Why do I walk a degree-less path when I can get a degree?

When 10th exam then 12th and then a degree has been the only path that everyone is taking around us, it's so difficult to imagine any other possibility. When it's been told that this is the only path to success, happiness and security it feels impossible to know that there are other ways and maybe also other definitions of happiness and success.

One day, a person very openly and kindly questioned me about my decision of not walking the degree path.  After talking to me about my journey he gave me a suggestion to take M.A in English. Having himself taken M.A. in Kannada without much preparations or difficulty at a very late age. He believed that I had the capability of simply walking in the exam hall and passing with flying colours because of my knowledge and experience.
It was so honoring to know that someone look at me capable enough  to be able to pass a high level exam without much preparation.  He went on to tell me that me passing this exam and then also passing an IAS exam would not only be an achievement for me but for the whole alternative education community. It would prove to the world that this path was also of success.


It was so nice to know that he could share his opinion with me so openly and have a conversation about this. This conversation got me thinking and gave me clarity on where I stand.

Currently I don't believe that I have to prove to anybody that the path I have chosen is right and nor do I want to convince people to join this path because I have passed an exam or because I have become successful in a big way. 

I personally don't believe in the examination or degree system and that's why I don't see it as an avenue to measure my success for myself or for others.
I also don't agree with the definition of success or the measurement of intelligence as per the degree system, so by giving the exam I can't prove to anyone that I am successful. I believe I can be a role model in showing people that there is a way to live happily, successfully and earn money without being a part of the current system but by creating your own path. I believe I can be an avenue of contribution to the world through my skills and strengths.

I would also like to mention here that I have no problem whatsoever with any individual choosing the path of degree, however at this point of time in life that is not my path. I am also keeping an option open for me that anytime in future if for whatsoever reason I would like to obtain a degree I would do.  Also there are other alternative education children who have shown to the world that it is possible to do gain a degree if you are passionate for it. It all about walking your path because you want to, whether with or without degree.

An environment of equals

No barriers of age , everyone is equal and any age is capable to do things. These are believes I received from my upbringing and believe them to be true. However not always it what really happens in my life, sometimes I get stuck in the conditioning that I am bigger so I know better or can do something better.

This completely got shattered in Craft club.

Craft club is a group of enthusiastic crafters who wish to learn, make products and now we have moved to the stage of selling. We are a mixed age group with youngest is 8 and oldest me 20!

We learned wire art from our mentor – 2 children aged 12 picked up the wire art skill really well, they make beautiful jewelry and other wire stuff and have the technique in hand. They have eye for neatness, colour composition and beauty.

Initially I though I am good at Art and I should be teaching other in the club but this wire art simply turned the tables around, I was learning from them, getting scolding from them for not doing neatly and was asking them for suggestion. Our working environment became of equals – asking each other for comments and suggestions, appreciating each others work and enjoying working together.

Its beautiful to live in a community where I am can and am challenged to live my beliefs and values

Learnings from selling my art.

Selling my Art was a whole new experience. Read to know my experience of selling my art products for the first time.

I began with learning about how to make them to a sell able finish - How to create a product which looks beautiful and handmade yet finished. Soon I began to notice the small mistakes in my products and got the eye for the neatness.

The next step was thinking about pricing and packaging. How much should I sell the Art. At one side I wanted to keep it cheap so people would buy but on the other I wanted to value my hard-work and of course earn some money!
Most confusing in pricing was calculating the raw material cost, I mean how do I calculate the glue or the paint used in making a single product?

I felt so blessed to have people surrounding me who are ready to guide me, teach me and generously offer space in their stall table for me to display my items and 3 partners in crime.

The morning of the stall begin with learning how to set up a stall - looking at things from the perspective of selling.

Then came the selling - talking to customers, explaining my products, stating the price. The anxiety of whether my things would sell. Observing customer behavior was interesting.

