One of the senior groups in school put up a Mughal play on a Friday afternoon. It started with how Babar came to India and went till Aurangzeb with some Rajput kings thrown in.
It was Srishti, Soham's sister's group and Wameca's mother, Punita, was helping with teh children's costumes. We decided to stay back and watch the play since it was at 1:30 on a Friday. The group had few children and so they were all changing roles between themselves and they were doing it so deftly. A lady in court would wear a long gold threaded kurta and become the King of Iran for example. It was also in Urdu, Hindi and English. The whole senior school was present and they were laughing.
When the emperor arrived there would be a loud announcement with everyone laughing. That really amused Lakshmi. The first story was about how Babur came to India. The second was about how Humayun was ill and Babur knelt down and prayed to Allah and asked him to to take his life in return for Humayun's. This story stuck in Lakshmi's mind.
After this she just remembered little bits and pieces. How after Humayun fell down because eh had died, his turban fell into the audience and so he had to come back and get it. That was followed by a lot of laughter. Two Rajput kings came on their horse hopping and clucking. The Dai Panna changed one doll for another. It was a great way to learn History for the group.
But the Babar, Humayaun and Allah story stuck in Lakshmi's mind. She kept asking for the story to be repeated and for their names. Then she said
"Who is Allah?"
He is God I said.
"Who is Jesus. Another day in a drama in Navakriti he came no? with krishna..."
"Yeah" I say "You remembered?"
I got really excited tat she remembered Babra, Humayun and Akbar (just about -- that Babar was his grandfather).
As we were coming home, we called Nandita to ask her how Brishti was. She had gone home early. Promptly after my conversation was ove Lakshmi wanted to know what had happened to Brishti.
"She is ill" I said.
"Ask Nandita to kneel down and ask him to save her life and take her own" she advised.
I was now excited. I had seen a Mughal picture book, with real Mughal miniatures, for children. I went looking for it.
I could not find that book but found another book called "Kidnapping of Amir Hamza" with Mughal miniatures for illustration. It was beautiful. I din't quite like the title of the book considering that it is for children but I am just going to show her pictures.
It was an education in Mughal miniatures for me. Akbar had 100 painters in his Kitab Khana and had them illustrate these stories of the character called Amira Hamza and teh book is now an epic. At the end of the book the technique of Mughal Paintings is described.
There are also links to Mughal art and information in museums around the world. I sat up all night browing and looking at art in the Mughal room in the British Museum. I still can't forget that Jade Terrapin from Akbar's times. Our treasues are in museums across the world and well documented and yet we learn nothing about it!
Lakshmi still kept talking about Babar and Humayun. On Sunday morning she drew two pictures. One of Babar and Humayun holding hands for school and another of Darbar Khan, Akbar and Babar for home. Darbar Khan was kneeling and Akbar and Babar were holding a sword each.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Statue
Lakshmi's fascination with Shri Aurobindo's statue continues. Today they collected flowers in school and while handing it over to Ashma, Ujai's mom she told "This is for you because I love you so much. When you die I will make a statue of you".
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Children of Heaven
One evening we were at Nandita's place at Navakriti. Prapti's mama had left a DVD of an Iranian movie called "Children of Heaven" by Majid Majidi. It was little Prapti's favourite movie. I seen have other Iranian movies before at the Osian and I love the way they portray ordinary women.
Nandita, Brishti, Lakshmi and I watched the sub-titled movie. Brishti could read the subtitles and so watched it intently. The movie is in Persian and is beautiful. It is silently shot in a neighbourhood with small lanes. It is about the bonding between a brother and a sister. The brother takes his sister's shoe to a cobbler to get it mended. On the way back he stops at a vegetable shop an leaves the packet with the mended shoes in between the baskets on a stack of garbage which gets cleared and taken when the boy is still in the shop.
The children decide not to tell their parents because they cannot afford to buy another pair of shoes. So the girl wears the boy's well-worn pair of sneakers to school in the morning runs back and hands them over to her brother so that he can get to school. This simple plot leads to a lot of situations. The plot is absolutely brilliantly built up and could happen in any of our children's lives.
The shoe falls into an open drain one day and gets dirty when Zahra, the girl is running back home. You don't notice that the movie is silent. I did not too. I could just hear the girl panting as she was running back home. I only noticed when Nandita pointed out. One track of very gentle music but music that tells you that something is going to happen begins as the girl is half-way home and is jumping over many drains. Only when this happens do you realise that there was no other sound except the girl's feet and her panting. The movie does not bludgeon you. It awakens you with very gentle sound. Ali, the boy is waiting.
He is late to school and the headmaster shouts at him and it leads to a series of lies. The boy who is ashamed to tell him that he shares the shoes tells him that he fell. But the socks are peeing out of his pocket and are dry...
Lakshmi just got it that they were brother and sister and they were sharing a shoe. So she just wore one pair of shoe that was lying there and was running around and then would hand it over and she would be the brother who would wear it again. She knew they were brother and sister and she felt their bonding and love. She realised the tensions and love in the family. All she understood then was that they were brother and sister and were sharing a shoe. But she kept asking questions periodically...
Q. Why is she wearing something around her head?
A. She lives in Iran and that is the design of clothes there...
was one which I remember.
She cried that night and said she also wanted a brother to share things with. We asked Vish's brother if he could get the CD for us. I then discovered through my Facebook community that many people I knew had seen this movie many times over.
It so happened that we were in school to pick up some CDs the next day and Lakshmi asked Nandita for that Girl and Boy CD. We then took it home and she saw it again with Manju aunty. Then she saw it again with Manju aunty's nieces. And with Vish the next morning. By now I have realised that kids like repetition. That is how they learn. And each time there is a quantum jump.
Just this one movie has taken us all over...(not in order)
Q. Where is Iran?
A. We go to the talking globe...Now I'm forced to find exactly where Iran is rather than knowing vaguely...
Q. What language are they speaking in?
A. Persian...
Q. Do you know Persian?
A. No. But they are writing it in English below and that is how I know what they are saying...
Q. But how are they writing? (the children's notebook where they exchange notes instead of talking in front of their parents is clearly visible...)
A. We have a Tulika book called "Can You find me?" written by Manjula Padmanabhan. It has a page full of objects and one of them is different...In each page "can you find me?" is written in a different language and then in English below.
One page is in Persian. She suddenly remembered that and brought the book. We read the persian text in English and it goes the other way. She remembers that and tells her dad.
Q. Why are they making soup and taking to the neighbour's place?
A. That is what neighbour's do. help each other...they are old people and like to see children and Zara's mom loves them...
L. But we never do that...take things to Goel uncle's house...
Q. Why does she not have another pair of shoes? I have so many...you just have to go to the ATM and get money and buy another...
A. You are lucky. Your daddy has money. Even though other people are good, they sometimes don't have money...
L. She can have my shoes. I have two pairs of sneakers to go to Mirambika. She needs sneakers to go to school and she can have one pair of mine.
Q. Why is Roya's daddy wearing dark glasses and she is helping him?
A. Because his eyes are kharab...and he needs help...
Q. Why is Zara taking caring of the baby? She will drop him...Ali is bigger...
Q. Why is the baby sucking the thumb -- you told me not to...
Q. Why is Ali's teacher getting gussa with him? he is late because his sister got his shoe wet...
Q. What are they serving in the mosque? Why is Ali's daddy crying? Do daddy's also cry?
This just went on and on...
And in between she drew the drain in crayon on the floor and ran...They play a hopscotch kind of game...we drew that and played...
The next day Manju aunty, I and Lakshmi made a Lego model of the neighbourhood in the movie...It was Manju Aunty's idea...
We made the narrow neighbourhood and the adjacent large city. In the small neighbourhood where Zara and her brother live, we made the narrow alleys, the open drain, the place where shoe falls, her house and the small fountain or fish pond in front of their house where they wash things and also play.
Once Manju aunty had made the layout of the city with two neighbourhoods, Lakshmi got going. She made individual pieces. In the large city she made a sky craper and put a large fan on top of the building. "The fan cools the whole place down" she held forth. One morning because of the crumbs we had dropped on the model, there were ants in it. Lakshmi howled and we told her that the ghost city now had people.
That evening, Alpana and her little daugher Urvee dropped in home. We showed them our city. Alpana, an architect and an energy efficiency consultant built a narrow building and showed Urvee that this building wuold have light all over and would not need articificial lighting and put it in Lakshmi's city. Lakshmi heard that and built a similar one and repeated that! Her earlier sky scraper was square and squat!
Then Lakshmi was showing Alpana Zara's house. And she was trying to show Alpana teh road in which ran and the drain...because of the way Lego is the drain is as big as the road on both sides...Alpana mistook the drain for the road...and then she figured and was telling lakshmi --- oh! this is an open drain and that is how it was before...
Soon Urvee was making little houses of such interesting shapes...We had to tell Lakshmi that it was ok to dismantle the city because we were architects and had to build many different models each time...
Alpana saw Lakshmi's fan over the building and said "This can also make electricity while cooling!
Lakshmi was pointing out at the city saying this was the electricity factory...
Alpana told her that the fan was the electricity factory...I had to tell Lakshmi then that this was a flat windmill...
We kept talking and chatting and watching Urvee and Neha didi play...and suddenly Lakshmi piped up saying "the fan only turns when the sun is hot!" Otherwise it is off!
Alpana was mumbling something about a sensor when Lakshmi pointed to a little green lego "factory" that she had put on the fan that knew when the sun was on!
That reminded me of two incidents...
The digital activism project that MIT did in the late nineties where they got children from across the world to express how they would like technology to make the world a better place...
A boy from rural china who had never see a computer before put a chip in a shoe in a drawing -- that was for his blind friend and it would tell him what to do after detecting the space...this was at that time the subject of post doctoral research at MIT...
Another when Brishti was so moved by the birds that she built a card board computer and a user interface where she could access all related info -- movies, sounds, songs and stories of any given bird easily...
This is the current subject of research at all major technology research labs...
You cannot teach! You have to consult the mind and learn together and magic happens...
It has also broadened my knowledge films...I google on the greatest Iranian films...found that they make brilliant children's films. The same director Majid Majidi has made another film called "Children of Paradise" where one of the children is blind...I have now also re-learnt from my geek cousin in the US how to download movies off the web...and that is my next project...The director has also given Prapti's dad permission to copy the film...
Nandita, Brishti, Lakshmi and I watched the sub-titled movie. Brishti could read the subtitles and so watched it intently. The movie is in Persian and is beautiful. It is silently shot in a neighbourhood with small lanes. It is about the bonding between a brother and a sister. The brother takes his sister's shoe to a cobbler to get it mended. On the way back he stops at a vegetable shop an leaves the packet with the mended shoes in between the baskets on a stack of garbage which gets cleared and taken when the boy is still in the shop.
The children decide not to tell their parents because they cannot afford to buy another pair of shoes. So the girl wears the boy's well-worn pair of sneakers to school in the morning runs back and hands them over to her brother so that he can get to school. This simple plot leads to a lot of situations. The plot is absolutely brilliantly built up and could happen in any of our children's lives.
The shoe falls into an open drain one day and gets dirty when Zahra, the girl is running back home. You don't notice that the movie is silent. I did not too. I could just hear the girl panting as she was running back home. I only noticed when Nandita pointed out. One track of very gentle music but music that tells you that something is going to happen begins as the girl is half-way home and is jumping over many drains. Only when this happens do you realise that there was no other sound except the girl's feet and her panting. The movie does not bludgeon you. It awakens you with very gentle sound. Ali, the boy is waiting.
He is late to school and the headmaster shouts at him and it leads to a series of lies. The boy who is ashamed to tell him that he shares the shoes tells him that he fell. But the socks are peeing out of his pocket and are dry...
Lakshmi just got it that they were brother and sister and they were sharing a shoe. So she just wore one pair of shoe that was lying there and was running around and then would hand it over and she would be the brother who would wear it again. She knew they were brother and sister and she felt their bonding and love. She realised the tensions and love in the family. All she understood then was that they were brother and sister and were sharing a shoe. But she kept asking questions periodically...
Q. Why is she wearing something around her head?
A. She lives in Iran and that is the design of clothes there...
was one which I remember.
She cried that night and said she also wanted a brother to share things with. We asked Vish's brother if he could get the CD for us. I then discovered through my Facebook community that many people I knew had seen this movie many times over.
It so happened that we were in school to pick up some CDs the next day and Lakshmi asked Nandita for that Girl and Boy CD. We then took it home and she saw it again with Manju aunty. Then she saw it again with Manju aunty's nieces. And with Vish the next morning. By now I have realised that kids like repetition. That is how they learn. And each time there is a quantum jump.
Just this one movie has taken us all over...(not in order)
Q. Where is Iran?
A. We go to the talking globe...Now I'm forced to find exactly where Iran is rather than knowing vaguely...
Q. What language are they speaking in?
A. Persian...
Q. Do you know Persian?
A. No. But they are writing it in English below and that is how I know what they are saying...
Q. But how are they writing? (the children's notebook where they exchange notes instead of talking in front of their parents is clearly visible...)
A. We have a Tulika book called "Can You find me?" written by Manjula Padmanabhan. It has a page full of objects and one of them is different...In each page "can you find me?" is written in a different language and then in English below.
One page is in Persian. She suddenly remembered that and brought the book. We read the persian text in English and it goes the other way. She remembers that and tells her dad.
Q. Why are they making soup and taking to the neighbour's place?
A. That is what neighbour's do. help each other...they are old people and like to see children and Zara's mom loves them...
L. But we never do that...take things to Goel uncle's house...
Q. Why does she not have another pair of shoes? I have so many...you just have to go to the ATM and get money and buy another...
A. You are lucky. Your daddy has money. Even though other people are good, they sometimes don't have money...
L. She can have my shoes. I have two pairs of sneakers to go to Mirambika. She needs sneakers to go to school and she can have one pair of mine.
Q. Why is Roya's daddy wearing dark glasses and she is helping him?
A. Because his eyes are kharab...and he needs help...
Q. Why is Zara taking caring of the baby? She will drop him...Ali is bigger...
Q. Why is the baby sucking the thumb -- you told me not to...
Q. Why is Ali's teacher getting gussa with him? he is late because his sister got his shoe wet...
Q. What are they serving in the mosque? Why is Ali's daddy crying? Do daddy's also cry?
This just went on and on...
And in between she drew the drain in crayon on the floor and ran...They play a hopscotch kind of game...we drew that and played...
The next day Manju aunty, I and Lakshmi made a Lego model of the neighbourhood in the movie...It was Manju Aunty's idea...
