Due to certain change in priorities of the trust that ran the Yepre school and differences between the management of the school and the trust, we have decided to stop all donations to the school with immediate effect. I have communicated this to all my friends and relatives who have been helping us out all these years. 

I stayed till the children left. We took some group photographs. I held the hands of some tiny children and felt their vulnerability, their innocence. I get very emotional when I see the children leave. They all wave to me as if I am a very close friend of theirs. Their hearts are so pure and so unadulterated by the impurities of life and their ego.
I returned to Sreekanth's house and rested for a while. I have posted some photographs and videos from my trip here. Then I remembered that the school was also "Ramchandra Yepre Prathimik Vidyalaya". I looked up to the sky and smiled.

It had been more than a year that I had visited the school. I had, in the meanwhile, got entangled in various personal issues, was travelling to Bangalore every month by car with my daughter and our Labrador, staying in Bangalore for 10-15 days, later shifted to Bangalore for business, shifted my daughter’s college admission as she chose to continue her studies there, meeting my son every month (as I get access to my son on the 3^rd Sunday every month), took vacations based on the dates my son gave (as he lives with his mother and I get 50% access during his vacations) & my daughter’s vacation dates and was juggling four different court dates (High Court, Bandra Family Court, Thane Family Court and the Mulund Metropolitan Court). 

But these were all excuses. I passed Pune at least 10 times in the last year while I drove down to and fro from Mumbai to Bangalore and not once did I stop at the school; why? – Because it was either very early in the morning (as we leave at 4 am) or very late in the evening (while we are returning from Bangalore). If we waited, we would have to drive in the night, or would have to stay the night at a hotel, and with our Labrador, it was not very easy. Pet friendly hotels are very rare in India, I have discovered. Anyways, it was my fault and it was eating me from within. So, this time, I resolved to go to Pune separately. Just devote one whole day for the school, nothing else. No other appointments. 

So, I booked my tickets and informed Mr. Bhalke that I was coming on the 5^th of November. I reached by 10 and Bhalke had come to the station to pick me up. We left, picked up Dairy Milk for all the children and reached the school by 11 am. The children had been waiting for me. I first met all the children and every child stood up and wished me "Good Morning Sir!". I sat in every class for some time and spent time with the children. I enquired their names, what their parents did and also spoke to the teachers. While I was doing this, Mr. Bhalke was taking pictures of all the classes. 

I met every class and shared the chocolates with every child. I also shared chocolates with the teachers. Here is a slide show of me with the children sharing the chocolates. The children were elated. Some had not had a Dairy Milk ever in their lives so were asking their friends how to open it and eat it. Some wanted to take it home as they wanted to share it with their siblings. I have consistently seen the people who have very little sharing more than the people who have everything. I wonder why people who have more than what they need stop sharing? Is it why they have more than what they need? 

After the chocolates, it was time for some questions. I asked some of the students to tell me what they had learnt. Two very bright girls from the Marathi section started rapidly firing away the 2, 3 and 4 times multiplication tables. Then a couple of children recited some poems in both English and Hindi. Some taught me the English alphabet while some girls wanted me to learn numerals. I could see that the teachers were slightly nervous so I did not ask the children tough questions. The way they were reciting the poems was very endearing. I have tried to capture it in some of these videos.   I started my career as a teacher and every time I get an opportunity, I seize it. I chose the 2^nd standard class and started teaching them addition and subtraction. They had been recently introduced to the concept of addition so were a little confused when I talked to them about subtraction. But I used common, daily life examples like mangoes, eggs, and they immediately understood. They solved all the problems I gave them; simple problems but effective as they understood them immediately. I love it when children understand and grasp concepts quickly. It gives me immense satisfaction as a teacher.    It was time for the children to leave. I was informed that their bus would be coming any time now. We thought that this was a good time to take some group photos with all the classes. So we assembled all the children outside and I took some pictures with them. It was quite sunny so we had to assemble all of them quickly and take the photographs and send them back to their classes so that the next batch could come out. Some of them were so tiny; their hands were as small as my palm. I sat as close to them as possible and asked Mr. Bhalke to take some snaps. Here are some of the moments we could capture. 

