Call for teachers orientation workshop

Call to participate in the panel discussion

Living with Learning disability

Sanjay came home sulking from school. He was sent out of the class for not doing his Science assignment. He would have enjoyed the punishment if his Principal had not strolled upon the corridor. The Principal pulled him to his office, asked some irrelevant questions and treated him with a cane. It hurt him badly and was humiliating. Falling into such a situation was quite common for him.

He never understood why he forgot to do his assignments. May be he was not clear of what he was supposed to do. What ever was going on in the class was not getting into his brains; there was so much life out side the classroom. Vehicles in motion, people in their business and every soul enjoyed the sunshine. That boring act of listening to the lessons was not the priority of his Life. There were more interesting things going on out side the class room- the birds that perched on the tree out side class room, the marching ants, and the buzzing bees. The crawling worm that curled it self when he touched, the screeching cicada that punctuated silence when approached and many more such things fascinated him beyond the classroom lessons.

 Unlike his friends he never kept track of his books. Pages of his books were torn and what remained had rolled in from its corners.  It was indeed difficult for him to pick a page related to the assignment. His pencil box was full but the writable pen was not to be seen at the time when he really wanted one. It took a lot of time for him to search the page where he had written what assignment he was supposed to do. With great difficulty he had found his school bag lying beneath the cot but could not remember when he placed it there. His uniform shirt was tangled to the bag he had to entangle it, in the process a portion of his shirt was torn, if Amma comes to know about it! He had wrapped the shirt in a cover and threw it into the dust bin. When Amma was searching his shirt for laundry, he told her that it must be some where how could he know about it? “Oh God, hope Amma will not find out about it while disposing the dustbin” he prayed to himself.

Sanjay did not know whether he was safe at home.  Every day Amma was so clever to discover some thing or the other that was not acceptable to her and be ready with some issue to punish him. He was scared to show his Answer sheets that were distributed in the class today. It had to be returned to the teacher after getting signed by the parents. Who will sign it for him? Amma or Appa? He knew all the answers, and had written them in such good length.  Now these papers were so heavy in his bag. All Teachers had taken keen interest to find out minutest mistakes. Small inaccuracies in   spelling, some bit of oversight in grammar, uneven spacing- his paper hardly looked blue, the colour in which he wrote. Hoops of red were consistently inscribed around words as though to noose the flow of his answers. “Why do these teachers rewrite my answer sheet in red? They make my paper look so ugly! I should dispose these papers in a safe place so that nobody gets their hands upon it. “The Teacher will punish me any way, why add parents’ share also along with it?”

This is the situation of a child who suffers with Learning Disability. Children with such problems will be intelligent enough to understand most of the things when presented differently, they find it difficult to process written, printed matter, class room lectures due to their perceptional difficulties. They learn better when they are given exposure to the things that they need to learn in the natural environment. They require multi sensory stimulatory methods to absorb process, understand and register the information in the brain. These children can excel in any field of their interest.

Our Education system used to judge a child’s capacity only through the formal written tests till very recently. Though most of the educational boards have woken up and are introducing comprehensive method of evaluation, most of the teachers never come out of their rote systems even today! Reading and Writing are not the only means of learning and judging the child’s knowledge. Teaching-learning process must go beyond these two processes and involve other skills of perception and communication. Teaching-learning process must take place outside the class room as well, where children learn more adequately and such learnt information stays in the brain and expresses itself whenever required for appropriate application in life.

-Champa Jaiprakash

What hope has Modi brought from Bhutan?

Strengthening Indo-Bhutan ties

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi is returning from his two days visit from Bhutan and has in store lots of hope for India. The visit which he claims to have come out as a “natural choice" was with regards to make development cooperation with the neighboring country "more effective". The warm welcome extended to him by Bhutan's King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk and Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay was seen as the two sides exploring ways to boost ties, particularly in trade and hydro-electricity.

