SOULspace

  Just took the children to the Kanpur Zoo. As for them and me, just roaming around is great fun. The maintenance of the Zoo is to write about, but I still felt some of the animals were in good health. The pelicans, and the flamingo for one, the rhinoceros for another. The tiger looked bored, while the other animals, sambar deer and bear were looking unhealthy. It was a hot day, yet the kids could not pull themselves away. A kingfisher on the tree enjoying (and oblivious) to its relative freedom... An annoyed Jackal bared its fangs at us, I dont blame him/her, I too would hate to be in a cage, though with time we get used to that too... The Emus were plenty, wonder how they are proliferating while the others were in pairs. The orangutan was the favourite, so was the chimp...missed it as the batteries were acting up again. (Have seriously petitioned for a better camera) The zebras too were looking great, though we got a glimpse from afar, as they coyly peeped at us...

well i have been tagged! Though I have noticed it on many blogs, this is the first time I have been tagged. So thanks Mom of V . Well this means I reveal 7 things about myself and tag 3 more: * I got wet in the rain one day returning from school( yes way back then..but still, this is in high school)...took a bus, removed my glasses to wipe them ( yes I wear them)...and plonked myself on a seat...only to find in my blindness I had sat on someone's puke....grosses me even today...:)) * used to be the only one who would not drink Ganne ka ras outside our college portals... * used to drive the two wheeler (friends) on the sly...! * keep swinging as the mood goes... * got to get out of the house atleast once a day * need someone to push me to get things done:(( * get a lot of kick in a room full of kids Ok, I struggled through that...couldnt find 7 things that I wanted to reveal, that I have not already said!! Yet I will tag 3 more, so here goes: Asha , dreamsgoo...

  March 20th: World StoryTelling Day So did you tell a story? Did you hear one? Did you share one? World Story telling Day is celebrated on March 20th to coincide with the summer/spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. Reading a Katha or sharing a story from the Ramayan/ Bagavatham is part of our Indian Culture. This was usually done in the temples to the accompaniment of some music. Even without the music the teller's voice was of the most sonorous and lilting quality, and one could sit mesmerised for hours listening to stories that he would intersperse with jokes and local flavour. My memories of attending such events go back to my childhood in Chennai. During the summer holidays we would be packed of from our urban Adyar home to my grandmother's house in old Mylapore near the Kapaleeswarer temple. Evenings were magical as we scampered behind her almost every day to the temple, and invariably in the evening some Katha-kalakshebam would be there to entertain us. I...

  Well?? Is that enough water for Tulika? No, that is not a belligerent tone. In fact I am a tad disappointed at this point as I have one collage less in my collection. The Sea/Ocean I have the rain at Kanpur, the river and its wondrous fall at Khajuraho, the river- sea (Ganges) at its serene best. Yet I am sad I have not captured my beloved Bay of Bengal (Elliots Beach, Chennai). I have no pictures of my friend, philosopher, and guide. Because the days spent along Her shores are those times when the only camera we used were our eyes and the only place to save it was in our memories. But no sweat, this time when I go to Chennai, I am going to capture my memories and collage it for myself! I have so many water stories to tell, where do I start?!! I could start with the games from a time past. Land, River, Ocean, Sea, Water...have you played this game? My childhood days were spent playing this on steps at school and home. Or shall I tell you of days in the Mon...

http://devdutt.com/everybody-tells-a-story Devdutt Patnaik...catch his take on Story telling   http://www.ted.com/talks/devdutt_pattanaik.html Or catch his Story telling skills as he demystifies Myths..and talks about East and West perspectives... Fantastic... I am further convinced that Stories and Story telling and Storytellers  rule the world!

I have been mulling over this for some time How tolerant are we towards those who have greater difficulty grasping concepts and understanding facts? Yes, I do mean those who We Perceive as "not as smart".   Are there stupid people or only stupid questions? I dont believe either exists. Any one with children will know that they can ask a zillion questions, each one logically/illogically connected to the previous one. Yet from their perspective and  from their grasp of reality they have every right to ask and clarify. My daughter is an eternal questioner, and some of her questions defeat my cognition. The only answer I give her at these times is that "I am not a walking/talking Encyclopedia"( that reminds me this summer I plan to get her onto some serious Googling for her answers besides the many encyclopedias she keeps reading!) Questions are a way of learning/ exploring/ understanding. What if an adult asks questions? I find asking questions and sayin...

How different are the written and spoken forms of your first language? If you want children to become familiar with their first language, which form would you look for in children's books - formal or informal? Why? "Uh OH " is my first reaction.  I am the last person to even comment on mother tongue/first language. But then I read the second question and I embraced the word "familiar". Oh yes, thats something I want, can do for my kids! Ok, let me rewind a bit, not a lot, but enough to give you a background before I venture into how I see children picking up language through books. I have learnt English, Hindi, Tamil, French and Sanskrit!! And I loved every bit of it. Hindi was tough. Growing up in suburban Chennai, where all the Hindi one heard was confined to the four walls of a classroom and your Hindi teacher, who had this innovative technique of fining us 50p for every non-Hindi word/sentence spoken in class, ( which converted into a term end Party!!)....

Here is a montage ( for a change!), of a friends garden. February and March is spring time her in the North and the entire station is blossoming.   I confess my garden too has some Dahlias, some meagre Pansies and Zinnias.  But after seeing this garden I don't want to spoil the visual treat for you all by showing a comparatively arid garden (mine), as against this veritable Mughal Gardens! My friend's husband is a passionate botanist/plant lover/plant grower. He lovingly explained to us how he plans the different colours that go into the garden, the height variations and the manner in which one bed of flowers should offset the next set in terms of contrast and height! So he had beautiful light hued sweet peas followed by a bed of Lady's lace, intermingled with some pink paper (real) flowers. The children were awed by the "poisonous" plant at the entrance, which my daughter had to capture. (It is the solitary pot on the wall with the label!) For once I to...

This story has been doing the rounds around the virtual space. you may have heard it or seen it. It talks about a dad leaving for work and just as he is having breakfast, his daughter accidently spills coffee on him... He is upset, he scolds her, she bursts into tears, and misses her bus...so he has to drop her, and then reaching his workplace which is some distance from home, he finds he has forgotten to carry his file for the day.... Sounds familiar? Wait, it doesn't end there. Now we imagine or recreate the story with a different story line What if the dad does this: Gently tells his daughter to be more careful, wipes the mess, puts her on the bus, quickly changes, picks up his file, leaves for work and reaches on time... Well that's Emotional Intelligence at work for you. In my last post I had mentioned that I wished I had done many things differently. Well this is it. I wish I had reacted differently to different things at different points of time. The key p...