Of school, friends, and Woman-Fridays

It is now almost the end of our second week of back-to-school. We are thrilled to be one grade up, and the children of the earlier grade seem like little kids. A la first chapters from any of Enid Blyton's school stories- "she couldn't believe how little the first formers seemed to her now!"

A fresh new year means a new set of the uniform, new books, new classrooms, new class-teachers, new classmates, a new sitting arrangement, new rules, new extra-curriculars,...the list could go on.

We have a size issue with our uniform, as A falls into a size between the one assigned for her age, and the one below it. So we have to necessarily make do with a size a tad too large for a few months until the inevitable growth spurt combined with the (also inevitable) shrinkage of the fabric finally makes it fit over the second half of the year. I have a bone to pick with this year's set, though. What prompted the school to introduce formal trousers a certain grade onwards, when they already had such comfortable and serviceable track-pants till now? And why the change in the design of the skirt? The earlier one was smarter, IMO. And what's with the sweater in place of the jacket? Now one has to choose between shivering without it, or cooking with it, on days that are pleasantly cool. With the jacket, one could just put it on and keep it unzipped if it wasn't so cold. :(

The books seem interesting, with more focus on 'think and answer' and research oriented questions in the exercises. We recognised quite a few of the chapters and poems from the English books as excerpts from books we already have/ have read. Math is getting interesting now, as is science. There is certainly going to be more work this year, but it promises to be interesting. We just need to start focusing. Something that has been a work-in-progress for a long time now.

The problem of peers. That, too, has been a work-in-progress for a long time, now. As A tends to put it, she isn't cool enough for her peers, what with her propensity to prefer reading over all the other pursuits of the cool gang. We have a self-esteem issue here that we have been tackling for over half-a-decade now. Keeping fingers crossed.

Extracurriculars seem interesting with theatre and violin classes in the offing. As also the Indian classical vocals after school classes.

Reading? Yes, we plan to a lot of that this year too. Some of it as an adjunct to the curriculum, but most of it not.

Looking forward to a new year of learning and living life.

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Met UTBT, fellow blogger and a wonderful and hugely talented co-contributor at Saffrontree. Finally. This was her second visit to my city. Choxbox managed to meet her the first time she was here. I missed her then on account of the kid's birthday party.

She is an elfin lady, and every bit as lively and witty as she comes across online. Have just received a gift sent by her through flipkart. Seems like she has taken the hugo-mungous hint I gave here! The parcel was grabbed by both hands and ripped open immediately...

...and immediately browsed through!

Thank you, UTBT! We love the thoughtful gift! Cannot wait for the kid to come home from school and show it to her.

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My house-help had been ill for the past two weeks. She had been ill on-and-off for a couple of days at a time over the past two  months. I kept urging her to go to her doctor and get some treatment, to which she would say yes and ignore my advice. So this time when she became ill enough to not come for three days at a stretch (Amma is a dedicated, conscientious worker, who has been with me for many years now, and is my Woman Friday), I decided to take things into hand. I took her to the clinic we go to for minor maladies, one which has a reasonably well-equipped path lab.

After I spent a good half-hour acting translator between a Malayalam-Hindi-English speaking doctor and a Kannada-Telagu speaking Amma, miming some medical arguments my pidgin Kannada couldn't express, we got her to agree to a blood and urine test that she was mortally frightened of. The doctor gave her some tablets for symptomatic relief while we waited a day for the lab results.

Amma disappeared from the next day. There was no response to my phone calls to her home- the phone consistently happened to be 'out of reach'. Finally, I made my way to her house, and found an Amma who was now asymptomatic, but very weak. Her lab results and the doctors diagnosis mandated a course of antibiotics- it was a low-grade infection, that nevertheless popped up intermittantly, and was curable by a suitable course of antibiotics: an opinion with which I concurred.

Amma just could not be convinced as to the need for further medication. After all, she no longer had the symptoms, though still weak from hypoglycemia as she had not eaten properly over the last few days due to a lack of appetite and fear of throwing up. I finally made her see sense after enlisting the help of two other ladies at whose homes she works as well as at mine. We now see that she has her morning dose at my place, as she eats lunch here, and hope that she has the other dose at home after dinner! Doing some of her work myself for some time, until she has recovered completely!

Again, fingers crossed. I owe much of my free time to her attention to my home.

Book review: No Talking

No Talking
Written by Andrew Clements
Illustrated by Mark Elliot
Published by Simon & Schuster
Ages 8-12 yrs

Middle Grade School. Boys v/s Girls. Each thinks the others stink. So what happens if they get into a conflict over something worthwhile? Just what happens in our book.

Dave Packer, while preparing for a class presentation on India, comes across the story of Mahatma Gandhi, and is inspired by the principles of non-violence, non-cooperation and the disciplining of the mind by not talking.