By the time we finished the group photographs the bus had arrived. We started helping the children get on to the bus. One tiny one was so enthusiastic about going home that he started running, fell, got hurt and naturally started crying. I and another teacher rushed to help him and tried to pacify him. His knees had got badly scrapped. I helped some very small kids into the bus and waved them goodbye. The children were continuously waving at me while the bus was leaving. Mr. Bhalke managed to click some good pictures with his mobile. 

After the children left, I along with Mr. Bhalke sat with the teachers and had some refreshments. This was the time for us to discuss the challenges that we had faced during this academic year. We were falling short of almost 10k every month and this was affecting their salaries. Mr. Bhalke was managing somehow but the deficit had grown to 97k. But luckily, by the time I was having this chat with them, only 32k out of the total deficit was remaining. I explained to them why this problem was happening. One of our chief donors had pulled out last year and thus, we had been struggling. 

I was slightly ashamed, as I had not done my karma well. But I let go of it as quickly as water droplets fall of the skin of a swan. I had to look ahead and complete the deficit of the balance 32k.  I returned to Mr. Bhalke’s house and had a nice lunch of jowar bhakri and jhunka. Jhunka and bhakri (made of different grains) is a representative dish of Maharashtra. The very poor make this regularly as they may not even have the money to buy vegetables. So they get besan and make jhunka while the bhakri (roti) is made of the grains they may grow in their fields. A typical accompaniment is green chilies and cut onions. I was served this perfect combination. 

After such a heavy and fulfilling (fully filing, pun intended!) lunch, I just had to snooze. One of the blessings that the Almighty has bestowed upon me is the ability to go into standby mode like a laptop anywhere, anytime. I invoked the sleep sub-routine and sitting on the sofa itself snoozed for an hour. By the time I woke up, it was time to leave. I had to catch my train from Pune station. Mr. Bhalke dropped me on his bike and I got to my train well before time. 

My return ticket was in normal 2^nd class but fortunately my seat was confirmed. It was a window seat and in the direction of the train! What else could I ask for? I bought myself an India Today and settled down. There was chaos all around me. People had occupied the seats of reserved passengers. One family had come with a suitcase that could carry a human being in it. The husband was unsuccessfully trying to push it below the seat as he realised that it could not be kept on the overhead shelf as if it falls, the person below could be crushed to death or the shelf itself might break. His wife was forced to sit beside me and was not very comfortable, apparently with my manliness, so they shifted to the opposite side and exchanged their seats with another couple that had two children. The husband sat beside me while the wife sat at the end. Both the children were continuously whining and beating the mother. 

The journey was mostly uneventful except that there was chaos all over. People were standing between seats, pushing, fighting for place, children were crying, college students were talking, while some women were discussing tur dal. I was like a silent tree in the midst of rain, thunderstorms and a tornado, unaffected by all this but silently observing everything. My daughter came to pick me up at Thane station. Incidentally, she had also dropped me in the morning at around 6:30 am. I shared the entire day with her. She was happy and told me that how she and her friends are planning to go and spend a few days at the school teaching the children. I reached home by 10 pm. 

I shared the photographs of the day with many of my friends including an elderly colleague of mine through WhatsApp. The gentleman had recently retired in one of our customer locations, and had expressed his desire to do something for the service of mankind, and thus was quite interested in what we had been doing. After seeing the pictures, he remarked and I quote, “Frankly, I feel jealous of you. I am yet to meet a person richer than you. May God continue showering His blessings on you.” I did not know how to respond. I was speechless. I typed a reply of gratitude to him. I just could not say anything. But, later I reflected on the events of the day and truly realised how fortunate and blessed I was and I profusely thanked Him and quickly snuggled into the arms of my beloved, sleep. 

