Adventures of Raghu - "those were the days my friends!"

“I’m bored of studying for Monday’s history test Raghu” said Meera as she looked out of Raghu’s room window. She had been reading her History book for Monday’s test but now wanted to take a break from it.

Raghu was busy playing a game on his new ipad that his mother had recently gifted him, and replied to Meera half interested in what she was saying - “Hmm..”

Winter was on its way in. The days were becoming shorter, the temperature cooler and it felt good to get some sun on your body. It was always refreshing to sit on Raghu’s room window and look at the garden, the big banyan tree and the birds chirping on the branches outside.  

Today there was a slight cool wind blowing as Meera closed her eyes and felt the breeze embrace her face. She felt a pang of nostalgia as it blew off her face. She suddenly went back to that time in her childhood when she would swing in the park and feel the same wind blow on her face. Oh, how lovely that time of life was – carefree and happy, swinging in the sunshine, in the winds, in the rain.

“Raghu, do you remember how much fun we used to have swinging when we were in nursery? Your mom used to push both of us on the swings and we used to always compete to see which one of us could swing higher! Remember?” said Meera as she turned to look towards Raghu. “Hmmm…” said Raghu again. Meera dashed over to where Raghu was sitting and gave him a friendly but annoyed nudge - “Raghu! Are you listening to me or you’re just on that silly new iPad of yours again!” “Yes, I am listening Meera. I do remember, it used to be fun. But I’m just in the middle of my game right now” said Raghu in a very matter of fact kind of way.

Meera left the room half in frustration and half to just go downstairs and sit in the garden with the Banyan tree. For Meera and Raghu both, this Banyan tree was more than just a tree, it was like the great grandfather of the house. Whenever they were low, or had something on their mind, they could go sit with him and share everything with him. He always seemed to listen and give them some kind of answer. Meera lay down on her stomach next to the banyan tree, admiring its beautiful long and strong branches, in her heart talking to the banyan tree of how she missed just simply swinging like when she was little.

As she lay in her thoughts, suddenly she saw the banyan tree branches swaying and felt as though the banyan tree were inviting her to swing on its own branches. Meera got up in joy and cried - “Why don’t we put up a swing on your branches! It would be just like the old times, and a whole lot of fun!”

 Meera dashed upstairs to tell Raghu of her plan and bumped into Raghu’s elder brother, Raghav on the way. “Raghav, we want to put up a swing on the banyan tree outside. Can you help us?” said Meera a little embarrassed, but excited. Raghav laughed. “You both always come up with insane ideas don’t you! Okay, let me take a shower and come down. Go to the garage. Father has kept some old tires there and we have strong rope too.

 
We had thought of putting up a swing a few months ago so all the material should be there. Start looking for it, I’ll be back soon.”

Meera half decided to go upstairs to tell Raghu, but then remembering Raghu's infatuation for his new iPad, headed to the garage instead. Raghav soon came down with a print out of instructions on making a ‘tire swing’ and a friend of his, Maddy, who he had called over for some additional help. Raghav first found a sturdy old tire and washed it. While Meera was drying it, he found strong rope and a drill to make a few holes in the tire. The three of them then took all the material and went to the banyan tree where Raghav and Maddy inspected to find the sturdiest and thickest tree branch.

A few knots later, with the help of a ladder, Maddy and Raghav had tied the rope and tire on the branch, leaving some space from the ground. Maddy sat on it, removing his feet from the ground to check its sturdiness and on passing the test, let Meera on.

Meera excitedly jumped on the swing as Raghav gave her a push from the back. She was so happy, she was laughing. Hearing the chatter downstairs, Raghu had come to his room window as he looked down at Meera on the swing and smiled. There were some things that could only be shared in smiles and laughter, there were no words to really express how they felt.

Adventures of Raghu - Think before you trash it!

The afternoon rains had just ended and a beautiful cool breeze was blowing through Raghu’s room window.

One could hear a variety of birds chirping, insects buzzing here and there, dogs barking in the vicinity and an occasional vegetable vendor calling out to people to buy his vegetables. Meera had come over to Raghu’s house to work on their school science project on recycling. They had to make 'something useful' out of recycled material and were busy  researching ideas on what they could make.

