The day I knew, I really did change a life path.

There were good days. There were bad days. And then there were normal days. It din't feel life changing to be honest. I had a great feeling. I loved my job. I smiled more often. But that was it. Until today.

I visited one of my students at his home. This being a first, I was cautious. I selected the best kid in the class so I could take my chances and learn. Omkar was one of those kids who made your life simple. He always topped the class. Spoke without hesitation. Helped others. Loved bhaiyya to bits. I never knew any other side of him. 

Today afternoon, I went to his place. All the greetings later, his father opened up. Tears in his eyes, he said, "I dont know what you did to my kid. " 

Omkar,  my turn around kid.

Subsequent conversations revealed Omkar wasn't always like that. He was sent out of his earlier school because he was "rowdy and very violent". His teacher gave up on him. He once bit his mother because she "forced" him to go to school. His father slapped and hit him in front of his entire class because he refused to study in the school. At Aliya, he banged the principal's desk because she agreed to give him admission into the school. He picked up fights 15 days in a month with the kids in the community.

That was almost a month back. Today, he tops every exam in the class. He is the leader for his group. He teaches his mother English words that he learnt in the school. He never comes to school with a broken button because he wants to look "neat and tidy like Bhaiyya."

Omkar is such a turn around, it is difficult for me to believe there was a different side to him. I am exuberant today. I have my proof. A proof, that is my own. My proof, that every kid can turn around. 

Thank you Omkar. It is kids like you who change our lives. 

The girl who walked me, that day and everyday after then.

Raju just started turning around. Earlier though, he used to be ten handsful. This story dates back then.

The kid has the will power that can easily break yours. "Give me a star and then Ill decide if I want to sit in your class.", he ordered me around. All of 6, he almost broke the classroom door into half when I refused to let him out. Lay flat on the floor and cried non stop for 2 days, morning 9 to evening 3. (Yes, Im serious)
You can be a firm teacher, but only till so long. I was beginning to crumble on the second day. All teachers will tell you, if a kid cries, you cry even louder inside.
  Lot of other things were going on too.
It was one of those days when my lessons weren't exactly bomb diggity. Kids are stronger than sniffer dogs. They sense your lack of confidence in seconds. Then they get cranky. The lessons suffer even more. It is a viscous cycle.


Post lunch that day, I was getting jittery. Walking back to the class, I could not think of something to teach them. My plans seemed so out of context then. All of my mindspace refused to work. And then it happened.

Mehraj, walks up to me from the behind, holds my palm with both her hands, looks into my eyes and says, "No sad sir. Raju brother like that only. But you, my best sir".

Mehraj, while I know you might not be able to read this today, and you might not read this ever, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, for giving me the love, strength and courage to push me through my lowest lows.

Mehraj, since that day, always holds my hand and walks me till my bike. :-)

Love. So pure, it surprises you.

Some of my days go excellently well. The other times, I am disappointed with myself. May be I am not pushing myself more. May be, the kids could have learnt much more if I could have planned better.

 May be, Omkar wouldn't have said, "Bhaiyya, ignore Raju and Karthik. You teach only us." May be, more kids in the class could have been engrossed.

But one thing remains steady irrespective of my achievements. Their Love.
They have a way of making my day, with their own tiny means. Be it Mehraj's kiss on the hand, Jafar's tantrums that I am not taking special classes for him just yet, Omkar pleading me to take tuitions for her sister in 7th grade, Maruthi finally able to read and say little, Naveen breaking each word into its phonics and trying to read a story book I got to class.

The other day in class, Omkar was elected the Graduate of the Week. He was the most studious and took responsibility of a lot of things. This is a picture of him with a scroll and the Graduate Crown (I know it looks too feminine, but they cudnt care less. It just fascinates them to no extent!!)

Graduate of the Week! Omkar!

My first wobblings as a teacher

It has been exactly two weeks since I first stepped into Govt. Model School, Aliya. I am a proud Grade 2 teacher and I will be teaching 45 kids.