P.S. By the time this article was written, the entire deficit of 97k had been covered. Many friends helped us who would like to remain anonymous. I thank you all! 

I had booked my tickets on the Indrayani Express both ways. I didn't want to drive. Boarded the train at Thane and promptly went of to sleep. My mom had packed some dosas for me. Woke up, had them and slept again. Reached Pune by 9 am. Mr. Bhalke had come to pick me up from the station. 

In my post of 24th Jan 2014, I had written about how the children were preparing for their Annual Day. We were supposed to celebrate the Annual Day on the 26th Jan but couldn't as we did not get a proper ground or hall. The next date proposed was the 7th of February. 

A couple of my friends wanted to come and visit the school. We juggled the dates and decided on the 8th of July. School had already started a few weeks back. We had managed to ship the notebooks, pencils and erasers through courier.

We had successfully been able to collect money for the economically challenged children of both the English and Marathi mediums. We also got the funds for the water connection. A kind donor had agreed to take care of the school bus every month. The only thing remaining was the salaries of the teachers for which we are still falling short by around Rs. 9,000 per month.

I spoke to Sunil Bhalke and he wanted us to be there on the 8th so that we could distribute all the books, pencils, erasers and the other stuff to the economically challenged students and all the other students. I wrote to all the donors so that they could accompany me. Three replied. Two could not make it and one, who stays in Pune, agreed to come along.
I woke up at 4:30 am and left by 5:30, picked up the donor, Ms. Suchitra Shettigar in Pune and reached the school by 10 am. The trip on the Expressway was very picturesque. Everything was green. I have tried to capture some moments. At one point before Lonavala, I passed through a cloud which had decided to grace the Expressway.

I was supposed to reach the school by 9 am. Traffic at the Katraj naka and a politician's convoy delayed the entire thing by an hour. To add to my woes, the road resembled the surface of the moon. The moment I reached the school, I saw the children sitting on the ground waiting for us. I felt guilty. I immediately asked Mr. Bhalke, how long they had been outside. He said for the last 10-15 minutes. I felt a little better.

A small table had been placed in front of the children and a few chairs for all of us. On one chair was the photograph of Goddess Saraswati with all the paraphernalia for the puja. I was requested to initiate the puja with the lighting of the lamp, incense sticks and breaking of the coconut. Everybody else followed. Once we had invoked the blessings of the Goddess of Knowledge, the Principal of the school initiated the programme.

She first asked Mr. Bhalke to speak a few words, followed by Mr. Suresh Jagade (Trustee), Mr. Kiran Yepre (grandson of Ramchandra Yepre) and yours truly. I began my speech by apologising to the children for arriving late. Fortunately, I was forgiven. I asked them to thank Mr. Bhalke, Mr. Yepre and most importantly, their teachers. I requested them not to trouble the teachers and listen to them as much as possible. We all had a round of applause for the selfless work of the teachers.

It was now time for the distribution of the goodies. We started with the 20 children who are economically challenged, then followed it by all the other students (starting from playgroup to the 4th grade). Ms. Shettigar had got some chocolates for the children which she started distributing simultaneously. By the time we finished, it was 11 am.
We rested for a while and I told Mr. Bhalke that I wanted to spend some time with the children. While we were resting and talking, the school went into recess and all the children started playing outside. I have captured a very interesting video of these moments.

After our rest and some refreshments, I took up a class of 3rd and 4th standard students and taught them some mathematics. Ms. Shettigar spent some time with the 2nd grade students. She also took them out and played some games. I almost spent two hours teaching them some 'fundas' and expansion of numbers. Though the syllabus was for the 4th graders, even the 3rd graders understood and after some time started participating. It was one of the most satisfying two hours of my life.

At precisely 1 pm, the bell was sounded and all the children started rushing outside. The school bus had already arrived and slowly, the bus owner/driver started helping all the children get in. I have captured a video of these moments.

