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

Villages in our schools Published in The Hindu’s EDGE on 22 nd July. Thanks are due to the team at The Hindu. To Upma and her colleagues I am indebted for the opportunity. I was asked if I would share some of my experiences of village life with students. This discussion, with students, would precede their trip to an organization working in a rural set-up. I figured that this would be challenging given that most students came from affluent families.   In other words, they would possibly have limited exposure like I once had. I began on a lighter note with snippets of my ignorance during my initial days in Central India - how it had taken me more than a month’s stay to figure out the significance of 3 tea-stalls in the village, abutting each other and each boasting of strictly loyal clientele - my first lesson in caste. Unlike the illustrations I had come across in text-books, neither was panchayat a meeting with 5 people under a tree, nor was sarpanch ...

Mirrored in words This piece finds place in Teacher Plus ’ July issue. Thanks are due to the team there. “ Why is the number of children in a school called strength ?” This question from the article, ‘ Of skills, learning, intelligences and … the marketplace ’ struck me. Why is it not the abilities of teachers or students, or values the school adhered to, or even the school’s infrastructure, I wondered, which are a school’s strength? The question also had me recall terms used in similar vein. Besides having me bemused, intrigued, and on occasions even uncomfortable, these terms have often left me with unanswered questions. Do these terms, their usage, mirror our changing worlds? During a recent conference, a speaker had mentioned how previously the ministry governing education in our country was referred to as ‘Education Ministry’. Today, schools and colleges come under the ambit of the ‘Ministry of Human Resource Development’. This change in title, he stressed, i...

All effort, no yield This piece finds place in The Hindu EDGE on 1 st July . Thanks are due to the team there. Few weeks ago, friends, who work to get children to fall in love with books and stories, visited our school. I love reading and enjoyed being a part of the conversation as it moved from what we could do with books at our school to why books are crucial for children. As someone who, today, puts in more time with books than with friends, I found little to disagree. However, the line – ‘ world without books is poorer and dangerous ’, brought out the dilemma I had been encountering of late. I shared it with the small group: “ Do these actions tantamount to pushing our ‘agendas’ on schools and children, in this fashion? Do we do this more with children, for they do not have the space to vocally disagree? How fair is this? ” Last week, at a school in a village in Himachal Pradesh, I was reminded of the discussion. I had accompanied a friend and noticed story-bo...

So, what do you do at school I have often been asked?  On occasions I smile, on others I respond with a 'teach English' or that 'I play and go-out with children'. At times the answer also is 'good question'.  Besides these, what I also do is see, touch and feel trees and leaves.  This was a fun day. We got moving around to fetch leaves in small groups. The groups could bring more than one leaf only if the leaves were collected from the ground. Children got the leaves, discussed which species each of these could belong to. Before writing they had to confirm these names with the uncle who helps with gardening at the school. Few cases were confusing - we had disagreements. For these we went with the uncle to the tree.  At the end our board did not have space for 2 leaves. It was fun, during the days following, to see them touch the leaves and also alter spellings.  This was another fun day. We sat in a circle just outside the scho...

Title: Varsha’s Varanasi Written by: Chitra Soundar Photography and design: Soumitra Ranade First Print: 2018 ISBN: 978-81-8190-348-8 Published by: Karadi Tales Company Pvt. Ltd. MRP: 699/-   This book caught my eye in the richly stocked section for children at a book-store in Delhi. From a distance I saw a colourful, hardbound cover depicting Banaras. It stood out amidst others on the rack! The central character moves around the town with a purpose – searching for her father. Locales, smells, and character of the town are woven around the story. The premise appeared promising. The story moves ahead with images – each page is in full colour - and towards the end smaller version of these images appears again with information on what is depicted. From Kachori Gali to Alamgiri Mosque all find space here.The approach is interesting but repeats could have been avoided; the evening arathi ( as spelt in the book ) for example. The images capture t...

Wild Madhya Pradesh Editors: Bittu Sahgal and Lakshmy Raman Publisher: Sanctuary Nature Foundation ISBN: 819354964-3 Pages: 174 It is not a good idea, a friend had quipped after reading one of my articles on wildlife conservation, to – each time – raise questions, point out the gaps and make people uncomfortable and unhappy. On occasions we need to move beyond cynicism and technical details, to not just accept but also celebrate what we have. A celebration which enthuses people to take a plunge, venture into the forests, get closer to its denizens and make them take steps to protect them. This book does just that. It celebrates the central Indian forests. This is a premise it makes clear at the onset. The book is an effort of a large team – authors, photographers and designers amongst others. Most of the chapters are based on personal experiences and carry vivid descriptions. Diversity brought about by the wide range of authors - from those with half a centur...

Orchha Images of the fort / palace complex had had me keen on visiting Orchha since few years. My increasingly falling belief in long-term and detailed planning enabled me to land up at Orchha finally. As the tempo took me ( and 10 others ) from Jhansi, I noticed a board stating, ‘ Welcome to the town of Ram Raja’ . This is a place where the Lord is the King. Image Credit: Kumar Radhakrishnan Fort / palace complex At the fort / palace complex guides appeared like at other tourist places. What came to fore, what informed me of Orchha, was a question to a security personnel. Your small question has a longish answer he warned and gauging from my body language, went on. A guide or a scholar would have found it difficult to match the emotion and connect he brought in. It was his story as well. He also made me re-realize that small towns in my country are way different from its cities. A large proportion of people in these towns have their moorings and identities clea...

Allahabad : Beyond the Kumbh Why do we not talk about this aspect of Uttar Pradesh – the aesthetic appeal of its towns? Why is Uttar Pradesh not the state of beautiful towns I wondered as I moved around Allahabad. Lucknow has a charm of its own, from the Nawabi history to the display of political power and will in its recent structures. While Banaras is well – Banaras. Walking in Allahabad I came across more elegant buildings in a day than I had seen over the past few years. Structures which repeatedly left me in stunned silence. They belonged to an age where grace possibly was not rare. Even the two branches of the State Bank of India, I came across, had grandeur and charm written all over them! By   सत्यम्   मिश्र  -  Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,  https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40701039 These roads and lanes also took me to my days with Amar Chitra Katha books. Sketches of the Peeli Kothi, and other Kothis, that were depicted in more ...

Amdavad Thanks are due to Apurva Bahadur for sharing the stunning glimpses of Amdavad and to friends for accompanying for the food trips. Sidi Sayyed Ni Jali – a very unassuming but confident looking structure - stood at a busy junction. As I put in time looking with awe at its skilled artisanship and caressing its - rough with age – walls I wondered whether it was less than adequately maintained or just adequately used to enable it to be standing thus, more than 400 years after it was constructed. Just across the road stood The House of MG . The structure has been beautifully restored and besides the famed lodging its restaurants too are well known. I went to its recently initiated Textile Gallery which showcases images and textiles of different regions of Gujarat - from Patolas to Ajrakhs. The Gallery’s two rooms are the most exquisitely coloured ones I have been to in recent times. On the same floor stands the elegant Heritage Bookstore. It stocks books on textiles and ...