03/11/09: Shrikant. Dropped Raj and Vijay. Need to take their parents along, while dropping them to school. Putting them into school is very crucial now, since we have admitted them through a special letter by SSA and special permission by Hermann. At least literacy IS important!

12/10/09: No class. Family engagements.

14/10/09: No Shrikant. I'm not supposed to go alone!

15/10/09: My exam. No class.

Diwali vacation!

23/10/09: Shrikant alone! Without telling me! x-( And I kept thinking that I should not wake him up since he was working till midnight the previous day!!

24/10/09: Krunal. Sham, Sheetal, Sarika. Sheetal + Sarika = secret discussions. Sham got bored. Ajay came and went. He's busy today. His sister's going back to her in laws.

25/10/09: No class. Office office.


Long vacation. Sad things around.

13/10/09: Election day! No class in the morning. Rain.

Class from 6pm to 7pm. Guess where?! BC badi court!! Finally! Ajay, Sarika, Sheetal, Karishma, Vidya, all are present! Sarika played well. And Ajay, of course. Sheetal and Karishma were at their best misbehaviour! Vidya, as usual, got an inferiority complex, since she couldn't play as nicely as others. Encouraged her max.
As a by product of this class, Shrikant too, revised his game. :)

10/10/09: Krunal and Shrikant and Nivedita. In short, all except me. :-( I have exams. So this class is a reproduction of the details provided by Krunal, which I have nicely forgotten by 'now'.

Kids were busy exploring Nivedita and Krunal's cellphones. Karishma called me. Ajay called up his sister and actually had a talk. She's to come home for Diwali! Karishma also called up some unknown number and was talking arbit things for quite some time. Shady.

Ajay's going to go to 'work'. Where his elder brother works. A mobile shop in front of Dagadu Sheth Ganapati temple.

Shrikant dropped Raj to school and joined all at BC later. Vijay not well.


P.S.: I joined Krunal at Eklavya in the afternoon, after my exam. Interesting visit! Thoroughly enjoyed with the kids!


11/10/09: Sunday. Krunal alone. So this class is again a reproduction of what Krunal told me later, coupled with my brain's capacity to forget.

Sambhaji Park, as promised. They wanted to eat something on their way back, but at nice good looking hotels... :) So all had breakfast (= misalpaav, :-)) at some hotel on J. M. road. Krunal had a tough time trying to refrain kids from washing hands in plates and from throwing tissue papers around!

Then, while walking back (no auto due to the new one-way system), Krunal took them to the ATM! They were so excited to see a machine throw up those paper pieces which mean most to the whole of mankind! He let them operate it too. I like it when they are exposed to new technology. Then they all wanted Krunal's ATM card so that they could have all the money they wanted! He, obviously, explained the impossibility of the situation! :)

And finally, he got them back to Patil Estate on foot! B-)

09/10/09: I have exams. So I'm supposed to be studying. (Off the records, I kept thinking of kids all morning...) Shrikant went alone. Dropped Vijay to school. Also took his mother along. Good. They must start dropping the kids to school themselves someday. Raj's got fever, he didn't go to school. :-|

Guess what! The teacher at Bharat school told Shrikant to let the kids come with me only, so that they don't cry! B-) :')

No class today. Intermittent long vacations have hampered the system and plans of this class greatly. We hope for something good... Let's see.

08/10/09: Dropped Raj and Vijay. They were not ready. Vijay woke up early and ran away! After the usual running around, we reached Bharat school by 7:34am! Thanks to the teachers who let the kids come late!

Time for the class is being used up in this Raj-Vijay drama these days. But that's OK. Karishma-Sheetal-Ajay-Sarika-Vidya drama is a lifelong process anyway! Raj-Vijay drama may have an end if they get used to Bharat school in a couple of weeks and start going there all by themselves, just like Rohit-Nilesh...

Sarika and Karishma decided not to come! I hope tomorrow they decide otherwise. Vikas joined in. Ajay asked me, "Didii, remember those rackets and shuttlecocks which you were supposed to bring for us? Are those inside your bag??" :D This guy is awesome!! Will play badi with them all on Saturday...

Had pohaa at BC canteen and left, since there was hardly any time... Sham's younger brother Nilesh came in while we were at BC, all alone. We discouraged him from doing so next time.

07/10/09: I'm late. Poor Raj and Vijay had to face Shrikant first... :D Dropped them to school. Then BC as usual. Let's note some things about amazing Ajay, sweet Vidya and worry-inspiring Karishma and Sheetal.

Ajay rocks! He acts so well! He's got such vivid imagination! Sharp eyesight to spot all the curious things around! He's smart and practically intelligent. And such an athlete! He's excellent at whatever he does! And he's always so happy, so satisfied with whatever comes his way! NEVER cribs about anything... Such a lively, fun loving kid! You'd burst out laughing every now and then if he's around... He rarely demands anything. Even if he does, it's with such natural ease, that you're already allowed to fail to satisfy his demands... If I owned a school, I'd pay donations to get him admitted in my school!

Vidya. Good girl. Quiet. Not interested in the shady talks of Sheetal and Karishma. Stays away from them. Likes to stay with Shaam and hear everything that the clever boy has to say. Sweet girl.

Sheetal and Karishma most of the times pair up and sit aside and talk! About boys!! With excited voices and appropriate songs by Sheetal in between (e.g.: "Main raajaa tuu raanii..."). Very disturbing. In Sheetal's absence, K is normal. But when Sheetal's there, the topics always revolve around what some boy told her, then what happened, then how she responded, then a few details of the boy's family, then some excited reactions, then songs! Sheetal's too grown up. K too, is. But K is mostly under control. Bhushan Sir was telling me about a group which works specifically for girls of this age... Need to find out soon. Good luck to us. And a bright future to K and Sheetal.

05/10/09: Shrikant's here! Like the good old days! And what scene by Raj!!! Can you believe it!! He jumped and pushed and pulled and kicked and twisted and ran and screamed and cried and hooooffff!!! Vijay was walking silently. All junta watched Raj's resistance... We were all soft and cool with him. Just told him once that nothing's going to work and you'll be put in school anyway. We literally picked him up and took him to my vehicle. He cooled down a little and I whizzed off. Dropped both to school. Raj was standing at the entrance of the classroom untill I left!

I know that I am not completely convinced over making kids go to school, may it be little ones like Raj or big ones like Karishma. All I believe in, is that they do better things at school than at home.

Anyway. Class time now. Kabaddii at BC with n junta! Shaam, Nilesh and Vikas joined in with Karishma, Sheetal, Sarika, Vidya and Ajay. Played only for 17 minutes and off we went!

06/10/09: With Shrikant. Dropped kids to school first. Their parents told me that they are OK with Didii (that's me) but they cry if they see Shrikant. (Shrikant has always shown deepest interest in inculcating fear in the minds of Patil Estate-ians! :D) Kept him away from the kids. And, to our surprise, both the kids came with me after showing only 1.00009% resistance!

The post-monsoon monsoon hit Wakdewadi upon my return from Bharat school. Shrikant was half way through with getting-kids-ready-for-the-class process. We had to cancel all plans due to heavy downpour. Class cancelled! Kids happy!! :')

03/10/09: Saturday. Krunal's here. Woke up Raj and Vijay first. These are two of the four 1st std kids, enrolled at Hermann Center and hence at Bharat English School this year and who have been bunking school since long. School and Hermann authorities expressed concern and thus we start this wake-up-send-to-school mission yet again... Both cried first. Their guardians hit them physically and linguistically, just to make a show of their non-existing educational concerns for their children in front of me and Krunal. And thus we left the slum with two sad little kids... They cheered up after having chocolates from Krunal! We dropped them to school, which happens to be just across Shivajinagar station and came back to our weekend home. :')

Karishma's mom finally accepted that the massage thing doesn't work and her hand pains tremendously. Urged her to think of an alternative AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Tried our best to prod her. Told her that money isn't an issue. Rest is upto her. I feel helpless.

