First Day!
The First Day at Latika‘s new building was as expected: emotional + glad + chaotic. The children were thrilled; their parents and grandparents were overwhelmed and amazed. Everyone wanted to be everywhere and all at the same time: so much to see, to take in, to appreciate. But inevitably (we are all human), concerns soon […]
THIS is What We’ve Been Telling You About!
Our library is one of the first things you see when entering our building. With its glass walls, colorful murals and tantalizing promise of magic and adventure, it never fails to draw children in. Rupa, Aditi and Anita make sure they never want to leave. With libraries rare in India, books considered a luxury and […]
Open House
Yesterday, we officially moved into our new building. It was Open House for children and their families and they arrived all morning in eager little clusters – dressed in bright t-shirts and dresses, ribbons in their hair, wearing new shoes – unable to stop smiling. At the gate, familiar staff greeted them by name while […]
A Tribute
A Tribute No building was ever constructed in a meeting. Computers can’t lay bricks, pour concrete or fit out a toilet. And for all the convenience online shopping provides, until you actually sit on a chair, open a drawer or switch on a light, you can’t know how it feels in real life. That’s why […]
Handing Over Day
This beautiful, moving, electrifying moment: The entire staff of Latika — 150 strong — standing on our newly-constructed ramp surrounding our newly-constructed stage. It is Handing Over Day at last and we are cheering and crying and assuring one another in turns that this is not a dream, it is actually happening, our building is […]
Our Library (Again!)
Our new building is going to have a beautiful, capacious ibrary, mostly designed for children, but with plenty for teens and adults too. The most exciting thing is that we have a budget of 14 lakhs just for the books! Rupa Bishnoi and I traveled to Delhi to shop. We visited the Bookaroo Children’s Literature […]
Up and Up and Up
Up and Up and Up Our new building has not just one but two elevators. In the houses we currently rent, many students and staff aren’t able to use the upper floors because all we have are stairs and they can’t do stairs (especially ours, which are extremely steep). So we are excited to be […]
Loving Care and Maintenance
I read 79 books this year (down from 96 last year 🙈 ). And while I love a “Top Ten” list as much as anyone, this year I am choosing just one. “How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built” by Stewart Brand arrived, as the best books do, at just the right moment. We […]
A Very Special Salon
Many disabled children really hate getting their hair cut. Everything from the snipping sound of the scissors to the sensory overload of a hair dryer can be disturbing. From their perspective, the fake florals of perfume and shampoo and the acrid smells of nail polish remover, bleach and wax are distasteful and alarming. Once I […]
The Moms Pitch In
I walked up to the terrace this morning, looking for a bit of sun to warm up in. Every available sunbeam was already occupied by a group of Latika Moms, hard at work with scissors, tape and transparent plastic sheets. It was the Book-Covering Committee and with our library scheduled to open in March and […]