Fooniferse

The brilliant Srivi Kalyan would be conducting a workshop,Becoming lake,wing,tail,flower' ,at the CCLF on 27th and 28th January,2017.

Hamsa The 'Hamsa' birds that helped many cross strange oceans, now fluttering in the sea wild and angry. Let your wound heal with a swim in calmer waters, let the struggle make you fierce like water- one...

Book Launch_Coming Home to Earth_Ilango and Srivi Book Launch at 23rd August at Leela Palace Supported and sponsored by Sublime Galleria While art is widely understood as a form of creative expression and co...

A fantastic roller coaster of 3 years later - our book is finally ready.

"While art is widely understood as a form of creative expression and communication, in much of traditional Eastern thought it is also seen as a mode of transcendental experience. Through this book, we invite readers to not only engage with the expressive nature of the arts, but also become aware of its transcendental nature and to see it as a path towards deep reflection, as yoga. To this end the book looks at four critical areas of thinking: Artistic Inquiry. Ecological Consciousness. Finding our True Centre. Creative Practice
Artistic practice and philosophy form an essential whole. Each artist arrives at his or her own philosophical state of being through their journey in art. Sometimes they are driven by the richness of art, at other times by the textures of philosophy. Reflecting at the juncture of philosophy and artistic practice within the frames of our modern context is challenging. In this book, we offer a framework that blends both and sets a base for artistic inquiry into life and self."

Ashvin Mehta: An unremembered master One of India’s most important photographers, died recently, unremembered by a society in the grip of collective amnesia

“Must the interest of life wane for us all as the progress of knowledge curtails the playground of imagination? No doubt it must in some measure, but there is another cause.

I believe that in these days we have too many occupations, too many interests; we know too many things, and, if you will, have too many advantages and facilities. Our faculty of taking an interest is dissipated and frittered away.”
― Eha, A Naturalist On The Prowl

"A writer should concern himself with whatever absorbs his fancy, stirs his heart, and unlimbers his typewriter. I feel no obligation to deal with politics. I do feel a responsibility to society because of going into print: a writer has the duty to be good, not lousy; true, not false; lively, not dull; accurate, not full of error. He should tend to lift people up, not lower them down. Writers do not merely reflect and interpret life, they inform and shape" - E.B.White life.http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/17/e-b-white-paris-review-interview/

E. B. White on the Role and Responsibility of the Writer "Writers do not merely reflect and interpret life, they inform and shape life." Today, I'm headed to Columbia to take part in a symposium

An interesting exercise that my students and I worked on this year opened our minds to think afresh about our lives - Think of a list of ways in which history - People, events, trends, places have influenced / have potential to impact your journey as an individual. Use Social, Cultural, Environmental, Economic and Political lenses to draw an intricate map that shows the connections. Reflect on your ideas of growth and justice - A fascinating project, do try and share your maps and reflections!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mql99oHT1I - "Passion, commitment, discipline and integrity are vital to creativity" - Alarmel Valli

Such a powerful talk! Must watch!

Often when I am teaching arts or writing, I am asked to teach creativity in a session, a month, sometimes even prove my capacity to teach creativity with each output by every student and I wonder, how little we understand the word. "Being true to oneself and one's art" is at the heart of creativity, 'hard work' and practice as prayer, "enrichment", "nature" "Values and ethics" "compassion"... so much goes into truly being creative. And even then, it is a big word to use whose meaning we must unravel day by day in our living and work. And both teacher and learner come together to construct this living word in the arts. It is not an end goal but a journey. Those of you who have asked me what I do in education or what I hope to do through Fooniferse, well this is the heart of it! What a joyous find this morning!

Role of arts in resurrecting humanity: Alarmel Valli at TEDxSAIRAM Ms. Alarmél Valli is a leading Bharatanatyam dancer and choreographer, acclaimed internationally for her ability to turn a traditional grammar into a subtle,...

Five year olds are way too amazing with the essence of poetry. Another incredible session. Kids brought favourite poems back from their home, poems that their family members like and what amazing discussions we had and we read - Rabindranath Tagore, Ruskin Bond, Robert Frost, William Wordsworth, poems by aunts, fathers, sisters, brothers, Langston Hughes, A.A.Milne, Kenn Nesbit, William Blake, Emily Dickinson and we are not done yet!

Thanks to all the parents for participating so enthusiastically and sharing so many poems they loved.

It is amazing how they can spot a beautiful line, a lovely visual, a silent moment and a thoughtful note....

" I have heard the liquid murmur of the river through the darkness of midnight;) - From Tagore's ' The First Jasmines" was loved by a lot of kids. Reasoning - It is quiet at night and it will be beautiful.

" And the sea so complete in itself,
Rests like a raindrop
On the hand of God."
- Ruskin Bond, "Raindrop"
_ Some of the kids who liked these lines said, they love the idea of the sea as a raindrop on a hand!

and so many many more responses to so many complex and difficult poems, where even though they didn't understand all the words, they often got the general drift of the poem and had their thoughts to share....

One of the most powerful ones was for another Poem by Ruskin Bond -
" If a song brought a shower,
and a gun grew a flower,
This world would be nicer than most"

One of the boys who liked these lines said - "I love guns, but I don't want to hurt anyone. so if guns grew flowers it would be nice"

Sometimes a simple, tiring day becomes a blessing when a bunch of eight year olds tell you that when they start young, to save the planet, they will have an entire lifetime to solve the problems and spread awareness. It also hits you so deeply when they say, they are overwhelmed by sadness at what is happening to the earth. Again and again, in these last few years I ask myself, what do we really want for our children?

http://cfl.in/publications/conference-proceedings/ _ wonderful read! Thought provoking and meaningful.

Conference Proceedings « Centre For Learning Educating for a Sane Society was a conference hosted by CFL in Dec 2006. The proceedings are available here, click on the following links to view the documents: