I got hit by reality!!

    We all love talking! Well at least most of us do. I do!  It is great when each day we meet ,sit in a comfortable class room, with our laptops by our side, pondering over one of the gravest problems our country is facing, that of education. We talk at length about everything related to the field of education, curriculum, policies, drop outs,RTE among many many others. All  these sessions immensely insightful and hugely enriching. After each session, I feel even more invigorated. I love putting forth my point of view,giving suggestions, discussing, analyzing,debating.  In an environment where everyone is out there to create a difference, amidst all these highly enthusiastic charged up people, you seriously start considering the possibility that maybe what you do could create that change you want to see.

   I was happily sailing in the same boat where after almost 2 weeks of rigorous training, I had started to feel that I too would create waves across the country in the field of education. But my smooth sailing boat met with a little accident day before yesterday during our outdoor task. In the task with trees, the tree we had chosen was located at the backside of the campus. This is also a construction site full of  workers. So while our group was examining the tree as part of our task we also had a chance to meet the children of these construction workers who were camping under the tree. 4 girls , around 7 -8 years of age with a little baby. 

  One of the girls was looking after the baby and the rest of them were with her. We started conversing with these kids. Thankfully we had a Kannada speaking member in our group. We asked them their names, tried playing with the little one, simultaneously doing our task too. In the course of our conversation with them, we found out that they are not going to school. In fact on probing them further, we found out that none of them had ever been to a school. Their parents apparently were migrants from some distant village in Karnataka and were helping out with the construction work.

   What is ironical is that the same place where we are vehemently talking about educating each and every child in the country, there are children who haven’t been to a school ever.  This irony is my tryst with reality. Its all hunky dory when you have to debate and discuss about educating children, the difficulty comes when you realize the scale at which you have to do this. Not just remote villages, towns, districts but in your own city, in fact your own neighbourhood. 

  My boat of ambitions got hit by reality. But I am certain that this accident will only be an impetus for my boat to sail farther and faster with more vigour and more energy and also with more focus.