Bubbles outing to Infosys village :)

17 autistic kids from Bubbles school went on a field trip to Halenijakal village on the outskirts of Bangalore. This time around, I have so much to write,tat I have partitioned them into different sections.

Pratinav:)

Staff:)

How things fell in place:)

How things fell in place :)

I know bragging is bad...but there is no stopping me this time :)

Somaiah, a pal at work had sent me a link abt Infosys village, when I had asked him for suggestions to go to anyplace for a 1-day team outing.

After speaking to Sarbani abt arranging for a trip with the children, v had 2 places in mind. D 1st one had a residential school for underprivileged children ...n while v were hoping tat the kids at Bubbles wud be able to have integration activities with the children thr...they never really got back:(

But d 2nd place, tat is Rural Zing was 2 gud to believe :) I still remember d conversation v had with Pritam, who is the co-ordinator from Infosys Youth Wing. He seemed so positive, he suggested v plant trees with the children, gave us detailed descriptions of the village outing, offered to sponsor the trip and when he suggested v have some activities and fun games organized with the village children[talk abt integration :)] , our joy knew no bounds:) n both Sarbani n me had to pinch ourselves to know tat v werent dreaming!!

Pritam and Vishwa

Pritam and Vishwa[the co-ordinator from the village], helped us a lot in preparing d children for d activities at the village n in ensuring tat everything went smooth n fine...

Vinod and Trees for free

I call Vinod one fine day and tell him abt the tree planting activity being planned with the kids at Bubbles and Vinod, very kindly not only offers to provide us the plants, but also sponsors them :)...V wud have silently thanked him so much ki pucho math :)

On Friday, when v were just wondering how to get d saplings from Koramangala to Bubbles centre, with me sitting in my office in Mysore Road and Sarbani in Basaveshwaranagar..I must tell u this...tat at tat very moment....Jayesh calls me telling me tat he is unwell n wont come to office..Now Jayesh had called d previous day to ask me for suggestions to get a farewell gift for a friend n since he cudnt make it..had called to inform....Now since Jayesh stayed near Koramangala..all I had to do was to tell him abt the situation n even tho he was unwell...he helped us get the saplings to the school :) V had 17 children from d school for the trip and exactly 17 saplings :)

Volunteers

Archana, Kevin and Ramya were volunteering for the 1st time at Bubbles and I can tell u tat it didnt really seem like it at all. They helped d kids with their needs, with d crafts, with the assembly line production of d flags :), serving food....Here, I must mention tat I was a lil hungry n wanted to sit in the 1st round itself, when I asked these 3 guys to join me...all they told me was tat...arrey..if v eat..who will serve the rest!!...I wanted to sink below the ground..but I chose to keep my plate back and join them :)..maybe after years of volunteering ..U get a lil lazy n self-centric n very hungry :)..Im talking only for myself here:)

Bob was in action, the moment he landed in Bubbles. D idea abt d crafts n the flag-making idea were his brain-child...n he was always thr almost everywhr helping us all out :)

Praveena, Shilpa n Harshita....wat can I tell abt them:)...If Aatmaja(a kid from Bubbles school) kept running to Harshitha akka(sister), while I watched with great envy :)...Shilpa tho was all over d place with Vishnu(from Bubbles) n her blah-blah-blahwas to be heard miles n miles away.. n Praveena taking very good care of Shreyas(another kid from the school) ...still remember her running after Sarbani asking for a hand sanatizer to wash Shreyas' hands after d tree planting exercise!

Sarbani tells me tat when ur intentions r right, things will always fall in place...n when they dont..just try questioning d intent behind it :)

Staff :)

Have known Mubin, Daisy Aunty, Sarbani, Kusuma and Leela for years now....It has always been fun working with them and seeing them do amazing work with the kids at Bubbles. Wat drives them is the passion to make a difference. The amount of effort and energy they put into the tasks, their commitment in serving the purpose is noteworthy!!

This time for the trip, gotto meet a few more staff members ...Vidya, Parvathy, Pamela and Pallavi.

V played antakshari in d bus, with Vidya, Mubin, Daisy Aunty and other volunteers on one side and with Parvathy, volunteer trio(Praveena, Shilpa n Me) and Pamela on d other team.

Now Daisy Aunty can sing songs from the 40s till date....huge repository she is...n Praveena will b d only other person in d bus, who can second her songs, making us wonder how Praveena knows them :)

Vidya n Mubin r good, but how much v enjoyed cheating n getting onto their nerves by giving them so many "ha" se starting songs...tat they very quickly ran short of memory of them...giving us an edge....all d time :)

Mubin was d 1st person, who very bravely took Deepthi(a kid at Bubbles) down a flight of stairs with so much confidence n care, it was a path tat v volunteers ourselves were slightly wary of..But thr was no stopping Mubin....she led from d front...cing her do tat..inspired d rest of us to take d stairs..

Its not very easy to work with kids, who have difficulties expressing their problems..but what I gotto c n observe during d trip is tat they know what problems to anticipate.....although the 17 kids who came, had 17 varying issues...they know how to work with each one of them n to put them at ease...

Parvathy was another person who impressed me big time, imagine singing bhajans for antakshari :) ...her enthusiasm towards d activities :) ..or her presence whenever any kid needed help!!

Pamela n Mubin were officially trained on d famous "kollata" dance by the village girls. Next time d kids in Bubbles hold sticks in their hands, u know whr tat came from!!

I still remember Pamela, Vidya n Parvathy giving me those empathizing n encouraging looks, when Pratinav kept running away :)....thank u so much ppal...It really did keep me going or rather running!!!

When v played 3-legged race with the children, I remember Mubin n Kusuma volunteering to have a demo run..as these kids rely a lot on visual aids to help them understand things.

N some1 holding it all together was Sarbani...be it d way she was in control of d situation, planning activities, helping the kids have food, most kids r told ki..."beta ..have food....or else Sarbani will come :)"..n then they quickly finish their food :)She simplifies life so much...tat u c kids do amazing stuff and having fun at it :)...She is one committed woman, who is so passionate about ensuring tat the kids at Bubbles lead independent lives!!

Pratinav:)

I saw him 1st, when he got out of a car, near the bus-stand, holding his mother's hand. The resemblance to his mother was striking!!

After getting the bus to Bubbles autistic centre, I run into Sarbani, who heads the school, who tells me "Cma, did u meet Pratinav? You have to take care of him today"

Pratinav gave me a polite smile, n I was sure, looking into his hazel-brown eyes tat there wasnt a speck of naughtiness in them anywhere:)...as I personally think tat naughty kids help in weight reduction!!

After getting into d bus, I sat next to Pratinav and he cried n cried. B4 u think it had anything to do with me, he was crying asking his mom to join us for the field trip!!

His crying stopped only after Sarbani, opened up a big jar of candies and told d kids ki...only d smiling kids get d candies....once or twice she went close to Pratinav, who was suddenly confused on whether to cry or to eye the candy, and then decided tat since everyone, except him were getting d candies, he put his best tooth forward and gave a lovely smile n turned out to be d last kid to get the candy :)

I knew then tat probably I will scare d hell outta Pratinav, coz I sing loudly n v were playing antakshari n I was in full josh moreover....I got a taste of Pratinav's strong distaste for my singing, when he sat towards my edge of the seat, moving away from his window seat, giving me no place to sit :)

At the village temple, I had to lift Pratinav thrice to make him ring the temple bell...so happy he was doing it...n he was a thin kid...so it made life all tat easier for my fat:)

After tat, when v started our rounds around the village ....started d run of my life :)....Pratinav used to run away from me...Now I like running too...so when he ran..I ran after him...n when I used to catch up with him....he used to run faster....after realizing tat the 20 year age gap would take some catching up....I stopped chasing him :)

But then, all the other volunteers and the staff had their respective kids walking with them hand in hand, except for Cma n Pratinav :)

Pratinav wanted to be the 1st person to reach anyplace v went...Im also a lil like tat, so I kinda understood whr it was all coming from:)

At the village school, Pratinav banged the drum, played passing the ball, chasing the tyre race[though d kids at Bubbles didnt win against d village school children, they did give them a tuff fight], 3-legged race[D village school children were paired with the children from Bubbles n it was so nice to c them encouraging our kids to get to d finish line] and gave his perception of village life with paints and colors!!

Our running continued into the farms, hillocks, infact wherever v went tat day!! D only time he came to me, was when he wanted help during susu-time, not knowing whr to look for it in d village and another time, when he wanted me to help haul him up a tree!!

Wat I did was to put him on a spot on d tree, from whr he cudnt climb down on his own n moved away slightly, while Pratinav sat thr happily ...I was catching up on my rest :)

Both of us planted a peepal sapling in d school and then when v were walking towards d lake, Sarbani had instructed us to hold hands with the kids. Now Pratinav didnt seem to like my hands for some reason, and right in front of me, took a villager, who was also our guide's hand and walked in front of me, turning back once and looking at a poor me, giving me the "C...I took this chap's hand wallah look"...making me feel all defeated in my mission :)

I had my victory only once, when I asked for his hand and he obliged and both of us walked together for 50m..n then it was d usual chase :)

Sarbani had paired Pratinav with me, coz she thot v too have a lot in common. He is an extremely social kid. He was running after the village school children, trying to imitate what they were doing and at times picking up fights with the other kids. Though we kept running all the time, I had soooper fun just doing tat...n cing tat naughty-naughty look in his eyes when he intended to give me d slip.....Who told u tat v cant get our 1st impressions wrong :)