Sheetal's all bathed and ready! Her kaakuu said that they're all going to visit her maternal grandma, since she's not well. Sheetal, the famously adamant and arrogant girl, lives with her paternal grandma. Her father expired long long ago and her mom went back to her native place soon after. Anyway. They always have such stories attached to them.

Vidya's got morning school today. Vidya- the only one who's kept attending school consistently... Guess she just needed that little push from us. Great. Sarika used to go with her but stopped eventually.

So, finally, it's Karishma, Sarika and Ajay. We just sat at BC and chatted for a while. Upon K's inquiry, S disclosed that she has finally left school forever, for the good of it! They're very much excited at the thought of working; as a house help. They very much want to, but people aren't ready to take them yet, due to their small age; they said. I tried to take this thread further, trying to explain child labour laws and the need for kids of their age to study and play and enjoy life, than to go to work. Response- "No matter what, we'd NEVER go to school!"... Huh. Told them that if they cannot read and understand, anyone can ask them to sign on any document and they'd be fooled easily. No use.

Asked Karishma about her father. She said that he has now started going to work (waste seggregation) but comes back home late and drunk. Terribly drunk. Everytime. We thought we saw remarkable improvements in him after the fracture incident, since he had started working. But no. K's father has not grown up yet.

S's family- One big brother. Who is actually employed in some office currently. He's one of those guys one meets outside Shivajinagar station who keep selling aloud various travel packages... E.g.- "Bolaa Nashik Nashik Nashiiiiik ..."
Her mom goes to the same place to collect waste paper+plastic. Her dad does the same (waste segregation), but somewhere near Mariaaii gate. 2 sisters. Elder ones. They too go to work, as house maids, early in the morning, and hence are never seen in the house.

The watchman at BC chatted with Ajay for a while. Ajay didn't bother to reply.

Played suurpaatyaa. Asim joined in. Left after some time.


04/10/09: I'm unwell, by order. !!

11/09/09: Krunal's here. Along with Sheetal, Ajay and Vidya. Shrikant joined in later, for a few minutes. Junta were so happy to see him!
Played a very interesting girls' game at BC. Tipriipaanii. It's like a video typical cellphone game which has difficulty levels and one has to win and move ahead level by level, earning the rewards... Shrikant! Sarika and Karishma didn't come. They were busy with their families, collecting cooking oil spilled over a road nearby. :-/

Ajay, an expert of all games, was busy teasing Vidya creatively. Poor girl couldn't cross the first level for a long long time...

Ajay and Vidya were discussing strategies to hit each other on the way back. Very violent imagination at times!

Her unsuccessful attempts, plus Ajay's teasing resulted into her getting totally irritated in the end. She refused to come the next morning. Sheetal too, refused, since it's her basic attitude to refuse! Requested and urged them to come the next morning, since I'd be getting rackets and shuttlecocks for a game of badminton... To this, Vidya said that anyway it'd be Ajay who'll succeed in any game, so forget it! Well, she's got a complex! Told her that I'd teach her properly and then there'll be no stopping her!

This day is the darkest day of my life.

Vacation continued due to various issues on home+office front...

29/08/09: No morning class. But met all the kids when we went to Patil Estate for weekend class. Ganapati time. Karishma took me to her place to show me the Gauri decorations! And so well kept and well decorated and huge it was! It occupied half of her house! She and her mom invited me so many times! Went inside, did the poojaa, and tried eating only half of the prasaad- which happened to be a huge bundii-ladduu...
Extraordinary happenings include: Karishma's mom and family have found some person at Chandni Chowk, very famous for his massage techniques. Only 50 rupees per visit and she said her hand was feeling better already, just after 2-3 visits. Currently, her hand was placed between two wooden strips, tied with a piece of blue cloth. !!! I GAVE UP!! Told her that no massage can join a broken bone. No use. She showed me how she was able to move her hand around, which she couldn't at all do earlier. Me and Shrikant decided to visit this Chandni Chowk guy in person someday.

