Ekadaksha Learning Center
A unit of Ekadaksha trust
Special education for special children
The children of Ekadaksha have been learning to play Cricket. Every wednesday during the first term of the academic year, they would play cricket with their peers and teachers. They have learnt to bat, take runs, bowl to the batsman and field the ball. The game has been slightly modified to suit the needs of the children. The length of the pitch is smaller, they play with a lighter bat and tennis ball. Teachers guide the children accordingly.
*Batting: The teacher will help each child according to their levels. Some children may need to be told to look at the ball to hit, some may need slight physical prompts and some are independent who just need encouragement.
*Making runs: Two teachers stand at either end of the pitch near the stumps. One teacher is helping the child with batting. Once the child hits the ball, the teacher on the opposite side calls the child to take runs and so also to go back to the batting line. The child takes runs until a fielder hands over the ball to the bowler.
*Bowling: The teacher will help each child to bowl by telling them to aim at the cricket bat. They are told to look and then throw accordingly.
*Fielding: The children stand at specific points on the field. A teacher is there to guide each child by encouraging them to pick up the ball and hand it over to the bowler. Some children run to pick up the ball by themselves while some need to given verbal or physical prompts.
After practicing these skills at school, Ekadaksha decided to keep a Cricket match. The main idea to conduct this friendly match at a place other than school was to give the children opportunities to play with different people as well as for people to understand how to have fun with our children with special needs. Most children in India grow up with cricket - we watch cricket, talk about cricket and play in on the streets/these days in indoor sports centers too. So why not give our children this same kind of fun. And indeed i was great fun.
The Ekadaksha Cricket match was held on 10th January 2025 at Whistle - Urban Sports Hub, Nungambakkam Chennai. The children were divided into 2 teams with 2 wonderful young people Kaushik Ram (who has come to school to play with the children) and Sharat Narayan as captains and 2 of the teachers Ms.Sumangali and Ms.Komathi as the vice captains respectively. The toss was done by Praveen Gulecha who was the Umpire for the day. The toss was won by Team Kaushik who chose to bat first.Team Kaushik did batting as he and the teacher helped them take runs, while Sharat bowled and his team fielded. This team scored 56 runs. After this there was a snacks break with yummy stuff from Disha's delight. The next to bat was Team Sharat as he and the teacher helped them take runs, while Kaushik bowled and his team fielded. This team scored 82 runs.
It was lovely to see the competitive spirit as well as an understanding of how to guide the children. It melts our hearts when people take our children in their stride, accept them wholeheartedly and enjoy with them fully. This is exactly what these to wonderful young people did.
After the scores were declared with the winners being Team Sharat, Mr. Vidyut Shivaramakrishnan, a former Ranji Trophy player who has also played for Chennai super kings, presented the winning trophy, medals and certificates to the children. We thank him for being there to watch the children play and appreciate their efforts.
Mr. Anand Perampati, a sports lover who has been playing Cricket in the TNCA league for more than 50 + years and also served as the Chairman of TNPL, presented the runners up, Team Kaushik, with medals and certificates. We thank him for being there, encouraging the children and spreading positive vibes.
The parents who were spectators also encouraged their children, cheered on and enjoyed the confusion that sometimes happened. At times the batsman would pick the ball to help the fielder, or some of them would run way beyond the pitch. At times, by the time one of our children slowly came to pick the ball, another enthusiastic boy would have run across the field to pick the ball. One of our boys hit like a real batsman with fours and sixes too. There was so much fun , laughter and energy, it was amazing to be part of.
We thank The KSN Sports Foundation for supporting this event and making it possible for us to give this memorable time to the children and the teachers.
Click here to see photos of the Ekadaksha Cricket Match.
Click here to see videos of all the children in action.
Click here to watch the event.
