In a recent conversation about museums, I remembered one of my favourite exhibitions at the National Museum in New Delhi from 2014: The Body in Indian Art by the incredibly talented Naman Ahuja, Associate Professor at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University. In the catalogue, Dr. Ahuja writes: “The body and its […]
Author: Masala chai: Musings about our relationships with little people
We are a small group of people deeply dedicated to the scientific study of childhood and family life focussing primarily, but not exclusively on issues related to Indian society and culture. Two of us have doctoral degrees in Child Development, and long-standing careers in teaching and research about childhood in India, with several scientific and popular publications to our credit. The others are interested parents/family members who will assist us in this task.
School Readiness 2.0?
In a recent discussion on Facebook, I posted a thought about the concept of School Readiness. The testing of young children to assess whether they are “ready” for school, whether it comes as a masked evaluation of the Centre, or a “group evaluation” aimed at evaluating the teacher, is something I have found profoundly distasteful […]
Of Last Messages and Messages that Last
“Got another one: ‘Dung-beetle, scarab from Egypt’” It was the 4th of March 2019, Shivaratri day, when I took a flight to meet Dr. Anandalakshmy for the last time. I had been meaning to take the trip for a while, but something kept coming in the way. We had received news of her failing health […]
What’s that word?
We often struggle to find words for our thoughts, and more specifically, to recall a known word. And as we grow older, maybe even more frequently. Searching for appropriate words in another (known) language can also be a challenge for multilinguals, not only because the word may be temporarily inaccessible (which also happens), but also […]
Placing Culture First
By Mila Tuli Today we feature an essay by Mila Tuli regarding the place of culture in our everyday lives. This essay was first posted in City Sabha, a team of inter-disciplinary thinkers, creatives, and activists working towards inclusive and sustainable cities. Mila Tuli, Ph. D. is an Associate Professor at Institute of Home Economics, […]
Talking about care
Our collaborations move to the Southern part of India, where, at the suggestion of our collaborator Vishwas Raj, we initiated conversations with two mothers, Yashaswini and Nandini. In the first episode, we speak with Yashaswini, a mother of a five-year old girl, about her memories as well as her current beliefs about care and activities […]
Conversations in the Classroom: Reflections on the New Education Policy
In an earlier post, we presented some highlights of the New Education Policy released recently, after several years of intense discussion between the policy-makers and experts in the field. Today, we address the issue of conversations in and outside the classroom; basically conversations outside the familiar terrain of the home. There are several nuances related […]
Local Lockdown 2.0
As Mumbai faces its second wave of infections, these seem milder but more widespread, the home is on lockdown again. Our early morning moments of reflection are again dedicated to other tasks, so we apologise that our scheduled post for today “Conversations in the Classroom”, an offshoot of the implications of the new education policy […]
New Education Policy 2020-Extracts
The launch of the New Education Policy on July 29th, 2020 that was delayed on account of the pandemic, the Government appointed panel led by the former chief of the Indian Science Research Organisation former Indian Space Research Organisation Prof. K Kasturirangan, the Government aims to introduce the policy before the new session kicks in promises […]
Science and Ethics in a ‘Post-Coronial’ Society: Students’ responsibilities
Today’s essay features the proceedings of a webinar organised by the Department of Human Development and Childhood Studies at the Lady Irwin College, University of Delhi on the 22nd of July, 2020. Here is an audio file of the talk that you can listen to along with the PPT, if you wish. I have also […]
Encounters in E-learning: News and Views
In today’s post, we bring you some encounters in online teaching, some fun moments, as well as some serious reflections. At the end of the post, we also provide some readings that may be of interest. Ever since children have been engaged with online classrooms, we have had a flood of jokes about awkward moments […]
Scenes from a Himalayan Festival: Part Three
Today’s photo essay brings a small story from the annual festival held at the Nyoma monastery, with a brief introduction and references to the spiritual and religious activity of the Changpas, a deeply religious Buddhist community. We focus on the lighthearted role children play in the sombre ceremonies of the festival.
MASALA CHAI 