04/09/09: One class by Shrikant. I have no idea what happened here. Except for the fact that kids inquired about me! :')

06/09/09: Krunal came! It's always so peaceful to have him around...

All were at BC. Played a lot. These kids are such keen observers! Since when I lost my wallet at Shanivarwada, I've become more carefull with my bag. And today Karishma said, "Look at Didii!! Always so possessive about her bag!"  Hmmm... Point noted, Karishma madam!

Then there was a surprise! Zarna came! This lady is a quietly creative creature... She had glue, coloured paper, scissors, etc in her bag. But kids had a surprise for us too. They were NOT interested! :D We then pretended to be busy with all the material, ignoring them completely. And slowly, one by one, they joined us and made interesting pieces shown by Zarna and Krunal. I, obviously, joined the kids, not the teachers. :)

Had a tough time with Sarika yet again. Dunno why my patience ends earlier with her. :-( She never liked me, I believe. I was decorating a piece carefully and she wanted it before being decorated and I wanted to decorate it and then present it to her! Duh! Finally when I was done, and I gave it to her, she was not a bit interested, neither in me, nor in the craft. I need to grow up, it seems.

Long vacation due to swine flu. Date structure of the diary changes hereafter, since it does not make any sense to count so many holidays.

08/08/09: No regular class. Combined Rakshabandhan celebration of 2 batches- 'Diary' batch + 'ClassesInBrief' batch. Combined them on purpose, since the 'ClassesInBrief' batch looks down upon these 'Diary' kids. And they did show it yet again! They were very irritated to see Karishma, Sarika, Sheetal, Ajay and Vidya enter their classroom that day. So much so that they actually got up to leave. 'Diary' kids were standing in one corner, watching all this. They were little annoyed, but tried to make them stay. I simply and strongly told the weekend batch kids that whatever they're doing is WRONG and hence they should immediately stoop doing it.

Fianally started tying raakhiis. All girls wanted to tie raakhii to "Shrikhanda - mann thanda" aka Shrikant! Ajay seemed little overwhelmed upon seeing me tie a raakhii to him. All had dhaarwaadii pedhaas from Chitale later, and then they left, making space for our regular weekend class.

One notable thing: Karishma wrote something again! She wrote "I hate you" on a piece of paper for her dear Shrikant bhaiyyaa! Good enough! She does find us worthy of writing something about! (This piece of paper has been safely archived by me. :'))

This very same day, in the morning, when Shrikant and Nivedita generally visited Patil Estate, Karishma told them that she wants to go to a boarding school! Then she said she wanted to attend Hermann Center classes that day!! Too many sweet surprises for us within a day!!! Shrikant immediately called me to give me the news and I rushed to the scene, overjoyed! But, by the time I reached, they had made a trip to Hermann Center, Karishma taken an about turn from the entrance of the center and they were all back to Patil Estate! :D

18/08/09: The runaway fracture...

She ran away! Auntie ran away! Karishma's mom ran away! From Sassoon! The very next day of her admission! As expected! With an expressive story of the happenings there...

She's awfully scared of hospitals in the first place. Swine flu was causing 2-3 deaths per day. She got all the more scared. She was asked to stay for a couple of weeks. Only then she'd be operated, they told her. A lady on a nearby bed said she's been there for the past 3 months. K's mom, being the sole earner of the family, cannot afford to be idle for so many days. Moreover, in spite of the MLCs, the free treatment assurances, etc these guys were made to pay some 250-300 rupees for some tests which do not fall under the free departments! They were asked to bring in some material and tablets on their own too!!

