Kitchen Gardening

"Plants are babies, if you give them nurture them well, they will
grow happily and with laughter(woh haste haste ugenge). If you neglect them and not give them enough care they will cry and droop".
This was told to me by Fatima Akka. Fatima akka comes from the village to work in campus. She is my mentor and team member in cultivating the vegetable garden at campus. She has so much of wisdom on how to grow plants and she is my teacher.

The last two weeks have been fabulous. Everyday in the morning I worked in the garden. How beautiful the garden looks now.

I learnt some basic techniques on how to cultivate any plant and how to nurture them well. I really enjoyed working in the garden. Sometimes I work along with akka, observed how she is doing and ask her questions. Sometimes I worked by myself, trying things and implementing my knowledge. The only bad thing was at times it was really sunny and it was seeping my energy.

We have grown lots of different vegetables in the garden and I am really excited and optimistic. We were able to reboot some previously planted plants which were crying for attention.

The heavens also seem to be happy, every alternate day it blesses the garden with rain. All the hard work is paying off and I am happy.  Every evening when I go to water the garden I feel nice and Its so good to see the plants growing. Some parts of the garden look like a mini farm or field.
To reach this stage after many rounds of failing in the past because for various reasons is very holistic. I am able to see why I failed in the past and what were the reasons for the vegetables not to grow.

When I look around in the garden I can see the plants laughing happily.

Summer

For the past four weeks we had a bustling life at campus with lots of new people to meet and lots of exciting things happening.

 Every Sunday we go swimming. It has been a lot of fun. I know swimming but i know only the basic. My stroke is not completely smooth and i am still perfecting the breathing and the stroke. I just practice, take tips from my parents and freaked out in the pool. I can feel and see a significant improvement in my stroke. Also with my brother I play in the pool. Swimming was one highlight of the summer and of course the ice cream after the swim.
I did Madhubani painting. It was a very peaceful experience. I enjoyed composing the painting and working with focus on one thing.
I explored making natural paints. I did some research and then tried. I tried making with flowers,berries and earth. I was successful in making brown but failed to make colours with flowers. I felt disappointed but it was an interesting experience and i want to learn more on how to make natural colours.
Fatima akka has a lot of knowledge on plants, along her side i did kitchen gardening and i learned a lot of techniques to make my garden more efficient. I am very satisfied with the work i did and am very excited for the days to come.
I took responsibility of the kitchen for the all the four weeks. At first I took the whole responsibility on my shoulders. For the first two weeks i was always worried for the food. Most of my day I spent in the kitchen looking over things. Then I realized what I am doing. For the next two weeks things went unruffled. Also I was able to give space to my other team members and share the work equally. Things went much smoother and i was able to do lot more things. Overall i enjoyed doing the responsibility and got the hang of it.
As part of campus training I did First Aid Training. I really enjoyed cause it was a completely new topic and I learned lots of things. I took care of the first aid of the community for one week resulting me to get a practical training of all the theory i read
I did glass paining for the first time. It was a new technique and paint for me. I relished painting.
I learned how to find a tree's height. I learned the math from my father. I spend time with trees, I measures the height,age and identified the tree. I researched about the tree. Then I sat under a tree and drew a tree. I liked associating with the tree.
One very nice thing was I met lots of new people, made new friends and learned from them. I felt nice to connect with different people. I braided some of my friends hair and we had a jolly time together doing hairstyles. I learned to make artifacts from coconut leaves, it was an interesting craft. I learned about dog breeding. I did embroidery and learned some new stitches. I did land art, I made Yin Yang out of stones and did many other things with others and learned small things from others which i will always keep with me. One fun thing was playing badminton, cricket,frisbee and other games in the evening. Also the thought clubs were very fruitful for me.
I got bitten by pepper, our dog while handling him, it was a mistake from my side. I was a little overconfident while handling him and got paid for that. It was a practical test for my first aid training. Finally everything is fine.
Every Friday I went to Sandesh, I had lot of fun there. I started opening more and doing more things there.

I had a magnificent summer and i really freaked out.

Increasing my vocabulary

If I mix water and mud vigorously, it would take time for the mud to settle down. I was the mud this week. Slowly settling but within myself bustling with life.

After a astonishing and interesting trip to Lucknow, I thought I will relax and continue exploring what the trip had ignited. Inevitably that's not what happened. I did some other stuff.

Vocabulary : I decided to work on my English vocabulary this week. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with the ample number of languages in the world. Also how each one are exclusive in themselves. I get this strange desire to grasp many languages. I feel poor to know only 2 languages. After reflection I came to the realization that before wanting to learn more languages, let me go deep into English. Let me embrace English and Hindi. Right now I am swimming the surface. I am astonished with the ample number of words in English. How for every little thing there is a word.

