The box that opened childhood …..By Mrs. Minal Gurav (Mentor, Grades)

A few months back a friend returning from her village sent a bag full of village goodies. Tucked in the same bag was this box which looked like any other small plastic container. When I opened the box, I saw what you see in this picture. The small box as if magically opened a big box tucked away in my senses, my heart and mind. My tongue tingled with the taste of tamarind even before I had picked any up. I was transported to that tree from my childhood under which I spent a lot of time collecting tamarind filling them in my pockets. Standing here, in a completely different space I looked up while in that flashback, and I saw that tree loaded with fruit. I felt a sense of joy, a sense of unhurried childhood peace. I was as if standing there in midst of a childhood summer vacation idly eating the tamarind, collecting the seeds, playing with them and spending long hours seemingly doing nothing, but actually making memories.

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We all have experienced this at some point, the smell of rain, the smell of the sea, the sight of gulmohur in bloom, the smell of that kheer, a specific song, the sound of the train and many such experiences related to the senses can revive memories, and take us back to something we have experienced often in our childhood.

If we think if what we did as adults in our last vacation or even our most memorable trip, we would have visual images and events coming to our minds. But if we try to bring back memories of childhood to our present, they will appear in the form of emotions, diffused but intense sensations. We feel like we have travelled back in time.

After this journey through the tamarind box, I am, yet again, in awe of the way we are created. How life gone by can be re-lived. As if the life gone by is packed away in so many unknown places in this very body. How a seemingly mundane, day after day rhythm of childhood like collecting tamarind, can bring so much peace and joy years after childhood is long gone.

As I say this, I see my daughter making a marigold flower garland, a Diwali routine in our home, and I think of how the smell of marigold and the feeling of joy and peace that will goes with this is a pathway to establishing emotions that will accompany her for life.

The fascinating world of Indian puppets…. By Mrs. Shomita Nair (Grade 2 Teacher)

The fascinating world of Indian puppets…. By Mrs. Shomita Nair

“हम सब रंगमंच की कटपुतलिया है जिनकी डोर उपरवाले की उँगलियों से बंधी हुई है”. Most of us who remember the movie Anand will remember this dialogue by superstar Rajesh Khanna where he talks about us humans as puppets who are controlled by the divine creator. That is on a philosophical note but the role of puppetry in Waldorf education is just as profound.

Story telling through puppets in the Waldorf curriculum

Puppetry or a puppet play exudes simplicity and calmness in the way a story is narrated and built upon. When a child watches a puppet show, it stimulates their fantasy, strengthens their life forces and as it unfolds step-by-step it evokes their imagination and they move forward with the story. It is more relevant in today’s fast-paced world because when the stories are acted out in front of children it also has a calming effect on them.

It is said that when Rudolf Steiner was asked how to do puppet plays, he insisted that the marionettes must hang on threads tied directly to the fingers (not a cross bar), directed from above. He had clear views on how the story must be read, style and colour of the costume fabric and stage lighting and scenery. Puppetry is an integral part of the Waldorf curriculum as the sole purpose of puppet plays is, according to Steiner, to help the children to develop fantasy.

India: the birth place of puppetry

The world of puppets is a very colorful world just like the colouful milieu of the Indian subcontinent. So it is hardly surprising that this form of art originated here. Early references of puppetry in India can be found in the Tamil classic ‘Silappadikaaram’ written around 1st or 2nd century BC. The content of the puppet shows in the Waldorf curriculum is similar to that of traditional puppet theatre in India which is mainly stories of the legends, puranic stories and local myths.

There are 4 major different types of puppets used in India. Glove Puppets, Rod Puppets, Shadow Puppets and String Puppets.

Glove Puppets

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Glove Puppetry is popular in many parts of India. It’s sheer pleasure to see this art form unfold in the hands of a master puppeteer. In Glove Puppetry, the heads and arms of the puppets are controlled by the fingers of the puppeteer and it can produce a wide range of movements.