It has been fantastic

15 of 25 kids already wrote that I am their favorite teacher. Omkar took responsibility of teaching the entire class when I went to the next class to take a test. Little Mehraj proudly parades me around the school and tells everyone, "Ye mera bhaiyya hai". Zafar, Ahmed and Ghouse came running today after the Friday Namaz so they can be on time for Bhaiyya's afternoon meditation classes.

It has been heart wrenching

43% of my class cannot write Alphabets. 65% cannot write their own names. Raju and Karthik struggle with an attention span of seconds. The class is expected to sit in rapt attention with no benches and electricity. (There are 3 fans hanging from the ceiling though.). 100% of my class has very little or no clue of the Grade 1 standards.

There is hope. A hope they can dance.

They will have someone who will now care for them. Push them. Nurture them. Ceaselessly love them and relentlessly support them. Support to become The Graduates of 2025. By 2025, each and every child in this classroom will have graduated from college.  The odds are dramatically stacked against them. They are in the lowest rung of the economic sections in a country where more than 33% drop out of 5th grade and 95% before college.
We are going to fight against it. As a individual. As a classroom. As a society. As a nation.

Where they are born should not define what lies ahead of them.

This is an effort to document my journey with my class. With a hope they will change your lives, just like how they are doing mine.

My classroom!

The Graduates sitting in smart positions!

Srisailam, Madurai and Rameshwaram (Part 1 of the Travel)

Srisailam 


Having started from Hyderabad, the nearest location is Srisailam, at a distance of 220 kms, takes about 5 hours by bus. A good part of the journey is through the dense Nallamalla forests and there are very frequent sightings of elephants and other wild animals crossing the roads. Having booked a cottage already, I thought I wouldnt have to go through the hassle of searching, bargaining and haggling for a room. Guess what! The receptionist tells me that
a. There is no electricity and there will be no electricity for 3 more hours.
b. It is better I take another room in a private hotel because there is no water supply in the cottages.

c. When I persisted that I will take what I already paid for, I should search for the cottage in the night (without street lights) which is about a km away from the reception!

So much for advance booking on the internet (The cottages are run and maintained by the temple trust)

I somehow caught hold of a guard, requested him to fill water in the bathrooms and was finally at peace an hour later (Determined not to spend extravagantly on double hotel rooms!! String shoe budget, you see).

After a full 'Andhra' meal and a good night's rest, I was ready to visit the temple early next morning. The Suprabhata Seva (where the diety is awakened with Vedic hymns and sounds of the Drums), performed by a set of pandits is a soul filling sight. The very friendly elderly man standing next to me explained all the activities that were taking place in the temple, showed me around the temple and left. He apparently comes one day every year to feed poor people in the temple town.

It is believed that Lord Shiva's Bull performed penance here and the  deities appeared in the form of Mallikharjuna and Bhramaramba. A massive fort, with six meter high walls encloses the temple. A cluster of minor shrines within the temple compound include the Sahasra Linga (believed to be installed by Lord Rama), Panchapandava temples (by the Pandavas). 

The main lane leading to the entrance of the temple is full of religious memorabilia and souvenirs if you are interested. I got lost for a good 2 hours before I pulled myself out to visit the Patala Ganga (River Krishna) and left back to Hyderabad.

You may find this useful:

Even the locals recommend the Suprabhata Seva which takes place at 5:00 AM every morning. Limited Tickets (10) are given starting 4:15 AM on the same day. It is a very wonderful sight where you can see everything from close proximity to the Sanctum Sanctorum (which is a rarity in temples these days).

This temple allows for people from all castes, creeds and sects to come and touch the presiding diety.

The Akkama Caves are a 5 hour trip from the town in a boat. Do make time for that too. (I couldnt, due to paucity of time)

Madurai

Madurai does not have a jyotirlinga. While my next stop was supposed to be Rameswaram, the trains dint connect well and so I thought of getting down at Madurai, the town of the ancient temple of Meenakshi Amman  and the modern temple of Aravind Eye Care!

Rings to a couple of places told me I had a place available! Madurai it is!

