The time Ilana and I have as TMS teaching fellows is coming to a close. Today I spent an hour in a Xerox shop printing TMS certificates of completion for our students. After reading the English text for a while, the adult man operating the shop computer highlighted the section that says “exceptionally trained in photography, filmmaking, video editing and computer multimedia software.” He told me, “This boy [pointing to the one behind the Xerox machine] knows all this.” I looked at the boy, assuming (naively) that he was about 18, since he was working a regular job. I’ve met other boys who did “digital printing” coursework in upper secondary school (11th and 12th grade), and I’d talked to this boy, Ramesh, a few times before when he was the only one in the shop. Like many youth I’ve met in such shops, he’s more adept with the technology than his elder superiors, who take charge of interactions with me when they’re around or not watching cricket on the shop television.

This time I asked Ramesh his age. 14. “Are you studying?” No. The man told me that Ramesh had failed his 10th standard exams. But you know all of these things” I said, indicating the computers and other equipment (Xerox shops do passport photos and other multimedia services). Now the man altered what he’d said earlier: Ramesh wants to learn photography, filmmaking, video editing and computer multimedia software. The man was asking me to teach the boy.

Throughout our experiences in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh and greater India, Ilana and I have been asked over and over again to share our digital media skills with the people–or the children of the people–that we meet. Today was yet another reminder of the uniqueness of the classes we teach as TMS fellows and the magnitude of students ready and eager to learn.