September 27th, 2008 Jo
It started with this guy. Bhagirath Gop and his colleague Dr Vikram Gupta, both Program Officers at the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, came to visit us in August to check out the work of the Foundation and, in particular, the functioning of the Early Intervention Centre.
We think they liked what they saw, but they also thought we could do even more, even better. So they asked us to undertake a review - to look at the EIC project objectively, see what was working, what wasn’t, and to make whatever changes we felt were necessary.
They suggested that we invite an outsider to help us do it - the person we chose doesn’t qulify as that, but she’s tough and strict and she knows what we are capable of. She’s Tara, our guiding star.
We also persuaded Aarti to come back for two days for the discussions and we all cleared our calendars.
I think for all of us it was an opportunity to look at ourselves honestly and critically, to analyze our approach and our achievements without trying to make excuses or offer explanations. For this meeting, we were committed to trying to figure out what was working and what was not.
The answers were sometimes startling, sometimes disturbing, and always provocative. We are engaged in analysis- there is something so exciting about asking questions and being willing to confront the truth about what we are doing. The truth is seldom easy and always involves reconsideration and restructuring of reality. The programs we are so attached to may have to be given up. The ways we do things may need to change. What matters is being open to new ideas and possibilities.
Posted in Serious Stuff, Shop Talk | No Comments »
September 25th, 2008 Jo
In India, you don’t waste food. It is the original sin, the root of all evil and no old woman worth her salt will tolerate it. So when Masiji spotted young Owen dallying with his dal and clearly intending to feed it to the dog we don’t have, she moved in.
Owen realized he had met his match, and surrendered gracefully.
Posted in Family, Fun! | No Comments »
September 23rd, 2008 Jo
This was the beginning of the workshop. 29 decorous and well-behaved children from Latika Vihar, all gathered to see what this white haired fellow from New Delhi might have to say. Dunu is the Foundation’s oldest friend (his mother was Latika Roy) and a constant source of inspiration and provocation to us. We had asked him to come and do a session with the kids which would encourage curiosity, thought and creativity.
Shaila Brijnath (in lime green on the right) was the force behind the event, but having never met Dunu, she wasn’t sure what to expect. I just told her to be prepared to have most of her comfortable ideas about children and education and learning exploded.
Anyway, back to the kids. There they were, as you see them, all neatly lining the walls, quiet and decorous, like I said.
But the numbers kept growing. Usually when there are a lot of kids in one place, the atmosphere gets raucous and out-of-control.
Here, the numbers increased steadily (we ended the day with 65 kids in the room), but the interest and attention stayed steady too.
Dunu has this magic. He is 62, but kids behave with him as if he is their contemporary. He asks them to speak and then he listens to what they have to say.
And as the workshop went on, the excitement grew and the boundaries got more and more blurred. The kids moved in closer, the answers tumbled out faster, the fun increased.
His method was fascinating. He had designed a series of posters with an overlay on top of each one, out of which he had cut windows. As he spoke, he would open a window, revealing an image which he then asked the children to describe.
In this one, for example, he first revealed a sign reading “JAIL”. So he asked the kids what a jail was, who went to one, why they went there and how they could get out. The kids gave all the usual answers about thugs and goondas and thieves and murderers.
Then he opened another window, showing who the “criminal” was - it was none other than Ravi! (The “jail” was a mock one we had set up at a Latika Vihar mela some years earlier, but for the purposes of the exercise, it was perfect.) So that led to a discussion about criminals and the police and who decides which is which.
Other pictures were simpler - a child who seemed to be standing alone, but when the window opened further, she was seen to be in a group of friends flying kites. The final poster, which Dunu had drawn himself, was amazing. Each window opened on a different child: a baby sleeping in a basket, another baby crawling, a child sitting with a book, another one reaching out to someone and a last one playing with a hoop. With each opening, the children offered their theories about what the child in the picture was doing and why he was or wasn’t happy doing it.
But when the whole poster was displayed, the scene was entirely different! It turned out the whole thing was taking place on the second floor of an open building site. The baby in the basket was all alone, the crawling child was about to plummet two stories down, (Mom was sitting some distance away cooking a meal) the child reading was sitting right on the edge of thesite and the child reaching out was handing bricks to a woman taking head-loads up the ladder. The only child they got it right on was the one playing with the hoop. But in the face of the whole scene as now revealed, his fun didn’t seem so much fun after all.
Dunu’s point was simple: people need to be shaken out of their complacency. We all think we understand what we see in front of our eyes. What we need to remember is that what we see is just one tiny corner of what is really happening. We need to wake up. We need to ask questions. We need to think.