The fact that the Prime Minister chose Bhutan as his first foreign destination assumes significance since China has lately intensified efforts to woo it and establish full-fledged diplomatic ties with Thimphu. In his pre-departure statement, Mr. Modi said relations with Bhutan will be a key foreign policy priority of his government and pronounced it as B2B(Bharat 2 Bhutan) ties in his address after the inauguration of the Supreme Court complex built with support from Govt. of India.

First election of Bhutan; a file picture - simple and humble

At a Banquet hosted by Mr. Tobgay, our Prime Minister assured Bhutan that India was committed to its happiness and progress. Ironically that is the country that has laid thrust on the Gross happiness rather than Gross Domestic Product. A person who talks of Gujarat Model of Development for a vast and diverse country like India very craftily continued that one of the parameters for measuring their Gross National Happiness of Bhutan could be the consideration that it had a neighbor like India.

Indian diplomats consider Bhutan as one of our most important strategic partners because of the growing Chinese presence in the region.  Of course they also consider it important to show that our policy of good neighborliness in South Asia and special token of our friendship to this long time friend. Talking of the empty coffers left behind by his predecessor back home and the inflation rearing its ugly head as ever India must be sensing Bhutan a privileged and leading partner in its socio-economic development.

"We rejoice in Bhutan's remarkable economic growth and its progress and prosperity. We are committed to continuing our unstinted support to Bhutan in its development efforts", Mr. Modi said in the statement. He said hydropower cooperation with Bhutan "is a classic example of win-win”. But is there any thing beyond this- to be generated Hydro power and a digital library? What does he take back for his country? Did he learn anything from the philosophy of the ancient Himalayan kingdom? Could the Buddhist wisdom help him in achieving his party’s election mandates? People are in anticipation of his party taking the nation forward with innovative steps and out of the box thinking.  But he seems to be singing the same tune as his predecessors. Throwing the blame on some one is not the best way forward. Just as recently as 2008 this tiny kingdom had a peaceful transformation to a democracy had its first elections. The 7lakh people had a mere 4 parties that qualified to contest. The experiment was termed a grand success with people abiding every rule about the conduct in the election.

Bhutan has a constitutional mandate to maintain at least 60% of their areas under forest cover for all times to come. This leaves them with little choice but to go for economic sectors which do not come at the cost of forest cover. Like every other country at Copenhagen during COP15, Bhutan pledged to remain carbon neutral and accordingly formulated an economic development policy that incentivizes green industries. Accordingly they have prioritized hydropower, tourism, organic agriculture based businesses as the main sectors of growth. While they consciously keep away mining and polluting industries at bay they promote the export of organic produce. They have stringent measures to check the number of privately owned vehicles and regulate their movement.

 

A beautiful symbol of a political party

This little Himalayan country too faces growing population and increasing pressure on natural resources; balancing the increasing demands for socio-economic development infrastructures with environmental concerns in a new democracy is tight rope walk. Climate change and threats of climate induced disasters such as floods, droughts, diseases and their implications on food security, energy and water supply and biodiversity; and increasing food and fuel prices. However, it remains confident and believes it can overcome these challenges as many opportunities are in the air.

Bhutan’s small population has a bigger per capita of natural resources compared to India. Bhutanese have followed a sound development policy and strategy as enshrined in Buddhist philosophy. A concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) which is grounded on balancing socio-economic development with environmental Protection dictates all the state policies. Technologies and their inventions that are not suitable for their ecology or economics are strictly kept away. Preservation of cultural values and good governance principles are prioritized through every institution of state and the public. GNH is therefore, closely aligned with green economy- their national Economy. For India or for the rest of the World it means, pursuing such an avenue of economic growth is not only sustainable but a key necessity for saving our planet.

Courtesy: The Hindu

 Manu. K

A Day of Reptile: A RARE SIGHTING OF 4 RAT SNAKES

 A RARE SIGHTING OF 4 RAT SNAKES IN A CLUTCH

AN ACCOUNT OF  REPTILE SIGHTING  IN THE GARDEN OF  REGIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, SIDDHARTHA NAGARA, MYSORE – 570 011, SOUTH INDIA.

