visiting IIT

In the chill of the wednesday morning we boarded our bus which was due to take us to IIT. The visit was organized by the school and grade 11and 12 accompanied us(I am in grade 9). We reached there by 9:00 . The vastness of the campus appalled me. Every corner was green. Several football fields took our breath away.

Our first was SINE where we were shown to the conference room. There we received refreshments. We were introduced to the tasks which the IIT performs and were given the basic knowledge about robotics. Why were they invented where are they used and were also shown some of the robots like edge detector and follower.

We were taken to the IDC in an innovation cell where a group of students made robots from the smallest size to the biggest. Later we gave small visits to the sound recording studio where they made us hear some countryside instruments like the ektara and pakhawach.

In the innovation sector we went to film making section. After that we drove the electric scooters.

We saw the electron micro scope which were huge and heavy looking instruments. They could give a magnification which almost made the molecules visible.The highest magnification we saw was 1,50,000x.

A new experience

As most of you know, I’m in Std 9. This year, i’m getting a unique experience that I’d love to share with you all. I’m serving as a writer for a learning disabled student from Std 10 for his board exam. I’ll explain further.

My school has a special Resource department where students who are physically, emotionally, mentally or learning disabled students are given extra help to cope with all the others. Well, this year, there are a few learning disabled students who are appearing for their board exams. They’re given a special concession: they have writers, i.e. someone who writes their paper as they dictate so as to reduce their stress. These students (the writers) are usually from Std 9.

I was asked if i would be interested. I loved the idea! Then, the teachers called up my aai and asked her to come to school. Aai and baba got to interact with the mother of the boy for whom i’ll be writing. So then it was decided. I am going to write his prelims as well as board exams. All the subjects, except maths (because he has opted for general maths, which is even simpler than Std 8 ). That paper will be written by a smaller student.

We have been assured that our own studies wouldnt lag behind and we would get extra help where necessary. I’m really looking forward to this experience. So far, i’ve written his computer theory, personality development, P.T. theory, Scout and Guide theory papers. Its been a very different experience. I had to learn to keep my brain and emotions aside as i wrote his paper. No displaying facial expressions in response to his answers. Also, we’ve become good friends. I can’t wait for their proper exams to start.

So please remember, if any of you guys get this opportuninty, be sure to take it.
Cheers,
Saniya.

common wanderer

common mime

blue oak leaf

crimson rose

blue oak leaf

My recent visit to ovalakar wadi butterfly paid off. I got the opportune to photograph the butterflies which I never got to capture before.

BABA SHIBIR ON 6 TH DECEMBER

Dear all ,
             There is  shibir  on  Tuesday  6th December for   All  teenager's  babas. Shibir timing is 6.30 to 9.30 p.m . 

Lights, camera, action!

Hello everyone. A few months back, Saniya and Radha had taken part in an youth entrepreneurship program in their school called TIE bizworld. And did they do well? More importantly, did they learn anything out of it? Well, play the videos to find out!

Congratulations to both the stars!

From Lata aaji

Dear children and parents

These days we have been talking about relationships with each other and also one another. Through our discussions we have learnt to accept certain facts as reality of the present moment and have discovered that there is some thing like eternal reality too. I told you that this reality is the “Truth”. Gandhiji says truth or satya means love.

I would like to share how two artists who are married to each other, who perform their music programs together find their reality i.e. love.

Guitarist Tuck Andreas and Singer Patti Cathcart are extraordinary musicians whose music is powerful as well as lovable. Here’s what Tuck has to say about their relationship

“My Life’s work is to subsume my ego into this greater whole, both musically and in our personal relationships. I spent so may years becoming a great guitar technician practicing alone. It was a real change for me to play with someone else, learning how to listen, how to hear through her ears.

I have spent time just learning how to play one note, over and over. We have played some songs thousands of times, but there is always something fresh and new to find there. Just like our relationship. If it becomes stale then I dig more deeply into the rut, I don’t abandon it. To find the freshness that is there. The universe is right here, the universe is not there. To leave room for the space and magic. There is same level of detail at any level of magnification, from the subatomic to the universal, if you look closely enough

Lata aaji

Happy Children's Day

Dear All

From

Mahendra, Jayashree, Karan & Rutuja

my suggestion for the 1 hr session

I think we could have a session on the personal level. We could share our best experiences up till now. This would create moments of happiness as we all share some of our best moments.This would also encourage our fellow friends to interact more in the group. Our experiences could of any kind.

