EVENING CLASSES

Street kids are often allergic to school. So you can imagine my surprise when I dropped by the old garage in Byculla where the Sadak Chhaps used to eat and sleep and found that Evening-Classes were about to begin! One of the most unlikely sights of the Year.

Behind the office, five or six of the toughest, most anti-nerdi street kids imaginable - boys such as Raju, Jackie Chen, Gopi and Kuldip are getting ready to go to school!

A wiry young man with a limp is standing in front of these boys trying to insti.ll into them the alphabet. Jackie Chen’s having a hard time.

“Not apple, Jackie. ABCD. Capitals. Small letters.”

The teacher is Yesu Ratnam, a political Science graduate from Hyderabad. Yesu's got a crippled leg. He's come to Bombay for treatment. His money's run out.
So in return for free room and board, on the floor in the office, he's teaching some of the street kids the absolute basics of Reading, 'Riting and 'Rithmitic.
“Hey you! Sit down!” Katra is late. Yesu tells him to take a slate and a piece of chalk and sit down on the ground, next to Raju.
Not easy getting this lot to sit still! The smaller kids are OK. But Katra Super and Vilas are your typical discipline problems.
Jackie, who's grown four inches in the last year, stands out like a sore thumb. Like a sixteen year-old in a class of twelve year olds. And that's exactly what he is, of course!
The big surprise for me is Selwan Raju. Mr Tough Guy. He's very, very studious. I'd have expected him to be the ringleader, to give Yesu Ratnam absolute hell. But he's sitting cross-legged like the others, trying to form a perfect A on his slate.
Vilas says he can't find his book. Jackie can't find his pen.
“Prakash, you're always losing your pen! Take one from the box and be more careful in future. Now, everyone, please sit down and pay attention! You haven't got a slate? Get one from the box! Please sit down! You're wasting a lot of time! Now, all of you sitting? Write ABCD.”
“How many letters in the Alphabet!”
For once a straight answer: “Twenty six.”
“That's right. Twenty six. OK, Raju. Can you write capital and small letters please?”
“I only know the Big Ones.”
“You don't know the small ones yet?”
“No!”
“Well, you must try and learn those one too. Now, we're going to learn these five letters. I told you last time they're separate from the others. We call them. What do we call them? Anyone know?
Jackie’s got the right answer, again: “Vowels”
“Yes, vowels.”
But when it comes to actually identifying which letters are vowels, that's a bit more difficult.
“Hey, Raju. Pay attention! You can't make words in English without vowels.. You may need one or two of them. Every word has to have them. Take the name RAJU. Or the phrase GOOD MORNING. If you don't use vowels nobody can understand you! So, vowels are very, very important.”
A voice pipes up innocently.
“Do all five of them come in every word?”
You get the picture? Seven street kids, sitting cross-legged with slates in the laps, under the light of a street lamp.
These are things those of us who write Roman script take for granted. That and when to use capitals and small letters. But Devanagri script doesn't make such a distinction. So how to explain when to use a capital? Yesu cheats a bit.
“In English, we start every word with a capital. So Chawal - rice - begins with a Big R. So every word you begin with a Big Letter, and then the small ones follow on behind. Like little piglets behind the Mother Pig. But if you find this too confusing it's OK for now to write everything in Capital Letters.”
Yesu asks Jackie to write down Numbers One thru Four. Jackie's forgotten how.
“OK! Jackie. Say them to me!”
“Sir, How we going to remember all these numbers?”
“You can say them to yourselves when you're wandering round the city.. It'll only take you 30 minutes a day.”
“Sir! Why isn't Badsha the cook attending class? It's not fair.
“Badsha has to finish the cooking. Then he will come. OK. Raju. I want you to spell FIVE for us, please!”
“I U E.”
“No, five...Hey, Jackie!”
The letter V - vuh, vuh - is very difficult. How do you get them to say it? Yesu eventually gives up.
I never saw Yesu again. I suppose he went back to Hyderabad. The boys have all moved now to the brand-new Night Shelter, which they helped design and build. It's under a footbridge just up from Churchgate Station. It won't be too long before someone else comes along to try and give them a bit of the three Rs.

Essay
Episodes 1 - 4
Episodes 5 - 8
Episodes 9 - 12
Episodes 13 - 16
Episodes 17 - 20
Episodes 21 - 24
Episodes 25 - 28
Episodes 29 - 32
Episodes 33 - 35

Main Episode List
Cast of Characters
Credits
MP 3

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