From the Bench

Sitting on the bench outside of my little house, I hear all the action going on in the school. Reports come in around the clock about which big kid is being too rough on the little kids, who is dumping sand on someone's head, who is not sharing those darned hula hoops, how many birds they can count in the sky, and so on. The departure from updates in Tamil to updates in English has been remarkable over two months - the change has been drastic. They all talk at once, barely noticing that I am not responding, only listening and inwardly smiling at these stories. I imagine it in my head as a little ticker tape that goes across the front porch - The Vidya Vanam Report.

Today's report came from a group of four year olds, sitting on the bench (and on me) telling me about the weather ("So many clouds today!"), about the new playground ("I like the swing first, then the merry go round"), more birds in the sky ("I see so many birds - I think there are 80!"), the never ending pursuit of the "Quiet Sticker" ("I am not talking at all in class so I get a puppy sticker on Friday") and the new cell phone tower on the horizon ("Akka are they making a spaceship?"). The other teachers have to drag me away from the bench in the afternoon to teach their English class. The Vidya Vanam Report is my favorite news source.