music programme on 20th nov

dear shibir friends...
for the upcoming one hour music program here is my suggestion.
we now have only a weeks time to conduct this programme.
sanketdada has taken lot of effort in compiling a CD of songs based on inputs given by some of us. we can exclude those 4-5 songs played in last shibir and present a programme of songs with the remaining songs.
if we decide to play all 14 songs, we should present each song for not more than 2 minutes along with 2 minutes of narrative. alternatively we can reduce the no of songs to 10 and play the full song.
who shld present the song - if sanket can put the song list on blog along with name of person who recommended it, we can then decide 1 or 2 persons per song for presentation. if there is any help i can provide in this respect i am glad to do that.
shalaka

अनिल अवचट

|| श्री गुरवे नम: ||

अनिल अवचट

यांनी अनेक जणांना व्यसनमुक्त करण्यासाठी मदत केली. त्यांनी मुक्तांगण संस्था स्थापन केली आहे. असे गृहस्थ लताआजींनी शिबिरात बोलावले होते. त्यांच्याबद्दल लताआजींनी असं सांगितले की ‘अनिल अवचट हे बासरी वाजवतात, ओरिगामी करतात¸ पुस्तके लिहितात, (लेखक आहेत)´. त्यांनी मुक्तांगण संस्था स्थापन केली आहे. त्यांच्या पत्नी सुनंदा यांनी या संस्थेसाठी अनिल अवचटांना खूप सहकार्य केले. अशा व्यक्तीला मी पहिल्यांदाच पाहिले व त्यांच्याबरोबर संवाद साधायची संधी सर्वांना लाभली.

त्यांचा पहिला मुद्दा व्यसन हा होता. व्यसनात चांगले व्यसन व वाईट व्यसन असते. चांगले व्यसन म्हणजे एखादे चांगले काम करणे व ते सतत चालू राहणे होय. वाईट व्यसन म्हणजे एखादी वाईट गोष्ट सतत करणे. उदा., दारू पिणे, चोरी करणे, तंबाखू खाणे, इ. अशा व्यक्तींसाठी अनिल अवचटांनी मुक्तांगण ही संस्था स्थापन केली. सुनंदा अवचटांनी अनिल अवचटांना सहकार्य केले. सुनंदा अवचट यांनी व्यसनग्रस्त लोकांना आईसारखे सांभाळले. अनिल अवचट हे या लोकांशी प्रेमाने, आपुलकीने व माणुसकीने बोलायचे. ते त्यांना वाईट व्यसन सोडा असा उपदेश करायचे. त्यामुळे आपले आरोग्य सुदृढ राहते. हे व्यसन हळूहळू सोडले पाहिजे. व्यसनामुळे तोंडात शिव्या येतात. पण व्यसन सुटल्यावर जर त्यांनी प्रयत्न केला तर त्यांची भाषा चांगली होऊ शकते.

दुसरा मुद्दा होता, वेळ कसा घालवावा. आपण टीव्ही न पहाता वेळ कसा घालवायचा हे त्यांनी सांगितले. वेळेला खूप महत्व असते. वेळेचे महत्व लक्षात घेऊन काही माणसे जगतात. आपल्याला कंटाळा आला असेल तर टीव्ही न पहाता काहीतरी हाताने केले पाहिजे. उदा. ओरिगामी, आपले खण लावणे, घरातल्या छोट्याछोट्या वस्तूंची दुरुस्ती करणे इ. हाताने काम केल्यावर मेंदू तरतरीत राहतो. तसेच महत्वाचे म्हणजे, वाचन. वाचन करताना आपले संपूर्ण लक्ष वाचनाकडे असले पाहिजे. नाहीतर मन चंचल राहते. वाचनाकडे आपली एकाग्रता असली की टीव्हीचा मोह होत नाही. आपल्याला कंटाळा आला असेल तर अशा विविध गोष्टींचा उपयोग केला पाहिजे.

उन्मेष परांजपे.

when we climbed shivneri

After a short nap I woke up.Looking out of the window I took in the sight of mountains standing firm on their ground like soldiers. Between them were gorges which were painted resplendently with green and bathed with golden sunlight. The landscape was dotted with myriad of houses while dense foliage covered the ends of the gorge.

I asked how much time is still left for reaching the destination. Hearing that still there were hours left I drifted into another long sleep.

temple of ozhar

We directly visited the Ganpati of ozhar and waiting in a long queue we glimpsed the god for only 5 seconds before we were out from the other side of the temple. After again a lengthy journey we arrived at the spot where we were staying. Refreshing myself and satisfying my stomach was the first the thing I wanted to do after such an elongated journey.