What is more fun for me is to play around with the new words I am learning. To use the words randomly and just embrace the words.,

Also to increase my vocabulary, I am trying to read different kind of books,pushing myself to go beyond the novels I read, to get  exposure of a different vocabulary.

Internet Usage: I have used Internet since my existence but if I take a pause and think – What is Internet? I don't know the answer. I realized how illiterately I am benefiting from the Internet. I don't know about Internet, how it comes to me and how can I utilize it.

Internet safety - I don't know what is a virus but I have been ignorant about it. Will I only wake up when my device is crashed? I wrote down some questions regarding Internet, Its usage and Internet safety. I am going to research about it. I am going to push myself and research not only through books and net but I am going to be talking to people, people who have experience in this field. I think that things like cyber bullying and hacking is somewhere far in the outside world, There is less chance of it happening to me. If I notice, in my day to day life, the teasing,making fun of other and gossiping is equally tormenting. How can I first make my own environment safe? If I am emotionally safe and i am keeping people around me safe then I can face Internet bullying. Again I have been very ignorant towards Internet safety. Will I wait for a drastic event inhibit me to understand about Internet safety?

 I had a peaceful week, I just started climbing the ladder of vocabulary and Understanding Internet.

Kaa trip to Lucknow

Earth Science is a gargantuan topic. I went for a week-long trip to Lucknow to delve into Earth science, primarily go to a rock factory and explore rocks and soil.

The Train journey 

I have traveled in train before but always in A/C compartment. This trip we traveled in 2nd class. It was an authentic experience for me. There was galore of people in the train, something I am not used to of. People with tickets, without tickets and so on. At times the intense heat or the people got on my nerves, I reflected on myself and realized how privileged I am.The beggars that came in the compartment left a sinking feeling in my heart. One beggar even probed me to give him money. He was holding my feet and poking my knees. I felt very conscious and embarrassed. The train journey let me see the authentic India. The scenery outside the window was the prime part. 

Earth Science

This trip we had the constrain of no yapping about anything else except earth science. I for 75% of the time resided with the topic. Due to the constrain I was more aware of myself and I felt good about myself.

I explored Earth science in multiple ways and I embraced the topic. During the trip 70% of the time I was thinking/talking about Earth Science. I read books, saw some very engrossing videos, talked and discussed about it, played games related to it, asked questions and wondered about Earth science. I played memory game, Chinese whisper, dumb charades and word chain game on Earth Science.I really enjoyed delving into something extraordinary

I learnt about the Rocks, soil, earth's core, Plate tectonics, atmosphere, volcanoes, earthquakes and other things. I learnt plenty in the trip but it has lelt me with an ample number of questions. 

One topic that everything kept going back to was Atoms. I have skimmed the surface of atoms before but after exploring earth science I want to revisit atoms and understand it better. Earlier I had just learnt about atoms not really connected it anywhere but now it makes more sense and I have more unanswered questions.

Factory 

We went to a factory. We worked along with the workers. 

My time in the factory was mind - blowing. I saw rocks under the microscope and I was left awe-struck on how gorgeous and perfect the rocks are. When I read about rocks from a text-book, I don't feel connected or practical but when there were so many types of rocks around me I felt connected to them. I experienced first hand the differences between rocks, difference between an igneous rock and a sedimentary rock.

I worked in the factory. I cut a rock and polished it. It was nice working first hand with the rock and understanding its properties and applications. I cut a hard rock(Quartz) and then a soft rock(coal), I actually felt the difference between the two and realized what is hardness of a rock. The hands on work help me to connect my knowledge of rocks to reality. Indubitably I was left with a ton of questions and a quest to apprehend rocks more. 

Visits to few Science Institutes

Paleontology  and Fossil was a completely new topic for me. I know what a fossil is but never went beyond that. The visit to the Paleontology institute was eye-opening. I felt mesmerized with fossils and found it a preposterous thought. 

We saw a film on Antarctica, It was a great film and I got insights of a place I have never touched upon.

Basically all the different visits during the trip left me with a galore of questions and thoughts. They opened ample of doors to topics I have not delved upon before.

Lucknow city 

We visited Bara Imambara in Lucknow. I found the building fascinating and it was an interesting place. I got some exposures to the culture of Lucknow. The finest was the food, kaabas and chats:).

One thing that left me smiling was the altruism of the people we met there. They hosted us with so much of care and love that I felt special. The gift economy left me perplexed.

I am so small, so tiny, so immature and so illiterate as a human compared to all the great things in science. I am a humble and limited part of a galore cosmos. 

One conclusion I have come to after knowing a little about earth is that all the things I am doing in my day-to-day life to slowly harm the planet is actually harming me... The release of carbon in the air, the depletion of the ozone layer and many other things leading to human extinction and global warming is not destroying the planet it is destroying me. The planet has gone through even tougher times in the history. The planet is not going to be destroyed, I am being destroyed.  This no where means I don't care for the planet but this thought gives me comfort for whatever reason.