The Southern Gopuram, Meenakshi Temple, Madurai

I've been to Madurai earlier. But the sheer magnificence of the town and the temple manages to blow me away every single time.The precision of sculptures, the range of emotions displayed, the myriad colors, the stories they depict and the dancing stances are all supremely inspiring. 

One of the sculptured pillars in the Thousand Pillared Temple

The temple complex has been built over 2 millenia and evokes awe and admiration from the general masses to the seasoned historian.

Temple Entrance

And now, for the lunch! I ve heard so much about Amma Mess in Madurai and was about to try it out! All with glee, I went in and ordered Chicken Biryani and Chicken Omellette, the only sane looking items there. (Rabbit Biryani and Mutton Balls were not for me!) Very tasty and worth the adulation! You should also try the sweet pan just outside the mess. I swear there were the typical Chennai spices that went into the sweet paan!

After a nice afternoon's rest on a heavy belly, I wanted to explore the city. (This is the interiors of Tamil Nadu, mind you) I got onto a bus, forgot the destination's name and managed to confuse the driver. After a half hour, I got down, wandered around. That is the best part of travelling alone. The city reveals itself to you, bit by bit, as and when you are ready for it. Explored the main part of the town for half an hour and again got into the temple in hope of some nice photographs.

What I liked:

1. Getting lost inside the temple premises. Gazing at the roof paintings or the stone scultpures is in itself a very interesting activity.
2. Amma Mess and Ananda Bhavan for food. Reasonable and very tasty.
3. The very kind and helpful receptionist at the hotel (Hotel TamilNadu)

Rameshwaram

Walking on the beach, staring at the setting Sun, Lost in thought, sitting in front of the longest temple corridor in the world, Mind blowing fliter coffee.These are some of the best times Ive had at Rameswaram.

The World's Longest Pillared Corridor, Rameshwaram

After saying bye to the wonderful helpful receptionist who patiently gave me all the directions, I was on my way to Rameswaram. 

A sleepy little temple town and a fisherman's village, it is about 4 hours away from Madurai by bus. It is on the final stretch of this journey that we get to see the famous Adam's Bridge or Ram Sethu. The powerful stench of fish was all pervading. Checking in at the hotel at 2:00 PM when everything including the temple were closed, having nothing better to do, I was walking along the beach, when I found this spot, which to me signified, in one scene, the shore temple of Rameswaram. Just sitting there was marvellous.

The Significance of the Shore temple couldn't have been better!

It was time to go to the temple. The temple corridor looked never ending. A wide pathway, with immaculately done roof paintings of Gods and Goddesses, the corridor surrounds the main shrine. A 4000 feet long corridor with 4000 pillars, sheer brilliance. Legend has it that Lord Rama built a Linga of sand and asked for its blessings before he went on the infamous war with Ravana.

After the temple, I wanted to walk around and explore a little more of the town. So I caught hold of a sign board which was pointing to the temple of Rmar Padam(Literally, Rama's feet). What struck me was how different is the main street from the rest of the city. It was like the difference between  bride on her marriage day and when she gets out of the bed on a normal day.

Travelling alone, I find, has many advantages. It allows you to be with yourself. Go wherever you want to go. Do whatever you want to do. See whatever you want to see. Except that you get a WTF stare from the hotel receptionist when you are forced to tell her that You are the only one staying, and no, No one will be coming to visit you!

Understanding faith

Last time I wrote a blog about my travel experience, it was so long, even I dint read it after publishing it.  And so, I thought, Ill break it up into smaller proportions so you (and more importantly I) can chew them at ease!

Honestly, Ive never been much of a spiritualist. Infact, Ive spent 4-6 years of my adolescent life convincing myself that I was an atheist (atheist is cool, no?). Spirituality and religion are mysteries former best left to mystics and latter best taken away from politicians. But, there was something else I was drawn to. Faith.
I was intrigued by how can we place our life's path, progress and destiny on an entity so withdrawn from our sphere of control?

This is definitely not an answer that I expected to find in just a whirlwind trip to 12 chosen sacred places in some 24 days. But you need to start somewhere. May be I wont find the answer in this life time. Just a tiny perspective may be.

