TURTLE WALK AN ACCOUNT

During Non-Month in school, Tanu and Sharad had planned a trip to Chennai to go on a turtle walk. We would spend one whole night on the beach. Unfortunately the trip was to happen on a weekend when I was not in school. Later I learned that Tanu had not been able to get tickets that weekend and therefore had to postpone the trip. Though it was not in her control I thanked Tanu sincerely for not finding tickets.

Finally on the day of the trip we got into the train and ‘expressed’ our way to Chennai. I was not excited like one would expect to be but instead I was nervous. A night long walk on the beach didn’t seem very comfortable.

After a long seven hour journey the train halted in Chennai and we disembarked, much I think to everyone’s relief. We took a bus to the auto stand where some heated arguments managed to get us a ride to the beach.

Our auto driver (the one who drove me and some other students) seemed slightly drunk and also very, very hyper. He drove like some racecar and after all his stunts, landed us up at the wrong beach.

Two phone calls later we arrived at the correct location.

The gentle sea breeze embraced us and gave us a cool (instead of warm) welcome, and the sound of the waves crashing upon the shore was very comforting.

Arun, one of the people in charge of the walk started off by giving a long but (at least to me) extremely inspiring talk. Though most of it was questions and answers, the conversation revolved around turtle conservation and global warming. A subject which I would like to go head deep into, to protect nature and this amazing planet!

The walk started slowly but picked up pace during the process. During the walk we saw a dead eel followed by the sighting of a dead, painfully bleeding turtle. We also saw three turtle nests, the first of which had 120 eggs! Arun sadly said that only one in four eggs would hatch and only one in a thousand that did hatch would live to adulthood. A very sad phenomenon.

We ended up spotting three dead turtles (one of which I missed) and not a single live one. At the end of the walk, there was an option to walk another one kilometer to the hatchery. In the hope of seeing an egg hatch I went but sadly I did not see anything, though the walk was good.

The whole experience in general was a very teaching and inspiring one, I learned to be more sensitive (not that I wasn’t) and compassionate.

Especially toward nature.

Thank you, to Sharad and Tanu who took us there and to Arun and all the others who I didn’t get to meet or thank!

Comments

Mask-making at School

The theatre workshop planned for Kiri on Tuesday could not happen because Saraswati, who was going to conduct it was ill. So we planned a half-day mask-making workshop using collected junk and natural material, to be followed by a film screening for the children. Angie and I were going to conduct the activities for the day. The mask making activity was something I had done in college and enjoyed tremendously, so I was very excited to do it with the kids, but of course there was no knowing how it would actually go! I started the day by showing the group photos of several different kinds of masks from different parts of the world and some junk art, just to get some juices flowing in the kids’ minds. They were quite enthralled and fascinated, and in hindsight it did feel like a useful presentation to have made. We then went out for a walk around school armed with plastic bags to collect interesting things from the roadside. Some of the children had chosen to pair up for the activity, ot

Ladki pe ghoda

Mahiti (Age 8) has been facinated with horses. Wanting to draw horses, paint them, stitch them. Last year for our Poetry mela she chose a poem about how to love a horse to illustrate and share with others. The other day , she was swinging on the tyre swing and walked up to me with a smile on her face. When she was sure I was listening to her she shared .... 'I have an idea! I want to make a horse I can ride. See , I will explain.... --looks around... finds a cardboard box.... gets into it...-- so, I want the horse around me , so I can ride it. and we can use some boxes for the neck and head.' Our learning space for the young children is consciously stocked with a variety open-ended material. For the children to easily access, use, play and learn with. Cardboard boxes are a open-ended resource material that lends itself to versatile unstructured play/learning beautifully. It takes the children on an adventure and helps them explore the imaginary places in their

Chittara Workshop

The Paaruls and Palash were introduced to the Chittara art form through a two day workshop at Shibumi. Chittara is a folk art form practised by the women of Deewaru community living close to Jog Falls in Shimoga, Karnataka. CFRIA (Centre for Revival of Indigenous Art) is a non-profit organisation that is committed towards preserving and Indigenous Art practices in India. We had Geetha Bhat, from CFRIA, as the facilitator and Lakshmakka, who is from the Deewaru community, introducing the kids to this art form. We started off with an introduction to ’Hase Gode Chittara’. The motifs used in Chittara are geometric and mainly lines. Hase Gode Chittara represents a marriage ceremony in the community. The drawing of the Chittara itself is part of the ceremony. The colours used in Chittara are red, white, black and yellow. For white, ground rice paste is used; roasted rice for black, yellow seeds (Gurige), red earth and the brushes are made up of pundi naaru. The children starte

Search This Blog