The Aseema Trust - without boundaries .. linking arts and education and Gandhi

Activities January 2011

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31 – VRD story telling on Gandhi and spinning demonstration at Vidyodaya school for Prakriti Foundation’s Tree of Life festival.

30 – Peace March from Gandhi statue to Presidency college, cultural event at Presidency College. 800 children participated.

29 – Youth For Peace – Peace Mela t Besant Theosophical School.

Meeting at Presidency College with NSS volunteers.

Police station for permission letter for the peace march.

Shopping of materials for workshops.

28 –Meeting at Besant Theosophical School.

VRD moderator of panel on whither classical arts at the Sarang festival at IIT Madras.

Workshop for Youth for Peace at Besant Theosophical School with students from six schools.

VRD introducing Koothu performance at Dakshinachitra.

A big article on VRD in The Hindu Metroplus.

Shopping of materials for workshops

27 - Meeting with brochure designer and printer. Shopping for materials for workshop.

26 – Tiruvarur for the release of a book on Devashriya Mantapam paintings by David Shulman organized by Prakriti Foundation.

25 – Meeting with brochure designer for youth for peace festival.

24 – Guiding visitors in Kalakshetra and a lecture on Gandhi and the Nataraja sculpture by V.R.Devika.

23 – Sunday. Meeting of the residents association of Anuraga apartments.

22 – Meeting with Ahalya and Manasa in the office. Preparation for youth for peace festival.

21 - Workshop for Youth for Peace at Besant Theosophical School with students from six schools.

Meeting with Director of collegiate Education and handing over the letter for permission from the Director of Collegiate Education to the Principal, Presidency College.

20 - Workshop for Youth for Peace at Besant Theosophical School with students from six schools.

Meeting with Director of collegiate Education .

19 – Workshop for Youth for Peace at Besant Theosophical School with students from six schools. Shopping for materials.

Meeting with Presidency College Principal for permission, she wanted us to get permission from Directorate of Collegiate Education

18 – Meeting with Koothu actors in the office for Youth for Peace festival

Workshop for Youth for Peace at Besant Theosophical School with students from six schools.

16 – Sunday- Youth for Peace session for the children of Hand In Hand at Kanchipuram by Sangeeta Iswaran

14 – Meeting at Cholamandal artists’ village with Sangeeta Isvaran and Shailesh BO for Youth for Peace festival

12 – Meeting at Presidency College for youth for peace festival with NSS coordinators.

Rehearsal at Avvai Home for youth for peace festival.

Meeting at the US Consul general’s house.

11 – Meeting with Sangeeta Isvaran, Pralayan and Raviraaj for youth for peace festival.

Theatre festival of National School of Drama regional festival at Museum theatre. Play on Gandhi by group from Manipur.

Spin a yarn Session at Bala Vidya Mandir– Resource person Chitra Nagesh and Dr.S.Kulandhaisamy.

10 – Seminar on mind and consciousness in the University of Madras.

Visit to Besant Theosophical School, Besant Arundale School and Sankara Vidyashram for Youth for peace festival.

Handed over the permission letter for Youth for Peace to Police Commissioner’s Office

Marappachi theatre performance of Sanchari at Spaces theatre.

9 – Sunday – Youth for Peace session for the children of Hand In Hand at Kanchipuram by Sangeeta Iswaran

8 – Meeting at the office for Koothu festival and for youth for peace with Pralayan.

7 - Kiron Bhatnagar in Aseema Office, meeting with N.Muthuswamy, director Koothuppattarai.

Meeting on peace initiatives at Observer research foundation organized by USEFI.

Spin a yarn session at AMM School – resource person Dr.S. Kulandhaisamy

6 – V.R.D’s meeting at Kattaikuttu centre in Kanchipuram with Ms.Kiron Bhatnagar of Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi for preparation for koothu festival and documentation.

5 – Meeting with Ghatam artist Uma Shankar for Prakriti foundation.

Vasantha Meeting with Presidency college Principal for the Youth for festival.

Vasantha Meeting to hand over the letter to the schools for youth for festival rehearsal at Besant school from 18th to 22nd.

4 – VRD Meeting at Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram and Meeting at Kalakshetra with faculty from the college of Wooster, Ohio, USA.

Spin a yarn session at Bala Vidya Mandir – Resource person Kalai Rani

3 – VRD Lunch Meeting at Amethyst with theatre persons with faculty from the college of Wooster, Ohio, USA

Meeting at office with the resource persons Kannan Kumar,Kalai Rani, Chitra Nagesh.