Lakshmana, a museum staff is no Snake Shyam....

 24^th May, 2014, Saturday was an interesting day for the visitors as well as for the staff of RMNH MYSORE. A bright day glowing with the reflected light of pre Monsoon clouds descending on the lush green patches patterned with beautiful butterflies and small birds witnessed the crawling guests too.

Measuring the snake was quite an adventure!

At about 10.30 Am the gardeners spotted a RAT SNAKE [ Dhaman or Common Rat snake, Ptyas mucosus (Linn) crawling out of the lawns near the parking lot and raised alarm, which brought the visitors to a curious halt. Mr.Lakshmana, an employee of the museum came out and finds the sneaking friend into the storm water drain, with an ability and passion he caught the whirling reptile out and measured it, it measured to a length of about 7.8 feet. He put the animal in a bag, later to release it in the Karanji Nature Park limits. For his surprise, the onlookers screamed, THERE ARE SNAKES BEHIND YOU! Once again he happened to sprung into action, he could detect another three snakes in a clutch , ably he could catch two of them, which were measured about 8 feet and 7.10 feet respectively , where as the third one escaped in the melee, but sighted by the evening sliding inside a   storm water drain.  Later the snakes were shifted to Mysore Zoo. [May be the snakes congregated for mating]

S J Srinivasa

Such large rat snakes are seldom seen in plains

[Photo credits: B.S.Yogendra, Scientist in charge & Mr. Raghavendra, Security guard.]

Summer Camp Chronicle 3

Summer camp to promote Organic Farming:

Karnataka is diverse and rich in its socio-geographic and cultural entity. From Northern most tip at Bidar to Chamarajanagar you find several bio-geographic variations and in accordance dialects of Kannada. As an environment educator if you walk into a new region, you are compelled to cope up with local dialect along with environmental issues of the region. But at extreme borders of the state the dialect turns into a different language altogether.

Marthalli in Kollegal Taluk is one such region where a vast majority of the population speaks Tamil.  Beyond that they belong to families in crisis owing to migrant labor. Women empowered families are call of the order. The fathers have left for good or to take some menial job in a big town on either side of the border. As a linguistic predicament their primary schools could have Kannada, Tamil and English mediums. When the children pass through different class they will have to learn in different languages. Such drastic switching over of language in their formative age would retard socialization skills owing to poor communication proficiency. The small seed of inferiority in them will get deep rooted and will start showing off over the surface. During a camp when they come together with other children, they realize their differences for the first time. Handling children with such issues become a tricky issue.

Rajan and Valli of Anisha a trust they set up for the research and propagation of Organic Farming have been striving hard to put some solidarity and courage into these village children. They have tried out spoken English, Grammar and Etiquette with socializing skills in the camps they organized in the yester years. Based on the success of the year long Kitchen Garden movement through Nature Clubs in Schools, which they carried out in 16 schools of Martalli cluster, they decided to take on their prime agenda for the main course of this year’s camp. This 4 days summer camp was focused upon Organic farming. Apart from socializing activities, the children were exposed to a number of organic and permaculture techniques. The campus is rigged up for the demonstration of various concepts of permaculture and Sustainable life styles and came in handy to undertake suitable activities. Seed collection, soil preparation and concepts of food forest were dealt in detail.

Summer Camp to understand science and appreciate Natural history:

The Regional Museum of Natural history regularly conducts two such camps in their campus annually; one in the summer and another during winter. Instead of calling it a camp they properly call it as Summer Nature Study program. This is one program that stands out from all other summer programs in the town. Apart from the uniqueness in its content, it is free of cost. But the children of Mysore seldom make use of the rare opportunity. The seats are minimal and selection is through some sort of test. There would be two categories based on the age and named as Green Cubs and Green Teens and the activities seldom different. However for certain lectures and outings they both may be combined.