So that was why I chose to travel the 12 Jyotirlingas in India. The dwadasa (12) jyotirlingas in India are shrines dedicated to one of the main Gods of Hindu trinity, who is worshiped in the form of a phallus. (Why we seek to worship the destroyer of the world and not the creator, and why in the form of a phallus are questions that reveal the humility of the Hindu religion. More about them later). These shrines are counted as the holiest of the temples since times immemorial in the Indian system of beliefs.

While faith was the inspiration for my trip, I wanted to have as much fun as I could. Trying out as many road side eateries as I could, getting lost in the galis of the new cities with my ipod, making friends at the chai shop, learning about their lives, discovering precious tidbits of information from the helpful kaka at the corner shop about where to get the best stuff were some of the best moments. At one point, I was wondering why cant we collect all these amazing food stalls, beautiful horizons, astounding man made wonders and above all the huge hearted people and just keep them next to your home and your work place? But then again, there wont be the joy of travelling and discovering I guess!

However, I am documenting my travel in 4 pieces. (According to ease of travel and geographical proximity)
The first one covers Srisailam, Madurai and Rameshwaram.
The second one covers Trimbakeshwar, Bhimashanker and Grushneshwar in Maharashtra.
The third one is about Somnath, Nageshwar and Gir forest.
The fourth one is dedicated to Varanasi.

Lets see how it goes!

A week in Bangalore

If the Jagriti Yatra is any indication of the kind of experience that I will be having during my next 3 months of travelling, I am more than ready!

Between the Yatra and the Jyotirlinga trip, I had close to 15 days on my hand. Bored sitting at home as usual, I was browsing lazily when I suddenly hit upon a workshop on story telling. And it was in Bangalore! my favorite city! Packed my bags and I was off in a jiffy!

And now, I started to get jittery. What if the course was not as good as they said it would be? What am I doing in the middle of nowhere when all the people I know are going to offices and working? Why am I taking up a course on Story telling?  I had no idea what to expect from it and what I would take away.

All my inhibitions were shattered right from Day 1 !
We were a right sized group of 20 members, some of them really wonderful from a professional story teller from Germany to a very energetic grandmother who wanted to learn so she could tell stories to her grandchildren.

The whole session of 5 hours was like your favorite teacher's class where you just don't know how time passes away and don't want it to end. Stories to drawings, exercises to breathing techniques, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves while learning how to perfect the art of story telling. We had to present our own stories on the final day and that will be something that will stay with me for a long time to come. May be it is these experiences that change us and inspire us to push ourselves further.

Nupur, a visually challenged participant, told the story of the tiger, using picture cards that she got prepared by her husband. (It was hard to believe that she could not see the pictures which she was showing us. The synchronization was so perfect!). Ameen Haque's perfect depiction of the story on 'Why the wind blows' made sure I remember the giant Garuda flapping his wings looking for the chocolate whenever I feel the wind in my face. Yamini's story of the jelly fish was totally theatre like and I can still visualize the father calling out to her daughter on the wild seas.

All I can say is, thanks to all the wonderful people who participated. I learnt a lot from you. Hopefully, I will be able to interest my kids to come back to school and ignite the passion towards education in them.

And, this trip to bangalore was special in more ways. Here is why!

Rukmini Vijaykumar, is someone I admire in the true spirit of the word. Her dances are truly mesmerizing and she brings in a freshness and vigor in her performance strictly, in the realms of classical dance. Ever since 2008, I have been waiting to see her perform live, and got the opportunity after 4 long years. Not wasting a chance, I ran up and asked for an autograph. (I never do these things. In fact this was my first time!). And boy! the 4 long years of wait for the performance was definitely worth it. Those expressions, those dances, the vigour and the confidence. No match at all! (Atleast among her contemporary females)

Chicken biryani and Death by Chocolate later, I was on my bus back to Hyderabad. Happy heart and full belly! :)

Special Credits: Pavan Kumar Reddy for the wonderful host that he is! :)