Some of us spent Holi at National Gallery of Modern Art yesterday. We had gone to see the exhibition by Balan Nambiar. The exhibition had drawings in Indian ink, charcoal, pastels and paintings in watercolour and oils. On display were also his indoor and outdoor sculptures in bronze, mild steel and stainless steel. Being welcomed by the magnificent trees at NGMA, one was immediately touched by to a sense of quiet and beauty. Everything seemed like 'art' in this atmosphere. Enthusiastically we wandered into the large mansion that housed the works of Balan Nambiar. The works created a pause and questions. A game started between the children to see how quickly they could find his name on the work. Then there was also reading the little label to his work and placing it in the timeline that makes most sense to them.  'He did this before I was born!' 'I was 1 year old when he made this' 'Hey! I was born when he made this!' 'My mothe...

We were away in the forest of Angadibail for ten days with our youngest group of children. Fourteen young minds between the ages of 5 and 9 were off on this little adventure together . We reached Angadibail. It was a forest. There were farms surrounding this area. There was a stream nearby. It was soooooooooo amazing. In the forest we saw Malabar giant squirrel, Panther poo, languor and many birds. Do you know that langoors kill the Malabar giant squirrel and just leave them there?  At  night it was dark, little fire flys would come out and there would be a little sparkling glow in the trees. We could see many stars at night without the city  light and noise. In the morning the forest was full of chirping sounds. It was beautiful to live there. - Vibha (9) We were greeted in the forest by Savita's amazing team. Ishwar Anna, who is full of the most amazing forest stories. Kafeel , who was our guardian angel. Baby akka, who ...

The four of us, (Asba, Srishti, Suhaan and Usha) accompanied by Roohi aunty went to Auroville, Pondicherry for a dance/circus workshop. The workshop was held in our teacher, Calou’s circus dome. The dome was white and made of metal, with a blue and green fibreglass circle on the very top, to let the light in. The circular floor was red-oxide on the outside, cement inside, with tiles decoratively placed everywhere. There was a wooden seating along the edge of the floor. Around the fibreglass, there were metal rods, from which there hung pink and green aerial silks, and trapezes.         At one end of the dome, there were two sliding doors with mirrors, that out to a small storage room. It had a spongy mattress, yoga mats, magic chairs, juggling balls, hula hoops and unicycles. We started off with simple yoga stretches. This was followed by Calou demonstrating simple moves on the looped aerial silk. She also showed us some acro yoga. We then moved onto the...

In an attempt to bring music into Shibumi and deepen the learning space at Shibumi we had a Dhrupad retreat with Pelva Naik, It was a week long rigorous engagement with the artist. Plelva brought a new rhythm into the space. For our oldest children it was a residential retreat as they participated in the morning 'kharaj' practice with the artist. The younger ones had an hour long singing session and some activities that deepened our engagement with our learning. Another beautiful element that this week brought was the bringing together of Teachers and Students as learners. The vertical age groups in which we learnt the Dhrupad was from our littlest 5 year old to our oldest 68 year old. All children were struck by sound. Some were drawn to sound and vibrations of the tanpura. Some were humming the notes of the bandish. Some had their fingers busy keeping the jhaptaal. It was fascinating how Pelva's passion for this style of music was what touched each one of ...

This year our young Thulirs (Age 6 to 9) spent four days in Kaigal. Here the Krishnamurti Foundation owns acres of beautiful forested land with the Kaigal river flowing through it. This land is on the fringes of the Kaundinya Wildlife Sanctuary in Andhra Pradesh. We loved the herbal drink. An encounter with a snake. we swam... a lot! Sleeping under the starry sky! While some sleep in the tents! We went for long walks, played in the water, climbed trees and rocks, visited a tribal school, worked in the nursery and saw a night sky that was studded with stars! Being together , growing and learning together is a precious gift. Cola, was our companion on all our little adventures! Here are Glimpses of our wonderful trip ....

As result of Kabir’s illness last month, we fell short of teachers in senior school, but saw it as a window of opportunity to travel. So for three days, our older students visited schools and health centres in KG Halli, on Nagavara road in north Bangalore. In my role as a doctor, I have been working in the urban health project of the Institute of Public Health with this community of 42,000 people since 2008.It would be described as a low income melting pot of humanity with three languages and three religions represented in 0.7 square kilometres of city space.   It was interesting to see the context afresh through the eyes of these twelve young teenagers. They had the opportunity to visit, with the field staff, Ms. Nagaratna and Ms. Leelavati  three schools, where they interacted with students of classes five, six and seven. Some visited homes of people in these crowded lanes along with Dr. Mrinalini and all got a detailed tour of the Sarvagnya dialysis centre with...

On Tuesday morning we were brought to KG-Halli to visit IPH (Institute Of Public Health) which was where Roopa Aunty had worked earlier. We soon found out that the area was broken up into many wards and we would be spending our time in ward 30. The van dropped us off near the main IPH clinic centre and we were divided into three groups. Kailas, Mansi and I were to go on home visits within ward 30. The aim of the house visits was to find out what the response was to the IPH diary. This diary was given to a sample of people some months ago; all of them were suffering from diabetes. We would be visiting them and finding out what the response was towards the diary after all these months. The personal diaries were given as an alternative for the doctor’s prescriptions that are received by the patient. So, to keep tabs of doses of what medicine to take when, this diary is a much more convenient way of having your medical records in one place rather than on loose flying sheets of pape...

A couple of hours away is a place bustling with sounds. Cramped, polluted and smelly, what is this place we have found? People from all cultures, their apparel so unique to their ways, This place we have come to know, is worth a visit I must say! The dialysis center, a building bathed in peach, Located central to the ward making it convenient to reach. The entire ground floor is dedicated to the poor and their kidneys For the cost for them is nil, treatment is without a fee. Lying on the beds, the patients are bored and tire quite fast. I can only imagine how they must feel when their four hours have gone past. Although the patients suffer from boredom and pain thrice a week, They smile and see the positive, I can hear it when they speak. The spirit and attitude with which the dialysis patients live their life, It’s truly an amazing thing, especially with all the strife!  On the first floor amongst the crowd there are a few draped in white. Docto...

The dialysis ward was brightly lit, well ventilated, and was neither too cold nor to hot. It was not a very large room, and therefore one could see all of the ten beds in the ward; next to each one of which sat the large squat machines in whose innards the process of dialysis took place, clicking and beeping. The room was empty, as the clock had only just struck eleven, and the first patients would only arrive at a quarter past that hour.    To the casual onlooker, these environs would not have seemed grim or foreboding, and yet my stomach lurched and a sense of dread welled up in my stomach as I imagined the dialysis machines at work.    We whispered to each other in muted tones, discussing the functions of various aspects of the dialysis machines, and the intricacies of the procedure itself with Jomon Kuriakose, one of the managers of the institution. As we talked, we moved along the rows of beds, and then retraced our steps to end up in our original positi...