Found in Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, and West Bengal, the themes and the delivery of the story varies from place to place. In Uttar Pradesh, stories are often based on social themes while in Odisha the stories narrate the tales of Radha and Krishna. Pavakoothu, a glove puppetry form from Kerala, draws inspiration from Kathakali depicts the fables of Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Rod Puppets

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It is an extension of glove puppetry but on a much larger scale. Mostly found in West Bengal and Odisha, the puppets in this form are manipulated using rods.

It is believed that the Rods Puppets have better control compared to other forms. The Putul Nautch from the Nadia district of West Bengal are about 3-4 feet in height. One gets a highly theatrical experience while watching this form of puppetry. During the show, a group of musicians play the music and the main dialogue and songs are delivered by the puppeteer.

Shadow Puppets

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Shadow puppets are flat and operated against a white clothed screen. It is highly technical in nature and it is all about judging the perfect balance between the light and the screen. The correct manipulation of both will result in a project of a gorgeous silhouette and colorful shadows. In India, this form is very popular and has varied styles depending on the geographical location.

The Shadow Puppet shows begin at night and continue till dawn. Puppet sizes reflect the social status of the character that they play. Larger puppets are for royal and religious members while smaller puppets depict the common people and servants. Known as Tongalu Gombeyaata, the puppets are mostly colored in red, blue, black or green. While conventionally the form was used to portray stories of the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

String Puppets

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It is one of the most popular forms of puppetry in India. The Kathputli that is referred to in the aforementioned movie dialogue falls in this category. Also, these puppets are the ones recommended by Steiner for storytelling in the Waldorf curriculum. String puppets have jointed limbs, controlled by strings that allow flexibility. This makes them the most articulate of all the puppets and also the most challenging. It takes years of practice to control these puppets. It is mostly popular in in Rajasthan, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.

Kathputli- Rajasthan’s form of string puppetry involves large colorful dolls that are vibrantly dressed. Puppeteers speak in shrill voices produced when spoken through a bamboo reed. The subjects presented are mostly social problems like dowry, women’s empowerment, illiteracy, and poverty.

An art form that has stood the test of time

As an art form that has lived and evolved centuries, puppetry is enriching not just for the children but also for the puppeteers. Just like the children who watch it with awe every time and exercise their faculties of imagination, the performers too get in touch with their own sense of creativity with each performance and evolve along the way.

A Dream to Fly…. By Ms. Mariyam Bootwala

As a child all my summer vacations were spent at my Grandparent’s house. It was in a small village located around 10kms away from Lonavala. The house was at the base of a hill. A major part of my day was spent on top of this hill. This hill was my home and my friend. My favorite past time was to lie down and watch the clouds floating by. An occasional sighting of an Airplane would make me and my cousins’ wave vigorously, hoping that the pilot would notice us.

One fine day when I was just lying there imagining that the clouds were shaped in forms of different animals today, I happened to see an oddly shaped bird at a distance. Or was it? It flew for some time near the distant mountain and then it went down and disappeared. I was curious but as a 10yr old I didn’t really know how to find out what it was (we didn’t have Google or a Computer). A few days later I saw many such things flying around that mountain. They weren’t birds, I was sure. My cousin and I decided to investigate. After spending hours in questioning our uncles and older cousins we found out that those were gliders and it was a sport called Paragliding.

The thought of Flying off the mountain and seeing the world like how a bird sees it made me feel excited. After that I would spend hours watching these colourful gliders fly. I had made up my mind to fly in one of those as soon as I could.

It took me twenty years to finally fulfill my dream. The day I was going to fly made me feel like my 10 years old self. I left Mumbai early in the morning. The entire car ride was spent in anticipation and I reached the base camp well before time. They say that if you want something, you need to earn it. Well, that’s true in this case — before you can launch from the mountain top, you need to climb up the mountain first… and FAST, because you need to catch the wind conditions while it’s favourable for flying!

Mid-way through the trek, I was already huffing and panting. “It’s going to be worth it” I told myself. While trekking, I could see paragliders launching off from the mountain top. That really got me excited (and nervous at the same time), as it hit me that I was going to be flying in a few minutes!!!

