Twestival Pune : We met, we went, we had the best time of our life

As decided earlier, I confirmed with our leader Abhi and reached 3d Destination.
Somehow, all the people who had confirmed to come didn’t show up and it was really disappointing for me to stand there calling up and listening to the random excuses most of the people gave us.
Finally we came to a decision, there were 6 of us … Abhi, Ashwini, Prasad, Ketan, Rohan and me.
We left 3d, a detour in city to get gifts for the kids there, got them biscuits, chocolates, some stationary and will soon after a discussion with the person in charge there get something for them that will be useful in daily life.
So, 6 of us introduced each other, well i knew Ket and Roh since college, and we left for Ishwarpuram, a little disappointed but still excited.
The journey was about an hour or so which went very fast for me as a friend of Abhi, Prasad was a very entertaining person and we had a good laugh throughout our journey on the bikes.

Entering Ishwarpuram

Finally we reached Ishwarpuram and met the person in-charge there who explained what and how things worked there, the history, the plans for the future etc.
My first impression when I saw Ishwarpuram painted on a cement pole was “yeah, that’s good, Hey shoot that now ” .
So we took the left turn and through the dirt track type road which had one hard to cross patch was fun. On entering, I saw peace, greenery and the freshest air in Pune.
They had some function today in the hall and I though “Why not shoot these people and claim them as the twestival attendees”, yes I’m evil haha.
In we went and had a talk with the in-charge people and learned more from them.

 

Prasad with Pradeep 

Just then a smart looking boy came to us and served us water with a smile, “Pradeep” he said after I asked what his name was. I really saw potential in this guy when he showed us around, told us stuff and Oh, he’s a Pune champion football player too! and we were making jokes on how unfit all of us were.
Some more of talking done by our leader “Abhi”, he’s a person with a lot of patience and interest. You can keep on telling him stuff and he will listen with the same interest from the first word to last. Anyways, then Pradeep took us to show us around Ishwarpuram.

 

Painting made by one of a kid in Ishwarpuram

We went down the main hall or I hadn’t read what it was but they had detailed instructions on every room. The timetable started at 5:30 am which was awwed at by most of us. Further ahead we came at the bath section and saw 2-3 kids washing clothes and I tried to remember when was the last time I was washed something, I hit my head with a click and walked ahead. We then came to the rooms of the kids, as we were getting more acquainted with Pradeep, we were clicking away snaps in a speed sequence setting, and that’s the reason the pics haven’t been here in this post yet. Too many and scattered !

 

This is how Ishwarpuram will look from the skies !

The bed rooms were kept very clean, by the kids themselves. When grown, these will be the independent men with lot of talent and success I’m sure.
One room had a vase with a really creative arrangement of flowers in it which we found out was made by Pradeep. Later we asked a kid who was on a upper bed in the room say he made it.
We loled and took pictures of both of them together as it happened to be that one got flowers and the other arranged.

Then we saw the amazing Art room, having paintings each which deserved a day of observation, there were some musical instruments too and I thought “Ah, cool that. let’s prod..” that thought was disturbed by Ketan who told me its lunch time
We adored how there were seat numbers painted on the floor as A,B,C,D … pretty cool so we were Asking each other number and stuff.

Lunch was delicious, Abhi had already got lunch for us - A perfect leader and we had a fusion which tasted just good. Then was the time to meet the children ! yay, but frankly I was a little “nerv” so yeah, we sat for few minutes discussing, Look at that”ing” and laughing, mostly laughing though and finally got the boxes of chocolate and stationary and made our way to the hall.
We had our wow moment as 45 something kids chorused “Good afternoon” - If you would have been there, I can’t explain. How’s hypnotic for a description , no it was something more.

After I shouted at Roh to start the video, I started ” Hello, yaha pe hindi kisko aati hain ?
( Who among us know hindi).
Sab ko aati hain ?
(every one knows? )
I asked every one their name and what they like, the typical first day in school type introduction from them which they gave excellently.
Yes, and then I stared off in a rather typical hindi motivational speaker type tone that was stuttered when I tried to remember the hindi equivalent for the words like “computer, internet, organization and so many more” But they were so good, they listened to every word of mine and saw my smile grow wider every word I said with the worst hindi usage.


I asked whether any one among them would like to show what they do and a great singer song “Hum hoge kamayaab” Song which reverberated just perfectly in the room which deserved the applause.
The chocolates and stuff were distributed and we decided finally that we were to play football with them, we said Yes, but none of knew what was coming to get us !
A talk with the incharge people, they told us how *late Mr. Vikas Bhagwat was and we were really interested and they finally gave us a book in Marathi “Babhalichi Fule” - Vikas Bhagwat (nana) . I looked up at the sky, don’t ask why, I feel good and reminded we had just asked the kids to be at the ground and we weren’t there.

 

The Sport Ground

The ground is shared with the army school which helps Ishwarpuram, my bike could have slipped down with me on it, I didn’t realize how steep that road was. It wasn’t meant for bikes too.
I couldn’t recognize Pradeep till I called his name and there he was in his red football jersey as he shouted “Chalo khelte hain”.

Prasad tied his laces, Rohan warmed up, and I folded my jeans up and asked for a belt. I didn’t get one.
The match was awesome, we saw tricks and were now running away from the ball! Prasad tried hard and yes once or twice he could kick the ball.
I saved a few goals though, and Roh was playing pretty nice too. Few more minutes of play time and I was feeling like my heart was on fire. We all were in the same condition. These guys are real good players !
Their coach had come and we stopped the game, as I walked back to take back my stuff I had handed to camera man - Ketan, I asked who was the coach as we saw a bike and a white skoda coming in the ground.
I asked who the coach was and was amazed to know that coach was the one in the car ! Oh cool, yeah let’s get back we said and stared to walk back.
We also had a wonderful chat with the coach, and the ideas he had in mind were amazing too.
I will put up pictures and more soon, hope all of you who were not there with us got an idea of what this trip was like. Pure awesome.
Have a great day,
cares
Sidd
See more pictures here