Rice Stories with dirty feet

On 3rd August we went with Dirty Feet to the rice fields.
That day was friendship day. I was very excited to spend my special day with my friends.

When we reached the rice fields, we played in the empty ones. In the muddy water I couldnt see anything. When Krisha came near me, I pushed her in the muddy water. She fell in! Splash! Splash! Splash!

We ploughed the fields and planted paddy, rode on a tractor. 

Then we took some pictures with my other friend Veda.

Later we washed ourselves and changed our clothes. 

We went into the bus and had some snacks. While getting off the bus, Nivedita aunty gave each of us a packet of rice.

I enjoyed the trip. It was my best Friendship Day ever!
 

Poem - FRUITS

Fruit in the basket,
fruit on the tree
Fruit is everywhere you like to be!

Fruit is a special thing
we love to eat!
we love to make salad
and enjoy the treat

- by Aatreyee

Written & illustrated (to be updated later) by Aatreyee on 8th August, 2013

History of dance

My dance teacher taught us the history of dance that follows :

Long ago, there was a fight between Asuras and Devas. Then some of the devas went to Lord Bramha and asked him to create something that would bring happiness in their life. After that Bramha created the fifth veda called Natya Veda. Then he gave it to Bharata muni then Bharatamuni showed it to Lord Shiva and Parvati. After looking at the dance of Bharatamuni Shiva taught him the male dance - Tandava and Parvati taught the female dance - Lasiya.

Then Bharatamuni went to all the countries and taught them dance.

The 8 classical dances :

1. Kuchipudi - Andhrapradesh

2. bharathanatyam - Tamilnadu

3. odissi - Orissa

4. kathak - north India

5. kathakali - kerala

6. moneypuri - moneypuri [that's Manipuri - Manipur for the uninitiated!! ;)] 

7. moiniardum - kerala [mohiniattam]

8 shatriya - Assam [Sattriya]

The story of the STORY STORE HOUSE

Aatreyee aka Momo had started writing in her "Storywriting" Book when she was all of six years and a bit more. She still writes, often on her own, often prodded by us to jot down some memorable event / incident of her  7 year old life.

As I flipped through the pages of the little author's storywriting book, I could see the lead pencil writings fading into oblivion... I was saddened. I wanted to keep alive the little girl's little scribbles and doodles and writings for posterity....for her to relive the memories, to laugh out aloud at the first glimpses of her creativity put into words. But I didnt want to edit and correct the mistakes....hence I just typed them out as they were, with or without mistakes, punctuations, incorrect tenses etc...for us and her to reminisce the little nuances of her childhood during her grown up years!

I left the naming of the e-version of her story book to her....she gave me three options : The FlipFlap ; The Story Store House; The Cottage Book. I chose the Story Store House.

As she grows older and if she wishes to continue "writing" in this little space of her own, she is free to name it as she wishes...

For now it is THE STORY STORE HOUSE

Trip to Pondicherry

From Hyderabad we started on 9th May. My mother wanted to give me a suprise. So she told me we are going to Kolkata by train. But when we reached, it was Chennai !

In Chennai we had our breakfast in Hyatt, the best hotel of Chennai. In Chennai Airport my grandparents and aunt were waiting for us. I was thrilled to see them and loved this surprise. We picked them and went to Pondicherry by an online booked car (inova).

There we stayed in Wind*Flower. Wind*Flower is a beautiful resort. There was a giant chess board in the middle of the lawn. Geese were playing all around. They looked pretty. On the first day we went on a boat ride. it was scary and exciting. And we went for swimming.

On the second day we went to Aurobindo Ashram. We went to a ganesh temple and saw lakshmi the elephant. I was scared but I enjoyed it too. For lunch, we went to a French restraunt and in the evening we went to the beach.

On the third day I took bath in the open shower of our room and we checked out from WF.

Our next destination was Auroville. On the way we had delicious lunch at Roma's Kitchen. For one day we stayed in Japanese Cottage of Afsana Guest House.

The next morning it was drizzling. It was lush green and lotus has bloomed in tiny ponds. We had our breakfast in the afsana guest house restraunt. We went to seen the Golden Globe (Matri Mandir). Then we had our lunch in a good restaurant. Our next stop was Mahabali Puram which had beautiful ancient rock carvings.

From there we went to the Chennai airport.

I loved and enjoyed the trip.

Written by Aatreyee after her Pondicherry visit during Summer Vacation with the family, Grandparents & Mashi.

This was written over a period of 2 weeks during May 2013 after combined coaxing and prodding by her Dadu and father.

Toy made of Cream

Abonindranath Tagore's "Kheerer Putul" translated by Aatreyee

Once upon a time there was a king who had two queens. The small queen was very happy. She had a cupboard full of jewellery. She had 7 palaces and 7 maid servants to please her. She was the King's heart.

The big queen was very sad. The king gave her a small and broken house to live in.

After a while he thought of going out to another kingdom, His servants prepared the ships for 7 months and there were 7 ships.

Before going to another kingdom he asked his small queen what she wants. She said : I want bangles like red blood, white necklace with a big diamond in the middle, pail ('payel' as in পাযেল)  with white beads and sari like the blue sky and like the blue water. Then he went to his big queen. And asked  what she wants. She said : I want a black faced monkey. The king brought everything the queens of his had asked. As the small queen was the king's heart, he went to her first. But things which were bought by the king were no use because they were small or large for  her. So she threw them in front of the king. Then the king went to the big queen and gave her the  monkey. She was very happy to see the monkey. The monkey grew in the care of the big queen.

