Navadarshanam

N ow let's go there again!
A great experience full of guavas!
V ery tasty and delicious food!
A very, very great thanks to all those of Navadarshanam.
D o visit this place of greenery.
A n imported apple for you, but a next-door guava for me.
R ed-coloured food for you, but healthy food for I.
S o please visit this place tomorrow!
H appy as a visit can be!
A peaceful place for doing peaceful things.
N ow, how many more times are we going to come?
A sorry and a thank you and a please let us visit again!
M ore times we shall come whether you like it or not.

Prahlad (11)

In October 2008, the children stayed at Navadarshanam two days and a night every week for four consecutive weeks.

Navadarshanam ("New Vision") is a small organisation operating 50km south of Bangalore that is concerned with ecological and spiritual alternatives to the modern way of living and thinking. They investigate natural farming, eco-restoration, health and food, alternative energy sources, alternative forms of housing. However, their main concern is 'inner work -- purification of the mind'.
Website: www.navadarshanam.org.

It was good to go repeatedly -- by the second or third week, children felt completely at home.We did not want this to be a casual visit.

The children took up various small projects, studying cows, frogs, birds, leaves and fowers, mapping. They also interacted with the village school each time, teaching songs and doing origami, string painting, drama activities and so on with them. Shobha Aunty was with us all the time, and Gopalan Uncle took us for a long walk each time we visited. Murthy did gardening with us, and explained the alternative energy set-up to Sangeetha.

The children learned how to relish food, greatly enjoying the different kinds of foods at Navadarshanam. Since our visits, we've having a silent lunch once a week at Shibumi. For some children, this was also the first time staying a night away from home.