Trip to Pune

Yesterday, team Avasara made the 2 ½ hour trip to Pune, the city where the school will be built.  We turned off the highway, and came upon the scene of a recent accident, likely fatal, involving a heavily loaded truck which had careened into a culvert--a sobering reality of the apparently magical driving that goes on here.  The ambulance must have already come and gone, but crowds were still gathered around the wreckage.  We moved through the chaos and made our way up a winding road on a forested hill to an overlook above the Lavale valley, a planned community with a golf course, FLAME university, and future home of Avasara.  

We visited the school’s site and were greeted by several blue bulls with red horns, painted for Dessara (more on that in a bit) and some resident goats.  

FLAME is the first university in India to offer a liberal arts education, and in its 4^th year has 400 students, which is impressive since the tuition is a pricey at $10k/year, a true fortune in India.  It currently serves the children of diamond merchants and business moguls from Gujarat.  At the end of their four years, graduates receive a certificate but no diploma, since the school isn’t accredited, but that doesn’t really seem to worry anyone since they’ll be joining the family business anyway.

From here we went to the other side of the educational world, a school called Jnana Prabodhini Prashala in the heart of Pune.  Their website is definitely worth a peek: http://prashala.jnanaprabodhini.org/

After time spent in some of the more expensive, exclusive schools in Mumbai and finding them all lifeless, dreary places (35 girls crowded into small echoing rooms with high ceilings, no windows, sometimes no teacher--or one sitting reading to herself--little activity or spark in the girls’ eyes) we felt like we’d plugged into the power grid at Jnana Prabodhini!  These students bubbled with enthusiasm about the projects they had developed themselves to test their own hypotheses.  A group of 9^th graders in biology had devised an experiment to test how different light in the color spectrum affects photosynthesis and had figured out a way to measure the starch produced.  Another group of 10^th graders had devised a series of mental and physical challenges as part of the school’s celebration of Dessara, which seems to include Durga who oversees learning. 

When we walked in the room, it was abuzz with 3^rd graders working through the challenges as the older ones offered tips and recorded performance data.  They invited us to participate and at the end, handed us each a prize, even though our scores would suggest we didn’t deserve them.  It was only after  we’d been there awhile that we noticed we were the only adults present; it was most impressive to see so much self-sustained and focused engagement and learning going on, and everyone was having a ball!  The school is for gifted children and would be a great feeder school for Avasara since it ends at 10^th grade and the girls have no good options beyond.




And about those mountains of marigolds for sale...

Happy Dessara!  All of India is excited that Ram defeated Ravana the evil one, and they celebrate the joyous event with marigolds galore....most folks we talk to don't see a relationship between Durga and Ram, but details should never get in the way of a day of auspicious purchasing--think of those happy diamond merchants of Gujarat--and so many marigold garlands!  The streets smell amazing; it just MUST be an auspicious day.

May all your Poojas be so adorned (and in better focus :)