Pehal- An AID Delhi Initiative

There are many reasons why I absolutely abhor exam time but I could not have imagined Pehal would figure foremost amongst those reasons. After hacking my way through numerous entrance examinations, on a sweltering Sunday afternoon on 23rd May I found my reasons and their justifications.


The music session with the kids at B.T.Block School, Shalimar Bagh was unprecedented in many ways. My sole prior experience with music and kids had been at the construction site venue. This class size was bigger and more varied. In all my self-assurance, I started from scratch and some basics and lo and behold! The kids were way ahead of me! Well-versed with lyrics and much confident in their intonations, this music session turned out to be one big pool of talented students. We started with the National Anthem that set the mood for the National Song afterwards. And then with the count down of Sa Re Ga Ma a new patriotic song was introduced “ Mat baato insaan ko”. The rest of the time was spent in perfecting the chorus and getting familiar with the song itself.

Later, some kids came up to experiment with the harmonium and Jyoti (a Pehal student) performed the ‘Shabad’ in Punjabi for all accompanied by the harmonium. This ‘special’ performance excited the others and all have by mutual consent decided to present one special item for the subsequent classes on Fridays.

Aside from the singing, another outstanding feature for me was the overall discipline and courtesy maintained by the kids. I’d seen these kids during admission time and I see them now, so much more confident in asserting themselves. Excuse my use of such a casual word but this session WAS ‘fun’. And that exactly is when I hated the imposition of exams that has kept me away from Pehal.
As I write this, I’m already drawing up plans to divide the class into a proper choir. Any assistance is welcome and so are suggestions.

Happy Volunteering,

Anandita Yadav