Just Boarded

Two things happened, two months ago.

We were at the Centre for a residential induction (fortunately, it was my first exposure to Magic Bus and it was only after those 10-days of absolute fun and friendships that I went through the regular (though interesting) PowerPoint slides back here. Experiential learning, what we believe in here, came to me right from the first days. And trust me, it has made a difference. So yes, the induction happened, I’m family now, and kind of exploring and understanding things around.

The first good thing: It’s like a universal language here. Some say, “It came from Andhra Pradesh”. Others think, “It is just there, no meaning or origin in particular”. Yet others feel that it means ‘children’ in some language. So, I got infected by the words on the football grounds of the Centre on May 9, day one of the training. Pilelo was something that everybody understood and responded to with a Ho. Sure, there’s a reason why this blog is called so. I was taken back to younger years. “Feedback”, my teachers would say, “completes a communication”, and I’d wonder. They certainly had a tough time trying to gather our volatile attention in all possible ways ranging from “Hey, here’s something interesting for you today” to “Guys, please listen. It’s important. Promise, we’ll break in another five minutes” and everything in between.

However, things were different in this far-away land (coincidentally, I’ve just completed a document on the Centre today). Everybody connected with just these two words. You throw a Pilelo right in the air, and echoes back a Ho from all directions – boundaries of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh or Delhi dissolve; Marathi, Telugu and Hindi become one. Pilelo had that instant command, Ho was that immediate support. Back home, I realize that it’s the same across the Magic Bus family. And it’s a hit! Children understand, like and do it. The mentors know, use and adapt it! We see it in sessions, over lunch tables, among kids on their own, our staff when they need that small break from work, and every time when we think of it – with its various forms ranging from subtle to loud, sung to shouted, and requested to told. As a family, it’s our own language; and sure enough, I’ve grown pretty fond of it!

The second: Meethi Taali, for I doubt there’s a sweeter expression for it.

This, coming soon!