08/07/2026
Sometimes, the most meaningful lessons come from a child's question.
A few years back, I was teaching students at our Jhoragogua centre.
During one of our geography lessons, we were learning about the Earth—its continents and oceans. As a fun exercise to spark their curiosity, I opened Google Earth and said, “Let’s find Jhoragogua and see how it looks from above.”
We started with Asia, then found India, and gradually zoomed in to Odisha. The students were already amazed to see familiar maps transform into satellite images. We explored a few famous places before searching for Boudh district and, finally, the village of Jharagogua.
As we zoomed in closer, I noticed some of the students instinctively leaning toward the screen. Soon they couldn’t contain their excitement.
“That’s our temple!”
“That’s our pond!”
Everyone was pointing at places they recognised.
Finally, we located the very house—the centre where we were all sitting.
Just then, one of the boys suddenly ran outside. I was a little surprised and wondered where he had gone. About a minute later, he came running back, looked at me eagerly, and asked,
“ଭାଇ, ମୁଁ ଦେଖାଗଲି ଉପରୁ? ମୁଁ ବାହାରେ ଥିଲି।”(Bhai, could you see me from above? I was just outside.)
I smiled and explained that Google Earth’s images aren’t live. But his question stayed with me.
I’m not entirely sure why that moment moved me so much, but it has remained one of my favourite memories from teaching. In that single question, I saw pure curiosity, wonder, and a child’s excitement at discovering that the place he called home was part of something much bigger.
That day, I felt I was doing something meaningful—not because I was teaching geography, but because, for a few moments, I had helped a group of children look at the world with a little more wonder.
In those young eyes, I could see the confidence that the world could be discovered, and the planet suddenly felt real and accessible.
Sometimes, one question is all it takes to open a world of possibilities.
Story shared by Priyabrata Pradhan, Volunteer Mentor – Ek-Asha ThinkCentre.
