Voices from Within

How can ppl ever live in remote villages?? How can one be away frm the comfort of urban life?? Unplugged from the web? - Impossible.. No Cellphones? - Are you kidding?

I am a web-addict.. My Laptop and Ipod will figure in the most essential things I'' ever "need"....

And now, I'm reprioritizing... Thanks to Sanjeev/Anita who roped-me-in for the trip. I least expected to hav such a wonderful weekend.. (Actually, I paused for a moment - I'm cynophobic and Shifu is also travelling..)

Thulir is an Education Resource Centre for children and young adults at Sittilingi, a tribal village in Dharmapuri district,Tamilnadu, India.

I was looking fwd to meet Anu & Krishna, Thulir's founders... I got to know abt them in my first ever Asha-meeting and I was so inspired.. How can folks, quit regular jobs, move to remote tribal villages and set up a resource centre??? One of my primal inspirations to take the red-pill...

That was an awesome weekend with an array of acitivies..

• Building brick-walls. Learning how to stable walls.
• Playing with a Calf (You guessed it right, Lakshmi is her name..)
• Logic puzzles with kids..
• Gardening.. I cut a small tree.. ( Wait.. That was shading the solar panels. BTW, the whole school is solar powered..)

• Reading Chittu's comics (No. You cannot subscribe to Dirter, the stinky pig!! U'll need a different currency)
• Playing soccer with kids..
• Biking around the village..
• Visited a Coconut farm.. drank one right off a tree..
• When I enquired about Chilled water, Next town is 13 miles away..
• Building logic-gates from BJTs with Sanj.. (Been a long time since I played with transistors.. that was Fun.. I was pretty good.)
• Blinking lights with a multi-vibrator..[When you visit nexttime, Be prepared for Blinking-Thulir welcoming you...]

WOW.. the clear night sky was spectacular.. Morning Bike ride was even better..

In all, I had a good break.. a terrific trip... I'll try to visit atleast once a quarter.

Photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/sanjeev.ranganathan/ThulirJuly2009#

Will post a more detailed/formal report in Team Asha/Ashablog in a week.

Happy living,
-Vinodh

Hello, my recurring dream,
you got me lost in the love stream..
The twinkle in your mystic eyes
sends even the pisces flying-high

I have trouble learning all the while,
the language of your silent smile...

Can't get the Mixed-signals decode
With your Mind-games,
my heart clocks overload..

Spending my time the way unseen -
Starring all day at the GTalk screen
when you are online green.

Honey, I love you still
and I always will..

-Vinodh

And a group of enthu kids bombard you with crazy answers...

• What scientists do...
• Stuff in science book...
• Things that work...
• What is done in the science lab..
• ....
  

This is the first question that I asked in the interaction with the Doddenakundi-School kids. We, @ AMD, plan to do a 8-week Science project with the kids... Having taken them to the Science/Tech Museum the previous week, we had our first interaction with the kids.

I have already had a blazing morning, running with Ananya kids, Karate session and a great Breakfast. I was really excited to connect with the kids and the project...

We formed groups of five kids each, with atleast one speaking English. Only very few of us could talk Kannada or Tamil. I interacted with 2 groups and It was great fun getting to know them.

After a small intro, we discussed various things.. shared a few jokes.. then I asked the question.. "What is Science".... and that was when they shot back with great answers... It was really interesting to learn how/what they perceive as Science...

I asked them to look around and see if there is any Science around them... that very moment, an Aircraft from HAL took off, blaring...

One kid asked - Is Aeroplane science?
Yes!!
Then, cars and bikes are science?
Yes!!

Another kid, checked her watch. I asked her, if she sees science there?
Yes!!
Cellphone..
Computers..
Doctors and medicine..

We discussed this for over 30 min...

Then one declared -

"Science is everywhere... Science is everything.."

I haven't heard of a truer statement.

While parting, I left them with two questions..
* How planes fly and How ships sail.. They seem to have a vague idea why.. I asked them to ask parents, bros, books, papers...

Next week, I'm gonna show them a video of how these work.. They promised to teach me Kannada as well..

After we left, one kid Divya - came up with "Anna, We like you very much!! Thank you!"

Kiddos, I love you all too...

-Vinodh

The Yellow Knights

We were a crazy-running bunch,
hanging out for a quick brunch..
until Sensei taught us to reverse-punch.

We learnt to block hard,
None can attack us off-guard..

Our own knife-hand-strike
- as mighty as a shark-bite!!

Mae-Giri, the front kick..
is not a simple trick..
You gotta be double-quick
and yet be as smooth as Indian-Silk

Kata - is it a dance or a fight?
With all its grace is an elegant sight
We did it right with a GI - white
and became Yellow-knight..

Arigato Sensei..

And Yeah.... Kiiiiah!!!

-Vinodh

More Pics @:http://picasaweb.google.com/teamasha8k/KarateYellowBeltTest?authkey=Gv1sRgCN_e6qjMuuSMDw&feat=email#

Asha's Blr Blog: http://teamashablr.blogspot.com/

Sucksman's Blog:http://thisissucksman.blogspot.com/