The beautiful campus, the very best of museum and the auditorium are all advantages that are unparalleled by any other organization that thinks of a program for children. Apart from the gallery visit, they regularly take the participants for a day long field visits. They may be a place of interest for Nature studies or museum or a laboratory. This year the teams visited other museums at Mysore to understand their intentions and approaches to understand Nature and science.

Healing power of nature

It was a normal working day at the institute, with everyone busy in their daily chores. Suddenly, there was commotion outside my room. As I ventured out to see its cause, I saw a young boy struggling to release himself from the clutches of a middle aged man, as another man and a woman looked on. The boy was about 18 years old. I was told the middle aged man was his uncle and other man and woman were his parents.

Together, along with a colleague of mine we literally dragged the boy into my office. The boy, I noticed, was heavily built and his uncle was struggling to restrain him. His name was Narasimha and true to the name he was wild and ferocious like a lion.

Narasimha was in a rage that day and he was in no position to follow any of the instructions given. He was swinging his hands wildly, hurting people around him in the process. I guessed he was upset to come to a new place and meet strangers.

Narasimha’s tantrums continued unabated and hence we decided to restrain him. We had no choice but to tie his hands so he would stop swinging them. He, however, continued to struggle and tried his best to release his hands. After a while he ran back to his car, as it was locked, he repeatedly banged his head to the car door. Once inside the car Narasimha chewed his shirt collar, mumbled to himself, giggled and cried. All his attention was focused on untying himself. I noticed that he was unresponsive to calls and never made eye contact with anyone.

I asked his mother to untie him. Once free he stared at his hands for a few seconds, then clapped, bit his hands and with one hand in his mouth hummed movie songs known to him. He pulled out a button of his shirt with his other hand and threw it away! As we watched him from outside the car Narasimha continued his activities, rocking his body back and forth.

At first glance it appeared he had most of the symptoms of autism. Leaving Narasimha in the car with the uncle to guard him, we made our way back to my office. Once inside, before I could ask, Narasimha’s mother gave vent to her feelings.

She said:

“He doesn’t listen to any one, behaves as he likes, I have to take care of him even when he goes to toilet, bathe him and dress him. He suddenly gets violent for no reason, doesn’t even know how to eat properly, grabs things that he wants, after doing so much to him he beats me so badly, (showing her bruised hand), I can’t bear with him anymore. You please keep him in your hostel and punish him in any manner.”

She spoke till she was literally out of breath!

Although they have taken care of him for 18 long years, they had deprived him of treatment, therapy or any sort of training. Now, he was uncontrollable and they wanted to get rid of him, their son! Initially one may feel the parents are rude to get rid of their troubled child, but they are helpless as they are unaware of the disorder affecting him. He was duly admitted into our institute.

By the time the formalities were complete, it was lunch time. The parents enacted and conveyed to Narasimha to come for lunch. He was hungry and hence followed them without any fuss. He grabbed the plate and ate the food messily like a child, spilling it all over.

Later that day the parents left the institute, leaving Narasimha and his uncle behind. The uncle was asked to stay till the time he gets used to the new environment. I noticed Narasimha didn’t show any emotions when his parents departed.

In the sprawling campus of the institute Narasimha was happy to walk free doing what he wanted to do. In the course of his stay he was urged to feel the things around him by touching them. He touched the cows, plants and trees; this “tactile” input (a sense of touch) soothed and calmed him. Along with this, he also underwent other systematic therapies to aid his recovery. As days passed Narasimha began to respond and follow instructions.

The serene environment and greenery had a positive impact on Narasimha and other kids with special needs. They were exposed to auditory, visual and tactile stimuli of birds, animals, plants, soil, rain and the sun. Along with this they were provided specific therapy, education and training to empower them to be self-reliant.

Now, after a year of therapy and training, a positive transformation can be seen in Narasimha, he is independent and takes care of himself. He feeds the cattle, waters the plants and helps other kids in his own way. He also wishes a “Namaste” to all visitors arriving at the institute.