The children I taught became my friends and were waving out to me continuously from the bus.
It was time to leave. I said my farewells to the teachers, Mr. Bhalke and left. I dropped Ms. Shettigar near her home on the highway and drove back to Mumbai.

It was raining cats and dogs and occasionally a few cows too. I was ruminating on the satisfaction that I experienced after my class. The bright faces of the students kept coming back to me when they would get an answer right. These children had almost nothing, but they had a lot of enthusiasm and hope in their eyes.

I had an idea! But that is another story...

It is that time of the year again! The monsoon is here, schools have started, new notebooks are being covered in brown paper, textbooks are being sniffed, a brand new school bag, pencil boxes, water bottles, pens, pencils, erasers, sharpeners, new geometry boxes...what excitement! 

I wanted to take my son, Nakshatraa to the Yepre school for a long time now. My daughter, Natasha had visited it a couple of times and knew the struggles and underprivileged nature of the school. This time the Almighty gave me a great opportunity to not only take my son and daughter but also the children (Achal and Aman) of one of my friends who has also been extremely supportive of our endeavour with respect to Yepre.

We had been to Imagica the previous day so were very tired. My dear friends Sreekanth and Rama who stay in Pune were kind enough to give us shelter for a night. The five of us blitzkrieged their home at around 11:30 pm the previous night. My son had already gone off to sleep while we were all having dinner so; we quickly prepared the beds and retired.

We all woke up at around 7:30 am. Got ready and left for the school. It is almost an hour’s drive from Aundh where we were staying. We first reached the place where we used to stay for almost 2 ½ years while we were in Pune. The roads, the restaurants, the shops all brought a sense of nostalgia to our minds (I and Natasha). We first stopped for breakfast. This is where Mr. Sunil Bhalke met us. We had breakfast together. Sunil joined in the cheerful banter of the children.

On our way from the restaurant to the school, I mentioned the real reason as to why I wanted the children to see the school. The first reason was for them to realise how fortunate they were and how many of the unfortunate struggle to study and try to make a living in this world. The second was for them to understand that it was important to give back to society a portion of what you earn as an expression of gratitude of what you have received. The third and most important was to be humbled by the whole experience. To realise how insignificant, how small we all are and how there is so much more to do in a lifetime, especially for others, if we choose to do so.
We reached the school at around 11:30 am. Sunil had called his son, Swapnil, the two principals (Marathi and English mediums) and one teacher. The maid had also come. It was vacation time, so the school was specially opened for us. I expressed my displeasure to Sunil for dragging all the teachers and the staff during vacation. They reassured me that the effort was not significant.

We took a round of the school. I explained to the children about how every classroom is divided into two so that two different standards can study simultaneously, the absence of electricity and water, the plaster on the back of the walls which prevents scorpions and snakes from entering the classrooms and the undeveloped infrastructure of the school.

Finally, I got to see the completed toilets! Three toilets had been constructed for the ladies. The gent’s urinal had been planned on the back portion of the toilets and was still to be constructed. A small staircase had also been constructed in the same budget and a water tank had been installed. There was no water connection right now but that was the next project for us.

The children were very enthusiastic and saw everything. Nakshatraa roamed into all the classrooms and took a round of the entire school while Natasha was busy clicking pictures, documenting our entire trip. Achal and Aman also seemed inspired and interested.

We then assembled in a classroom, had some cold drinks (which had quickly turned warm) to beat the sweltering heat, and discussed the plan for the next year with the teachers and Sunil. I got the budget and the numbers for the economically challenged students and promised to get everything organised before June 2013 when the next academic year would start. This is where I will need your help.

It was time for a group photograph. We left, bidding goodbye to everyone thinking about the disparities of this world. The children were silent for a long time before my daughter broke the silence. She asked, “Appa, can we teach here? We should come here once a month and teach the children about things they do not learn in the normal curriculum.” I smiled and replied, “Of course you can…”

Even if it was miniscule, I was hoping that the trip would have made a difference within the children. I was glad that it had; the seeds of ‘giving’ had been planted in the next generation.