Hands that speak....??

Hands that speak....??

Yes I am going to write to you about hands today..Very odd perhaps but it isn't a lecture on anatomy or physiology. Its about our beautiful hands that speak a unique language. Take a moment now and just look at them. How much they do for us and we hardly notice them. That's what I did before . I used to write diary everyday and it was just to pour out everything I had done the whole day. I never went back and read it but it really helped and calmed me down. But I never thanked my hands for it. And after I started working I didn't get time to write and for 2 years I didn't write. I look back and see that those were very stressful years of my life. But then something magical happened I started writing with my hands again but not the usual way I started weaving with my hands. Thanks to a dear friend, I got a small weaving loom and it brought magic in my life. My hands were talking again. I cannot explain in enough words the world they opened up to me. I just couldn't stop myself. I learnt weaving, knotting and whatever else I could, for my hands.

Make things, that’s what I started doing. I  kept working with my hands and in those moments everything around me would become still, time stopped, world stopped..no actually my thoughts and my mind stopped. I felt this immense sense of calmness within me. I kept working with different materials like palm, paper,threads,jute and different kinds of weaving and knotting.

At that time I was working with children in different NGOs and I realized that I could take this experience of mine to the children. I wanted the children to learn this language of silent communication with the materials and with themselves. And all these years I have observed with myself as well as with the children that when all the rattling and chattering in our heads stops, hands work and materials speak. I have had children come to me and say , “Aunty it just happened!!” ,but they didn't observe that when they became really quiet it all happened..hands talk the beautiful language that has no words or sounds. Hand work helps calm our minds and when we become calm we communicate with our body and mind in a beautiful way.

 I feel this experience is the essence of having handwork as an integral part of the school and if possible at home too. As an adult , I feel it as a responsibility to expose as many children to this unique language of no words, no sound yet a dialogue with oneself and connection within. I have also seen that every child is unique and different materials speak to different children hence my passion now is to learn as many different kinds of handwork with various materials and bring it to as many children as possible. I have been very happy and blessed in this journey where I have met so many friends who feel the same and we all are working together on this. Join us asap..:)

Ending with a poem I wrote,

Rays of hope are bright but slow,

we tend to feel that they come and go,

but if we look at the scene as a whole,

we'll realize they are forever in our soul.

Love,

Nikita Gandhi.

Tana bana

I remember that i started working with threads and paper with a group of 9 children some 3 years back.
The first interaction was more to do with my telling them and they doing it. This lead to them exploring the material on their own and making very unique and interesting things.
What i realized while being in the class was that, these children are so used to the concept of adults telling them what to do.because after every turn of the thread or one weave they would come and ask 'is this right??' and i would be in an utter astonishment because i didn't know what to say at first and then when i would tell them to look at the work and find out..compare my weave and theirs, they would be blank..
After this i would go home and think about what to do..there was frustration and anger. The thought about how these children have become so mechanical..not connecting..not observing..n lots of such thoughts.
But after a week i realized there is no point cribbing or getting angry about this. The children are like that and now i want to work with them so..what can i do to get them alive...
And the next class i tried a new thing ..I was going to start paper weaving with them. So i took the paper weaving book..my samples and laid them in front of them and started asking them if they knew how to do it..before i could elaborate...a few of them started explaining and later when we had lots of ideas i asked them to try all the ideas that were shared ..the first question that they had was..'What if we make a mistake??'
I told them we will see what happens, there are no mistakes in exploring and they went ahead and it worked beautifully..
I just had to explain to them when should the thread go up and when should it go down for one design..that's it.They came up with their own designs and to my surprise they weaved their names through paper weaving and did that at home and brougt it at the next class..that was a day of surprises for me..truly.
We used one sided sheet strips for weaving and the board was colored card paper.
I had a bigger learning here for myself..hands on work helps open up minds beautifully , to things like exploring new things..making mistakes is ok..there is one right way..without the use of words..:)
This class with 9 children was two and half years earlier..and i met the whole group again this year for a 'making news-paper for school' project. and they all in their introduction said we cannot forget you..we had so much fun together..and i relived the experience again.

Below i have pics of some of the works..enjoy..

P.S. Please also read the following blog..their view on working with hands is what i exactly believe in..

http://thulir.wordpress.com/reflections/#comment-205

Yes, it is a roller coaster ride... :)

I have always felt strongly that it is like a roller coaster ride for me. There are days of feeling a high after being with children..there are days of feeling completely exhausted..feeling very happy..and sometimes feeling angry n sad.

At times the children make you feel that you are the best human being on the world..they come n hug you and tell u their secrets..you are one with them, the insider and then there are days they look at you as if you are their enemy, dictator, conspirator, and a very bad human being..

Yes its a complete roller coaster ride..and i enjoy this ride every moment and every time i am with a group of children from a government school, from an alternate school or a group from an Ngo.

I'll be sharing here with you some of the best and worst of my experiences...best in terms that i have understood and connected with them, the children and worst in terms that i failed to understand them and connect to them and also about the experiences of learning from children and learning with children.

children doing paper weaving