Pongal is a famous festival celebrated in all parts of India. It marks the start of the harvest season and honors the Sun God for helping the farmers with a good harvest.It is a festival where families come together to celebrate nature’s blessings. The word Pongal means "to boil over," which is why the main dish, Pongal, is a sweet rice dish that is cooked until it overflows as a sign of abundance. It’s a festival of joy, gratitude, and new beginnings.
Pongal is celebrated for four days –
*Bhogi Pongal - The day when people clean up their homes and discard old things to welcome new ones.
*Thai Pongal – The main festival where sweet pongal is made from the rice of the fresh harvest. This is offered to the Sun God and Mother Nature as a token of gratitude for the harvest.
*Mattu Pongal – The day to celebrate the farm animals which help in agriculture. Cows and bulls are decorated and prayers are offered to them. The famous sport “Jalli kattu” is also conducted during this festival.
*Kaanum Pongal – The last day where people gather to meet their near and dear to exchange good wishes.
At Ekadaksha, the Pongal set was done the traditional way with “Mavillai thoranam”(Leaf garlands) and "pongal paanai"(pongal pot).
Starting with discarding stuff for bhogi,emotions that upset us – sad,angry and irritation were thrown into the bin.The teacher showed a picture of each emotion and expressed it while everyone copied the actions. The idea behind doing this was to explain the children that everyone gets upset and become overwhelmed with emotions, it is okay to feel so,but it has to be communicated in an appropriate manner. When communicated in an appropriate manner,it becomes easy to deal with those emotions and it helps to make one feel better. Once we learn to handle the worst in us in a better way,it then opens room for new happy beginnings. Thus,The sad,angry,irritation emotions were thrown in the bin and to welcome the emotion "Happy".With "Happy" faces they went in to celebrate the next part of pongal.
To welcome new things,To mark the happy beginning,To celebrate the arrival of auspicious month “Thai”,all the teachers and children danced with joy to Pongal songs.
Then came the traditional game,Tug of War. This was played between the classes. The experience class children played against each other and the express class children played against each other. Some children understood the game really well and gave a tough fight. The teachers too had fun playing tug of war among themselves.
Finally came the "Kaanum pongal" where,children came class wise,wished "Pongalo pongal Happy pongal" to everyone and took a group photograph.
Pongal celebration at Ekadaksha showed the concept of Bhogi Pongal,Thai Pongal,Mattu Pongal and Kaanum pongal with discarding unwanted things, happy dance, playing traditional game and greeting eachother.
Click here to see the photos of the Pongal Celebration.
Click here to see The Pongal Video.
Pongal is so much more than just a festival—it’s a time for gratitude, family, and fun! From the delicious Pongal dish to the exciting games and colorful traditions, this festival reminds us to appreciate the beauty of nature and celebrate life’s blessings.Lets welcome this auspicious month of “Thai” with hopes for new beginnings.
Christmas is a festival which is celebrated all over the world with great joy and happiness. It reminds us of the importance of giving and sharing with friends and family. The preparation of Christmas begin much earlier with people putting up Christmas trees in their homes as well as public spaces. At Ekadaksha, the tree is decorated by the first week of December. The children and teachers listen to Christmas songs as they choose decorations to put on the tree. The tree is adorned with lights, stars, drums, candy, snowman, angels, balls and so on. Everyday the children love sitting next to the tree and watching the pretty decorations and lights. Every morning, Christmas music filled the center with festive vibes. Apart from this, everyone was busy preparing artwork to be used for the final Christmas celebration of the year.
Finally, the day arrived - The day to celebrate one of the most joyful festivals.
After enjoying yummy snacks and Christmas cake, Ms.Sagaya Mary and Ms.Komathi gave an introduction about Christmas through a festival board ont he Avaz app. After this, the School children of ELC performed a skit based on the story of 'The birth of Jesus'.
The Nativity scene was set up using the artwork done by the children as well as colourful lights and strings. Ms. Komathi narrated the story as the children enacted their parts. Every child had dialogues which were delivered either verbally or using the Avaz app.
