Theatre for a Cause - An experience!

“Bye Akka, see you in December”, shouted the kids as we dropped them off on the last day of the theatre workshop.

 We had grown so fond of these kids in just one week’s time. It was easier said than done to not meet these kids again in December when they come back to learn to stage their play.

Theatre for a cause is an initiative of Akshaya Patra Foundation on the occasion of their 11 anniversary, to give an opportunity to underprivileged children from different government schools to learn theatre and be a part of it.

20 children were hand-picked from six schools in South Bangalore. These children were a part of a week-long theatre workshop. Renowned theatre personality Ms. Padmavathi Rao conducted the work shop for these children.

We had the mammoth responsibility of picking up, dropping and taking care of the mischievous brood of 20. It was a life time experience. They were filled with energy forever. There was an important lesson we learnt from them, punctuality. Many of them waited at their schools an hour before they were scheduled to be picked up, and none of them was late, ever.

On the first day, neither the kids nor we had a clue of what the workshop would be like. We all were a curious lot; wanting to learn and know all that we could with the opportunity we had been given.

It took them hardly any time to get familiar and bond with each other though they were from six different schools. The theatre games only made things better for them.

When given an option to choose the language they wanted to stage their play, English was a unanimous take. Though they were not comfortable at all with the language, they were eager to learn and inculcate the habit of talking in English. This was one of the pleasant surprises these kids gave us.

“Ellarigu chance sigatte, obobre heli”, was often heard at the workshop. All the 20 hands would go up whenever they had to express their views. Each child was proactive in the workshop in his or her own way.

They worked together as if they knew each other for ever. Though they had differences of opinions on group tasks assigned to them, they helped each other appreciate the task and work as a team.

Every day was a learning process. The more we got to know these kids, the more we learnt. Each bright eye had a story to tell, each brave mind had a battle to fight, and each tender heart had a goal to reach. Their enthusiasm was infectious!

One month with Akshaya Patra Foundation - A Treasure of Pleasure

I instantly chose The Akshaya Patra Foundation when given an option to choose the NGO I wanted to intern with.

Akshaya Patra foundation has taken up a noble cause of feeding the underprivileged children across the country. Millions of these tender ones are forced to toil in order to feed their tiny tummies, and end up staying out of school. Akshaya Patra bridges this gap by providing them free food at school every day.

What else but education can contribute to the growth of one of the most populous countries like India?

We (Anvitha, my classmate) began our internship with the happiness that we too will contribute to this noble cause in our own little way being a part of Akshaya Patra Foundation for four weeks.

Listening to the radio recordings, I learnt more, the story and all their other programmes and initiatives to feed the hungry.

When I proof read their annual report, my journalism class on proof reading was refreshed. I got to know a lot more about the people involved in building this organisation.

In our first week itself, we got an opportunity to visit the Vasanthapura kitchen when a high profile delegation from Singapore came down to see how a programme like this is possible and how does a private and government partnership programme function? We were at the kitchen early morning and were awestruck seeing how an industry functions to serve hot food to the little ones, the kind of efforts that go into making it happen. After going through the presentation made to these delegates, I learnt some more things about this organisation.

The second week went into one of the most memorable part of our internship, “Theatre for a Cause” workshop. We worked with 20 children from different government schools. Our week went into picking them up, dropping them back, taking care of the children and knowing each of these children. They opened my eyes to some bare realities of life. I got to see the ultimate impact Akshaya Patra was having on these children. It was a marvelous experience to see their happiness and excitement about the food they were getting to eat and the difference it made to them. I must admit, I still miss the mischievous brood.

Assigned the task of coming up with a concept for the conference room, there was more I learnt about this amazing organisation, its achievements and milestones. It was a thrilling assignment.

We had fun translating the IVRS flowchart to Kannada, I learnt about the dedication they have to serve better and work more efficiently.

I must mention the fantastic and committed people at Akshaya Patra. They made us feel at home and helped us learn and understand everything we wanted to know. Everyone from the CEO to the office help is extremely supportive, adaptive and humble.

The four weeks had come to an end even before I realized. On our last day, we were privileged to have been treated for lunch, another humble gesture I will remember forever. 

We captured some of the precious and happy moments we spent at this brilliant place with even more amazing people.

It felt like I was one in the family of Akshaya Patra. Now, I know this place better than I thought I ever would and feel a sense of belonging. I have learnt something each day in everything I have done, a few lessons to last a life time. There is a satisfaction of contributing my little bit to an organisation like this. What more could I ask from an internship of one month?

It was an experience to be cherished for a life time!