Part III

Keeping them doused in nature

Admiring the stillness of life

 On the fourth day when the power got restored we watched a film on frogs by Sir David Attenborough. It took us on a journey through the weird and wonderful world of frogs, throwing new light on these charismatic, colorful and frequently bizarre little animals. Attenborough immensely impressed the children through his first-hand stories, the latest science, and cutting-edge technology. Frogs from around the world were used to demonstrate the wide variety of frog anatomy, appearance and behavior. Their amazing adaptations and survival techniques have made them the most successful of all amphibians. The rains and the darkness had toughened the children. They were able to shed off all inhibitions and were seen walking around in bare feet and many a times without a torch.

 

Some jump  ho jump on the tricky rocks

 I particularly don’t know which of the multitude of activities we put them through was singly responsible for the behavioral change in the children. To begin with they had this morning session at 5.30 am while it was still dark and the crickets of the night screeched and the tree frogs muttered. Children were made to sit on the bank of the river or amidst the river as we did before it rained. Children formed a beeline and hopped on rocks until they were in the middle of the river. The unilateral task in this session is to listen to the morning sounds. On the first day it must have been a boring job but those who learnt to appreciate the sounds and could decipher that it changes according to the brightness of the sunlight learned to thoroughly enjoy the session.

enjoying the morning Ragas....

Every single day begins with a shrill-single note whistle made by the Malabar Whistling Thrush. After some silence the bulbuls of many kinds fill up the air. The iora too sets up its starters. Then suddenly the Malabar Whistling Thrush comes out with its characteristic whistle like that of a human. If this Thrush does his job all right it wins more votes for the activity. Next among the aves, to steal the show is a raptor that nests on a tall tree on the banks of wooded streams. He sends out a shrill cry similar to that of a human child crying in agony. He can’t resist making these bickering calls in the breeding season. He frequently struts along the stream showing off his powerful flight. In a matter of seconds this bird called Grey headed Fishing Eagle swoops on to the surface of water and can snatches a fish.

Lesser Grey headed Fishing Eagle

By the time the sun is convincingly up and all the shades of greens are revealed the children will be passing through the limits. It also suggests how their biological clocks are conditioned to await for a bell calling the end of a session in their schools. As if to save us from the curses of restless children, another noisy bird emerges from nowhere. It is the colourful Stork billed Kingfisher, found only in the calm waters surrounded by thick woods. It would be tea time and the kids have almost spent two hours working with us.

We are sure that children who have early exposure to nature are strongly correlated with their attitudes towards conservation and environmentally responsible behavior as adults. And it is also known that in the absence of contact with nature before their formative years, their ability to connect with their surroundings could be lost. What other intention could we have in these camps other than driving them into nature in full throttle?

A creative team with their raindeer

Another enjoyable activity that the children love is to collect objects from Nature. These skills and aspirations to possess the unique object are often weaned out in super bazaars where the kid finds only machine made things-be it toys or cloths. When the child runs out of choices it looks for a higher priced object- so convenient for the market economy.

A delicate Leafy Peacock in the happening

Making a collage out of dead leaves is a wonderful activity that gives children a chance to explore the forest floor. It looks into the shape, size and color of the leaves. Since the teams are made up of mixed age groups there is scope for better and responsible socialization. They are given time to decide upon what form to bring out of the leaves; then some serious time for their artistic collaboration. At the end, when you assess their art works they reveal volumes about the ability of every child and the weakness it has. Just to

A Giraffe come alive 

make them repeat their performance we may pose a different situation for them to work about.

Listing all the activity is beyond the scope of this article but for sure the kids were engaged for more than sixteen hours a day in nature in their joyous state. Where would they have the time for bathing or changing even?

-Manu K

 

A simple way to beat the summer heat