Customers asked questions like is your mandala tray washable? What is the life of your product? Will the earring break or come out because it is handmade and so on. These questions did not even occur to me when I was making but when they asked I thought about and for some questions like is it washable I realized I need to do product testing before selling and the questions definitely gave me new perspectives. Also customers asked for a visiting card or Facebook page so now I know what's important before doing an exhibition again.


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When I went around the exhibition and saw other Art stalls I got an idea of what is selling in the market, I realized how decoupage, handmade jewelry, dream catchers and painting is being done by so many people and its nothing great anymore, I understood the value of having a USP in my products which for me I feel is Up - cycling. I also got lot of inspiration seeing so many artistic works.

I felt good when people appreciated my art, said it was nice, creative and innovative. I was happy that people where liking my art and I got encouragement.

The biggest learning for me was to value my own Art. I realized giving a right price in terms of money gives my Art its deserved value.
When a customer bargained with me for the mandala tray - I originally priced it 200, but I brought it down to 150 as the exhibition was coming to an end and I really wanted to sell my tray. Due to travelling there was small chip on the edge of the tart. The customer seeing that said that she would buy it for 100 as it was damaged. At that moment I couldn't think and couldn't put my foot down and respect my hard work and my skill. I felt so adequate in my skills because I made a mistake and gave into the bargain and later regretted it and learnt from it.

How do I price my art so I respect myself and the customer is a question alive for me!

Am I an Artist ?

As a child I dreamed of being an Artist. My inspiration has always been my mother, from a young age I have enjoying painting alongside my mother. At around 12 years I started attending Art classes, my mother found one the best art teachers in Bangalore and I would travel far to attend the Art classes. I did not particularly enjoy the art classes, they were too technical for me. Soon I lost my dream of becoming an artist.

I continued to draw and paint occasionally but as a hobby. One summer when I was 16 years old my father introduced me to Zentangle. He showed me pictures on the internet. I spent that summer painting and drawing Zentangle and Madhubani by seeing pictures from the internet. I slowly became quite good at Zentangle but I did not consider myself an Artist. I thought an Artist is someone who an expert, who has gone through proper training and who can make amazing paintings of all techniques.

 As I explored Zentangle, I stated sharing the Art with people. I started making the Art on greeting cards and gifting them to people. This led to people asking me to share the technique of the art with them. I took a few sessions on how to do zentangle. I began to realize my connection with art. I then got an opportunity  to make zentangle designs on handmade diaries for an eco friendly shop and did that for a month. It was awesome to see my drawing being sold and earning money for it.This whole experience of reaching a level of skill in Zentangle and being able to bring my own flavors and style gave me confidence on my Art but I still did not think I am an Artist. I did not understand colour combinations or contrast so I could not be called an Artist.

Over few years I explored other art like wall painting, impasto painting, mandala painting, dot art and so on. I also began doing and learning craft like quilling, decoupage, mix media, key chain making, wire art, making things out of waste material and so on.

I am still not an expert, I am still learning and understanding technical things like colour combination and mixing colours but I realized I am an Artist ! I am an Artist not because of my technique or expertise but for the connection I feel with art and passion I feel towards it. The way I enjoy doing art, I feel at peace while I am doing art and the way I show my love to people by gifting some art made by me.


Now I am at a stage of making my Art sell-able. I am working on creating art and craft products myself which I can sell. I am excited to experience the process of selling and pushing my skills to create products.
Another thing I am doing to push myself and give myself confidence is that I started an Facebook page to share my art with people. Also having a FB page gives me commitment towards my art work.

So yes I am an Artist ! and a unique one !

How movies are shaping my mind

I see a movie for entertainment, to enjoy a fictional story, have a good laugh, maybe get some inspiration and simply pass my time.

I did not know that when I see a movie I am seeing notions of society. Whether its Sandalwood, Hollywood or Bollywood it doesn't really matter, I see things that I don't know are giving me a subtle message and are playing games with my mind.