We made the narrow neighbourhood and the adjacent large city. In the small neighbourhood where Zara and her brother live, we made the narrow alleys, the open drain, the place where shoe falls, her house and the small fountain or fish pond in front of their house where they wash things and also play.
Once Manju aunty had made the layout of the city with two neighbourhoods, Lakshmi got going. She made individual pieces. In the large city she made a sky craper and put a large fan on top of the building. "The fan cools the whole place down" she held forth. One morning because of the crumbs we had dropped on the model, there were ants in it. Lakshmi howled and we told her that the ghost city now had people.
That evening, Alpana and her little daugher Urvee dropped in home. We showed them our city. Alpana, an architect and an energy efficiency consultant built a narrow building and showed Urvee that this building wuold have light all over and would not need articificial lighting and put it in Lakshmi's city. Lakshmi heard that and built a similar one and repeated that! Her earlier sky scraper was square and squat!
Then Lakshmi was showing Alpana Zara's house. And she was trying to show Alpana teh road in which ran and the drain...because of the way Lego is the drain is as big as the road on both sides...Alpana mistook the drain for the road...and then she figured and was telling lakshmi --- oh! this is an open drain and that is how it was before...
Soon Urvee was making little houses of such interesting shapes...We had to tell Lakshmi that it was ok to dismantle the city because we were architects and had to build many different models each time...
Alpana saw Lakshmi's fan over the building and said "This can also make electricity while cooling!
Lakshmi was pointing out at the city saying this was the electricity factory...
Alpana told her that the fan was the electricity factory...I had to tell Lakshmi then that this was a flat windmill...
We kept talking and chatting and watching Urvee and Neha didi play...and suddenly Lakshmi piped up saying "the fan only turns when the sun is hot!" Otherwise it is off!
Alpana was mumbling something about a sensor when Lakshmi pointed to a little green lego "factory" that she had put on the fan that knew when the sun was on!
That reminded me of two incidents...
The digital activism project that MIT did in the late nineties where they got children from across the world to express how they would like technology to make the world a better place...
A boy from rural china who had never see a computer before put a chip in a shoe in a drawing -- that was for his blind friend and it would tell him what to do after detecting the space...this was at that time the subject of post doctoral research at MIT...
Another when Brishti was so moved by the birds that she built a card board computer and a user interface where she could access all related info -- movies, sounds, songs and stories of any given bird easily...
This is the current subject of research at all major technology research labs...
You cannot teach! You have to consult the mind and learn together and magic happens...
It has also broadened my knowledge films...I google on the greatest Iranian films...found that they make brilliant children's films. The same director Majid Majidi has made another film called "Children of Paradise" where one of the children is blind...I have now also re-learnt from my geek cousin in the US how to download movies off the web...and that is my next project...The director has also given Prapti's dad permission to copy the film...
Dance at school...
I love being in singing classes at her school. One day I happened to be in one of those classes. They were sitting in a circle. Didi held the ladoos in her left hand. Made a trunk mudra with her right hand and the trunk would come to get the ladoos. She also sat with one leg hanging and another leg folded under. She explained this many times to get the children going. It was so beautiful!
Shree Vakratunda mahakaya koti soorya samaprabha,
nirvighnam kurumedeva shubha karyeshu sarvada
O lord with the twisted trunk, with the effulgence of a billion suns, always remove the obstacles when I am on an auspicious undertaking.
When she came to nirvighnam she fisted both her hands, crossed them and brought it down with a lot of emotions. Lakshmi was sitting next to me and wanted to know what that was. I did not know. I was doing it mechanically. I asked her to wait till one round of the song was over. Promptly she got down went and showed didi the action with that that same determined eye movement she had seen and asked her what that meant.
That prompted me to come home and google for those lines and what they meant. The school also got us to sing and make mudras for all these songs in the next parent meeting we had. That was a beautiful part of the meeting.
Watching many performances has helped. She has begun noticing that it is a language. Not only that, she has begun watching sculptures more carefully.
We went to her pediatrician's place yesterday. They had a giant Ganesh where he was picking ladoos with his trunk from his hand. Her pediatrician's wife is a kathak dancer. His daughter is doing her masters in dance from (bharatanatyam) Kalakshetra in Chennai. She started singing this song sitting next to the Ganesh. Suddenly she noticed that his hands are not folded in the mudra that she is doing. Then the doc's wife explained to her that she was making the trunk with her hand in sign language.
Shree Vakratunda mahakaya koti soorya samaprabha,
nirvighnam kurumedeva shubha karyeshu sarvada
O lord with the twisted trunk, with the effulgence of a billion suns, always remove the obstacles when I am on an auspicious undertaking.
When she came to nirvighnam she fisted both her hands, crossed them and brought it down with a lot of emotions. Lakshmi was sitting next to me and wanted to know what that was. I did not know. I was doing it mechanically. I asked her to wait till one round of the song was over. Promptly she got down went and showed didi the action with that that same determined eye movement she had seen and asked her what that meant.
That prompted me to come home and google for those lines and what they meant. The school also got us to sing and make mudras for all these songs in the next parent meeting we had. That was a beautiful part of the meeting.
Watching many performances has helped. She has begun noticing that it is a language. Not only that, she has begun watching sculptures more carefully.
We went to her pediatrician's place yesterday. They had a giant Ganesh where he was picking ladoos with his trunk from his hand. Her pediatrician's wife is a kathak dancer. His daughter is doing her masters in dance from (bharatanatyam) Kalakshetra in Chennai. She started singing this song sitting next to the Ganesh. Suddenly she noticed that his hands are not folded in the mudra that she is doing. Then the doc's wife explained to her that she was making the trunk with her hand in sign language.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Sattriya Dance
It was Tuesday and just the second day after school started. Lakshmi had come back from school and had had a good sleep in the afternoon. She woke up, had bath and had some noodles to eat. She was in a really good mood and wanted to go out.
I had read about "Soul of Sattriya" a classical dance performance from Assam in the papers that day. I asked her if she wanted to go out and see dance in a theatre. She readily agreed. She had playing a theatre ticket counter for a while now. She would issue tickets and then come and announce "Ladies and Gentlemen, Thank you for being here. Please shut off your mobile phones. Don't crunch your chips in the auditorium or talk loudly". I reminded her of that in the car.
Watching those DVDs has helped. She noticed each movement of the hand and body and wanted to know what was happening. As usual the music and dance were getting to her and she was sitting below the seat everytime the dancer sat and getting up. She danced in the aisle for a while. She was entranced. She sat through all the five pieces.
In the end they (Mridusmita Das -- the dancer) and her gurus Ramakrishna and Rumi Talukdar invited Sonal Mansingh and Shovana Narayan on to teh stage and they touched their feet and mentioned that the day was Guru Purnima.
She asked me what Guru Purnima was. I said it was teacher's day and Purnima ment a full moon and so they were touching their teacher's feet. she wanted to touch her teacher's feet. So we went to Nandita's at Navakriti and also carried one folder with a dance VCD for her. She touched her feet and came home and touched my feet, manju aunty's feet and her dad's feet.
After she slept I read up on Guru Purnima. We also have teh dance VCD which we shall watch again. This was the first time I had seen Sattriya. It was absolutely divine and the drums in the music...
I had read about "Soul of Sattriya" a classical dance performance from Assam in the papers that day. I asked her if she wanted to go out and see dance in a theatre. She readily agreed. She had playing a theatre ticket counter for a while now. She would issue tickets and then come and announce "Ladies and Gentlemen, Thank you for being here. Please shut off your mobile phones. Don't crunch your chips in the auditorium or talk loudly". I reminded her of that in the car.
Watching those DVDs has helped. She noticed each movement of the hand and body and wanted to know what was happening. As usual the music and dance were getting to her and she was sitting below the seat everytime the dancer sat and getting up. She danced in the aisle for a while. She was entranced. She sat through all the five pieces.
In the end they (Mridusmita Das -- the dancer) and her gurus Ramakrishna and Rumi Talukdar invited Sonal Mansingh and Shovana Narayan on to teh stage and they touched their feet and mentioned that the day was Guru Purnima.
She asked me what Guru Purnima was. I said it was teacher's day and Purnima ment a full moon and so they were touching their teacher's feet. she wanted to touch her teacher's feet. So we went to Nandita's at Navakriti and also carried one folder with a dance VCD for her. She touched her feet and came home and touched my feet, manju aunty's feet and her dad's feet.
After she slept I read up on Guru Purnima. We also have teh dance VCD which we shall watch again. This was the first time I had seen Sattriya. It was absolutely divine and the drums in the music...
Monday, July 6, 2009
Do I make her lie?
I came home from an outing in Bangalore and my mom told me that I needed to take her to a doctor for de-worming. She had done potty on the front steps and there was a three-inch long worm. But her panty had been clean and she has never done potty or susu outside a loo in a long while.
But she had been lolling in a tub of water and had briefly mentioned that she wanted to go to the loo and then said no and when I got back she seemed to be getting into the tub again.
I gently asked her if she had done potty there. And she said "Yes". I hugged her and asked her how that had happened. She explained to me that she had not soiled her panty and that she did not have the time to get to the loo. But she also mentioned that she did not tell me because it might upset me.
I had to tell her that it happened to everyone sometimes when they were not well. And that it happened to me and dad too when we had runing tummies and that if something like this happened I should know and that she should tell me. I also explained that we would have to get medicine for her tummy not to run.
I probably get upset or annoyed enough for herto keep things from me. A big warning for me. I always thought I was very gentle and patient with her and she was not afraid.
But she had been lolling in a tub of water and had briefly mentioned that she wanted to go to the loo and then said no and when I got back she seemed to be getting into the tub again.
I gently asked her if she had done potty there. And she said "Yes". I hugged her and asked her how that had happened. She explained to me that she had not soiled her panty and that she did not have the time to get to the loo. But she also mentioned that she did not tell me because it might upset me.
I had to tell her that it happened to everyone sometimes when they were not well. And that it happened to me and dad too when we had runing tummies and that if something like this happened I should know and that she should tell me. I also explained that we would have to get medicine for her tummy not to run.
I probably get upset or annoyed enough for herto keep things from me. A big warning for me. I always thought I was very gentle and patient with her and she was not afraid.
Cranky panky
"Why is the Cranky Panky coming?" we asked her throughout the trip.
Once I told her "Look, cranky panky is coming." I counted on my fingers. "One, you are hungry. Two, you are sleepy. Third, you are hot and sweaty and need a bath" what is it?
She has over the period of time learnt to tell us at least fifty percent of the time what is happening. At forty percent of the times we just follow our gut feel and guess which one. One of them usually sets her right.
Very rarely is something else the reason. We are egtting there in getting her to recognise or tell us.
Once I told her "Look, cranky panky is coming." I counted on my fingers. "One, you are hungry. Two, you are sleepy. Third, you are hot and sweaty and need a bath" what is it?
She has over the period of time learnt to tell us at least fifty percent of the time what is happening. At forty percent of the times we just follow our gut feel and guess which one. One of them usually sets her right.
Very rarely is something else the reason. We are egtting there in getting her to recognise or tell us.
My Eagle Puppet
Through the summer I joined a puppet workshop conducted by Dadi Pudumjee at the Aurobindo Society. Except for a teacher from Navakriti, the other participants were children. But I enjoyed myself thoroughly. I took it up because through the year we have been doing our own little puppet shows at home with soft toys and odds and ends.
We had also built a tree puppet for Navakriti and also a puppet for little Avani's birthday. We have also been going to Ishara's puppet festival for three years now and Lakshmi is absolutely fascinated. Once a turkish puppeteer allowed her to play an accordion. A German puppet show had snow falling and plants growing around a cottage. Then we went backstage and took a look at their fox and the cottage. The puppets itself were small but with just so little it looked so grand and entrancing.
But I guess the interest in puppets got started because of Leigh ho! Leigh ho! in Sound of Music. We have seen that atleast a 100 times. Oh! I forgot we saw Puran Singh's traditional puppets at the Meghdoot Theatre in Sangeet Natak Academy. Puran Singh is a traditional puppeteer who had been training the next generation of traditional puppeteers from the Shadipur Depot and was funded by the academy. Lakshmi had been absolutely fascinated when we went to see his students perform.
The Rajasthani puppets that they had made could pick up their skirts and dance! When Puran Singh's 5-year-old grandson came and did his show she went up and hugged him and he showed her his puppet. After that after every puppet show we go behind the screen and take a look at the puppets. Another Turkish puppet show had two puppeteers dressed like mime artists and they were manipulating a table top puppet who was a writer and he was trying to write fairy tale and was getting stuck. That fairy tale was shown as a shadow puppet show along side. That was absolutely riveting. I can still remember the shadow puppet ship.
Now we were going to build our own puppets. In the first class Dadi took a pair of shoes and animated them. That was so funny. They really looked like characters. After that I have started looking at every shoe and started naming them and thinking of their expressions. He then animated bags. He asked the kids what the story was after he played out and we realised it could mean different things for different people. Just draping a scarf around something could change everything.
In another class he showed us different kinds of puppets. There was one table top puppet which three of them were manipulating together. What co-ordination!
The first puppet we made was a soft puppet with a sock. We slit the toe side of the sock and made it a throat. We pasted red for the mouth and tongue, stuck ping pong balls for eyes, wool for hair. I made mine with two plaits to make it look like Lakshmi and Shanaiya, an eight-year-old who was in the class and in the same table as me.
The second puppet we made was a stick puppet with thermocol. All of us had to draw a character and bring it to class. I was excited. We were going to make a sculpture! I had always wondered how someone could look at a stone or a piece of metal and imagine what they were going to do...
Here I would at least get a glimpse of the process. We were to draw the front, the side ...at home. I drew just the front of a woman. But it turned out that all of us were making some version of a female character and Dadi wanted us to think differently...
I then decided to make a bird. An eagle, because that is always what Lakshmi wants to be. Little Soham decided to make horse because he goes riding -- I was on the same table as him. I tried drawing the bird with a little help from Sanchita Didi. We tried drawing Soham's horse on a rectangular block. But the block was not long enough. So he decided to turn it into a bull because it reminded him of the Gaur he had seen on a jungle visit.
It was so much fun, cutting the thermocol, sandpapering it, pasting layers and layers of paper. Lakshmi came along everyday and sat through the class for two hours just watching. She did not talk till break time, just sat in pin drop silence. She was just watching everyone sitting in one chair. Somehow, the work atmosphere seemed to have got to her. She also made things quietly out of waste thermocol lying around. A computer one day is what I remember now...
But at home she was always cutting thermocol and sandpapering...we have been through a wide range...the latest being a Piano...She knows the process -- draw on the thermocol, cut it nearly into shape, sand paper for smoothness, stick odds and ends, put a stick through and paint...(that is her process)
I learnt so much from Soham. Whenever I was tempted to paste large pieces of paper, I would see him carefully pasting small pieces and then be reminded to do it carefully. I just made the body of the bird in my rectangular block. I then made a face with another small rectangle, a curved beak, large eyes.
