Tfi 10: Fitting words and a silver lining
CHENNAI: The mini auditorium at The Music Academy reverberated with cheer and applause on Friday evening. Teachers were the audience and students were the performers. Proud and joyous, the crew of Teach for India, a non-profit organisation working towards the vision of education for all children, had gathered to celebrate its tenth anniversary.
The two-hour event was interspersed with a gaana recital, slam poetry, and storytelling by the children. It was followed by a panel discussion by the Fellows on their experience, post-Fellowship phase and goals for the future. The event ended with the launch of Grey Sunshine written by Sandeep Rai, chief of city operations at Teach for India.
The cover of the book bears a picture of two girls, wearing an innocent smile, in front of a garbage dump. Titled Grey Sunshine, it might come across as an oxymoron to many. CE caught up with the author to understand his diverse experiences and reflections.
“The title signifies a ray of hope in a bleak scenario — the greyness of a skewed education system that fails our nation’s children every day; offset by the sunshine of the potential for systemic and personal change represented by the unlikely leaders from Teach for India, and the incredible experiences they undergo when they decide to leave behind the comfort of what they know, in order to be full-time teachers in government classrooms across the country,” said Sandeep, who was born and raised in the US, and moved to India a decade ago.
Sandeep spent days and nights at slums around the country. It took him 18 months to compile the book. He vividly remembers an experience that stands out — the story of Malini. “The child lives at the second-largest slum in Mumbai called Govandi. The city’s garbage gets piled up near her house and it’s evident from the stench and mosquitoes. Her father is a ragpicker. She looked at me with an intense face and said, ‘This is better than our earlier condition. I pray for a blessing every day and that’s the only thing I can do.’ These are stories of helplessness, oppression, resilience and change,” said Sandeep, who found penning these stories to be a soul-shaking experience.
The book has three different parts. The first one is about children and poverty. The second and third follow the lives of individuals who give up their cushy jobs to work with these children. “After the two-year Fellowship, our 3,000 alumni constitute a movement of people dedicated to changing the education system,” said Sandeep.
‘Grey Sunshine’ is priced at `399 and available on Amazon and other online platforms.