Clutching my camera I scanned the area for some birds. Sighting a few drongos I approached them gingerly and captured them in my camera.

black drongo

In the evening we paid a visit to the leniadris. We got ourselves ready for the visit by baba saheb purandere. The gates opened at 7:30 to allow baba saheb purandere in.The whole hall cracked with claps as baba saheb waved at us.

The one quality I liked of him was that he did not take the audience for granted and was very punctual.He asked us to clear all the questions we had about shivaji's reign and about shivaji himself.

no need to introduce

Baba saheb purandere answered questions with ease. History danced on his lips as he answered the questions. Speaking about shivaji's ambitions an apparent aura radiated out of him. A pumping entusiasm creeped in him when he spoke. The energy which he possessed made a perfect contrast with his 92 year old body.

We got up early in the morning before the sun woke up. I went out to glimpse the sun climbing out of the mountains and explored the wilderness of the place.

At around 9:00 we reached the spot where the fort was looming over us. I was appalled by the vastness of the fort. The grey expanse stretched for ever. Here and there scattered over the expanse were blooming creepers of bogenvella.

one of the entrances for shivneri

This fort was the fort which shivaji never captured despite great efforts. This was where shivaji was born and his efforts of capturing his birthplace failed,which was very painful.

At the top of the fort baba saheb purandere

He told us about the birth of shivaji. We visited the place where shivaji lived for three years.

This was the short summary of our trip. Still lot is still untold. it pains me to leave you .SO GOOD BYE........................

maunrag

Dear All,

Maunrag show is cancelled due to non-availability of Sachin Khedekar.

regards,
sanjay bhagwat

Maunrag natak

Dear All,
I talked to Arun Kakade of Aavishkar regarding Maunrag. He told me that he will know availability of Sachin Khedekar in 2-3 days time. Then he will confirm next week about the show . Timing is 4.30 pm & not 6.30 pm as you are informed.
I will let u know after Kakade kaka's confirmation.

Till then Happy Diwali to all.

regards,
sanjay

L1-77 skelotron urf (Chitty) :) DOB= 18/09/2011, 11:50 am

Regarding SUNDAY FULL DAY SHIBIR

Dear all teenagers,
       Hi  ! Children should reach by  9.30 a.m for full day shibir on 23 rd Oct.
       Parents are expected to be present  by  3.45 p.m. for the session with Dr. Anil  Avchat  as it will start  at  4 p.m. 

Request For Your Songs..

Hi friends,
               Here are a few names from whom i have recieved the songs....
            1- Omkar
            2- Shalaka
            3- Anagha
            4- Saniya
            5- Swanandee
            6- Shivani
            7- Manava
            8- Anirudha
            9- Eshaan.

 ---- Still some of them are remaining... So please inform me as soon as possible..

Thank You,
Sanket Latpate.

Request For Your Songs..

Hi friends,
               Here are a few names from whom i have recieved the songs....
            1- Om. W
            2- Shalaka
            3- Anagha
            4- Saniya
            5- Swanandee
            6- Shivani
            7- Manava
            8- Anirudha
            9- Eshaan.

 ---- Still some of them are remaining... So please inform me as soon as possible..

Thank You,
Sanket Latpate.

The butterfly garden,Thane.

cosmos
blue tiger

common wanderer common baron
common jezebel
common mormon (female)
small branded swift
peacock pansy in (wet season form )

On sunday my mother,father and I visited the butterfly garden in Thane. On his 2 to 3 acre land in owla village Rajesh owalakar utilised the land to make a wonderful butterfly garden. We reached there around 10am as usual late.
Numerous of butterflies fluttered there. Some basked in the sun while some skipped around flowers. We weaved through the aisle of the vibrant flowers of cosmos and starchytarpheta which lured the flying jewels in.Bees buzzed across the path,dragon flies sailed and the flowers swayed on the gentle breeze.
I lost the track of time and catured the wildlife around. Clutching the camera in my hand i wandered alone through the garden deeper and deeper until I.........

blooming life from my garden

geranium

tailed jay

paper wasp

parizatak

plain tiger

lime butterfly



shevanti or chrysanthemum


Just after the rains my garden wore a cloak of colours.All the plants bloomed with life. Pentas,lantana,ixora,zinnia,marigold put on new clothes as fragrance emnated from sontakka.A variety of pollinators gathered around for treat. This is just how a garden should look.

Attendance for the Nisarga Pooja..

Sanket Latpate is unable to attend the Nisarga Pooja...
sorry for the delay..

Nisargapooja Attendance

Simran Mangale will attend Nisargapooja.
Sorry for delay in informing.
-Sandhya Mangale

Eshaan's family will not come for Nisargapooja.

NISARG POOJA

Shivani will  attend  Nisargpooja  on  25 Sept.  along with aai ,baba and Vaishnavi.