Spin a Yarn Session at Avvai Home – Resource person Kannan Kumar

2- VRDMeeting at Spaces and Meeting at Cholamandal artists’ village with faculty from the college of Wooster, Ohio, USA

1 – VRD Meeting at Dakshinachitra with faculty from the college of Wooster, Ohio, USA

Activities - December 2010

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31st December 2010 – Meeting at Kalakshetra.

V. R. Devika coordinating the recki trip of two faculty members of the College of Wooster, Ohio to India

30th December 2010 - Sri Krishna Gana Sabha’s Natya Kala Conference.

Meeting at the University of Madras.

29th December 2010 – Sri Krishna Gana Sabha’s Natya Kala Conference and meeting for Youth for Peace.

28th December 2010 - Sri Krishna Gana Sabha’s Natya Kala Conference and meeting for Youth for Peace.

27th December 2010 – Sri Krishna Gana Sabha’s Natya Kala Conference.

26th December 2010 – Meeting at Cholamandal Artists’ Village.

Meeting at The Dhananjayans Bharathakalanjali to prepare for the Natya Kala Conference.

25th December 2010 – Meeting with Kalanidhi Narayan, Shyamala Surendran and the Dhananjayans.

23rd December 2010 - Article on the Youth for peace Initiative was published as part of the “Initiate Change” series in the Hindu NXg dated 23rd Nov 2010.

V. R. Devika at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi for ICPR fellows meet

22nd December 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Besant Arundale Senior Secondary School by Chitra Nagesh

V. R. Devika attended the award ceremony at Vigyan Bhavan. The Prime Minister honoured two philosophers with life-time and achievement awards.

21st December 2010 – “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Bala Vidya Mandir School by Dr. Kulandhaisamy and Chitra Nagesh

V. R. Devika in Delhi for ICPR fellows meet

20th December 2010 – “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Kannankumar

“Spin a yarn for life” session at Avvai Home for Class VI students by Kalairani

“Spin a yarn for life” session at Avvai Home for teacher trainees by Kannankumar

V. R. Devika in Delhi for ICPR fellows meet

18th December 2010 – Meeting for Youth for Peace and Sangeet Natak Academy Koothu festival with Leela Samson at Kalakshetra

17th December 2010 – Meeting at Lalit Kala Academy

16th December 2010 – Article on the Youth for peace Initiative was published as part of the “Initiate Change” series in the Hindu NXg dated 16th Dec 2010.

Meeting at the University of Madras

Meeting with Ms. Leela Samson

15th December 2010 – “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Besant Arundale Senior Secondary School by Kannankumar

Meeting at University of Madras, Prakriti Foundation on poetry festival

13th December 2010 – V. R. Devika had a Youth for Peace meeting with Sangeeta Isvaran and Pralayan

“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Priya Nagesh

“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Avvai Home School by Kalairani

“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Avvai Home for teacher trainees by Kannankumar
Saree-link painted in connection with Youth for Peace at Kalakshetra by members of the public.

Article on “Penmai”, the DVD on reproductive health by Dr. Gita Arjun, was published in the Metroplus, of The Hindu dated 13th December 2010. This DVD was produced by The Aseema Trust and Kalanjiyam Trust.

12th December 2010 - Saree-link painted in connection with Youth for Peace at Kalakshetra by members of the public.

11th December 2010 - Saree-link painted in connection with Youth for Peace at Kalakshetra by members of the public.

10th December 2010 – “Spin a Yarn” sessions at AMM School by Kalairani and Chitra Nagesh

“Spin a Yarn” session at Besant Theosophical School by Kulandhaisamy

Seminar on “Consciousness, Mind and Brain” at Department of Philosophy, University of Madras

Saree-link painted in connection with Youth for Peace at Kalakshetra by members of the public.

09th December 2010 – “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Sankara Vidyashramam School by Kannankumar

Article on the Youth for peace Initiative was published as part of the “Initiate Change” series in the Hindu NXg dated 09th Nov 2010.

“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Navbharath Matriculation School by Dr. Kulandhaisamy

Saree-link painted in connection with Youth for Peace at Kalakshetra by members of the public.

08th December 2010 – V. R. Devika and Vasantha Parthasharathy met with Prof. Dr. Vijayalakshmi, Principal of Presidency College in connection with the Youth for Peace program.

