YEFI and Parikrma

Saturday's and Sunday's are for me to sleep. I hate to be disturbed in the morning when I am asleep. And I wake up anywhere between noon - 3PM depending on how hungry I am. But this Saturday was different. I was up at 8 in the morning. Partially because, I went to Sriram's place in BTM the previous night. But the other reason was because, I have heard a lot about YEFI working with Parikrma Foundation in running a school for the underprivileged children. I wanted to understand more about what they do and in what little way I can contribute. I reached the school in Jayangar at about 10AM to see all for myself.

A bunch of Yahoos were already there interacting with the kids. The moment I entered there, a few of them came running towards me, to ask my name, to shake hands with me, to grab my helmet and try it, to play with me. Some of them were very shy and ran away. Others would come and ask you a dozen questions. They will start of a sentence in English and then would suddenly stop, trying to form a sentence in their mind but unable to find the right word to use. After a bit of coaxing, they will complete the sentence and to ensure that you have not misunderstood, repeat what they said in Kannada or Tamil. It was amazing to be there and interact with me. These children live in a different world and the time you spend interacting with them takes you to their world. The couple of hours or so I spent with them was one of the happiest moment in the last couple of months. Damn, I did not take my camera along.

I still have a lot of questions to get answered. I will do so talking to people internally who have been associated with YEFI for a while. But this was one Saturday morning well spent, apart from sleeping.