Friday, June 30, 2006

Welcome Party at Govt. School N.B.T. Nagar

Date: 30th JUNE 2007
Attendees: Uday, Tanvi, Surya, Ramesh, Jeevan, Madhura.

After a long wait, the new school building which was constructed atN.B.T Nagar was finally inaugurated and the kids were shifted intothe new premises. We had scheduled for a welcome party for the kidsthere, before the commencement of their new academic sessions inorder to encourage and counsel them and also to create a good rapportwith their teachers. This event was initially scheduled on 23rd Junebut due to bad weather then, we had to postpone it to 30th June.Nevertheless we still had a rocking welcome party!!!

It was almost 11.00 am by the time all the volunteers arrived and weall assembled in the office room of the school. Here we had abrainstorming session with the teachers. We discussed various issueslike the availability of books and resources for the kids and the newmaterial that they had received which would make teaching moreinnovative and interactive. The teachers there were very verysupportive, not only did they enlighten us on these issues but theytook pain to show us all the available material and also answered allours queries with great patience.

After this we all sat down to plan a rough academic schedule for 1month for the kids in English, Math and Telugu; right from alphabetsand numbers in order to brush up the kids with their basics.Meanwhile the kids underwent a counseling session from Surya where heencouraged and motivated the kids to study , simultaneouslyreprimanding them for not working hard and finally he took a promisefrom everyone that from now on they would work hard and performexceptionally well in their exams.

It was almost 12.30 by then and while the kids left to have theirlunch, we made arrangements so that on their return they couldparticipate in the games we had planned for them. We first dividedthe kids into 2 groups based on the classes they belonged to. Theyounger ones (classes 1st and 2nd) were made to play a tumbler game,similar to Bowling where the pins were replaced by the plastictumblers , while the older ones were made to play Doggy Tail(”tookaaata” as the kids called it in Telugu) where they had to draw thetail to the Dog drawn on the Board. The kids were very energetic andenthusiastically took active part in the games. There was chaos attimes since everyone wanted their turn first; and in order tomaintain certain order we had to use lot of lung power…thankfully wemanaged to get things under control with all kids getting their turnand we completed the session successfully..

Then the winners were declared and the prizes were given out. Somekids were disappointed on having not won, and we had to console themand advised them not to get disheartened as it was only a game. Suchactivity sessions are necessary in order to inculcate in kids ahealthy competitive spirit and would also help them in acceptingdefeat in a more sportive manner. At the end we had a singing sessiontoo, where few kids came forward and exhibited their vocal talent,and they were well versed to all the latest tunes much to ourastonishment
Finally we distributed chocolates to all the kids and wrapped up forthe day. We all said our goodbyes and left feeling very Satisfied,Happy and Yup… Exhausted too….:)

Documented by ~Tanvi.

Monday, June 26, 2006

SIDUR meet…



“The hardest job kid’s face today is learning good manners without seeing any.”——–Fred Astaire.

Date : 26th June, 2006

Place: SIDUR , Malakpet, Hyderabad.

Team Pankhudi : 12-15 members

This week’s meet was at SIDUR as planned earlier…As we found out, SIDUR means “Society for the Integrated Development in Urban and Rural areas”.Some of us were there last week too. And we already developed some rapport with the kids to facilitate things. .Some 15 of our volunteers assembled there around 1 pm.

After the initial ice-breaking, it was some gossip and then we insisted the kids have their lunch as it was already half past one. The lunch was sponsored by ~Pankhudi. Being PACCA HYDERABADIES, we got them BIRYANI from the most famous hangout for Biryani in Hyderabad viz., BAWARCHI…. The kids enjoyed the lunch as it was an off-routine Menu.
Then these guys were injected with high levels of energy, post lunch… so we thought we could start off with our REAL (read Academic) interaction….We had given them some books last week. So we asked them if they were of help and were they practicing anything from those. Very reluctantly and with all artificiality, they replied and thanked us ;-) . And we asked them if they would love to be taught lessons by us.. Some of them were tight lipped while others were brave enough to show us the door . Smart enough to understand their gesture, we dropped the plan of Academics on a Sunday…..