Chinmay Dani,Sanika Bagwe,Aradhya Naik and Radha Yederi cannot make it for the Nisarg pooja.

They called me up as their internet connection had faults so I am writing in their behalf.

Attendance for nisarg pooja

As I have my class at 11.00am, I will come by 9.15am with my parents and Shubham but, I will leave by 10.30am.

Attendance for 25/9

Only Suchitra and Jayant are attending the nisarga pooja

Nisarga Pooja on September 25, 2011

Sorry we will not be able to attend the Nisarg Pooja on Sunday as we are likely to go to Pune to meet Eesha.

Divya

ATTENDANCE FOR NISARG POOJA

My family will not be attending the nisarg pooja due to my class exams!!

Attendance for Nisarga Pooja

2 of us will be attending the Nisarga pooja.

hope to meet you all!

OM VAKNALLI

Nisarg pooja on 25.09.2011

Only Anagha Karanje shall attend the pooja.

nisarg pooja

Our family will not be attending the nisarg pooja due to our classes

nisarg puja confirmation

Hello,

For nisarg puja please take confirmation for Vedant, Mahek, Mamma and Baba.

Thank you.
Vedant.

nisarga puja

I would be the only on from the khaches who is attending the nisarga puja

confirmation of attendance for nisarga puja

hello everyone.
we recieved swarupa maushi's message that we are to confirm our presence for the nisarga puja on this sunday, as discussed in the shibir on sunday.
i will be coming, but not aai or baba. so its one chitnis, confirmed.
will be there, hope many of you make it too. ;)

Winner vs Loser

Subject: WINNER VS. LOSER

The Winner is always part of the answer; The Loser is always part of the problem.
The Winner always has a program; The Loser always has an excuse.
The Winner says, "Let me do it for you"; The Loser says, "That is not my job."
The Winner sees an answer for every problem; The Loser sees a problem for every answer.
The Winner says, "It may be difficult but it is possible"; The Loser says, "It may be possible but it is too difficult.
" When a Winner makes a mistake, he says, "I was wrong"; When a Loser makes a mistake, he says, "It wasn't my fault."
A Winner makes commitments; A Loser makes promises.
Winners have dreams; Losers have schemes. Winners say, "I must do something"; Losers say, "Something must be done."
Winners are a part of the team; Losers are apart from the team.
Winners see the gain; Losers see the pain. Winners see possibilities; Losers see problems.
Winners believe in win-win; Losers believe for them to win someone has to lose.
Winners see the potential; Losers see the past.
Winners are like a thermostat; Losers are like thermometers.
Winners choose what they say; Losers say what they choose.
Winners use hard arguments but soft words; Losers use soft arguments but hard words.
Winners stand firm on values but compromise on petty things; Losers stand firm on petty things but compromise on values.
Winners follow the philosophy of empathy: "Don't do to others what you would not want them to do to you"; Losers follow the philosophy, "Do it to others before they do it to you."
Winners make it happen; Losers let it happen.
Winners plan and prepare to win. The key word is preparation.

'Hari Om'

Brahmakamal

Bandra Ganapati

My Ganapati

Hello dear friends,
This is the picture of the ganapati which came at my house this year. It was a replica of 'Lalbaghcha Raja'and a complete eco-freindly Ganapati.

This picture I have displayed as this was our last ganapati. My ganapati has completed 10 years and we have also shifted to Bandra.There was a big ganapati at my new colony in Bandra. It was about 10-15 feet tall. Now every year I will spend my time down the building during Ganapati. When I will grow up I will continue the same tradition in my house. I will make sure my Ganapati and decorations will be Eco-friendly.

After the visarjan of our ganapati we went back to Bandra, and one pleasant thing took place one night. We saw 3 beautiful Brahmakamal on a plant which was planted by my Aaji. We took one flower and offered it to the ganapati of our society. I would like to share those snaps with you which are clicked by my baba.

Thank you,
Vedant

Discussion on TV addiction.

As omkar has explained in the previous post,we had a discussion on how can we express our gratitude as we used to in the shibir on thanks giving day.
Before that we celebrated Simran's Birthday.
Then moving on to the discussion of how to reduce or put a break to the addiction of T.V,computer, mobile and so on . Each person was a willing participant during this session and was sharing his/her thought freely . Many parents and children gave their opinion and some points are as follows:

We get tired and are exhausted and for the moment want to relax our minds.At that moment we try to interact with the big screen and start afresh. But its not that easy. We forget the whole world and by the time we realize it is more than 1/2 an hour .
To this problem others suggested to put an alarm if the time is a issue. Or if nessasary to relax just sit and concentrate on your breath . Still if any temptation remains atleast watch some quality programs . Then be it some national geographic,news or tennis and cricket matches.

