Friday, July 27, 2012

Plasticine Play With Aayush




One weekend Aayush came over to our house and the three of them settled to play with moon-dough. They set out to make a replica of a model from one of the books on plasticine modelling. Though they didn't have the exact material as required in the book , they decided to not only go with it but also remodeled whatever they had to suit the book's requirements..They started with full gusto and made a cute little cottage..They figured that to match the exact colors as the book they would need to color the moon-dough which in turn means that they would have to wet the moon-dough enough.  They did all that and painted quite a few new colors like white , red etc..the final result not only looked pretty but I was pleased with the fact they had made a totally new version of dough from what they already had.


But after all this serious hour of replication they decided it was enuff. It was time for the "real stuff"- the stuff that comes from one's brains and not from the books! They started to experiment. First they painted Aayush's plaster ..then made play-dough of numbers  impressions from a play-set, then took all the different colored play-dough and filled it in poster color containers..Which Chellu promptly put in the freezer.Its lying there...Soon some day my fridge is gonna have more "experimented products" than real food! ;))





Thursday, July 26, 2012

Shreedhari's ( Kunju) First Legible Creation



Kunju had made her first legible creation a few weeks back. ALL BY HERSELF WITH NO HELP FROM ME.  I think this is a huge milestone indeed. She started out as a kid who was really not so interested in arts but slowly she too has started to show more & more interest. Maybe all the arts & crafts that's done at home thanks to her sister has sparked off some interest in her.

The above creations were made for a friend's birthday. She made a cut-out of Zoya calling it Zoya Rani with a  crown and a pocket. Its significant for me since she developed the idea  and executed it 100% by herself.

Looking forward to many more days of arts & crafts with the little one...:))

Pipe-Cleaner Jewellery






Chellu made some hand jewellery from pipe=cleaners today. I was busy chatting with a guest and I guess this was her way of dealing with boredom. I was quite impressed with the first one- she told me its her bracelet cum ring. Wow- don't the Muslim ladies wear something very similar during their weddings?

The third & fourth one from the top are also interesting in the sense that the rings are inter-connected. Wonder how something like that will actually look?

Hmm..As a child I was very passionate about drawing jewellery. I would copy-draw photos of our Gods and then with gr8 interest design the jewellery with the minutest details....

The Magic of Shared Energies


                                                       Glass-painting with the Rahates.


                                        Making life-size tree-cutouts of each other for story -telling










We have been meeting with Sanjyot & her boys for the past few months once or twice a week for doing activities together. In a country like India where HSing company is so rare one can get really lonely on some days. Though we do go out a lot or travel or meet up with a lot of people the lack of children during the daytime can sometimes get frustrating. So even to do some activities one does look forward to having some company. That's where the Rahate family fit in so well. Ram & Kabir and my girls get along very well. And many a days we have so much fun doing activities together or sharing our energies w.r.t academics.

Sanjyot has this knack of making the kids do traditional worksheets kind of stuff. Chellu will happily agree to dong maths with her while its such a fight with me. In fact the girls' interest in activity/ workbooks got revived becoz of the Rahates. Its really nice to have moms like Sanjyot who know which key goes for which lock..meaning how to slowly get the interest of the child in smnthg that he/she has been resisting for long. Maybe its the effect of doing things in a group too..Definitely we learn from seeing others.

I love meeting up with other moms for playdates or HSing activities. Looking forward to many more..

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Shell Painting


                                          Middle one done by me while the rest by Chellu


Mono-coloring by Kunju. This is so typical of her when it comes to painting anything. She prefers one color usually black and will do layers on top of layers. 

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Home or Jail?


Interesting representation of "A"

" A" for apple. Its interesting that she chose  to draw the apple along with the plant rather than just the fruit. When I asked her she said " Of course how can the apple be itself? without the plant"
"B" for Bums.









Our " feel free to paint on the walls" policy has always triggered off many artistic expressions. In fact  Chellu had learnt the alphabets by writing on the walls. There's something about the wall that's so attractive for kids. Maybe the vastness of it ...when we moved in our brand new home in Pune in 2009, we had allowed the kids to do what they want with the walls. And they had scribbled like crazy in no time. And then last year for Diwali we did a cheap Rs.6000 paint just to "feel" the newness of the house. But the inexpensiveness makes it so worth it cause u r not pulling out your hair over your kids' artistic pursuits. After watching them enjoy painting over the walls so much we have also made wall-wide black boards in 2 rooms. But interestingly they still prefer the wall and I bet once we near Diwali they will see to that every inch of the walls are covered with their artistic impressions!! No problems- we will do a cheap re- paint  & let them do it all over again.

