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Terraneo - the untrodden path

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1 2 / 2 / 2 0 0 9

Your cuppa tea

Young Poets

Learning to learn
I extend this newsletter to all of you, as an epitome of how we have changed throughout the year. It is an attempt to highlight our very important change. I will talk a little personal here, but I am sure you will be able to relate this to yourself. I began this year as a person who was perplexed and a person whose thinking was in complete chaos. Confused about how things are, why things are. With all this confusion I started on a path that I thought would make me see things in a clearer light. I began actively participating class activities that were intended to help us engage with the world and ourselves. I am still not clear that the shift of perspective was from good to bad or the other way, or if there is a good or bad at all. But I know have suddenly come to know that I have changed. What would you thinking seeing the 26/11 Mumbai bloodshed Oh poor people, may they rest in peace. I thought the same 6 months ago. I dont say it is wrong, it is sympathy. But now I empathise. I feel the pain although for a moment, but I do. I would not say I am still not confused, but I my thinking is not chaotic any more. I have learned to make an attempt at peeling the layers of meanings from all I see around me.

An great Flutist

An intresting instrument

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

A survey Flutist: Ronu Majumdar In Conversation Students and teachers poTea stories

2 3 4 5 7

Now, this hasnt happened overnight, it is a result of continuous thinking, talking in our normal classes, at home. All this are a part of my and most of our lives. This newsletter is therefore just an extension of our classroom, of our school day in which we learn how to learn. This newsletter is a collection of events that mostly have gone unnoticed, events like SPIC MACAY concert and a re-looking at our CAS visit that all of us do each week, but which go completely unnoticed. This is our newsletter; it has to have our synergy, our effort. For next issues we call upon you to contribute in whatever way you wish to. Join us with your articles, suggestions, ideas and time. Jay Tekwani Student Editor Grade 9

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How effective is our visit to the neighboring village school? Both for us and for them.

Grade 7

5 14
0

Yes No

Lack of time No planning No syllabus

Grade 8

Yes no

13

No Planning Lack of coordination, corrected by a periodic meeting of class representatives.

1 Yes No 16

Grade 9

We need proper syllabus Resources not proper We are not trained

Grade 10

Yes
15 No

Teach basis of life like hygiene and not CAT & BAT.

Yes No

AS level

A level

Yes

Effective for them not for us.

No 5

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Survey conducted by Harsh Kotak (Grade 9) and Kishen Shah (Grade 9).

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Pandit Ronu Majumdar in concert accompanied by

A student reporter writes about his experience of listening to Pt. Ronu Majumdar on the flute Natures got its own harmony and whenever we humans bring ourselves in resonance with the natures harmony we give ourselves a chance to attain the best life possible. One of the very important means to do that is our very own classical music filled with the sweetness of the soil, and highly spiritual. We experienced the power of this music in a performance by Pandit Ronu Majumdar, a well-known flautist who has thrilled music lovers the world over with his music. Our meeting with him was due to an initiative of the school with the Society for Promotion of Music and Culture Amongst the Youth (SPIC MACAY). Under this programme they will bring us artists from around the country who do not usually see perform in our city. We also had a conversation with Panditji. The venue of the concert was the SNK Prep Auditorium. Panditji himself with his flute and his assistant on tabla began with Raga Bhupkali (a mishra or mixed raga fusing Raga Bhupali and Raga Gunakali). Without seeing the technicalities of classical ragas, we plunged into the magnificent aura of music created. The flutes all different in size, different in pitch yet had the same magical effect. Panditji played different compositions on different kinds of flutes. The smaller flute higher had a higher pitch and this created an amazing range. The combination of the two instruments left every one spell bounded. Most of them soon got in resonance with the beautiful harmony of flute and fell into something that was a sort of emptiness, nothingness yet happiness. The mode shifted and Panditji started our Gujarat Folk on his flute what a different yet striking combination. As he started the prayer Vaishnav Jan To by Narsinh Mehta for the peace in India, everyone in the auditorium joined in. It was a positive moment. Young Indians poised to help their country and their fellow countrymen and a man of such a high esteem boosting our morale with his music. The concert was over but the satisfaction and peace it gave us didnt quickly diminish. The important role that the accompanist plays in Indian Classical music was emphasised by panditji with his appreciation of accompanist Ajit Pathak on the tablas. The concert was dedicated to ancient India which in the words of Pt. Ronu Majumdar 'did not have divisions of religion and caste'. "If you love people you cannot kill people. We hope this message of love reaches all people, because those who spread the terror are also people," he said as he closed the concert. The students also observed silence in memory of all those who lost their lives in the Mumbai terror attacks.