I see a notion of love - I see a girl and a boy falling for each other, at times it's love at first sight. I see a boy paying for the dates, getting down to his knee. I see the movie telling me what is romantic. I see a boy eve teasing a girl, following her, despite her rejecting his proposal and then in the end I see the girl agreeing. I see that kissing and sex is the ultimate way to show love.

I see a notion of gender - I see gender roles and responsibilities. Girls are dramatic, demanding, emotional and sexy. Boys are cool, don't show emotion, have abs and show off. The movies objectify women, making them all about their bodies.

I see a notion of beauty - I see a muscular man, a slim girl. I see spotless and fair faces. I see tall people with perfectly waxed bodies wearing latest fashion clothing. I see long flowing hair and just perfect body image.

I see a standard of living - I see a luxurious car, top notch furniture, fancy carpets, latest auto-mobiles, flat screen television, people eating at expensive restaurants, owning the latest technology and of course you can’t forget the glamorous wedding and parties.

I see a notion of success - Money, sexy wife / husband, more money, fame, high reputation, and lots of stuff is the formula to success.

I see a notion of happiness - hanging out with my friend in a bar, going for a family vacation to foreign, going on a date with a beautiful women / handsome man or shopping.

I see what I need to be, look and buy so that I am loved, accepted and find happiness and success but I thought I was seeing a movie.

I see violence, the notion that adventure is cool, exaggerated action and drama, I see music and dance losing its essence and I see a fake life that many people aspire for.

Of course not all movies show this, there are many meaningful movies. I am not completely blaming the film industry, after all as consumers we see these movies and give approval to such movies but I feel sad to see the negative impacts standard modern movies are doing in our society

Andaman and Nicobar Islands Holiday

I woke up at 2 am to catch my flight to port Blair and thus began an exciting family vacation to Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Facts I found interesting of the islands : Andaman's is part of India but is 1350 km away from India but jut 600 km away from Burma and Thailand. There are 572 islands and Of these, about 38 are permanently inhabited. Andaman and Nicobar island is home aboriginal indigenous tribes, some who are disconnected with the so called civilized world. The primary language spoken among the local people of Andaman's is Hindi and it was so pleasant to have people talk Hindi around me.
The first sight of the beautiful islands from the aeroplane was breathtaking. Lush green islands, white sand beaches, clear blue water and an endless open sky with fluffy clouds and millions of stars at night. Such beauty engulfed my time at Andaman's. After landing at Port Blair we took a 90 minutes ferry to Havelock island, where we were to spend the next 5 days.
Havelock Island is named after a British general, Sir Henry Havelock, who served in India. Havelock is a small island of the area 92 sq km and width of the island is 8 km and length is 18 km.
While the main activity on the Island is Scuba diving, which my brother and father indulged in, I spent my time relaxing, swimming in the ocean and snorkeling. We stayed at Dive India, in cute little bamboo cabanas.
  Snorkeling : Such prepossessing marine life exists in the clear waters of the ocean, so many colours, so many types of fishes and a whole different world. Just the simple tool of a snorkel mask and pipe enabled me to see so much and enjoy my time. At Nemo reef there was no instructor, we were by ourselves. The unknown territory of the ocean is scary yet so inviting. My fears did not allow me to go too deep but there lots to see even in the shallow waters. We also visited Elephant Beach, however this place is more touristy, where you can only go into the snorkel site with an guide. We saw lots of things but the snorkel trip was too short in time and I did not get to immerse in the wildlife.

Swimming in the ocean : I love the beach and I love playing in the crashing waves and swimming in the waters. I was little dissapointed with the super calm, almost nil wave beach in front of our resort but that is what Andaman beaches are famous for, clear blue calm beaches just perfect for a swim. Interestingly in low tide, the water retrieves into the ocean, leaving a long stretch of ankle deep water for you to stroll in, among the rocks and soft ocean floor. I enjoyed the waters but I was thrilled when we went to Radhanagar Beach where we playing in the crashing waves,
Oh what fun!

