The past 6 months

June – November 2011      The academic session started with the first hand experience of rubbing shoulders with the regular school system. We were trying to admit our son in the 10th class, who was in Adharshila (an unrecognized learning centre) for the first 9 years. The papers, affidavits and all. We experienced the anguish of the hapless adivasi parents who have to run for the various certificates from panchayats to tehsils...

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End of Term 1

20 September 2011      The children have gone off. What ever we do we can’t beat the joy of going home. The rain and wind have gone too. Silence is all around us. Even the bright multicoloured cosmos flowers, thin and elegant, cannot fill the silence with all their colours. The birds too seem to have quitened. The first term is over.                Kamal has finished...

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The pedagogy of social studies

     Sayonkia and Kuldeep, two master of elementary education students from TISS-Mumbai, each spend 2 weeks with us for their field attachment part of their program. Both of their backgrounds are in the social studies- history and geography, respectively. They stayed and documented projects, taught classes, shared their skills, and got a small taste of Adharshila life.      Sayonika taught ancient civilizations...

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New Meaning of Faag

25 March 2011 One       Faag maangna is a wide spread tradition in North India. To ask for grains is almost a traditional right of dalits in many states. In the western Indian districts of Alirajpur, Jhabua, Dhar, Barwani, Khargone etc.,five days after Holi is bhoor or gaanda dahda, literally translated – crazy days. It is adivasi tradition that groups of people dress up in interesting attires and go from house to house...

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End of year goodies!

2011 is winding down... but we have a few posts to be back-tracked.  Enjoy....

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Diverse Actions all Around

Once again we have a small poultry with seven hens and a cock. The hens have started laying eggs. A new platform is being made to put the hen cage. The platform so the rats and snakes don’t dine on the hens. Shanta our nursery teacher has found a new passion, doing masonary work almost everyday. The cock crows regularly at 5.45 am and everyday the kids visit them and watch them eagerly, jumping, fighting and contemplate. Shanta and others working...

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The Beginning - July 2011

Well, finally the year has started at Adharshila. All the rooms cleaned, most things placed in their places. Teachers know where to go when and the children too. How fast they adapt to a system, poor chaps. We have started knowing them a little, which ones come near and the ones who change course on seeing elders. Initially we were sceptical about the number of children. Though 35 parents got there children registered in the meeting for new admissions, they did'nt turn up till one week. It was getting late and late. The monsoon was just...

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New Blood in Old Huts

Since last two years it has become a tradition ( i think two years qualify for a tradition in this fast paced world) that as soon as the hostel children leave for home on holidays the children from the Achchaliya hamlet of our village take over the campus.They had been eying the huts for a long time, while passing this way, going to their fields or grazing cattle. Yesterday the school children left and today the Achchaliya kids came and promptly asked if they could also make huts. Yes of course, you can !!Immediately they started repairing, making...

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Children's village v/s School

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Naatuk India Company presents --- Hum Kahan Ja Rahe Hain?

14th January 2011, Merkhedi village, near Sendhawa, Madhya Pradesh.Finally the day arrived for which we had been practicing and waiting for a month. The tent was huge and there were about 20,000 people. The children 10 – 18 years, all actors of the Naatak India Company (aka the students and teachers of Adharshila Learning Centre), were very excited, seeing the crowd. Nervous ? no sign of it. They had been specially called to perform their famous...

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