Last month our Kindarajogi Team in association with BakPackers team organized a Nature cum adventure camp for kids in the age group 5-15. Idea was to expose them to the nature and the life beyond the city.
I suggested that we should have an expert who can take the kids on bird watching and also show some forest diversity. All of us agreed that we need experts, but the question was - Can the experts speak in the language of the kids ? Obviously NO.
That is when i remembered Dr. Narasimhan, a man who is full of love for all life that travels towards the sky - from birds to stars, from trees to plants.
He took the trouble of driving 90Km from Virajpet to Somwarpet and was there at the right time to show the stars and expose them to sky watching.
He showed the various plants and trees to the kids. The kids were thrilled to know there exists a plant, whose leaves act as Mosquito Repellent. They carried the leaves to their rooms. And next day morning all of them came and told me that no mosquito had the courage to enter their room. They wanted to take the plant to their homes and the plant generated curious interest in botany as a subject.
Our education first gives the theory and asks the students to find out the practical use of the theory which we never find out. So all the knowledge goes into drain . And botany as a subject makes it so boring to study plants even though the plants are so interesting. I had a teacher who taught botany and wanted us to remember complex names and terminologies - like scientific names of all plants, parts of a flower - gymno sperms etc. Never did she take me to a plant and showed me the beauty of the plant and the utility of the plant in a simple way. I always used to disturb her class bcoz the way she taught botany was so boring.
I think this is the right way to teach the botany - take a plant like mango and give the fruits of mango to students and ask them to find all info about mangoes. I am sure that students will do it no time.Ask them to identify all the street trees and they will have knowledge about trees and the birds that visit the trees.
Dr. Narasimhan had come with meticulous preparation with all seriousness carrying his laptop and the projector. But the sky was not so clear and hence sky watching was done on the computer using a software which is similar to Stellarium.
He started talking about identifying the constellations and how the stars are formed and the students were thrilled and were full of attention for 1.5 hours and were asking lot of questions.
He showed the solar system and all the position of the planets in the sky. The moon surface was also shown. Students got to know about light years and the whole universe appeared to be a thing full of mystery.
The evening ended with Dr. Narasimhan showing the orchestra of the fire flies in the dark night.
Dr. Narasimhans effect on kids :
1> Next night all the kids were looking into the sky and were talking about constellations/ planets etc.
2> They were looking out for Fire Flies and were observing the lighting pattern of the fire flies.
This is what an Educator has to do -
1> communicate the knowledge in a way so that the children appreciate and do not feel shy to ask questions.
2> Create the space in the young mind to inquire about the world around us which we seldom pay attention or even look into .
3> Have a wonderful sense of childish humour so that children can laugh with you and also learn with you.
4> Walk with them holding their hands and also make them your best friends.
BTW, i made lot of young friends who keep calling me "mama - when r u coming to my home ?". All of them (Siri, Amrutha, Ananya, Yeshaswini ) are so intelligent and have a wonderful memory. A song that was taught only once was memorized in no time and it was their on their lips all through the journey.
As soon as they got down from the bus the eagerly awaiting parents asked them what did u learn in the camp ? Immediately they started singing the song.
After returning from the hills i had to go to their house and entertain them.
Dr. Narasimhan was kind enough to hand us two copies of his "Feathered Jewels of Coorg" to be given as prizes for the best performing kids. This is the best book on birds for Kannada speaking people, as the language used is very simple and is quite natural.
My chinnu friend, Yeshaswini was given the book as she could identify 20 birds. (Girl in sea blue T shirt on the left)
I took them to a near by forest near valley school later. They made their Moms serve good lunch for me.
I would say if people in the Professional Work can put 1 day in a week to be with the kids and share them whatever we know or take them for a walk in Lalbagh and talk about general things that would go in making them sensitive and mature people when they grow up.
So we need 100 roaring Narasimhans and definitely not 100 more universities , not 100 more departments, not 1000 more Phd Professors !!
The best thing of the trip was Dr. Narasimhan is my best friend and I will keep going to the hills again to be with him for learning the wonders of nature.
You can have a look at the photos here :