I had a very memorable trip. 

Festival

Festival is a celebration, a time for sharing, love and happiness.

I don't believe in or follow any religion. Whether gods exists or not that I don't know and I cannot say. Though I enjoy understanding and knowing about different cultures.

When I look at any festival and keep aside the whole god part, the pooja or prayer part. I see a lot of meaning in the festivals. Each festival has a relevant reason connected to our lives. Each festival represents happiness and togetherness. Each festival bring lots of sweets and other yummy food items. There also a lot of music, dance and story telling.

I believe that festivals and celebration are completely unrelated to god but to the people around me, me as a individual and the nature around. At the same time I respect and accept others customs. I even perform some if needed but I don't believe in it nor will I take initiative to perform them.

This week at campus we had Festival Week. We celebrated various festival. Most importantly we celebrated togetherness. There was no barrier of age,gender and religion.

Holi : Holi is a loved festival for it's fun and joy of play with colours. We together made natural colours. We played holi together, the air was filled laughter and joy.

I think the meaning of Holi is to have fun and spread love and play with all.

Pongal : Boys and girls alike decorated the place with rangoli and flowers. We cooked pongal on fire.

I think pongal is a festival to celebrate the harvest, to pay homage to all that helped us to get the crop. One can celebrate the happiness whatever they achieved in their work.

Christmas : One tradition is that all get together and have a Christmas dinner and exchange gifts. Again Christmas is for celebrating life, love and in the cold weather spreading warmth to one another.

New year : A new year is a new beginning and new start. A time to embrace your mistakes and move ahead. We made a old man (scarecrow) and burned it. I put all my past in the old man and burned it.

The tradition is to burn away all you mistakes, regrets and choices. Start new and fresh. I think it not about forgetting your past but accepting and embracing it.

We all Cooked together. ate together, sang together and had fun together.

I realized this is the true essence of festival. Maybe this is the reasons why festivals originated. From time to time in the year we have festivals to remind us of our existence.

Another important part is that after all fun and celebration we together clean up. Having fun is also hard work.

I think I experienced the true essence of festival, I experience togetherness in its pure form.

Cooking

I am a roti, you may know who I am.
Currently I reside in the aarohi community kitchen.
A girl is rolling me and she looks tired. I know why she looks tired, this must the 40th roti she is rolling. You see there are a lot of people in the community.

I remember when she was younger, she used to make me in odd shapes. She was unable to roll me into a round. She would get frustrated at times, saying my mother can roll you properly but I can't.
Now look at me, I am a perfect round and I can see the smile of satisfaction on her face.
I get cooked on the hot gas and land in a boys plate. I can see that the girl is happy that she is able to serve hot food to all her friends.

You see it is her responsibility in the kitchen. and she takes her responsibility very seriously. She decided to cook rotis. I feel delighted that she choose me.

Oh! I remember the time she rolled me into Aloo Parathas . Then she realized that I am not sufficient so she rolled into some onion Parathas. She got worried that still the food is not enough so she rolled me into some methi parathas. Oh! How I laughed at her, she was so confused on quanity and had to do a lot of problem solving.

She decided for next week to use some data collection and analysis to come out with a way so the quantities are  more accurate. I glad she did that. After all I get tired getting kneaded again and again.

She is confident in making me but I know she has her own apprehension in cooking other things. Yet she enjoys cooking and is getting better at it day by day.

Accountant Of Aarohi

I am the Accountant of Aarohi. I have been doing it for the past 3 years. I started with doing a small part of the work and then this year I took over the complete work. Bonus is that this year I am also getting paid to do the work.
I took up this responsibility to learn and understand accounting.

Accounting has also taught me commitment and responsibility. Many many times I have fallen back of my deadlines, at times even failed to complete the work. I learnt to take responsibility of the work, of the mistakes I make and the lack of work. It also works on my ability to concentrate on a task. At times the accounts are not fun and then it gets difficult to concentrate.
At times I push the work of accounts and don't complete it as per schedule, then I have to put extra efforts to complete the job.

There is not too much maths involved accounting, its the use of basic applications. The main thing is the logical thinking and keeping your books in a proper manner.
I went to visit the chartered accountant of Aarohi. I felt so small compared to the knowledge uncle had and the efficiency in which he was able to do his work.

I feel proud about myself, I feel capable of doing work.

Since now this academic year is coming to an end, I am working on a continuous basis for the past two weeks.

At times I need to take help of my Father, I haven't yet understood completely about accounts but I feel confident about the work I am doing.

