A week's snapshot...

Besides for some traveling, I have actually been quite busy taking up new activities and trying out other talents. I started taking Hindi classes. The class meets three times a week at our place and there are 3 other ladies who are taking it along with me. So far we've learned the alphabet, some vocabulary, and basic sentence structure.
I also bought a guitar and started taking lessons. In just 4 lessons, I have already completed level 1. Needless to say, the teacher and I had some fundamental differences in "teaching" as well as learning, so I am now looking for a new guitar teacher.
I'm still doing yoga and joined a gym. And I'm also teaching English two times a week to a group of fourth graders at a local school near our apartment. It continues to be an interesting and always eventful experience. There was an article on the front page of yesterday's paper about the school.
Here's the title and the article follows...Mastan Nagar Government Primary School seeks to put an end to child labour

Synchronised chants reverberate in the air as one enters the insignificant looking building at Jubilee Hills. The Mastan Nagar Government Primary School, hidden behind the posh bungalows, is waging a war against child labour with the help of books and pens.

Initially started with strength of 30 students, the school now has 300 students enrolled from pre-school to standard five. The five Vidya Volunteers are on a mission to eradicate child labour in Mastan Nagar. Nearly 250 students attend school regularly. The school, which was identified two years ago by Leigh Ann Gilbert, wife of the former India director of Google, is now supported by many corporate social responsibility programmes and organisations such as Project 511 and MV Foundation. Majority of the students are children of construction labourers and the teachers have problem retaining them. “There are parents who want their children to work but we convince them against it,” says Gowri, a Vidya Volunteer. Twice a week, the Vidya Volunteers go into the slum to talk to parents, “most parents are not aware that child labour is a punishable offence, so we create awareness and tell them why their child needs to be educated,” says Divya, another volunteer.

For Santaiah, a construction worker, the school is his only way of ensuring his child a better future. “My son too was working with me, but today he can read and write,” he says proudly. The school caters to students only up to standard five. Since the school is well-equipped, teachers feel, it can be upgraded as a high school.ddd

Here's the "road" that leads to the school. The school is on the right side after the green house.

Some photos of the neighborhood. Most of the school children live in the blue tents which are shown below. These tents typically sprawl up next to on going construction projects.
The picture below is of a local tailor. Check out the pedals on the sewing machine. He was very excited to get his picture taken!