Sensing Nature Through Arts - Summer Camp

Summer Camp for children aged 8 – 12 years, 4th – 9th May 2009
A Review-Report 

Kalakshetra Foundation and The Aseema Trust jointly conducted a six day summer camp, “Sensing nature through arts” for children aged 8 to 12 years. The camp activities were spinning and weaving on a frame, printing from nature and paper making, clay work, kolams and pot decoration, and kalamkari. There were also movies to watch and talk about. The camp was hosted in the quiet and natural environment of the Kalashetra Art centre. The vasanas and energy of the space were just right and suited for a camp-full of people trying to sense nature.

More than anything else, the beauty of the organisation of activities was in the qualities required for the minute hand work – silence, reflection, observation and a sense of aesthetics. In an urban set up we have moved too far away from doing useful work with hands, and the connection of hand work to mind and heart is seldom acknowledged. A dichotomy of academic (mind) and non-academic (hand) work that is non existent has been fed into our psyche, and we fail to see how the hand can be intellectual and emotional. And we have too soon forgotten that science begins with observation. And that man can come closer to the nature that he is part of only by first observing her closely.

The camp introduced and facilitated these qualities in a vibrant manner wherein the children discovered the same in themselves even as they were producing beautiful works of art.

They were learning to walk peacefully, carefully, observe, gather and categorise pieces of nature (leaves, flowers, twigs…) without disturbing her;
they were discovering the joy of being concentrated and focused in one activity unmindful of mild physical discomforts as they were working on their paintings and clay;
they were realising the usefulness of observation and precision;
they were experiencing the intangible pleasure of struggling and completing a creation of their own;
they were imagining, thinking, visualising, and also expressing their ideas through their work;
they were learning to be patient and perseverant in getting that thread just right through the loops;
they were strengthening ties of friendship and cooperation while helping and teaching each other,
they were discovering that being gentle is also being strong while modeling clay;
they were feeling the excitement of numbers as they were counting threads, measuring without the use of external aids, working with different sizes of clay models, teaching each other complicated kolam patterns;
they were experiencing a non-hierarchical, non-pressurised learning environment where learning is for learning’s sake;
they were learning to learn from nature, to mention a few.

Besides all this of course, they were picking up skills of spinning, weaving, threading, painting, clay modeling, braiding, paper making, kolam-drawing... They were also getting an understanding of different materials and their properties through experiential work with cloth, clay, paints, sand, water, stones and so on. We also had very interesting sessions of history, film appreciation, unorganised play, contemporary social issues and listening to music thrown in. We watched a movie on Khadi cloth and its making by Kanika Myers, extracts of a movie that revolved around school children in rural Karnataka and their discussions on caste discrimination, and Satyajit Ray’s movie titled, “The adventures of Goopy and Bhaga”.

An open session was planned for the last day when the children exhibited their work to their parents. There was also a potluck snacks party for the entire camp team including the faculty, volunteers, children and others. The children’s theatre on this day deserves special mention. The play by Shri. Velu Saravanan and his team was entrancing and very interactive. Judging by the laughter and complete involvement of the entire population in the hall, all of us were children for that duration. Set in the background of a fisherman’s child finding a pot with a genie inside while at sea, the team also kept asking some fundamental questions on what is knowledge and what is development through the course of the skit. This is very relevant since the success of the summer camp is not simply in it being conducted well, although it is a part too, but in the continued internalising and practice of these qualities in each of us who were a part of the camp.

A fitting finale was a running presentation of the delightful memories and moments of the camp captured digitally.

Himalayan Time

Notes from a 'work' trip to the kumaon region:
(Visited SIDH, an organisation doing very insightful and pioneering work in education...).
Backdrop: the magnificient, breathtaking garhwal himalayas.

Getting up at 6 every morning to find the entire place under blankets. Nobody gets up before 6:30. By 6, only if there is a Sahjan programme (one of their educational initiatives) and consequently the Yoga class in the morning.

The first night spent with creeping, crawling and flying things in the small room; ready to get back to Madras. What we are afraid of and run away from comes back to us, and if we are aware and observe, we learn.

No work on the Sunday. Getting to know the teachers, Sonal and Madhu. Discussion time, music time, washing clothes time, washing hair time, cleaning up time, playing with Jagmohanji’s kids time…. The quality of life away from the city – more time for meditative things, more time for the things around one’s self, life doesn’t stop if the electricity and phone lines are down – pretty much the same. There is always time to stop and do pranaam to anyone one happens to meet and enquire after their family, home, health and work. The living with nature, not trying to bend her to suit one’s needs but the other way round, not as much man bending as living in harmony.

Raining continuously here. Rains now untimely; it may have been snowing in Badrinath was the prediction. (It was snowing in Uttarkashi was the news we got later). Even Delhi had rains, I came to know later. Electricity down almost continuously; Phone lines on and off.

GOOD lunches in the roti-dal-sabji-rice 'Mess'. All kinds of local greens cooked for sabji and tasting real good. We get half of this in the city.

Beautiful Earth. and Beautiful Man. Rainbows twice. And such clear, huge ones coming right down on to the hills. Everybody came out to watch the rainbow, talk of how rainbows are formed, it forms here and not there, why it disappears here faster etc. The normal phenomenon is: if the sun comes out, most people are out basking in the sun which at its scorching best here is a pleasant warm for the sparse humanity below. Tea, and talk of from which direction (slight shifts etc) the sun comes out and goes behind the hills, uttarayan and dakshinayan and so on, flowing into talks of festivals, when which festivals are celebrated and why, what they do etc. Closer to nature, life doesn’t move at breakneck speed, more time for watching the sun, observing his movements over the year, more time for finding out why we celebrate some of the festivals, and why we observe some rituals and some others in other places and so on.

