We are adding news items to this newsletter throughout the month rather than compile them at the end of the month. Do visit this page regularly to read further additions.

The School KFI played host to the Poetry Reading Festival being organised by the Prakrithi Foundation, in association with Landmark. This morning's reading was by the well known Indian poet Gieve Patel, a doctor who is also a poet and artist. He seems to be equally accomplished in all these fields and he came across as a genial human being who enjoys the small and big moments of life.

The Assembly Hall was packed with students, teachers and visitors. The large windows let in the cool December breeze the children sat crosslegged on the tile floor and listened with quiet attention. Mr Patel explained the context that gave the impetus to write the poem and then read the poem. This really helped us to visualize the scene and follow the poem with ease. Patel first read out poems he wrote as a young student. One of these was the result of the shock he felt when, after a stormy night, he went to the college campus to find a huge peepul tree lying uprooted. 'On Killing a Tree' records the thoughts and feelings that rose out of this experience. Other poems that were touching and thought provoking were 'Catholic Mother' and the 'Beggar Woman'. The second part of his reading was from the anthology of poems written by children, edited by him, and published by the Sahitya Academy. This was the result of his workshops in Rishi Valley School. Patel read out the works of well known poets to the children and then urged the children to write poems of their own. The children here, responded to all these poems spontaneously, especially the one about adults nagging them with do's and don'ts, the one about a three legged dog on campus called Tripod, and the one about a dilapidated school that had no teacher.

Question time produced a lively discussion about how a poem takes shape in the mind of the poet, and how it is finally 'finished' on the page. One student wanted to know if poetry writing worked like a release mechanism for him, for, being a doctor he would have to control his emotions and be detached all the time at work. Patel answered with finesse. There is a tension between inolvement and non-invlovement in a good doctor and the same tension also works when writing poetry.

It was all in all a very enjoyable morning.

As I walked out of the campus, I saw two little children crouched on the pathway, gently picking up seeds with all the wonder and curiosity that only children can have. What a beautiful campus and how wonderfully The School KFI nurtures them!

- Padma Malini (Visitor)

group of  four to five students from class 12 make a trip to the Tibetan settlement in Bylakuppe, Karnataka. The purpose of the trip is to create awareness and to sensitize students to the Tibetan issue and to understand some of the difficulties of our times. This year 5 students from the school , namely Rohit, Mridula, Priyanka, Pushya and Sabrina had volunteered to go on the trip. The duration of the trip was 4 full days and a day of traveling.

The trip was organized by the Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holines Dalai Lama. There were a total of 6 schools that participated in the inter-school program. The schools were THE SCHOOL-K.F.I, The Valley school-K.F.I, and four other Tibetan schools which are based in Bylakuppe. The inter-school program consisted of various activities. The students were given a brief on the history of Tibet and the current state of the issue. There was a lot of opportunity for the students to interact with the Tibetan students and to find out about their lives and how it was to live so far away from their home - The Roof of The World. Students visited the local schools, monasteries and the village and got to know more about their culture and way of living. Students got the opportunity to see the famous Monk debate in which nearly 1600 monks participated. Every morning students were given a talk on the basic tenets of Buddhism and had the opportunity of doing guided meditation with Khangsar Rinpoche. Every evening a movie about Tibet was screened to give the participating students a better understanding of the whole issue of China and Tibet. The movies were Dreaming Lhasa , Kundun and Seven years in Tibet.

There were a series of talks held on various issues such as abolishing examinations, chances of Tibet getting back its freedom, and global warming. Each of the participating schools had to put up a skit on a theme of their choice. On the last day, a debate was held on global warming. Two students from each school were nominated. One was asked to argue against the issue and the other for the issue. This debate gave the students an opportunity to look at the issue from many angles instead of the same hackneyed view. The  students of the school were happy about the trip and consider it an invaluable experience. All of them hope to see a free Tibet in the future.

By Sri Vidya (Class 9)

The students who just graduated from the school Mount Barker Waldorf performed the 'Conference Of The Birds' in The School on the 21st of January 2008.

The conference of the birds was originally a poem written by Farid ud-Din Attar in the 12th century. The play was directed by Jo-Anne Sarre. The music played a big role in the play. William keyte, his daughter Naomi keyte, and three other students, Alex, Thomas, and Joel composed the music and used over 20 instruments. This performance was their 12th one, and a brilliant one at that!

