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| A dance drama in progress |
This must be the tenth summer camp of the
season that I am visiting. Nature
lessons and related activities are in demand and every organizer would insistently
extend their invite to us. In the milieu of jumbled and uncertain appointments that
these flexible organizers would make, I was forced to push this trip time and
again and was making it in the last possible day. Though the camp lasted for a
few more days children would be busy with their theatrical performances which
would be showcased in the valedictory function.
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| Road to Sanehalli |
The road to Sanehalli, where the theatre
repertory Shri Shivakumara Rangaproyoga
Shale of national repute, was smooth till Birur. Once you turn towards
Ajjampura you start seeing what rural India is. The neglect of the state and
the craftiness of the politicians! The road that appears to have suffered from
areal bombarding is the SH24. The development monger’s concern to upgrade the
road seems to have drained off soon after the mammoth like trees planted by the
Maharajas of Mysore ware beheaded and transported. The ride is a night mare for
every small car and two wheelers. Yet we Indians oblige the authorities and
withstand the speeding monsters of privately owned shattering buses on these
roads. Ironically every interior roads done under the central scheme is
thriving. Unfortunately they don’t take us to Sanehalli.
We reached the beautiful campus at midnight.
The following day we could not begin the session until breakfast. There were
about 170 children ranging from 7 to 16 years. Bringing them to one frame was
an issue as it is every where you have a heterogeneous crowd. Theatrical
approach is many times like that of regimental training-drain their energies to
take control. At the same time theatrical activities emphasize upon performance
which are called performing arts-speaking, singing, dancing and acting. These may incorporate shouting, screaming,
jumping, wrestling and many things that involve giving up inhibition. Thereby
the child loses its inhibition and shyness and would eventually develop
essential communication skills required for every day life. Those who excel in
any of these activities will be prompted to develop on that trait eventually
becoming more proficient in it.
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| Training their ears upon a Cicada |
However, to involve all the 170 children in
any Nature activity was a challenge. Between me and Lokesh we had to divide the
time and the subject we would engage the children in. We divided the children
into 20 groups and instructed them to collect all possible leaves in the
premises. Plucking flowers and plants on the lawn was strictly prohibited. The
army of children ran in every direction and it appeared that they were on a
rampage. The humble gardener grew wild and soon complained the matter to the
director of the repertory. There was some serious commotion to be addressed. It
was a matter of trusting the children and coming out of the mindset of pulling
out leaves is a destructive activity. Traditionally this semi-arid region used
to be grassland. With the introduction
of coconut, sugar cane and banana the ground water depleted to an extent that
farming became an unpromising occupation. In such a situation the establishment had a
tough time in maintaining a garden and more than two acres of lawn. Some timely
discussion revealed that the lawn itself was taking up more water than the rest
of the plants. The heap of undersized campus grown coconuts outside the kitchen
complex came in handy to explain the situation. Every body could realize that
the coconut trees were not having their share of 90 liters of water per day.
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| Children studying about their leaf collection |
As a second activity we let loose the children
to pick up every bit of plastic in the campus. Like an army of rag pickers they
piled up all possible bits of plastics into the dust bin which in fact had
remained empty all the time. The words of appreciation by the director
developed a sense of achievement among the children. They kept on arguing about
who picked up the most plastics.
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| Some campus cleaning work |
In the evening Lokesh Mosale made a slide
presentation on wildlife that was followed by some exciting film show. It was
pouring heavily and we dropped the idea of driving back in the night. We
snatched an opportunity of handling the children for another session in the
early morning. The kids were made to fall in at five a.m., and were made to observe
the day break in silence. After an hour we had a serious discussion about the
future of our living world.
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| A Calotis hand post! |
After the breakfast we took leave. As we drove
past the campus fence made of chain link mesh we could see children seriously
into their activity and some carefully looking underneath the leaves, maybe for
evidence of some obscure form of life that was new to them. It is more than a
week now and I had a call from one of my friends and an organizer of the camp
saying how easy it became for them to handle the group thereafter.
Curious Children
- Manu K
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