After reaching the top I had to wait for a few hours. The winds were strong and I was underweight!! It was annoying to wait (I had waited for 20 years already), but it was for my own safety. Finally, a kind tandem pilot took pity and was ready to risk flying with me. I was told that if after take-off the pilot feels its risky to keep flying, he will make an emergency landing. I was ready to take that chance!!

In the next few minutes, I was up in the air. Throughout the flight, I was feeling pure joy and ecstasy. It was incredible looking down from my seat, seeing myself float above Earth(with the pilot behind me), suspended by nothing but a canopy and a harness.

At the same time everyone below was going about their own routine, without a care in the world, without even knowing that I was up there flying and having the time of my life.

Being up in the air, flying in the glider, made me feel tiny. It made the world feel tiny, given that everything (and everyone) was just beneath my feet. The Hill where I saw this dream was also just a speck. It also made my problems, concerns, and thoughts seem tiny. Up there in the sky, nothing matters. All you experience is purity and serenity.

By way of my paragliding flight, I got to tick off an item off my bucket list, which is “to fly” 😀 (and I don’t mean flying by plane).

My learning from Japan…..By Ms. Pradnya Thorat (Grade 1 Teacher)

日本から学んだ

Nihon kara mananda

Few years ago when I was in Japan, I had enrolled my child in a Japanese kindergarten school called as Yochiien. It was not only a beautiful learning experience for my daughter but also for me as an individual. Japan and Japanese people have always amazed me. All over Japan before the school starts (all school start normally at same time) and after the school disperses there is a specific music played throughout the city just to make everyone aware that the children will be on the road and one needs to be careful.

In the school my daughter with other children just played around, rolled papers, played with clay, did gardening etc. Till the age of 6, the whole emphasis is to develop the child’s multiple intelligences. The students are responsible to keep their classrooms and school clean. Every day by turn few kids sweep the floor, serve the food etc. In the younger years of the child the focus is more on developing the values within the child, to create a better citizen, to make an independent person. This according to me is very necessary as it instills the thought that no job is less or low in kind. The kids are taught to be empathetic, polite and humble.

I remember one instance when I and my mother were walking on a very small footpath in Japan. The cyclists can cycle on footpaths there. There was this one kid maybe aged 11-12years old and he was behind us as there was no space for him to overtake us. This child just kept walking behind us till we realized and gave him the way. He quickly sat on his cycle said Gomen nasai (sorry) and drove away. The humbleness, the consideration for others, feeling of not troubling others is instilled right from the childhood. That instance is always close to my heart and I feel that these are the things , values which we as adult should strive to foster in our new generation…well that happens best with we doing it ourselves. When I came back I looked for such a school where the focus is on creating the individual and not a machine. However I could not find it at the right time, but when I came across Kalpavruksha ,understood its philosophy ,I knew it that this was the kind of school which I always wanted for my child. Though my child has already graduated from high school but nevertheless it’s a great opportunity to work under the school which I always desired of.

DO WE HAVE TIME TO STAND AND STARE by Mrs. Dimple Mehrotra

“TO STAND AND STARE..”

Many a times I wonder what would happen if I stood for some time and admired the nature and its beauty. The fine thought scares me, will I get run over by the heavy traffic of people stomping up and down the road with no sorry or excuse me. I remembered this verse in the poem “ Daffodils” which got me into the world of imagination how beautiful the world would be if I could find a place to sit and breathe fresh air into lungs. I wish to go back to my childhood where I dreamt my wishes would come true.

New year comes in with reflections of past years where at this time of the year we were all unaware of what is in store for us. Who knew life will change overnight for most of us? As time went by and months flew away with a year gone by I realized, in introspect that it wasn’t as bad, I did live my dreams to be one with nature. The changes in the weather, the rustling of leaves, the unknown species of birds around and animals on the street .I truly lived my days though not intentionally did say a small prayer.

As an educator in true sense, I wish we would make this life as pleasant for our coming generations. Bringing them close to nature, make them one with their spirit soul give them the realization of their sole objective of coming into this being. I think I am on it with designing and planning the new year Waldorf curriculum the work is in progress.

My resolution for year 2021 will be to take and give that opportunity to all children in all respect under any circumstances , I will and I shall…..