Category: Blogs

Good News – He loses his notebooks every one hour, so he decided to use paper. Another Good News – we rejected his idea and insisted on notebook/ drawing books We bought new notebooks for him – he paid the cost and exclaimed “oh this is costly”. We thought “now that he knows the value…

Jaatre with Ishani tofacilitate a process where children can convert their true callings and deepest passion into a business.Sometimes, a child’s most weird habit can translate into a profession. For instance, if a child loves to crack jokes, we can have that child exploring stand-up comedy. So the discussion began with “What you do yourself…

Manthan at Aarohi means community coming together – living together with parents, grandparents to bring joy for all. This Manthan was no different – a big family coming together – play, laugh, churn, and participate in making of a community. The path of open learning is new for many – and new path, new idea…

The theme of marketing brought light to the concept of marketing. Marketing is about communication, identifying what sells, exchanging services or skills. It’s not only about producing (products or skills or services), but also identifying what is required and how to convert your passion into sellable products which can add value for others (so they…

Welcome to the Aarohi hotel paradise – A uniques place came alive at Aarohi for one of the lunch. It’s was an unique restaurant – fix the rate for your food, calculate the cost of your meal. Buy your lunch and take loan from the bank to pay your bill, Restaurant manager worked hard to…

Getting teased is commonTeasing others because others are teasing is commonTeasing just like is also commonFeeling low, lonely, is common Feeling are common Teasing because it fun, teasing because that what my friends do, teasing because the other person teases me, teasing because I dont like the person or I am angry with them. but…

Online business or e-commerce with Fatima and Shoaib. They shared their story of getting into e-business, their life and their learnings. Regular professional for eight years on ship, Fatina a CA in investment banker, decided to change a profession which gives them flexibility of place or rather not place dependent. First started learning and making…

Satisfactory music week with Roopak, was enough to kindle musical chords of some of us. Some us of like music, but may be not giving enough thought or time or attention. The presence of Roopak at campus for a week began with drumming course. Few interested in drumming began with the course and willingness to…

This week we experienced math in living, while we also continued with maths club – Four meals a day, On average 25 people at campus. 60% reaching late for the meals or finishing late. That makes it 15 each meal, 60 each day, 300 each week (5 days a week) – hmmm the number looks…

The Flow Game is a powerful tool for creating an interactive reflection, dialogue and action space for groups, teams and individuals. I became a Flow game host after a three day training in March 2018. 13th Dec was the lucky day for me when I got to host my very first flow game with the…

Sometimes children just do – they do not think how their action will affect them or others or its consequences. They do not think of its righteousness nor they think of its appropriateness. Some call this kind of behaviour us un-mindful. Some call this kind of behaviour as spontaneity. Some even call it childish. Some…

Is respect a need or a want? What would happen if it does not matter to us whether others respect us or not? As a Sufi Fakir said, “If you need respect, do not come to me. A shopkeeper or anybody else who wants something from you will give you respect. Goto them.” Consider behaviour…

One fine morning We got together to cut grass But why Grass Because it was too long And we needed for mulching Then why we? Why not “get it done” Then how do we know how does grass feels? How do we know gras feel soft and rough? How do we know how much pressure…

Making a meal is unknown process – often it reaches to our kids plate and then they just need to consume it. “Make your own breakfast”, was the announcement and the platter was displayed with choices – all we needed to do was to make breakfast for our own breakfast”. And that’s all! Rest is…

We buy things in our daily life We are also choosy about what we buy and why Ever wondered what goes in making of any product? Series of sessions with Kanchan on product making gave us an experience of making of product – started with drawing, developing skills, taking feedback, costing, packaging..making necessary changes to…

Scientific thinking is not limited to science and knowledge and it’s beautiful! Scientific thinking is not limited to studying to science (physics, chemistry and biology) Scientific thinking is also not limited to me being “good or bad” in science. Scientific thinking is a process, which is not about knowledge but about a skill, a way…

We see electronic everyday Use them everyday They are part of life But how much are we close to them? How much do we know them? Are they alien to us? How about exploring Seeing inside outside How they flow How they glow? How they work? How do they look? Just one session to explore…

Many people ask me success stories of Aarohi – what children from Aarohi have become. Also I have heard lot of people boast about their school or institution by citing stories of ‘Shining alumni’. This is indeed profoundly grave – for according to me, herein lies a major question we need to ask ourselves –…

Container – ChildContents – What the child does or learns or thinks It appears to me that the conventional education system is quite focused on the contents. Maybe the initial idea was that when we work on contents, it will develop the container. But over a period of time – more and more people have…

After the session on Understanding Sexuality and Gender, we were curious to interact with the LGBTQIA+ community, listen from them their life experiences and perspectives. Personally I also felt an interaction was important because till now the only interaction has been through movies or seeing them begging on streets or trains. Listening to their perspective…

Aarohi is rich with cultural diversity – language, food, references, culture, rituals….and that makes life interesting to live. Various languages – We are blessed with people(visitors and members) from various languages – Tamil, Kannada, Telgu, Hindi, Malayalam, Punjabi, Urdu, Marathi, French, Spanish…and so on. And when we learn various languages, we don’t realize. One child…

Menu said ‘Puri Chola”.“Yummy puri”, said some.Make your own Puri and wonderBut why my Puri puffed up?Why my this Puri didn’t puff up?Why some puffed up, some did not?Why some are round, some not?Hot oil or warm oil?Both sides or one side?Crispy or soft?Ah! So much to wonderSo much to experience Just one announcements “make…

We began with the question – What is a girl, what is a boy? What is the difference between them? Some responses were : Different energy levels, different Voice, choices, body parts, way of thinking, likes, clothes etc.Pink is for girls and blue for boys. Boy don’t hit a girls. For boys – Muscular, Stronger,…

“Wow, Good Job, Keep it up, I am proud of you, beautiful, so nice…” these are some of the exclamation we offer to our kids to keep them going (encouraging). But is there something beyond “praising”? Have you ever questioned “Why and when we appreciate?” May be to encourage, to make friends (other will think…

Repairs are part of Aarohi curriculum. When multiple people use resources, the wear and tear is natural – sometimes things break with usage, sometimes with misuses. Whatever is the case, repair brings an opportunity to understand our resources and connection with the tools. This Friday, “Repair Cafe” brought an opportunity for the community to take…

Can a campus teach? Water walk at Aarohi is nothing but understanding water and sanitation system at Aarohi. Where does the water comes to the campus and where does it goes? Water at the campus comes from the bore well and goes back to the ground through plants – in the process it travels to…

Often safety is looked from “fear” window or from a “rule” perspective. A session with Esha on personal safety threw some light on clear communication and the process of making safer decision. Esha works on personal safety with girls in Gujrat, the session brought an opportunity to make this topics even more open and sensitive.…

A day workshop to experience the magic of Gratitude with the team from SSY / RSVK pune “I am sorry, Thank you” have becomes some etiquettes for some of us. But, it’s not only about saying “sorry” or “thank you” but understanding what and why we hold forgiveness, what is gratitude or rather understanding what…

We did a show on playback theatre last year and left the audience mesmerising about the whole concept. This year once again we started practicing for the show in a conference. First question was to discover “what are the elements of playback theatre?” We all have understood that it’s not at all about “acting”. Few…

When we become teenagers an invisible wall gets created between boys and girls. At Aarohi it came to notice that there are some people I don’t interact beyond the necessity that comes with living together and these people tended to be of the opposite gender. To challenge this gap between people we did two activities…