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?

Adventures of Raghu - Music in the outdoors!

“This is going to be one hell of an outdoor music station!” cried out Raghu excitedly to Dev, as he tied a string between two branches of the tree. Exams were finally over and Raghu’s favourite cousin Dev was over from Bombay to spend a few weeks with the family.

Raghu and Dev were about the same age and both particularly loved the outdoors and music. They would spend most vacations together either climbing trees, bicycling into the forest or creating music with all kinds of self created instruments. Whether recycled materials like cans, bottles, utensils or shells, hollow bamboos, and mud pots, they used almost anything that they could make sounds with to create all kind of tunes and beats. 

“When you both are home, the house is like a jamming station!” Raghu’s mother would always say. “Why don’t you both create your very own music station in the garden outside, so that we all can have some peace here.” Raghu and Dev had thought it was a great idea and had decided to begin work on it immediately.

In the garden today were plastic bottles, tin cans, lids of food cans, caps of bottles, old spoons and finally bells that Raghu had taken from his sisters old ghungroos that his mom was ready to dispose. “Let’s get to work Dev” said Raghu as he tied the ends of the strings across two branches of the tree and hung the various objects on, which they had painted earlier in the day.

The bells were tied in some of the objects like the tin can and bottle lid to give it an additional tune.

They began testing each instrument, understanding the sounds each one made and then using it to create their very own music.

“Let’s make some music and perform infront of the family tonite!” suggested Raghu to Dev excitedly.