28 Jan 2021,

Dear Parents,

One more week done and dusted. Before we begin, a few reminders:

The last instalment of Rs. 15,000 is due now. Secondly, on February 6th we have an Open Day for interested parents, kindly spread the word around among your friends and family. The poster for the same has been sent on the WA group. Thirdly, we have our parents meet on 13th Feb. This is meant to meet our new parents in the group and discuss in general our experiences. Detailed agenda will follow.

Now for the highlights of this week...

Judiciary

We had a few regular agendas this time but today let me tell you about the complaint box. This is the most exciting part of judiciary. It's a box that contains complaints written by kids/facilitators against each other. Once the box is opened the complainant is summoned and asked to describe the situation against the accused. Both get equal chances to speak. Once he/she has explained, then a question is asked whether they would like to withdraw the complaint, (sometimes complainants forget why they wrote it in the first place). We always find the usual suspects, but these days there are a few new entrants. If someone gets 5 or more but less than 10 complaints against them, they will have to face a consequence, which is mainly cleaning up the Friday food mess. If someone has 10 or more then they will have to skip one day of LC, which is a lethal one.

Project Day

It was a peculiar project day. To begin with there were many absentees (7 out of 21). Some missed unknowingly and some knowingly. One of them presented hers before she left but a few were happy that they were going to be absent.

Project day has become some kind of stress for some, some admitted they think this is boring but many actually thrive and enjoy. When we had taken a vote on whether or not to continue with this activity, the majority wanted to continue.

There has been consistent feedback from guests, about the lack of discipline in the audience. Kids talk, fight, play and pick on each other while the presentation is going on. The facilitators keep on reminding them to be respectful to others, but that slowly takes the form of nagging. Nothing we do or say matters to them. I can only remember the lyrics of Maria from Sound of Music.

How do you solve a problem like Maria?

How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?

But how do you make her stay

And listen to all you say

How do you keep a wave upon the sand

Oh, how do you solve a problem like Maria?

How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?

We facilitators are wary of saying anything more than this, as it would infringe upon their free will. So we walk the path of “Dialogue and discourse”. Oh, by the way our project days are always on the last thursday of the month.

Clubs

There is hope in this department. Someone is finally starting a drama club but the person has only invited her friends…:)

There is a lone crocheter who is eager to start a crochet/embroidery club. The talks of HP fan club is limited to talks and has not come to fruition yet, so is gardening club.

Movie/Documentary Club

We saw the documentary, Earth: Making of the Planet by National Geographic. It is about 1 hour and 55 min. Here’s the link…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnlxMzdIZuE

It was a fascinating account of the story of our Home and also our evolution. We were amazed how many times life has died and come back. It's so robust yet so fragile.

How to play?

There is a new session being taken which is called the Games session. All these games are group games and a bit different. They need strategizing and being a little street smart helps. It's super fun and engaging.

Thats all for now. Stay safe and healthy!