Photos and write up :
Poornima Travelling Sukumar-Volunteer @ buDa folklore
Learning begins at home…
A group of children accompanied by two teachers from a school in Bangalore called, Shibhumi set out on a 10 day long trek Covering the River route, Sea route and the Forest route with buDa folklore.
It slowly caught up with the kids getting used to the place, noticing everything around them, very aware of their surroundings with all their senses active.
The day began with them waking up for a walk to view the sunrise.
“ The sunrise was my favorite part of the day” says Arundathi.
The best part for us in buda was to watch them sitting in immense concentration with the urge to learn.
The session began with hanmi, a session of “shedi art”
as we proceeded further, soon all of them had their hands
muddy, everyone joined in and were set to make their own art works.
“i want to do this all day” says
“every child is an artist. the problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up”
- pablo picasso
as they all sat down to try this art form, which slowly
seeped down to experimenting with the given materials. hanmi wore a smile, by
the end of this session.
The eve famous weaving was out next plan of action. the process of weaving usually tends to get tangled, and when it does, you know you are on the right track.
Weaving was a more challenging and skill based, it required
all their attention and the techniques right. “at first it was difficult, and
ater once you know the right place to put it in, it gets fun” says paapu.
we were gifted with fun-filled instructors, who made it seem like a very simple task, and were always patient to teach each child to make his/her own.
what we at buda learnt through this process was “imperfection has its own beauty” the process of learning is what counted.
we were taught to make other toys out of leaves and simple weaving.
“I am going to gift one of these glasses for my sister” decided bhairav.
the most awaited trek to the railway tunnel, through which the konkan express passes by. we ware right on time to watch the train just hustle through us.
soon we charged towards the river, where a boat awaits us.
A scurry to sit around the corners of the boat, we were all set to visit the first island of the trip. Mavinkuruve.
Mavinkuruve was a small and a peaceful island, and has had a
history which was famous for hand made locks. these locks are rare and are not
made anymore.
Another interesting art form that was found in the island, in the premises of a temple was “kavi art” . etching on the stone.
Soon our walk around this friendly island was coming to an end with a nice “kasaya” (local beverage like chai) and some crunchy pakkodas.
the children then spent some quiet time on the banks of the river just when the moon rose.
“may what i do flow from me like a river; no forcing and no
holding back, the way its with children”
- Rainer maria rilka
our next setting was to trek to a waterfall called
apsarakonda.
Walking through amazing fields of gold.
the findings of a few rocks lead the entire group into an
outburst of excitement, and they were allowed to explore it, climb it and
figure it out themselves.
the joy of trekking is the magic of how sensitive our senses can get. and spotting a kingfisher was the highlight of the trip for many.
the panoramic view of the ocean so blue, the apsarakonda beach.
some findings during our nature walk.
"All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking" _friedrich Nietzche.
the sounds of a pounding waterfall may seem to be the most soothing. whats better is jumping into them!
a view of the tribals and their environment, what they eat, play, dance, a little exchange of knowledge and perspective. a learning experience.
some of them got to see the pounding of the paddy and making of the hot porridge.
some explored the local crafts with eco friendly materials available in the vicinity.
"learn as if you were to live forever" _Mahatma gandhi
a great experience when the interaction happens and the learning begins...
music by the tribes.
the interaction with the tribe folks came to a happy conclusion with mixed feelings and emotions. and our next stop the next day was to another island on river sharavati.
A river is a river, always there, and yet the water flowing through it is never the same water and is never still. It’s always changing and is always on the move.
we were headed to learn the art of coir rope making.
so everyone had a story to share, many actually. the rivers
were our only guide and taught us to flow, ever
lively, ever versatile. Thank you river.