Amazing loopholes! Amazing bypasses! Amazing non-efficiency! Learnt A LOT MORE about the system today.

Poor mother still remains untreated. Plans of getting her operated from Sancheti are in place. Financial assistance required. She herself went and asked one self help group! Even we can help her financially.

One good thing: Her husband's become quite concerned of the proceedings. At least he shows to be. Hope he is.

Day-32: No class.

Day-33: No class.

Day-34: A great day at Sassoon! (Sorry Shrikant, very sorry!)
Finally got the lady admitted!! She'll be operated upon, soon! And she'll be safe!! And everything's free. F R E E.

Learnt a lot about THE SYSTEM. Learnt a lot about Karishma, her mom, her dad, her auntie, their financial situation, doctors, nurses, workers, police, MLC (a no-objection certificate granted by the police which is necessary if you wish to avail free treatment), paperwork, etc etc etc ...

Awe inspiring Sassoon!

The MLC is actually a document in which the patient agrees, in front of a policeman, that he/she has no complaints against anyone about his/her injury and that the injury is purely accidental.

Our man in the picture, that's K's dad, who smelled of alcohol, was literally shivering while he handed over the paper to the police officer at Sassoon, and assured that the lady has no complaints against anyone and that the fracture was caused when the lady fell off a staircase. Only I know how I stopped myself from screaming out the truth! *@#**%*@#**!!!
I hope our man learns a lesson here.

Day-31: No class. Had decided to take Karishma's mom to Sassoon at 8am. It's been almost 2 weeks now and she's not done anything yet... Had to take some of her elder family member along, to do the paperwork at Sassoon.

Karishma's mom has 4 daughters and 2 sons. 3 are married- 2 at Patil Estate and 1 at Borivali. Both sons are younger to Karishma and go to school regularly. One of them attends Akanksha as well! Karishma's father's at Borivali today. Will be coming back in the evening.

The lady looked hesitant. Her son-in-law also entered the conversation. He tried convincing her to go with us. He was ready to send some of their family member along. She said that she'd go with her husband once he's back. Her son-in-law laughed at this and told us how useless her husband is. He even scolded her for having been so good to him. He told her to teach him a lesson this way- first save some money, then don't make food at home for some days, your kids and you can eat outside with the money saved, and the father will finally realise something if he doesn't get anything to eat. Anyway, she still asked us to take her husband along with her to Sassoon.

She and her son-in-law explained why Sassoon has a bad reputation at Patil Estate. 3 deaths from Patil Estate have occured at Sassoon, due to mistakes on Sassoon's part, they said. One of the 3 deaths being that of Karishma's mom's father! Asked her to go to some other hospital then. To this, the duo agreed that Sassoon is the only option. They also agreed that in spite of all these incidences, Sassoon is having great doctors, etc... We insisted that we'd go there only if they wished to. The lady herself agreed to go, on Monday, along with her husband. We ended the discussion and were leaving.

Karishma's mom and Karishma joined us on our way back to our vehicle. It is here that the lady disclosed the secret. She never fell off the staicase. Her husband hit her. So badly that a bone would break wide apart??!!! “Baambuuch ghaatlaan baapaanii!” Karishma added, with a smile. (She said that she was going to tell the truth to us long back, but her mom stopped her.) They seem to think there's something funny in it; do they???!!

The lady insisted upon taking her husband along because she wanted him to take some rounds of the hospital, so that even he understands how much work and money and time and efforts are needed for the entire healing process. That is why she has not yet been to the hospital. She wants him to come along and realise.

After few minutes, she asked us to leave, otherwise we'd be late for office.

Shrikant would be better able to explain my state of mind.

Day-27: No class.

Day-28: At BC. Kids got up late... Reached BC by 7:40am... There was hardly any time left as me and Shrikant had to rush to office in some time... Played for a while. Shaam and Ajay were not at all interested!

