Treating the teeth before the treatment!

Link to all the snaps..

http://www.imagestation.com/album/index.html?id=2100991924

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=dy4523d.bn8k2srp&Uy=96mxnb&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0

Eventually the much awaited event was on the chart and the date was finalized.. It was to be held on 8th October 2006. But I was very skeptical about its success due to a number of reasons like Varun's absence, very short notice, no real preparations. But my worries did not materialize and we all together made it a success.. :)

This was the first time something like this happening in the Borivali chapter of Dream India. We all wanted this to happen as soon as possible especially with the Dengue and other diseases increasing. This was the first step towards the health related events. Arti was co-coordinating with Dr. Tarun Ahuja for arranging this dental camp and finally last week she came up with the date of this Sunday, the 8th of October. I panicked initially as I knew that Varun would be on leave and Abhi and I would not be present on Saturday. I thought there might be a crunch of volunteers. But Aniket, Arti, Sanket, Abhi and I did manage to take it smoothly. We also had Meena, a basti girl who is currently doing her M.Com and also working in computer hardware, supporting us in this cause. She knows the children well and they listen to her.

Parallel to these preparations, were Aniket's cousins preparing for his surprise birthday celebrations on the same day in the DI class. When Shivangi first called me and told be about her plans I was touched by the gesture that they want to celebrate it with kids and that would be their best surprise t0 Aniket. I discussed the same with Varun as was not sure if this is a great idea. Children should not start expecting it on each one's birthday plus we cannot make the classes as a ground for our celebrations. Also, they had their exams on next day so we were indecisive whether to spend so much time on celebrations. But before the dental camp they were hardly going to concentrate on studies and also we thought about the happiness the children would experience and a change before the dental camp. We thus thought of giving this a try.

Party time..

Before Aniket came to class, Shivangi and another cousin came to class with a huge huge cake and more than 50 odd balloons! The children were already excited. They themselves had prepared cards for Aniket. Not just that, but they also had made bouquet and wall hangings and some gifts to present it to Aniket. They sure deserved a party!! We all assembled on the first floor hall and sang for Aniket as he entered the class. This was around 10.30am. All the children were happy to be a part of celebrations. The birthday caps and balloons helped in increasing the celebration mood. Aniket cut the cake and we all sang for him. A few other cousins and friends of Aniket also joined us in the celebrations. Later they distributed cakes, wafers, chocolates, and samosas to the children. Everyone wished him separately and I loved to see the children so happy and enjoying themselves. They fought with each other to select the balloons and caps.

Aniket enjoying his birthday with children..

I always have to shout aloud to keep them quiet and believe me its not an easy task to make everyone sit down in pin drop silence. But this meditation thing has helped a lot. Once we are able to make them close their eyes, they do rest for 5 minutes without any noise. After they were done with having their breakfast of cake and wafers, the children performed some dances, songs, etc. Even Aniket sang a patriotic song 'Ye desh hai veer jawano ka..", after which Geeta told in detail about a mishap that happened in the basti. It seems four girls drowned in an open manhole. One died on the spot, one died on the way to hospital, one is still not found while only one survived. We all kept silence of 1 minute and together sang the song "Itni shakti hame dena daata". It was now about time for the doctor to arrive and so we cleaned up the hall as the children had littered eatables and wrappers around.

Meditation caps on..

Initally we had planned to keep the dental camp in the temple and take the kids in batches of 5. But as the temple was being cleaned up, we arranged for a bench and few chairs in the hall itself. Arundati, Aniket's friend who herself is a dentist was also present on this occasion. She explained them the importance of brushing the teeth, the techniques, the drawbacks, the consequences of not brushing etc. She explained them by means of pictures about the various form of cavities and the different ways to brush. We distributed the xeroxes of these pictures to each one of them. She also examined a few kids' teeth till the time doctor arrived.

Arundati explaining the importance of brushing the teeth..

Arti came with the doctor along with one of his assistants at around 12.40pm. Without wasting anytime, the doctor started examining the children. Arundati wrote down the specific details for each child as described by the doctor on a prescription sheet. This was written in medical terms and so we did not understand a word of it. I kept the chits together along with the individual status report file of the children. In an hour the doctor examined around 30+ children. There were three children with no cavities in their mouths and we all gave them a huge applaud. The doctor later told us that we can bring some kids to his clinic for teeth extraction and clean ups. He will do this free of charge. After examining all the children he left the place. He had brought a set of tooth brush and tooth paste for everyone and while we left the kids for the day we distributed them to each child.

Examination time..


Guru handing the Thank you card..

Tooth-brush tooth paste distribution..

Arundati later explained the meaning of the details she wrote on the sheet. I now know the terminology used for deciduous teeth, permanent teeth, cavities, root canal etc. If you want to know the same, attend the next dental camp ;)

Remembering the Mahatma

Links to the snaps of the event..

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?&mode=fromsite&collid=14405674211.90497594411.1159877478715&conn_speed=1

We had decided about this event even before we took the children for Lage Raho Munnabhai..