The above photos are recent expressions. The first four are Chellu's attempts at teaching her sis the alphabets. The first 3 are the "A" with the third one specifically for A for apple - the green part is the plant . While the 4th painting is the "B"- B for bum. She later explained to me that she drew the bums on the side on purpose ..to make it obvious for Kunju to see & understand. 


The 5th painting is more like a collage and interestingly she chose to do it around the switch-board. That's a ncie way of highlighting the switch board I think. The 6th painting is the work of many months. It started out as a girl going to a wedding with flowers in her hand. Then after a few days she added "rain" to it by splashing blue paint with a tooth-brush. And then it became something else..will have to catch up with her for the latest version. I thought this was such an innovative way of painting..adding layers over time. 


Most homes are so S"trict" about not letting the kids do anything with the wall. They call this discipline or neatness etc..But I sincerely feel that this is another way of making the rule of " Dad & mom alone live in this house & have the right to decide to do whatever when it comes to the house". Like no jumping on the sofas, no jumping on the bed, no scribbling, no water-play , no riding bikes in the house, no coming in the kitchen, no opening the fridge. All of this and much more is allowed in our house. Why not? If the kids can't be allowed to be themselves in their own homes, where else can they be? If they can''t  let off their excess energy in their own homes where else can they do it? Are our homes a jail for our kids in our excessive drive to keep it well-organized? What will guests think? WHO CARES? Do we live in our homes for ourselves or for others? What about discipline? To be frank I think we give up too much on the altar of DISCIPLINE. Too much of our kids' childhood. 

But this is a recent development of living in urban homes. The rural home is so much more child=friendly. They have lotsa space to run around,  in & out all the time..the kitchen is child-friendly. The cooking happens ON THE FLOOR which lets the child observe & participate in cooking. Just the fact that our urban kids don't have all that free space to run @ in itself means they have very little space to let off their energy, to express themselves. A dear  Hsing friend of mine Hema gave a very interesting perspective when I was concerned with Chellu's passion with make-up last year - If the kid was living in a village or near a forest will they not be crushing leaves & all sorts of things and then smearing it on themselves or the floor or on the well or on the barks or somewhere? Wouldn't they indulge in body-painting?. Make-up is an attempt to replicate that with whatever resources our urban kids have. It doesn't have to mean anything more than that. Hema's interesting perspective gave me a lot of peace of mind. We were designed to live with nature , to learn from Her. But in urban homes since this is lacking a 100% we have to understand that everything that the kids do is trying to replace that absence. Whether painting on the walls or playing with water in the bathroom or with mud in the terrace. 


 Its so unfair. Don't our children have an equal say in what can be done in the house? I would say a "BIG YES". So nothing in our house is forbidden. And out of this freedom has come out some of the most artistic, innovative, fun-filled pursuits!! :))

Friday, July 20, 2012

DORA STORY BOOK- BY SHREEDHARI

ONE DAY DORA HAD A BABY SISTER. SHE CAN SEE IN THE BABY SISTER IS OPENING THE EYES. MOMMY SHE IS CRYING ..THE BABY SISTER IS CRYING. SO MOM PICKED UP THE BABY SISTER. PAPA IS RINGING THE BELL FAST..OPEN THE DOOR. MOM OPENED THE DOOR. PUP HAS COME. MY BABY SISTER IS WAKING UP AND CRYING. IM GOING TO THE BATHROOM AND IM TIP-TOEING. SO DORA HAD A BABY SISTER , SO SHE WAKE UP AND CRYING SAYING " SISTER , SISTER". SO SISTER PICK UP THE BABY SISTER. " MOM NODDY STICKER BOOK SHE IS TEARING MOM. MY BABY SISTER IS TEARING MOM. MOM LIZARD IS COMING TO THE DOOR. SHUT THE BALCONY'S DOOR, SHUT THAT MOM. IT IS BITING ME MOM. SO MY BABY SISTER IS CRYING VERY VERY VERY MUCH. BYE BYE.

BOOTS MOM BOOTS BOOTS. WHAT DORA ? IM HERE IN THE TREE.IM FARMING IN TE GARDEN, YOU WANT TO FARM WITH PUP? PUP WENT TO THE SHOP-KEEPER AND BUY THE ICE-CREAM FOR DORA AND BOOTS. IM HURT IM HURT, HELLO HELLO. WHAT BOOTS? I GOT HURT. WHAT HAPPENED? IM PUTTING TURMERIC. OKAY DORA. BYE BYE. SO THE PUP IS SLEEPING, IM SLEEPING, MAMA IS SLEEPING,BABY IS SLEEPING,  BOOTS IS SLEEPING. IT IS NIGHT. BYE BYE. GOOD- NIGHT.

THE END. 