Meera was on the computer, surfing 'recycled craft' while Raghu was taking a short break to do his favourite activity - look outside his bedroom window. “Raghu did you know the Rock Garden in Chandigarh has been made from recycled material?” said Meera excited as she surfed a site that spoke about the Rock garden. “Hmmm….” said Raghu busy looking at the variety of birds outside busy searching for food and water. There were two pigeons wandering around on the small balcony above his window looking for food to feed their little ones, the crows cawing and drinking water from a little puddle that had formed on the front porch,

two little sparrows that seemed to be fighting over a tiny worm, parrots flying around busily searching for some grains and a tiny hummingbird fluttering around on a nearby branch also seemingly in search of nectar.

“Hey Meera! I’ll be back in a minute.” said Raghu, cutting Meera in between her speech about the Rock garden as he rushed downstairs. Raghu went straight to the kitchen, took out some old bread pieces from the refrigerator, a small bowl full of water and went outside to put these out for the birds to eat.  Meera looked out from the window above a little amused, yet annoyed at Raghu's sudden distraction. “It isn't very good to feed all the birds bread Raghu!" called out Meera as she started walking downstairs to find some grains she could put out.

As she came downstairs she saw Raghu’s mother carrying a box of empty Bisleri and Coke bottles.

“Meera, I’ll be back in a few minutes. I’m going to go throw these outside" said Raghu’s mother. “But aunty, these are plastic and cannot just be thrown with other waste. They need to be recycled” said Meera, revising what she had just read. “Yes, I know Meera, but how should I recycle them?” “Aunty can I please have a look.” Meera, looked at the 6 empty plastic bottles and smiled.

“Aunty, please give me the bottles, I promise to do something useful with them” said Meera excitedly. “Sure dear, go ahead” said Raghu’s mother happy at the thought. Meera went outside to Raghu. “Raghu, I have an idea for our project. Let’s make different types of bird feeders from plastic bottles!”

This idea caught Raghu’s fancy as he stopped and looked at Meera happily. He was not much of an artsy person and was bored with the idea of making art pieces or pen holders out of plastic cans and found this idea truly exciting. “Wow! Meera, you smarty pants! So how do we go about it?” asked Raghu.

"We will make a few feeders where we cut holes in the centre of the bottles big enough for birds to fit in and feed on the grains and others that we fit a wooden spoon through so that little birds can sit on it and eat the grains. Also we'll make a few tiny holes at the bottom so rain water can drain. For the Hummingbirds we'll have to make sweet water and fill it in the bottles. Their feeder will have a small tray with holes from which they can suck the water.

We'll hang some of them on a rope between the two tree branches outside your room and hang the others at different places around your garden. We can also use different kinds of grains in each of the feeders and watch what types of birds get attracted to which feeder. That way we'll get to enjoy watching the birds from your window and take relevant photos for our project!"

Raghu was thrilled. "Come on let's get to work Meera!" said Raghu as he shot upstairs eager to get started. Meera laughed. Inspiring ideas that were useful in the outdoors always worked to get Raghu rolling!

Adventures of Raghu - one small step

Raghu got up in the morning and went to look out from the window of his room. He loved the rains and was hoping he would be greeted with a cloudy sky this August morning. 

The sun was however shining bright and the trees and plants were still dry. "The wetness of the rains, those monsoons that had come a few weeks ago, where had they gone?" thought Raghu to himself. It was much drier than usual at this time of the year and the weather definitely did not seem normal. Raghu sat wondering if only he felt the rainfall had been rather scanty this year, or if others felt the same way.

Just as Raghu sat thinking, he noticed Peeku sitting on the branch of the tree outside his room.

Peeku was a parrot. He had lived around the house for as long as Raghu could remember. He would sometimes fly away for a few months to visit his family that lived a few hours away and then return back. Peeku had shared many stories of his flying adventures with Raghu. He had spoken to Raghu of the different landscapes he saw as he flew, the birds he met on his journeys and of how he once lost his way in flight.

Raghu opened his room window and shouted - “Hi Peeku! How’re you doing? It’s been a while since I saw you around here!”  “Hi there Raghu! Yes it has been a while. How can you really expect one to be in this heat! It’s a struggle to find food and water these days. The monsoons seem to have left even before they arrived.” said a rather upset Peeku. “Yes, I was thinking the same thing Peeku. I am really missing the rains and was hoping to wake up to a cloudy sky today. It seems to have hardly rained this year at all. ” replied Raghu.

“I’m not surprised Raghu. I flew to meet my cousins a few hours away from here and I see so much deserted land around Raghu. Earlier where there were trees, now that area looks barren and dry.

Just yesterday I was told 25% of the land in India is turning into deserted land. If we go at this speed, soon the monsoons would completely disappear.” Raghu was shocked – “Don’t say that Peeku, we have to do something about this.” “What will you do Raghu? It’s already such a bad state of affairs” called back  Peeku as he flew off in search of water.

Raghu watched Peeku fly away.  “I may not be able to move a mountain or do anything big, but I can do something small” thought Raghu, “I can at least play my part. What if I plant a tree and ask one more person to plant a tree?

Everyone just has to take care of one tree. If all the people in this town take this up, imagine how many trees we would have planted! Let me call Meera and tell her of my idea!”

Raghu phoned Meera and told her of his conversation with Peeku and his idea to plant trees. The usually bubbly Meera was excited at the thought. “I think it’s a great idea Raghu. In fact we can prepare the saplings and distribute them so that it’s easier for people to plant the tree. With the festive season just around the corner, we can entice people to gift saplings to their loved ones instead of other stuff.

I think it would be wonderful and people would love the idea!” said Meera. Raghu laughed – “Let’s do it! We have to start somewhere.” They both decided to meet at the nursery the next day to learn how to make saplings.

Adventures of Raghu - watch your step!

“Raghu, Meera and Dev! You three come down here right this moment” called out Raghu’s mother from the garden outside. “What is it now mother? We just did so much washing a few days back, now please let us play!” called back Raghu annoyed at being disturbed in the middle of his computer game. “Come down here, I need to show you something.” All three kids got up from their activities to go to the garden downstairs, not too happy with the sudden interruption.

There stood Raghu’s mother, inspecting the grass in the garden. “Look what you three musketeers have done to my lawn with your water fight last week!” said Raghu’s mother as she pointed to big brown patches of grass that lay crushed in the lawn.

“Sorry aunt Megha, we were just playing and running in the grass.” said Dev rather innocently, “none of us realized that we were spoiling the grass.”

While the three of them were talking, Meera had gone off to perform her own inspection of the damage that had been done in the lawn. Suddenly she came back with her eyes twinkling. Raghu knew the look well. Meera always had that look when she had come up with one of her brilliant ideas. “Okay Meera, whats your plan?” said Raghu. “Megha aunti, to ensure that your lawn isn’t trampled upon like this next time we can put stepping stones in your garden!” said Meera. “We just need to figure out how we can make these stepping stones!”

Everyone smiled at the idea in agreement. “Okay so now how do we make these stepping stones miss genius?” said Raghu to Meera. “Let’s get some concrete and water to make a paste, some plastic pans to set the concrete paste into a mould and some items like stones, glass pieces etc that we can decorate the moulds with!” interrupted Raghu’s mother.

“Why, you had already thought of this idea Megha aunti!?” laughed out Meera. “Yes dear, I am always one step ahead of you guys, otherwise how would I be able to manage three intelligent kids like you!” They all laughed.

On the terrace, Raghu’s mother had brought all the material. The three kids went to find materials they would decorate their stepping stones with, after which they returned to the terrace. Raghu’s mother had made the concrete paste and the three kids sat facing a big round plastic tray that served as a mould. As the concrete paste was poured, they got busy decorating their moulds, Raghu used some old glass beads he had lying around from some time ago, Meera used pieces of mosaic that she had collected and Dev used his hands and fingers to make hand and finger prints in the mould.

Two hours later, they had made 9 stepping stones.

“Let these dry today, we’ll come pick them up tomorrow.” Said Raghu’s mother as dusk set in.  

The next morning, the three excited children came to check their stepping stones and carried them to the garden downstairs. After placing them on the path, the three children began hopping and playing on their newly built path. Raghu’s mother stood watching them from the window upstairs. She laughed and clapped her hands -  “My three brilliant musketeers! There’s always a solution to every problem when you three are around!”