1st October was the date chosen, as keeping on THE day i.e. 2nd October was not feasible as the children have their exams from 3rd.

The ones present for the event were Varun, Aniket, Sanket, I, Aniket's cousin, his mom, Sharmeeli, Shirish and Varun's friend (minus Arti and Apeksha). As the temple where we usually hold classes was occupied due to some meeting, the class was held in the hall on first floor of the basti temple. We all assembled there by around 10 am.

This time we started with meditation. We told everyone to close their eyes, keep their hands on their laps and sit still for 5 minutes. The sight was really worth capturing. The ever so restless kids had a calm on their faces and everyone seemed to be in deep thoughts. Surprisingly no one tried to open their eyes in between. Once they were at rest and still we asked them about their experiences and it seems that everyone saw Gandhiji in that short period ;) Ajay even talked to Gandhiji and he said that Gandhiji was praising him for his good deeds and performances in class. Later we tied satin ribbons to each one around their wrists as per the pre-decided groups (Saffron, White and Green). This gave them the team spirit!

Meditation time..

Sanket tying ribbons..


Then wasting no time further, we started with the first event of the day, the group singing competition. Each group came forward and sang a song. All three groups recited it without taking a look into any paper. The songs they chose were ‘Vande Matram’, ‘Insaaf ki dagar pe’ and ‘Saare jahan se accha’. Aniket’s mom rated them on basis of their co-ordination, pitch, posture etc. She then told them what were the strengths and weaknesses of each group. White team (Shubham’s team) won in singing competition.

Saffron team performing the group song..

Whenever the kids started wandering around and the noise level went high in the class, we had the meditation session as fillers in between. They all said that they liked the concept of sitting still with their eyes closed and it gave them mental peace and helped bring nice thoughts in their minds.

After the singing session we started with the elocution. 3 kids from each group came one by one to speak about Gandhiji. The effort they all had put in the preparations was commendable. Everyone spoke in Hindi except for Guruprasad who gave his speech in English. Everyone applauded generously after every speech. They had written around 15-20 lines on Gandhiji. Most of them had similar contents which consisted of details about Gandhiji’s family, his birth and death, his principles, and various freedom movements. Some even managed to goof up to the extent of saying that Rajiv and Indira Gandhi were Gandhiji’s children ;) But the confidence with which they spoke in public and the mere courage to speak in front of so many people without seeing is really something I have to learn from them. They had this feeling of making their mark in class and so even the ones who had not prepared prior to the class came up and spoke of whatever they had grasped from others.

Geeta giving the elocution speech..

Ajay reading from book..


Also the feeling of making their team win by maximum participation was growing in each of them. Shubham Sharma (for his contents), Omprakash (for his body language) and Deepak Maurya (for his pitch and confidence) won the 1st prize from each group in the elocution competition. We gave them certificates for the same. As a team the elocution was won by Green team (Omprakash’s team). Aniket’s mom very well explained them the various points on which they were marked in elocution. She also elaborated on various topics covered by some of the children and what she liked specifically in each of them.

Aunty explaining the kids..


Now was the time for last event i.e. the quiz conducted by Sanket. Before that Varun came up with the idea of letting the kids’ come up and imitate us. Little did he know that he would be the only subject! Everyone enacted the way he says "Shuup" instead of ‘chup’ ;) They also performed some skits and songs. Meanwhile Sharmeeli and I filled names on the certificates. We then started with quiz, in which Sanket asked one question to each team and then passed it to subsequent teams in case the previous team was not able to answer. All the teams did a good job and almost scored equal except for the green team who won by one point. All the children were very happy and we were happy too that the event went so smoothly.

We again made them sit quietly for sometime and then I addressed them on future plans of having the same teams for various activities of the entire month. We then started with the much awaited prize distribution. Aniket’s mom did the honors. We did not give the participation certificates but only the elocution certificates and the best student’s prizes.

Bharti Pal from Group I i.e. Arti and Sanket’s group, Sandeep Rana from Group II i.e. Apeksha and my group, Guruprasad Kahar from Group III i.e. Aniket’s group and Shubham Sharma from Group IV i.e. Varun’s group won the prizes for the best student of the month. Varun had brought the prizes for individual category. Sanket had also brought school bags for all the children. Children were very excited at the thought of getting school bags. Aniket’s mom had brought sweets for the kids and while the children left from the class she distributed them leaving the children with a broad smile on their faces.

Prize distrbution..


We all were satisfied with the success of the event and after the chidlren had left we had a quick meet on the future activities and ideas that can be implemented in the Borivali class. Aniket’s cousin Neha who is doing her M.A. in psychology suggested some self development ideas for children, Varun came up with the idea of going multimedia, Aniket had some ideas on simple science experiments that can be carried out.

I did the handover of my responsibilities to Aniket for the October month as a coordinator for the Borivali classes. Basically handed over the huge bag of so many files which I had to carry every weekend to the class ;)

So that was about the 'Remembering the Gandhi' event organized in the Borivali DI branch.

Jai Hind!
Neha