On Road: Stories by Olivia Toye (2)

DAY 2 – 8TH JAN

I was awoken, not by the constant hooting of cars, not by the RepublicDay parade preparations, but instead by the cow outside my window! No matter how large and developed it appears, no Indian city is complete without the random dotting of goats, pigs, cows and chickens in the most unexpected locations! I decided to attempt a run as the winter sun was not yet at its most powerful. The hotel manager proudly pointed me to a ‘sports area’ up the road – my eyes lit up at the prospect of being able to run without the constant fear of being knocked over by a rickshaw! As ever my attempt at exercise proved great amusement for the locals who were playing cricket on the field. I stopped to chat to a particularly inquisitive group of girls. They were from the surrounding villages and now studying IT at the college in Aurangabad. They had high aspirations to work for one of the many multinational companies in one of India’s IT hubs, like Hyderabad or Bangalore. I was very impressed to learn that girls made up the majority of their class. After I entertained them with my limited Hindi phrases and they took photos on their phones (standard practice), I continued on my run.

Sachin arrived to collect me from my hotel at 10am as planned. Again we took his bike out into the villages 40km out of Aurangabad. In the first village, Sonkheda, I was warmly greeted by the 200 children at the school with flowers, berries, a coconut and the most gorgeous smiles. In this school, 190 of the children are going through Pratham's ‘Read to Learn’ programme and 10 take the ‘Learn to Read’ programme. There is a test to divide children up between the two classes, the former being the more advanced and where Pratham hopes that all children will advance to. Each level of the programme lasts for 3months at a time and the children are tested once a month to monitor their progress. In Sonkheda I met Sriram Wakale, the village elder, who in extremely impressive English told me how these children are thebuilding blocs of India and Pratham is the cement between these blocs. In the second village, Sarai, I spoke with the head teacher who had concerns about the attendance of children in school, particularly inmigrant families. She assured me however that attendance ratings are improving now, following a government campaign to ensure all children between 5 – 10 years are going to school daily.

Waving ‘Namaste’ to the adorable smiles, we went on to see the second of the ten day teacher training days at a nearby centre. There I was welcomed with the honest enquiry from one gentleman, ‘are you instructing us Madame’? To mine, and Sachin’s, astonishment, the head of the training college decided my visit would be a fantastic opportunity for me to, not just participate, but to instruct the English, and to my horror, the Science classes! In the first three English classes we discussed differences in educational systems, politics, culture, food, clothing, and India as a growing power. In the science class I managed to hand over my responsibility to Pratham’s volunteer Dr. Gabhir, who led the class on separation of liquids. In each class I received a glorious welcome ceremony and word of thanks, as if the queen was visiting. Later, over chai, I was told by Sachin that ‘the guest is God’ in India. How lucky I am to be a guest here!

By Olivia Toye - UK