Posted in Bright Ideas, Inspiration | 2 Comments »
September 20th, 2008 Jo
I don’t normally wear a sari. Though I love them for their grace and style, the effort is simply beyond me most days. First I have to find someone to help me put it on and then I have to navigate my day feeling like a princess and working like a horse. Moy Moy’s wheelchair, Mummy, Masiji, Daddy - all with canes; and then my camera! I prefer litheness, sprightliness, sweat pants: the ability to leap tall buildings at a single bound.
But today, on the occasion of Teachers’ Day, I thought I would give it a shot.
Sumita graciously agreed to come and drape me and the sari was the one Shaila (my good luck charm) gave me some years ago.What fun. I wear them so seldom that whenever I DO, you would think I had won the marathon or the Nobel Peace Prize. The attention!
It was a wonderful function. The whole staff turned out and we had a lunch and presents and speeches (mine was all in Hindi!) and everyone (with one notable exception) was happy.
Our teachers are amazing. It was so easy to sing their praises because that’s almost all I ever want to do.
Posted in Inspiration | 3 Comments »
September 16th, 2008 Jo
So touching! A loving husband gently assisting his wife . . .
NOT! But for pushing Preeti into the water, Sebastian is repaid in spades:
And emerges a wiser man . . .
Posted in Fun! | No Comments »
September 15th, 2008 Jo
This was a picnic to remember, if only for the range of people who came. From Lakshmi, age 12 months, to Mummy, age 91. In-between: five more children, all under nine, two more oldies (81 and 86), an 18 year-old beauty, three young things in their 20’s, two in their 30’s, two in their 40’s and dear old me, representing grace, wisdom and the under-rated quality of balance at the glorious age of 50.
We went to Dr Kalhan’s farm, which we have always loved but which seems harder and harder to get to these days. There is the awful traffic, the appalling post-monsoon roads and the sheer enormity of the task of catering to all the different special needs this particular crowd contains. But we did it! And we had a blast.
Dad got to meet Sebastian, we all got to meet Bridget, our new volunteer speech therapist (whose eyes alone simply dazzle us), Lucy regaled us with stories of her first trip to India 16 years ago and Shelley entertained the boys and helped look after Moy Moy.
But I have to say it was those boys who stole the show. Their absolute delight at being in cold water on a hot day was a joy to behold and made us all remember how simple life really can be and how easy it is to be happy.
Boys are fun to watch. These guys were simply fascinated by the engineering concepts of flow, pressure and movement.
Here they have just discovered an overflow pipe from the kiddie pool to the outside. What a thrill!
Now they can put objects (sticks, leaves, rocks) in the poolside of the pipe
and then race back to the outlet to see them come through!
Sounds so simple and unimportant in the telling. In the doing (and the watching), that moment was all there was. It’s why we have children, and how we stay human. They keep us alive to the joy of being here, right now, in this moment.
Posted in Family, Fun! | 4 Comments »
September 11th, 2008 Jo
I stumbled upon this wonderful site by a happy accident and was soon totally immersed in it. Julie Oakley is a designer and artist who came up with an ingenious plan to increase her artistic output while getting a bit of exercise at the same time. Every day, for one year, she committed to walking one mile from her home (in St Albans, UK) and drawing or painting what she saw there. Her site is full of the results - absolutely lovely pictures, and such delightful text to go along with them. I am still making my way through them all, but I feel as if I know her and her family already.
Now her two oldest children are organizing an exhibition at their home to sell some of Mom’s work to raise money for their college educations. How I wish I could go and see it! Do check out the site though - if you like the paintings, they have an online paypal system set up and you can order what you want.
Posted in Bright Ideas | No Comments »
September 10th, 2008 Jo
So often, it’s the people behind the scenes who keep things ticking, keep things in order and keep the ship afloat. Vandana and Raksha are two of the hardest working people in the Foundation and they sit upstairs where no one sees them unless they take the trouble to make the climb.
So today, I want to salute them for their devotion and care, for the patience they bring to the painstaking task of balancing our accounts and for the integrity of their work.
I particularly love the way they think of every rupee the Foundation has as their own - they spend with such care and they demand a full accounting of every pesae. They keep us focused and mindful of what really matters. They help us to remember why we are here.
Posted in Staff Stories | 1 Comment »
September 10th, 2008 Jo
There is nothing on earth quite like the sight of a mother and her brand new baby. Nirmala is calling her little girl Angel, and it’s so easy to see why. Just look at that peaceful, beautiful face!
Posted in Staff Stories | 4 Comments »
September 8th, 2008 Jo
Proof that he is really here. The Times of India in hand. This is at my niece Manisha’s where we spent the first night. Dad seems to have reached an age where he is above the little details in life. India. America. Only names. Wherever you go, there you are.
He is also very easy to amuse now (like his son-in-law). Here he is (Ravi is just off camera) enjoying some deep philosophical fare on television.
Posted in Dad, Fun! | 1 Comment »