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In Convesrsation
With Hemant Nanavati

On 20-21 December, 2009, students of TGIS went to Rupayatan, Junagadh which was the venue for the SPICMACAY state convention. Jay Tekwani of Grade 9 caught up with Hemant Nanavati, the founder of Rupayatan. Here are some excerpts from the interview. Q. We heard Rupayatan is going to launch a Braille Quarterly called Kalrav? Can you tell us more about it? A. We became aware of the fact that the children from around 10-16 age who are visually challenged have surely got there text books in Braille, but there is no other reading material. Therefore, with few famous poems, stories put together in Gujarati Braille would form the content of Kalrav. See, I am not against media but the audio medium has discouraged the learning of Braille and therefore this is also an effort to attract more and more visually challenged people to learn Braille. Therefore its a cumulative effort by Rupayatan and Braille expert Rina Jasani in that direction. Q. Since when have you been conducting programmes for visually challenged children? A. We had a program called Sang Umang in which we helped visually challenged girls. We had a formal seminar during in which we taught them basics of dressing from clothing to a little bit of makeup. Why not do so? They have the right to look like anyone else; what has that got do with the eyes? We explained to them the importance of hygiene. We even had sessions on sex education to help them become more aware and thus prevent sexual exploitation, which they are vulnerable to. Q. Tell us something about Rupayatans services as an institution? A. We provide food, housing and primary education to students of economically weaker background. 50 students from all over Junagadh District are study at our ashramshala here. Q. With what thoughts was Rupayatan brought into force? A. We have always been keen on Human Development and to be specific Child Development. We want our culture to penetrate deep into our childrens mind therefore we are an active part of SPIC MACAY. Our belief always has been to do something different from social service. Activities different from those already happening in the area, because there is no need for overlapping or competing activities. It is does not serve anybody. So we try not to duplicate activities.
TERRANEO THE UNTRODDEN PATH

With Inputs from Pranav Sejpal

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Devi Jagani, Grade 8

Darshneel Rajyaguru, Grade 10 Time to Say Goodbye A sudden pain went through Injured body! And a second after it I was covered Crude blood! My thoughts running At speed of light My happy moments crossed My unstable mind! I remembered my pet still waiting For me! And there was an END Slowly pain vanished accompanying my breathe My eyes wide open as might pop out No sound caught by confused ears Body lie still And I knew it was my turn It was time for departure With body Family and Friends I wanted to cry but had no tears I wanted to walk but no legs I wanted to bash my head but no wall I wanted to hear but no sound I wanted somebody to cry but no one there Eyes, left with unrecognizable life, was covered in

The Popcorn Seller

A cricket match To a spectator, it is an experience And to a player, it is a matter of victory But, for me its usual a question of survival. I have to walk in-between the crowds And under the burning sun Calling out for a penny That I badly need To fill my tummy. I have to earn For my starving kids at home And the dreams dreamt by my own. I have to take home money To nurse back to m my old father To buy flour for my mother to roast some rotis. I have many everyday jobs You might think of me as a lucky chap Who gets to gaze at famous cricketers And their games But, indeed these are the package deal privileges of selling popcorn and being a common man.

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Lines on overhearing a Biology lesson

The following lines are a spontaneous response by a teacher on overhearing a Biology lesson one perfectly regular school afternoon

The heart is a chamber It is divided A Chamber divided, separated into which the blood rushes in A deafening pace A thunderous flow Confident and vulnerable Baring itself to the route mapped for it Knowing that itll be stripped of all it has That itll be cleansed, purged of all it has accumulated Sent to places unknown Mixed with mysterious potions That these mysteries will then dictate the new route That never again will it get to flow through the known and the familiar And yet, never a quiver in the flow that enters the chambers Always trusting, always pliant Ready to lose the richness of experience it gained in its journeys Expecting the scorn to be faced All set for the treasured accumulated aromas to be peeled off and called impure, unholy, unwanted, inconsequential even damaging to the being All of this it accepts and without a demur

