Cool Dude

(Through college I've volunteered with an NGO called Adharshila where we provide supplementary education to the kids of the neighbourhood)

At the centre we have a sort of semi class between the main class and the lunch break. During this time a few kids drop by, I’m not sure what exactly their relationship with the NGO is though. One day, a larger group came in and I saw some faces I didn’t recognize. This is when I saw cool dude for the first and only time.

Cool dude was a skinny little kid, just barely three and half feet. He was tiny! Winter had ended and it was getting rather hot, but cool dude was too cool for that; he wore an almost cowboy like jacket which flapped around behind him as he walked, underneath he had a tight shirt which was had the top few buttons undone and skinny jeans. But the outfit wouldn’t be complete without the pair of shades hooked on to the back of his collar.

Cool dude walked into class swaying to a rhythm in his head, was completely indifferent to the volunteer madam-s who the other kids went to. After a while he decided to grace these madam-s with his attention. He dropped his book in front of me. “Madam, kaam do.” I was very impressed with the attitude of this little creature who was barely as tall as my elbow, I asked him what his name was. He shot his arm out and pointed at his tattoo – DEEPAK. He really did not seem interested in doing work; when I asked him if he knew the alphabet and counting, he looked at me like I was being ridiculous. So I just gave him some simple sums. He came back looking proud. As I had suspected, he didn’t know how to tackle large numbers. So I explained to him how the carrying numbers over thing worked.

You should have seen his face! The simple act of leaving the units number down there and adding the other one with the tens seems to unlock all the mysterious secrets of the universe! Uninterested cool dude who would barely talk to me had disappeared, and Deepak was in top form; ready to tackle all the math sums in the world. I gave him sets of eight sums that he would bring back faster than the rest of the kids. A few sets into it, he started explaining the concept to a girl who had difficulty grasping it. In fact, she seemed to understand it better with Deepak’s enthusiasm.

When my friends and I were leaving, our coordinator approached me with tiny Deepak hiding behind her. She said that Deepak told her this madam teaches us good things. He wouldn’t look me in the eye, but no one could have given me a bigger compliment. And when he saw me packing up my things, he came up to me and happily buried himself under a pile of homework for the week. I told him I’d be back next Monday and that I should see him in class. He assured me that he’d come everyday, but I didn’t see him again.

I am disappointed that I didn’t get to see Deepak again, but he gave me a crucial dose of encouragement and helped me believe. If nothing else, Deepak will always know how to carry numbers over.