Want to try making your own stepping stones? 

Click here - http://www.skiptomylou.org/2012/06/30/how-to-make-stepping-stones-lowes-giveaway/

Adventures of Raghu - the trek with Uncle Seher (Part 2)

Uncle Seher put his sleeping bag next to Raghu and lay down to join him in gazing at the stars. Just as he lay down, Raghu jumped up pointing towards the sky – “Uncle look, a shooting star!! Did you see it??” Uncle Seher smiled – “Yes I did Raghu. It was absolutely fantastic! The wonders of nature!” Raghu lay back down. “We never get to see all these stars in the city uncle Seher. I guess we’re higher up in the mountains now, so maybe that’s why they’re more visible here” said Raghu thoughtfully. Uncle Seher laughed, “No Raghu that’s not the reason. It has to do with the Light pollution and smog in the city.

Here the air is clear and there are no street lights. That’s the reason we’re being able to view the fantastic spectrum of the night sky.” Raghu kept looking up.

“I had read about so many constellations before I came here uncle. But I find it hard to find them in the midst of these millions of stars” said Raghu. “Okay, let’s start with the big dipper,” started Uncle Seher. “Look for seven major stars: four in the bowl and three in the handle. The two stars on the outside of the bowl are called the pointer stars. They point to Polaris, a bright star that is also called the North Star because with it you can figure out which way is north.” Raghu looked hard, as his fingers started to outline the big dipper in the sky. “I found it Uncle! I found the big dipper and the north star” cried out Raghu in excitement. “Great, now you can use this to also find Ursa Minor or the little dipper.

You know Raghu, these star patterns called constellations helped people navigate on land and by sea as well as tell time, since they appear in different parts of the sky depending on the day and year.  You see this is because the stars don't move only the earth moves.”

Uncle quickly got up. “Raghu let’s have our meal now, it’s getting late.”  Raghu sat near the campfire chopping vegetables, while Uncle Seher took out the pots he had brought along with him and started boiling some rice. Within a little over half an hour, rice and vegetable dal soup was ready.

Uncle poured some in a bowl for Leela to eat and sat down with Raghu to enjoy the meal they all so well deserved.

After the meal, once all the food items had been cleaned away, Uncle, Raghu and Leela sat near the campfire as Uncle Seher started narrating a story. “Raghu do you know the legend of the Sarolsar lake?” “No uncle” said Raghu, his eyes lighting up with both fear and excitement. “So Raghu, this lake is many thousands of years old. It was actually much bigger then, and had many types of fish and plant life in it at that time. It was a thriving place back then…” Uncle Seher started narrating the story of how a being from deep in the forests had found its way here and had slowly taken over the entire lake.

He had shrunk the size of the lake, killed most of the animals and plants in the lake and had buried itself deep in the waters where it could not be seen. “That is why no one dare ventures into the lake.”

“And even today he comes out some nights and his wild call can be heard.” Raghu looked around rather cautiously, fear lurking in his eyes. He loved spooky stories, but this was a little too close to home to laugh about. He moved closer to Leela, at which point he didn’t realize Uncle Seher jump on him from the back. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” screamed Raghu as he ran as far as he could without looking back, Leela running and barking right behind him. Uncle Seher started laughing and screamed out -  “Boy you’re so gullible! Come back here! It’s time we get to bed….a long day of rock climbing awaits us tomorrow. I hope you’ve done your homework for it!”

Adventures of Raghu - the trek with Uncle Seher (Part 1)

“Wow!” shrieked Raghu as the low lying hills of the Himalayan range started giving way to the upper snow covered ranges. Raghu sat staring outside the window of the car as though lightening had struck him.

It was his first time ever in the Himalayas. His mouth wide open, Uncle Seher looked at the astounded Raghu and smiled. “So boy, welcome to the mighty Himalayas. Nowhere in the world would you have seen such majestic ranges. We’re now moving towards the Kullu district in Himachal where we’ll trek to Jalori pass and Sarolsar lake.” Leela barked in approval while Raghu’s eyes remained glued to the view outside.