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We bring you two stories about tea. Mr. Parag Fatehpuria, who has joined us this year and teaches Economics and Geography, has also been a Process Manager at Makaibari, one of the finest tea gardens in India. He tells us more about what goes into making our early morning cup of tea. The other tea story is a snippet from the memory of our History teacher Mr. Shivaji Wala. Parag Fatehpuria At Makaibari tea estate Job: Process Manager, June 93 to Dec 95 Place: Makaibari Tea Estste, Darjeeling. About Makaibari Situated at 3,000 - 4,000 feet the Himalayas, Makaibari (literally meaning maize land) is the first biodynamic, fairtrade certified tea estate in the world. It provides home and livelihood to a community of 1,700 people. Makaibari grows some of the finest quality of orthodox tea in the country. The Darjeeling tea has been given a GI (geographical Identification) for its unique taste and aroma. It is mildly flavoured and light in colour. Various grades and qualities of tea are produced from the same garden. The quality may vary depending on sunshine, rainfall, temperature and the soil cover and depth. The quality of the tea can and does change from year to year. About tea planting Tea growing offers the largest employment in the Darjeeling hills. The turnover of the Darjeeling tea industry being larger than tourism in the region. Because of its location, Darjeeling was the summer headquarters of the Bengal government under the British Raj and a popular vacation spot. The process The tea plant can be in a crop yield cycle for about 20 years. It needs to be replanted after that. Tea is picked thrice a year. The harvests are called the First, Second and the Third flush respectively. Normally, the overall product quality is best for the second flush. The output in terms of volume is maximum in the first flush. The leaves are picked in the early part of the day and then collected at the factory on the garden itself. The tea is then spread out on hessian to dry in the shade. (Never in the sun as it leads to loss of natural colour). The dry leaves are then packed in aluminum-lined wooden tea chests, so that the tea does not lose aroma and moisture. A sample is drawn from every lot produced then tasted and graded by a tea taster(a is a highly specialised job) which then leads to setting a minimum price for a particular lot, taking into account the last auction price for that particular grade. The garden does not use even a single gram of chemical input (fertiliser/pesticide). The commercial aspect The tea from this garden is priced between Rs. 600 to Rs. 20, 000 per kg. The crop of this garden is mostly used in developed countries like Japan, UK, Germany, etc. The entire industry is highly labour intensive. My day at Makaibari My day began at 4am with the monitoring of the plucking of tea leaves till 8 am, since no tea leaves are plucked after sunrise. There is usually 12-14 kms of travelling on foot everyday as the spread of the garden is vast. My experience Wonderful outdoor fun and a lot to learn!

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Shivaji Wala Kalapatta ni cha Kunkavav Junction. A small railway station on the Bhavnagar-Jetalsar railway line in Saurashtra area of Gujarat. It would have been just an ordinary railway station like many such small stations all over India. This one, however, became renowned around the 1940s and 50s for nothing but the ready made tea that was served on the platform. Mohanbhai Marwadi had a tea stall on the platform. He served tea prepared from pure sugar (when there was sugar rationing) with clove, cardamoms and other masalas creating a unique flavour. People passing the station even at midnight would not miss a cup of 'Kala patta ni cha', whose name had spread all over the country as far as Calcutta and the extreme south. Marwari dressed his boys in uniform with a cross black belt which had Kala patta ni cha written on it to identify them. The tea was always prepared fresh and never re-boiled and served. The quality was what made his customers his permanent clients. There was no marketing as such but those who had once tasted the tea would become his free canvassers. The message was carried by the wind (on Vavad as we say in Saurashtra) and passed far and wide. People still remember the taste although years have gone by since Mohanbhai passed away. Neither his descendents nor his relatives could maintain his standards and the tea lost its charm and the stall lost the customers. When one passes on the BhavnagarJetalsar line today, Kala patta ni cha remains a legend.
SOME FACTS Not so bubbly The once flourishing tea gardens of Darjeeling serving as the backbone of the region have been faced with many problems over the past two decades. Many tea gardens have been closed due to insufficient funds and lack of ownership, raising the problem of unemployment. Millions of kilograms of tea, way beyond the actual production in the region, is sold as "Darjeeling Tea" around the world, most of it coming from Sri Lanka and Kenya. Fake Darjeeling Tea According to the Tea Board Of India, "Darjeeling Tea" means: "tea which has been cultivated, grown, produced, manufactured and processed in tea gardens (current schedule whereof is attached hereto) in the hilly areas of Sadar Sub-Division, only hilly areas of Kalimpong SubDivision comprising of Samabeong Tea Estate, Ambiok Tea Estate, Mission Hill Tea Estate and Kumai Tea Estate and Kurseong Sub-Division excluding the areas in jurisdiction list 20,21,23,24,29,31 and 33 comprising Subtiguri Sub-Division of New Chumta Tea Estate, Simulbari and Marionbari Tea Estate of Kurseong Police Station in Kurseong Sub-Division of the District of Darjeeling in the State of West Bengal, India. Tea which has been processed and manufactured in a factory located in the aforesaid area, which, when brewed, has a distinctive, naturally occurring aroma and taste with light tea liquour and the infused leaf of which has a distinctive fragrance."

