Win-win

At Future Hope, I always seem to be the loser. Sometimes, the defeats are because of my lack of understanding. In fast track, I struggle to understand this rock paper scissors variant as my hands are playfully slapped by Sadija and Sana and at the racecourse, I get tackled ruthlessly by the Zaihid and Rahul when I unexpectedly get a pass from my team. Other times, I'm the loser just because I don't have the ability. Milan kicks goals passed me with ease while Abdul summarily executes my pieces on the chessboard. Subindu bowls ball after ball past my wildly swinging arms and Vikki listens as I mumble hopelessly wrong answers to his famous Indians' quiz.

Often I'm on the losing end as the kids try hopelessly to get their point across in languages I have little grasp of. Though Susma tells me as slowly as she can where Nikhil is in Hindi, I can never seem to find him. At the same time, I'm left clueless when Suraj or Mahadev talk in rapid-fire Bengali as they wash their school uniforms. Sometimes I even lose for no fault of my own. A bet between Ramu and Subho means I will be carrying one of them for three minutes around the upper floor. Meanwhile, I hand out two candies to each boy upstairs because of Rahul's 'challenge' to me that Spain would win the world cup (who knew an octopus could predict so well?).

But as many times as I've lost, there has been so much more that I've gained. For each word I do not understand a younger boy speak in Bengali, I have Sanjeeb or Arpan kindly translate. Each time I fail to throw the right pass in rugby or play the right move in chess children go out of their way to show me what I did wrong and how to do it correctly. For each wrong utterance in class, the boys and girls make sure to teach me the right way and by explaining, learn more a bout the topic themselves. Even the most quiet are eager to show me the right path as Sunny corrects my batting stance, Abdul lets me play through alternate moves in chess, and Badal shows me how to be a better goalkeeper.

In fact, by losing I'm winning because I am able to interact with every boy as they show me what to do. Now, when I win I can attribute it to their teaching and when I lose I can engage these winners for more help. Either way, I get to interact with them even more. Who knew losing could be a win-win?