Once the monkey asked : Mother why do you look at the palace and cry? 
The queen said-I cry because I was the queen and the wicked queen took my palace. 
Monkey -Mother don't cry, just wait for 10 months. Then you will have a baby.

Then he went to the king and gave the news to him. Then the king made a palace for her. After a while the small queen sent her servant (a which witch) and poisened her. The monkey asked : what did you do to my mother. I should save mother.  He saved his mother. And took the news to the king. The monkey said : That small queen poisened her. Her white face has become so black we cant recognize her.Then the king put the small queen in prison.

After few days,the monkey took the news to the king- she has a son.
King-Come let me see it.
Monkey-No my lord , if you see him now you will become blind. After 10 years, in his marriage, you see him.
King then he asked about the big queen's health .
After the queen became fine she made a doll using cream. The next day when he was on the marriage cart, Shosti Thakur ate it. Then the monkey caught hold of her and said :give me my cream doll. She said I dont have more cream. That's why go look in that basket. See my babies are playing. Take one of them. He took one of them and gave marriage. And they lived happily ever after. 

 

Translated by Aatreyee after watching the Bengali animation film "Kheerer Putul" based on Abanindranath's Children's folk story of the same name

Brick Making

With Dirty Feet this time we went to see how bricks are made. The people of Orrisa make the bricks.

How to make bricks 

Step 1 : We should dig the mud in summers.

Step 2 : Then we should make ball of mud.

Step 3 : Apply paddy husks to the mud and mix it with your feet.

Step 4 : Apply some flyash to the mud and place the mud in a mold.

Step 5 : Take the mold to a plain place and remove the mud from the mold.

Step 6 : Then burn it in the brick kiln. when it is hard enough that is called a brick.

Wow! It was amazing to make a Brick. Now it's your chance to make a brick.

Brick Making Pic : courtesy Dirty Feet

Written by Aatreyee after her trip to the Brick Kiln with Dirty Feet on 16th February 2013.

Though I cannot verify the accuracy of the steps of brick making she has jotted down, I was impressed that the Dirty Feet team could successfully impart the knowledge to these kids....I guess this is the advantage of hands on experience!

 

 

Veggie Farm with Dirty Feet

On Saturday I went to many farms. I went with Dirty Feet. 

I woke up early in the morning at 6:00 AM. I got redy by 6:30AM. My mother wanted to give me a surprise. The surprise was my friend would come with me to the farms. I was excited when I saw my friend. 

First we went in a tracktor. From the tracktor we could see many pady fields, corn fields, birds, birds' nest. It was beautiful.


Then we went to a paddy field filled with water. I liked the paddies and wheat plants.






In that field there was a lemon tree we picked lemon from it.

Then we went to a sunflower field. The sunflowers looked like a huge yellow butterfly with black spots. All the sunflowers were swaying in the wind but one was standing straight & still like a statue. All the sunflowers were facing the east. 

There were scarecrows too. 

There we ate sunflower seeds. I enjoyed there. 

Then we went to a corn field. We pealed the corns. I enjoyed pealing the corns. 

We went to cotton field too! 

The cotton plants were shrubs. They had thorns.  In the cotton there were cotton seeds. I enjoyed there. 

Finally we went to a potato farm! The potatoes were under the ground. We helped the farmer by digging the potatoes. 

We went to a farmers house to eat our lunch. 

We boarded the bus and came home. 

We bought a bag full of things - lemon, corns, cornflowers, sunflowers, potatoes, cotton. 

That was wonderful to learn how farmers grow different kinds of crops.

All farm pics : courtesy Dirty Feet.

This was written by Aatreyee on 9th February 2013, the same day as the trip. She was super duper excited. So much so that she wouldnt let us touch her harvest and even prepared Alu Chaat for all of us with the potatoes they had collected.

The sketches were part of the write up she had written. Now when I showed her the pics of her sketches, she's mortified as to how I could put up these "horrible drawings" !!!  

Trip with Dirty Feet

I was enjoying my Sankranti holidays from 5th Jan onwards. On 12th Jan I went on a half-day camp with a group called Dirty Feet.

My mom woke me up at 5 o'clock in the morning and I got ready by 6-15 am..
I reached the bus stop at Chutneys at 6-30 in the morning.

The first place we went was to feed the pigeons.




then we had our breakfast.
then we went to see the fifteen day old emu.






In the farm we saw quails and a baby turkey.

Then we went to see the ducks and geese and turkeys.













Then off to the rabbit farm. we played with the rabbits and fed them carrots


  

We went inside the emu cage of the emu farm. The emu pecked one aunty!

We were accompanied by Nivedita mam. She gave me a kite as a sankranti gift. I want to join Dirty Feet again.

 

All farm pictures : courtesy Dirty Feet

A little writeup after Aatreyee's first trip with the Dirty Feet.
We were skeptical whether she would enjoy herself with a group of strangers. So her father accompanied her on her first outing with the group. But the fear was unfounded....enjoy she did and her Baba was in the background watching his little-big-girl enjoying herself with her peers!!