I Just Wanna Be A Girl!

Today's edition of the Department of English's Service Learning Program was unique and heartwarming. We started the session with a story, as usual. Today, I narrated the story of Little Red Riding Hood with puppets. The children were well behaved and sat still, eagerly listening to the story. I was pleased to find that not many of them knew the story. This meant that they were eager to learn, wondering what I was trying to tell them.  After the story, we dove into preparations for our upcoming Grand Finale performance on the 11th of April. I printed out dialogues for each child in the class and handed them out. The children were really enthusiastic in learning how to read the lines I gave them. We had them line up as we taught each child individually.  Now, you might think we maintained order throughout the hour. However, the earlier calm wasn't meant to last. As I mentioned earlier, we were teaching the kids to read their lines. So, once I taught one kid how to read, I sen...

I just listened to a song called "Just the Way You Are" by Bruno Mars. It was so beautiful. It felt like something every girl wants to hear.  So, a lot of girls don't know that they are beautiful - or the opposite - they are vain about their beauty. When a girl asks you if she looks okay, it's one of two things - vanity or insecurity. Here, it's insecurity. The singer tries to push away her insecurities. He is dissapointed that she doesn't see her beauty the way he sees it. He's sad that she doesn't believe the compliments he showers her with.  Oh, you know, you know, you know I'd never ask you to change If perfect's what you're searching for then just stay the same So don't even bother asking if you look okay, you know I'll say When I see your face, there's not a thing that I would change 'Cause you're amazing just the way you are  And when you smile, the whole world stops and stares for a while 'Cause girl you'...

'I trust you,' I said  Eyes filled with hope  Not something I say lightly  Trust is like a broken glass  Once shattered  There's no going back  'I'm here for you,' you once said  With that, I put my trust in you  With one word, it's gone  I didn't believe what I heard  It's impossible, but it's true Heart shattering shattered trust Tears fill in my eyes against my will  Flooding down my cheeks  Dripping down my neck  Wet, salty, never ending  Silent sobs  Can't be recollected  And now, I'm all alone Afraid to trust and to hope Broken promises everywhere Are you happy now? You broke me!  I wanna scream and show you How much it hurts  Red revenge nails Ready to claw into your visage Whatever did I do to deserve this hatred?  This vengeful spite  This scorn and heartbreak  I'm now a shell  Trustless 

Wow, we are on a roll. Even though we have only had a handful of sessions things are moving along.  Today, we worked on puppet theatre. We split the kids into groups based on their grade, as we have been doing the past few weeks. We decided that splitting kids on this basis was easier and more convenient. I narrated the story 'The Three Little Pigs' with handmade puppets. The kids were super enthusiastic and repeated after me when I said the Big Bad Wolf's iconic dialogue. "Little pig, little pig, let me in... Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house down." After I finished, I asked the children if someone could repeat the story to me. Nithesh immediately volunteered and Mithralakshna didn't want to be left out. I could see her longing to tell me the story too ,her eyes wide and innocent. Unfortunately, we were short on time and I couldn't hear from her.  After the story, we needed to prepare for a performance that we planned to ...

Today, my juniors performed the play Animal Farm by George Orwell. For those of you who've been reading my blog from the beginning know that my class performed it as well, last year. The class was split into ten teams and each team was given a chapter of Animal Farm to interpret and perform. It didn't have to be exactly what the novel contained and could be anything they imagined. For example, my team performed an investigation about the death of Boxer.  I could only watch teams 1-7 perform. My favorite - and I think the crowd's favorite - was a team that interpreted the animals as stationery. (I don't want to mention the team number incase I remembered it wrong) Each animal was represented as a piece of stationery - a compass, set square, pencil, etc. There was a school student - a gen Z kid - who had no idea what those were even used for and mistreated them. The stationery items rebelled and revolted against the kid, chasing her away. They even had a little chant. The...

I've been to a few Taylor Swift themed parties and they are so therapeutic. I know some people say Swifties are like a cult following their leader, but there is so much more to it than that.  Have you ever heard about female rage? Well, some of Taylor's songs are perfect for when you're angry. When you are with a bunch of Swifties, you can scream your heart out and no one will judge you. They're going to be doing the same thing. You can dance like a maniac and no one would bat an eye. You can let loose and do things that you might not do with other company.  Then there are the bonds you forge. I met a bunch of girls last month and saw them again a couple days ago. They greeted me with a huge smile and welcomed in with open arms. Being a Swiftie is like being part of a community where you are totally accepted. Taylor's music is a safe space. Her songs talk about things that everyone has been through, from loss and grief to heartbreak and first love. The best part is ...

I worked my nails down to the quick I don't know what more I can give I've given all I have  Left behind in the dust Around me, laughter and sunshine  By my side, emptyness Loud and explosive  What's the use of my toil? Fading into the shadows Day by day  No one notices  How my laughs became smiles  Where do I go? What about me?  Who has my back? Do you want to be my friend?

A brush of wind across my cheeks A casual brush against my shoulders  A laugh  It's all stuck in my head  Our song Our favorite food  Our meeting place  All I see is nothing A whisper everywhere But not the voice I crave Our shared secrets remain Every corner telling our story Wherever I turn Memories come crashing down  No anchor to grab on to Drifing... Drowning... 

A room filled with books Dreams taking shape An escape A safe haven  Doors to worlds unknown Where did the time go? Between the shelves I lose myself  A thousand lives Mine to claim In ink my heart is bound Picking one from the shelf Settling down in a cosy corner Ready to dissapear Pages turning  The smell of new books  Hitting me and rendering me senseless A love like no other Nothing to stop me  No judgement  No disguise  Just truth  In A Fortress of Stories

Yesterday I was at Hindustan College for a slew of inter-collegiate competitions. I had only signed up for three, but I heard that we could participate in as many competitions as we wanted to, if we paid the registration fee (which I already had). I decided to do as many events as I could. My first event was spell bee. I messed a word up on the first round and thought I was out of the running. Little did I know, they had a bonus word. The word was pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. I thought I'd give it a shot. As the word was repeated, I tried to make note of the parts of the word. I stood up and tapped my nails along the table as I spelled the word. I missed one syllable (silico) but I got half the points, since I got the rest of the word correct. After that I entered the tiebreaker. (They didn't tell us what it was for or who won until the valedictory)  My next event was pictionary. Before that, I had some time on my hands and decided to put it to good use. Cospl...

This week, we visited the RSL school on Tuesday instead of Friday because some of our teammates were headed to an inter-collegiate competition on Friday. As soon as I entered the school, two kids came running up to me and almost jumped on me to give me a hug and greet me. I went to teach the second graders, just like last week. We thought the students would benefit from some level of consistency.  We started the session with a story. It was one about a fox who turned blue and was worshipped by the villagers. The other animals got jealous and eventually ended up killing the blue fox. (Now. this wasnt the story mentioned in the book. I improvised to make it simpler for the children to understand.)  The session went on reasonably calmly. The only clamor I saw was because of the children's enthusiasm to learn something new. (We were teaching them words based on things we see around the classroom. I wrote the words on the board and they all wanted to spell the words without looking...