Children Learn What They Live . . .
For the most part, we shouldn’t be surprised by children’s behaviour. They learn it from us. They watch us closely – not just when we think we are “teaching” them, but all the time. They watch when we are under stress, when we are angry, when all our buttons get pushed. They watch us when […]
This is HUGE
Here are Raj Kumar and Harikala, holding their letters of acceptance to a six-month training course in Mumbai for Child Development Aides. What a thrill! We are all so proud of them and so excited at this wonderful opportunity they have been given. The course is being run by our good friends in Ummeed – […]
One Small Change
The Core Group! It is an institution in the foundation, harking back to our earliest days, when the CG was comprised of Paula, Linda, Aparna, Manju and me. We met religiously every Tuesday and the original idea was that the session would last only 15 minutes: a power meeting for which everyone would come prepared […]
Staff Updates
I miss our old staff. There are so many wonderful people who have worked in the foundation and then moved on – too many to list, really, and with my memory, I’m sure to forget someone absolutely crucial. But they all live on in my dreams and they all pop up from places as far […]
Happy Sree
Those pesky farewells! It seems everytime we turn around, there’s another wonderful staff member leaving (marriages, babies, husbands getting transferred). It is never easy to say goodbye. Particularly when the staff member is as much of a treasure as our Sree. This is a special educator for the pantheon. Talk about gifted! She is the […]
And finally: Republic Day IV
The future of the country is in the children. And their parents. Here’s Sree, giving us a sneak preview of one of our youngest new citizens, and a very lucky child indeed, with Sree and Manoj as her/his parents. No matter how dark things seem, no matter how many times we hear of an atrocity […]
Republic Day III: Special Mention
Given the current climate of distrust and fear in the country, Rizwan’s prose poem, which he adapted from an ancient Persian poem, was particularly apt. “Hindu, Muslim: what difference does a bomb know?” was the haunting refrain.
Republic Day II
The presentations were many and varied. Skits, dances, songs and one original poem set to music – it was a wonderful compilation of talent and patriotism. Here are some of the EIC team, enacting a series of jokes: Then we had the training centre with a funny and most impressive little skit on the power […]
Nametags
We recently hosted a small conference for the Sir Ratan Tata Trust which organizations working on disability issues all over the country attended. It was a very interesting and provocative experience, with many new ideas discussed and challenges raised. We all learned a lot and some of the issues which came up will keep us […]
More on The Princess
Weddings are all about relationships. and since Indian weddings are so L-O-N-G, there is always plenty of time to observe and document: who’s talking to whom, who’s planning what. So we had husbands and wives speculating . . . Amaji advising . . . Uncles conferring . . . Aunts deciding . . . Friends […]