Halli Times 2020 by A Learning Hut

HALLI TIMES Volume 1, Issue 1 March 2020

Â© Halli Times, March 2020

ÂŠ Halli Times, March 2020

Gratitude … Cover Page (Spiral Torus Mandala) and Back Page (Monotone Colourful Mandala) Design - Pranav Pranav is homeschooled and is into Therapeutic art, Sanskrit and Maths.

Original Photography - Agnibarathi, Lalitha T Arun Editing and Logo Design - Vaidehi Sriram Editing and Technical Support - Lalitha T Arun / Agnibarathi

Fondly dedicated to my dear father Late S.T, lover of all things literary, editor of a local magazine called “Karumbu”. Thank you Appa, for instilling a love for books and writing in all three of us. We love you !

A publication proudly brought to you by T he Learning Hut !

Editorial Welcome to the inaugural issue of the Halli Times, published by the Learning Hut ! I am truly excited to embark on this journey with all of you, of new beginnings and wondrous discoveries. March is when Spring is at her finest, showering us with blossoms. It is when we can smell mangoes and neem in the air, engulfing us in the familiar, yet intoxicating scent. The fragrance that tells that the holidays are near, one that brings with it bittersweet memories of school exams and report cards ! Holidays mean free time and of late, relaxation has come to mean doing nothing at all. We tend to think of relaxation as an evening spent watching ‘ Netflix and chill ’. Yet, this leaves us increasingly restless and frustrated. This is because, like Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the Hungarian-American psychologist says in his book ‘Flow’, we attain flow when we are doing an activity for its own sake, where the ego falls away. So an afternoon spent painting, singing or reading often leaves us more energized than an entire morning spent snoozing. This is the joy that the Learning Hut wants to recreate, essentially. Creating art, writing or cooking are all forms of entertainment that are anything but passive. They speak to the yearning inside all of us - to be much bigger than what we are today, especially right now, where humanity is going through an extreme existential crisis, facing a pandemic. So now, find a cosy corner, fix yourself a cup of something warm (or cold1), snuggle up and enjoy this month’s issue of the Halli Times ! ~ Vaidehi © Halli Times, March 2020

Competition or … no competition ? ~T V Ramprasadh

My experiences with schools in the process of conducting the Life Art Education program in schools, is that competition is ingrained in the Indian psyche. All schools feel proud to showcase their in-house talents, hence there is this mad rush for competitions. What are the plus points of competition? The participant is exposed to various platforms and audiences and difficult situations while presenting, like bad mikes, bad stage to dance, bad time management by organizers. After overcoming all of these the child gets to be a more experienced performer, having shed inhibitions. What are the minus points? Awarding a prize affects the child participating and others not participating equally. Competition creates fear. Competition kills imagination and creativity. It creates a divide between achievers and non achievers, especially while handing them that cup. The joy of participation and celebration is lost. Competition leads to conflict.

Now let us extrapolate this further into our society. Think of what happens when all our schools in India are clamoring for prizes, recognition, and false fame. Do you see that our nation is heading toward conflict. Is this what we want to teach our children, our loved ones, the torch bearers of tomorrowto be competitive street smart, do whatever to win-even at the cost of others, forsake enjoyment for THAT winning streak. What do you see in the world today ? Countries becoming aggressive, wanting to score brownies at the cost of others, violence – both verbal and physical. This is something we all collectively need to ponder about. Competition is surely going to put all our lives in conflict. T V Ramprasadh is a senior Carnatic vocalist beside being a teacher of music for thirty years. He is a pioneer in introducing e-learning for the performing arts through eAmbalam and a unique K12 Life Skills program for schools called Life Art Education.

