The previous visit to Operation Shanthi last year, communication was only by body gestures, smiles and a few English words we shared, " name?" " superb!" " mdm" " beautiful!". And i made little effort to understand Kannada, i caught no words.
This round, I find that their standard of English has gone few levels up. Speaking in proper sentences are possible with the older kids (10-13 year old). And in exchange, they taught us some common terms in Kannada used daily.
" Wodi Bheda" means "no beating"--- we usually say this to the kids when they started playing too crazily, and go around beating one another. The next moment, couple of them would either come to us crying or start rolling on the ground in tears.
When its time for them to drink milk, we'll shout, " Aloo Godi!"... and
To get the boys up to their bunks at the second level we'll sit by the stairs before they come sneakily down,
" Melleh Whagu"... " go up"
Interesting hand signs both the children and us has to learn, under urgent situation to understand one another mutaully:
- sticking the pinky finger out ... its " i need to pee"
- sticking the index and middle finger out, or a number 2 sign... its " i need to poo"
Today was interesting... We were at the gate ready to leave the place, little Manu came down from the second level, ran all the way to the gate and pointed out his left pinky and grabbing his groin on his right; looking at us in despair.
For a moment, we just burst into laughter... it probably sounded very mean of us, just couldn't help it. He looked at us desperately with a smile and started to crossed his legs, trying his very best to control. Quickly, after noted Mahesh, he flew him in the mid-air to the loo.
Though only a few words i'm using with them, its a good start to break a few bricks from the big wall. There are more interactions, and good chances to understand what they like, or even what they are learning in school and helping a little on their homework.
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