Kids

Last Sunday was a very sad day for me. I had to say goodbye to the children at the Tejgadh school and it was very difficult. For the past month, the children have been the only thing at work that has been keeping me going. I would always find an excuse to visit the village not only because it absolutely wonderful there, but also because I just love hanging out and playing with the children.

They really are lovely. I've taught them to call me "Jeni Behen," Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, cat's cradle, double-double-this-this, and how to make a dragon with their hands. They've taught me two songs, random Hindi/Gujarati words, and have infinite patience with my poor language skills. In the begining it was really hard to learn all 46 of their names, but I finally did it. I was kind of hurt when they forgot my name, however. I was like dude, I learned 46 names and you can't even tell me and Becka apart? But in the end, they could remember my name and when I'd wake up to the sounds of their voices at 7 in the morning and blindly shuffle my way to the bathroom I could hear multiple voices of "Jeni Behen!"

Of course, I had favorites. Reika was a beautiful girl from the village of Veguma. She knew Hindi the best and would always try to expand my vocabulary by teaching me from her little text books. She was a good, patient teacher. Unfortunately, I was a rubbish student. One night, she saved me a seat at dinner! Do you know what it means when a child saves you a seat at dinner? It means you're AWESOME! Reika thought I was awesome. Alpis was the little musician of the group. He's a fantastic singer and when he's not singing, he's playing some kind of instrument. He reminded me of one of the Dwarves from Snow White because he had a little pug nose. He always called me "madame," which I hated and whenever he found me in the library he would make me read random lines from magazines. "Why are Dalits still such a marginalized group sixty years after independance?" and "The new HP Laser jet printer provides quality prints at a reasonable price." Pintu is my boy and he always will be. He's very smart and very cheeky. He'd steal my water bottle and speak to imaginary people on my cell phone. We'd go and take walks together and he'd be my little koala bear, climbing up trees and hugging the tree trunks. He's the one who picked up cat's cradle the fastest and always corrected my Hindi. When I was about to leave and he grabbed my hand and told me not to go, he just broke my heart.

I have so many wonderful memories with these kids. They're so sweet and happy. Yes, they had their childish squabbles and occaissionally there'd be tears, but for the most part they would giggle, share, and hug one another. I will miss their drumming, dancing and singing. I will miss their simplicity and their sweetness. There was never a dull moment with them. They were just beautiful.

Dhungari mandir taru. Hanuman Ji
Dhungari mandir taru. Hanuman Ji...