July 4, 2011

Mala showing us her textiles

The art of block printing

New meaning to "share the road"

Monday morning came by pretty quickly and gave rise to what would be my routine for the next 2 weeks, except today was extra special.  When Archana picked up Julia and me at about 7:30 she seemed a little stressed as she was using the phone to talk to someone. Julia and I didn’t know any different but we thought we were going directly to the school and as it turned out, Archana was driving in circles as the school was prepping the students for our arrival!  We arrived at the Navrachana School about 30 minutes later where we met up with Anna, Mamta, and a host of others who would all soon become like family.  We were adorned with marigold leis and whisked into a courtyard where we were greeted by all the entire student population and a wonderful welcome assembly!  It was surreal for someone like me who has never pictured themselves as someone worthy of such attention.  We were presented with artwork from the children and then shuffled off to begin our days after meeting with Baksi Ma’am, the principal.

The rest of the day was a whirlwind of visiting classes, talking to students and teachers. Archana invited me to her classes where I spoke to the students about my field work experiences and college pursuits that would include field research.  The students were so engaging and asked numerous excellent questions.  I met with the “junior level” teachers (standards 5-7) and when the mentioned that they were taking their 5^th standard students on a geology field trip and immediately asked if I could go!  The thought of spending the day with 200 enthusiastic 10 year olds sounded like great fun at the time!  They cleared the request with the principal (Baksi Ma’am) who was concerned about my comfort in the heat.  The teachers wanted to introduce me to all the standard 5 students and therefore gathered them in an assembly hall for what I thought would be a quick “hello” and hand wave.  Little did I know they wanted me to introduce the trip to the students who did know about it before today!  Not knowing where exactly we were going or what we would be seeing, I gave the students a lively introduction to the rock cycle!  Their energy was infectious!  I also met with the “senior level” teachers and it was there I learned a little about the science curriculum in Indian secondary schools, which is predominantly biology, chemistry, and physics for students in standards 10, 11, and 12.  An integrated science curriculum is used in Standards 8 and 9 where the students learn about various topics from all the sciences including the Earth Sciences (my science).  I found out that Indian students take geography classes as well, and what I teach in the United States also aligns with their physical geography topics. 

The day flew by and we had “lunch” at the end of the school day (1:50) before Julia, Mamta, Baksi Ma’am, and I were off on a “field trip” to the showroom of a local fabric artisan, Mala.  I’ve always admired Indian fabrics and my wardrobe has always included several Indian inspired articles of clothing.  At the Bodhi studio we were treated to a wonderful tour that included a lesson on how block printing is done and how it can be done using eco-friendly methods.  The fabrics were exquisite!   Our day ended with a wonderful dinner at the home of Kashmira and Alok, their 2 daughters and numerous colleagues from the school.  As it turned out, the typical line-up for the meal included a fruit drink, appetizers, before a huge spread of assorted Indian delicacies, breads, and a sweet dessert.   11PM and officially exhausted!