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Senior School Trek to the Vaibhav Shiva Spot |
26 June 10
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Amidst strong swirling winds and a cloud filled sky, the Senior School students and teachers set off on their first trek of the new school year to the Vaibhav Shiva spot. Having arrived at the beauty spot after the short walk, everybody sat for 5 minutes of stillness, allowing the smells, sounds and sensations of the forest to soak in to their bodies. The sound of the wind blowing through the trees and the water flowing over the rocks really made the place come alive.
After the silence, everyone came together as the new students were introduced to the group by their peers before sharing about themselves, as well as their thoughts and experiences of their first three weeks at Isha Home School. This was followed by a games session, wherein all the students, teachers and house parents joined in a number of games like dodgeball and volleyball. Everyone was then free to play and roam around as they chose; some played ultimate frisbee, some splashed around in the water, while others sat carving wood enjoying the surroundings.
Following lunch, the students again joined together and played football and volleyball as one big group. As the time to leave approached, the children took it upon themselves to make sure that everyone left the site at least a little soaked in river water to make the walk back to school very refreshing and enjoyable. Everyone had a wonderful time. |
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World Classical Tamil Conference |
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23 June 10
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The Tamil Nadu Government held a five-day World Classical Tamil Conference in Coimbatore, which began on the 23rd of June 2010. In honour of this occasion, the school's Tamil Department held an assembly celebrating the origin of the Tamil language and its richness as well as on some of the traditions of the Tamil people.
The assembly opened with a rendition of the Tamil anthem Neerarum Kadaludutha followed by some interesting information about Tamil presented by the senior school students. The children then sang the song Semmozhi Aana Tamil Mozhiaam written by Kalaingar Karunanidhi before watching a video directed by Gautham Menon with music composed by A.R. Rahman. The assembly ended with some exciting tongue twisters in Tamil which were very entertaining for the audience. |
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Junior School visits Post Office and Railway Station |
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19 June 10
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Junior School students recently went on a field trip to Coimbatore to visit the Railway Station and the Post Office. The children were warmly greeted by officials at both sites, where they were shown around the offices and given detailed explanations about various aspects of each operation. As ever, the children's curiosity resulted in lots of questions.
At the railway station the Station Master took the children to the control room where he showed them how different knobs and switches changed both signals and tracks. They were then taken down to the platform where they saw how the trains physically change tracks, and witnessed an engine being detached from one set of carriages and being reattached to another set.
The children also visited the Philatelic Bureau of the Post Office where commemorative stamps are sold. They were encouraged to start a collection of stamps, and were told how they could open an account with the bureau. One thing that really grabbed the attention of the children was an upcoming stamp designing competition, the top three designs eventually become commemorative stamps honoring the winners. At the end of the visit the children were all given chocolates by the Post Master which they received graciously, before being treated to a special meal in a restaurant in Coimbatore.
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New Home School students complete Yoga Program |
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17 June 10
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Shortly after the school term began, the new students of Isha Home school attended the 10 day Isha Yoga Program. The culmination of the program was an evening of Culturals performed expertly by the children. Bollywood numbers, dramatic pieces and comedy skits were beautifully enacted along with an amusing rendition of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' and a wonderful Hindi dance number. The highlight of the show was a skit wherein the children portrayed the first few days at their new school with lots of tears, laughter and confusion!!! At the end of the evening a number of children shared their experience of the program, thanking their teacher and everyone involved before closing the whole event with Guru Pooja.
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Middle School visit to Project Green Hands Nursery |
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9 June 10
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On the 9th of June the middle school children and staff visited the Project Green Hands nursery close to the ashram. After a wonderful, laughter filled 2km trek to the site, everyone was met by Sw. Nagarupa and Sw. Rabiya.
Sw. Nagarupa briefed the group on the activities that take place at the site which is one of the main PGH centers and has the capacity to grow 50000 saplings at a time. The target for the day was for each child to transplant 250 saplings, a critical stage where the saplings are moved from the mother bed to manure filled bags where they grow until they are ready for final planting. Whilst this was an aggressive target, the children all got on with it with great enthusiasm and joy.
The process was split in to various activities including bringing soil, distributing and filling the plastic bags, and arranging them neatly. After several hours of work, and a tasty lunch, a total of 5000 covers had been filled... a very impressive total!
Following a few games and a snack, Sw. Nagarupa gathered the children for the most exciting activity of the day, a snake show. A number of different snakes were shown, including a python and a small, cute Barred Wolf snake, which the children queued up to feel.
At the end of the day the children were all thanked for their amazing effort, and they in turn thanked the Swamis for the wonderful experience they had all shared in. |
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