“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Besant Arundale Senior Secondary School by Kannankumar

“Spin a Yarn for life” session T Navbharath Matriculation School by Priya Nagesh

Saree-link painted in connection with Youth for Peace at Kalakshetra by members of the public.

Meeting at University of Madras

07th December 2010 – Youth for Peace meeting in office by V. R. Devika with Pralayan and Sangeeta Isvaran. Kalai Selvan for Chakram Chakram

06th December 2010 – V. R. Devika attended the Crafts Mela at Kalakshetra

05th December 2010 – V. R. Devika attended the Crafts Mela at Kalakshetra

04th December 2010 - “Spin a Yarn and Youth for Peace” sessions at Chengalpet Juvenile Delinquent Home and Speed Trust by Sangeeta Isvaran

V. R. Devika had a “Peace and I” saree-link meeting with Jaya Jaitley and Leela Samson.

"Who is my s/hero?" was an essay competition that Prajnya Peace initiatives had for 10 year olds in Chennai schools. On 4th December 2010, V. R. Devika along with Rathi Jaffer and Amuktha was on the panel to select the ones that would go in our next Chakram Chakram. It was most difficult to choose and very much contested. Three English essays and three Tamil essays have been chosen.

03rd December 2010 – “Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM School by Kalairani and Chitra Nagesh

“Spin a Yarn and Youth for Peace” sessions at Hand in Hand Kanchipuram and Kattaikuttu Centre by Sangeeta Isvaran

Seminar at University of Madras

02nd December 2010 - Article on the Youth for peace Initiative was published as part of the “Initiate Change” series in the Hindu NXg dated 02 December, 2010.

01st December 2010 – V. R. Devika had a meeting with Trustee Ms. Shanta Guhan. Meeting also with Sai Shravanam for the theme music for Youth for Peace

ACTIVITIES - November 2010

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ACTIVITIES – NOVEMBER 2010

30th November 2010 – “Spin a Yarn for life” sessions at Bala Vidya Mandir School by Kalairani and Dr. S. Kulandhaisamy

V. R. Devika had a Youth for peace meeting in the office with Pralayan, Sangeeta Isvaran, Kalaiselvan, Yuvaraj and other volunteers.

V. R. Devika had a meeting at Kattaikuttu Centre for the Koothu festival

29th November 2010 – V. R. Devika and Vasantha Parthasharathy met with the Principal of Presidency College, Chennai in connection with the Youth for Peace project.

“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Kannankumar

“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Avvai Home School for Class VI students by Kalairani

“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Avvai Home for teacher trainees by Kannankumar

28th November 2010 – V.R. Devika had a meeting with Kausalya Jaganmohan and Anitha P for Pierce Leslie programmes.

27th November 2010 – V. R. Devika was the Chief Guest at the performance of traditional folk dances of Tamil Nadu, Kolattam, Tappattam and Oyilattam by children from the villages belonging to the Kramiya and Sangama Rural Heritage Clubs. This performance was held at Alliance Francaise, Nungambakkam, Chennai on 27th November 2010 from 04.00 to 06.00 p.m.

26th November 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM School by Chitra Nagesh

25th November 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Kannankumar

Youth for Peace meeting in office by V. R. Devika with Sangeeta Isvaran and Pralayan

“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Navbharath Matriculation School by Priya Nagesh

24th November 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Besant Arundale Senior Secondary School by Sangeeta Isvaran.

“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Navbharath Matriculation School by Priya Nagesh

23rd November 2010 – V. R. Devika received “Sathya Vimarshaka Sundaram” Award from the Bharathanjali Trust which celebrated its 20th Anniversary and Swami Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s 85th Birthday. The function was held at 6.00 p.m. at “Sri Maha Swamigal Auditorium” Vani Mahal (Main Hall), G. N. Chetty Road, T. Nagar, Chennai -17

V. R. Devika organized the discussion on “The Aftermath of the U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to India” at the Department of Philosophy, University of Madras on the 23rd November 2010 at 2.30 p.m. The Speakers were Mr. Matt Beh, Political Officer, U. S. Consulate General, Chennai; Dr. R. Manivannan Head i/c Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Madras and Mr. Satyamurthy, Senior Journalist, Director, Observer Research Foundation, Chennai Chapter.

“Spin a Yarn for life” sessions at Bala Vidya Mandir School by Kalairani and Dr. S. Kulandhaisamy

V. R. Devika and Vasantha Parthasharathy met with the Commissioner of Police, Mr. T. Rajendran and Deputy Commisioner of Police, Mr. Satyamurthy in connection with the Youth for Peace Project.