Both Shameen and Yadu Bhaiyya, who were mostly with us when we were making the puppet just increased the scope of the puppets. At no time did they short cut something to make their lives easier. Shameem bhaiyya asked me to put a spring between the head and the body so that the bird would nod...
I started falling in love with the puppet. We drove in a bamboo rod...and painted it. I had the choice of making it goofy or real...I preferred real...so we painted it a shade of yellowish brown and then speckled it black for feathers...We were to add wings in the last class which was postponed.
I had to leave it to others to finish my puppet and also missed the show. I really wished the workshop went longer. Though I loved the process of making a puppet I would have loved to have practiced for a show.
For example I realised that in a puppet show you can be seen, but as long as you are looking at the puppet your audience will look at the puppet. Three people, all fully visible were manipulating a much smaller table top puppet and we were not looking at these people but were looking at the puppet instead! Also that we were to be minimal in the way we moved the puppet...
I would love to be part of the process of not just making a puppet but also learning how to manipulate one...the language...
We had also built a tree puppet for Navakriti and also a puppet for little Avani's birthday. We have also been going to Ishara's puppet festival for three years now and Lakshmi is absolutely fascinated. Once a turkish puppeteer allowed her to play an accordion. A German puppet show had snow falling and plants growing around a cottage. Then we went backstage and took a look at their fox and the cottage. The puppets itself were small but with just so little it looked so grand and entrancing.
But I guess the interest in puppets got started because of Leigh ho! Leigh ho! in Sound of Music. We have seen that atleast a 100 times. Oh! I forgot we saw Puran Singh's traditional puppets at the Meghdoot Theatre in Sangeet Natak Academy. Puran Singh is a traditional puppeteer who had been training the next generation of traditional puppeteers from the Shadipur Depot and was funded by the academy. Lakshmi had been absolutely fascinated when we went to see his students perform.
The Rajasthani puppets that they had made could pick up their skirts and dance! When Puran Singh's 5-year-old grandson came and did his show she went up and hugged him and he showed her his puppet. After that after every puppet show we go behind the screen and take a look at the puppets. Another Turkish puppet show had two puppeteers dressed like mime artists and they were manipulating a table top puppet who was a writer and he was trying to write fairy tale and was getting stuck. That fairy tale was shown as a shadow puppet show along side. That was absolutely riveting. I can still remember the shadow puppet ship.
Now we were going to build our own puppets. In the first class Dadi took a pair of shoes and animated them. That was so funny. They really looked like characters. After that I have started looking at every shoe and started naming them and thinking of their expressions. He then animated bags. He asked the kids what the story was after he played out and we realised it could mean different things for different people. Just draping a scarf around something could change everything.
In another class he showed us different kinds of puppets. There was one table top puppet which three of them were manipulating together. What co-ordination!
The first puppet we made was a soft puppet with a sock. We slit the toe side of the sock and made it a throat. We pasted red for the mouth and tongue, stuck ping pong balls for eyes, wool for hair. I made mine with two plaits to make it look like Lakshmi and Shanaiya, an eight-year-old who was in the class and in the same table as me.
The second puppet we made was a stick puppet with thermocol. All of us had to draw a character and bring it to class. I was excited. We were going to make a sculpture! I had always wondered how someone could look at a stone or a piece of metal and imagine what they were going to do...
Here I would at least get a glimpse of the process. We were to draw the front, the side ...at home. I drew just the front of a woman. But it turned out that all of us were making some version of a female character and Dadi wanted us to think differently...
I then decided to make a bird. An eagle, because that is always what Lakshmi wants to be. Little Soham decided to make horse because he goes riding -- I was on the same table as him. I tried drawing the bird with a little help from Sanchita Didi. We tried drawing Soham's horse on a rectangular block. But the block was not long enough. So he decided to turn it into a bull because it reminded him of the Gaur he had seen on a jungle visit.
It was so much fun, cutting the thermocol, sandpapering it, pasting layers and layers of paper. Lakshmi came along everyday and sat through the class for two hours just watching. She did not talk till break time, just sat in pin drop silence. She was just watching everyone sitting in one chair. Somehow, the work atmosphere seemed to have got to her. She also made things quietly out of waste thermocol lying around. A computer one day is what I remember now...
But at home she was always cutting thermocol and sandpapering...we have been through a wide range...the latest being a Piano...She knows the process -- draw on the thermocol, cut it nearly into shape, sand paper for smoothness, stick odds and ends, put a stick through and paint...(that is her process)
I learnt so much from Soham. Whenever I was tempted to paste large pieces of paper, I would see him carefully pasting small pieces and then be reminded to do it carefully. I just made the body of the bird in my rectangular block. I then made a face with another small rectangle, a curved beak, large eyes.
Both Shameen and Yadu Bhaiyya, who were mostly with us when we were making the puppet just increased the scope of the puppets. At no time did they short cut something to make their lives easier. Shameem bhaiyya asked me to put a spring between the head and the body so that the bird would nod...
I started falling in love with the puppet. We drove in a bamboo rod...and painted it. I had the choice of making it goofy or real...I preferred real...so we painted it a shade of yellowish brown and then speckled it black for feathers...We were to add wings in the last class which was postponed.
I had to leave it to others to finish my puppet and also missed the show. I really wished the workshop went longer. Though I loved the process of making a puppet I would have loved to have practiced for a show.
For example I realised that in a puppet show you can be seen, but as long as you are looking at the puppet your audience will look at the puppet. Three people, all fully visible were manipulating a much smaller table top puppet and we were not looking at these people but were looking at the puppet instead! Also that we were to be minimal in the way we moved the puppet...
I would love to be part of the process of not just making a puppet but also learning how to manipulate one...the language...
Rangoli, Numbers and Drawing Classes
The good thing about moving to a ground floor house is the front yard. We wash our yard every morning and do Rangolis albeit with chalk.
The first few days I drew traditional designs that I remembered. Then I started drawing trees, lotuses, birds, peacocks and lamps. Then I started matching it with the weather. Peacocks when it rained. Lakshmi tries to draw with chalk in the front yard too.
When we went to Bangalore my mother taught her to use the rice powder. She spread it around and said she had drawn clouds.
My mothers house has rough black granite where the Rangoli is usually drawn. She played there with stencils one day.
One day she started writing numbers in Chalk. We wrote till 10. Then from 11 till 20. Then 10, 20 thirty till 100. Then 10, 100, 1000 till 1followed by seven zeroes. She now knows there are large numbers.
Right now she can count exactly till 5. But can recite till twenty. Just for fun she goes "2 and 2 is..." and we say twenty two. 6 and 6 sixty six.
We have just started with saying if you have 2 fingers and we have three and she tries to count it accurately.
We now play a board game called "the Hungry Caterpillar" game where she has to spin a wheel with five numbers. she can take her caterpillar on the spaces by counting five accurately.
But that day the writing numbers game, which I suspect is more a drawing game, then turned to drawing the leaves and flowers in my mom's garden.
I still continue it. We returned to a very hot Delhi. On the day the first showers in June came, I had just gotten out to shop. I turned the car around and got home. We watched the rain. Then played with the wiper and later brought out the chalks. We drew the potted palm tree. I drew the bowls that were in the pot, one a bird bath and another which has flowing jade. She coloured the water. Then we drew a bird...we draw, write letters and numbers and it is all the same...
When the water dries the chalk marks appear so bright...it is a treat to watch.
The first few days I drew traditional designs that I remembered. Then I started drawing trees, lotuses, birds, peacocks and lamps. Then I started matching it with the weather. Peacocks when it rained. Lakshmi tries to draw with chalk in the front yard too.
When we went to Bangalore my mother taught her to use the rice powder. She spread it around and said she had drawn clouds.
My mothers house has rough black granite where the Rangoli is usually drawn. She played there with stencils one day.
One day she started writing numbers in Chalk. We wrote till 10. Then from 11 till 20. Then 10, 20 thirty till 100. Then 10, 100, 1000 till 1followed by seven zeroes. She now knows there are large numbers.
Right now she can count exactly till 5. But can recite till twenty. Just for fun she goes "2 and 2 is..." and we say twenty two. 6 and 6 sixty six.
We have just started with saying if you have 2 fingers and we have three and she tries to count it accurately.
We now play a board game called "the Hungry Caterpillar" game where she has to spin a wheel with five numbers. she can take her caterpillar on the spaces by counting five accurately.
But that day the writing numbers game, which I suspect is more a drawing game, then turned to drawing the leaves and flowers in my mom's garden.
I still continue it. We returned to a very hot Delhi. On the day the first showers in June came, I had just gotten out to shop. I turned the car around and got home. We watched the rain. Then played with the wiper and later brought out the chalks. We drew the potted palm tree. I drew the bowls that were in the pot, one a bird bath and another which has flowing jade. She coloured the water. Then we drew a bird...we draw, write letters and numbers and it is all the same...
When the water dries the chalk marks appear so bright...it is a treat to watch.
Everest is in India
When we were in Chennai, I met one of Vish's cousins and her daughetrs for the first time. One of them is going to pre-medical school this year and another is perhaps in Grade 8 or 9. Lakshmi just took to them and decided that they would all draw.
Drawing maps is a fascination with her. We draw maps of the school, of where we live and sometimes an India map. She has a talking globe which has animals and some landmarks in it and so she is familiar with a world map. She plays with it for hours and has been doing so for a couple of years now. There is mount Everest near India, an Elephant in South India, a bald Eagle in LA where her periappa lives and the Statue of Liberty where her mama lives and these are her references.
She is however more familiar with the India Map. She knows where we live, where Pati in chennai lives, pati in Bangalore lives, where Chong Chong (her pre-school teacher) from Manipur lives, Where the Olive Ridley turtles come (from a book) and Kashmir where Gulla a character from a book lives. Over a period she kept asking me where different people live and I have now forgotten.
She asked me to draw her an India map. Then she made a dot in the neck and told them that
that is where she lived. She drew a line down approximately to the coast near the south and told them that was pati's house. She put a dot in the left fork and said "That was Gandhi's house". I did not know how she knew that. She drew mount Everest right in the middle of India. She gets most upset if you draw it outside. Then coloured map green and different colours and explained that that was how land was. Then coloured the area out side the whole map blue. India was surrounded by oceans! It was an island. Then she wanted us to draw the turtles and the elephants and tigers -- just where the head was.
This was the first time I had seen her put together everything she had heard at different times. What a picture!
Drawing maps is a fascination with her. We draw maps of the school, of where we live and sometimes an India map. She has a talking globe which has animals and some landmarks in it and so she is familiar with a world map. She plays with it for hours and has been doing so for a couple of years now. There is mount Everest near India, an Elephant in South India, a bald Eagle in LA where her periappa lives and the Statue of Liberty where her mama lives and these are her references.
She is however more familiar with the India Map. She knows where we live, where Pati in chennai lives, pati in Bangalore lives, where Chong Chong (her pre-school teacher) from Manipur lives, Where the Olive Ridley turtles come (from a book) and Kashmir where Gulla a character from a book lives. Over a period she kept asking me where different people live and I have now forgotten.
She asked me to draw her an India map. Then she made a dot in the neck and told them that
that is where she lived. She drew a line down approximately to the coast near the south and told them that was pati's house. She put a dot in the left fork and said "That was Gandhi's house". I did not know how she knew that. She drew mount Everest right in the middle of India. She gets most upset if you draw it outside. Then coloured map green and different colours and explained that that was how land was. Then coloured the area out side the whole map blue. India was surrounded by oceans! It was an island. Then she wanted us to draw the turtles and the elephants and tigers -- just where the head was.
This was the first time I had seen her put together everything she had heard at different times. What a picture!
Whose Statue is this?
As we were walking back home on the Sunlit Path from school, lakshmi saw the statue of Shri Aurobindo. She has always been fascinated by this statue. She began looking at it when she two.
The questions started.
"Whose statue is this?"
Shri Aurobindo.
"Who was he?"
He did many things. He had many good ideas and also wrote poetry.
"What ideas did he have?"
On how children's schools should be...
"He did many things?"
Yes.
"He did them all at the same time?"
No He was a poet and a philosopher.
He finished one thing and then did another.
"He had many ideas? what ideas?"
Like what a beautiful school should be...
"Did he die? What happened to his bones? Are they in they in the statue?"
No his bones are part of earth now.
"So why did they put his statue here?"
Because he inspires people. he makes them get many ideas. he makes people happy.
Don't you like the statue?
"Yes I do"
Now I am browsing his biography more carefully to see if I can show childhood pictures of his and also for things that will move her. I know that this is not the end of that line of questioning. This is just teh beginning of history lessons.
The questions started.
"Whose statue is this?"
Shri Aurobindo.
"Who was he?"
He did many things. He had many good ideas and also wrote poetry.
"What ideas did he have?"
On how children's schools should be...
"He did many things?"
Yes.
"He did them all at the same time?"
No He was a poet and a philosopher.
He finished one thing and then did another.
"He had many ideas? what ideas?"
Like what a beautiful school should be...
"Did he die? What happened to his bones? Are they in they in the statue?"
No his bones are part of earth now.
"So why did they put his statue here?"
Because he inspires people. he makes them get many ideas. he makes people happy.
Don't you like the statue?
"Yes I do"
Now I am browsing his biography more carefully to see if I can show childhood pictures of his and also for things that will move her. I know that this is not the end of that line of questioning. This is just teh beginning of history lessons.
Cinanmon Bittern
Yesterday, Sunday 5th July, we put a sleeping Lakshmi in the car and took her for a bird walk with the Delhi Bird group. We arrived there at 5:30 am. We walked along the riverside towards the banyan tree. Little Urvee, Alpana and Neeraj came too.
We walked down towards the tall reeds. She was excited -- "Grass house" she screamed referring to the poem about a little girl who pretends that her house is in the tall grass in the book called "Out and About" by Shirley Hughes. She is now interested in looking into a pair of binoculars. Peter Kaestner who was leading the walk pointed out a green bee eater to her.
However the bird that caught her attention was the Cinnamon Bittern. After much persuasion she looked into a scope and saw the Bittern. That is the advantage of going in a group. Binoculars are hard to focus for her yet. But if someone has zoned a bird in a scope it is easy for her. She saw the bird in its breeding form -- with a red beak. After that we saw three more in flight.
"Why is it called Cinnamon Bittern?" she wanted to know. Because it is a bittern which is cinnamon colour. "But that is brown" followed. "There are many shades of brown and this is cinnamon brown" we told her.
