Day 3-MONDAY- Rural locality study

The day began with a very early morning Yoga class. We were taught a simple sequence of movements which welcomes the sun. We then did this on our own each morning. It was a lovely, stretchy, restful way to begin each day.

In the morning session we all spent some time exploring the village in a much more focussed manner. We followed the enquiry process in order to think through change in the village. Silvepura is still very much a rural village, but it is changing a great deal as it begins to develop. We wanted to gather a case study which is more realistic and representative of India than the case study of an Indian village that we have been using in schools. The change happening in Silvepura can represent a change which is slowly happening all over India. During the week we spent lots of time in the village, and began to feel part of the place. Initially it looked like a simple study, but the more we saw the more we understood about the complexities of the community and the changes going on in the village. Kiran was invaluable for being able to interpret and explain a lot of what we saw.

That afternoon we set off on a journey which took us all around the locality. Kiran wanted to give us a wider perspective of the locality, so we visited a local farmer first. There he showed us the different crops that he was growing, how he rotated his crops seasonally, how some needed irrigating, and some like Ragi doesn't need irrigation. We were explained the cycle of the Ragi harvest and we saw some Ragi being winnowed. We continued on to a community of potters who use the local clay-rich soil to make and sell pots. We stopped by a small temple which Kiran explained was a temple to Siva, and we watched the temple priest do a puja to the statue of the bull- the vehicle of the God Siva. Finally we walked up a small hill where there was a shrine- to Nandi, the holy bull. We could see Bangalore in the distance.


Day 1- SATURDAY- Arrival, orientation and artefacts.

Day 2- SUNDAY- Sensory mapping, rangoli patterns and folk dance.

Day 3- MONDAY- Rural locality study.

Day 4- TUESDAY- Urban Locality study.

Day 5- WEDNESDAY- Sita school, State primary school and scrap science class.

Day 6- THURSDAY- Convent school and private school.

Day 7- FRIDAY- Artefact gathering at a rural market.

Day 8- SATURDAY- Mysore trip.

Day 9- SUNDAY- Shopping.

Day 10- MONDAY- Reflection, cookery, and organising.