Guest Features
August 2022 at Pallavanjali by the Pallavanjali Team
August turned out to be surprisingly high in celebration, vacation, and relaxation. With all these combined students create life-long learnings and friendships. Students marked the calendar with cultural and national festivals, night stay, and most excitedly the outbound camp.
Awesome August – Mountains calling
Festivals
Muharram, Raksha Bandhan, Janmashthami, Ganesh Chaturthi
India is known for a patchwork of cultural festivals, to inculcate the spirit of inclusiveness at all levels students were made aware of the festivals – story, way of celebrating, food, and traditional songs/sayings.
August turned out to be surprisingly high in celebration, vacation, and relaxation. With all these combined, students create life-long learning and friendships. Students marked the calendar with cultural and national festivals, night stay, and most excitedly and outbound camp.
Independence day
Pallavanjali celebrated its 75th Independence Day as ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotshav’, 15th August 2022. The hustle and bustle of planning, practicing and executing added fun and joy to all. The programme included patriotic songs, group dance on patriotic songs, role play by students of our motivating leaders from different walks of life, and an exhibition depicting India’s richly diverse cultural history. The premises came alive with an exhibition ranging from food, embroideries, dances, music, and art. A running presentation of Indian fashion – an amalgamation of traditional and modern wear was the highlight.
Night Stay
The pre-intern group had its first-night stay after the Covid era. The day started with great excitement with students getting in their luggage and keeping it in their allotted spaces. The day unfolded with a preparation to decorate for a birthday party. Self-made is always relished more, so as students prepared pizzas themselves. They built a tent, which added to the fun. Dinner was followed by singing.
The next morning, they woke up fresh and in the mood for more excitement. Parents were already waiting eagerly to pick up their wards.
Camp at Saatal:
Students and educators were in full swing to prepare for the camping trip at Saatal. We had many orientation activities prior to leaving for the camp. At the station parents bid bye to their wards with mixed emotions.
The train journey with friends seemed much shorter than expected. It was bonding time for students, especially those who were stepping out for the first time. In fact, for a few students, it was the first train journey ever. We alighted at Kathgodam with high spirits. Then it was an off-road drive in the cab to the campsite. Settling into a camp is an adventure – tent accommodation, tin toilets, gazebo meals, walk through the woods, and most interestingly the picturesque landscape. Students explored their new surroundings.
Three days of camp flew by with multiple activities, tea siestas, and night walks. Some of the activities included day and night trekking, kayaking, lake swimming, zipline, star gazing, tree-climbing, volleyball, animal petting, bonfire, and musical night. The students relished the variety of meals served, including local kumaoni dishes.
We had to brave thunder, rains, and lightning, the experience was exciting. From theory to real-life days, students were observed in an informal set-up. Nature provides the best sensory input for all senses.
As special needs educators, we realize the need for developing regimes of self-care and independence in our students. From brushing teeth to using the toilet, bathing, eating properly, and much of what seems regular is part of the curriculum.
Some anecdotes from the camp:
Main torch se andere ko dekh raha hoo
mera saya saath chal raha hai
Health and Fitness:
Regular fitness and Yoga sessions helped to cope up with the adrenalin demanding activities during the camp.
We practiced the balancing asana and Mudra of Lord Ganesh , as mark of celebration ‘balance’ during the week of Ganesh Chaturthi.
Day boarders:
The day boarders indulged in various activities – painting, music, drum circle, craft work, indoor games, outdoor games, nature walk, gardening, organizing scrap, reading, etc. Regular sessions for orientation to sexuality and personal grooming are conducted for all students.
Meanwhile, We Bake, the bakery at Pallavanjali was busy completing party orders, both in-house and outside deliveries.
Our mission is to provide experiences for all students to flourish by developing educational and experiential programs.
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