It was a sweltering day. She got a bit cranky and we had to carry her back. The group has breakfast together. It was a sumptious feast that day cakes, kakras, moori chickis, poori aloo...nimbu pani, rooh afza...we had taken pongal and chutney. Sheila said "Your next birthday gift should be your own binoculars" and laughed. That amused her and she laughed her heart out.
We got home, fed her and showed her a cinnamon bittern on the computer. We drew a bittern and she coloured it purple with a green beak. "It is a short bird with a long beak and is usually in the river sides" we told her. We called it purple bittern. We had also seen prinias, weavers, coucal and yellow and black bitterns. But we decided to show her just one bird and just talk about what had caught her fancy. In the night, we read the poem about the Grass house.
Before I could start reading she started
"My grass house, my private place...only the ants know where I am..."
This is going to be our book for the week and is on the headstead on the bed.
It really kicks her to have a grass house. She would not go into the reeds though. we need to do this more often by ourselves for her to be that comfortable.
We walked down towards the tall reeds. She was excited -- "Grass house" she screamed referring to the poem about a little girl who pretends that her house is in the tall grass in the book called "Out and About" by Shirley Hughes. She is now interested in looking into a pair of binoculars. Peter Kaestner who was leading the walk pointed out a green bee eater to her.
However the bird that caught her attention was the Cinnamon Bittern. After much persuasion she looked into a scope and saw the Bittern. That is the advantage of going in a group. Binoculars are hard to focus for her yet. But if someone has zoned a bird in a scope it is easy for her. She saw the bird in its breeding form -- with a red beak. After that we saw three more in flight.
"Why is it called Cinnamon Bittern?" she wanted to know. Because it is a bittern which is cinnamon colour. "But that is brown" followed. "There are many shades of brown and this is cinnamon brown" we told her.
It was a sweltering day. She got a bit cranky and we had to carry her back. The group has breakfast together. It was a sumptious feast that day cakes, kakras, moori chickis, poori aloo...nimbu pani, rooh afza...we had taken pongal and chutney. Sheila said "Your next birthday gift should be your own binoculars" and laughed. That amused her and she laughed her heart out.
We got home, fed her and showed her a cinnamon bittern on the computer. We drew a bittern and she coloured it purple with a green beak. "It is a short bird with a long beak and is usually in the river sides" we told her. We called it purple bittern. We had also seen prinias, weavers, coucal and yellow and black bitterns. But we decided to show her just one bird and just talk about what had caught her fancy. In the night, we read the poem about the Grass house.
Before I could start reading she started
"My grass house, my private place...only the ants know where I am..."
This is going to be our book for the week and is on the headstead on the bed.
It really kicks her to have a grass house. She would not go into the reeds though. we need to do this more often by ourselves for her to be that comfortable.
The Pregnant Deer Dance
On our trip home we managed to get DVDs of Bharatnatyam. It is a series called "When Gods Dance" produced by Lata and Gita. Lakshmi has watched several dances now. She likes VP Dhananjayan's Kathakali piece about a pregnant deer. He doesn't wear a mask in this one and it is a very interesting story about a deer that has been trapped from all four directions by a hunter, fire, stream and a tiger. Miraculously the deer gets saved a new deer is born. She loves the expression on the mother's face when she sees her new born. Lakshmi's face too turns tender when that happens and she comes and rubs her cheek with us. She loves teh steps where teh new born deer is trying to walk but falls and eventually learns to walk and runs away. "When I was small, could I walk?" is teh question and she loves to hear how she tried gettign up and kept falling. Since it is one dancer who is everything I was amazed that she could get it.
The few DVDs we have of this series has been a big hit. She loves watching students at Kalakshetra dance. She liked Chandralekha's troupe dancing -- It has kalaripattu like movements. We wanted to take her to Kalakshetra but it was closed for vacations.
During the whole trip she was asking various people to dance like a Shiva to her Parvati. The Signature opening and closing for each of the pieces in the DVD is a Shiva and Parvati dance.
But she is still walking on tip toes like a ballet dancer.
The few DVDs we have of this series has been a big hit. She loves watching students at Kalakshetra dance. She liked Chandralekha's troupe dancing -- It has kalaripattu like movements. We wanted to take her to Kalakshetra but it was closed for vacations.
During the whole trip she was asking various people to dance like a Shiva to her Parvati. The Signature opening and closing for each of the pieces in the DVD is a Shiva and Parvati dance.
But she is still walking on tip toes like a ballet dancer.
Monday, June 1, 2009
We are reading about Buddha
I had bought Jack Landaw's book called "Prince Siddhartha" off Amazon and had it delivered to a friend. When it arrived I saw that it was full of text and Lakshmi perhaps would not be able to read it till she was at least seven.
But the book has the most beautiful illustrations in water colour. It looks like Japanese poetry but is only more populated.
But the book has the most beautiful illustrations in water colour. It looks like Japanese poetry but is only more populated.
So that attracted her and we have been reading it. It is a 142-page book and we read it in bed one day and she sat through. I just read one paragraph from each page. The paragraph corresponded with the picture in the book which is liberally sprinkled with paintings. She actually stayed awake and heard through. I was reading in a sonorous voice. "That was comforting and she likes the pictures" I thought.
The next day she brought it again and this time started pulling out certain pictures and we started reading at those pages. Clearly she had got something.
The third day she started asking questions. What is archery? What is bull's eye? What is aim? What is target? I had to draw and explain. Now I was relieved. I could explain all shooting in these terms.
Then came "what is Mara?" There is a picture in the book of Buddha sitting under the tree of enlightenment and Mara is the evil trying to disturb him. We looked at this page repeatedly for several days. One day we were reading this page and she was asking me "what is Mara?".
"Mara is your gussa. He disturbs you when you are doing something" I replied.
She keeps looking at the picture of Buddha meditating and asking me what he is doing. I told her that he was meditating. Mara tries to disturb him but he concentrates and in teh end found happiness and peace. he then turned a teacher."Mara is your gussa. He disturbs you when you are doing something" I replied.
One night she was trying to do something. Then suddenly turned cranky. I said that is "Mara". She turned around sat still in a lotus position with a very calm look for a while and said "I meditated and am happy now". Something has gone in.
She has been familiar with Buddha for a while. For two Buddha Jayantis we got up early in the morning and went to the Buddha Jayanti Park. That is the most beautiful sight. There is a tall golden Buddha there that is beautifully decorated by people from Tibet House. There is a canal running with hordes of ducks. Few Buddhists arrive, there is usually chanting and the most tasty prasad. Last year it rained mildly and it was one of the most beautiful experiences for us.
Is Lakshmi too young to go into a structured dance program?
Today lakshmi and I are planning to go to Ganesh Natyalaya, the dance school started by Danseuse Saroja Vaidyanathan. We have noticed that Lakshmi has a great sense of rhythm and loves moving her body. It has been reinforced by observations made by nearly everybody.
She has been watching a lot of classical Indian dance. Two Shivaratri's ago she watched Saroja Vaidyanathan and her team dance Tandava Nrityam. She went to a solo Bharatnatyam show. A modern dance event by a Bangalore based group Attakalari. She sat transfixed through Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra's (SBKK) "Krishna". We also went to SBKK's Holi production. She has also watched a Kathakali dance besides watching several dances on Youtube. I have been trying to get DVDs of classical Indian dances with stories but am yet to find them. (There are websites with dollar prices though).
Finally a month ago she went to see Rama Vidyanathan, aroja Vaidyanathan dance at the WWF in a program titled "Dance of Birds". The next day she had a workshop for children of bird movements in Dance -- how birds nest, how they take off, how different birds walk (the penguin walk was really funny) -- Lakshmi still does the nesting bit. She calls Rama "that peacock dancing aunty". "I have found a teacher who can teach her with consciousness" I thought. Rama said she would have to be seven before she could take her as a student.
Two years ago I ordered some dance books off the Amazon. One is about a little girl who learns dancing and her relationship with her father. It is called "The Dance" by Richard Paul Evans. The cover has a little girl, dancing in a meadow, with one leg folded at the knee and long hair blowing in the wind. We have read the book over and over. the girl dances in "The Nut Cracker". A year ago we got a BBC production of Nutcracker and have watched it several times since.
Two weeks ago we went to "The Sleeping Beauty" produced by the India Fernando Ballet company. Ever since Lakshmi has been walking on her tip toes and dancing all the time. She has also been saying that she wants to learn.
A few days ago I pulled out another book we had A book called "I want to be a dancer". Its really hard to dance we told her. We showed her pictures of children in a tutu standing at the barre and exercising for hours. "Hold your hand like a barre, I will stand too" was her response.
And she does too.
Her father however wants her to dance classical Indian dane especially Bharatnatyam. She should have roots. But ballet we felt requires higher level of fitness. So we would take her to both schools and let her choose.
Suddenly yesterday she said she wants to go the Peacock Aunty's class. So we are going to Ganesh Natyalaya today. We are also planning to take a Dance trail with www.storytrails.in during our Chennai holiday.
She has been watching a lot of classical Indian dance. Two Shivaratri's ago she watched Saroja Vaidyanathan and her team dance Tandava Nrityam. She went to a solo Bharatnatyam show. A modern dance event by a Bangalore based group Attakalari. She sat transfixed through Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra's (SBKK) "Krishna". We also went to SBKK's Holi production. She has also watched a Kathakali dance besides watching several dances on Youtube. I have been trying to get DVDs of classical Indian dances with stories but am yet to find them. (There are websites with dollar prices though).
Finally a month ago she went to see Rama Vidyanathan, aroja Vaidyanathan dance at the WWF in a program titled "Dance of Birds". The next day she had a workshop for children of bird movements in Dance -- how birds nest, how they take off, how different birds walk (the penguin walk was really funny) -- Lakshmi still does the nesting bit. She calls Rama "that peacock dancing aunty". "I have found a teacher who can teach her with consciousness" I thought. Rama said she would have to be seven before she could take her as a student.
Two years ago I ordered some dance books off the Amazon. One is about a little girl who learns dancing and her relationship with her father. It is called "The Dance" by Richard Paul Evans. The cover has a little girl, dancing in a meadow, with one leg folded at the knee and long hair blowing in the wind. We have read the book over and over. the girl dances in "The Nut Cracker". A year ago we got a BBC production of Nutcracker and have watched it several times since.
Two weeks ago we went to "The Sleeping Beauty" produced by the India Fernando Ballet company. Ever since Lakshmi has been walking on her tip toes and dancing all the time. She has also been saying that she wants to learn.
A few days ago I pulled out another book we had A book called "I want to be a dancer". Its really hard to dance we told her. We showed her pictures of children in a tutu standing at the barre and exercising for hours. "Hold your hand like a barre, I will stand too" was her response.
And she does too.
Her father however wants her to dance classical Indian dane especially Bharatnatyam. She should have roots. But ballet we felt requires higher level of fitness. So we would take her to both schools and let her choose.
Suddenly yesterday she said she wants to go the Peacock Aunty's class. So we are going to Ganesh Natyalaya today. We are also planning to take a Dance trail with www.storytrails.in during our Chennai holiday.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Dance of Birds
I saw the WWF invitation and noticed that Rama Vaidyanathan was going to dance after Ranjit Lal's talk. I had come across Rama At one of Museologist Harish Vikas' talks. She was comparing Nayikas in Dance and the Nayikas in miniature Indian paintings. I realised that here was a traditional dancer who knew other arts was multi-disciplinary and more importantly could relate very well with people from other fields and collaborate.
I was going to take Lakshmi. The event was brilliant. The dancer and the silhouette in the large moon behind were enthralling. She was a tree in one, was making friends with a bird in another and walking like a peacock in a third. The review is here. http://www.hindu.com/fr/2009/05/01/stories/2009050150320200.htm
The next day she had a workshop for children where Rama was teaching bird movements in Dance.
The walks of a peacock, swan and a penguin. Tha takeoff and a gliding of a bird. A bird couple building a nest and chicks hatching out. Lakshmi still remembers the nesting and hatching out bit and the walk of a peacock and the mudra for a swan. Here was a teacher who could grab attention of little children who thought they could dance already. What a presense! She looked like a graceful bird herself.
At the beginning of teh workshop Arshiya Sethi who had organised the workshop asked Lakshmi what bird she was and she replied "Eagle". So she walked around the whole afternoon wearing a tag which said "Lakshmi Viswanathan, Eagle". In all her stories she is either an Eagle or a Vulture. I like to think that she likes these birds because of their easy flight!
I was going to take Lakshmi. The event was brilliant. The dancer and the silhouette in the large moon behind were enthralling. She was a tree in one, was making friends with a bird in another and walking like a peacock in a third. The review is here. http://www.hindu.com/fr/2009/05/01/stories/2009050150320200.htm
The next day she had a workshop for children where Rama was teaching bird movements in Dance.
The walks of a peacock, swan and a penguin. Tha takeoff and a gliding of a bird. A bird couple building a nest and chicks hatching out. Lakshmi still remembers the nesting and hatching out bit and the walk of a peacock and the mudra for a swan. Here was a teacher who could grab attention of little children who thought they could dance already. What a presense! She looked like a graceful bird herself.
At the beginning of teh workshop Arshiya Sethi who had organised the workshop asked Lakshmi what bird she was and she replied "Eagle". So she walked around the whole afternoon wearing a tag which said "Lakshmi Viswanathan, Eagle". In all her stories she is either an Eagle or a Vulture. I like to think that she likes these birds because of their easy flight!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
My experience with the first few days in school
What strikes me most is the design of the building in Mirambika. The building has been designed keeping in mind integral education. The sandpit just outside the red group. When the children get hosed in the courtyard just outside the classroom, the water drains out naturally. The children sit in a sunken circle which is built in. On certain days they fill it up with water. Singing "Row, Row, Row your boat" takes on a whole different dimension when the children are in the water. It is also not very warm in the classrooms at all. However I do feel that the place was designed for much older children and not for three-year-olds. There are low stone benches, the drain the courtyard is deep and also the stones around the pond -- a lot to trip over. Some child has been falling and getting scraped everyday.
In fact architecture is what attracted me to this school way back in the late 80s when I first came to the school. I was staying at Vijay Mandal Enclave and read an architectural review of the school which had just been built then. I was completely taken in by the silence in the school even though no room had walls or closed doors.
The diyas are firm and loving. They never raise their voice.
The second thing is the ease with which Lakshmi has fallen into the discipline of standing in a line showing her plate and having food served. She finishes what has been served on most days and puts the plate into the sink and rolls up her floor mat and puts it back. She loves it so much that we play that game at home everyday. She sets up an array of vessels and fills it with water and I bring a plate along and get served. When I have drunk all the water in the plate I get a big compliment. This is a huge achievement. Her eating habits at home have changed too. She has been trying out fruits and new food everyday. She has even started eating sour things like lassi and nimbu pani.
