The second day of my internship(11 June 2024) was better than the first one, maybe because I was there on time instead of being 40 minutes early.

Getting off at Chhatarpur metro station made me feel amazed by the sheer crowd at the traffic light. Crossing the large wide road and walking a hundred meters, I found a Maruti Suzuki van which had passengers.

Yesterday when I asked the supervisor of Hadi how I can bridge the gap between the station and the Butterflies NGO, I was told that vans just like these ones act as public transport. I asked the passengers of the first van I saw, "Jonapur?", they shook their heads and said "Gurgaon".

It is amazing knowing that cramped sweaty vans like these deliver passengers to Gurgaon for an affordable fee. I felt the large distance I had covered through the Delhi metro, and how it was cramped albeit not sweaty due to the full-blast air conditioning.

Rush hour had the vans filling and leaving in minutes, so i approached another one, asking the same question and getting a positive answer. I sat down in the back of the van, with another large man like myself who was probably commuting to his office, a young woman and an older, relatively lean man sitting in front of us. The van was brand new but the air conditioning did not reach the back of it. The van took off like an auto rickshaw but with more torque. The woman asked the passengers in the front to roll down the windows. The windows were rolled down and the AC was turned off. My arms, which had become shiny with sweat, started drying, and the other passengers felt relief. I asked the driver to stop when I recognized the shops which were near the NGO. The van trip cost me 15 rupees.

When I reached the basement office of Butterflies where I sat last day I saw a plate which might have had some chole and a cup of chai on the table of my supervisor. I asked if I could get breakfast at that time. He said that I would have to check by myself. Walking up the narrow but comfortable stairs of the building which which divided the entire building into a ratio of 1:3, I reached the kitchen.

The kitchen is an extremely professionally built spacious cooking area with all the cooking equipment one needs. This is because it is the practice area for the students of Butterflies School of Culinary and Catering.(More information can be obtained in the link below, it is a quick read.)

Butterflies - First Culinary School for Street Children

The first culinary school in India for street & street connected youth. Placements in fine dining restaurants and organisations.

butterfliesngo.org

I asked the man if there was something to eat. There wasn't, breakfast time was over. He offered me chai as there were some cups left. I gladly accepted and asked his name, which I couldn't ask yesterday. He answered with clarity "Bhawan Singh." I pronounced his name, and he nodded. I smiled, and left the kitchen balancing the cup of chai down the stairs, climbing down to the ground floor and then the basement, in the office where the ACs were on. Cool ngl.

I sat down with the chai and the manual of CDK(Childrens Development Khazana) and proceeded to read through it, returning back to a book written by Ambedkar whenever I felt bored. I wasn't in a rush. I had no reason to feel any rush. The cold air and the perpetually cold water from the water cooler were a luxury considering I am just an intern. I completed reading through the manual before lunch. I talked with my supervisor regarding the different cooperatives and roles of different child leaders in the programs, such as Child Health Educator and Child Sports Educator, both positions being highly sought after, and both being elective. The more sensitive role of "Buddies" is not elected, the child is picked by Butterflies staff considering empathy, friendliness, emotional intelligence, and sensitivity towards issues. The role also lasts a year, compared to the 6 months of CHE and CSE. Buddies help children open up about their internal mental, emotional, social, and family issues. They help the child get help from the case workers in Butterflies, themselves being catalysts, accelerating the process of confrontation of issues in a healthy way before the issues snowball into greater problems.

Shareef, my supervisor asked me to read more about the programs, policies, and working of the organization. He left for lunch and so did I.

The thali was different than yesterday's. It was homely like yesterday. No extra oil and perfect amount of salt, with the exception of the raita being unsalted. Gobhi, roti, palak rice, chana daal, raita, achar. 35 Rupees. Absolutely phenomenal in my opinion.

While eating I sat with Hadi, my classmate, who had brought his own lunch today. His gaze is fixed, solid like a rock, and wide-reaching. It feels as if a bear is staring you down. He never laughs at my jokes but sometimes I find a smile that would break into laughter. It usually dissipates like the wave in a pond, except quicker.

I went back down into the basement, to the cubicle where I sat. Hadi followed me and he did the typing work assigned by his supervisor in the cool environment. I read.

I was told by Shareef that there is a possibility of visiting the field the next day. I jotted down roughly the agency profile(funding, staff structure, and what the organization does) I left at 5:15 with Hadi, taking a battered van with the right door broken enough to be gaping at the edges, and yet being closed, and the right door being open for easy entry of passengers. It was much better than the brand-new van in the morning, due to the pristine ventilation, preventing any build-up of sweat.