Krunal called up! He received all the letters. Kids talked to him for so long!! Karishma told him to get married before he gets any older!! Sheetal went on talking talking talking talking...

Karishma asked/told (:-)) us to take her mom to Sassoon the next day. Nice to know!

Day-29: No class! My mom's unwell. So I'm playing home-home. Shrikant's playing office-office, leaving office in the midnight and entering office early morning (after all, one has to pay the price of overloading)!

Day-30: Same as above.

Snake Park! Finally!

Day-26: Katraj. Snake park. F I N A L L Y. Kids pained us with this snake park demand for a long long time! Ajay's absent. :( All left Patil Estate with Shrikant. At around 9:30am. Park opens at 10am. I went directly to the park. Asim and Nivedita joined in too.

Dhaaman and Manyaar and cobras and crocodiles and peacocks and eagles and what not! They observed and argued and also cribbed about the things around. Sheetal went on to say that she's getting bored with all this and complained about having come here! Awesome! It was she who was forcing us the most! Anyways. Need to do something about this attitude of hers. (Let me first work on mine. :'))

Then came the electric car ride! And we all enjoyed it so much!! Open, nicely modelled, 10 seater electric powered vehicle it is. With a creative driver! Saw elephants, leopards, a tiger, bears, neelgaay, black bucks, etc on our way.

Karishma and Vikas had an argument. And Karishma came up with such amazing 'gaaliis'! Even Vikas said a few bad words. Both couldn't digest what each of them had said to the other. Were angry at each other. Didn't talk to each other on the way back, too. All our attempts to bring them together failed. Huh.

One unusual thing- During the car ride, Shrikant handed over a paper to me. Karishma had drawn tirrible pictures of us on it and written some comments in English too! Awesome! She WROTE something! This paper seemed to be some old used piece, because, on the other side of it, I found these lines scribbled long ago- "Jalnewaale jalte rahe, jalaanaa meraa kaam hain; Patil Estate mein rehtii huu, Karishma meraa naam hain!" Oohaa! What can one say! These girls already have all the grown up talk in their mind! (The paper preserved safely in my collection of most prized possessions!)

Had Paavbhaajii, Misal, Bhuttaa, Kaakdii, Paaniipurii, etc! I went home, Shrikant and Nivedita took kids back to Shivajinagar. Nivedita took the girls to her house. Shaam and Shrikant and Vikas returned to Patil Estate.

Girls returned from Nivedita's house by 5pm. Karishma's entire family had not had lunch since Karishma was not there to cook it!!!

Day-25: Talked to Karishma's sister. Her mom was out somewhere. Sister showed the x-ray. It was terrifying! The bone is actually broken wide apart! They got some first aid done from some hospital near Mhasobaa something. Sancheti people told them that her operation would cost 25,000 rupees. The lady cannot afford it. Hence haven't done anything yet. Told her to go to Sassoon. Sister said that her mom's scared of Sassoon! More on this, later.
Today's class at Agriculture College ground! With a brand new football! :') Shaam, Sheetal, Karishma, Sarika, Vidya were there. No Ajay! :( I so very much wanted him to be there on a football day! He's gone to Kurduwadi, to bring his sister. Will be back in a couple of days.
Karishma, Sheetal and Satika didn't wish to play football. Shaam was all game for it! Vidya was interested too, surprisingly! Ignored the 3 girls and started playing with Shaam and Vidya. The three started screaming and complaining about the place, football, etc... Especially Sheetal, as usual. Played Suurpaatyaa for sometime then, with all the girls. Then observed long jump and 'golaaphek' practice for a while. The sports-women there started talking to our girls. One of them also showed how to go about a long long jump! Our kids took some time to come out of their shells, but later had loads of fun trying to long-jump!
Meanwhile, Shaam kept up with the football... People practising football there got interested and were teaching him for a long time! How I wish Ajay were there too!!
Too much of physical exercise! More than 2 hours of constant running and jumping and kicking! Exhausted!!
Tuk tuk, Shrikant! Nobody missed you! Since I was all alone with the kids, I had all the chance to impress them with my football skills. And impress them, I did! Especially because they did not have any expectations from a 'didii' as far as football is concerned... :')

