The first week it was counting to five in Telugu with Shalini. Soon after it was the entire “Chikni Chameli” dance routine with Anuradha. Followed by a step-by-step tutorial on how to make chapatis from Jyothi. Our students at Railway Girls High School are brilliant and they love to teach as much as they love to learn. So it came as no surprise when they decided that, for their second project, they wanted to make not one but two how-to videos.

The girls are immensely talented so settling upon subjects to teach was no small feat. Lot’s of great ideas were vetoed in favor of our final two: a video on the history and artistry of mehendi, and one covering popular Indian sports. Rather than straightforward documentaries, the girls chose to incorporate all of their knowledge into narratives. Plots were concocted, characters were conceived and scripts were written. The Indian educational system is heavily focused on rote learning, which is something that the TMS curriculum generally discourages. However, all that practice at memorizing paid off in spades as everyone had their lines down and was ready to show off their acting chops within a few days.

The production phase of our projects has never been easy, logistics and time constraints are always looming, yet the girls’ lack of ego and great work ethic paid off and the outcome is two fantastic short films. After editing was finished we set aside class time to show the final videos, so that each group could see what the other had been working on. Everyone was so supportive towards the work of their peers, but the girls were surprisingly quite shy of seeing themselves on the screen! We hope you enjoy these videos and leave comments, we’re sure it will do nothing but boost the confidence level of these amazing girls.

TMS SPORTS from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

Railway Mehendi from The Modern Story on Vimeo.