So we decided to play Dumb Charades and the kids were DEFINITELY ready for it…We joined them and divided ourselves into two groups… Briefed them abt the rules and the kids were too sharp and didn’t need much explanation… But it was needed for some of our volunteers I guess … We played for around an hour ….and as it was already guessed before the start of the the game, the most powerful team won as I was part of it.….and the others could do nothing (inspite of cheating many times), but applaud…..Iit was pretty interesting and all of us had great fun….
Then we moved to Talent hunt….as u could see in the previously posted pics, SIDUR has some real good dancers and we didn’t want to miss out on them….so we did some DJ’ing and the kids danced to our numbers ….whats noteworthy is that some of the very shy kids came out to dance today, in contrast to their last weeks performances….and that was what we were looking for….
Next we had our Kodak Moments session with some 6 odd cameras clicking around (like on the Cannes RedCarpet)…..we along with the kids posed for the cameras in various angles and moods…..this is clearly visible by the pics posted on Pankhudi web …..this session lasted for some half an hour with some masti with the kids ….some of them even tried their hand at circus feats, no matter they succeded or otherwise…:-D

Then we decided to wind up the session…..the co-ordinator informed that they would be moving to a new home the month end and welcomed us there as soon as they move in….we promised to visit them with a House Warming session……One thing noticible is that…..In course of our association with Krushi, they were gifted with a vast new campus with all facilities…. and now, its SIDUR’s turn… even they were blessed with a new ,bigger,bettter home …. Three Cheers …HIP

HIP HURRAY !!!

SIDUR meet…



“The hardest job kid’s face today is learning good manners without seeing any.”——–Fred Astaire.

Date : 26th June, 2006

Place: SIDUR , Malakpet, Hyderabad.

Team Pankhudi : 12-15 members

This week’s meet was at SIDUR as planned earlier…As we found out, SIDUR means “Society for the Integrated Development in Urban and Rural areas”.Some of us were there last week too. And we already developed some rapport with the kids to facilitate things. .Some 15 of our volunteers assembled there around 1 pm.

After the initial ice-breaking, it was some gossip and then we insisted the kids have their lunch as it was already half past one. The lunch was sponsored by ~Pankhudi. Being PACCA HYDERABADIES, we got them BIRYANI from the most famous hangout for Biryani in Hyderabad viz., BAWARCHI…. The kids enjoyed the lunch as it was an off-routine Menu.
Then these guys were injected with high levels of energy, post lunch… so we thought we could start off with our REAL (read Academic) interaction….We had given them some books last week. So we asked them if they were of help and were they practicing anything from those. Very reluctantly and with all artificiality, they replied and thanked us ;-) . And we asked them if they would love to be taught lessons by us.. Some of them were tight lipped while others were brave enough to show us the door . Smart enough to understand their gesture, we dropped the plan of Academics on a Sunday…..

So we decided to play Dumb Charades and the kids were DEFINITELY ready for it…We joined them and divided ourselves into two groups… Briefed them abt the rules and the kids were too sharp and didn’t need much explanation… But it was needed for some of our volunteers I guess … We played for around an hour ….and as it was already guessed before the start of the the game, the most powerful team won as I was part of it.….and the others could do nothing (inspite of cheating many times), but applaud…..Iit was pretty interesting and all of us had great fun….
Then we moved to Talent hunt….as u could see in the previously posted pics, SIDUR has some real good dancers and we didn’t want to miss out on them….so we did some DJ’ing and the kids danced to our numbers ….whats noteworthy is that some of the very shy kids came out to dance today, in contrast to their last weeks performances….and that was what we were looking for….
Next we had our Kodak Moments session with some 6 odd cameras clicking around (like on the Cannes RedCarpet)…..we along with the kids posed for the cameras in various angles and moods…..this is clearly visible by the pics posted on Pankhudi web …..this session lasted for some half an hour with some masti with the kids ….some of them even tried their hand at circus feats, no matter they succeded or otherwise…:-D

Then we decided to wind up the session…..the co-ordinator informed that they would be moving to a new home the month end and welcomed us there as soon as they move in….we promised to visit them with a House Warming session……One thing noticible is that…..In course of our association with Krushi, they were gifted with a vast new campus with all facilities…. and now, its SIDUR’s turn… even they were blessed with a new ,bigger,bettter home …. Three Cheers …HIP

HIP HURRAY !!!