The Book of Hope by The Better India

Author:The Better India [The Better India]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789354921339
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
Published: 2021-10-06T00:00:00+00:00

TGIF!

Every Saturday morning, Satarupa would take the 6:20 a.m. local train to Hasnabad station. From there, a rickshaw ride would take her to the Dasha riverbank, followed by a boat ride across the river, and finally an auto-rickshaw ride to Hingalganj. There, she would teach kids till three in the afternoon and make plans for the next week on her way back home.

‘I used to do my job at the school five days a week. But I’d always wait for Saturday—a day of all things freedom and happiness. Crossing the river, teaching the kids—it was an adventure for me,’ she laughs.

These initial Saturdays involved speaking to parents, counselling those who were not sending their kids to study, gathering kids, and teaching English. In a few months, she had taken eight Katha (0.5 acres) of land on rent using her salary and had set up a makeshift school.

However, getting kids to come regularly was difficult. The area wasn’t easy for her to navigate alone. Though she was never scared or doubtful, not knowing anybody in the region was a hindrance. Thus, one of the first stepping stones for Satarupa came in 2014, when she met a man called Aamir Hussain.

Aamir da, as she refers to him, was a high school teacher in Basirhat, a town located about thirty kilometre away from Hingalganj. Some people told him about ‘this lady who travels every week to teach kids.’ Intrigued, he reached out. Impressed by her dedication, he started supporting and encouraging her. He created space for her to work in the community by helping her speak to residents. And when Satarupa decided to hire the first few teachers to join her school, his wife was one of them.

But fate took a sad turn in 2016 when Aamir da passed away because of a heart attack. It came as a massive shock for Satarupa. Her strong pillar of support for four long years was no longer by her side.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.