Sparks ~Srushti Srikanth

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Srushti Srikanth is a fifteen (soon to be sixteen year old) romantic whose eyes light up for life, and the very nature of creation. She is most inspired to write when she is overcome with love for life and short powerful bursts of statements, just like a small spark that flares to life and makes you go, "Woah!" ÂŠ Halli Times, March 2020

Ouch, It hurts ! ~Om Hemmige

I was walking in the night, When I got bitten by a termite I started giving it a gaze, and back it gave me a blaze The termite showed me a move, and I fell on my groove Then I started giving it a glance but he held his stance Chorus - (Got bitten by a termite, Ouch it hurts!) x 3 Was walking in the night, got bitten by a termite I thought I stamped it but it twisted my leg and cramped IT! Chorus - (Got bitten by a termite, Ouch it hurts!) x 3 Om Hemmige is a spirited eight year old who sings beautifully, loves food and has a wicked sense of humour ! ÂŠ Halli Times, March 2020

Lessons learned from a tech fast/digital detox ~Lalitha T Arun

One of my new year’s resolutions for 2020 was to try to wean away from excess use of technology and become a little more mindful of using energy. So, when Vaidehi aka my sister announced on the Learning Hut about different practices for Fridays, I was only too happy to try out a tech fast Ramadan style (10 am -5pm) since it was my day off.

and WhatsApp one last time before turning it off.

I realized a Tech Free Friday was perhaps a bit too ambitious starting out so I settled for a more manageable approach. It wasn’t as easy as I’d hoped especially as the decision was made only a few hours prior. However, with proper planning and a mindful approach, the practice will surely become a lot easier and extremely successful.

I couldn’t completely switch off my mobile as it serves as my alarm, ATM, map, link to family and friends, ersatz personal computer, reading source, music system, voice recorder, security guard, emergency tool, pedometer amongst other services including its original purpose of sending and receiving calls! Little wonder then being away from the phone causes such anxiety; as with most people my phone has become my most faithful companion especially in the last few years that the very thought of being away from it even for a little while is a major cause of anxiety.

At the outset, I found turning off the appliances was rather easy. I had eased off the telly from the first of Jan so not switching it on didn’t seem too difficult. The television, washer and microwave were all switched off at 10 am. I checked my emails

At 10.30 am, I experienced major withdrawal, my hands itched to see if there were any notifications. I was so accustomed to mindlessly swiping my phone every few minutes for updates that I found it hard to sit still. I decided to take a walk. For the first

10 time in months, I resisted the urge to swipe the phone for miles and calories burnt etc or chat as I walked. I continued to walk instead looking at the changing colours of winter, smiled at random strangers and sat by the canal watching a family of swans go past. It was hard not to whip out the phone to take a photo or two!It was just past lunchtime and I was rather antsy to see if my WhatsApp had pinged or if someone had sent me an email. I distracted myself by folding laundry and decluttering the

bedroom. I was bored. Like an addict looking for his fix, I reached for the Kindle. Then I realized there were two good paperbacks sitting on my nightstand. Contrary to its title, Dangerous Days in The Roman Empire by Terry Dean was a funny book full of witty anecdotes about the rather colourful lives of roman emperors. I finished reading most of it and took a long nap.

Waking up refreshed, I had time to practise singing. By now, the urge to look at the screen had somewhat subsided. Without any distractions or the anxiety of missing out, I was better able to enjoy my music. When 5 pm gradually rolled in, I was feeling more relaxed than usual, yet better focussed. There was an unexpected surprise in that a dreary wintry day seemed longer and I could accomplish a lot more without those pesky distractions.

than done. My mind wandered like a 6-year-old on a sugar rush. I corralled myself to a nook for two hours and finished the first draft of this article—all handwritten.

The following Friday, I decided to repeat the practice but this time I went to the library in order to get some reading done. Easier said © Halli Times, March 2020

My fingers ached from the atrophy after years of texting and typing and not holding a pen for long hours. I borrowed a few books in order to ease my dependence on theKindle and to start reading books in their proper format again. This also helped wean off unwanted gossip columns and the dreadful news updates on the Kindle.