The parents have formed a bond. One of us has been bringing breakfast for the whole group everyday.
She has new things to play with in the junior park. She loves hanging on the merry-go-round with handles. The giant slide is another big love.
Do I have doubts? Yes I do. One -- I feel some of teh walks are too structured. Will teh children get dependent on someone also pointing things out to them? Will each one learn to look at something different and be engrossed in it? I beleive in each child discovering for herself and asking questions.
Lakshmi being the oldest in class pipes up each time something is asked. I realise that she needs to let others have their turn. But I'm not sure that she thinks she is doing it at someone else's cost. She just responds to a question. often she is not heard. I'm a little concerned that it will kill initiative or she might just think she is not being heard.
In fact architecture is what attracted me to this school way back in the late 80s when I first came to the school. I was staying at Vijay Mandal Enclave and read an architectural review of the school which had just been built then. I was completely taken in by the silence in the school even though no room had walls or closed doors.
The diyas are firm and loving. They never raise their voice.
The second thing is the ease with which Lakshmi has fallen into the discipline of standing in a line showing her plate and having food served. She finishes what has been served on most days and puts the plate into the sink and rolls up her floor mat and puts it back. She loves it so much that we play that game at home everyday. She sets up an array of vessels and fills it with water and I bring a plate along and get served. When I have drunk all the water in the plate I get a big compliment. This is a huge achievement. Her eating habits at home have changed too. She has been trying out fruits and new food everyday. She has even started eating sour things like lassi and nimbu pani.
The parents have formed a bond. One of us has been bringing breakfast for the whole group everyday.
She has new things to play with in the junior park. She loves hanging on the merry-go-round with handles. The giant slide is another big love.
Do I have doubts? Yes I do. One -- I feel some of teh walks are too structured. Will teh children get dependent on someone also pointing things out to them? Will each one learn to look at something different and be engrossed in it? I beleive in each child discovering for herself and asking questions.
Lakshmi being the oldest in class pipes up each time something is asked. I realise that she needs to let others have their turn. But I'm not sure that she thinks she is doing it at someone else's cost. She just responds to a question. often she is not heard. I'm a little concerned that it will kill initiative or she might just think she is not being heard.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Our day out in Asola
Our house is getting painted. We spent the whole day from abuot 12:30 in the afternoon till 5pm in Asola since it is close home. It was so engaging. Snigdha there loves children and she took me and Lakshmi out.
We first spent about 15 minutes at teh pond staring at a frog that was sitting on a water lily leaf. It was sitting so still and Lakshmi wanted to know why. Snigdha explained that the frog did not want to be noticed. So we tried sitting still. We went up and stood in one watch tower.
We found a little pod which had seeds like Parachutes. There were atleast 100 inside. i did know flying seeds could be so much fun. they were glinting in the sun.
We first spent about 15 minutes at teh pond staring at a frog that was sitting on a water lily leaf. It was sitting so still and Lakshmi wanted to know why. Snigdha explained that the frog did not want to be noticed. So we tried sitting still. We went up and stood in one watch tower.
We found a little pod which had seeds like Parachutes. There were atleast 100 inside. i did know flying seeds could be so much fun. they were glinting in the sun.
We walked around the trees in which there were small birds -- prinias and tailor birds.
We sat for hours at the watch tower. We saw a Nilgai and soem peacocks. After a while Lakshmi insisted that she saw a deer, a sambar deer in the grasslands. We thought it was her usual lion or tiger and sambar deer story.
But we looked in the general direction and lo and Behold! we could see teh antlers clearly. There a big deer sittign in the brown dry grass. Singdha said "It has never been reported here before. I wished I had a camera". We watched the deer for nearly an hour before we left.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Can one story change a Child's outlook to life drastically?
Sajeev, who was in the BNHS education center at Asola was a huge influence on Lakshmi. We had spent many afternoons there. So Asola which was on the left side of shooting range which we drove through everyday to get to Navakriti was Sajeev uncle's jungle.
The right side was her jungle. There was even a particular tree in which she slept. She hung by her tail and slept with her mom and dad there everynight. The mammoth which thinks it is a oppossum hangs by the tail and sleeps in a tree in ICE Age and that is where I think the inspiration came from.
A friend started telling her stories on Little Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks...stories which make jungles seems scary...
These stories originated in medieval northern Europe where they have chopped off all their primary jungles in any case. I mean to find out the history of these stories. But Oliver an environmentalist who was interning at The lodge that we holidayed in Corbett told me this and I have a hint to begin looking for the history now.
After these stories, jungles became scary places for Lakshmi. In school she would begin a story about a little girl who went into the jungle and got lost and the story would get stuck there.
I have always been very careful about the books I buy her. It is not a coincidence that countries that have dense jungles do not have stories where a girl walks into a jungle to find that the wolf gobbled her grandma and is sleeping on her bed...
I have checked all the Indian, African, Red Indian, South American or Far Eastern stories...and this does not happen...
A Gangetic dolphins saves a girl in one book "Putul and the Dolphins", a firefly shows light and bring a boy back home from the jungle...he stays back there helping other animals and soon it is after sunset and dark in "Basava and the Dots of Fire"...
There was a beautiful Red Indian book that was part of a collection of books that I had. It had the most beautiful countryside and they worshipped the birds and animals...I'm trying to find the book again for Lakshmi...
The right side was her jungle. There was even a particular tree in which she slept. She hung by her tail and slept with her mom and dad there everynight. The mammoth which thinks it is a oppossum hangs by the tail and sleeps in a tree in ICE Age and that is where I think the inspiration came from.
A friend started telling her stories on Little Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks...stories which make jungles seems scary...
These stories originated in medieval northern Europe where they have chopped off all their primary jungles in any case. I mean to find out the history of these stories. But Oliver an environmentalist who was interning at The lodge that we holidayed in Corbett told me this and I have a hint to begin looking for the history now.
After these stories, jungles became scary places for Lakshmi. In school she would begin a story about a little girl who went into the jungle and got lost and the story would get stuck there.
I have always been very careful about the books I buy her. It is not a coincidence that countries that have dense jungles do not have stories where a girl walks into a jungle to find that the wolf gobbled her grandma and is sleeping on her bed...
I have checked all the Indian, African, Red Indian, South American or Far Eastern stories...and this does not happen...
A Gangetic dolphins saves a girl in one book "Putul and the Dolphins", a firefly shows light and bring a boy back home from the jungle...he stays back there helping other animals and soon it is after sunset and dark in "Basava and the Dots of Fire"...
There was a beautiful Red Indian book that was part of a collection of books that I had. It had the most beautiful countryside and they worshipped the birds and animals...I'm trying to find the book again for Lakshmi...
Will you build me a tomb?
We often go for weekend Heritage walks. We have fallen in love with Delhi and Lakshmi loves the broad open spaces too. She by now knows a what a tomb is too.
We have to drive past the Tughlakabad Fort and Ghiyasuddin Tughlak's tomb everyday. One sunday we went to the fort with a friend. We made friends with another family with two girls who also happened to live in our colony. We crossed the Mehrauli-Badarpur Road and went across to the tomb. The tomb is absolutely stunning inside. The grass in the courtyard is very well kept. You can run on the walls. We had a whale of time.
Earlier she used to notice only the fort. Now everyday she looked for tomb and exclaimed as we drove past.
"Will I too die one day?" she asked.
"Yes"
"Will you build me a tomb?" was the next question.
"If I am alive, yes. Otherwise you ask your daughter to build you one"
"Where is my daughter?"
"She is not born yet"
"So, where is she now?"
We have to drive past the Tughlakabad Fort and Ghiyasuddin Tughlak's tomb everyday. One sunday we went to the fort with a friend. We made friends with another family with two girls who also happened to live in our colony. We crossed the Mehrauli-Badarpur Road and went across to the tomb. The tomb is absolutely stunning inside. The grass in the courtyard is very well kept. You can run on the walls. We had a whale of time.
Earlier she used to notice only the fort. Now everyday she looked for tomb and exclaimed as we drove past.
"Will I too die one day?" she asked.
"Yes"
"Will you build me a tomb?" was the next question.
"If I am alive, yes. Otherwise you ask your daughter to build you one"
"Where is my daughter?"
"She is not born yet"
"So, where is she now?"
Will I live forever?
Lakshmi has a three-year-old friend from the park called Nitin. He reads and watches only mythological stories. He has bows and arrows, crowns and face masks. Both his parents are non-believers and so his taste for stories of gods is entirely his. He will even buy a painting kit because it has some of these stories painted over it.
Gentle Avni is Lakshmi's friend from school. Avni is always talking something very thoughtfully. One day she told Lakshmi that God inside her and Lakshmi.
"God is inside everyone" she said.
"Even me?" Lakshmi asked her.
Whatever Avni says is right. So Lakshmi was convinced that she was carrying God.
One day in Nitin's house while they were playing with bows and arrows, Lakshmi told him that everybody had to die one day.
"I will not die. I am God" he replied to her. He was always Krishna, or Rama or Hanuman or ...
Now Lakshmi was confused. She only had God in her.
One the way back she was asking me "Mama, Nitin says he is God and he will not die. But I have God inside me. Will I die?"
Everybody has to die and become mud and new things will grow on that -- "It is a Circle of Life" is a lesson from Lion King.
She is connecting the dots...
Gentle Avni is Lakshmi's friend from school. Avni is always talking something very thoughtfully. One day she told Lakshmi that God inside her and Lakshmi.
"God is inside everyone" she said.
"Even me?" Lakshmi asked her.
Whatever Avni says is right. So Lakshmi was convinced that she was carrying God.
One day in Nitin's house while they were playing with bows and arrows, Lakshmi told him that everybody had to die one day.
"I will not die. I am God" he replied to her. He was always Krishna, or Rama or Hanuman or ...
Now Lakshmi was confused. She only had God in her.
One the way back she was asking me "Mama, Nitin says he is God and he will not die. But I have God inside me. Will I die?"
Everybody has to die and become mud and new things will grow on that -- "It is a Circle of Life" is a lesson from Lion King.
She is connecting the dots...
One visit to an art gallery makes a difference!
Pratibha, little Yashua's (from Navakriti's) mother was having an exhibition of her work at the artI gallery. She works with acryllic and pen and makes very fine drawings. Lakshmi when she paints takes a thick brush and slaps paint on to the paper. Soon the paper is full. It is usually an interesting mix of two colours.
Lakshmi went to the show with other children in daycare and she heard Pratibha explaining to the adults. One of them was called "The Rising Son". That work had been inspired by how her husband Shailesh had grown from being a son to having a son. It had a large round graphic to the left and there were two arms one rising above and another reaching below. Each of them had some intricate forms. The gallery is a huge large open place and it had sheer curtains and a balcony to which wooden steps went up. So she mostly ran around.
The next day a bunch of kids were painting at Navakriti. There were two very interesting colours in the pallete and most of them were dipping a brush and putting a dripping brush on to paper and were revelling in the feeling. Lakshmi took a blank paper and a red ketch pen and made fine lines and something gong and something below and she ket saying "The Son One...". I had never seen her draw fines lines or finish something with so much blank space before.
Lakshmi went to the show with other children in daycare and she heard Pratibha explaining to the adults. One of them was called "The Rising Son". That work had been inspired by how her husband Shailesh had grown from being a son to having a son. It had a large round graphic to the left and there were two arms one rising above and another reaching below. Each of them had some intricate forms. The gallery is a huge large open place and it had sheer curtains and a balcony to which wooden steps went up. So she mostly ran around.
The next day a bunch of kids were painting at Navakriti. There were two very interesting colours in the pallete and most of them were dipping a brush and putting a dripping brush on to paper and were revelling in the feeling. Lakshmi took a blank paper and a red ketch pen and made fine lines and something gong and something below and she ket saying "The Son One...". I had never seen her draw fines lines or finish something with so much blank space before.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
I also miss Lavlesh Bhaiyya's sessions
Lavlesh is a student from the first batch at Mirambika. He has been holding the orientation classes for parents for 20 days. What an endorsement! How many schools in Delhi can field a 30-year-old from their alumni and get him to spend 20 days voluntarily talking to parents many of whom are professors too and keep them stimulated throughout. He had them spellbound like children.
And what a range of pedagogy!
We practiced Zazen to increase concentration everyday.
We walked around the class avoiding other people's feet -- a technique practiced by Buddhist monks.
We played a dodgeball to say just be more conscious and you will win anyway.
We wrote and reflected.
We discussed.
We read poetry by Khalil Gibran on children.
We discussed his experience in the school.
We discussed what his classmates did now.
We were Silent.
We were learning Integral Yoga without any esoteric language.
Two things stayed with me.
In this method you take up a subject and "You heighten the senses, you widen and you deepen" he said. I could relate to that.
He related two incidents at school.
Once he and a bunch of boys were playing football in a classroom. The rooms in the school have large glass windows. The glass shattered.
Nelshe didi walked in with equanimity and she first enquired if any of the boys were hurt. "My thought had been what we would say" he said. After this incident he realised that he never had to lie.
Once after a racing event Sheela didi had asked him why he had been looking this way and that. "I wanted to see where everyone else was" he replied. She then pointed out that was a waste of time and that he should concentrate on his own running. "We were observed so keenly" was the message.
His classes were comforting.
And what a range of pedagogy!
We practiced Zazen to increase concentration everyday.
We walked around the class avoiding other people's feet -- a technique practiced by Buddhist monks.
We played a dodgeball to say just be more conscious and you will win anyway.
We wrote and reflected.
We discussed.
We read poetry by Khalil Gibran on children.
We discussed his experience in the school.
We discussed what his classmates did now.
We were Silent.
We were learning Integral Yoga without any esoteric language.
Two things stayed with me.
In this method you take up a subject and "You heighten the senses, you widen and you deepen" he said. I could relate to that.
He related two incidents at school.
Once he and a bunch of boys were playing football in a classroom. The rooms in the school have large glass windows. The glass shattered.
Nelshe didi walked in with equanimity and she first enquired if any of the boys were hurt. "My thought had been what we would say" he said. After this incident he realised that he never had to lie.
Once after a racing event Sheela didi had asked him why he had been looking this way and that. "I wanted to see where everyone else was" he replied. She then pointed out that was a waste of time and that he should concentrate on his own running. "We were observed so keenly" was the message.
His classes were comforting.
I miss the yoga sessions
Our Yoga sessions at Mirambika have ended. I really miss them now. I am having withdrawal symptoms from something I though was an imposition and an ordeal when it began.
