Last week was quite interesting with minor challenges… the week started off with a bang. I had started to teach English to the Model House Girls here. I then learnt that I’m only good at speaking and writing myself, however I needed more practice on how to teach English. Nevertheless, I’m slowly progressing on finding best techniques to teach them. It’s a hard task indeed… any suggestions are welcome.
The second set of girls that I’m teaching Balvikas to are lovely singers. They do however have a tough time grasping the concepts of stories. One of the girls is simply naughty. She is so naughty and has such a wonderful sense of humor that she always makes us laugh the whole time. I did request her to keep her jokes aside from the devotional session. Some girls are dedicated, but are unable to think through the concepts. It’s been a nice yet challenging experience to teach them. One day, I had to go somewhere and was unable to teach them that day. All I could hear was “ oh, where were you? We missed you!” The girl who’s always cracking jokes rolled her eyes with over exaggeration by stating that she couldn’t sleep properly because she didn’t see me… of course, that was a joke! But nevertheless, the amount of commotion they created out of love to ask me how come I didn’t come just made me so happy. I also realized how much they need love and attention.
Papa Vidyaakar had been to a wedding for one of his daughters. Udavum Karangal gets the girls who grow up here married and makes sure that they’re well settled in life. Papa Vidyaakar shared that this young girl’s sponsor also came to the wedding. He is a CEO of some big company in another city in India. However, he did all sorts of jobs as if it was his own family’s wedding. The look on Papa Vidyaakar’s face was priceless thinking about how much that gentleman worked hard at this girl’s marriage. I responded that what everyone else does is hardly a drop full when compared to the service that he does with such magnitude. He brushed it off with a gentle smile. He was truly missed both the days he was gone for the wedding. There’s a deaf mute and dumb lady who is his assistant and she was feeling down. I asked her to smile. She makes signs of a mustache – referring to Papa – stating that she will smile as soon as he comes back. I was taken aback. One man has won so many people’s hearts.
The Chennai weather has cooled down… well… it’s not as bad as it was before because it is raining now! One day it was raining cats and dogs… thunder and lightening reduced the roads’ visibility a lot. Hardly before the rain got worse, I rushed home. Shortly after, I heard a heavy knock on my gate outside. Papa Vidyaakar had sent two people to make sure I made it home safely before the rain and that I was not caught somewhere in the middle. I thought, how sweet. He had ensured my family that he would make sure he takes care of me well… and he is doing much more than that. So I get in… and the current goes out! Great! Bring out the candles! But… I saw water right next to the candles on the floor… umm… why is there water in the living room? Uh..oh…. it’s flooding… where was the water coming from? Well… I was too busy worrying about the current that I did not want to figure it out in the dark. Finally, it took hours to clean it up. Nevertheless, this was an interesting adventure of living in India. The next day, I heard someone say that Papa Vidyaakar does not like lightening and thunder. I was like… okay… but why? His reasoning is that when its lightening and thundering any small child will seek security by hugging their parents. How will he go and find a child to comfort? And how many children could he possibly comfort, being one person? He stated that the small children used to hug one another and cry for hours till they calmed down and slept. Hence they stress on individual attention now. Papa hates the lightening because it terrifies the little ones. Even the tiniest hair on my arms were sticking out from shock and awe of how much concern and care he has for everyone.
Updates from last week…. To be continued.
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