Beautiful Earth. and Moments of just ‘being’. For as much as the eye can see, only mountains and valleys, sky and clouds of all colours (because it was raining), sparkling sheer-drop cliffs, mist rolling in and out, cold cold wind not wanting to be left out. Nothing much else existed except maybe in one’s knowledge and imagination, if they actually dared, and managed to intrude in this simply ‘being’. Beautiful earth, she is my mother.

Beautiful Earth. and Beautiful Night. Walks after dusk. Smells and sounds heightened, sharpened. animals in the bushes, not knowing that their glowing eyes give them away. Darkness and mist vying with each other for attention and dominance. Look up, and there are only stars in your world.

Beautiful Earth’s Child. The expert? in Delhi, or Chennai knows the numbers but the Himalayan Light Foot has seen and knows how they twinkle right above his head, he also knows their different groups and how friendly they are with each other, their movements according to the changing seasons. The light foot knows her moon, half-eaten, just nibbled away, or hidden from human sight, she does not need sight on the path lit by her moon, her knowledge is enough for her, and me. She is up before her sun, and is still up after he goes, preparing to meet him the next day.

Sonal and her yoga. New inspiration for me.

The Cold is a person, biting and all over the place. And demanding my body heat. she is on my hands and feet, making them numb. She is on my bed, and the blankets – my body warms her in the night. She is on and into my socks, and disappointed with my feet. She is not too happy with my hands either. I told her to wait a couple of days, I would conquer her in my turf.

The SIDH story and about Sahjan and Sanjeevani at different times from Jagmohanji. A story of organic evolution, lots of hard work, numerous questions, and still more doubts, and a slow building and nourishing of relationships with the help of not just sheer brilliant creativity but backing it with painstaking work with details. Reading lots of material on Sanjeevani, and Sanmati courses, how they were conducted, course content and so on. Working and thinking along very similar lines to Samanvaya.

Jagmohanji – one big sense of humour with a voice that sung jaunpuri folk with a lilting as well as a rending quality both at the same time. English lessons with him (one english speaking exercise with him, describing his one work-day, other times talking in English, bits and pieces). A riot of an antakshari session with him, the girls – sonal and madhu, and rajesh. His people management, knowledge of the pahad (mountain region), his play with the kids, and enthusiasm to learn… all the people are multi-skilled, with a variety of interests, and none went through the pipeline of recruitment etc. All coming in naturally, doing what they like doing and staying for the sheer love of what they believe in and do. For all the teachers, their children are never far away from their minds.

The teachers’ meeting on the 11th – on teaching methods where the gap between the ‘weak’ students and students who do well is reduced, how to do such a thing, plans to remove class system and bring in group system from next year, child to child teaching, parents involvement – a dance-drama programme for them etc. It was a brainstorming session and the similarities between Samanvaya sessions and now here are striking. The only difference is that there are fewer people back home.

Tea and Dinner time in the Mess – time for various discussions on a whole host of issues from serials, TV and the harm that this is doing, education today, modernity, culture to what kind of foods are eaten in various parts of India and why, festivals and clothes in various parts, marriages, music, great people of India being just a few. The point to be noted here is that this is a regular happening, as also the other records – these are not happening because a guest is present, these are things that happen every day or as a matter of routine. They also mentioned that when the women in the villages get together, or at work talk about a whole lot of these things, besides about their families and local politics etc. Similar thing that was observed during the shodh yatras in Tamil Nadu and Uttaranchal – people might be living in apparent ‘poverty’ and a thread bare existence, but the wrinkles never show. There is only hospitality and smiles, and lots of time to talk, greet each other and catch up on local gossip and larger issues and so on. It is as they move away from this life and nearer to a city existence that people forget to celebrate and nourish life; mere existence becomes a burden and a grinding routine without vibrance, compassion and creativity. (There was also a candle-light dinner once, and a ghazal night once, most of them sing beautifully)

Beautiful Earth. and Silent Spirit. & Peaceful Spirit. A walk in the hills and my spirit subsided to silence. Simply silence – the cup is emptied and it is beautiful silence inside, or ‘at peace’. The outside sounds and other talk being not at all intrusive. The silence inside has taken into it the sounds and ideas outside. Nothing was jarring, nothing was wanting, nothing was out of order. Everything a part of the silence.

Thoughts on Diversity and Indigenous – What modernity calls ‘diversity’ and consequently India as ‘unity in diversity’... What it is, is actually local, indigenous. Each locality / region is a complete whole in itself and all these together interact with each other in various ways and make other systems, smaller and larger, they are all interconnected (I have to think and put down how), because they work on the same fundamental worldview of dharma / God / creation is manifestation of God (the dharma is not man-made, but the order itself, it is already there). Diversity as we understand it, sees differences and draws lines where there are none, cutting a larger entity into smaller parts, but here there is only building from smaller systems into larger units and systems and there is only synthesis.

Thoughts on Quality of Life – To look at it from the angle of man-made systems and natural systems. These 2 systems are not actually independent of each other. The natural system of creation / the natural order of how things work is actually the inner-most, or the core. It is also the outer-most circle, the ultimate system within which everything is. So, understanding this is also understanding our limits – ahimsa. When this does not happen, when man deludes himself either by thinking that man-made systems are independent of the natural system that actually sustains him, or that he can manipulate the natural system of which he is a part, then there is adharma. Meaning the natural order is disturbed, and we see the consequences – that is why the temperatures are increasing everywhere, that is why weather conditions are so unpredictable – patterns getting distorted and awry, that is why the society is degenerated today.

The childrens’ prayer / assembly time. All their voices as one, in a clear ringing tone. None of them in a hurry to catch a train. It was good to be there with them for the prayer. All the children were also actually there and in their own way were with their prayers.