The darlings of Shibumi! They bear all the scratching, squeezing, lifting, rough-play and baby-talk they are subjected to without complaint. Many morning assembly announcements have had to do with them -- their recent sterilisation after which they were treated with extreme care, other small injuries they have sustained, building a house for them, feeding during the holidays. I can't think of a child who does not interact with them. We hadn't planned to have dogs at Shibumi -- we were worried about long holidays when nobody would be at the house. We started feeding these dogs (and their sister, Rosebud) when we noticed how thin and starved they were. Pingu and Butty followed us home and refused to go back. I suppose that was partly because none of children wanted them to go back! We have, so far, been able to work things out in holidays. And the dogs are, we think, still capable of finding their own food. These are Adi's drawings of the dogs:

Every Thursday for the last three weeks, in our morning assembly, Tanu has shown us some toys she has enjoyed making. These are simple toys made of junk, most or all of which, I think, she learned from Arvind Gupta and others at IUCAA. Everyone has been fascinated:

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...

On one of our trips to the stream, many months back in the first term of school, we came across a calf who looked very badly injured. We were walking along the forested path to Sliding Rock (the flat open bed of rock which is usually our centre of activity or non-activity by the stream) and he was standing very still by himself amongst the trees. Being injured, he was nervous and scared, and tried to move away as we passed. So we continued to Sliding Rock and spent the hour in silence. Thursday afternoon stream-times are generally quiet: we have about an hour there and the children are asked to spend that time observing or resting rather than playing and doing things in groups. Sangeetha and Vijaya had stayed behind with the calf to see what they could do to help. There are usually large herds of cows grazing along the stream bank, and I think they were there this afternoon too, but the calf had obviously separated himself completely from the rest of the cattle. One of his legs had b...