Stay in the village – Andhar-Mani (jewel of the dark)

How I wrote the report

Asawari wrote:
It was a beautiful place. The air was fresh and lot of trees, paddy fields, ponds and small shops of ‘chai and chaap’ made me feel like feather in the wind. The little ponds where the people were bathing made me think about the risk of water snake (which I saw). The darkness in the night made me feel as if I was in the dark space.
The chaap looks like a vada but does not have a hole in it. It is also fried. It is made up of spicy potatoes sabji fried in besan. The black salt on the chaap made it taste like non-veg.

The matkas that were hanging on the ‘date’ trees was a very unique idea to collect date juice (which is the sap of the date tree). A cut is made first in the bottom of the tree trunk and the matka is hanged under it – so that the date sap flows into the matka. Then once all the sap has come out – another cut is made on the other side of the trunk right above it and the matka is tied accordingly. This goes on forming an automatic ladder also and making the tree look different.

Survey at the conference -

<!--[if gte mso 10]>

<![endif]-->  Some adults suggested to us to interview participants. We all were very excited. We were interested in the idea. That moment only we started working. We were five children; we formed two teams of two and one team of one. We wanted to make a list of all participants. And if one team was to interview one participant, we go and tick that participants name in the list. This is how we would ensure that we do not interview the same person twice.

We were told three main questions that we would need to ask the participants. We broke down these questions, discussed them and made seven final questions. Read more at "Survey at the Conference"

Mummy wrote:
 It was a great experience to stay in a village for the learning network conference. The village environment brings a homely, hassle free environment. A free, happy environment and fresh air were integral part of staying in a village. An early morning walk to the village was interesting – clean houses, cattle, fields, tea stalls, birds chirping, and zero traffic.  Dhrupad wanted to buy a cow and keep in the house and hug and kiss the cow. He wishes to take the cow for grazing and play with it.

The environment at the conference was very informal - we met many people from different field and background. It was a great experience to have four lingual workshop - English, Bengala, Hindi and Tamil. We are so used of speaking in one flow - but here I had to stop and allow the translation to happen and in the process I started concentrating on Bengala language. It is beutful and sweet language. Also started liking Rabindra Sangeeth. The conference was organised very well and lot of efforts were put in by the team. Read more at www.learningnet-india.org

Papa wrote:
What does one write
When enamoured by
Lakes and clouds simultaneously
When beckoned by
Birds and villagers simultaneously
When cradled by
Trees and soft earth together
When enchanted by
Its simplicity and complexity paradoxically

See a more detailed slide show here