Everyday we tried a new restaurant for dinner, I ate some delicious sea food. If you are going to Andaman I recommend Full moon cafe for breakfast, Green imperial resort has some yummy fish sizzler and prawn soup and salt water cafe has some good salads and fish n chips. We also had good juicy fruits at Andaman's, including refreshing.
Surprising myself, I did some clothes shopping at shops near the jetty, clothes imported from Thailand. I actually enjoyed the shopping. Interestingly I met a street vendor selling gulab jamun on the roadside.
After 5 days of relaxation, we went to Port Blair.

The ferry back to Port Blair was horrible,I felt claustrophobic, motion sick and uncomfortable on the ferry, the loud disco songs and dancing did not help the situation.
In Port Blair we visited the cellular jail, the history was interesting but I did not find anything very great. We ate dinner at Golden Dragon a Chinese restaurant run by a old Chinese couple, it was some yummy seafood Chinese food.

With tribesmen, we went for a Bird watching trip in the forest of Andaman's. Such a beautiful forest, with huge trees, dense greenery and so much peace. We saw some beautiful birds and had a wonderful birding trip at the chidiya tapu forest.

The trip was also a time for me to spend time with my family, connect with them. We spent  time sharing and listening to each other, which otherwise doesn't happen in the busy life. After many years my brother and I shared a room and I enjoyed the fights and conversations we had.
How much ever I enjoyed the trip, I was glad to be back home and tired of the travel. It was a memorable and beautiful trip.

Life beyond development workshop

Life beyond development workshop was a three day workshop to question the current system and lifestyle and look at things with the lenses of environmental sustainability and social justice. This workshop was a prototype, an experiment and the first time we were doing this. This meant facing a lot of challenges and lots of learnings.

The first thing was managing the registrations and number of participants, with last minute cancellations I was getting apprehensive if we would have enough participants in the workshop. I was also nervous about the whole thing because I was going to be facilitating people older to me. I was taking care of the overall workshop, the logistics, doing content development and was co-facilitating the workshop, so much work was exciting yet stressing at the same time. So much I was engrossed in making the workshop perfect that i neglected to care for my body and I felt sick during the workshop, and that was and because I couldn’t give my 100% to the workshop but still things worked out.

What I really enjoyed was preparing for the workshop along with the team, sitting together, brainstorming and discussing about things that make us feel alive. It did not feel like work.

The workshop began with questing the definition of development, questioning the system and the how the different players in the system are involved in the development game. We talked about one of the biggest roles we play in our life – consumer. How we have fallen trap to a culture of consumerism.We explored the true cost and hidden impacts of our everyday things like mobile phone, clothes, plastic, petrol, water and electricity. We also experienced water privatization and water inequality through a game. We spend time in nature, reconnecting to the trees and grass. We played in the earth to reconnect with the mother. Spending time in silence with nature helped rebuild the relationship that gets lost in cities and busy lives. So many problems, so much destruction makes one feel hopeless and depressed, to bring hope, inspiration and motivation to go on a path of change, we explored solutions. Its time we change the system at a whole, redefine happiness, success and development. We experienced this by planting trees and getting our hands dirty.

A group of 12 participants, all deeply connected with this topic, eager to learn and discuss. Their questions, curiosity and yearn to understand things really helped the workshop to go deep and to really create meaningful content.

The overall experience was very nice and I feel great to have held a successful workshop on life beyond development. To have ignited some spark in a few people to start this journey of sustainability in their own ways. Of course there were lots of mistakes and lots of room for improvement, that is the beauty of reflection and feedback, we can do a better workshop next time.

Money was a big challenge for me and I messed up big time, owing us to go almost in loss. Asking money, deciding the workshop fees and putting monetary value to the work we are doing yet not exploiting anyone was a challenge and I have learnt not to compromise around money.