It was the second week of May and Raghu was on his way to Jalori pass and Sarolsar Lake with Uncle Seher and his dog Leela, in the Himalayas as had been planned. (9th April 2014, Adventures of Raghu - Camping with Uncle Seher)

Raghu didn’t speak much until Uncle Seher stopped the car and prompted everyone to pick up their bags and move out of the car. “We’ll begin our trek on foot from here. There’s a small guest house just up the hill there Raghu. You have two hours to take a short rest, get ready, eat something and then we’re off.” Raghu stepped out of the car with his bag, took a deep breath as though trying to take in as much oxygen as his lungs would allow and began running, calling Leela to follow him. Leela was jumping in excitement as Raghu was dodging her. “You both need some rest now, you can play later!” called out Uncle Seher as he went to check into the guest house.

Two hours later Raghu was standing at the steps of the guest house with his rucksack. Uncle Seher had a much bigger rucksack as he was also carrying the tent. Leela had a small waist pack tied around her waist with dog biscuits. “Water bottle, food supplies, sweater, extra pair of socks and unders, sleeping bag, ropes? All set?” asked Uncle Seher. Raghu responded as he put his feet together in attention position and hand to his forehead “Yes Sir!” “Lovely, then let’s begin!!!” called back Uncle Seher.

So they set off for trekking towards Jalori pass.

Sarolsar lake was further about a 2 hour walk from there where they would spend the night camping. They passed steep mountains with narrow snow covered paths. Leela trudged along carefully as Raghu followed. There were snow covered peaks, cattle grazing on the sides, all varieties of flowers growing on the ground. They took their time to view the beauty around, had fun sliding down snow covered mountains as they walked along.

After a trek of 5 hours, around 4pm they reached the magical Sarolsar lake.

The water was crystal clear and the bright blue sky above was reflecting itself in the lake later. Raghu and Leela started running around to investigate the place and touch the lake water. Uncle Seher in the mean time started looking for an appropriate place to put up the tent. “Raghu get the pins to tie the tent ropes to.  Let’s also start collecting wooden sticks to make a campfire.” They got down to work and had a fire rolling by about 6pm. As darkness started setting in, Raghu put out his sleeping bag and lay down on it with Leela at his feet to view the night sky. Slowly millions of stars became visible in the sky above. “Could heaven really be anywhere else but here Leela?” said Raghu softly.

Outdoor activity with kids - Make a compost pit

Last week Raghu and Meera decided to make a compost pit from vegetable scraps and dry leaves they had gathered. Today we bring to you an outdoor activity you can do with your children in your garden. Making compost will introduce kids to the natural cycle of growth and decay and should encourage them to become recyclers! 

An effective and environmentally friendly solution for turning yard waste and kitchen scraps into a beneficial soil additive, here are the steps to build a compost pit in the soil with kids -

1. Explain to the child what composting is in a fun and simple way. Let  them know - Composting, although managed by people, is a process entirely undertaken by small "critters" such as insects, fungus, and bacteria that will work in nearly any conditions.

2. Find a place in your lawn/backyard and dig the hole for your compost pit. Your compost hole should be about 1 foot (30 cm) deep. The area of the hole will be determined by the amount of organic matter you want to add.

     3. Chop your composting materials finely. Underground composting proceeds more slowly than above ground setups, and maximizing the surface area of your scraps is key to speeding the process. Aim for pieces of scraps no bigger than 2 or 3 inches (5 - 8 cm) in any dimension.

    4. Add the organic materials to the compost pit. Pile your food scraps and yard waste into the hole you dug to a depth of about 4 inches (10 cm).

Put in	Don’t use
Fruit and vegetable peelings Dead flowers and plants Grass cuttings and nettles Small branches and twigs Tea bags, coffee grounds and filter paper Shredded and scrunched paper and cardboard Egg shells Saw dust	Meat and fish Dairy products Processed foods such as pasta and bread Pet litter Large branches

  

    5. Cover your compost with soil. Once you have finished adding your organic scraps to the compost pit, you can refill it with the soil you removed.

