The Party is Over.

A short diary of what's going on at Adharshila.

We are back in Sakad lazily to work. On coming back we realised that this hot November is full for us. Fighting with the neighbor over the boundary of our land trying to collect 25 quintals of fodder for our cow's family of 5 from the people who are growing wheat by taking electricity from our campus connection obviously by bribing the lineman - the official for the electricity dept.

Also there are going to be two three workshops with children - one to participate in a research with a Norwegian post doc. studying the Sangathan in Jhabua which we helped initiate. Another five day theatre workshop and another science workshop by a leading NGO -Eklavya.

The tomatoes have got virus and we are desperately spraying cow's urine. We have to uproot the ado and lake plot which gave us about 2 quintal harvest last season and plant methyl palace and mole. Maybe we will try more tomato.

The 3 volunteers after staying quite for 2 months have now started question about things which they had imagined and not finding here or had seen on the website but don't see on site. So a lot of time is spent talking to them. Another last year volunteer is coming back this year thanks to the motivation he got by living with us last year.

Our school kids are growing up and maybe we will have to start a marriage bureau soon.

Yes I forgot the Baal Melas in surrounding schools and villages. And there is an energy project going ahead slowly but steadily to reduce the wood intake of the mess.

The mistri is making a drain and doesn't care how much cement goes down. So I have to go. Hopefully Jaya will make instant coffee at 2.30.

So guys the axe has fallen. The party is over. A war is starting they say in Central/ Eastern India after Kashmir and North East. Once again Arundhati Roy has hit the nail where it hurts the most. They say it is the latest must read book - something like listening to the grasshoppers.
(Sorry for not putting any commas. This one's comma key doesn't work)

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In Memory of Tantiya Bhil

The second annual Tantiya Mama Kabbadi Tournament was hosted by Adharshila last Sunday. Eight teams of adults from surrounding villages (including one from Adharshila) battled in the dust in three rounds to select the best. The winning team from Sawarda village won the first prize of Rs.2000/- and the Devli team got the second prize of Rs.1000/- .

Kabbadi's traces its long history back to royal armies that used the game to encourage unity and sportsmanship. Last year we agreed that those ideals were as relevant in our area today as at any time in history, and decided the tournament should be launched. Students were responsible for every aspect of the tournament's success, from organizing teams over a large area, to printing posters and, of course, cheering loudly. The tournament opened with the older children singing traditional songs while some of the younger children performed the legime dance from Maharashra. In the Tantiya tradition of slights of hand, two of the children even juggled.

Tantiya Bhil, or Tantiya Mama as he is better known around here, was a Bhil tribal leader from Neemar in the western parts of Madhya Pradesh who audaciously fought the British occupation of the area until he was finally captured and killed. Notorious for outwitting the officials behind him with disguises and mischief, Tantiya still lives on in legend. Tantiya is also known as the Indian Robin Hood for his habit of helping the poor with the loot of the rich.

The day was good in other ways too. The same evening our cow gave birth to a beautiful white calf. The children promptly named it Tantiya.

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Help A Child Learn Computers?

Dear friends,

As you know Adharshila has been striving to give high quality, relevant education to tribal children for the past eleven years.

Though we have managed significant progress in developing infrastructural facilities, constant electric supply continues to elude us. Due to this crippling problem, we are not able to do the documentation and curriculum development work we hope will make our approach permanent and shareable, even though we now have three people dedicated to the task .

Further, a part of the Adharshila dream is to give meaningful computer education to children. We have managed to procure computers and laptops from friends. After much effort, we have even had a transformer installed on the campus. This has ensured that we get good voltage. But this has still not solved the problem as electricity comes for a very limited time.

To overcome this hurdle we have decided to install two inverters. As you know we rely more on individual donations rather than institutional grants. For this project we are appealing to friends to help us buy the inverters.

The total cost for installing the two inverters of 1 kw each and batteries @ Rs.25,000.00/unit, will be Rs. 50,000.00.

We would be grateful for whatever contribution you make towards installing this facility. We ensure you that your support will go a long way in the development of these children and their community. You can address cheques to the address given above, or click on the lik below to donate online.

You can get more information on Adharshila from the links given below. We would be happy to answer any queries that you may have.

With regards
Amit and Jayashree
For
Adharshila Learning Centre

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