Narasimha, after suffering from social disability, without access to therapy and training had struggled for eighteen full years, traumatizing his parents in the process.  Now, after therapy and specific training, he is able to transform himself into a dignified individual within a span of one year. This is a truly wonderful development and as a Psychologist I consider his progress and improvement as a GIFT OF NATURE.

Champa Jaiprakash 

The Summer Camp Chronicle 2

Theater rehearsal in progress

Summer Camp in a Khadi Village :

Heggodu in Sagara Taluk of Shimoga district is famous for Desi brand kurthas. This small village in the western ghats is known for all sorts of social and cultural experiments. Starting from K V Subbanna’s theater company of the fifties that is now a resilient theatre reparatory to the latest Women’s Dollu kunith team, you find many adventurous personalities perceiving many careers’ that most of us would never even think of .

I would not like to act!

A girl block printing

Theatre personality and thinker Prasanna through their Kavi kaavya Trust initiated Charaka a multi purpose Industrial cooperative Society a kilometer away in Bhimanakindi village. It is a success story of a women’s cooperative that produces natural dyed handloom cotton garments. Beyond providing more than a decent livelihood to hundreds of families Charaka addresses the cultural well being of the community. It runs a small journal aimed at its working staff and conducts an annual fair that invites artists and performs from across the country. Since the past two years, they have established a beautiful campus that addresses sustainable lifestyles. It is called the Shrama Jeevigala Ashrama and runs on similar edicts of Gandhian ashram.

women in the wrap room

The Ashram has simple mud buildings that are decorated with ethnic colors and patterns. The entire process of dyeing, Weaving, and block printing on linen goes on from morning till evening. The Ashram wishes people with simple lifestyle and willing to work for their cause to join hands. Kavikavya and Charaka together conducted a ten days summer camp. Children from nearby villages and those who came to holiday at Heggodu took part in the camp and enjoyed the unique camp site. Nenasam the theatre school of National fame provided the teachers to engage the children in theater activities. I had the privilege to interact with the children through audio visuals and take them out for Nature walks. In spite of the campus having a standing plantation of an exotic species, it campus had more for a child to learn than the topics dealt with the Nature camp.

Kids learning about expressions

Summer camp for Special Children at AIISH: 

All India Institute of Speech Hearing is one of the oldest establishments of its kind and serving those children who need special attention and care in the process of communication. Run by the Govt. of India it is an academic institution with the latest facility in the field of research and therapy of the hearing impaired. It attracts and caters to the needy in the southern states and people throng the institute all through the year. Most of the wards are children who come here for diagnosis and many of them would have a hearing and speech impairment due to one or the problems related to genetic or neuro-motor deficits.

Children playing with the chyme

Kids inspecting the texture of a palm

The institution also runs a preschool training program for catching the disabilities in the early age and providing remedial measure for better results. Parents, mostly mothers of children from all the southern states stay here to under go the therapy. The parents are given counseling and tips regarding caring their children better. This division also conducts a summer camp for the special children and their parents. In fact even we had given invitation to several special schools in Mysore to send in children for our residential camp at Melkote. Unfortunately there was no response at all.  None of the parents were prepared to leave their children even for a single day.      

Mother and child in nature

Parents help their kids climb a tree

My job was to expose the special children to Nature and involve them in some outdoor activities. The children were of the age group of 6 to 13 years and were having different disabilities- Downs, M R and Palsy and plain hearing disability. Some of them were totally dependent, and their parents spoke different languages. The therapists translated whatever I addressed to the parents in other south Indian languages. My call was not to be over protective to their children but expose them to every sort of environment possible; they must first realize that every thing they come across is not a bed of rose. The parents were encouraged to take their children to the out doors and made to walk bare feet, touch and feel different surfaces such as rocks, barks and leaves. There was a sudden transformation among the crowd…. many of them were experiencing the joy their children were going through doing very simple things. On collecting seeds and leaves of different shapes and color along with their child the parents too became children. They felt as though they found some magic wand in small things that made their child happy and kept them engaged. Some parents started thanking me in their own languages even before my session was over! In the second session we had been to the Garden of Regional College of Education. The following day was totally dedicated to screening films. The films were chosen keeping the parents in mind. With the contention of showing these depressed souls a window in nature to a positive world I left. The children and the parents gave a hearty    good bye.

