Road trip : Delhi to Narkanda

                                        

            We started our road trip from Delhi at 7pm . Vehicle for most of our roadtrips is Scorpio, it is rear wheel drive apt for roadtrips in rough and hilly terrains. At late evening hours traffic is relatively less, we swiftly crossed Delhi and reached GT Karnal highway around 9pm. GT Karnal highway is the popular roadway for several tourist destinations. It is brightly illuminated with well lit Dhabas alongside.

          Road journey at night has its own charm, there is subtle transition of lights as the night advances, envisaging the idea of routine. Lights at homes lit first then those of commercial buildings and roadside dhabas, as the hours pass by brightly lit flyovers dominate over the dimming lights of homes and buildings. One can find many good Dhabas along the highway, we had our dinner at Mannat dhaba, tea breaks, in between can be taken late at night as well. The eating joints along side  highway keep buzzing with tourists in the late hours of night.

        We took our first halt in Zirakpur (Punjab), we booked our rooms in advance for night stay. It is advisable to book rooms here as this place is not very popular with tourists, so one can easily get good accommodation at reasonable rates. We checked in our hotel (Sun Park) at Zirakpur at 1:30am. Hotel staff was very quick and efficient, rooms were very clean and well maintained.  Next morning we started our journey early for Narkanda. Himachal expressway is well paved and comfortable to drive, it is one way upto Kasauli . However, some parts of the road are still under construction, so one has to take care of ‘diversion boards’ while driving.

Driving on Narkanda mountains- Real treat

Inky clouds and Apple orchards

        In the month of April , the serpentine road beautifully fringed with  purple coloured gulmohar trees in full bloom canvassed with green fields spreading all over, are feast to the eyes. The purple hue of gulmohar trees continued with us till Parwanoo. As we drove and started gaining elevation, the vegetation gets replaced with lush green cover of rhododendrons.

            We stopped at Kasauli, for breakfast at a small restaurant.We were served with simmering paranthas and tea at a restaurant. Refreshed with cool breeze and the tasty food, we started for Shimla around 12:00pm. Our next stop was Shoghi, we had our lunch.  From Shoghi to Shimla the drive is a real treat to eyes. It is endowed with scenic beauty, beguiling mountains  fresh cool wind blowing all around swaying trees spreading the aroma of pine trees which synthesise an aura rejuvenating body, soul and mind. 

        We drove continuously till Narkanda via Shimla. Narkanda is 62km from Shimla, it takes approximately 2 hrs from Shimla to Narkanda.  Each mountain defines its own beauty and uniqueness, so are the mountains of Narkanda, breath taking beauty, blanketed with lush green cover of deodar and pines. Narkanda is at the elevation of 2500 metres above sea level.  It is advisable to carry jackets in summers as the mercury dips down during night considerably. 

           Mountains of Narkanda gets covered with flowers of apple in the month of April. Apple trees bloom and become heavily laden with pinkish white flowers. Narkanda is famous for its apple orchards. Locals cover apple trees with white nets to protect them from strong winds and dew. The enchanting panorama of luxuriant green mountains with sun hiding behind the inky clouds striving to sprinkle its rays is simply captivating. The intriguing beauty of these mountains shadowed with waterladen inky clouds all over can compel to stop by and take quick snapshots of the view in between.

                     

Sunrays and apple orchards

Apple trees covered with white net to prevent from dew .

        We checked in our Hotel at Narkanda around 4:30pm. The view from the balcony was mesmerizing, we could easily spot the snow covered mountain peaks of Kinner Kailash.

          After getting refreshed we went for a walk in nearby market. Many small eating joints here provide mouth watering food with very reasonable rates. We had our dinner at hotel though. Sun rise is early at 6am the mountains are lit with golden shimmering snow. We walked to one of the  restaurants nearby which became our regular for next tow days of our stay.  We satisfied our appetite to the core with mouth watering hot giant sized paranthas and dollaps of butter on them.

                                   

The ultimate beauty.

         After breakfast we booked taxi for Hatu Peak which is 3400m above sea level. The climb to Hatu peak is very narrow, a trained driver and a small car (preferably Alto) is prerequisite to mount. The peaceful ambience of this temple gives it a peculiar unanimity , the absolute paradisiacal union of nature and spiritualism. One can easily spot thick sheets emulating the fact that this place receives heavy snowfall in winters.

        Narkanda has a peculiar unadulterated mileau. Locals busy doing their routine work, women dressed  in woolen salwar kameez, koti, their heads wrapped in colourful bandanas, carrying big baskets on their back for collecting wood, groups of children going to nearby school , men wear traditional Himachali topi with green strip at the front, kurtas and woolen koti . Because of less footfall of tourists Narkanda shows true culture and essence of mountain life of Himachal.

