AAGAAZ... the begining :)

No children in the class..

Electricity connection gone just before playing the movie..

Children’s parents barge in and take back their kids without explanation..

…..Those were some of the crisis moments that we went through with the start of classes at Aagaaz, but by God’s grace we pulled it through on all those occasions. And then, what’s the fun working without challenges! These moments remind me of an Ashutosh Gowarikar movie like Lagaan or Swadesh where the impending failures threaten the strugglers before success finally takes over. I may be dramatizing it too much, but it was the first social start-up I’ve worked on and it did scare the hell out of me some of the times :)

Thanks to Darshan’s support things seem to be headed for sunshine times. I wouldn’t like to bore you with details, but currently we’re teaching approx 15 kids, most of whom are going to school. We’re visiting the community to tap the most needy non-schoolgoers.



And yes, we celebrated 26th Jan by showing them the movie ‘Air Buddies’ (hindi version)- the movie in which the puppies run away from home because they don’t want to be separated. The kids enjoyed it. After that each child presented an impromptu performance- a somg or a joke (or even a PJ at times! Esp the one by Anita’s brother Jasvinder which neither me nor Mayank were able to understand!!). Then we concluded with a brief discussion about the importance of Republic Day, and yes, the sweets.

Deciding on a fixed curriculum and interaction with the community people are next on the cards. Plus admitting the non schoolgoers to the Govt school, for which of course we’ll need more volunteers. Thank you for bearing with the post in case you’ve read it through till hereJ. And yes, the pictures I’ll arrange next time. This one is one of my old Prayas pics.


Shruti Tewari

26 January 2008 @ PRAYAS an Awesome Experience !!!!

सर : बच्चो 26 जनवरी क्या होता है ?
हाथ खडे करो ....एक ,दो ,तीन और चार ,बस चार ही हाथ,अच्छा कविता तुम बताओ ?
कविता :- सर जी 26 जनवरी 1950 से पूलिस आयी थी !
सर : ओ.के.,और कुछ ?
कविता : कानून आया था !
सर : और कोई ? चन्दा तुम बताओ ?
चन्दा : सरजी उस दिन से संविधान लागू हुआ था !
सर: गुड .संविधान क्या होता है ?
चन्दा : सरजी ........पता नहीं ,
सर : और कोई बतायेगा ?
साबरीन : 26 जनवरी को देश आजाद हुआ था !
सर : नहीं बेटा ,देश 26 जनवरी को नही 15 अगस्त 1947 को आजाद हुआ था !

This was the way our republic day celebration at sector 16-Noida Community took off on 26th Jan 2008.One thing was very much noticeable on that afternoon i.e. every kid was looking so smart in new and clean clothes, Everyone was so enthusiastic about the celebration. I was just wondering, When I was kid I used to be such joyful when there was Holi or Deewali J .So after the above discussion we tried to explain them what does it mean to be Republic ,and what is Republic day . Lot of people(Volunteers) and lot of ways to explain them. I don’t know how much successful we were to explain them about constitution and republic. I explained them about national Flag “तिरंगा” too.

Suddenly Sonia said, we want to listen song not the Bhasan here :) , so next round of joy, talent & masti began with lot of patriotic songs ,Sona ,Hina ,Subi,Afsana,Danista,Reena,Gudiya ,Jyoti ,Chanda , every kid participated in those nice songs. Kavita, Isharat and Ashmina shows there theatre skills with their patented Skit “अनपढ भाभी” :) .Geeta was the “Voice of Noida” for that day ,She sings very well .after every kid has done their job now it was the volunteers turn .

Started with Anand Bhai’s valuable talk, he mainly stressed upon the education and hygiene part of their life. Now “Nikhil” Dhoni Sir told about one pledge funda ,It was wonderful concept actually ,he told them to pledge one good thing they will follow from today, On a lighter note Nikhil sang couple of songs of “Himesh Reshmiya” and he danced like a Rock star :),After Nikhil it was the turn of Ruchi madam, She told them about the value of being neat and clean ,being hygienic she motivated them to clean themselves, their home their community ,nice to hear it :).

Selva He sang a song beautifully and all the kids joined him too. After everything done Kavita and few other kids insisted to see any performance from my side .After thinking for a minute, I got the song which I had to sing

“लकडी की काठी,काठी का घोडा, घोडे के सर पे जो मारा हथौडा....” I asked Arun and Anand bhai to
join me and then we sang and acted accordingly :), it was great to be with our PRAYAS kids always.

Climax of the function was the most wonderful thing cause of “National Anthem “
Everyone stand up and sang “राष्ट्रीय गान”. After all this function delicious “Ladoo” and snacks party were there, we enjoyed it a lot, Thanks to Selva :) .

Lot of volunteers attended the celebration on that day Ruchi,Anuradah,Divisha,Arun,Kanan,Nikhil,Anand,Selva ,Sonia ,Pamela & of course me (Darshan) were there with kids and they made that day memorable for us J.
Those two hours of republic day afternoon were most wonderful hours on any Republic Day celebration for me.

Darshan Mehra
darshanmehra@gmail.com

Together we can and we will make the difference!!