Talked to Karshma's mom after the class. Explained her how important it is to get operated. I simply cannot imagine how painful it must be for her! Asked her to go to Sassoon. The lady wasn't speaking up... One uncle nearby told us that, at Sassoon, they have to do so much of work to get things done properly, that sometimes 25000 rupees look affordable! Sassoon has got such reputation as well, I didn't know! We assured them that we'd take them there and then they won't have to do any of those things... Urged and requested and tried our best to tell her to get something done quickly.

While going back home at the end of my Saturday-at-Patil-Estate, at around 8:30pm, spotted this lady working at the garbabe collection center at the entrance of lane-1 while the rest of the junta was busy celebrating Shaaheer Annaabhaauu Saathe Jayantii with loudspeaker-walls... Karishma's father doesn't do anything at all; even when the working lady has a broken hand.

Day-23: They aren't going anywhere. :) Crazy girls!!! I guess they like threatening us time and again, with such warnings!
Sheetal asked for Pabal again again!
Played 'Coconut Please' and 'Suurpaatyaa' at BC. Karishma and Sheetal were discussing something 'very important' in between... We weren't supposed to interrupt...

Day-24: Karishma and Sheetal went back home while we were walking to BC from Patil Estate. They wanted to go to Sambhaji Park. They said they didn't like us taking them to BC everyday, at all! We let them go back. :-) REMEMBER – The FIRST rule of this morning batch - “No rules. No regulations.” :')
Ajay's mother works. Father works on small lighting tasks as and when he gets 'em. Otherwise drinks. Ajay keeps his cellphone transaction money with mom. He doesn't even keep his cellphone with his dad. He says that his dad would sell it and drink away the money!
Asked Ajay why is it that he never behaves like Karishma and Sheetal, and is always ready in the mornings to come with us without demanding to go to places other than BC... He said, “Kunii nhela tarach jaaycha. Naaiitar naaii.” Funda!!
Thus, Ajay was sitting with us at BC, generally chatting about his life. And... guess what?!!! We spotted Karishma and Sheetal hiding behing a bush!!! They couldn't go back, after all! What more would we want from life!! :) :) :)
Karishma too, said that her father doesn't do anything. Her mom has to go to work even with a fractured hand. Otherwise how would they get money for food, she said! Her mom's hand is temporarily bandaged now. But she needs to be operated. :-? Need to find out the exact information tomorrow.
We wrote colourful 'get well soon' letters to Krunal! Tried telling them where Surat and Pune lie on the map, with our limited map-drawing skills. :) Tried explaining the postal system as well. They looked interested! Tried explaining how nice someone would feel if he/she gets such loving letters when ill. Ajay said that now even he wants to be sick!
Get well soon, Krunal!

Day-21: Karishma's sister is having back-ache because her husband hit her (Karishma told this) and hence she's staying with Karishma along with her 3 children. Thus, Karishma had lots of work at home and hence she couldn't come!
Played for a long long time! Didn't realise we had to go to work after the class! :)
Sheetal caught 3-4 tiny fish in her hand along with some water, held 'em for a while and then put 'em back into water. Unlike yesterday. Didn't kill them.
Ajay trades mobile phones! Asked him to take lots of pictures during the day through his camera-phone so that we can see them next day morning at class and discuss his photography skills. To which he said "I sold that phone." Upon showing further interest in his transaction, he said, "Sold it for 1500 rupees. To my friend. I'll get another one. From the shops in front of Sambhaji Park. One has to go for a second hand China made phone, it's cheaper!" Awesome. He goes to the shop on foot or by bicycle...
At BC, a security guy shouted badly at Ajay for having broken a glass bottle lying around. The guard went like "Come here, I'll thrash you!!" and Ajay, without showing a single sign of fear walked in his direction. Other kids were scared. He must have been scared too, but didn't show it. We tried explaining why it's not good to break glass bottles carelessly on the river bank... He was quiet for a while. Then started playing with us.
Sheetal asked us to take her to Pabal. “Take me take me take me! Pabal Pabal Pabal!” :)