             The stay in Narkanda ended next day, we started back to Delhi. While coming back we visited Golf course ground at Nal Dehra located near Shimla, around  20kms from Mashobra. We took horse ride to Golf course. Horse ride gives a closer peep into the pine jungles of Naal Dehra. On outting an ear attentively, one can listen the sound of wind blowing over tall pime trees which resembles fast flowing water. With the short tryst with jungles of Naal Dehra we had our lunch and headed back to Delhi. This time we booked our hotel at Parwanoo for night stay. Next morning we started our drive to Delhi. We reached Delhi at 12:30pm. The experience of this three day road trip to the mountains of Narkanda is quite satiating as window for our nerve shaken souls and busy lives back here in cities.

    

         

Early Childhood education: Do teachers need to be' MBA'?

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         One Sunday morning ,  when we were sipping tea , our door bell rang , Mr. Sandeep , our neighbour was standing outside, dressed in his tracks , he seemed to be on his way for a morning jog.  We invited him in, he looked quite perplexed. He was in the state of utter confusion with respect to choice of school for his son. He was most apprehensive about the selection of Board (CBSE or ICSE). Not only him , all of us are on the same boat. All of us face the same situation when it comes to choose a particular school for our kid. This state of dilemma exists , in the mind of every parent whose child crosses 4 years of milestone and going to enter the formal world of schooling.

     Everyday , I come across many parents,  exploring the options of potential schools for their kids.  While selecting a school  quality of education is taken for granted. Factually speaking we are ignorant about what our children deserve and what they are getting  in the name of education.

          We seldom raise eyebrows , on the ongoing  pedagogy in our preschool classrooms.  These schools often give us the perception  that getting admission  is itself  a matter of privilege. The hoopla of ‘insecurity’ regarding school admission has been meticulously created in the market. For example some of the renowned private schools  conduct  lottery system or set the age limit for admission or test the child on few parameters or just add terms as international or modern as suffices in their school names. 

When I enquired from some of the parents about the criteria for the  selection of school for their kid? 

Their answers were:

         Parent A: ICSE is better than CBSE..    

    Parent B:  Basics should be clear from the beginning.

.      Parent C:   Infrastructure of the school is good.

.    Parent D:  It’s a branded and best school of the city.  

      Parent E: Children coming to a particular school are from me economic background. 

     Parent F:  School is near to our home.

    Parent E: School also takes care of extracurricular activities.

        Since, parents and kids undergo the rigorous battle of admission, they feel triumphant when they see their names in the admission list.  As a matter of this course , there is no scope left for them to enquire about philosophy or pedagogy followed by that particular school. Selection in a particular school is taken as blessing in disguise,  for that parents pay hefty amounts. Most of these funds  get directed to maintain the brand name or infrastructure of the school rather than appointing efficient teachers.

 Let’s turn the spotlight towards the state of primary education existing around us. As a matter of fact, the outside world is changing at a very fast pace as compared to what is being taught within the four walls of a preschool classroom. There is a huge gap between what a child sees and experiences outside the school and what he or she studies in the books. For eg.  there is a chapter in grade1 EVS book about living and non living things .  A 5 year old child already knows this concept, he or she has the ability to learn more complex concepts, provided these concepts are simplified and improvised for them efficiently . This can only be possible if we have a system of efficient educators focusing on the intricacies of ‘Early Childhood Development’.

        We can’t bury our head in sand,  for the fact that there is   enormous online inflow of information be it in the form of animation, short fun videos , online games, channels etc.  Evidently , there are many more diversions for the upcoming generation than ours.  They must be nurtured with care and equanimity .  The goal of early Childhood education should be building the nexus between the classroom and the outside world . This creates the purview of education which goes beyond  ‘chalk and talk’.

        If not the institutions, we as parents have to upgrade our awareness . The needs of a preschooler are to be catered with respect to the changing panorama of the world with each passing day. For that parents , teachers and system have to collaborate to create a new lense with more resolving power. The revival of  the fading  mileau of wonder, excitement and most importantly passion of learning in the initial years of education an be nurtured. 

       Some of the queries that can come to our mind as parents and teachers must be:

    .  What can be the better way of teaching learning process?

     . What is lacking in our preschools?

     . What can be our contribution as parents?

          . What should we demand from the existing early childhood   programmes ?

             The paradox is that the normality lies in what is being followed by majority.  Any digression from the set scheme is considered as aberration , even if it  is appropriate.

             While going through the curriculum of several  preschools of my city,  I inferred that most of them follow the  curriculum which make their students admission ready for formal schooling, constructing a vicious circle for parents and children.

