In addition to helping out in a subject, I wanted to do something more with the kids. I wanted to help them become more aware of their feelings and emotions. I wanted them to start listening to themselves and be in touch with their inner selves.

I wanted them to become empowered by being able to recognise their feelings, and being able to manage them.

I myself am on that journey towards self-exploration and understanding self and the world around -- one of the ways of which is to become aware of one's feelings.

The first day, we talked about different emotions -- such as happiness, sadness, anger, frustration -- and when we feel them. I also introduced them to EFT. EFT is an acupressure-based technique. It is a technique to increase awareness of our emotions and release them. It helps in peeling-off layers of emotions one-by-one thereby helping in understanding the core issues.

The 2nd day, we worked on their issues. I asked all the kids to close their eyes and think of any event that has caused them sadness. Kids shared issues that were bothering them.

"my father beat me"

"my mother didn't permit me to play"

One little girl with tears in her eyes said: "friends came to my house but left without eating food. I don't know why they didn't eat food even though it was a Ganesha Chaturthi."

One girl shared that a boy from their village had drowned the previous day and she felt very sad (this issue bothered at least a couple of the kids very much -- quite understandably).

"my brother has only one eye and I feel very sad seeing him"

"my mother's back is broken and I feel very sad"

"my dog died"

"I feel very sad when no one is at home and I have to be all alone"

I asked each of them to estimate the intensity of the emotion by stretching out their hands. We started EFT. For some, the intensity reduced, for some it remained the same and for some, it increased. We continued till the intensity for all of them fell down to zero.

For some of the kids , the emotions were very visible: teary eyes, flushed faces, the tone of their voice etc. I was amazed how their intensity was going lower. I also tested these people by repeating the events that was initially causing them the distress.

In the case of some of the kids where the emotions were not displayed so clearly, I was wondering if the emotions really went away or they were saying it just like that. But the fact that the other kids who had seemed in visible emotional distress at the start and became fine later, and by the fact that I tested them and they didn't seem to feel the distress anymore, I became more convinced and hopeful that it indeed was working.

It was really quite encouraging and I myself could not believe that I could actually be a medium to help out others in this field.

Some of the kids also seemed to be in guilt that it was because of their fault that they had got scoldings/ beatings from their parents. I talked about how, many times, people are upset due to their own issues and might take out on other people. It does not mean that we are not good.

For one particular girl who was feeling very sad visibly as her mother had been upset with her the previous day, during affirmations, I said things such as "I am a good person". For this particular person, I was amazed when after that round, she said, "It's gone." I couldn't contain myself from blurting out incredulously, "Are you sure?". She said very matter-of-factly, "Yes, it's gone. I am not feeling sad any more. I am feeling happy now". And her face showed that! I couldn't believe it myself.

When I shared this with MJ that evening, he said "But what's the point? If there's a situation at home that is causing the emotional issue for the child, it may continue to keep causing it. What's the point in clearing it when it will continue to come back? It may require physical/ material help".

It's a good point. But here is my take on it. First of all, although it is a rural school with no fee, I don't think the kids come from homes where the basic needs is an issue.

Secondly, I feel that once the basic needs are taken care of, it is the emotional needs that need taking care of -- because we are mostly using material means (beyond the basic needs) to take care of our need for respect, status, self-worth, looking "different/ standing out/ unique", sense of identity (all of these are emotional needs).

These can be fulfilled by material means only temporarily. Until we recognise and understand this, we can never have the feeling of self-worth and "abundance".

Many families do have genuine issues where husband might come drunk and beat up the wife and kids. How do we fix the husband? I don't have a concrete solution. But there are many examples where meditation/ Yoga techniques such as Art of Living or Vipassana or where philosophies such as Madhyasth-darshan (also known as Jeevan Vidya or Sah-astitvavad or Co-existentialism) have been shared with prisoners and it has brought about a complete change in the inmates. So, there is definitely hope. If hard-core murderers can turn around, a drunkard can too.

There is definitely work needed at the level of adults. But I also accept my limitations. At the moment, I am starting off with kids. We have to start somewhere. We need to start with taking small steps and build on.

At least, the kids are becoming empowered to recognize and manage their emotions. Instead of turning into insensitive creatures ready to inflict the same torture on their kids, they would at least be able to retain their sensitivity and would see a way out. And once they are able to see the scoldings/ beatings in a neutral way (rather than taking it as reflection of their "not being good enough" which continually erodes their self-worth and self-confidence and leads to self-hate), they would definitely have much happier childhoods and will grow up to be much more balanced.

I see that as a great gift we can give to kids.

And yes, MJ understood too.