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 ....

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...

We went early and were let into the flower show without tickets, before it had officially begun. We then split up, explored Lalbagh, played games. We also happened to see the BBMP van catching dogs for vaccination/sterilisation, which is always painful to watch. We sat together with all the kids, explained it to them, and talked about it. There was a lot of discussion about alternative, less painful ways to catch dogs. We all spent some time at the big banyan tree -- some played Hide and Seek, and others ran a mud food restaurant.The van picked us up after we had eaten our packed lunch.