another day at karekura

picking up where siddharthA left off, on the week that was.

there hasn't been an update on the activities at the school for a while. seeing as i am the new (and thus, most wide-eyed-in-fascination) member of millee, i take it upon myself to do the needful...

our tata sumo (driven by the able purushottam bhaiya) picks up a sumoful of people each morning (a subset of all researchers and interpreters) and heads to the village that is karekura, a few kms off the outskirts of mysore. the ride is a tad bumpy once we get to the village, as expected, and we are treated to the sights of sugar-cane and rice fields, bullock carts, sheep and goats, and many, many palm trees as we trudge along, for roughly 10 km.

the kids await our arrival with much anticipation, ready to pounce upon us in full force as soon as we're out of the vehicle. there are incessant sounds of "hi, __ aunty", "hi, __ uncle", 'til it's time for them to line up for assembly. assemblies consist of the children standing height-wise in four very straight lines, while one of the teachers takes charge. in unison they recite a few prayers and sing the national anthem. a couple of kids sneakily look toward us on the side, chanting on all the same :).

when assembly ends, there is a short break before the kids assemble into their classes. this is when the camera comes out and chaos reigns. there are a million echoing sounds of "torsi aunty" as i click away (torsi means show in kannada. everyone wants to be in the photo, and the kids push and pull to be in the frame. little do they know that i almost never have a wide angle lens on, so there is just not a chance that more than two faces will fit. but they're happy to pose, and happy to see their friends on the lcd after the picture is taken :). in fact, they are happy any which way, which is one of the things that makes them so special.

when work actually begins, anuj (in matt's absence) decides which of the kids will do what (with the phones) and activity begins. watching the kids learn, or even not learn (as the case may be) is a fascinating experience. we stumble, often fail, and thus we carve our route towards success....

as for the logistics, we only work with some of the kids some of the time. since school continues to run 'normally' for them, we're really stealing their time away from classes. one wonders if one does them enough justice by taking away those hours of study from them. one tends to conclude in one's favour... the last week saw the kids pick up the clothing game, floored with action verbs, and the tree-tree (local) game.

'tis hard to document everything that happens in school, simply because every day is so different and new. you can imagine that not a boring moment is found within the walls of karekura. leaving is always sad, and quite a process. it takes only about 15 minutes for each of us to bid goodbye to each of them, with promises of seeing them the following morning. the sea of kids crowds around our vehicle till we are all in, and then sings farewell till the vehicle is out of sight. what does one do with all that attention, really?!

oh, and this post took so long (could not help the lack of internet supply these last few days) to finish that there's another update - david did a brilliant job with putting together the yearbook. it's finally done and looks inordinately spiffy. please contact him if you'd like to take a look.

over and out.