I loved Mandira didi's sessions. Especially the shava asan when it ended.
Go on to your side and "Deeply thank the earth for bearing your weight all your life" she would say. If my daughter is going to say this all her life at Mirambika something will go in.
Another thing she taught us. "Hold your hands together and make a wish. It will happen because all of us are collectively putting our energy together" she would say.
The wish had to be truely large. Touching many people. "If you want to be truely selfish ask for something big. I have realised this" she told us in the first class. "If I want food only for myself, it is a struggle. But if I ask for abundance it is easier".
I wished everyday. For ecological awareness for I wanted a house with trees like I have now in our new location and for my daughter all her life.
And many such wishes...
I loved Mandira didi's sessions. Especially the shava asan when it ended.
Go on to your side and "Deeply thank the earth for bearing your weight all your life" she would say. If my daughter is going to say this all her life at Mirambika something will go in.
Another thing she taught us. "Hold your hands together and make a wish. It will happen because all of us are collectively putting our energy together" she would say.
The wish had to be truely large. Touching many people. "If you want to be truely selfish ask for something big. I have realised this" she told us in the first class. "If I want food only for myself, it is a struggle. But if I ask for abundance it is easier".
I wished everyday. For ecological awareness for I wanted a house with trees like I have now in our new location and for my daughter all her life.
And many such wishes...
How we discovered colors
One day when I was on the computer, she wanted me to type. She wanted me to write words. She had figured out that these letters ould turn into words. I used to ask her what word to type.
"Type Blue" she instructed.
Black. Red. Green. White. I did this while exaggerating the syllables.
Then she pointed to my computer and said "type this colour".
"Grey" I typed and called out.
Then she brought a serving spoon from her kitchen set. It did not know if that was some shade of pink or purple -- muave, lilac...I googled...got into wikipedia for colours and compared with all shades of pink..."So many pinks?" she exclaimed.
Then we got into the purple page. This time she joined into the matching game. I forget what we zoned into now. Next she brought her glass which is very unusual shade of dark blue and we went to blue in wikipedia and looked at all the blues.
A week later I was on my computer. She had three or four objects -- a paper, some formica covered piece and something else. "They are all white. Funny no?" she said. They were different shades -- yellowish to bright white. Just a few weekends ago I had learnt white balancing on a video camera.
"Type Blue" she instructed.
Black. Red. Green. White. I did this while exaggerating the syllables.
Then she pointed to my computer and said "type this colour".
"Grey" I typed and called out.
Then she brought a serving spoon from her kitchen set. It did not know if that was some shade of pink or purple -- muave, lilac...I googled...got into wikipedia for colours and compared with all shades of pink..."So many pinks?" she exclaimed.
Then we got into the purple page. This time she joined into the matching game. I forget what we zoned into now. Next she brought her glass which is very unusual shade of dark blue and we went to blue in wikipedia and looked at all the blues.
A week later I was on my computer. She had three or four objects -- a paper, some formica covered piece and something else. "They are all white. Funny no?" she said. They were different shades -- yellowish to bright white. Just a few weekends ago I had learnt white balancing on a video camera.
Alphabets in many fonts in just twenty days
I was determined not to teach Lakshmi ABCD...But I had stumbled upon this website http://www.bemboszoo.com/. It has all the alphabets in a very beautiful font and they are flashing. If you take the mouse over one and click. It uses the same letter, both capital and small in that font and creates an animal and also makes that animal noise. It is so beautifully designed and I had been determined that Lakshmi would not see garishly or childishly designed stuff. Lakshmi absolutely loved this. She has been playing with site since she was year-and-a-half.
So she was fairly familiar with a lot of the symbols. S was a Salmon and it made a noise of a fish breathing and bubbles surfacing up. A had an antelope leaping across the screen. L was a roaring lion. and so on...F was a flamingo and she would walk like that. But she would ask for a lion or a salmon...
Then she started wanting to write numbers and words because she figured that we wrote telephone numbers. She also realised that the story books we read were full of these characters.
But she scribbled.
Then we got a little chinese toy on her birthday. where the symbol made a noise. Now she learnt these alphabets herself in both capital and small in a couple of days aided by Manju aunty. They pressed keys till the toy broke during the Pooja holidays. She would make these letters with blocks, twigs...or anything else she found.
A couple of days later, she wanted to write. She wrote A about 30 times. She tried writing a few more letters. She would look for these patterns everywhere, newspaper, TV, Magazine, the signboard at Navakriti. Then she wanted to type in the computer because I spent a lot of time there. I would increase the font and let her type.
A few days later when we were reading the paper she pointed to a letter in teh headline and asked me what that was. It was a small A written differently. "Ah so you can write these things differently too?" she exclaimed. Then she would want me to write each letter differently and sometimes she herself tried to write differently -- sometimes it was correct, sometimes a flipped mirror image and sometimes just imagination. We never corrected it. But she wrote over and over again. Sometimes she made a letter and converted it to something else -- like an E became a door. Sometimes when she asked me write K many ways I wrote it in capital and small and many other fonts. She can pretty much read all letters capital and small and write many but she hasn't done it for a while now.
Clearly if the mind is consulted and you do what it is ready to do it all goes faster and effortlessly.
So she was fairly familiar with a lot of the symbols. S was a Salmon and it made a noise of a fish breathing and bubbles surfacing up. A had an antelope leaping across the screen. L was a roaring lion. and so on...F was a flamingo and she would walk like that. But she would ask for a lion or a salmon...
Then she started wanting to write numbers and words because she figured that we wrote telephone numbers. She also realised that the story books we read were full of these characters.
But she scribbled.
Then we got a little chinese toy on her birthday. where the symbol made a noise. Now she learnt these alphabets herself in both capital and small in a couple of days aided by Manju aunty. They pressed keys till the toy broke during the Pooja holidays. She would make these letters with blocks, twigs...or anything else she found.
A couple of days later, she wanted to write. She wrote A about 30 times. She tried writing a few more letters. She would look for these patterns everywhere, newspaper, TV, Magazine, the signboard at Navakriti. Then she wanted to type in the computer because I spent a lot of time there. I would increase the font and let her type.
A few days later when we were reading the paper she pointed to a letter in teh headline and asked me what that was. It was a small A written differently. "Ah so you can write these things differently too?" she exclaimed. Then she would want me to write each letter differently and sometimes she herself tried to write differently -- sometimes it was correct, sometimes a flipped mirror image and sometimes just imagination. We never corrected it. But she wrote over and over again. Sometimes she made a letter and converted it to something else -- like an E became a door. Sometimes when she asked me write K many ways I wrote it in capital and small and many other fonts. She can pretty much read all letters capital and small and write many but she hasn't done it for a while now.
Clearly if the mind is consulted and you do what it is ready to do it all goes faster and effortlessly.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
A Director, Script Writer, Actor and Art Director
A humbling experience for me in consciousness. My little tyke can do naturally what I paid Rs 25,000 for and spent all my weekends for five months on. She is aware of emotions, the props, the noises and goes by what she thinks is right.
We have been watching pieces of Masoom, the classic which was adapted from Man, Woman and Child and which has Shabana Azmi and Nazeeruddin Shah.
You are DK and I'm Indu she told me one day. You sleep here in the bed on your tummy and cry holding your head in your hands.
Indu: Problem Kya hai DK? Kya ho gaya?
Now DK will say "Hamara bacha jo Nainital me hai, uska maa mar gayi" she directs.
Indu: Koi Baath nayi mai uska maa ban jaoongi.
Now DK will say "Indu I love you"
Indu: Main Hamesha Tumhaara Dost Hoon
And this will go on many times sometimes with her correcting me. "Say like this. Look that way. Hold like this" comes naturally.
Wherever there is anger or discomfort she has changed the script to suit what she feels.
In another scene she goes
"You are Rahul and now hammer wood and make a bangle box and hurt your hand. There will be blood and you cry and shout 'mama mama' ".
Needless to say she has got all the props ready...a few pieces of wooden building blocks sometimes, a box made of lego sometimes and a make-beleive hammer and a tray which goes for a plank on which the model is being made.
In the movie Shabana screams at him asking him not to call her mama. But lakshmi carefully smiles and bandages my hand and assures me that it will soon be fine.
It goes on like this. In another scene I'm Chanda, Shabana's friend. She brings me a red clutch bag. And says "Walk like that" walking with a straight neck, nose in the air and chest out. Chanda in the movie is a self-proclaimed independent woman.
There is a box in that movie which has photographs on all sides. We have a glass box which we had almost forgotten but have never put photographs into. One day she insisted that we take it out and put photographs with her and me and put it by the bedside. In the movie it had pictures of the boy and his mom.
She even carries a sheaf of papers all the time. Because she is sometimes Rahul and he carries his papers out of his dad's office
No detail gets missed and they get changed and enacted the way she thinks is right.
Rahul Roy the documentary film-maker who had come for a few sessions had told us to de-construct a bergman movie scene by scene -- shot by shot -- if we wanted to learn and here she was doing it all by herself.
We have been watching pieces of Masoom, the classic which was adapted from Man, Woman and Child and which has Shabana Azmi and Nazeeruddin Shah.
You are DK and I'm Indu she told me one day. You sleep here in the bed on your tummy and cry holding your head in your hands.
Indu: Problem Kya hai DK? Kya ho gaya?
Now DK will say "Hamara bacha jo Nainital me hai, uska maa mar gayi" she directs.
Indu: Koi Baath nayi mai uska maa ban jaoongi.
Now DK will say "Indu I love you"
Indu: Main Hamesha Tumhaara Dost Hoon
And this will go on many times sometimes with her correcting me. "Say like this. Look that way. Hold like this" comes naturally.
Wherever there is anger or discomfort she has changed the script to suit what she feels.
In another scene she goes
"You are Rahul and now hammer wood and make a bangle box and hurt your hand. There will be blood and you cry and shout 'mama mama' ".
Needless to say she has got all the props ready...a few pieces of wooden building blocks sometimes, a box made of lego sometimes and a make-beleive hammer and a tray which goes for a plank on which the model is being made.
In the movie Shabana screams at him asking him not to call her mama. But lakshmi carefully smiles and bandages my hand and assures me that it will soon be fine.
It goes on like this. In another scene I'm Chanda, Shabana's friend. She brings me a red clutch bag. And says "Walk like that" walking with a straight neck, nose in the air and chest out. Chanda in the movie is a self-proclaimed independent woman.
There is a box in that movie which has photographs on all sides. We have a glass box which we had almost forgotten but have never put photographs into. One day she insisted that we take it out and put photographs with her and me and put it by the bedside. In the movie it had pictures of the boy and his mom.
She even carries a sheaf of papers all the time. Because she is sometimes Rahul and he carries his papers out of his dad's office
No detail gets missed and they get changed and enacted the way she thinks is right.
Rahul Roy the documentary film-maker who had come for a few sessions had told us to de-construct a bergman movie scene by scene -- shot by shot -- if we wanted to learn and here she was doing it all by herself.
How they learn words?
We have been reading "A letter to Amy" by Ezra Jack Keats. A brilliant book of collages like all his books.
Each time we read the book, we go a level deeper. Just now, we read one page at a time. In fact, just one page many times. And then enact.
In that page Peter is carrying a letter for Amy. He is running on the road to mail it and he bumps into Amy and she falls. So I am Peter and I am carrying a letter and she is Amy and we Bump!
And she loves falling after that and the laughs heartily...She actually feels the word everytime...We do this atleast 5 to 6 times each time we pick up the book.
And then she wanted to know what is mail...many days after...
One day in school, she asked Nandita how to make a stamp.
She is now always writing "The party is at 2 on Saturday"... needless to say she is scribbling but that is what she means to write.
In another page, as Peter is walking it is raining. There are brilliant flashes of lightning in the collage.
"Isn't Peter afraid of lightning and thunder?" she asked one day. "Next time I hear thunder I will roar back at it".
By the time we have finished with this book we would have enacted page by page -- word by word...
Each time we read the book, we go a level deeper. Just now, we read one page at a time. In fact, just one page many times. And then enact.
In that page Peter is carrying a letter for Amy. He is running on the road to mail it and he bumps into Amy and she falls. So I am Peter and I am carrying a letter and she is Amy and we Bump!
And she loves falling after that and the laughs heartily...She actually feels the word everytime...We do this atleast 5 to 6 times each time we pick up the book.
And then she wanted to know what is mail...many days after...
One day in school, she asked Nandita how to make a stamp.
She is now always writing "The party is at 2 on Saturday"... needless to say she is scribbling but that is what she means to write.
In another page, as Peter is walking it is raining. There are brilliant flashes of lightning in the collage.
"Isn't Peter afraid of lightning and thunder?" she asked one day. "Next time I hear thunder I will roar back at it".
By the time we have finished with this book we would have enacted page by page -- word by word...
Can we label children?
During the first few weeks at Navakriti, Lakshmi turned rebellious at home.
"I'm not a good girl" she told me once when I requested her to do something.
I was having a tough time. She usually understood if we reasoned with her unless she was very hungry or tired. But now she seemed to burst into tears if we mildly suggested that doing something may not be a good idea. I had been leaving her at day care too. I told the teachers at Navakriti and they assured me that she was fine at school.
One day I came early to day care. The children were around the table and were going to paint. Lakshmi was standing on the table and thumping. One or more children joined in.
"Kaun achhe bache neeche aayenge?" the facilitator chimed.
"Lakshmi Gandhi bachi hai" joined in Chinmoy because she had not got down.
I saw the now familiar rebelliousness on the face. The thumping increased and she was doing something vigourously. Because I was familiar with she reads I realised what was going on.
"What are you trying to do Lakshmi?" I asked gently.
"I'm trying to put the fire out. This is water" she piped in making hosing actions with some prop she had picked up.
"But when there is a fire, you have to put water from below up" I offered. She got down from the table.
After a while, when she wanted to get on to the table again I asked her if she wanted to dance and I took her out to the cement ledge in courtyard and I sat a level below. That was her stage.
"But see, it doesn't thump!" she complained.
We searched for all high places but none of them thumped but now the game had shifted to look for thumping.
The problem here was that she was dancing on the table because an African American girl called Tumpie learns to dance by observing people in jazz bars and listening to music and one day she dances on a table. This is the biography of Josephine Baker who went on to become a famous dancer.
The book has extremely moving paintings and the one where Tumpie dances on a table spontaneously in a crowd, where a jazz band is playing, and is discovered is particulary engaging and we have been looking at it for many weeks. Tumpie could not do anything wrong for Lakshmi.
When she tries to dance on our dining table I have been telling her that our round table has only one leg and it will become wobbly. It is not strong enough.
