Jhansi trip

Delhi Public School, Chhatarpur arranged for an educational trip for classes 1-7 on 26th of October 2018.. Each class had two to three teachers accompanying them. I was asked to accompany class 7 for the Jhansi trip along with five other teachers. Our allotted school bus arrived at 6.30 A.M and we reached the stadium by 6.50 a.m. The stadium was the meeting point for both students and teachers. Once we reached the stadium I saw it was all crowded with students, their parents and teachers. The smile on everyones face clearly showed how excited we all were. Finally we started our journey at 8A.M. There were two buses allotted for the Jhansi trip. I was with class 7B. As we headed towards our destination the excitement grew with students and teachers playing Antakshari and sharing different stories. Then we stopped at a dhaba to have food and eventually reached the museum which was our first destination. Before entering the museum we were clearly instructed to not use more than one cell phone to take pictures. Students were divided in two lines and were asked to move around and see the museum. The museum was more or less about the 1857 mutiny against the British. There were coins, weapons, stamps, paintings and stone relics of some Hindu and Jain temples. The museum was undoubtedly rich in artifacts. But we had to hurry and we could not spend more than one hour because we had to head towards the fort and we had a time constraint in our hands. So we moved towards the fort. The bus parked itself in the parking lot and the children were made to cross the road in a line carefully. One of our colleagues went on saying " thamba, thamba " to the students whenever the students required to stop at a place. And each time that happened I tried suppressing my smirk behind my palm. The fort was huge. As we entered, the students were asked to fill their bottles. Then the teachers hired a local guide to narrate the story of Rani Lakshmi Bai to the students. According to historical facts, she was married when she was 13,had a child when she was 16 and died when she was 23. As per the legend, one day Rani Lakshmi Bai was sitting on the rooftop with her husband Raja Gangadhar Rao and her husband asked her if he could discern the new fort that he had built on the Bangara hill, to which the Rani replied that she could see a " jhainsi " meaning shadow from where the name Jhansi came. Now almost all of us know of how and what made the rani what she is known for in the entire world today. The Rani and the raja had a son who died four months after his birth and therefore the king and the queen adopted a son but the king died and since the child was adopted the British East India company under Lord Dalhousie applied the Doctrine of Lapse, rejecting his claim to the throne and this lead the rani lead forces against the British. She escaped the fort two times on horseback and we were all fortunate enough to see those two places. We were also told by the guide of how she was taken prisoner and was hurt in her right eye and how she still managed to fight that state. We were also shown the Panch Mahal, where the rani stayed. Each floor was used for a different purpose. One for sleeping, one for drinking , one for meetings. But after the king died the queen retired to the top most floor. We were told of how during those days all criminals irrespective of what they did were hanged by the king and how rani Lakshmi bai put an end to it. We were all shown the place where people were hanged. We were also shown the garden where the queen used to take her rounds. Now the garden has been modified by the government. After taking rounds we came to the top most point of the Jhansi fort from where the entire city was visible and it was indeed a very lovely sight. It was soon time to return back. We all boarded our school bus again and stopped on our way back at a Dhaba one more time. Then we continued our journey. As it started getting darker the sun vanished to give way to a chilly night. The students started telling horror stories and I gladly took an active participation there. The moon outside was full, big and red and served as a perfect background for the horror stories that were being shared. It was a good experience altogether. I had never been to a school educational trip before. It was my very first and since I bonded with my students well on the journey I even forgot that I was a teacher. I was one with the students enjoying my first school trip. We came back to the stadium at 8.30 pm from where the parents were supposed to take their child back to their homes. All our cell phones were dead by then. I reached home at 9.15pm. I felt exhausted but at the same time I was so grateful to God that my mother was there with me and I knew that i will get some good tasty food made by her. It often chills me to even this day to think of my hostel days and how often i had to go to sleep with an empty stomach and an empty wallet. Things are better now. Hopefully it will remain so. I am thankful to God for everything so far.