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Chellu's summer camp final day show

Chellu really enjoyed her summer camp this year. She especially seemed to have enjoyed the drama and the cookery classes. Her camp hosted a final day show in which she acted as Vasudha (Tennalirama's wife) in a
Marathi drama. She was also in a spanish dance, another drama on shapes & one on germs, in a song & also in a karate display . Posted are some photos.

Her on stage performance proved that she really does enjoy drama. Drama is a very regular feature of our HSing days. So many lazy mornings have gone by in story telling & enacting it. Finally this past summer I gave it a shot and enrolled her in a drama class. On the days she had drama classes she would come back with a lot of excitement on her face. She wouldn't indulge the details of her show but many a times I've caught her practicing by herself or in front of the mirror.

I did get worried a bit on the final day show. She has NEVER been on stage. She has NEVER by-hearted a single line in her life. Will she be able to remember the lines , the steps in front of so many people ?  I observed her the morning of the show ..she was very cool & pretty excited. No signs of nervousness whatsoever. When it was finally her turn & she came on stage I almost stopped breathing. And then one look at her bright, smiling face made me relax. She was obviously very pleased to be all dressed up and on stage. She danced beautifully & delivered her lines perfectly in the dramas. She was in quite a few shows. One dance, one music, 3 dramas and 1 karate demonstration. She was enjoying each & every one of them. Also all the dress changes, going in & out etc etc..All the elements of acting on stage!

Im glad I gave her a chance to experience real acting. Hoping for many more such experiences for her.












Sunday, July 8, 2012

Reflections- A week's internship at Hide-Out, Jhadpoli

  • From Day two onward we seriously started participating in the plantations. We planted @ 30 or more banana stems. Chellu helped big time - she actually did the digging , planting , covering up etc..Kunju actively participated in the pineapple plantations & other activities like collecting plastics, roof work etc..
Reflections:
1. We want this/ we need this:
While doing this it started to rain and everyone else ran off to the Mandap area while me & Shankar continued. It was a magical moment- smnthg that will be etched in my memory forever. We were in the middle of this lush greenery in pouring rain. It was like all of nature was there to show its beauty to us. It was beyond anything that's describable. And that's when it struck deep in our hearts that we really really want to own a piece of land to grow, learn and pass it on as a legacy. This makes so much sense to pursue- in that moment of intimacy with the soil, in the middle of the farm during pouring rain , all our fears seemed to vanish. What were we afraid of? Whats there not to be able to do? Going back to having an intimate relationship with Mother Earth is commonsense not wrong.
Also the possibility of Chellu weaving it all together - her interests as of today seem very complimentary: Farming, Cooking, Mehendi, Arts & Crafts etc...This seems very promising. She has shown GREAT interest in farming ..Even Kunju for that matter participated in some of the easier activities like pineapple plantations , collecting plastic etc..So the possibility of passing this on as a legacy became very clear. Or rather motivating that someone after us might also be interested in pursuing permaculture.

2. Extreme hard work:
Farm work is crazy hard work. Its actually back-breaking. I really still can't come to terms with HOW MUCH hard-work it would have been to turn @ 5 acres of barren land into the thick fruit forest it is now.  All the 7 days I've also been raving at the farm help's strength. Madhukar the main guy is amazing- a thin looking rural guy , his muscle/back strength can put any gym going 6 pack urban fitness freak to shame. Not just him but  the  other 2 young girls & 10 a yr old boy. Gosh its shameful actually. Our strength compared to theirs. I think its just our urban lives that makes us very weak. We really did get to experience what physical fitness is needed when doing nature's work ..just doing those 7 days itself we found our bodies becoming more flexible & strong. We slept like never- just the fatigue of all that digging & planting & other work was enuff! No wonder insomnia is so common in the cities. Our bodies just don't get enuff physical exertion!
And we realized that farm work is not just about physical fitness. Working for nature also requires a iron-like determination, a deep love for nature and lots of patience. Or rather these qualities get imbibed in you slowly & steadily.

3. Circular Cycle- Everything that comes out , goes back:
This is one of the things that really impressed me. Hemant had also told us that in a permaculture farm the general rule is if you get 50 kgs from the farm , then you give back 100 kgs. And that's what is glaringly lacking in the farming done today. All the produce is shipped to the cities and the waste from the produce never goes back. So a lot is taken out but hardly anything returned!! Shankar & I sat & discussed about this and he commented that maybe someday a system will start that will get all the waste from produce sent to the cities back where it belongs- in the farms.  Seems very impractical right now..but who knows what? when?
An example of a sustainable cycle with inter-woven processes is :
Farm gives raw food & sticks which is used for cooking . The food eaten with banana leaves also from the farm. The waste is all thrown for the cow to consume which produces milk & dung. The dung is again used to build the farm floor, the dust from which goes back in to the farm!
Isn't this an amazing cycle? Vs urban living where everything is linear. Maybe terrace gardening if done in a somewhat similar manner can replicate the above circular cycle? Everything that comes from the garden goes back into it? This is so doable even in the cities.

