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.
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