yet again ... getting lost ... then enjoying self-discovery ...

ODOC - Meat of the matter One District One Cuisine ( ODOC ) initiative of the Uttar Pradesh state government is in the news.  My initial reaction was that Uttar Pradesh has since long accorded food the priority it warrants. Today too, besides taste and variety, it respects seasonality, celebrates harvests, and prioritizes home-cooking – per capita usage of food-delivery apps here is way lower compared to other states! Why mess with the food when there is a lot else in the state that can do with some change? The sheer diversity of Khoya at Khoya Mandi Chunar ( Mirzapur district ) I then took a step back and read about the initiative. First, the number of cuisines (208) way exceeds the number of districts (75) so why is it one district one cuisine to begin with. Secondly, at-least half-a-dozen districts have Samosa as their cuisine or one of the cuisines. Samosa which is consumed across the country in millions each day and even tops the food-delivery platform lists! Third, at-lea...

  Taking stock of books (and ourselves) When kids help in taking stock of books Text and images: Anshumalika Rai and Nimesh Ved Published at the Deccan Herald .   What happens when we go with our guts and trust children? A quick look at our school before we jump on to the details. We focus on languages , Hindi and English . The book room is a favoured place; many of the 250 children and 15 teachers can be seen reading here. Children of classes 7 and 8, the senior most children, also join us in taking care of the book room. The idea is to deepen their engagement with books . This year we got a tad ambitious. The annual stock-taking turned into a project: 1 room, 5 days, 1,500 books and 30 children of class 7. As we look back, we realize, that throughout the project it was not the children assisting us, as we had once envisaged, but the other way around - we were assisting the children. This brings smiles to our faces and reminds us of P L Travers’ , “ you should t...

Let us begin with the previous post previous post on the town  That was BC - aka Before COVID Since I have been to the town for the book-stores : Vaani and Rajkamal . Here, I also look forward to are the times at Indian Coffee House (nicely located between these two book-stores) and Bushy's .  I, with colleagues, have also made trips to the G B Pant Insitute for its museum ,  This time we began with the library, one of the more stunning libraries for sure - when it comes to buildings, as a  Kader Khan or Sharabi film fan would have said: लाइब्रेरी की बिल्डिंग हो तो ऐसी,  वरना  ना हो  The park with it multiple resources reminded me of Kamati Baug ,  This board was also the first time I read of map being referred to as मानचित्र The park also has its share of quirkiness  Image: Dheeraj It also houses  The Allahabad Museum ,  There has been work done here as well since I last visited, especially the new interactive galleries and the h...

Previous post on the topic Glimpses from the past ~   Sarai Mohana.  1940. Some of the young people began asking for a library. Ethel applied for a grant and pressed the College Trust into donating a piece of land. The young men themselves decided to build the Reading Room in their off time and found used bricks for the purpose. While the men built, Ethel planted oleanders and made paths, making the front yard into a playground. In the end, she says, they had a very charming library. They got books and magazines, daily and weekly papers from various offices. The Reading Room became a popular feature of the village, until the day-school teacher, who Ethel was discovering was quite a faction-maker with his own ambitions, tried to take it over for a night school for children to make extra money for himself.  In the census of 1872, the occupation of all males above 15 years of age are noted. I give some of the items.  Alms-takers: 184 Beggars: 3,490 Barbers: 979 Pun...

Sarnath on an early morning  Some places take special form at select times, this campus (managed by the  ASI ) is a different world altogether during the mornings ~ Did the Daniells –  Thomas and William  - paint during this time of the day? Is this why  Diana L Eck  calls Banaras – City of light? Neem flowers on the morning grass, fun it is to lay alongside these and watch the Stupa ~ There are nooks and corners that hold surprises, once in a while one comes across changes as well ~ There is something special about this, have little idea about it, but the experience of standing in front of it and look at it was good ~ Just outside stand new installations, whether these were needed is debatable, but now that they are there can one take time out to experience, figure these ~ Previous post on Sarnath  here Other monuments in Banaras Dufferin Bridge Sanskrit University Laat Bhairav

These images, unlike the previous post on the topic , are from the lanes,  to be precise one lane  (with respects to Thomson and Thompson ) Aging with grace? Fading away? Or hanging by a thread?  Varying brick sizes and shapes? Or a tree taking over? Or dark lines on the horizon?  A balcony with waves?  Its neighbours are being repurposed as hotels.  Does it eagerly await its turn? Or does it dread the loss of peace?  How does HE see the changes?  Is the window partially open to allow only partial changes?  The lane's width ensures that one is either on two feet or on two wheels! Should we have trips for children to obverse where their elders lived? To see h omes that are disappearing from our midst!

Surrounded by openness This piece finds place in Teacher Plus' December issue.  Thanks to the colleagues there and to Richa for comments on the draft.  Image credits: Achyut Patwardhan Junior High School  What all can a school do if its building is surrounded by open spaces? How can the adults and children at the school optimally use these spaces? Does greenery at these open spaces become the proverbial icing on the cake? Do these spaces lead to rekindling openness within us as well? First the school. Located on the outskirts of a fast-growing town, along the riverbank in eastern Uttar Pradesh, the school began sometime in the 1940s. Housed within a large campus, the school today has 15 teachers and 250 children. Most of the children, from nursery to 8th class, come from the nearby areas. There are no other open spaces in the vicinity and these spaces around the school play a crucial role in the lives of the children. They come to these spaces during evenings, on holiday...

Where the Buddha gave his first sermon . . . . .  Last week I returned from Sarnath hassled – a frame of mind I do not associate with the place. Roads have been dug up and blocked. Drains are being constructed and vendors have been shifted. Select monuments including the Mulagandha Kuti Vihara are under restoration. It is a Sarnath taken over by dust, noise and chaos. Increased tourist numbers ( spill over of the record spike in number of people visiting Banaras ) further exacerbate the situation. Image Credit: Pawandeep Kaur I am unclear whether this is being done under the Smart City project or for the upcoming G20 meetings in town or for another reason. I sadly wonder though how long it would be before I resumed my trips to Sarnath! Notwithstanding the current scenario the peace and calm associated with Sarnath have been eroding over the years. Not much unlike the names previously used for the place, names that seem to have disappeared: Rishipatana, Mrigadava and Mrigadaya....