I am hoping to keep up this practise

week after week, eventually extending it to whole weekends and perhaps even getting back to a life that I knew 10 years ago---one less dependant on gadgets and being more mindful of technology consumption. Just as I was waking up one morning, I was reminded of a shloka my mother taught us when we were children: Karaagre vasathe Lakshmi Karamule Saraswathi Karamadhye tu Govinda Prabhathe kara darshanam This was the waking up prayer – roughly translated it means open your palms together to see Lakshmi at the top, Saraswathi at the bottom and Govinda in the middle. This was to start off your day connecting with the Divine and positivity. My mother still follows it to this day. I have to admit the prayer has somewhat changed for me since the phone is practically surgically attached to the palm of my hand:

karaagre vasathe WhatsApp karamule email karamadhye tu google prabhate kara darshanam As I put the finishing touches to the article on Mahashivratri—a day meant for contemplation and eschewing material desires, I couldn’t help but wonder, however did we live our lives even 7 years ago without all this lingering need for technology? It seems to me that we lived a somewhat simpler life just a decade ago. Today it seems unimaginable to go a day without any of our technical gadgets that it almost borders on addiction. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/sm arter-living/stop-letting-modern-distractio ns-steal-your-attention.html . Although this NYT article regurgitates some ancient wisdom and common sense, it needs to be told again so we may listen.

Lalitha T Arun is a teacher of English and French. An aspiring minimalist, she lives in England and enjoys long walks, meditation and Carnatic music.

The Clever Tailor Bird ~ Saishree

Saishree is a homeschooled eight year old who loves Carnatic music, reading and art. © Halli Times, March 2020

How the spider got her signature, a Mannathi Tale ~Agnibarathi

If you ever met Meenakshi, you would think she was an ordinary girl. She had, two ordinary eyes (which were extraordinarily bright), two ordinary hands (which were extraordinarily lively), two ordinary legs (which were extraordinarily bouncy) and one really ordinary smile (which was really really really extraordinarily charming). Nothing out of the ordinary at all. But, there was nothing ordinary about her. And that was because of her extraordinary best friend, Mannathi. Mannathi was extraordinarily mysterious. And mysteriously extraordinary. Nobody knew how old she was (but she did speak in a six-year old's voice very similar to Meenakshi), where she came from (but she did smell of jasmines from the garden) or why she was called Mannathi (but the first time her name ever appeared was in Meenakshi's homework notebook). But it wasn't this mystery around Mannathi that enamoured her to Meenakshi. No! Mysteries are easily unravelled and Meenakshi preferred to unravel her mother's knitting if at all there was any unravelling to be done. No, Meenakshi was friends with Mannathi because she was a shapeshifter. She could take different forms at will. At the time of this story being told, Mannathi had been a weevil, a broken brick, a curry leaf, a cobra, a coucal, a stick insect and many more such forms. And also, a spider.

"A spider?", asked Meenakshi as she gingerly picked up Mannathi to examine her. "Oh you are so colourful!", she squealed as she saw the brown, white and yellow band on Mannathi's body. "He he! That tickles", giggled Mannathi as she wiggled all her six legs. "He he he!" Meenakshi tickled her some more and laughed. She then carefully put Mannathi on her shoulder. "My turn", screamed Mannathi (which you would hardly call a scream because spiders scream very silently) as she nimbly leapt on Meenakshi's skin tickling her. "Ha ha ha!", laughed Meenakshi, throwing her head back. A few seconds of wild silence ensued after the wild laughter. "Where do spiders live?", pondered Meenakshi. "Oh we build lovely, shimmering webs", Mannathi said rather proudly as she stretched her stringy legs on Meenakshi's neck. "But I had a hard time finding mine after I built it".

ÂŠ Halli Times, March 2020

"What? Why? Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!", begged Meenakshi sensing that a story was coming. "Well, as you very well know", (And Meenakshi very well did not, but she nodded her head like she did), "the jungles of the hills are rather dark. The leaves of the greedy trees gobble up all the sunlight, leaving little for us spiders. So, us spiders have to mark our webs after building them. Otherwise, we'll not know how to get back home after our days." "But, I thought spiders stay put in their webs, no?", pondered Meenakshi. "Tch, tch! How little you know of spiders. We have so many places to go, so many people to see. Time flies when you are a spider!", Mannathi clarified. "Okay...", Meenakshi's voice trailed, not very convinced. Mannathi rolled her eyes at her skepticism and continued. "So yes, I wanted to mark my web. So I built it close to this really big ant-hill." "Oh, I love ant-hills. That was a good choice!" "Hardly", Mannathi shook her head with the air of a granny who had seen things. "It was a big ant-hill and I thought it would be perfect. But I go over to see my friend Nephilaâ&#x20AC;&#x2039;1 eat her husband, it rains heavily and what do you know? No more ant-hill!" "Wait! What! She ate her husband?", Meenakshi was mortified! "Yes, it really is no big deal", shrugged Mannathi. "We do it all the time and the men like it. It beats eating what they cook." "Ok..." Meenakshi wasn't very convinced about all of this. "You'll know when you grow up, find a mate and eat your first candle-lit upma", said Mannathi with a smirk. "That doesn't make any sense. Besides, I don't intend to grow up or find a mate. But tell the story, no?" Meenakshi was impatient.

