Dahanu Diary

I cannot forget those hundred tribal children lined up in rows directed by a single music teacher singing patriotic songs that mesmerized people during the annual convention Marathi Vidnyan Parishad at Bordi (19-21 December, 2010). I was deeply moved by the song which was perfect in tune and rhythm.  It was hard to believe that many of their parents were illiterate and they were from extremely poor families. I always had a desire that my i-Pod generation students should meet these children and learn from them. More importantly, as an IB teacher I wanted to experience CAS beyond the conventional setting in school. I was excited to go back to Dahanu for the second time in a year and this time with TISB students.

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We started IAYP trip at an unearthly hour of 2:30 AM of 30^th September, 2011 from school. It was large group of 32 students with equal number of girls and boys.  We reached Dahanu the same afternoon at around 2 pm. After lunch and a brief tour of        Mr. Suryahas Chaudhari’s farm “ The Jungle” we went to Bordi beach to study mangroves. The beach was very clean. As it was a low tide, we walked to the mangroves and saw a number of crabs and other marine species. Mr. Surya is a living encyclopedia of nature and he has a great passion towards preservation of environment. A keen believer of organic farming, animal lover and herpetologist – he was giving information about medicinal plants, snakes, survival techniques in a very interesting manner. Our students listened to him with great interest. In fact, they improvised a superb skit on one of his talks on snake awareness during the camp fire.

Knot theory.....

 The Jungle is Mr. Surya’s mini rain forest. The boys stayed in a tree house and girls stayed in his guest house overlooking the forest. The Jungle has all the tropical fruit orchards and medicinal plants. He has a lovely amphitheatre amidst mango trees, obstacle race challenges, a rifle shooting range, archery training facility etc. He takes a great care to assure safety of children while doing all the activities and his facility is properly fenced. He had superb security in the night and most importantly he was personally engaged in all the activities.

Fine balance!

On the second day, Mrs. Banoo Ragaby took a session on knots and how to use the wood and vines to create shelter. It followed by “Jungle survival with stone age instruments competition”. Students came up with excellent working designs for gadgets. They used the techniques shown by Mrs. Banoo. On the same evening they had a cooking competition where they managed to cook potatoes on fire using the gadgets and contraptions made by them. No utensils were provided. Also, we visited a paddy field next door and got an idea of how to cut the paddy crop. Students volunteered enthusiastically and extended a helping hand.

Next morning, went for a long walk to Asvali Dam. It was like a field trip of Botany and Ayurvedic pharmacy. At the end of the walk we reached a beautiful manmade lake. After resting there for a bit we walked to the Ashram Shala (residential school) where our Youth Rise students had painted a badminton court. The head teacher of the school said that they used the court very much. The net is torn and we will have to send one with the next batch. I spoke to grade 10 students who were mostly from neighboring villages. They were very shy in the beginning as they were not fluent in English. However, with some praise and general talk in Marathi and Hindi they came forward and explained their daily routine to Rosie and Claire in English. We played games like fugadi (holding hands and swirling), running catching each other. This gave those girls some confidence. In the end, with little coaxing a group of girls sang a melodious song in praise of God. Eshani liked the song and started humming it as we were returning. I wanted our students to learn something from there and it happened!

Asvali Dam

That afternoon we had the art workshop by Warli artist Mr. Santosh Dodka. We learnt the basic figures in Warli art and painted them on small earthen pots. Warli art looks simple however; it takes time to paint these tiny intricate patterns.  Even a non-artist like myself- got some confidence while painting the pots. IGCSE Art students did a fantastic job.

That night, we had the opportunity to meet a group of Warli folks who did the Tarpa dance. We were amazed to see the stamina of the Tarpa player. All of us danced with them until our clothes were soaked in sweat.

On two nights, we were lucky to get clear skies. We took out Mr. Surya’s telescope and showed the craters on the Moon to the students. I also managed to explain constellations and basic Astrophysics to a few curious ones.

Mr. Surya’s obstacle race and commando activities were a hit among students. The best timing for obstacle race was comparable among boys and girls. It had full participation from everyone. They all got to do rifle shooting, archery, sling shot etc.

All the meals were delicious as they had the local organic flavors. Every meal had both veg and non-veg dishes. Students loved the local Maharashtrian and Gujrati dishes. One evening they even did the barbeque chicken and corn. All of us loved the bread, rusk and other baked “eggless” goodies from Mr. Ragaby’s Agnee Bakery.

On the fourth day, we visited a few more Anganvadis(play schools) in the area. We distributed rubber balls and toiletries for personal hygiene to tribal children. Dahanu-Bordi-Kosbad is well known for the pioneering work done Padmashree Ms. Anutai Wagh and her Padmabhushan Tarabai Modak (known as India’s Montessori) in setting up schools for tribal children. In spite of that, we saw that the schools are rather primitive without the basic amenities like clean toilets, electricity.  The need for good schools is never ending. “Education for all” will take time to come into reality. I am glad that our students saw this in their growing age- even if a few of them can help out in some way in future; our mission will be fulfilled.

To summarize, all five days were filled with adventure, proximity with nature, creativity, learning about a new culture and survival. I am confident that the requirements of the IAYP Gold award were fulfilled. I really appreciate careful planning and implementation of the camp by Mr. and Mrs. Ragaby. They both were constantly on their toes along with Mr. Surya. I am grateful to Mr. Ragaby who involved me in the IAYP trip without really knowing about my desire to take TISB students to see the tribal children. Last but not the least, i am thankful to my dear husband-Vinay and son-Kabir who managed to survive without me! Kabir learnt to make his eggs and toast :-)