      For instance one of my friends who lives in Mumbai, went for the admission of her 1 year old son, in the city’s ‘best play school.’

   While filling the admission form , she overheard an ongoing class, which went on as  :

   

Teacher: What is the colour of leaf?

     Kids in chorus:  Green.

Teacher: Can leaf be of any other colour?

Kids in chorus: No

Teacher : Yes the colour of the leaf is only green.

Teacher: What is the colour of Sun ?

Kids in chorous : Yellow.

Teacher : Can the colour of Sun be blue?

Kids in chorus : No

Teacher:  Yes, the colour of the sun is only yellow.

      The teaching learning process in this class clearly manifest the need for overhauling the early childhood education.

          Play way activities in early years of child development are to  be meticulously designed with appropriate learning objectives.  We need to critically analyse  the curriculum comprising of  mundane  routine, which makes students do writing work or unsupervised activities in the name of play way .

      The roots are invested deeper than they appear to be. Our preschools are well decorated with well established , infrastructure, fee structures, counselling sessions etc.  but they lack qualified ,  teaching staff. This can be attributed to the fact that education in early years is not given due importance.  We are clueless so as to what should we expect and demand from our preschools .  Although, its not possible to fathom the depth,  just by viewing its pelagic part. We need to dive deeper to come to elucidate a solution.

           So, the questions lingers on:  What should we expect from the preschools for our children.  How important are ’ Early childhood programs’ in our education system ?

            

    

              Playschool is the first place where a child is separated from the comfort and secure zone of their parents.  So, our preschools should have enough material to attract and make the child feel comfortable. It is the place where a child opens up as individual, interacting with peers and teachers. As per researches ‘Early childhood programmes’ have long been shown to create improvements that last for a lifetime. The earliest years of a child’s life are most critical. This was well stated by Bill Gates “the first five years have so much to do with how the next 80 turn out “. These years determine the survival and thriving in life, and lay foundations of child’s performance later. Instilling passion for learning besides good habits is imperative for holistic development of child as an individual.

           We have to understand that performance is the function of expectations.  Accordingly, we need to design and establish our strategy.  To attain these objectives , we have to create efficient moulds right from the early years for our kids.  We need to ‘Move Beyond Academics’(MBA) for the building of a progressive society.

What could  be the essential characteristics of this mould is the question to ponder upon.  For instance lets take the example of nursery rhymes in our play schools, the same old London Bridge is falling down since last 200 years , Johny, Ms muffet ,  Humpty Dumpty have become familiar names of our household even if they do not contextualise with our praxis .  I wonder , why are we still carrying this age old ,irrelevant rhymes from British legacy. ( refer to the previous blog ‘Modernisation illusion or reality’?) .

           Can’t we endorse the rhymes highlighting  child’s surrounding like change of seasons, child’s praxis , nurturing child’s self esteem, critical thinking.

     Some of the rhymes written by Shel Silverstein beautifully illustrates this concept.

     Listen to

Listen to the mustn’d, child.

Listen to the shouldn’ts,

The impossibles,

The won’ts.

Listen to the never haves,

Then listen close to me….

      Anything can happen, child.

Anything can be.

         

Don’t tell me

 Please don’t tell me I should hug,

Don’t tell me I should care.

Don’t tell me just how grand I’d feel

If I just learned to share.

Don’t say,” its all right to cry,”

“Be kind”, “Be fair”, “Be True.”

Just let me see YOU do it,

Then I just might do it too.

Just can’t believe

You just can’t believe

Everything they tell you

Just’ cause they teach it

And preach it and shout.

They say you can’t eat nothin’

Bigger than you are….

You’ve really got to check

These things out.

     

     

From a Teacher's Diary: Why I don't read fairytales to my Daughter

From a Teacher's Diary: Why I don't read fairytales to my Daughter:         Why I don’t read Fairy tales to my Daughter ?              Some days back I visited a nearby children bookstore with m...

From a Teacher's Diary: Why I don't read fairytales to my Daughter

From a Teacher's Diary: Why I don't read fairytales to my Daughter:         Why I don’t read Fairy tales to my Daughter ?              Some days back I visited a nearby children bookstore with m...

Are ‘U’ ready to take the ‘U turn’ ?

    It was a cold winter morning with brisk wind blowing all around, undoing the sun’s efforts to keep the warmth. The day of Uttarayan also called Makar Sankranti which marks the  change in the direction of sun. It was holiday for us and  perfect morning to venture out. So, we quickly had our breakfast and grabbed our mufflers, scooted ourselves in the car and headed out for a short trip to city’s town park.

