10 Jun 2022

Dear Parents,

Happy rains and a warm welcome to 2022-23 academic year! A year hopefully that will not see any more lockdowns. A year that will hopefully have many momentous occasions filled with fun and failures, explorations and expeditions, songs and music, dance and drama.

Entering LC reminded me of a nostalgic moment from childhood. It was like opening a new notebook with the stiff binder, fresh smell of the pages of a new textbook. LC is now freshly painted white and looks neat. We have installed exhaust fans with skylights which have made the interiors more bright. After kids trickled in one by one the first observation was that they have grown up. Few have become chubbier (thanks to the mango season!!) but all have grown taller. After all the hugs and greetings were exchanged and a brief stint on the jungle gym, we assembled for our signature circle time.

First Day:

We heard everyone’s stories and shared ours. Two months is a long time and there was a lot everyone wanted to share. Some went to their native places and some went to summer camps, some of us had funny stories and experiences, some were reluctant, some of them did a lot of travelling, some forgot what they did while some needed to be stopped.

We also discussed about ministers and elections for this year and decided that friday will be the election day so that there will be enough time for campaigning. We also roughly noted down the kinds of sessions kids would like to take this semester.

Facilitators busied themselves in arranging the spaces and finishing the housekeeping, while kids were playing hide and seek.

Second Day:

We assembled again the next day and discussed how to manage LC? What to do when there are conflicts? We told everyone, let's assume that all the rules of LC were nullified and lets begin afresh. Everyone told about their problems and dislikes and proposed some solutions for it. Everything was noted down for further discussion.

The sessions everyone said they wanted to take were further narrowed down and we also introduced certain new topics that kids might find interesting. So a rough menu of sessions was prepared.

Then we took one of the most hit sessions of LC, body awareness. It's a session that we take once in an academic year and is mandatory for everyone to attend. This session is taken separately for the adolescents (10+ yr olds), pups (7+ yr olds) and the blossoms (5 yr olds). Changes in the body of female and male, stages of puberty and physical/social aspects of these were discussed. To the adolescents, different cuss words and their literal meanings were also explained, this came as a bonanza as you might imagine. This was done in lieu of the rampant use of such words among kids. So it was time they knew what they were saying. The gravity of the meanings of such words might restrain them from using it or using it sparingly.

Third day:

We set up the projector and started writing the LC rule book. Certain rules from previous years were taken and brought up for discussion. Each and every rule was discussed and voted for. Kids and facilitators were divided in their opinions about deciding a few rules.

The one topic that took the centre stage is anyone's wild guess. AV rules! The time allotted remains the same, as 1 hr/week but the content has broadened. Now kids have decided to watch cartoons which was not possible last year. Any content involving violence, pornography, video games are not allowed. We now have a comprehensive set of rules (or so we think!).

Later, there was a body awareness session for the pups. We also took an awareness session about feminism and its movement worldwide. Though we could only scratch the surface, it was surprising to see how some kids were already indoctrinated about gender bias and how some were completely oblivious to it.

Fourth day:

We started the day with finalising our time table and discussing briefly about the sessions and clubs on offer this semester. The sessions will start by 9.30 till 12, followed by an hour of individual time. We are introducing a module session, where one particular topic/concept will be taken only for a short period of time, meaning only for a few weeks. Some of these sessions will be videography/editing, story writing, hands on activities and product designing. The idea is that they get exposed to a variety of things. If you have an idea or skill that you would like to share/teach please contact us, we would love to have you as a facilitator for a few weeks. Modules are on Fridays starting from 10.30 am till 12 noon.

We experienced a sound therapy session hosted by Poonam, who was a guest with us for two days. She recently did a workshop on sound healing and shared her knowledge on how sound can be therapeutic. She brought with her a conch shell, flute and a Tibetan singing bowl. She rimmed it while we lied down on the floor. The idea was to meditate but most of us slept off. One or two needed to be woken up.

Fifth day:

We were anticipating this Friday to be election day with campaigning and its drama. But no one came forward to take any post. Previous ministers didn’t volunteer thinking they had enough. So we all decided to split the duties among ourselves. We have a responsibility list wherein everyone’s names are written.

Gymnastics happened as usual, with a lot of fun and games. Vinayak Sir asked everyone to suggest what they wanted to learn this semester, we were wondering if he too is learning from us..:) There is going to be a slight adjustment from now onwards, everyone needs to arrive at 8.30 am on fridays. This is only to accommodate the growing number of kids we have.

We also cooked payasam (kheer in malayalam) with the rice we got from Mokhada. You might have tasted it, if your child remembered to share it with you (?!). The recipe is very simple with only four ingredients to it, rice, jaggery, coconut and cardamom.

We also had the dance dhamaka. Kids loved dancing on the tunes of LSH performances. Everyone got really charged, there was hardly anyone who could stand still, except for some facilitators.

We also have Coral and Devansh who are doing their trial period with us.

Onward to much more exciting things!