How I Fall in Love with Children and Nature - Part Two

Thank you for still sticking on to my blog and being curious to know more about my journey. Don't worry, I won't let you down, and will make sure that it's worth your time, because you see, when you give me your time, you give a part of your life to me, and I respect that!

Before I get into the details of my journey, want to see how we used to work in the 'Selco Labs' office back then?

Yup! On the floor, not that we didn't have money to buy tables and chairs, we just loved being ourselves; not being driven by the norms and structure of a 'typical' office. To me, it symbolized free thinking, and not being bound by certain set of standards, freedom to be myself.

Resuming my journey, in October, I had new bunch of colleagues and interns at Selco labs. We were more like a hiking group than a team 'supposedly' working on projects at Selco Labs. (I hope you didn't fall for that, I was exaggerating a little.)

Mid October, we went the famous 'Doodhsagar Falls' on the lap of Western Ghats, flowing elegantly on the border between Goa and Karnataka.

View of the Doodhsagar Falls from a distance

The sight of this huge majestic falls took my breath away. I was so happy when we reached the falls and just stood there admiring the beauty of the mother nature in its purest form. But soon, I was disheartened to see people throwing garbage everywhere, and there was a humungous amount of plastic waste all over the place - chip packets, biscuit packets, plastic plates and cups, and what not; name it and I am sure you will find it there. I felt disgusting for being a human being that time, to be among the species that have not bothered to take care of the nature and in fact have no gratitude to keep the nature serene when she offers so much to us!

A monkey trying to drink the curry from the plastic cover

After coming back from the trip I realized I have to do something about this and to me, education was the way I could contribute to the human race. 

Meanwhile, I was also working on another project where I had to visit schools in remote areas and had to analyze whether the school satisfied few criteria before the installation of the solar lights or solar powered digital equipments at the school. So, I along with my colleague visited a school in Yalaneer Ghat, that is 30Km from Ujire. We had to trek up 10 Km, and it was so beautiful but scary at the same time, because it was an elephant corridor!

Massive, shiny spider that we spotted on the way up.

The thick forest through which we made our way to the school

Serene, beautiful stream we had to cross

Paddy and areca fields on top of the mountain

School on the top of the mountain where we finally managed to reach

I found out from local people why it is called Yalaneer Ghat. 'Yalaneer' in kannada is 'tender coconut'. So, I had assumed that it was probably because this place has a lot of coconut trees. But to my surprise I found a very few coconut trees there. So, why then 'Yalaneer Ghat'? Their explanation is really interesting and something I never imagined. They told me that the water that you get from the stream here is as pure and refreshing as the water you get when you open a tender coconut!

The school had hardly 15 students (from 1st grade till 7th grade), since it was very remote! But one thing I took away from this trek was the deep respect that had sprouted in me for the people who live in harmony with nature.

During the second weekend of November 2013, we trekked from Mullayanagiri to Babu Budanagiri. We trekked Mullayanagiri in the night and my first ever night trek. It was really cold, but nature with thousands of stars and an open grassland is a beauty that just has to be experienced firsthand.

A mind blowing view from the open grasslands of the Western Ghats

Again, it goes without saying that I was mesmerized by the heavenliness of the Western Ghats, and by now I wanted more of it!   

And God has been kind to me. Soon after two weeks of this trek I find myself doing the Kumara Parvatha. Western Ghats never fail to amaze me. Just look at the pictures below, and you would just stop reading, and keep staring at them!

The incredible views, and a stunning weather made me go absolutely crazy 

As far as the 'Invention Education' was concerned, Ashwathi, Trisha and I was making sure we develop the content in the right way. We had to make sure, the activities were hands-on, made sense to the children (within their capacities to understand), it had the right flow (continuity), had relevance to their life and most of all achieve the learning objectives by executing the experiments in a team work. And along side, we also made sure children had activities that helped them explore their surrounds through observation, and interview/chat with the elders in the family/village. For example, we had activities on water where the children had to collect samples from different sources of water in the village, survey the use of water at home, and analyse the data to find the usage of water in the village.

Mid December, we went to hike the 'Ettina Bhuja' peak. The spectacular beauty of the nature would always awe me and I just thanked God for making this nature so beautiful, and giving me this wonderful opportunity to cherish it, feel it, appreciate its vastness and diversity!

Now, do I really have to say something! I know you are already captivated by the greenery around

While trekking was so much fun, my cycling trips also got funny with my cycling and hiking buddy, back then in Ujire.

This is one of the beautiful sights we saw during cycling trips in and around Ujire, early in the morning

Give me my bike and the beautiful nature, and I am just so happy!

Before I knew, the new year 2014 was already there and I was having super fun at SELCO working on the 'Invention Education', and also biking and hiking. Living with Trisha, who did her project work on the effect of plantations on frogs, and listening to her talk about frog calls, crickets and cicadas made me think about these tiny creatures that are so much important to the eco-system. Again I go 'tannnnn'. You see she rang the bell and I was like ' Oh God, why didn't I think about it before!'

In January, we went to 'Kodaikalu' and ' Bale Gudda' in Charmadi Ghat.This time we decided to take the solar cooker that we had built at Selco Labs. This was a 'Fun-panel' solar cooker, very easy to make. I strongly recommend trying it yourself if you want to improve your geometry and design skills, and also have some fun experimenting new types of dishes on the solar cooker at home. Click here for the instructions.

Western Ghats, I am so much in love with you!

The solar cooker in which we cooked on the peak Bale Gudda

By the end of January, on the Republic Day, we decided to celebrate the nature by hiking 'Ombattu Gudda'.

