Telephone Chat with the children after the show
There were five children in the dance:
Anitha, Jothi, Akila, Sukanya, Vanitha.
Four in the skit:
Ramani, Tamilselvi, Dilip and Kandan.
I spoke to Anitha, Akila, Jothi, Sukanya, Vanitha, Ramani, Tamilselvi,
as well as Magesh V, Madankumar, Nagaraj and Rajathi.
Anitha:
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Is in grade VI, she is in P.T. Sengal Rayar. She danced bharathnatyam.
I asked her, "Anitha how was the dance?", she replied "Super!". I asked
her if she was scared that there was a large audience and she was
performing for the first time. She said she wasn't!
I asked her if she played anything at school. She said that she runs really
fast and loves skipping as well.
We then spoke about the Kanyakumari. She said the Rameshwaram Temple was
the best since they had path in a huge pond outside and they had fun splashing
water on each other.
She also enjoyed the Marina Beach (the Marina beach stretches all the
way to Chennai). I asked her why she needed to go such a long distance
to reach the beach since it was right there at Chennai. (After which both
of us started laughing).
Jothi
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Jothi is studying in grade IX in the P.T. Sengal Rayar school. I asked
her, "Jothi how was the dance?", for which she replied, "Super!!". I
asked her if she was scared since she was performing in front of such
a large audience and she said, yes. She said that Chandra madam their
dance master taught them dance and that Sasi madam taught small steps.
I asked her if she knew Sasi madam well and she said yes. Then I squeezed
in the question and asked her who I am, she promptly replied, "You are her
son."
I asked her about the Kanyakumari trip during the summer and asked her
details. She said that the trip was three days and they went to Kanyakumari,
Rameshwaram and Mudari. Just as Anitha she said that the Rameshwaram temple
was the best because they could splash water at each other while taking
bath.
I looked up her profile, (so I cheated ;)) and asked her if she liked to
sing. Ofcourse, she promptly said that the did. "Ah, then why don't you sing?"
I asked her. "Now??" was the first reply, so I said "why not?" once the
initial shock sank in she cleared her throat and started singing! Oops! This
wasn't what I had expected. Anyway, she sang a couple of lines and asked
if that would do...ahem...a lil embarased I told that that it was very nice.
I quickly changed the topic to what she played at school and she
said Kabaddi, Kho-kho and football. Football! I exclaimed. You play football
in school? Well..she said they started teaching today and I really liked it.
I asked her if she liked chess and she said she likes watching people play
chess, but doesn't know to play well.
Akila
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"Hi Akila, so you are now in class VI", I enquired. The new schooling session
had started in June and having looked up her profile I sorta expected it.
"VI B" she replied cheerfully. "Which school?", "P.T. Higher Secondary".
Till class V the children study at the orphanage and then go to the neighbouring
schools. I was interested in knowing the change and how she fit into the new
school and I asked her that. She said that she had a lots of friends in her new
school, both boys and girls, I asked her to name some closest to her and
she started "Puviarasi, Sapna, Sukanya.P, Amuda, Vinod, Jayshekar." Sukanya.P?
Yes there are two Sukanya's in class she replied.
I asked her which courses she took and apart from the "P.T" (Physical Training)
all other classes were the same as she took at the orphanage school. By now
she was all fidgity since I had been talking to all the others who had taken
part in the children's event organized last week and she said, "I danced last
weekend". I asked her how she felt. "Happy" she replied, she specially liked
being adourned in the Bharathnatym dress. I asked her how much she practiced
and she said for five full days.
Sukanya
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I didn't get a chance to speak to her as much as the other kids, I briefly
congratulated her while the phone was in transit between all the kids ;)
Word has it that her performance was the best.
Vanitha
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The profile said class VIII and so I asked Vanitha if she was now in class
IX. "IX B" she replied. Ah the days when sections were a sense of belonging!
She goes to the Muttuswami school. I asked her how the dance was in the
recent competition. She said it was very good. I asked her if there were a
lot of people. "oh! there were lots and lots of people" she replied. I
congratulated her on her achievement, by which time the other kids waiting
to talk had taken up the phone so the conversation was postponed.
Tamilselvi
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"I acted on stage", she said all excited. "you did! what did you act as?", I
asked. "I was someone who had been hungry for 10 days" she replied.
I was only aware of the dance they put up so I asked what the skit was
about. Apparently (my version) is that it was meant to indicate the effect
that education can have on the lives of people. She added that there were
four of them Ramani, Dilip and Kandan. I congratulated her and she handed the
phone to Ramani.
Ramani
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Ramani really liked the Children's competition that was put up by
Seva Chakkara recently, "I took part in the drama" she said. I
didn't have a book and everyone else did, so I pointed it out and
asked for it.
I saw in her profile that carrom was mentioned under games and asked
her if she played it at the orphanage. I got an affirmative answer and
then I asked her who she played with? She said that she played with Vanitha
and Tamilselvi. I enquired about the number of boards at the orphanage and
was told that there was only one, but that it is very nice. I also noticed
that she had mentioned dance before so I asked her what kind of dance she
does and she said Cinema dance and bharathnatyam.
Madankumar
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Madankumar is in the P.T. Sengal Rayar school. He said he loved the dance
and the skit performed by the Seva Chakkara children. He said he saw the
"face on the rock" in Kanyakumari. He has recently been selected in the
school cricket team as an all rounder.
Nagaraj
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Nagraj is now in class VI and goes to Muttukumar school. He said he
attended the event and liked it. I asked him what he liked the most.
He replied "dance". "Which dance?" I asked him. "The dance put by
our hostel" was a rather patriotic reply. He said he also liked the
English song sung by another school.
Starting grade VI the children go to schools outside Seva Chakkara and
I asked him what he plays in school. He replied that he plays TT and
Kho-kho in school.
Magesh.V
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Magesh is now in class XI. He has picked up the commerce group. I asked
him what his courses were and he gave five courses that he is studying-
Economics, Accounts, English, CS, Tamil, Commerce.
Rajathi
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"I was just sitting and chitchatting", Rajathi said. I asked her if she
went to the Children's competition. She said that she did and that the
girls put up a Vandaymataram Bharathnatayam dance. I asked her what she
did. I was responsible for the shield till it was given. I asked her who
got the shield, she said that Satya Metriculation - Choolai got the shield
and they performed an English song.