On a sunny afternoon at Chembur’s Swami Muktananda High School, we’re peering at a mobile phone, watching a charming video of six young school girls dancing to the catchy poem Chandobachya Deshat (In Mr Moon’s Country). The writer of the poem, Eknath Avhad, smiles proudly. He doesn’t know which school these girls belong to, or where it is located, but he’s grateful that his words have reached them through a Balbharati textbook.

“My heart was full when I came across this video… I haven’t travelled to this place myself, but my words have—there’s no bigger puraskar (award) than this,” he says. Avhad, a teacher at a BMC school nearby, knows a thing or two about puraskars—his books Chhand Dei Aanand and Shabdanchi Navlai won the 2023 Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puraskar and the 2021 Baalkavi Puraskar respectively.