ÂŠ Halli Times, March 2020

"Yeah yeah. So the next time I build my web over a nice conical rock." "And rocks don't dissolve in the rain! Smart!`` said Meenakshi, who had a lot of experience with rains, rocks and papers (but very little with scissors). "But heavy winds can topple them over..." Mannathi sighed. "Oh..." empathized Meenakshi. "Yeah, so web lost again!" Meenakshi was a little worried now. This story might end sad (some of Mananthi's stories did) and she wasn't in the mood for sadness today. "So yeah", continued Mannathi, "I built a third web. And by the time I was done, my jaws were aching and I was so angry, I scratched it and stomped away!" "He he!", giggled Meenakshi imagining how funny a stomping spider would look. "Hmph!", grunted Mannathi. "Anyway, Nephila was having babies and had invited me over for tea with some butterfly biscuits." "That sounds yummy!", Meenakshi clapped her hands. "Yes, but you have to peel the antennae off the butterflies before baking or the biscuits get crumbly." "What! Blech!", grimaced Meenakshi, "I thought you meant biscuits shaped like butterflies." "Well, they were shaped like butterflies. We made it from them after all!", grinned Mannathi. "Gah!!!!", screamed Meenakshi, "Just finish the story", she closed her eyes in disgust. "I don't see what's the big deal with eating butterflies. They are disgusting superficial creatures always posing for the stupid photographers! Anyway, it was night when I returned and I was sure I'll have to build a new web. But guess what? The web was

ÂŠ Halli Times, March 2020

there! It had dewdrops shining in the full moonlight and I could identify it clearly by the scratch I made! A distinct zig-zag pattern2!" "Your own signature! How clever!", Meenakshi snapped her fingers and then high-fived Mannathi. Meenakshi picked Mannathi up and put her in her palm. Then she whispered in her tiny-spider ears, curious and cautious... "Now tell me. You really eat butterflies3 ? How do they taste?" "Oh, just like normal flies, but buttery!" "Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!" The air was filled with the squeals, giggles and laughter of an extraordinary girl and an extraordinary spider who both knew the secret to finding their homes was in themselves. Notes: 1 - Nephila is a genus of Golden orb weaver spiders. They build giant, lovely, complex webs that shine magically in the sunlight. The females in this genus like with all other spiders are many times larger than the males and they sometimes eat the male after they mate. There is still not enough clarity in the scientific community on why this happens. You can see golden orb weavers in thick woods like the Turahalli forest and Ragihalli forest. Keep an eye out to see a glorious web shining in the sun between the branches of the trees. Don’t forget to check the picture on the next page, of the spider eating a butterfly ! 2 - Argiope Anasuja, or the signature spider builds a web with a zigzag pattern in the middle. It was initially thought that this was done to stabilize the web, but the scientific community is again divided on this. 3 - Signature spiders, like many other spiders are capable of eating prey many times their size. They wrap up trapped prey in a cocoon and eat them. As of the writing of this tale, there is no known incident of an Argiope Anasuja visiting a Nephila for a butterfly biscuit tea party, but there is nothing to say that it hasn’t occurred! Agnibarathi is an aspiring photographer who enjoys telling his six year old stories from various corners of the world. He is heavily inspired by the Ents from the Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien and would like to be able to grow things.

Nephila and her butterfly biscuit !

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Moments of beauty…

~ Karthickeyan

Karthickeyan is an extremely polite sixth grader, who loves cricket and football. His smile can really warm you up !

Disclaimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2039; : All photos and artwork used in this magazine are original, except for the one on Page 5. No copyright infringement intended.

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