On Saturday some of us visited the Purkal Society for Youth Development, a school created for bright children who come from impoverished families located in villages south of Mussorie and North of Deradhun. The organization essentially began as after school tutoring by this man GK Swamy 20 years ago and is now a fully developed school for over 200 students. It is able to operate mostly thanks to donations from wealthy Indian citizens. How did 17 EAP students find themselves here? Well I’ll tell you! The woman who does a lot of financial work for the organization just so happened to be in a language class with a few of EAP students and invited us to the school for the day!
We were picked up by the Purkal school bus around noon and arrived in time for lunch. As soon as we got off the school bus after a ride of twists and turns and curves like a Botecelli painting we were transported into a humid, tropical place complete with the whisperings of bugs wings flapping through the sticky air and the more audible cries of birds and the familiar, but long unheard by our ears: songs of children laughing and playing! We sat down for lunch with a few of the students, who were adorable and had incredible mastery of English. Lunch consisted of rice, beans, some curried veggies and fresh cut tomatoes, cucumbers, radish and carrots (YESSSSS). It was delicious and fully balanced and not fried (YESSSS). Speaking Hindi with them was funny and inspiring as they have such a good grasp on our language while we are still bumbling and butchering our way through using Hindi to communicate more than just “hello’s; how are you?’s; and what’s your name?’s.”
After lunch we entered the Stree Shakti quilt making complex—another part of the Purkal society that focuses on women empowerment via quilt making for personal profit. Village women are employed to craft quilts and organize themselves into groups of 10, which share bank accounts and savings. Purkal provides the materials and pattern templates, which the women use to make the most sundar quilts and other precious knick knacks (pot holders, baby quilts, purses, lap top cases, etc). Essentially the women are able to generate their own income and savings, a much more practical seeming help-model than ridiculous low finance loans. We also got to visit the nursery (krish) for the children of the quilt makers. ADORABLE!
After that we were paired into teams of 2 and sent to classrooms where kids ranging from grade 3 to grade 11 asked us questions! “What’s your hobby?” “How do you rule places like Alaska and Hawaii if they’re not connected?” “Can you sing your national anthem?” “What’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened to you?” etc, etc. We stumbled through the national anthem and told them a bit about California culture (beaches, burritos, babes obviously). They were interested in hearing the differences between American schools and Indian schools, a question which stumped me because I don’t know too absurdly much about the Indian education system but that Indian public schools, especially in rural areas, have horrible track records of absentee or basically bad teachers who are ill-equipped to prepare children for the intensity of higher levels of education.
The intelligence and eagerness of the kids to learn about us and America was really refreshing and unadulterated compared to being asked more personal or blunt questions by strangers in the street. The kids also tested out Hindi abilities and made us write our names in Hindi on the white board and then had us write down some of their names in Hindi too! Afterwards they sang the theme song to my favorite Bollywood movie (Gol Maal) and then we sang them N’SYNC’s “Tearin’ Up My Heart” with a little choreography by yours truly. SO GOOD.
The experience really makes me want to teach English abroad after I graduate (if I can afford to with all these budget cuts! Thanks Arnold, Prop 13, UC Regents, etc). One child asked us why we wanted to learn to speak Hindi. I responded: Hindi bhasha bahut sundar he! (Hindi language is very beautiful!). And a few other students received the same question in their classes too (Q: Do you think Hindi is a practical language? A: Anything in addition to English is practical). English is the language of power. Americans are lucky enough to currently be the strongest power in the world and thus really don’t need to know anything but English, but it is egotistical and ignorant to only teach English. While children in India are forced to learn English if they expect to go into higher education (all classes at Delhi University are taught in English, for example), we are allowed to weasel by that requirement in America far too easily. When we take foreign language classes it is often not for career survival or even to necessarily visit the country of whatever language we’re learning. My experience learning Hindi is challenging but exciting—to learn a language in context and to be able to interact with people who haven’t received a formal education. Additionally, it shows my respect for the country that I am currently inhabiting.
Back to Delhi in 5 days! Ahh!
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