GRIN

Towards Healthy and Happy Children

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A morning with 80 high-schoolers in nature

The calm before the storm
The calm before the storm

All things great and small

Janani needed someone to come with her to record her Nature Connect classes in one of the government schools in Bangalore. It was her first for the year and as everyone else was busy, I decided that I would go with her myself. I wished to experience first hand her impact on the kids as well.I came away floored. I can only share what happened at the sessions to show what moved me so much. We entered the school premises on time in spite of Bangalore’s traffic woes. Neatly laid out classrooms around a sheltered central courtyard which had breeze and light streaming in through openings at its sides high up above the school building. It was a girls only school and some of the students were probably sitting in to write an exam in the courtyard for want of an examination hall.

We were told that 10 of the teachers had gone away to participate in a strike for hike in salaries and that left us with having to divide 80 kids into 3 batches which we handled one after the other to make each session interesting and effective for each batch.

Janani introduces herself to the class
Janani introduces herself to the class
I watched and recorded as Janani wove magic in her quiet but delightful manner around the kids. I could sense the fight within each child as she tried to keep her childlike qualities intact without losing it to the weight of framework imposed upon her by institutions and society. Each little girl was ready to laugh at a joke, wonder at things in nature, be ready to be told a story and go out to play in the garden. But each kid was taut like a tense string when the word “rules” was mentioned and could not understand that Janani invited them to pump her with questions and discoveries.

Janani conducted an icebreaker and a game that involved guiding a blindfolded partner to feel her way around plants. More than enabling, it was fun for each child to swing the partner about quickly to make it as mildly wicked as possible and to laugh when the partner struggled to keep her balance. Touching the plants was done in such a hurry and with excitement that it did not seem inappropriate to damage some plants, by the way. Gently Janani smiled her way through and brought their attention to little things that would slowly over time make a change in these children…I watched to see if her urban, English-based background distanced her from the children. It was special to watch her blend and be one with them and yet be the gentle “why why” girl slowly pushing minds to think, to ponder, to discover and to ask more questions.
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As I stood holding the camera, catching frame after frame of living expressions, I could not but stand awestruck at Janani’s patience and willingness to stand up to carry out one of the most difficult tasks on hand in society. To inspire children to stay connected with Nature and themselves in order never to get lost…As we concluded children from other classes who did not get their turn today jostled in and wanted to know if we would conduct classes for them as well. We assured them that their turn would come soon in the coming weeks.
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Little girls looking up bright and cheerful; teachers who looked a little tired and weary; chorus sounds of lessons being taught by rote; bigger girls trying to look “cool”…such were the scenes that swirled around me…behind them I could feel the tension of families that struggled to educate their children, maiming them in the very process, but never fully losing out, but…My heart went out to every child and as I left the premises after the sessions, I deeply prayed that Janani and folks like her would get a chance to plant seeds of hope in every child in the days to come. Be blessed Janani!
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In Peace,
Radha Eswar
PS. Stay tuned for more updates from us and if you would like to experience what we do, you would enjoy looking at the activities that we have uploaded here.

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