- Manu K

walking on the lawns with the children

The Summer Camp Chronicle - 1

For some kids, their summer is for camps. They are lucky to have parents who glean through media and an assortment of word to mouth network to find suitable camps for them. Some look for their children’s taste but most of them would believe that their children should get exposed to various traits. Just a couple of years ago no summer camps were of residential nature. Children came in the morning and went home by evening. Occasionally there were camps like ours which were exclusively of residential nature. Nature camps are best in that mode as the schedule can begin much before sunrise and last till late night.

The central part of most summer camps that are generalist in approach are theatre activities. Teachers consider that theatre activities incorporate many art forms and would come in handy for the overall development of the child. Every summer we journey through many camps held in different places in Karnataka. The organizers are successfully trying out residential camps of different duration. Apart from the month long camp at Sanehalli, the one conducted by Spandana a cultural organization in a small town called Sagara in Shimoga district was a great success.  

Barring aside those which tried to incorporate Nature related activities as just another stray feather in their cap we try to portray a few camps that we felt worth sharing.

Children’s Camp at Poet’s Homestead

Mrs. Prathiba snd Mrs Vidayashree in their second stint joined hands with Rashtra Kavi Kuvempu Pratishtana to give the best of Western Ghats to the children. Seventy five children from all over Karnataka participated in this residential camp that was meant to impart training in theatre. With this central idea blended the aim of popularizing Kuvempu’s literature. As a result songs and poetry of this Nature lover poet filled the aura. The play chosen was Kindara Jogi.  Kavimane, the Poet’s house now maintained as a museum inspires every child. Kavishyla, the hillock upon which the poet sat through long hours in admiration of the beauty of Western Ghats has a beautiful monument erected in his memory and is now a crowd puller. Surrounded by hills clothed in green, makes it an ideal place for children to spend time in Nature.

Some thoughtful time at Yeleyara Mela

Like at Chinnara mela conducted by Rangayana, we have a long standing association with Yeleyara mela conducted by the JSS institutions at Mysore. May be for over a decade we accompany their Nature outing that would be more or less like a weekend picnic by the standards of any naturalist. The children are in large number and of varied age group. In spite of knowing our unhappiness about this matter, its coordinator some how manages to agree upon his obligations. However, once agreed upon we involve in it whole heartedly and take the kids to different locations every year.

Children rambling down Gommata giri

Every time we meet the group it would be the height of summer and the kids would love to play in water. This year the dry spell was at its height and the organizers had fixed upon a visit to Chunchana katte near K R Nagar, on the banks of River Cauvery some 57kms from Mysore. It was not a great distance from Mysore hence we decided to go en-route Gommata giri a shrine of Jain community situated about 18kms from Mysore. Atop a fifty meter monolithic rock stands a majestic idol of Bahubali carved some 700 years ago during the Early Vijayanagara period. The children were briefed about the story of the sacrifice made by Bahubali after winning over his brother upon the kingdom and renouncing all worldly pleasures.

Children at St. Antony's Church

As we proceeded towards K R Nagar we came across the famous Dornalli which is known for St. Antony’s Church. We spent some time there and for many children it was a first experience to be in a church. The beautiful architecture and the painting mesmerized them to fall into silence. They sat at the nave for a while relaxing under the tall roof of the church.

Further we proceeded towards the Arkanatheshwara temple. Unfortunately there was absolutely no water in the river. The disappointed kids were taken to chunchanakatte near the Kodandarama temple. There was a large and ugly wedding function going on outside the temple. It was not about the rituals but the callous discarding of leftovers of a hefty dining. We scouted in different directions to find a decently hygienic place to open our picnic. Very soon we realized that further you move away from humans, closer you were to heaps of human excreta.