Greenery all around me!

Well, I have been talking a lot about Western Ghats, and nature in and around Dhakshina Kannada district. I have certainly no doubt about that fact that you have enjoyed it. So, what do you think about the northern parts of Karnataka- the landscape, the people, and the nature there?

Through 'Invention Education', we also worked with 5 schools in Yadgir district. This gave me the opportunity to experience Yadgir - the community there, the children, the farmers, and the healthy, and tasty food. And yes, I have more amazing stories in store for you from here.

Well the first thing that caught my attention in Yadgir was the flat terrain, and I was really tempted to believe the old theory that earth is flat. Haha :D. Everything was different from Dhakshinna Kannada (DK). The trees - there were so many 'neem' trees in Yadgir, while in DK we hardly find neem trees. The crops they grew were so different. They grew cotton, groundnut, different pulses and corn depending on the season. The soil was black and the texture of the ground was so different, the water tasted different, and people were dressed in bright colors and decorated their vehicles with bright colors that felt like it was a festivity all around me. The houses were structured different and built with locally available stones.

The houses in and around the village Balichakra in Yadgir

Me and Ashwthi stayed with the community for a day to gain deeper insights on the local life here. We were doing this because we had to integrate the knowledge about the local community to the hands-on science experiments syllabus that we were formulating for the 'Invention Education' project.

Mid - January was the first time we tested one of the activities in our module for the first time with the 5th standard students in GHPS, Kukkavu. It was during the testing time, we saw how much in detail we have to think about the way we represent knowledge or instructions to the children. The instructions need to be precise, coherent (exactly in the order the facilitator wants the experiment to go), and easy to read. We realized we had to pay attention to details, the way we represented the knowledge and also how important the role of the facilitator is to these children and ultimately to their learning. But once again, as we noticed before, the children loved the hands-on activity and we knew we were sailing in the right direction, but just that we needed to equip ourselves to sail smoother. 

Mid February it was time to test our content again with GHPS Thottathadi and Killoor schools, schools in and around Ujire.

Children in GHPS Killoor working on hands-on activity during the 'test period' of the content.

Mid March we tried our content with 7th grade students at GHPS, Ashnal in Yadgir. Here we had a different experience, we found that children took longer time and found it harder to comprehend the same content that we had tested with the students of GHPS Thottathadi and Killoor.

GHPS, Ashnal in Yadgir

Children doing the hands-on activity during the 'test period' of the content.

Yadgir, as I came to know, translates to 'Yadava's giri - the fort of the King Yadavas'. So, me and Ashwathi decided to climb this hill from where we were promised of a good view.

The broken remains of Yadava's Giri

The view of the nearby small hills and massive farmlands in and around Yadgir

Slowly, I realized how diverse is the terrain in Karnataka and how close I felt with nature. Apart from that, each place having its own staple food made so much sense because that was grown locally there. While DK always had food that was based on rice, coconut, jackfruit, and breadfruit; Yadgir had food that was based on corn, pulses and groundnut. If you are in Yadgir, eat at Sugureshwara in the town, just by the railway station. The food is so authentic and super tasty. And if you are in Ujire, well try out 'Neer dosa' at Vrindavan opposite to SDM college. But I was lucky enough to be with the loving local people at both the places in Ujire and Yadgir, that I had the chance to eat their food in their houses. Also, the locally available materials and food was one of the modules in the 'Invention Education' and setting up the curriculum for children implied that we experience it, understand it and question ourselves and also take efforts to seek the answers. I was totally enjoying setting up the curriculum because there were so many questions which never occurred to me during my school days. Ashwathi and me would discuss so many questions on the way walking to the school, in the jeep, in the train, and in the bus. We just loved asking questions and finding answers you see! But somewhere I now realize that it was the thrill of exploring the different possibilities for answers from many perspectives that kept it interesting because in schools, the right answer was always one option, but here we discussed so many possibilities!

Mid-March, we planned a cycling trip to Charmadi Ghat, which was a dream that we both shared. It was one of the toughest, for me at least, but it was such an amazing idea because, while cycling you notice the huge tress, and every little detail of the place than while going in a car or a bus. Also, back then Charmadi Ghat did not have a huge incoming traffic and it was peaceful to cycle up there! 

Spot this huge tree on the left when you climb Charmadi Ghat. If you travel here, make sure you say 'hi' to this stunningly tall, huge, old and wise tree!

Mountain, mountain everywhere!

By the end of the trip, I had discovered a new part of me, a stronger me - physically and mentally, and I loved myself even more!

One more interesting thing in the nature that I saw in Ujire was Bamboo rice! Hmm. At first when Sanjith, branch manager at Selco branch, Belthangady, showed me the bamboo rice on our way back from a school, I was perplexed. I had never seen bamboo rice before in my life. And there was this grandma who was collecting the rice under the tree and I just stood there being stunned by nature again! I borrowed some from her and she gave it to me with a big smile! I still have that with me at home.

Grandma collecting the bamboo rice

Are you curious to know how the immediate surrounding in the house where I lived, looked like? Here is a glimpse of my daily wonder!

My daily morning sight from my little adobe

A little further, my tiny forest that always welcomed me with loving arms

Oh Yeah!This is right beside where I lived

I appreciated every bit of the nature around me, I was lucky, very lucky to be on the nature's lap, right beside her, so close, and so happily, peacefully and madly in love with her!

I thought I could narrate all my experiences in this post, but as you know, nature is huge and diverse, I can't justify bringing her wonders in just two posts.

So, walk with me to the next post to uncover more.