My First Reading Session!!!!

Every Sunday at Padma Seshadri Bala Bavan School [PSBB], Habibulla Road, T Nagar, Chennai, reading session for Visually challenged[VC] students is being conducted. All one needs to do is, just drop in at the above said venue and read out the study material brought in by the students. Since most of the VC students who come here belong to Tamil medium, Volunteers who could read Tamil language are predominantly needed. Having said so, English reading volunteers are also required to little extent in a ratio of 90:10.The session would start exactly at 10.00 am on every Sunday and ends up at 12.30 pm noon. I got a opportunity to be a part of this noble event for the students who had challenged not just LIFE but the world.

The event starts with a prayer and then the volunteers are assigned students based on the reading language preference of the volunteer. I was assigned a student who had Wren and Martin English Grammar text book in his hand. The anchor knew very well that it would be difficult for a non Tamil guy to explain grammar in Tamil. Anyway I did not want to loose hope and wanted to give a try. Unfortunately, the student, Vadivel, had brought only the solutions of Wren & Martin grammar text book and not the actual text book. I could not do anything with that book so after an ice breaking talk about ourselves, we started having a spoken English session, just the two of us.

Soon, I was required to do a reading for a B.A English student. Samuel, a very serious and dedicated guy by appearance, greeted me with a broad smile and perfect English. I had to read the Shakespeare written “Othello” for him. All I had to do was read to him and he would comprehend and imagine scene after scene in his mind.

Just 20 minutes before the reading session was going to end, he had asked me to read “Idioms and Phrases” for him. That was a easy job. It was a quick revision for me too. We completed 50 idioms and phrases. I had to just read the phrase and he would explain the meaning. If he went wrong, I explained the meaning and read the sentence usage for him.

The reading session got over by 12 and it was time for lunch. Every Sunday, the lunch is sponsored by someone. I was told that the cost of lunch is 6500 approx. The most astonishing thing is that, the slots for sponsoring lunch is booked till August. Though a maximum volunteers are required for reading, few volunteers take care of the hospitality tasks such as guiding the students from main gate, arranging the slippers of the students and giving them a token, serving water ,tea and biscuits. Before the students ate their lunch, a group prayer was offered to God.

Well, now I have many new things for which I must thank God. For giving me an opportunity to be a part of this reading, for having so many people who willingly spend their Sunday mornings for a cause, for the immense energy and dedication of the students to learn despite the barriers and also for the people who coordinate and sponsor the whole event.

For more details and pictures,

http://scribes-readers.blogspot.in/2007_08_01_archive.html