It has been nearly a year now and Lakshmi still remembers what had happened. We were watching "Taare Zameen Par" for the nth time and the song Bum Bum bole.
the children are dancing on the table and Aamir Khan, the teacher is around and urging the orderly kids to loosen up...
"See, they are dancing on the table..." she pointed out. "But they are not Gandhe bache..."
A huge lesson for me. I am never going to call something wrong or right but figure out what a child is trying to do.
"I'm not a good girl" she told me once when I requested her to do something.
I was having a tough time. She usually understood if we reasoned with her unless she was very hungry or tired. But now she seemed to burst into tears if we mildly suggested that doing something may not be a good idea. I had been leaving her at day care too. I told the teachers at Navakriti and they assured me that she was fine at school.
One day I came early to day care. The children were around the table and were going to paint. Lakshmi was standing on the table and thumping. One or more children joined in.
"Kaun achhe bache neeche aayenge?" the facilitator chimed.
"Lakshmi Gandhi bachi hai" joined in Chinmoy because she had not got down.
I saw the now familiar rebelliousness on the face. The thumping increased and she was doing something vigourously. Because I was familiar with she reads I realised what was going on.
"What are you trying to do Lakshmi?" I asked gently.
"I'm trying to put the fire out. This is water" she piped in making hosing actions with some prop she had picked up.
"But when there is a fire, you have to put water from below up" I offered. She got down from the table.
After a while, when she wanted to get on to the table again I asked her if she wanted to dance and I took her out to the cement ledge in courtyard and I sat a level below. That was her stage.
"But see, it doesn't thump!" she complained.
We searched for all high places but none of them thumped but now the game had shifted to look for thumping.
The problem here was that she was dancing on the table because an African American girl called Tumpie learns to dance by observing people in jazz bars and listening to music and one day she dances on a table. This is the biography of Josephine Baker who went on to become a famous dancer.
The book has extremely moving paintings and the one where Tumpie dances on a table spontaneously in a crowd, where a jazz band is playing, and is discovered is particulary engaging and we have been looking at it for many weeks. Tumpie could not do anything wrong for Lakshmi.
When she tries to dance on our dining table I have been telling her that our round table has only one leg and it will become wobbly. It is not strong enough.
It has been nearly a year now and Lakshmi still remembers what had happened. We were watching "Taare Zameen Par" for the nth time and the song Bum Bum bole.
the children are dancing on the table and Aamir Khan, the teacher is around and urging the orderly kids to loosen up...
"See, they are dancing on the table..." she pointed out. "But they are not Gandhe bache..."
A huge lesson for me. I am never going to call something wrong or right but figure out what a child is trying to do.
When do they lose this clarity?
After the last day at Navakriti, Lakshmi and I were having lunch with Ramya and her parents Medha and Pankaj. Ramya went into usual sulk act where she would tip-toe away and look sideways to see the reaction. On careful observation from behind one could that her cheeks were moving upward suggesting that she was dying to break into a smile.
I was pointing that out and teasing her. Lakshmi immediately started doing the Ramya act complete with those sideways glances.
"Ramya doesn't only sulk. She also sings and tells us stories" I urged Lakshmi.
She immediately broke into a song that Ramya improvises:
"Hain na bolo bolo
Chips ko packet se, Packet ko chips se pyaar hai
Hain na bolo bolo
Ped ko pathe se pathe ko ped se pyaar hai"
Ramya immediately wanted to do the Lakshmi act. She called Pankaj and told him that she wanted to sit high up in the tree.
They were so clear. Ramya likes to make up and sing songs which I can sing for you was what Lakshmi was saying. She had noticed the song that Ramya had sung on the stage that day.
Lakshmi loves sitting up on trees and is good at it is what Ramya was saying and they were so comfortable with that. Ramya had never sat on a tree before and neither had she wanted to.
How many grown-ups do we meet who are that comfortable?
They are usually telling us how they cannot do what someone else can or sometimes how they too can. Where does the clarity and comfort get lost? When does the competition set in?
I was pointing that out and teasing her. Lakshmi immediately started doing the Ramya act complete with those sideways glances.
"Ramya doesn't only sulk. She also sings and tells us stories" I urged Lakshmi.
She immediately broke into a song that Ramya improvises:
"Hain na bolo bolo
Chips ko packet se, Packet ko chips se pyaar hai
Hain na bolo bolo
Ped ko pathe se pathe ko ped se pyaar hai"
Ramya immediately wanted to do the Lakshmi act. She called Pankaj and told him that she wanted to sit high up in the tree.
They were so clear. Ramya likes to make up and sing songs which I can sing for you was what Lakshmi was saying. She had noticed the song that Ramya had sung on the stage that day.
Lakshmi loves sitting up on trees and is good at it is what Ramya was saying and they were so comfortable with that. Ramya had never sat on a tree before and neither had she wanted to.
How many grown-ups do we meet who are that comfortable?
They are usually telling us how they cannot do what someone else can or sometimes how they too can. Where does the clarity and comfort get lost? When does the competition set in?
un-schooling
I was at the Aurobindo Ashram at Raiwala last summer. We met a little French girl named Jayalakshmi and her mother. Seven-year-old Jaya, was one of the most free souls I have met. She wears only pajama bottoms. Her skin looks like it has been tightened on to the bones. When she runs, she is running at an angle, cutting into the wind. A young leopard, I thought.
She had Lakshmi and me entranced within minutes of us meeting her. She was showing Lakshmi how to do the frog, crab and rabbit. The frog could leap really high. She had learnt all this yoga by herself, just hanging around, looking at others.
Her mother mentioned that she had been studying at the Auroville International school in Pondicherry and then she had pulled her out of school to home-school her. And now she was being un-schooled. “I did not want to chew the food half-way and shove it into her mouth with a spoon” she said. She would now only answer questions that the little girl came up with herself and only as much as she wanted. At first she said she wondered if she would ever reach mathematics or physics but now she is less concerned.
Jaya took Lakshmi to the library and started showing her books on optical illusions. Just look into this picture, keep looking at your nose – and the three-year-old actually did. Then she played us two musical instruments all on her own.
Ever since I got back, I have been pointing out things less and waiting for Lakshmi to ask. (This is hard…I have to really curb myself from showing her things…).
The results:
On the potty…
Q. Where does my potty go?
A. Down into the drain…
A day later
The same route…then…
Q. What is the drain? Draw and show me…(we have been doing this draw this and that thing for a while now…)
A. I draw three potties for the three floors and join them all up and then draw the drain into a tank where the clean water comes out and the potty is dried and goes to plants.
Another picture to show some people send the drain into a nala which goes directly into the Yamuna…(we had been boating down the Yamuna a month and ago and had seen how dirty it was…)
She drew a bigger rectangle which took up the whole page and showed Vish – she had drawn a very big tank to clean all the potty…
Another day – we repeat the whole thing…
Q. Show me the dried potty that is put into the plants…
A. wait till we buy fertiliser next time…(we do buy the Okhla one sometimes…)
A few days later…We go to a classmate’s house and they have a fancy round wash basin…
Q. Does this have a drain?
A. Yes it does…
A couple of days later …we are standing at the corner …at the Adchini Red light waiting for someone…
Q. What is that one?
A. (I keep looking and finally realize that she is talking about the ditch…) That is a ditch – drain for the rain water to flow…
Q. But there is no water there…only dried leaves…
A. It will be there when it rains…
Q. Where does that go?
A. I don’t know…I could find out…
I haven’t heard the last of this potty and drain thing – she looks into the potty every time to see if it has gone and we repeat the same story and take it a little further…I kind of understand where this rote learning thing came from…But the difference is that she is figuring out what she wants to and repeating it to make sure she gets it…
Next thing…
Q. Can u draw me a guitar?
Q. Now can u draw me a violin?
I draw a guitar looking thing with a bow…This actually led me to asking a couple of girls how to depict a violin…it led to a 15-minute discussion…How many strings? Is the stem shorter? What are the differences in shape that can be exaggerated in two dimensions? I still haven’t looked up the drawings but soon will.
(she has asked that of three people)
This weekend…
We found two feathers outside the Meghdoot theatre…
Q. Which bird is it?
A. I don’t know…we could ask Sajeev Uncle…
Q. How did the feather fall down? Did the bird get hurt? How will it fly?
A. I don’t know…we could ask Sajeev Uncle…but it has not lost all its feathers…
There was a picture of two openbills in Bharatpur in the newspaper…
Q. What is that?
A. It says two openbills…
Q. Mama and Daddy…
A. Yeah…
Q. They want to build a nest…I’m the daddy…I’m bringing twigs…she brought some iron rods from a broken chime and put them one upon another in a circle. Then put a cushion on top. “Shhhhhhhh…Mama, we have to hide the nest…you lay the eggs…”
Come here’s the water…lets go down and eat fish…and bring some back…This goes on over and over again…
After a little while…
We bring lots of neem twigs (from some earlier trip) to build nests – all three of us are building nests…
Then it becomes wood to build a home…with a door and a chimney…
Q. If I’m the daddy woodpecker and you are the mama woodpecker…will we live in this nest?
A. No we would live in a hole in the tree…
Q. Here’s a hole in the tree…a hole is made between two cushions…
I get a doubt – do woodpeckers too live in tree holes? We look up the net…
She had Lakshmi and me entranced within minutes of us meeting her. She was showing Lakshmi how to do the frog, crab and rabbit. The frog could leap really high. She had learnt all this yoga by herself, just hanging around, looking at others.
Her mother mentioned that she had been studying at the Auroville International school in Pondicherry and then she had pulled her out of school to home-school her. And now she was being un-schooled. “I did not want to chew the food half-way and shove it into her mouth with a spoon” she said. She would now only answer questions that the little girl came up with herself and only as much as she wanted. At first she said she wondered if she would ever reach mathematics or physics but now she is less concerned.
Jaya took Lakshmi to the library and started showing her books on optical illusions. Just look into this picture, keep looking at your nose – and the three-year-old actually did. Then she played us two musical instruments all on her own.
Ever since I got back, I have been pointing out things less and waiting for Lakshmi to ask. (This is hard…I have to really curb myself from showing her things…).
The results:
On the potty…
Q. Where does my potty go?
A. Down into the drain…
A day later
The same route…then…
Q. What is the drain? Draw and show me…(we have been doing this draw this and that thing for a while now…)
A. I draw three potties for the three floors and join them all up and then draw the drain into a tank where the clean water comes out and the potty is dried and goes to plants.
Another picture to show some people send the drain into a nala which goes directly into the Yamuna…(we had been boating down the Yamuna a month and ago and had seen how dirty it was…)
She drew a bigger rectangle which took up the whole page and showed Vish – she had drawn a very big tank to clean all the potty…
Another day – we repeat the whole thing…
Q. Show me the dried potty that is put into the plants…
A. wait till we buy fertiliser next time…(we do buy the Okhla one sometimes…)
A few days later…We go to a classmate’s house and they have a fancy round wash basin…
Q. Does this have a drain?
A. Yes it does…
A couple of days later …we are standing at the corner …at the Adchini Red light waiting for someone…
Q. What is that one?
A. (I keep looking and finally realize that she is talking about the ditch…) That is a ditch – drain for the rain water to flow…
Q. But there is no water there…only dried leaves…
A. It will be there when it rains…
Q. Where does that go?
A. I don’t know…I could find out…
I haven’t heard the last of this potty and drain thing – she looks into the potty every time to see if it has gone and we repeat the same story and take it a little further…I kind of understand where this rote learning thing came from…But the difference is that she is figuring out what she wants to and repeating it to make sure she gets it…
Next thing…
Q. Can u draw me a guitar?
Q. Now can u draw me a violin?
I draw a guitar looking thing with a bow…This actually led me to asking a couple of girls how to depict a violin…it led to a 15-minute discussion…How many strings? Is the stem shorter? What are the differences in shape that can be exaggerated in two dimensions? I still haven’t looked up the drawings but soon will.
(she has asked that of three people)
This weekend…
We found two feathers outside the Meghdoot theatre…
Q. Which bird is it?
A. I don’t know…we could ask Sajeev Uncle…
Q. How did the feather fall down? Did the bird get hurt? How will it fly?
A. I don’t know…we could ask Sajeev Uncle…but it has not lost all its feathers…
There was a picture of two openbills in Bharatpur in the newspaper…
Q. What is that?
A. It says two openbills…
Q. Mama and Daddy…
A. Yeah…
Q. They want to build a nest…I’m the daddy…I’m bringing twigs…she brought some iron rods from a broken chime and put them one upon another in a circle. Then put a cushion on top. “Shhhhhhhh…Mama, we have to hide the nest…you lay the eggs…”
Come here’s the water…lets go down and eat fish…and bring some back…This goes on over and over again…
After a little while…
We bring lots of neem twigs (from some earlier trip) to build nests – all three of us are building nests…
Then it becomes wood to build a home…with a door and a chimney…
Q. If I’m the daddy woodpecker and you are the mama woodpecker…will we live in this nest?
A. No we would live in a hole in the tree…
Q. Here’s a hole in the tree…a hole is made between two cushions…
I get a doubt – do woodpeckers too live in tree holes? We look up the net…
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Reflection
The Orientation program at Mirambika is having a effect on eme. Today When I was getting Lakshmi to sleep I decided to get her to think about her day.
"Did you have a good day today?" I began.
"Yes."
"What did you like most?" followed.
"Running to catch Aditi".
"What did you not like?" came next.
"Saher fighting with me for the leaves I was holding."
"Did you do any Galat that you wished you had not done?" I asked.
"No."
"I too had a good day. I loved playing holi with neem leaves. But I did two galats that I wished I had not done". I offered. "I saw the medicine bottle that Lakshmi pulled out in school and was aghast. I assumed that she was faking illness and she had brought the bottle herself. Actually Manju aunty had sent it and Lakshmi pulled it out at exactly at the right time. I won't assume Lakshmi is faking next time." I continued. "Then I got annoyed with Lakshmi for tugging hard and noisily at her car which was stuck behind the easel. i had told Lakshmi many times that I would never get annoyed with her but did not remember yet another time." I finished.
"Actually I too cried in school. Maybe I should not have" she started. "But the tears kept coming. But sometimes they are also tears of happiness" she finished.
Clearly, I have to do what I want her to do.
"Did you have a good day today?" I began.
"Yes."
"What did you like most?" followed.
"Running to catch Aditi".
"What did you not like?" came next.
"Saher fighting with me for the leaves I was holding."
"Did you do any Galat that you wished you had not done?" I asked.
"No."