    6. Keep the compost pit wet while it is decomposing. Underground compost decomposes slowly, because it doesn't have access to as much fresh oxygen as aboveground piles. To speed the process, ensure the area stays fairly wet. You can use a garden hose to wet it in the dry weather.

    7. Sow plants/vegetables above the compost after it has decomposed. A major benefit of underground composting is that you don't have to perform any extra steps to harvest the compost and amend your soil. The soil below is now perfect to create a vegetable garden on it!

Compost

May 5th - 11th 2014 International Compost Awareness Week ...
Let's Recycle and make some compost!

Adventures of Raghu - Through the eyes of a telescope

"Rasiya, just look at all the stars up there! Sometimes I wish I could just touch them, go closer, feel and see them more closely." said Raghu as he lay under the Banyan tree in his garden looking up into the night sky. Rasiya was lazily coiled on the banyan tree branches listening to Raghu and half falling asleep. "Hmmm" muttered Rasiya.

"Hey Rasiya! Get up!!! Let's make a telescope! I remember my teacher talking about it in class last month. At the time it sounded so boring, but today when I look up at the night sky, I really want to make it. Come on! Get up Rasiya!" cried out Raghu. "Oh no, not right now Raghu. Its almost 8pm and all I want to do is sleep." But Raghu had already ran indoors to collect the items that were needed to make his simple little telescope. "That boy! Did anyone teach him to listen!"mumbled Rasiya as he started shaking his body awake.

10 minutes turned to 30 minutes as Raghu came running back outside. "Look what I brought Rasiya! Paper towel rolls, A thick sheet of paper, tape and the two lenses our teacher gave to us at school. They're both double convex lenses. One is 150mm and another is 500mm. Let's get to work!"

Raghu began by rolling up the sheet of paper the long way, to form a tube that was about the diameter of the lens with the shortest focal length. "This will be the eyepiece Rasiya! Can you tape the edges of the eyepiece lens to one end of the paper tube Rasiya?" Rasiya was at it immediately. He was waiting to complete this project as soon as possible!

Raghu then began to tape the second lens with a larger focal length to the end of the paper towel tube. He then inserted the empty end of the paper tube into the paper towel tube. "Rasiya, its ready!!!" shouted Raghu in excitement. "Really!" said a surprised Rasiya. He couldn't believe it could really be that simple.

"Look through the lens with the shorter focal length and point the other end of the telescope at a distant object. Slide the two tubes in and out until the object comes into focus. You will see the image upside down and magnified. If you have trouble focusing the telescope, you may need to lengthen the tube. That's what our teacher had said at the end of the session." Rasiya looked through this simple telescope up to the sky. He pointed it towards the moon. It definitely looked magnified, he had never seen it like this before. "Wow! It actually works Raghu!" shouted a now some what enthusiastic Rasiya. "Ofcourse it does Rasiya! We'll make another longer one tomorrow." Raghu called back.

Adventures of Raghu - Nani, a pillar of strength and compassion

"Nani is coming today Dev!" cried out Raghu to Dev, ecstatic at the news that his maternal grandmother would be arriving from her village soon. "Wow! Then we'll get to hear loads of stories!" exclaimed Dev.

Raghu and nani shared a precious bond of storytelling. That too the kind of stories Raghu loved most! Her stories were often set in the outdoors with a rural setting to them. They almost always included children climbing trees, women going to the stream to fetch water, or people sitting near the river hearing its sounds and watching it flow. The elements of nature always played a significant role in the stories, whether water, earth or the sky. There were also small incidents she would narrate from her own life, growing up in the village, set amidst nature.

Nani had a very calm and balanced disposition. One could never see her screaming or getting angry at anyone at home. People around her almost automatically settled down and were often laughing and chatting her her. Whether the vegetable vendor, the house maid or any guests who came home. She was an ocean of compassion and warmth. When she was at home, everyone wanted to be near her to draw energy, support and emotional balance from her. She was a pillar of strength in the household and everyone waited for the day nani would come visiting from her village.

Nani's life though had also been through many turmoils, but Raghu always wondered how she remained so calm despite all the situations she had been through. When Raghu would ask her, Nani would say - "We led a very routine life, waking up early with early morning walks, which included hearing birds chirping, taking care of the garden, touching the soil with our bare hands and watering the plants. Being with nature, also kept me constantly connected with myself and grounded in all my daily activities."

