The last day of our stay in the Nilgiris took us through the journey of a tea leaf from the tea garden into the basket, through the wuthering trough, roller, dehumidifier and finally into your tea-cup!
And what a journey that was, it made us realise that there is many processes which turn this leaf into a cup that cheers!
We also went to a Badaga Village called Yeddapalli, which was our last survey in the villages of the PTGs Primitive Tribal Groups and proved to be a storehouse of information about the changing lives of the Tribals who account for a sizeable percentage of our population, and we the mainstream population, are simply 'unaware' of this, oblivious of their existence and their issues. We heard it from the tribals of Yeddapalli themselves, how the values of these groups are corroding and changing for the worse in the wake of development. How customs and traditions have gender biases and how we continue to follow rituals when the times have changed and we need to look at people and their environment with a new perspective. Perhaps, this is our biggest learning from this fieldtrip.
We got an opportunity to know and to celebrate what we are blessed with, Blue Mountains, thick forests, healthy fauna and avi-fauna, architectural heritage, archival material and Traditional Knowledge Systems But we also got a feel of the sand which is slowly slipping through our fingers! and how and what we could do to conserve this and buy a 'little more time' for our children....as we know that ...
WE HAVE NOT INHERITED THE EARTH FROM OUR PARENTS, BUT MERELY BORROWED IT FROM OUR CHILDREN!
Heartfelt gratitude to the students and my team member Guru Charan Kumar for breathing life into this 'Learning Expedition'.
To the Parents and School Management for entrusting the children in our care and believing in our vision and plan.
To ONE EARTH FOUNDATION for the support and direction in making this Learning Expedition so meaningful and impactful.
We successfully close this fieldtrip and hope that this will translate into powerful 'courseworks' for the IGCSE submissions for Geo ad EVM for the forthcoming 2014 May examinations, even as we will cherish for a lifetime, the 'sight of the Giant Malabar Squirrel' or the 'exquisite embroidery of the Toda women' or 'the whisper of the winds on the Blue Mountain Trail' !!
And what a journey that was, it made us realise that there is many processes which turn this leaf into a cup that cheers!
We also went to a Badaga Village called Yeddapalli, which was our last survey in the villages of the PTGs Primitive Tribal Groups and proved to be a storehouse of information about the changing lives of the Tribals who account for a sizeable percentage of our population, and we the mainstream population, are simply 'unaware' of this, oblivious of their existence and their issues. We heard it from the tribals of Yeddapalli themselves, how the values of these groups are corroding and changing for the worse in the wake of development. How customs and traditions have gender biases and how we continue to follow rituals when the times have changed and we need to look at people and their environment with a new perspective. Perhaps, this is our biggest learning from this fieldtrip.
We got an opportunity to know and to celebrate what we are blessed with, Blue Mountains, thick forests, healthy fauna and avi-fauna, architectural heritage, archival material and Traditional Knowledge Systems But we also got a feel of the sand which is slowly slipping through our fingers! and how and what we could do to conserve this and buy a 'little more time' for our children....as we know that ...
WE HAVE NOT INHERITED THE EARTH FROM OUR PARENTS, BUT MERELY BORROWED IT FROM OUR CHILDREN!
Heartfelt gratitude to the students and my team member Guru Charan Kumar for breathing life into this 'Learning Expedition'.
To the Parents and School Management for entrusting the children in our care and believing in our vision and plan.
To ONE EARTH FOUNDATION for the support and direction in making this Learning Expedition so meaningful and impactful.
We successfully close this fieldtrip and hope that this will translate into powerful 'courseworks' for the IGCSE submissions for Geo ad EVM for the forthcoming 2014 May examinations, even as we will cherish for a lifetime, the 'sight of the Giant Malabar Squirrel' or the 'exquisite embroidery of the Toda women' or 'the whisper of the winds on the Blue Mountain Trail' !!