"I too had a good day. I loved playing holi with neem leaves. But I did two galats that I wished I had not done". I offered. "I saw the medicine bottle that Lakshmi pulled out in school and was aghast. I assumed that she was faking illness and she had brought the bottle herself. Actually Manju aunty had sent it and Lakshmi pulled it out at exactly at the right time. I won't assume Lakshmi is faking next time." I continued. "Then I got annoyed with Lakshmi for tugging hard and noisily at her car which was stuck behind the easel. i had told Lakshmi many times that I would never get annoyed with her but did not remember yet another time." I finished.
"Actually I too cried in school. Maybe I should not have" she started. "But the tears kept coming. But sometimes they are also tears of happiness" she finished.
Clearly, I have to do what I want her to do.
Lesson on Death
Lakshmi watches Lion King at least four times a week in small parts. She takes on different roles at different times and asks one of us to take on other parts and we have a conversation.
Today she was Mufassa, the dad and I was Simba.
"One day I will die and you will become king" she began.
"Why will you die daddy? I can't live without you" I say.
"Everybody has to die one day. You will be king. You have to be brave" she says.
"What is brave? what is king?" I ask.
"Strronnng!" comes the answer. "You have to look after the jungle".
"Does that mean I cannot scare anyone?" I ask.
"You can scare the hyenas. But not the Raffikis and Nalas".
"But what will do when I miss you?" I ask.
"You will have Timone. Friends will be around. I will be in the sky to remind you when you do galat" came promptly.
Can I keep her thinking as crystal clear as she grows up and never teach her fear...I wonder...
Today she was Mufassa, the dad and I was Simba.
"One day I will die and you will become king" she began.
"Why will you die daddy? I can't live without you" I say.
"Everybody has to die one day. You will be king. You have to be brave" she says.
"What is brave? what is king?" I ask.
"Strronnng!" comes the answer. "You have to look after the jungle".
"Does that mean I cannot scare anyone?" I ask.
"You can scare the hyenas. But not the Raffikis and Nalas".
"But what will do when I miss you?" I ask.
"You will have Timone. Friends will be around. I will be in the sky to remind you when you do galat" came promptly.
Can I keep her thinking as crystal clear as she grows up and never teach her fear...I wonder...
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Can a four-year-old stitch?
A year ago I had been to Aurovalley an ashram near Dehradun. I met Jaya a eight-year-old French girl who was being unschooled. "I only tell her or do what she asks me" her mother had told me. I have been trying to follow that as much as possible and it has been leading into very interesting directions. Into exploring topics and activities that I would never have thought a four-year-old could pursue.
Today she picked up a small tranparent needle and thread kit from my husband's travel kit. She wanted to know what that was. I said needle and thread.
"What do you do with that?"
"You stitch"
"I want to stitch". She pulled out the edges of her pyjama top where some thread was sticking out. "See it is coming off" she pointed out. I did not know that she knew what stitch meant. I don't stock pieces of fresh cloth like my mothers used to and neither do i have a sewing machine. i pulled out an old short of my husbands and I did one or two running stitches. Then she did four with some help.
"But why do we need to do this?"
I showed her the hem and said if we do it fine we can make clothes.
Today she picked up a small tranparent needle and thread kit from my husband's travel kit. She wanted to know what that was. I said needle and thread.
"What do you do with that?"
"You stitch"
"I want to stitch". She pulled out the edges of her pyjama top where some thread was sticking out. "See it is coming off" she pointed out. I did not know that she knew what stitch meant. I don't stock pieces of fresh cloth like my mothers used to and neither do i have a sewing machine. i pulled out an old short of my husbands and I did one or two running stitches. Then she did four with some help.
"But why do we need to do this?"
I showed her the hem and said if we do it fine we can make clothes.
Role Play
This is how my daughter understands and teaches me too sometimes. After a session in her new school we went to a restaurant. Soon Ishaan another four-year-old from her pre-school and his parents Satyajit and Padma arrived. I asked Ishaan how his hand was. Lakshmi immediately asked Satyajit what had happened to Ishaan's hand.
"He was trying to change cabins in a toy train while it was moving. He fell down and the cabin came down on him. His fingers were scratched and blood streamed down his palm. He cried. I asked him to stop but he cried and cried all the same" explained Satyajit. Soon Lakshmi was saying that her hand was hurting. She repeated the story. The train fell on her and hurt her hand and she had blood streaming down. Her father asked her to stop crying. But it was ok for her to cry and so she continued. That was her way of understanding, empathising and also telling Satyajit that it was ok to cry.
All our role play games are around what she wants to get comfortable with or what she wants to teach me. In one game she will be the mom. I'm the baby strapped to the car seat. "How are you going to say bye to me when we reach school?" she will say. "You will go to your group and I will work with small children" she finishes. It is really hard for her to take that i work with other small children. And this game is played many times for her to come to terms with. Now I have figured that whenever a new game is cooked up i have to pay rapt attention for she is trying to tell me something.
There is another role game which is meant to teach me. She is the driver. I'm the vendor who comes to the car and sells toys, magazines or flowers. She will always want just what I'm selling and smile and pay for it. Even if the light has changed and the cars behind are honking. Needless to say i don't buy these things except magazines sometimes and that too only when the light has turned red just when i arrive. She is always asking "So why don't you want flowers?" She is fully empathetic with the child vendors.
I remember friends of ours and Archit their two-year-old from long ago (he is now in class 12). He always had an imaginary companion called Prashanti. One day when we met him he told us a story. He was walking in the market with Prashanti. She wanted gems. "So what did you do?" we asked. "I bought it. She only asked because she wanted. I don't ever make her cry" he replied.
Then his parents told us that he had just stopped at a shop and had wanted Gems and had kicked up a fuss. They said whatever happened to him would happen to Prashanti and he always responded to Prashanti in the way that he thought right and many times not what had happened to him.
"He was trying to change cabins in a toy train while it was moving. He fell down and the cabin came down on him. His fingers were scratched and blood streamed down his palm. He cried. I asked him to stop but he cried and cried all the same" explained Satyajit. Soon Lakshmi was saying that her hand was hurting. She repeated the story. The train fell on her and hurt her hand and she had blood streaming down. Her father asked her to stop crying. But it was ok for her to cry and so she continued. That was her way of understanding, empathising and also telling Satyajit that it was ok to cry.
All our role play games are around what she wants to get comfortable with or what she wants to teach me. In one game she will be the mom. I'm the baby strapped to the car seat. "How are you going to say bye to me when we reach school?" she will say. "You will go to your group and I will work with small children" she finishes. It is really hard for her to take that i work with other small children. And this game is played many times for her to come to terms with. Now I have figured that whenever a new game is cooked up i have to pay rapt attention for she is trying to tell me something.
There is another role game which is meant to teach me. She is the driver. I'm the vendor who comes to the car and sells toys, magazines or flowers. She will always want just what I'm selling and smile and pay for it. Even if the light has changed and the cars behind are honking. Needless to say i don't buy these things except magazines sometimes and that too only when the light has turned red just when i arrive. She is always asking "So why don't you want flowers?" She is fully empathetic with the child vendors.
I remember friends of ours and Archit their two-year-old from long ago (he is now in class 12). He always had an imaginary companion called Prashanti. One day when we met him he told us a story. He was walking in the market with Prashanti. She wanted gems. "So what did you do?" we asked. "I bought it. She only asked because she wanted. I don't ever make her cry" he replied.
Then his parents told us that he had just stopped at a shop and had wanted Gems and had kicked up a fuss. They said whatever happened to him would happen to Prashanti and he always responded to Prashanti in the way that he thought right and many times not what had happened to him.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Are cartoons real for children?
"Can you bring me a piano?" she begins "I want to dance on the keys and play".
"You have to be gentle on a piano. You cannot play with your feet" I say.
"But Toulouse and her sister play it that way" she said referring to characters in Disney's Aristocats.
"They are cartoons. Not real cats. They are playing jhootmoot ka".
"But I'm a fun cat".
She brings a stool along and puts it along the crockery counter and plays the piano and then climbs up and dances.
I had suspected that she thought the cartoons were real for a while now. She had smashed a plate to Vish's face once when she was mildy annoyed. We have some very close friends who have saved up their 21-year-old's toys. They would let Lakshmi play on the Casio keyboard that she had used. It is in a plastic cover and they remove the batteries everytime they put it away. Lakshmi is real gentle with that keyboard. But one day they were horrified when she was playing with her legs.
But this weekend I spoke to my brother-in-law, a movie freak about this. He said he had seen 101 Damatians when he was 10. He did not realise that it was an animation till much later when he saw another version which was part animation.
"You have to be gentle on a piano. You cannot play with your feet" I say.
"But Toulouse and her sister play it that way" she said referring to characters in Disney's Aristocats.
"They are cartoons. Not real cats. They are playing jhootmoot ka".
"But I'm a fun cat".
She brings a stool along and puts it along the crockery counter and plays the piano and then climbs up and dances.
I had suspected that she thought the cartoons were real for a while now. She had smashed a plate to Vish's face once when she was mildy annoyed. We have some very close friends who have saved up their 21-year-old's toys. They would let Lakshmi play on the Casio keyboard that she had used. It is in a plastic cover and they remove the batteries everytime they put it away. Lakshmi is real gentle with that keyboard. But one day they were horrified when she was playing with her legs.
But this weekend I spoke to my brother-in-law, a movie freak about this. He said he had seen 101 Damatians when he was 10. He did not realise that it was an animation till much later when he saw another version which was part animation.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Gulla and the Hungul
I read the book "Gulla and the Hungul" by Mariam Karim-Ahlawat to Lakshmi tonight. The book is about a Kashmiri boy called Gulla. He lives in a little Kashmiri village in the Tangdhar valley in the Shamshabari mountain ranges. The illustration in pastel colours is beautiful. There is a huge pine tree in the foreground. A river rushes down the mountain ranges and the pastures are green. There are large boulders on the sides of the river.
"Why have they put them there" asks my little four-year-old.
"They are rocks washed by the river" I reply.
After she sleeps I google. The Kishenganga River (the river in the picture) becomes the Neelum river in Pakistan. I look for pictures in the Net. It is stunningly beautiful. The illustrations in the book just hint at the beauty. The river which runs close to the Line of Control is going to be harnessed for hydro electric power. The environmentalists warn that this will destroy the lives of the Dard Shin, an ancient tribe of people who live in the Gurez valley. The valley is also part of the ancient Silk Route and is yet to be excavated.
Gulla in the book is a sheperd boy. He lives in a village which is densely populated and has two storey houses. The cattle live in the groundfloor while people live in the first floor. There are no pictures of their homes on the Net. The valley which is a green meadow in the picture book gets covered by white snow in winter. A few years ago (in 2005) there was a terrible earthquake in Gulla's village. There is a crack shown in the book.
"What is an earthquake?" Lakshmi asks.
"Earth is a round ball like the mud ladoos you make at the sandpit. Sometimes it cracks" I say.
"Like a volcano?" she questions.
Gulla grazes his sheep in the meadows high on the mountain. "Don't go into the forest" Gulla's mother warns. "There are men there with guns".
"Why do they have guns?" questions Lakshmi.
"Because they are gussa people. If you get gussa you end up hurting people you love" I answer.
The story continues...
At the end of the day Gulla sends his sheep and goat back home with his dog Rooda. He notices two stray dogs chasing a Hangul, the endangered Kashmiri red deer. He rescues the deer but it gets dark and he stays out in the forest at night. The next day the Hangul turns into a spirit and grants Gulla a wish as a reward for endangering his own life to save another. The little boy wishes that his village should never again be struck by an earthquake. He then heads home and is met by his anxious parents. The books ends with a picture of woolly sheep grazing in the meadow.
"This is wool" says a rather drowsy Lakshmi clutching her Cherry Blanket to her cheeks. "How does that become wool?" she adds pointing to the sheep.
"They give it a haircut and make woollen thread out of the hair and then weave it into a blanket" I finish. She puts her head on the pillow and goes to sleep.
I head to my computer. I google for Hangul. Where can we go to see it? The Dachigam National park is home to some of these, I read. The park also turns into a riot of colours in August. In spring it has green grass all over and is sprinkled with wild flowers. Perhaps that is where we will head to for our next holiday. The park is only 22 kilometers from Srinagar.
I'm really excited by Indian publishing for children. It is forcing me to learn and read about India that we did not read as children.
"Why have they put them there" asks my little four-year-old.
"They are rocks washed by the river" I reply.
After she sleeps I google. The Kishenganga River (the river in the picture) becomes the Neelum river in Pakistan. I look for pictures in the Net. It is stunningly beautiful. The illustrations in the book just hint at the beauty. The river which runs close to the Line of Control is going to be harnessed for hydro electric power. The environmentalists warn that this will destroy the lives of the Dard Shin, an ancient tribe of people who live in the Gurez valley. The valley is also part of the ancient Silk Route and is yet to be excavated.
Gulla in the book is a sheperd boy. He lives in a village which is densely populated and has two storey houses. The cattle live in the groundfloor while people live in the first floor. There are no pictures of their homes on the Net. The valley which is a green meadow in the picture book gets covered by white snow in winter. A few years ago (in 2005) there was a terrible earthquake in Gulla's village. There is a crack shown in the book.
"What is an earthquake?" Lakshmi asks.
"Earth is a round ball like the mud ladoos you make at the sandpit. Sometimes it cracks" I say.
"Like a volcano?" she questions.
Gulla grazes his sheep in the meadows high on the mountain. "Don't go into the forest" Gulla's mother warns. "There are men there with guns".
"Why do they have guns?" questions Lakshmi.
"Because they are gussa people. If you get gussa you end up hurting people you love" I answer.
The story continues...
At the end of the day Gulla sends his sheep and goat back home with his dog Rooda. He notices two stray dogs chasing a Hangul, the endangered Kashmiri red deer. He rescues the deer but it gets dark and he stays out in the forest at night. The next day the Hangul turns into a spirit and grants Gulla a wish as a reward for endangering his own life to save another. The little boy wishes that his village should never again be struck by an earthquake. He then heads home and is met by his anxious parents. The books ends with a picture of woolly sheep grazing in the meadow.
"This is wool" says a rather drowsy Lakshmi clutching her Cherry Blanket to her cheeks. "How does that become wool?" she adds pointing to the sheep.
"They give it a haircut and make woollen thread out of the hair and then weave it into a blanket" I finish. She puts her head on the pillow and goes to sleep.
I head to my computer. I google for Hangul. Where can we go to see it? The Dachigam National park is home to some of these, I read. The park also turns into a riot of colours in August. In spring it has green grass all over and is sprinkled with wild flowers. Perhaps that is where we will head to for our next holiday. The park is only 22 kilometers from Srinagar.
I'm really excited by Indian publishing for children. It is forcing me to learn and read about India that we did not read as children.
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