A issue came forword that not only the modern generation but all the age groups have a developing will of playing ,messaging or chatting on the mobiles when the fundamental use of it is calling and communicating . The adults commented that in their times they were free to roam and land in some friend's house,but now the children themselves are so involved in studies and other activities that they do not have any time for themselves and hence whenever they get freetime they start off with these addictive things .
Sania tai also added on "Whatever free time we get is only between half an hour to 45 minutes which is between two classes. In that period none of the activities get completed. Aai(swarupa mavshi) said,"You all like to share many things on the blog.Whenever you get such little time, you can very well make a draft on a paper of whatever you feel like sharing on the blog. Next time when you will get such free time'it can be utilized for typing on the blog . Even if the whole post could not be finished ,the next time you open it you could continue from the point you had stopped."
Soham Nadkarni also explained that,
"When I commence watching T.V,it is irresistable and I cannot control it . But when I put an end to it , I don't watch it for days together . But I have intentionally tried to control it and have succeeded ."
Milind Kaka (Chitnis) made a very valid point to which most of us agreed . He said,
"We as parents have observed 2 types of solutions which some of you have only discovered on your own . One ,which Soham and some others are applying and is made with extra intentional effort which is a good way indeed and the second which evolved with Omkar and it was naturally formed because of his increasing and sustaining the hobbies ." He did explain it in the previous post .
The girls also put forward their opinions.One of them said that whenever her Aaji is watching her serials and my books are in her room .So when I go to take them, some interesting scene (like fighting or someone is dying) is going on and then I too get involved in seeing it.
The parents & some children said that rather than just playing some useless games of fighting and war,it would be creative to draw or paint or play sudoku . Sure enough it would be better to play sudoku on paper than on a screen .

I also have a experience to share .
MY EXPERIENCE:I was extremely addicted to T.V and computers even a few years ago.They used to be a question of life and death . Gradually I developed a number of hobbies which helped me get a little out of it but still it was hightime I needed to change myself . So I started keeping no freetime for if I would keep myself busy I wouldn't even think of getting bored and coming in contact with any screen . I then scheduled myself, from the time I get up to the time I go to bed . So because of this time table I have reduced my T.V a lot and use computer only for studies and blogs . Side by side I am trying to still sustain most of my hobbies like origami,gardening,cooking,photography,bird and butterfly breeding/watching,reading,painting/drawing etc. Still a liittle television should be reduced and I am working towards it.


At almost the end of our discussion Saniya tai decided that she likes litreature and writing hence whatever excess time she gets in hand ,in the next month to come she will increase her writing and reduce her attention towards the screen .

So this discussion in short formed a base for the session with श्री अनिल अवचट in the following months to come .

28th of august: the meeting

The torrential rains canceled our plans of going to Pali. In return it gave us ample of time to hold a meeting over some issues. We all gave our views on how are we going to express our gratitude towards the world. As we proceeded we landed upon the issue of watching T.V.


Many of us had a problem of watching television(computers included)for more than 30 minutes. All of us tackled different causes for exceeding the limit.for example,Aniruddha lacked for playmates. While he was free the others were'nt. This forces him to sit in front of the computer screen. There was a question raised how do you get rid of this habit,and told the ones who already got rid of it. My father indicated towards me as I would have a good solution with me as I aleady got rid of it.I was asked to narrate my experience..............





My experience: In the days of grade 7 and 8 television used be the fundamental part of my day,and I could'nt resist my self.This was my daily routine.As soon as I came home from school,I threw my bag down and used to either watch tv or used to play on my PS. In summer vacations I started photography. My time of watching television was covered by time I gave to my hobby. Now when I am in grade 9 naturally theres lack of time to spend in leisure. Recently I also started planting trees on my terrace now there are 47 plants. The time between 4:30 (thats when i reach home fron school) to 7:00 is donated to rest and for maintaining the plants.Thats how I got rid of my habitof watching television. It was a natural process not a forced one.

sparrows

Hey friends,

This is the first time I am contributing on the blog.

Few months ago, a pair of sparrows started building their nest in the shoe box which we hung in our window grill. In the attached video, we(I and Shubham) tried to record their activities like the male sparrow chirping to attract the female, the sparrows feeding their kids inside and outside the nest. Also the sparrows having bath in the puddle formed after rains and lastly the kids soon started living independently.

In case if you are unable to watch the above video, kindly use the link given below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qtq6CmYSFU

Quick Shots...