And the year went by

The year went fast I must say. I feel I have just attended the last Annual sports day in this school and lo behold its time for the next one. 

Any activity at Little Angels School is something that I look forward to as I get to learn many things from these kids and the teachers.

As I entered the school compound I saw all these items neatly arranged, and I was sure things were going to move with clockwork precision.  

This girl was so happy in winning that she kept jumping and shouting “I won, I won” 

And so was this boy who did not waste time in kissing his mother right on the victory stand. 

The kids are happy to show off in front of their parents.  This boy was supposed to hoist the flag after the march past. As he walked with the flag to the designated place, he called out to his Dad – just to make sure his dad didn’t miss the act.  (you can hear it in the video) 

Must appreciate the school for the innovative games that they came up with and I must say there was no repeat from the games I witnessed last year. 

Technically he is yet to cross the finish line, but then that much of a lee way is allowed I suppose. 

As usual the games for the parents were exciting for the kids (and for the parents too)  

After the program I found this boy keenly observing the sound system. May be there is something in it that fascinates him. 

Managed to capture most of the action in video so that the parents and the kids can have a look at their performance.

PS: Uploaded Part II  and Part III and Part IV of the video.

Open Day in Pune school

Had the privilege to be in Little Angels school in Pune during the open day 

It was nice to see the parents trickling in one by one, meeting the staff, and being handed over their kid’s progress report for the semester. 

I had a glance at some of the answer sheets while a parent was going through it. 

A good and simple way of testing children having ADD and ADHD. 

I found Mr Jehangir, (the founder of Little Angels) greeting every parent and chatting with them. 

At the venue, there was an exhibition cum sale of the items made by these children (organized by “Kalanidhi”)

Most of the items were pertaining to Diwali, as the festive season was round the corner.

Some of the kids were keenly inspecting the exhibited items

while others preferred to try out their regular activity in school, or pose for me.

While the parents were busy, I engaged Mr Jehangir in a conversation, asking him how he came up with the idea of opening a school like this. He said that he was a flight purser in Gulf air and was also helping his father in running their eatery in Colaba.

Once he happened to visit an exhibition run by Dilkush, a school for mentally challenged children. Very soon he found himself getting enrolled for a training program for teaching special kids. A male special educator was unheard of in those days. It was a tough battle for him at every step.

After completing the course he approached the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Maybe his grit and determination helped him in procuring some land from BMC at Bandra and that is how the first school of Little Angels came up in 2004.

He said his biggest challenge was to convince the parents that these children need to go to a special school where they are given vocational training.

Most of the parents are just worried about their children getting “proper education”  

According to Jehangir “These are children who have normal and sometimes very high IQ, but who have to be taught differently. They can read, write and some can do very complex mathematics” I was suddenly reminded of Dustin Hoffman’s role in the 1988 movie “Rainman”.  

picture source : internet

Coming back to the exhibition, one of the items on display was this oil free pickle and I picked it up immediately as I recollected reading about consuming oil free food for good health. The bottle could not have come at a better time

Sports day at Little Angels school

School sports is a big event for any school going kid and it is more so for these kids who were preparing for it for the last four months. 

I had written about this school two months ago.

I specially liked their march past to the tune of Col Bogey march. Each one trying to keep in step.  

There were events that suited each child and in some cases the parents and the children had to take part together. 

It must be a real proud moment for the parents to see their kids on the victory stand. 

A special mention should be made about the instructors who were hovering around giving them the right encouragement, a nudge and a push wherever required.  

All ready, waiting for the next performance. 

Made a small trailer of the whole event.

I was observing these ladies from the neighborhood who were also enjoying the events. 

Liked that special event for the parents who had to race, with the wives leading the race. 

And the winners 

The last item on the agenda was an entertainer for everyone – the tug of war for the parents, or to put it in a better way – the tug of war between husbands and wives 

The look on all the husband’s face with that expression “for once I am going to defeat her” 

Have made small capsules of videos covering the complete event. While editing, I was just looking at the faces in the slow motion action replay of the tug of war. It is pure joy written on each and every face, and at the end of the day that is what counts.

The videos are titled as:

The Tug of War

The March Past

The Race

The Cycle Race

The Lemon and spoon Race