Learning Kannada

I am born in Bangalore, I have lived there for 13 years but I do not know Kannada.
In school, for two years I studied Kannada by force yet I did not learn Kannada.

After shifting to O - Campus I started my journey to learn Kannada.
I did not use any book or resource. It was not even my intention to learn Kannada.
I learnt basic words of Kannada by working with people.
I can now speak broken Kannada and I can understand little bit.

I now want to became fluent in speaking Kannada and even attempt to learn to read and write Kannada.
I want to learn using songs,stories, books and people. I am even interested to do a online course.
I decided that I want to learn Kannada two weeks ago but till now I haven't done anything. I am still at the same level as before:(.

Socio - Emotional Responses

My understanding on what is Socio - emotional responses : It is an ability to express in a social environment. It is how I respond in emotional situations and when my needs are not met. I have awareness of my responses to others . I respond appropriately and with sensitivity. I settle any issue that I have with the concerned person and not talk about person to someone else. I use vocabulary to communicate discomfort with others. It is needed to have harmony. It is not controlling my emotions or not listening to others responses. The response can be verbal or through actions

I am at the awareness level. I am aware of the different responses I give. Usually the awareness comes after I have responded. Sometimes the awareness of my responses come after some time. At many situations my response is insensitive and inappropriate. I feel guilty after I respond badly.

The next stage for me is to become aware of my responses before I respond. Also I want to use more diverse vocabulary when expressing.

I want to be aware of responses because I want to be able to express myself in a way that the other person is not hurt by my expression. Being aware of my responses is helping me to understand myself. I am becoming aware of the images and expectations I have for the other person.
I want to respond appropriately to have harmony in the community.

I am not exhibiting instant change in my responses, but I am aware and I am reflecting on them. I feel more connected to myself with the awareness.

I also want to accept myself when I respond insensitively.  I should not put down myself when I express badly but I should work on responding appropriately.

At lot of situations I am more aware of my responses when I am outside my home. I loose control of my consciousness at home.

The journey to explore socio - emotional responses and understand myself is quite interesting.

Maths and me

Maths was never my favourite subject in school. I used to struggle in school to cope up . I used to memorise the procedure to solve the problems.  I lacked conceptual understanding. I was unable to connect maths to my day to day life.
When I started Home Schooling, I did maths through NCRT books, the book brought some fun in maths. When I did maths along with my dad, maths started making more sense to me.

Overall my beliefs on maths is
Maths is Tough.
I not mathematically intelligent
I am terrible at maths.
These beliefs result in me having low confidence in maths.
I get scared and blocked up when a maths problem is thrown on me.
Due to hatred towards maths, I do not work much on maths, I try to avoid doing maths.

Now I have started doing maths everyday for one hour. I take up a topic, read about it in textbook, do practice sums, connect to real life. I ask my peers to check my sums. When I don't understand I take help. Once I feel confident in one topic, I move on to the next topic.
Currently I am working on volume. I connected to real life, by measuring volume of a bowl and glass. also volume of a water tank at my home.

My objective is to get friendly with maths, get confident in maths, learn and practice the basic mathematical concepts i need to know for my day to day life.

Due to doing maths everyday, I am feeling good about myself.
I thank my Mother and Father for pushing me to do maths and supporting me to learn maths.
I am very happy that I am being open to maths now and working on breaking my own beliefs.

Writing skill assessment

If I assess myself on my writing, on the blogs I have written till now. I have come to conclusion that my speed of writing and comprehension is 8/10 but when it comes to writing a lot (more than 1 parahas) I am 4/10. I need to work on style,grammar, spelling, punctuation and usage of vocabulary.

Discipline and problems

I was part of the discipline committee at campus this week . The journey of helping the community in discipline was different for me. I don't know if I was able to help others but I definitely helped myself.

On day 1 I was very excited. I was of the mind set I have to solve all the community's problem. I started solving problems by giving my gyan. I told people what I thought is right.
It had been decided that the committee will operate through ' no images ' and empowering. I did not quite understand that and that's why the first day went down hill.
When I was in the discipline committee I felt responsible and important. I felt nice to contribute to the community.
If x has hit y, I instantly think that what x did was wrong. When I interact with them, My images anout the two people come with me. Before I listen to them i have decided who was wrong and who was right.
If I want to be neutral to x and y, I need to put aside my image of those people. I don't need to scold x for hitting, I don't need to put my personal opinion into it. I can empower y to take care of self.
I am not responsible for anyone problems. It is not my role to solve others problems. It is not even my role to help that person. It is my role to empower that person to be able to solve their own problems. Listening and acknowledging the person is important.
What about me - to solve my problems I can start looking inside me rather than depending on others to help me.
I can start looking at my problems as learning opportunities rather than troubles.
By being in the discipline committee, I have got a new perspective to look at my problems, a new way to support others.