we had to start the Caravan all by ourselves without the help of the headstreams staff. Tying up the banner to the initial ‘dodda circle maadi’ was all adding to sense of belonging now. Today I was more driven...