Raghu had another reason to love nani's presence. Notorious for often cycling off into the nearby forest, Raghu had complete freedom to go outdoors at whatever time he wished when nani was around. When Raghu's mother would get upset and worried at him riding off into the forest at absurd timings, nani would always tell his mother - "Let him go. This freedom to explore nature at his will is the best gift you will ever give him."

 Have you heard of Nature Deficit Disorder?

Nature Deficit Disorder

Perhaps, the core issue of all the behavioral problems this generation faces is that we do not get to spend some quality time amidst nature. Nature does have an impact on human behavior. Richard Louv, substantiates this point in his book “Last Child in the Woods”. He says, “An increasing pace in the last three decades approximately, of a rapid disengagement between children and direct experiences in nature has profound implications, not only for the health of future generations but for the health of the Earth itself".  The effects from Nature Deficit Disorder could lead to the first generation being at risk of having a shorter lifespan then their parents.”

In our children’s case, nature-time is likely to be more elusive as they grow up in the hustle bustle of a city. Indeed, they deserve to spend quality time amidst nature. Referring to the parental fear of sending their children alone to the park, Richard says, “We may be protecting children to such an extent that it has become a problem and disrupts the child’s ability to connect to nature. The parents growing fear of ‘stranger danger’ that is heavily fueled by the media keeps children indoors and on the computer rather than outdoors exploring.”

The specialists in this field opine that, especially, kids who do not get nature-time seem more prone to anxiety, depression and attention deficit problems.  The only cure for such problems is spending more time in the nature. Going out and being in nature can help one greatly. There are simple things kids can do in the outdoors that can connect them to nature. Even hugging a tree or looking at greenery from the balcony can start all of us on the nature path!

So make sure your kids get out more often!

So get your kids out more often!

Adventures of Raghu - It's a bugs life!

“Dev!!! Come outside! I have to show you this!” cried Raghu from the garden facing his room window. Dev was sitting inside Raghu’s room playing a video game. “What is it Raghu? I’m in the middle of playing Angry Birds!” called back Dev rather unenthusiastic to leave his game and go outside.  “There’s this beautiful bug on the garden wall out here. It’s so colourful! You have to come see it!” called back Raghu.

It had rained the previous night and there were all kinds of bugs and insects crawling around in the garden. Raghu had been walking in the garden when his eye had caught this bright-coloured little creature sitting on the wall under his window and had rushed to investigate what it was.

“Please bring the magnifying glass in my study drawer when you come out!” shouted Raghu to Dev. “Oh Raghu! Just when the game was going so well you had to call me for this bug hunt you’re suddenly so interested in!” exclaimed Dev, rather upset at leaving his video game, as he walked out into the garden and handed Raghu the magnifying glass.

Raghu took the magnifying glass from Dev and held his hand excitedly as he pulled him down towards him. Both boys looked at the bug in front of them attentively with the magnifying glass. Dev had seen different kinds of bugs before, but this was definitely something different. “Wow! Should we take a photograph?” asked Dev. “If you want,” called back Raghu as he moved ahead to investigate the rest of the garden.

Raghu felt like a detective with the magnifying glass in his hand, carefully observing the grass, leaves, tree branches and anything around for signs of bugs.

There was a grasshopper seated on the grass nearby, a lady bug on a leaf outside Raghu’s window and an interesting black bug with yellow spots that both boys had not seen before. 

Dev was following Raghu quietly, almost tiptoeing, so that he could take photographs of them without disturbing the bugs.

“These little creepy crawlies are such amazing creatures, and we don't even take a moment to notice these little wonders of nature.” Said Raghu to Dev as he sat down near a tree. His eyes suddenly caught a beautiful caterpillar crawling on the tree branch. “Dev, be sure to capture this! It’ll be a beautiful butterfly soon.”

“I’ve caught them all Raghu! Let’s make an album and put up all our bugs on facebook! It’ll be our very own Bug Hunt album!” said Dev as he sat down near Raghu admiring each of the photos he had taken. “Great idea Dev! And we'll put the names of each of the bugs against it!”

How about going out on a bug hunt?