I arrived at Kalkeri Sangeet Vidyalaya (KSV) on September 27th, ironically the day all of the students left to go on their month-long break for the holidays. KSV is a boarding school in the tiny village of Kalkeri, Karnataka dedicated to uplifting underprivileged children across Karnataka through the study of traditional Indian instruments and vocal practices in addition to academic studies. While this was an unusual way to start my 10-month long fellowship placement, I could not have asked for a more relaxing entrance into my Host Organization.
Immediately, all of the staff took me to a little food stall right off of the campus, where they fed me maggi noodles, chaat, and chai and asked me about my family and interests to get to know their newest volunteer who would be living on campus. Although initially daunting, this welcoming environment set the tone for what I have come to realize about KSV: that it is a passionate community where the staff genuinely care about their work and all of the people who support their students.
A Canadian-French couple who were studying Hindustani music in Dharwad started offering free classes to the local children, which eventually turned into KSV. This side project turned into a lifelong commitment to music education. Because of this, the staff and volunteers comprise of both French and Indians. Because of this, as you walk around campus you will hear Kannada, Hindi, and French.
Walking around an empty campus is a strange experience. You can feel the undercurrent of excitement at the mention of all of the events planned for next semester. As you enter into the KSV office, you can see how hard all of the staff and volunteers are working to help set everything up in preparation for November 2nd when all the students return so nothing slips through the cracks. The thrum of anticipation for the programming keeps everyone busy even when there are no kids present. However, in this quiet, my bond with the rest of the volunteers and staff strengthen as people get ready to take their vacations.
Volunteer Life
As you walk up the path to the volunteer lounge area, you are almost certainly going to run into someone lounging on the hammock while another person is cooking in the kitchen. The KSV volunteers comprise a wide range of people from all different backgrounds and walks of life. Some have been at KSV for almost a year, while some only a month. Some people have a background in art or yoga, a practice KSV highly encourages with 5:30AM yoga every morning that school is in session. For myself, I was drawn to KSV as a Banyan Impact Fellow because of my background in theater management. As an Indian-American who grew up playing piano and being surrounded by the arts my entire life, I knew my skills in communications and my passion for arts development would make this the perfect fit for me.
Every morning and evening the volunteers roll out a mat in the designated volunteer area and sit together while drinking coffee and tea. Here, surrounded by the greenery of tall trees and the sight of monkeys, we overlook the entire school grounds and see the various animals which have been adopted by KSV staff running around.
The animals of KSV are one of the most unique and unexpected aspects of the school. There are plenty of dogs and cats which have been adopted by the KSV staff members who live on campus. These pets are fed three times a day, sit with us at meals and in the volunteer area, and sleep on and under the desks in the office during the work day. On one remarkable occasion, one staff member bought her cat a necklace and put it on him during dinner. Much to the amusement of everyone, the cat had lost the necklace by the next morning.
An absence of children on campus does not mean an absence of work to be done. There has not been a dedicated Communications Coordinator at KSV in months, and because of that, the work has been scattered across different departments. The time without students has been spent getting my bearings and figuring out what is the highest priority with a massive fundraiser/event coming up only a week after classes restart. This includes meeting the heads of various departments, combing through already existing documents, and brainstorming social media strategy for the different platforms used going forward.
While coming to a rural boarding school was initially overwhelming, especially with differences in the living accommodations compared to what I was used to in the United States, the welcoming environment and casual start to my time as KSV has already made this a transformative experience, and I cannot wait for all that the next 10 months hold in store for me on not only a professional, but also a personal, level.
