BITS It is.... !

 

 After a long year of waiting, Nandita was asked to return to campus to continue her course work. It was the most excitement that she has had in a long while since her graduation ceremony from the 12th grade.

 Nandita was already into the 3rd semester of her course work and the pandemic took the shine of a fresher in the BITS Pilani campus due to the lock down. 

Nevertheless, the excitement of moving on campus, away from home and to be with  friends and course mates who were just virtual thus far knew no bounds.

We booked flights to Delhi and prepared for the drive from there to Pilani. The journey started off on a not so pleasent fashion with us reaching the airport check in counter with less than an hour to spare. As a result, we missed the scheduled flight with a lighter pocket we rebooked on the next flight that was about an hour later.

We made it to Delhi and took a taxi to the 200km long drive to Pilani. The drive was uneventful except for the fact that it wound its way through rural Haryrana and Rajahasthan and at some places the roads were just huge craters. 

It was around 4 PM by the time we reached Pilani and it was raining cats and dogs, the Covid rules for drop off allowed for a one time entry to the campus to drop off the student. 

Neetu in her excitement to meet her friends, insisted that she be dropped off the same evening. I shall remember this for a long time because we did not get to see the campus due the rains and the late evening. 

We dropped her off in the hostel and made the necessary purchases to get her settled in and bid our good bye's. We spent the night in a shanty hotel just outside the campus.

The next morning I tried to coax the security to allow us into the campus, he did not budge however. 

We left Pilani for Delhi by noon and took the flight back home in the evening. 

As parents, we were really thrilled to have her in one of the best institutions in the country, subconsciously as parents again, it felt like the beginning of a empty nest syndrome.

IISC Open House Trip 2017

Well, another year has gone by and the memories of the previous IISC trip were not forgotten, the kids promptly reminded that that it's about time for the annual trip.

We visited the High voltage engineering this time and it was our first visit to that department. Some of the experiments shown tours were certainly very attractive to the kids. It was crowded as hell and  every year it seems to be getting more popular.

The highlight of the trip as always was towards the very end. Kids loved to just run around in the open space and climb up trees and culminated in a late Lunch at Chulah Chouki. Wonderful trip and good memories.

Pictures of the trip available at

IISC Pictures 2017

R2I one month later

School Day 1:
The first day(a Friday) of the new school was a half day, Neetu was tense and had butterflies in her tummy, Nishanth was carefree with a "bring it on" attitude. Veena and myself were very tense as well.

Dropped them of at 8 Am and went back to pick them up around 11:30. It was such a big relief to see them come back with a big smiling face.

School Week 1:

The next test was surviving a week with full day of school. The kids stood out in their color dress as their uniforms were not ready yet. On the return from the first day they were happy, made a couple of friends and Neetu was working hard to blend in and what stood out that evening was she had already developed an Indian accent. She was also anxious to get her uniform so she could blend in right away.

During the course of the first week we meet with their class teacher and Hindi teacher's and started them on some extra coaching for Hindi. Emphasis on good handwriting, writing cursive, legibly, spellings and concern about being behind on Hindi were brought up by the teachers.

Nishanth was upset the second day when he received a smack from his PT teacher for not following "Stand-at-ease" and "attention" discipline. That was totally new to him (both the smack and the discipline !).

During the course of the week friends circle grew and the kids returned excited about their day at school. Sharing food during lunch was one of the biggest attraction and there were a couple of jabs at their accent, nothing that was a cause for concern.

School Month 1:

It is amazing what peer pressure can do. Kids have grown responsible, packing their bags, polishing the shoes, help with wrapping up and labeling their books. In the one month we see a remarkable improvement in areas that were of concern. School activities such as debates and such are starting, Nishanth has started on Basket ball and the first round of class tests are around the corner. Over all the kids proficiency seems to be much higher than what is being thought at school which is pretty much at the same levels being thought in the US.

So that is about the kids, now to the adults.

Both of us started work and so far it has been working out well. Veena started driving classes and she has adapted amazing well. After about a weeks worth of classes she has started taking the car out on family trips and is slowly getting into the groove. At this point I myself am wishing that I did not have to return, nevertheless I am now working on making my stay there as short as possible.

After a month the feeling that I did the right thing is stronger than it has ever been. There are still some critical pieces that need to fall in place and time will tell.

Acha's last day

The last semester of my post graduate studies just concluded, it turned out the most hectic of all of the terms I've had so far with a single course literally taking away my entire weekend's and team meetings on weekday evenings alongside classes the rest of any free time I had left.

It amazed me to see that Veena and the kids were the most thrilled that it was my last day of class. On my return after the finals I received a greeting card and big hugs from the kids, Neetu wrote a letter to go with the card and here it goes, literally the way she had written it.

**
Acha's last day...

of school it is so aswome he is going to be home soon and then we have a plan planned. Here is the plan: When acha comes we are going to hide. Why? Because then we are going to jump out (yeah) and shout "Happy last Day". Are the whole goal is to make Acha feel good of what he has done and spend the time on it. I like him because just because he might need to be working but still he spend as much of time with us as he did with studying. It shows me respons ability and caring thos to big word make me proud of him and I bet he is proud of his self. Asome "huh" !

**
After the finals the class went out for a beer and by the time I returned the kids were settling into their bed time routines so the plan that got executed was a little different. Nevertheless it made me feel good.

Crystal the Unicorn

Here is a story Neetu composed at school and made its way home. Its here in it entirety exactly as she composed it, spellings, grammar et all. I just had a good time reading it.

Crystal Unicorn was walking in the park one afternoon when she steped on a rock. Ow! Ow! Ow! sh yelled. All her friends ran to her she brok her leg! Her friends said to rest but she could'ent she needed to go and take people on special trips. Her friends keepet on telling her and telling he but she won't listen to them. She said to watch her said. Katlyn said. She walked slowley there. Then OW! She hurt herslef OW! OW! OW! She said She sat and waited. She said to the crowed sh well have to wait and rest before they go on the trip. She said we'll rest for a week then they would go on the trip. After a week she went on the trip but it took a week. So when she came back it was chrismas she was very sad She almost mist chrismas. But she got a persent it was a small unicorn.

First Day of School

After a long summer of doing nothing it is back to school time. Nishanth is still attached to his pre-school teacher and all summer long he has insisted on going back to Mary's class. It is here that he lost his fear of insects and bugs. His fascinations for bugs were so profound that he made pets of earth worms, grubs and frogs that he gathered from the yard. Even a couple of bee stings have not stopped him from running to the Rose bush, capturing them and putting them in his butterfly basket. It would be no surprise to us if we were to find a couple of dead bugs in his pocket at laundry time.

Veena took him to the kinder garden open house and his teacher asked him if he was excited to go to school and his prompt reply was an undiplomatic "NO". He was still hoping he could go back to his favorite teacher.

At dinner that evening Veena was making small talk with the kids and she expressed how happy and excited she was that Nishanth is starting Kinder garden, so he questions her about why she was so happy. "I am happy because my little boy is growing big", to that he responds "No! You are excited because I won't be home all day making trouble"

That is truly a sign that he is growing and beginning to shed his childhood innocence. I am sure Veena was genuinely excited that he was growing while I was more excited for reasons he cited.

The next day after an initial hiccup he reluctantly got ready to go to school, once at the bus stop he seemed to forget that he was not supposed to be excited. The bus came and off he went with a big happy smile.

That evening on his return I could tell from his excitement that Mrs. Mary's chapter had ended and Mrs. White's had started.