The Journey

01/30/2018.

It's strange how life turns out sometimes. The year 2016 turned around the normalcy of my well balanced engineer life for the best. I was there, logging hours, typing down lines of code, hoping a random person in a faraway continent wouldn't complain. It was 3.30 in the morning and my last meal was 8 hours earlier and I wouldn't be home before sunrise. The grumbling in my stomach had finally settled into a low rumble.

It was there, at that moment that I decided to file my resignation. On my way home in the company taxi, I kept contemplating my career options, I couldn't continue being an engineer. I had to write. I wanted to write all the time, be it mundane or otherwise.

As I started hunting for jobs, the post of a Creative Writer for a travelling company really appealed to me. And I applied, hoping my non-existent writing experience wouldn't be a hurdle. Surprisingly, it wasn't. But, a bigger hurdle appeared. I was tempted by an organisation called Teach for India.

It was really simple. I had to become a teacher for a NGO. A teacher, how hard could that be? Right?

As exhausting and brain churning as the process was, I applied. It was said that 7% of India's best minds were hired for this post. Despite having zero teaching experience, I was selected! Voila!

To say I was on top of the world would be an understatement. For this job not only focused on teaching but also on changing the lives of children through community intervention and transformation. A job in the social sector, I yearned for it. The empathetic part of me had triumphed.

Here I'm, exactly 21 months later, a full fledged teacher. I teach 200 6th graders on a daily basis. I handle two classrooms whilst also engaging in every session, meeting and debrief.

But, this journey hasn't been rosy. This journey hasn't remotely hovered around easy. The very reason for me documenting each day, trying to show the world a glimpse into a government school in India. Trying to show the world what my children are capable of, and constantly wondering if they will ever be able to reach their dreams.