Gaurav’s Day Out with Kids from Makkala Jagriti

Gaurav’s Day Out with Kids from Makkala Jagriti

Makkala Jagriti (“Awakening of Children”) is a Non-Government Organization (NGO) that seeks to create a holistic learning environment for emotionally and economically deprived children. Their mission is to make a positive difference to a child’s quality of learning and development. They bring together a diverse group of people, committed to this shared purpose. They facilitate (non-formal) education and development of children by augmenting the child’s school education through diverse learning opportunities. They also work closely with their parents, teachers and the community as a whole to make the learning experience that much more enriching. Apart from regular classes they also conduct tours for the kids which is both fun and educational; for these they often require volunteers who can help them organize and manage such tours.

On 15^th August, 2007 Independence Day of our country India I got the opportunity to go on one such trips with the kids. We planned to take the kids to Lal Bagh in Bangalore where a flower show was being held.

We reached there at 10 o’clock. When I first met the kids they behaved very formal as probably were instructed by their teachers, greeted me with a “Good Morning ‘Sir’” stood quietly in height wise organized lines, talked only when asked to but from their naughty smiles and eyes I could make out they wanted to break free and have fun. I started to talk to them like a friend although had some problems in understanding them as most of them spoke only Kannada and myself Hindi and English, but language was not a barrier. All of them knew Sachin Tendulkar and Shahrukh Khan and that gave us enough to talk who cared whether the other person understood or not.

The Gang

The kids were then taken to park where they were served ‘vangi bath’ (brinjal rice). The kids loved it and after having that set out to play. They had got along footballs and Frisbees, seeing them the kid in me took over and we all had a nice time playing these games. We also played antakshri which comprised of both Hindi and Kannada songs.

Having ‘Vangi Bath’ in Lal Bagh

After this we took the kids for the flower show which was great but could not enjoy much because of the mad crowd there. Being a holiday it seemed as if whole of Bangalore had come there for the show. After the show we bought masks and ice- creams for the kids which they simply loved; by this time I had become “yaar” and “beedu” and the ‘sir’ had vanished. What fun!

The Kids and I

The teachers then decided to head back as the parents were supposed to pick the kids from school by 4 pm. On our way back we had lunch at Sri Krishna Sagar.

Yummy Dosa

It was a great way to celebrate Independence Day. J