August 2 Friday

Today we visited a fabulous school on eighty acres on the banks of the Ganges river.  We could only hear the breeze in the trees, bird calls and the voices of children; not a car horn at all. This is a special type of school called a Krishnamurti School.  Deepak Chopra was influenced in part by the philosophy followed here.  The majority of students board here as do the teachers and their families.  It would basically be like going to school at the CISPUS center at home, only in this case it is tropical.  A girl I spoke with had freely gone with an ornithologist every morning before school for a year and she had seen and recorded over eighty species of birds on the property.  In the morning we saw fox and jackal as we drove in.  

This school is located on land that Buddha walked along and stayed at one point to rest.  That spot is a very special destination for reflection and meditation today. The school follows the teachings of Krishnamurti.  Basically, teachers and students are both learners. Students call the women teachers "sister" and the male teachers "brother".  Cooperation is emphasized rather than competition.  Internet is available for some learning activities and communication on weekends with parents, but otherwise is not allowed.  There is no television.  There are no bells between classes and all of the classes are in open buildings separated from one another by beautiful gardens. A gong is rung once to signal the end of a class, but there is no frantic rush out of the door and students certainly do not pack up early.  The teacher finishes the lesson which is focused on dialogue and discussion with the full class.  Then the teacher leaves and the students gradually pack up and move on.  

Outside of class the students choose their activities; walking, reflecting, playing games, sports, arts and crafts, music.  There is a lot of freedom.   Balance between the mind, body and spirit are emphasized.  There is no system of discipline, perhaps just the "time out".  A struggle of wills is seen as "no win" as it means the student does not feel free.  They simply let the student be free to struggle with the issues within.  They work it out.  Students and parents choose and pay for this school, so most wish to be here.

There are no grades, exams, rewards, or punishments.  The upper high school students do prepare for the college entrance exam, but fear and stress are minimized and learning is emphasized.  I loved this place.  None of us wanted to leave the grounds.

http://www.rbsvaranasi.com/School.htm

We are back with our official program director Giresh Kaul for this Varanasi.  That makes us happy.  He laughed about the Kolkata program confusion and reminded us he had forewarned us four weeks ago about how laid back people were in Kolkata.  He said they can make a entire day of doing nothing other than catching one fish and that it would be challenging for them to see how important we thought our four days of experience were.  He sent us Parvetra from The Delhi office and she was the one we thought was so great.  He knew we would need her. He always sends us someone great from the Delhi Office.

That said, we're glad to be with Giresh as he is "our All India Guru" and we appreciate his expertise.  However, at the same time we are sucking in our breath and popping our eyes widely at one another, because Adam Grotsky is also joining us at 3:00 p.m. For the walking tour of Varanasi. Adam is an American who we met in San Francisco and he is the executive director of USIEF.  Basically Adam and Giresh are the two "big guns" of USIEF and we've had general program officers everywhere else.  We are of the mindset that this experience is going to require that level of support.  Well, come 3:00 we will know.........