Children cooling the heat

After lunch the kids insisted for a dip in the water. We showed them the signage of no swimming cautions. Well there was so less water we couldn’t contend with that for an excuse. We tried with the risk of cholera, typhoid and other communicable dieses. They all started protesting in unison not to go back without playing in the water.

We found a safe place quite far and upstream of the temple. The puddle had only knee deep water and the kids got into their much anticipated water sports.

Children beating the heat

In a short time we were swooped over by certain elderly persons asking us to get out of the water. Their tone was over assertive and their contention was that there were whirlpool and the rocks were very slippery. None of us resource persons were into the water; we were standing guard so that no kid even whisks out of the en-marked puddle. In a short while the police were called in from near by station. The police were convinced with our intention and measures we had undertaken in handling the children. But the so called custodians of cultural heritage changed their charges that we had indulged in polluting the holy place where Sita had taken a holy bath! More blasphemy on my part was some nature lessons I was doing about the formation of dykes among the rocks. One of them opened up ‘the mark left behind on the rocks by her sari is interpreted as some stupid geological phenomenon’. “Who the hell certified these nonsense fellows as teachers?” These elderly ‘gentlemen’ were upset over the teaching of real science behind the formation of dykes. If the police didn’t act they threatened to inform the pontiff of the religious institution the expedition was hosted by. They had collected the phone number written upon the medical college bus we had travelled in. The rough language with the intruders and the entry of the police created a cyclone of depressive order among the entire student crowd. I all felt very sorry for them and my own misdeed and retreated with a disturbed mind.

 - Manu K

The Joy of Learning with Children at Chinnara Mela

A brief session on the bunds of Kukkarahalli Lake 

Chinnara Mela, the month long summer camp conducted by Rangayana, Mysore is a much awaited camp for children of Mysore and much anticipated sojourn for their parents. It is the 10^th year of our involvement in Chinnara mela. Each year we are taking out these children in the wee hours around the Rangayana campus and Kukkarahalli Lake for a nature walk that lasts for 10 days. This year also we had an opportunity to take the ever energetic, ever demanding and ever playful kids for the nature walk. The participants were divided into 10 groups according to their age and we take out around 30 children each morning. We divided these 30 into 3 groups having 10 kids with each one of us and took them in three different routes, eventually to reassemble at the Reptile Corner to have a discussion for the day.

Manu K talking to participants

The youngest group is the most restless one with mind full of questions and body full of energy. We trained them to look around and observe the nature so as to know more about plants, insects and birds. This requires a lot of patience and silence! Unexpected questions from the youngest and the most active learning lot like “why are the birds here?”, “How do they live?”, “How do they build homes?”, “Why do they nest each time?”, “Why can’t they use the same nest to breed each time? “, make us feel to learn more with them.  

Bird identification with Guru

Listening to the melody of bird calls

Binoculars, spot scopes and cameras are extremely useful in bird watching. Younger children are more inquisitive about the food and nesting habits of birds. In Kukkarahalli lake, they could watch water birds like Purple Moorhen, Darter, Dab chicks, Egrets, Pond Heron, Painted Stork, Spot billed Duck, Pelicans, etc.,. Kites and other birds were also spotted. Children were given awareness about plant – animal interdependence in nature. They were briefed about the importance of lakes in maintaining the health of a city. Mr Manu K explained the need to keep the lake clean and our role in protecting the lake.

Dabchick

Gray Heron

Painted Stork

Wild Passion Flower

Wrightia tinctoria at bloom

When we look back at Chinnara Mela, the “Nature Walk” was the only session that was engrossed in silence as compared to other sessions of dramatics and play activities. The importance of silence is emphasized in understanding the life around us, because we are the only species who are noisy and announce our presence aloud masking the mild melody of nature.

-         - Guruprasad B S

-        -  Praneetha

-         - Sangamesh Matad

-          -Nithya   

Photo Courtesy: Guruprasad B S