Bannerghatta National Park trip with the HOPE School Children

Described by Subhashini, contributions from Shashi. Volunteers, VIBHA India, Bangalore

Preparations for the trip on Saturday (February 28, 2009) started on Wednesday (February 25, 2009), deciding the menu and planning with Vishal and Venky, the course of the picnic. As we moved closer to another exciting event, funds and volunteer planning went on in full swing. Friday evening was frenzy with buying stuff, planning and co-ordinating with Venky and Vishal.

The excitement was like going on a school excursion; I woke up at 6, with the sun, without the alarm and with a happy butterfly flying in my stomach, looking forward to the day ahead. I was ready, waiting for Danny; and the food of course, to arrive on time. Danny arrived promptly at 7.15 AM, carrying some really cute caps he bought for the kids. Food arrived at around 7.30 which Danny and I, set about packing; fighting an urge to gorge some of them ?. By 8:30 the bus had arrived and with Ashish, Danny and Vishal the food and snacks were loaded into the bus.

Now the real fun began. A lot of excitement unfolded when the caps that Danny brought, with a Harley Davidson imprint, were handed over to the kids. Danny seated himself comfortably in the last row of the bus, so that all the kids could comfortably gang around him, and unpacked his guitar. It was almost like the kids knew us really well. Immediately we all got into the groove singing and dancing. Many tamil, kannada and hindi songs were sung. Old or new, I didn’t know most of them :). Still, the kids motivated me to sing along. Danny was a good sport, strumming the guitar for songs which he absolutely had no idea of. He also made some “nursery rhymes-rock” fusions?. Introductions were also made in the middle of all the excitement.

Unfortunately Vishal’s health took a bad turn and we had to hospitalise him. All of us were a bit shocked and we had a larger responsibility of making sure the kids weren’t affected. They felt so attached to Vishal and immediately started praying for him; enquiring upon his health frequently. Leaving Ashish to take care of Vishal, we proceeded ahead with our plan.

Danny continued to play the entertainer’s role. It took some time to get them back to fun mood, but kids being kids got into it. We were to pick up Arvind en route, we almost forgot about him and just about managed to pick him up. Forgetting Arvind then became normal thing to do throughout the trip?. He and Danny made a fine pair of entertainers for the kids and we sang more tamil songs. I joined the girls to sing some of the new hindi songs and thus singing along we reached the Bannerghatta National Park (BNP).

On the other hand, as was the plan, Venky had picked up Shashi from Koramangala and had driven down to BNP while Satish had reached BNP to enquire about the entry tickets. Entry tickets for Grand Safari & Butterfly park for the team was bought, with Venky rightly getting agitated at rude behaviour of the officials at BNP who were not the least bit willing, to listen to our request for concession.

Courtesy Jeydev’s camera, all of the event was recorded. Arvind, the designated photographer, made sure the memory of the wonderful trip was there for everyone to share and reminisce about; from the sleeping bear to the beautiful butterflies, everything was captured in the lens.

We first visited the butterfly park. Children were elated to look at all the different varieties of butterfly flocking around; Arvind was busy with his photography & Shashi was soaking in the moment. Then we proceeded to the museum which was adjacent to the butterfly park, which had a lot of information about butterflies, their origin, lifecycle & different species found. Satish meticulously explained to the children about the lifecycle of a butterfly. Venky who was waiting outside for us to return from the butterfly park, tested their understanding - we felt volunteers would be beaten by a substantial margin if we were to compete with children in answering. Then we set for the grand safari.

In the Grand safari, the children had a chance to see the wild animals, like the Bison, White Tiger, Bears & Lions. It was noon & the sun was blazing in all its glory. The animals were trying to find places in the tree shades & were preparing themselves for an afternoon nap. Children were on their feet to catch glimpses of the animals in different postures. Of the lot , the best was a bear which was trying to take a nap with his legs thrown apart nonchalantly, showing some signs of disturbances by our presence, and finally back to the ‘I don't care’ attitude towards us. Arvind was busy with his job, with what he does best. We finished the safari on high note seeing white tigers. Then we left for Lunch.

We had a delicious lunch with tamarind rice & fried potato - courtesy Kamala’ma - and left for the Zoo. In the zoo, the children had a chance to look at cheetahs, crocodiles, elephants, Pythons & various species of birds. Children on one hand with high energy levels, were running from one cage to the other, and on the other hand, we the volunteers were tired & had to drag on to keep up with their pace. At last we reached our bus ready for return journey. The children had a great time at zoo and the safari.

It was now time for some more entertaining moments in the bus with Danny. He played some beautiful songs from hindi & tamil movies on his guitar. The best of the lot was "Tum ho tho" from the movie, Rock On. Exhausted from the heat and the day’s work, Danny snoozed soon after.

Arvind then had a friendly chat with the children about their future and the importance of continuing their education after they graduate this year from Hope School. We also got to know what the children had in mind towards their future; it was indeed very inspiring to know how each of them had their own little dreams of becoming doctors/lawyers, and oh yes, software engineers or teachers. It felt like we had taken a plunge ahead towards one of our challenges (to bring down the number of school drop outs).

Satish, Danny and Shashi (after dropping me home) accompanied the bus until school and went on to meet Vishal at Manipal Hospital who was in a better condition. ‘Better condition’ is perhaps an understatement; because Shashi felt he looked all energetic to organize another Vibha event! :)

It was a tiring day indeed but we, the volunteers also had our fun moments. Enjoying chilly mangos, masala pineapples (don’t miss such trips henceforth :) ) cracking jokes at each other (mostly planning to reunite Arvind with the wild, as their afternoon meal) - were all a memorable part of the day!

All in all it was indeed a memorable trip and being with the kids and all the volunteers (Satish, Danny, Shashi, Venky and Arvind) was great fun. I look forward to many more such events!! Last but certainly not the least, my cook/maid who is like a family to me, had provided us with some sumptuous meal, and the energy to walk around. So thanks to you Kamala’ma; even though you may not read this. It was everyone's energy, time and goodwill that made this event very memorable.

Kudos to all the volunteers involved (directly or indirectly), who made this event a great success.

Godspeed.

Cheers.

--LakshmiSharma 11:45, 9 April 2009 (CDT)

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