The spark I needed

This past weekend I along with a few others visited the 28th Surajkund International Crafts Mela. My supervisor is connected with the Department Head of Education in Arts and Aesthetics for the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and so we decided to meet with her at this huge international crafts fair. Since I was going to be interviewing her for my capstone and talking about arts education and curriculum design, I couldn’t have asked for a better backdrop.

On our drive to the fair, I was able to talk with her about experiential learning and how she’s been able to achieve so much during her time with NCERT. She, along with the help of others, has been able to integrate the arts into the regular school curriculum for grades 1-10. Rather than taking the approach that many educational systems do of hiring art teachers or artists to teach the children specifically about art, NCERT has used art as a platform to teach about all the regular school subjects, such as science and math. It’s an interdisciplinary approach that has worked really well in the pilot stage and now in the implementation stage. She described it to me as a “whole meal thali”, a type of curriculum that integrates everything together. In fact, she has other countries approaching her asking her how she’s been able to successfully do this!

Once we arrived at the international crafts fair, I was flooded with color and music. It was amazing! Although the fair was a little overwhelming with the amount of people and crafts booths, I had to remind myself that this is India after all! This year’s themed state was Goa so there were tropical flowers, coral and starfish hung as decorations all throughout the fairgrounds. This fair was so big that even after being there for a few hours, we weren’t even able to cover half of it! 

A cultural dance from Rajasthan

The Hindu god Ganesh carved out of a coconut

There were artisans from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and all the various states in India. It was an overload on the senses for sure! After wandering around for a little bit, we decided to head up to the food court to grab something for lunch and even there we saw food booths from all over the world….including Domino’s Pizza (I kid you not!). We decided to grab some food from a reputable north Indian chain and had some fluffy bread with a lentil/salsa kind of mixture. It was delicious! Since the themed state was Goa this year, we couldn’t go home without indulging in some Goan food though. So we had some fried prawns and a prawn curry with rice. Oh so good! I only wish I had taken pictures with smell-o-vision capability! 

After coming back from the crafts fair, I was on such a “high” both on a personal and professional level. When I think about it, this was one of the sparks I needed to have renewed energy for education and experiential learning. In fact, this whole practicum experience has been just what I needed when I didn’t even know that I needed it. Coming to New Delhi, I never imagined myself developing a life skills curriculum for juvenile offenders, but I did. And it’s opened me up to so many new experiences and opportunities. I’ve been able to meet with people working at the national government level for issues such as HIV/AIDS concerns, education, and training, while also working with local NGOs and advocates. It has been a whirlwind experience and honestly, I don’t think I’ll fully be able to grasp how much I really learned and experienced until months later. 

Rongoli, a sand art

                                           

It has been such a blessing to have this amazing opportunity and one I will never forget.