It starts off with all birds quarrelling with each other. The hoopoe tells them about Simorgh, the King of All Birds. Stories are told by the hoopoe to convince the birds to come with him on the journey to find this land, across deserts and valleys, where Simorgh resides.

The journey then begins, to find Simorgh, after one by one, most of the birds drop out of the journey, each with his own excuse. The birds cross the desert, and come to a point, where they readily give up their physical bodies. They then must cross 7 valleys; the first two being the valleys of quest and love. Eventually, the survivors reach the land of Simorgh, where they realize that Simorgh is none other than himself or herself.

The story is an allegory of one's life. It revolves around the journey that every human being must take to understand that a divine energy exists within everyone. The play is both realistic and sort of abstract as it uses symbolism throughout. The hoopoe represents guidance and inspiration, the nightingale, a lover who is too caught up in its love for the rose, the parrot, who feels secure inside its small cage, the falcon, who is egoistic and pretends to be strong while in truth, was a vulnerable and insecure character, and the sparrow who felt it was too weak and refuses to step out. These are all human characteristics. Each of the valleys symbolizes the stages that one must go through to find themselves. Personally, the play made me think about all the various excuses that one gives to escape life.

The props were given great importance. Every little detail was thought out so that the play could be understood better. For instance, to enter the valleys, the actors passed through two sticks held by two others. The lighting and music were also thought out well. The music was there throughout; Naomi keyte sang beautifully, with different tunes for apt situations. The lighting was something that really excited me; every time the birds put their hands down together, the lights would dim and when they put their hands back up, the lights would slowly come back on! The music, the lighting, and the acting were brought about with excellent synchronization. Also, the positioning of the actors proved to be very helpful. For example, when the birds were flying, they would form a sort of a 'V'.

The space was used well, as entrances were made both from the front and back of the hall. There was one scene in which thieves enter from behind the audience and direct their dialogues at whoever was in their way! That way, the actors both involved the audience and kept their attention throughout. Another thing I really liked was that each of the characters had their own walk. This showed that each of them had a different character or personality.

On talking to the actors, we found out that they read the script and chose three characters they really liked, and then the director would choose the one that would most suit the student(some students had more than one role too). Two weeks after deciding their characters, they were ready to perform!

Overall the play was very enjoyable and thought-provoking at the same time.

- Sri Vidya (Class 9)

Patua artists Moyna and Joydeb Chitrakar were in Chennai at the end of August to conduct a workshop for children from KFI The School and Olcott Memorial. Organised by Tara Publishing, the workshop introduced children to a unique form of community art, and attempted to approach art education from a non-Western point of view.

Patua is an ancient art form practised in West Bengal. The artists sing and recount stories by painting them in sequence – almost like a storyboard – onto long scrolls. Traditionally, patua artists worked within their own repertoire of stories and tales, but over time they have begun adapting their unique form to reporting events such as 9/11 and the tsunami, and even to spread messages on social issues. Each scroll is has its own song, reminiscent of the time when this art form was used to aid performances. The artists of old carried the scrolls with them singing for alms, now the scrolls are valued as art and sold separately, but songs continue to be intrinsic to the creation of the scrolls. The entire community paints, with everyone in the family assisting in the making of scrolls and composing of songs, and children starting to paint from a very young age.

During the five days of the workshop, the children, from ages 9 to 17, were introduced to Patua art, the idea of community art, and working together and telling stories thorough art. The ideas of drawing from the imagination and drawing to communicate were stressed upon. The children formed pairs and began working on their story-songs and their scrolls. A couple of the older children found it difficult to abandon the idea of depicting-as-is-seen that they had been taught in their art classes. A few of the younger ones were unsure about drawing itself, some had not even used paints and brushes before.

Moyna and Joydeb showed the children how they first composed their scenes based on the story, sketched the figures in roughly, painted the background colours and finally filled in the details – lines, patterns, faces – to complete a scroll. The demonstration calmed nerves considerably, and the children settled down to sketch and paint, reassured by the fact that Moyna and Joydeb were within calling distance for a quick consultation on anything from the colour of a character’s dhoti to how to show an earthquake’s destruction.

By the end of day five, frothing volcanoes, irrepressible jokers, philosophical fathers and benign elephants burst out of long, colourful scrolls. Detailed borders mimicking the traditional Patua motifs of flowers and leaves edged each scroll. The children proudly displayed their scrolls and sang, recited or told their stories.

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