1) Viji is not one of my students because she is too young, but we became pals when I was still fashionable (ie before the playground). She loves when I wear sunglasses because she can see herself in the reflection of my giant aviators. This child would spend hours on my lap making faces into my sunglasses if I left her there. She comes running at top speed from the other end of campus when she see I am wearing them. She is so cute and has a special brightness in her face. I will really miss spending time with her.
2) How Ramkumar is not exhausted from grinning all the time, I do not know. Literally this kid never wipes this gigantic smile off his face, straining his cheeks and making food consumption a difficult task. I often wonder what he could be smiling so much about. If I ask him a question in class, first he grins for ten minutes then starts thinking about the answer. Sitting at lunch in the staff room, I catch him walking by giving a sideways glance to see if any of us notice him. We call out his name just to see the grin. I nicknamed him "Smiles" and he loves it.
3) Aswin reminds me so much of my little cousin Emmett. Pati tells me that last year, Aswin never said a word, did not smile and barely made friends with the students. He had witnessed the death of his father and it had a really bad impact. You would never know it now. This year, he gets a thrill even out of having his name called during morning roll - he shoots up out of his chair, "Present akka!". What makes him like Emmett is that usually he is pretty quiet, and then every couple of days shocks me by chatting my ear off about all of everything. I love watching him around the big boys - you can tell he gets such a boost being included in their games and inventions. And he is darn cute.
4) I call this crowd "The Fraternity" - they can always be found together, usually making trouble. They walk into my class and shove all six of their bodies into a desk made for two, and then avoid eye contact with me hoping I won't move them. Sabarish regularly tries to convince me he is nine years old, when I know he is only six. Sanjai is never quite sure what's happening, but always follows the pack (see "Five Short Stories") - he often ends up on the bottom of the wrestling pile not knowing how he got there and a bit flustered. Dineshkumar is one of my smartest kids, but he is so busy flirting with the giggly girls in class, it takes him 45 minutes to write his own name.
5) The famous lovebirds, Salmitra and Manikandan, posing for their 1st anniversary photo op. In my mind, they count as one student. Last week she was absent for three days, but every once in a while we could hear him talk about her; she is never far from his thoughts. They still are too wrapped up in each other to even notice I exist, and I doubt they'll miss me when I'm gone. I love them anyway, because the manner in which the treat each and look out for each other is so adorable. A great little pair.
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