Day-22: Only Karishma + Sheetal + Ajay. Great chance! Took out books and was simply going through them, pretending as if I'm busy in my own world. Karishma was the first one to say, "Show me". Gave one to her. Sheetal and Ajay soon followed with "Show us!"... They went through the pictures only. Then very casually tried explaining one story to them in which a little boy dreams of his father being his age and he being his father's age, bossing over the father all the time! They got more interested. Went on going through the pages of all three books. So much so that, before leaving, Karishma wanted Sheetal to promise her in my presence about mutually sharing their books in the evening! :) Never wanted them to know that these books are brought specially for them and that we're trying to "teach" something... Just made it look like an accident. When they returned the books after first scrutiny, the response they got was- "You can keep these with you if you want, I currently don't need them much". And they kept the books. :)
Were generally chatting about their relatives and places in Pune... Asked Ajay some photography questions. He answered correctly, as expected. :) He too stressed upon going to Katraj snake park. Usually others demand for such things, he never does, he's happy everywhere! Sheetal asked for Pabal again! Karishma's mom fell off the staircase and got her hand fractured. They had been to some doctor near Deccan and got the x-ray done. It'll be plastered in a couple of days.
A disturbing piece of information from Karishma and Sheetal- Sheetal's aajii will be dropping her to Raahulgaav in a couple of days. Mostly forever. Sheetal said they have a farm, animals, some Devii temple, lots of cousins, etc there and she's all excited to be there! (Sheetal said her elder cousins there pamper her a lot! They take her places, get things for her, etc. How can Karishma be quiet on this!! She too chirped in with, “Even my father! He pampers me a lot! He's never ever hit me till date!”) Karishma and family are moving to Borivali, to her sister's, she said. :'( I asked them both what was I supposed to do when I miss them badly... They didn't know what to say. They didn't believe I'd miss them.

Day-18: I-don't-like-Ratan-Tata day! Went to Shanivarwada with Murthy. Played outside till it opened. Went in at 8:30am. Shaam was a great guide. But only Vidya seemed interested in knowing history. Rest were with Ajay, who was clicking clicking clicking! He had brought a camera phone. Tried scolding him at first, but let him take pictures later. He seemed really interested in photography. Will surely do something about it! :) Other girls together enjoyed holding a tiny fish+water in their hands and eventually throwing it carelessly, thereby killing that tiny thing. Told them that I won't talk to them for 3 days. They laughed it out. :D :-(

Day-19: Holiday due to Pabal visit... :(

Day-20: They came, they stayed, they left! :D :-( They sometimes decide that they're getting bored. This was one of those days. They don't seem to have started liking it!
One point to be noted- Ajay said something. To which Shaam immediately responded, “E yedpatt!!! Asa nasta kadhii.” Ajay said nothing after this. NOTHING. Had it been the weekend batch of elder kids (that's Shaam's actual batch, he generally comes with us for the morning batch), any one of them would have instantly replied to Shaam with many more synonyms of 'yedpatt'. Very strange of Ajay to have kept quiet! He's a good boy after all! :')
Told them about Pabal. Told them how students build their own houses. Sheetal enquired about who provides the money for it... Good question! Told her that Pabal school provides all the raw material for free. Shrikant told her, “Also, if you feel like having a cream roll, you can make it on your own and have it! They teach it all!” She said, “Huh! I'll better buy one!” :D