    Town park, by its name, it seemed to be a sought after place  in the past. Few cars were parked outside its gate,  there were four to five peddlers selling snacks like bhujia,  paavbhaji, bread pakoda etc. , at one corner  there were bouquet of balloons, gleaming in the sun. All the peddlers were busy pepping their stalls for sales. The soap bubble stall was the center of attraction, its sales were highest, accessorised by the wind.

 However,   by observing intently one can infer that  the upkeep of this park was in poor state , trees were lustureless, hedges were not maneuvered, there was stench in the water used for irrigating plants, rotting water standing in the kids play area.

    A group of kids decked up in thick woolen clothes, of different age groups were busy playing on the swings, giggling, running  jumping  oblivious of their surroundings . Their mothers delightfully watching them play.

The liveliness of this park reminded me of my own childhood days in Allahabad. Our outing destinations in were mainly parks located in city. Of all the parks in  the city ,we were specially fond of three of them -  Bharadwaj park, situated in the middle of the city. This park enthralled with colourful stair fall  right in front of entrance which was more appealing in the evenings, some elevated terrains to challenge our fitness,  and lots of swings, Saraswati ghat, situated on the river side , shaped with giant mushroom shaped pillars ,there were  large mezzanines where one can sit for hours and adore the vastness of the river, at its backside there was a small temple of lord Shiva , in the month of August   that is ‘sawan’ during heavy rains when many devotees used to visit this temple, the river also  grappled with them to touch the feet of diety.

     The largest park located at the outskirts of the city was Nehru park. At the entry of this park there was a statue of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru mounted on a white platform, encircled by a small rose garden. This park used to attract many visitors especially in winters because of its major enticements like toy train, a small lake for sailing boats.

      

        During winter vacations Nehru Park was our prime destination for outing with cousins and relatives who used to visit us. We loved spending time together playing , chatting, running, eating or just sitting and watching sunset , birds perching on the tree.Those were the days when obvious things of life were the important things . The sweet memories of these natural treats are still lucid in my mind , the panorama of Nehru Park, cheerful ,our jubliant faces ,sneaking out small goodies from Mother’s bag are some of the the priceless treasures of our childhood.

      With the voice of my daughter calling me, the shimmer of the past melted into the presence and I regained my attentiveness.  My 4 year old daughter have already joined the group of children playing on swings.  Watching their innocence, purity of smile, I started contemplating about the relation between human and nature.  I realised that children have a natural affinity towards nature.

          The beauty of nature have a profound effect on their senses. Growing with regular contact with nature boosts healthy development, supports their physical and mental health. It instills abilities to assess risk as they grow. It even underpins their informal learning and academic excellence.   The experience of the beautiful through the intellect may reinforce intrinsic values, grounded in its intelligible structure. The simple perception of natural forms is a source of contentment. These act as gateways from outer to the inner world.

      Perhaps we are at nature deficit, we don’t have time to notice the birds calling, the bees buzzing and to enjoy the colours of the changing seasons in the local park, located right across  our own street. Pressures of daily life make us increasingly detached from nature, even though nature in many forms is there for us, at our very doorstep. For instance we can grow certain vegetables and herbs at our home easily, but we rather purchase them , attributing time constraints.

     It is very evident that our affinity towards nature tends to be knocked out as we grow. We come under the vicious circle  of having more material  by passing exams and getting a ‘proper job’.

        In the era of mall culture , there is distorted presentation of reality. An impression comes out as if money is the only answer for seizing the true happines , which can be projected by clothes, cars, and so on, instead of personality and character.  All these effects lead to an inevitable psychological concept of materialism which causes the majority of  us to feel as if all other values are useless.

Its time - Lets take the ‘U’ turn :

       Nature performs miracles everyday, gives us treat like great views , regulates weather provides fresh air and plentiful food. When running the tap or doing shopping its easy to forget that without healthy soils and diverse plant and animals species doing their things, our lives would be tougher and poorer.

             Along with digital distractions and legitimate fears about playing outdoors, we are removing children from nature before our very eyes. ‘Who can blame them for thinking ‘Apple’ is a gadget first and a fruit second?.’

   

    We are unknowingly removing the vital links in the safety chain of life, pulling away life’s building blocks in a risky global game of Jenga.

       Many countries have now understood the importance of nature and have already started nurturing it. For example car-free villages of Switzerland, providing cycling paths, ample play area for kids , rich collection of fauna and flora like open flight aviary of Malaysia , biodiversity parks of South Africa etc. These places facilitate the children to have a closer connection with nature as they grow.

   In the veil of development we are risking our own health and peace of mind. Its time to take the ‘U turn’ our before the sign board changes. Lets add some curiosity, a chunk of attention span, and a dollop of patience to savour the real taste of life.

Author :  Shalini Tripathi

Email id: Shalinisharmacie@gmail.com