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Victory in the French and Indian War was costly for the British. At the war's conclusion in 1763, King George III and his government looked to taxing the American colonies as a way of recouping their war costs. They were also looking for ways to reestablish control over the colonial governments that had become increasingly independent while the Crown was distracted by the war. Royal ineptitude compounded the problem. A series of actions including the Stamp Act (1765), the Townsend Acts (1767) and the Boston Massacre (1770) agitated the colonists, straining relations with the mother country. But it was the Crown's attempt to tax tea that spurred the colonists to action and laid the groundwork for the American Revolution. The colonies refused to pay the levies required by the Townsend Acts claiming they had no obligation to pay taxes imposed by a Parliament in which they had no representation. In response, Parliament retracted the taxes with the exception of a duty on tea - a demonstration of Parliament's ability and right to tax the colonies. In May of 1773 Parliament concocted a clever plan. They gave the struggling East India Company a monopoly on the importation of tea to America. Additionally, Parliament reduced the duty the colonies would have to pay for the imported tea. The Americans would now get their tea at a cheaper price than ever before. However, if the colonies paid the duty tax on the imported tea they would be acknowledging Parliament's right to tax them. Tea was a staple of colonial life - it was assumed that the colonists would rather pay the tax than deny themselves the pleasure of a cup of tea. The colonists were not fooled by Parliament's ploy. When the East India Company sent shipments of tea to Philadelphia and New York the ships were not allowed to land. In Charleston the tea-laden ships were permitted to dock but their cargo was consigned to a warehouse where it remained for three years until it was sold by patriots in order to help finance the revolution. In Boston, the arrival of three tea ships ignited a furious reaction. The crisis came to a head on December 16, 1773 when as many as 7,000 agitated locals milled about the wharf where the ships were docked. A mass meeting at the Old South Meeting House that morning resolved that the tea ships should leave the harbor without payment of any duty. A committee was selected to take this message to the Customs House to force release of the ships out of the harbor. The Collector of Customs refused to allow the ships to leave without payment of the duty. Stalemate. The committee reported back to the mass meeting and a howl erupted from the meeting hall. It was now early evening and a group of about 200 men disguised as Indians assembled on a near-by hill. Whopping war chants, the crowd marched two-by-two to the wharf, descended upon the three ships and dumped their offending cargos of tea into the harbor waters. George Hewes was a member of the band of "Indians" that boarded the tea ships that evening. His recollection of the event (given below) was published some years later. "It was now evening, and I immediately dressed myself in the costume of an Indian, equipped with a small hatchet, which I and my associates denominated the tomahawk, with which, and a club, after having painted my face and hands with coal dust in the shop of a blacksmith, I repaired to Griffin's wharf, where the ships lay that contained the tea. When I first appeared in the street after being thus disguised, I fell in with many who were dressed, equipped and painted as I was, and who fell in with me and marched in order to the place of our destination. When we arrived at the wharf, there were three of our number who assumed an authority to direct our operations, to which we readily submitted. They divided us into three parties, for the purpose of boarding the three ships which contained the tea at the same time. The name of him who commanded the division to which I was assigned was Leonard Pitt. The names of the other commanders I never knew. We were immediately ordered by the respective commanders to board all the ships at the same time, which we promptly obeyed. The commander of the division to which I belonged, as soon as we were on board the ship, appointed me boatswain, and ordered me to go to the captain and demand of him the keys to the hatches and a dozen candles. I made the demand accordingly, and the captain promptly replied, and delivered the articles; but requested me at the same time to do no damage to the ship or rigging. We then were ordered by our commander to open the hatches and take out all the chests of tea and throw them overboard, and we immediately proceeded to execute his orders, first cutting and splitting the chests with our tomahawks, so as thoroughly to expose them to the effects of the water. In about three hours from the time we went on board, we had thus broken and thrown overboard every tea chest to be found in the ship, while those in the other ships were disposing of the tea in the same way, at the same time. We were surrounded by British armed ships, but no attempt was made to resist us. ...The next morning, after we had cleared the ships of the tea, it was discovered that very considerable quantities of it were floating upon the surface of the water; and to prevent the possibility of any of its being saved for use, a number of small boats were manned by sailors and citizens, who rowed them into those parts of the harbor wherever the tea was visible, and by beating it with oars and paddles so thoroughly drenched it as to render its entire destruction inevitable."