"And it made him wonder what that would be like--to go a whole day without saying a single word...if not talking would bring order to his mind too." For that was something the fifth form was notorious for- talking, talking, talking- in class, at lunch break, in the corridors, on the playground- every thought thought out aloud!

Dave decides to put the idea to a test. He soon comes up against jeering by the girls, one girl in particular- Lynsey Burgess. Who takes up his challenge on behalf of all the girls. Starting that lunch period, all everyone was to hold their tongues completely. For the next 48 hrs. The 'maun-vrat' would be broken only after lunch break on the second day. They could talk only if a teacher or parent spoke to them directly, and even then they could speak only three words at a time. After school hours, they were supposed to be 'on their honour' and report any transgressions truthfully. It was a Boys v/s Girls contest- to be fought to the finish!

The teachers become aware of something strange in the air almost immediately. The quiet was unnatural, for these were the Unshushables- who even had a separate lunch break to themselves, with teachers hovering in the hallway, trying to keep down the decibel levels. "Mrs Hiatt, the principal, didn't want the noisy behaviour of this group to infect the other children at her school."

How does the experiment proceed? How does each teacher react to it? How do the students handle the indignation of Mrs Hiatt, who takes the whole thing personally, and tries to break what she feels is the students' non-cooperation in behaving normally? What is learnt in the whole process-- by the students, and by the teachers? Who wins, Girls or Boys?

A wonderful book about conflict in middle grade school, by Andrew Clements whose book Frindle has earlier been reviewed on Saffrontree. A book about the power of the mind, the power of the spoken and unspoken word. About people power. A fun book about recognising when to fight and when to let go. About communication, about the use and misuse of language. About standing up for yourself if you are right.

Image courtesy flipkart. Crossposted at Saffrontree..

School (Run) Friends

We got the news a few weeks ago that our school will be starting school buses from the next academic year. This has been a long awaited decision. Many parents staying far from school, parents having other unavoidable commitments and parents beleaguered by dropping and picking up schedules for more than one child will be much relieved. There are many concerns and questions, and a million problems do need ironing out, but I am sure that the school, with its usual attention to detail, will deliver.

So what am I complaining about? Yes, what indeed?

The thought took me back by about 6 years. When A started school, she was ready for it. A gregarious soul, she walked into school with her 'aunty' (as all teachers are called) and had soon settled in. For the first few days, I had to sit outside school. There was another lady who also sat with me. We began talking, discovered many similar interests, and soon struck up a friendship.

In a few weeks' time A went from an hour or so of school to the full time for her age. Everyday I would go to school to drop and pick her up. Soon I got to know many more parents whose children were A's friends. Some of these stayed in the same complex as us and were already known to me. Some of us began carpooling to take turns in the school run. Daily interaction brought us closer, and friendships resulted. Fortunately for me, almost all the mothers of A's close circle of friends were congenial souls, and there, too, I made many friends, one or two of them quite close. Our families also got to know each other over play-dates and birthday parties.

The dropping off would be in a hurry, with people having to go to work or elsewhere. Picking up was a more leisurely affair. Some of us would reach school quite early, and would look forward to the daily get-togethers. I had two very close friends among these, and sometimes we would plan a day out, rushing to school afterwards for the pick-up. Books, recipes and ideas have been exchanged. Days-out wiyh the kids and mothers have been planned, on school holidays which were not office holidays for fathers. Many a grocery shopping has also been planned en-route to school, leaving weekends free.

And what do I have to say about the actual commutes? That I got many new friends while carpooling? That I gained new respect for the teachers while transporting a car-full or auto-full or taxi-full of 3-9yr olds bickering about silly things? That I gained the affection and trust of almost all the children that I transported over the years? That I got an excellent insight into the workings of the city's public transport system? That when I stopped carpooling and had only my daughter to get home, I fully enjoyed the one-on-one time I got with her, considering that she had been at school for a very long 8.30 to 4 schoolday, and that homework and after school activities followed? That my husband too looked forward to dropping her to school, talking about various things, considering she was usually asleep by the time he reached home? I could go on...

Daily drop-off and pick-up also meant that we got to know the school staff and teachers well, and here, too, we made friends. I am sure even they must realise that once the school bus starts, they are not likely to know the subsequent groups of parents quite as well as the current ones. It will become just like any other school, with the socialisation factor taken out of it. I already feel a little sorry for these subsequent parents, as they will not know each other or the school as we do. We, on the other hand, have made our friendships, and can now sit back and reap our benefits.

I shall always feel that small twinge of sadness for this phase having passed. I shall wait at home for A to come back from school like any other mother, wondering at the same time how the other mothers are feeling about it.

And to come back to it, I am still very good friends with the lady I made friends with when we both sat outside the school at the time our daughters started school.