Akshaya was the bright star shining up in the sky when Lord Jesus was born. In this brightness, a beautiful Angel, played by Sanjukta, appeared on earth to give the news of Jesus birth in Bethlehem. She passed on the message to the shepherds played by Deva, Raghavan, Sanjeev, Pranav Shiv and Pranav Praveen who were relaxing and enjoying in the fields. The Shepherds were filled with joy and conveyed this message to the 3 wise men (Kings). The Kings were Aravindh, Deepak and Vishal. As this news was revealed, a curtain was raised to reveal Dear Baby Jesus and his parents. Joseph, played by Danny, introduced himself, followed by Mary, played by Harshini. Then both of them lifted Baby Jesus to show him to the world. Each King expressed their happiness, presented gifts to the Baby and bowed down to Him. Then the animals, Sahana the sheep and Sai Khiran the camel, came to seek blessings too. Everyone gathered around the Baby and His parents with joy, love and happiness. It was an excellent show with all the children performing very well with minimal help from their teachers. After the skit, everyone listened to Christmas songs and wished eachother.
Joy to the world, The Lord has come....Click here to see the video of Ekadaksha's skit of 'The birth of Jesus'.
Click here to see photos of the children as their characters.
Click here for the amazing decoration and celebrations.
Click here for Christmas on Avaz.
Click here to see the decorating of the Christmas Tree.
The Remedial children at Ekadaksha also celebrated Christmas. They listened to the story of 'The birth of Jesus' as the teachers narrated using puppets and dolls. They then received gifts of their favourite superhero characters and then enjoyed yummy snacks and Christmas cake. Click here to see the remedial children celebration. Click here to see the remedial children celebration.
Wishing everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
At Ekadaksha, the students are learning to play Tennis. Every Wednesday afternoon, the children get ready to try their hand at this sport. The available place is converted into a mini tennis court with nets, rackets and tennis balls. Tennis has many benefits which include physical fitness, hand eye coordination, developing focus and building confidence to name a few. With regular practice, we observed that the children know how to hold the racket and connect the ball. They may miss balls, but their attempt to move towards the direction of the ball shows that they can coordinate. They have now learnt to play forehand and backhand ground strokes. During the drill, they also alternately play both forehand and backhand. Of course, all this is done with the guidance of the teacher which may be verbal or physical. We have had the privilege of receiving advice from Mr.Hiten Joshi, CEO and Chief Coach at the TamilNadu Tennis Association and Mr. Rohit Reddy, Tennis Coach.
On 6th December 2025, the children were given the opportunity to play at the well known SDAT Tennis Stadium, Nungambakkam, Chennai which has hosted many international and national tournaments. The children were taken for a walk around the stadium and watched a few players in action on the outside courts. They then posed for pictures at the 'Vijay Amritraj Pavilion'. The best opportunity was to play Tennis on the Center court. The two markers, The Murugans, were wonderful at feeding the balls and helping the children as required. Most of the children were excited and did their best. While all the children did really well, some deserve special mention.
*Vidyut entered the court with his hand raised as if to greet the crowd. He stepped forward to hit the balls, while smiling away all the time. He played most balls independently.
*Saikhiran, though a little restless at the beginning, was unstoppable when he got the rhythm. He too hit most balls independently.
*Akshaya, our star female player, also connected the ball well.
*Aravindh and Deepak, after a bit of encouragement were also able to connect the ball well.
At the end, every child was presented with a participation certificate for attending this One day Tennis camp.
We thank The KSN Sports Foundation for supporting this event. We are thankful to TNTA for helping to organise this entire event. We are grateful to Mr. M. Nagarathinam, Stadium Officer for giving permission to experience the Center Court. We also thank Mr. G.S.Rajasekaran, Chairman, Govt Interface for Rotary Dist. for organising the transport, Mr.Ananth for the lovely photographs and Disha's delights for the yummy snacks which all the children enjoyed.
Click here to see the Tennis players of Ekadaksha.