Out of steam, Darjeeling toy train endangers world heritage status RAJESH KUMAR
;NEW DELHI, JUNE 5: The UNESCO has taken a serious note of the ``crude'' changes made by the Railways in the toy train in Darjeeling -- the century-old steam engines have been partially replaced with diesel locomotives. This follows the controversy over the constructions at the other World Heritage Site of Hampi in Karnataka. Being run by the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), the world's first ever hill railways built in 1888 on narrow gauge was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) last year for its outstanding universal value for future generations. The regional in-charge for UNESCO's cultural projects, Prithvi Raj Perera, has in a letter written to its World Heritage Bureau in Paris asked it to tell the Indian Government not to tamper with the original character of the heritage property which ``truly belongs to the world''. ``The Government of India, being a party to the World Heritage Convention of 1972, should respect its norms and should not do anything that endangers or alters the basic structure of the site, which is of immense historical value and world importance,'' Perera told The Indian Express. Otherwise, he warned, the UNESCO could withdraw the special status. There have been vociferous protests by NGOs and others on the partial introduction of diesel engines there. Ashwani Lohani, former director of the Rail Museum and now a director in the Union Ministry of Tourism, who was responsible for drafting the project report seeking the coveted status for the property, is angry. ``Steam traction is one of the most important components of the outstanding universal value of this rail that presents an engineering marvel. The Indian Railways, by replacing it with the diesel locomotives on the line, has violated the very ground for declaring it a World Heritage Site.'' The DHR India Support Group of the Indian Steam Railway Society (ISRS) has even blamed the `dieselisation' of the 88-km Siliguri-Darjeeling service for an accident on the tracks on June 1 that left four tourists injured. Two bogies, along with a new diesel engine, had overturned at Dhungekuthi between Kurseong and Mahanadi stations while the train was negotiating a curve coming down from Darjeeling. The main road which runs alongside is blocked and all traffic had to be suspended. Countering the Railways' argument that the locomotives were faster, Lohani and Perera argue that while diesel was more polluting than steam, for the tourists visiting Darjeeling the real experience of the journey was in enjoying the breathtakingly beautiful landscape at a leisurely pace. ``The induction of diesel locomotives was a hasty decision taken as a shortcut to avoid the pains of floating and finalising a tender for modern steam locomotives. Two of the diesel locomotives which were already working (not so successfully) on the Matheran line near Bombay were packed off for Darjeeling and were inducted on the line after rather hurried trials,'' says Harsh Vardhan, director of the ISRS. Quoting the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) of the Railways, he says the existing tracks were not suitable for the `heavy' diesel engines and, therefore, needed to be upgraded by replacing the wooden sleepers with concrete ones. ``The authorities, obsessed as they are with the diesel engines, will now go for improvement of the track and strengthening of sharp curves at a cost of millions of rupees when they can invest the same money in building new steam locomotives to retain the original character of the train,'' says Harsh Vardhan. V K Aggarwal, Chairman of the Railway Board, when contacted, refused to comment on the issue. Source: Indian Express

For the next issue we want more contribution from all of you. Any suggestions, contributions and ideas are accepted. The next issues have to be our effort We would wish to have a meeting, where we could discuss the future of our newsletter. This issue was designed by Harshil Pambhar and Jay Tekwani. Teacher editor : Gopika mam Thank You readers.