4. Nature is the Best Mother:
I really felt mothered like no other way. No human mother can do what nature can do for us. Of course humans are also nature but that speechless interaction with the trees & the insects & the night sky & the mud & the waterfalls is something else. It gives you a perspective of something really ABOVE AND BEYOND YOU.Also you never feel lonely.. I felt like I had constant company..especially all the insects & birds teeming @ you. Where ever you are there is life @ you. This is the single most thing I miss about living in an apt. It is devoid of you expect humans & that too just the family. Unless you go out you totally miss out on any other type of action..in the farm its just the reverse.
One night we were chatting with Hemant and slowly the Kamini flowers @ us started to bloom. This is what is " Life happening @ you". It subtly reminds you of how much mothering is happening..how many things are being taken care of by the universal energy. If this universal energy can take care of so many things, if it can mother so many beings why will it leave me out? You are always taken care of no matter what. The real question is of being conscious & aware of it..The moment that happens then mothering automatically happens. Dadaji's ( Pandurang Shastri Athavale's) reminder of "God not only works with you but also works for you" can best be experienced in a farm like this.
Also I had this constant remindal /realization of this beautiful universe has been made for our enjoyment & experience. The rural night sky for example looks like God has studded diamonds in the sky for us to gaze at & enjoy. The wind has been made for us to feel cool. The fruits & the veggies provide for nutritious food..so many plants are medicinal. In a sense nature takes care of all our needs if we shift our perspective from wants to needs. One experiences a sense of content in such a farm. And also a sense of BOUNTY.My goodness! Whether its the insects or the plants or the wind or the summer sun or the mangoes hanging from the trees its "so much" of everything.  No wonder our Rishis said " Dhanam Agnir, Dhanam Vaayu , Dhanam Sooryo, Dhanam Vasu" The fire, the wind, the sun and the land -these were wealth according to the Rishis. Cause this wealth alone can make one feel really rich..rich mentally & physically. And this wealth doesn't make one feel insecure or greedy. There is no comparison or instability like the stock market. The co-ordinates are fixed and the results the same for everyone. If you have this wealth its for good. And it only makes you a better human being by the day. Nature indeed is the biggest & best wealth that once could really possess.

5. Nature needs TRUST:
Permaculture farming is really about trusting nature to know the best. Letting Her decide how to protect Herself, letting Her thrive at Her own pace. Hemant practiced ahimsa farming for a good 10 years or so which means he didn't even pick a leaf or fruit from the farm. Everything that came from the farm went back to it. And no chemical was added. No pruning done. Nature was allowed to thrive at her own and only protected from outside elements. And then the birds came..the insects came..the watertable rose..the plants started to support each other ..the wind pitched in..everything came in and did what it was meant to do. And the farm started to thrive and now its this bounty of everything. Its a treat to watch the mangoes hanging from the branches, a treat to see the ripened pineapples, a blessing to notice the bananas..So didn't nature do her work? Didn't She give back abundantly? It was just a matter of trusting that Nature knows how to take care of Herself.

 6. This suits my family:
The girls had a gala time in all that outdoor space available to run around. Their physical health would have greatly  improved during that one week. They ran @ a lot, played a lot, ate a lot, slept a lot. It was very easy on me too..because they had all this space , they demanded lesser from me. Of course the usual sibling fights etc did happen and they did get bored once a while especially during long plantations in which they couldn't participate but overall it was very nice for them.
I realized that both of thrive in mud which suits our future plans of having a farm ourselves. They love trees and animals & nature in general. Hemant had commented on the last day that Shruthkirti was blooming in the farm. That's so true! One of the days during the plantations when Shankar & I were in the farm the girls wanted to join us from the mandap area. And it was pouring. So Shruthkirti came with an excellent solution. She picked a huge banana leaf and covered herself & her sister . Both the sisters reached us safely without getting wet! A farm gives a lot of avenue fro such exploration. Nothing can beat nature when it comes to encouraging innovation, exploration & artistic expressions.  It is the best teacher becoz it teaches by " letting be". Also it occurred to me that a farm and HSing go hand in hand. They compliment each other.















































Overall it was a great experience for our family . We came back healthier, stronger & more peaceful. A perfect 10th marraige anniversary celebration! Very simple,  very basic , no frills but deeply meaningful and one that touched our hearts, minds and souls.