I had an idea to make a plough. Das made it for me. Ritwik and I would use it in the sand pit. We made our plough better by adding a place so that two people could act like the cows and one person from behind could act like the farmer. When we were playing ‘farm-farm’ in the sandpit with the plough I felt like growing ragi! Tanu didi said that the sand pit was not the right place for that, so we took another spot of land near kaze. The area was full of grass so we had to work hard to remove it. We cut the top of the grass with a sickle and then dug it out with a hoe. Then we cleaned the spot, we took out all the stones and made a pile near one spot. Then Shivaji anna came with his tractor and ploughed it for us, another thatta came with Shivaji anna. We built a fence so that the cow wouldn’t eat up the growing ragi. One day Shivaji anna said it might rain, so we sprinkled lots and lots of seeds around. After a week it was growing like a forest. I needed to water it every da...

Didi didi, this train is so packed! Be happy you have at least half a seat, so many others are all stacked! Actually I’m glad no one has taken our half seat, In fact, the other passengers protect it even when I’m away to eat. Speaking of food, just look at all the food Sidh’s uncle and aunt have got, Yummm! That vada pav is so good and tasty and hot. Hey why don’t we too sell some stuff on the train , Origami! Awesome! Everyone gets excited by the sight of a paper plane. Come one, come all! There is flowers, purses, cranes and even a ball! It’s all over; everyone has taken it with so much joy, So many smiles and laughs all because of a small toy. Ah! Finally it’s Shivganj! What a lovely little town, Guys, food is served can you all please come down. Mancha, Punchi, thank you so much, the food and sweets are so great. And we ate ... and we ate ... and we ate ... and we ate! Karuna bhua, we have squeezed the lemon juice but have one doubt, What to ...

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...

Last year, Inwoods Small School gifted us a box of Kapla sticks. They are small and flat blocks of wood around 4″ x 1″ x .25.” wide. The blocks are so basic they can be morphed into just about anything a child can imagine. What is amazing to watch is how the children hold the blocks, enjoy the feel of wood, smell them and start playing.Initially not knowing what they want to create but in the act of engaging with the blocks, something emerges .... and often crashes!   It is play without an obvious end, beginning, number of participants, rules, winning, loosing and free of the known. Also the conversations and learning is immense. From comparisons of heights , attention to breath while placing the blocks, speaking with care to ones peers and openness to the gust of wind that brings it all crashing to the floor in a moment!

We had a one day intense workshop with Nikita Jain and Priyanka Patel , where they shared with us the magic of Shibori. We had done tie-dye earlier, and were fascinated by the simple technique of knotting and dyeing fabric to create happiness! Shibori is the Japanese word--meaning to wring, squeeze, press--for a number of ways of embellishing textiles by shaping cloth and securing it before dyeing. It was magical because of the various labor intensive techniques that created elaborate patterns that were unexpected and mind blowing. The techniques involving crumpling, stitching, plaiting, plucking and twisting. Once the cloth was 'shaped' by these methods, we secured it in a number of ways, such as binding, clamping or knotting. The children's questions moved from, ' what will happen if  I do this?' to 'let me try this!' The element of chance to the display of patterns and colours of this method gave life to the shibori process and added its special...

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...

Last week the Ketaki’s (Age 7 to 9) went for a walk, the plan was to go mulberry picking in a gated community. Mulberries, we had heard were filled in the bushes and we were so excited to collect our wild edibles. We strolled into the lush green gated community to fill ourselves with delicious mulberry fruit. A couple of steps into our adventure, it started to drizzle, and then the rain got a bit heavy ...we wished we had umbrellas with us... but nothing was going to stop us from reaching the mulberries.  As we giggled and fussed about the rain, we saw a man walking towards us with 6 to 8 umbrellas in his arms and one over his head. We started to whisper to ourselves ‘let’s ask that uncle for the umbrellas!’. He approached us, and as he passed a child, he reached out to give an umbrella to them! We were surprised, thrilled and felt magic in the air!  He was our monsoon Santa Clause! (We learnt soon, that one of our parents who lived on the campus had sent her helpe...

(At Shibumi, we are making a radical shift in curriculum. The curriculum is still evolving and we meet frequently to think details out and talk things over. We'd like to share our thoughts with you as they are fleshed out. Do keep an eye on this blog to follow the growth of the curriculum. ) The first letter to the parents of the school, introducing the new curriculum. The teachers at Shibumi have had intensive and lengthy discussions in our curriculum meetings at the end of the last term: re-connecting with the school’s intent, looking at what we have been doing, what seems to be working and what doesn’t – a process vital to continue functioning with intensity. The fundamental intent of the school is to nurture a learning mind – that is, a mind free of fear and resistance, a mind which is not caught in conclusions, which is not driven by personal interest, and which has the capacity for stillness, not being preoccupied. It is necessary to have a sense of deep relatedness...

At Shibumi, we are making a radical shift in curriculum. The curriculum is still evolving and we meet frequently to think details out and talk things over. We'd like to share our thoughts with you as they are fleshed out. Do keep an eye on this blog to follow the growth of the curriculum. We start with a letter from Krishnamurti to the schools. A school, after all, is a place where the student is basically happy, not bullied, not frightened by examinations, not compelled to act according to a pattern, a system. It is a place where the art of learning is being taught. If the student is not happy he is incapable of learning this art. Memorizing, recording information, is considered learning. This brings about a mind that is limited and therefore heavily conditioned. The art of learning is to give the right place to information, to act skilfully according to what is learned, but at the same time not to be psychologically bound by the limitations of knowledge and the images or symbol...