22nd November 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Kannankumar and Sangeeta Isvaran.

“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Avvai Home School for Class VI students by Kalairani

“Spin a Yarn for life” at Avvai Home teacher trainees by Kannankumar

21st November 2010 - V. R. Devika was felicitated by the Karnataka Rajyotsava Samithi -2010 in the Karnataka Rajyotsava Celebrations at Dr. U. Rama Rau Kalamantapa at 111, Habibullah Road, T. Nagar, Chennai 600017.

19th November 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” and Youth for peace sessions at AMM School by V. R. Devika and Sangeeta Isvaran.

18th November 2010 – “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Sankara Vidyashram by Chitra Nagesh

“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Kannankumar

“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Navbharath Matriculation School by Priya Nagesh

Article on the Youth for peace Initiative was published as part of the “Initiate Change” series in the Hindu NXg dated 18th Nov 2010.

17th November 2010 – V. R. Devika had a Youth for Peace meeting with Sangeeta Isvaran

V. R. Devika attended Karnaprayag adoption Centre’s 30th Anniversary celebrations and the first oration on surrogacy by Justice A.R. Lakshmanan.

16th November 2010 – Meeting at Bharatha Kalanjali

“Spin a Yarn for life” and “Youth for Peace” sessions at Bala Vidya Mandir by V. R. Devika and Sangeeta Isvaran

15th November 2010 - Children's day was marked in a unique manner at Olcott School. As part of the Aseema Trust’s “Spin a yarn” project, Mr. Kannankumar had trained children of class 8 in Besant Arundale Senior Secondary School and Olcott School in Oyilattam with a song based on Gandhi. On 15th November, children from Besant Arundale School participated in the Children’s day celebrations in Olcott School. The Oyilattam was performed in a unique manner with the children from Olcott School singing for the group from Besant Arundale and vice versa. This was a wonderful experience for the children as they performed together even though they had not rehearsed even once together. They thoroughly enjoyed the programme and look forward to many more such exchange programmes in other schools of the neighborhood.

“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Avvai home or Class VI children by Sowmya Balakrishnan

“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Avvai Home for teacher trainees by Kannankumar

14th November 2010 – Details of the DVD release of “Penmai – to be a woman” jointly by the Aseema Trust and the Kalanjiyam Trust, was published in the Adyar Times dated 14th November 2010.V. R. Devika took part in the Rajesh Memorial performance of Bharatha Kalanjali as the compere

V. R. Devika had a meeting with the girls from SOS for a programme at Karnaprayag

V. R. Devika attended the Children’s day performance on Pancharatna by Pavithra Srinivasan at Shri Krishna Gana Sabha.

13th November 2010 – V.R.Devika took part in Children’s Day Celebrations of Hand in Hand at Kanchipuram and had a meeting at Kattaikoothu Centre for Youth for peace and a Koothu seminar.

12th November 2010 – V. R. Devikagave a seminar on Gandhi at the Department of Philosophy, University of Madras

V. R. Devika attended a meeting at Bharatha Kalanjali

“Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM School by Kalairani

“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Besant Theosophical Society School by Chitra Nagesh

11th November 2010 – V. R. Devika attended meetings at the University, and at Bharatha Kalanjali

“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Kannankumar

Article on the Youth for peace Initiativewas published as part of the “Initiate Change” series in the Hindu NXg dated 11th Nov 2010.

10th November 2010 – Youth for peace meeting with Sangeeta Isvaran, Vikram Raghavan and Ritvik Raja of Youth for Classical Music (YACM).

“Spin a Yarn” session at Besant Arundale Senior Secondary School by Kannankumar

V. R. Devika attended a meeting in the University.

V. R. Devika attended the book launch on Mamallapuram by Professor Swaminathan

09th November 2010 – Youth for Peace meeting at the Aseema Trust office by V. R. Devika and Sangeeta Isvaran attended by D. K. Oza, I.A.S; Ms. Priyadarshini Rajagopalan, Prajnya Trust besides the Aseema staff.

V. R. Devika also attended a meeting at Dakshinachitra.

08th November 2010 – Invitation by the U. S. Consulate General and the NDTV Hindu to aspecial program to mark U. S. President Barack Obama’s visit to India. The President delivered a speech in the Indian Parliament at 5.30 p.m. Following this Mr. Andrew T. Simkin, U. S. Consulate General Chennai and prominent Chennaiites Mr. N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu; Mr. Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, Vice President, Global Corporate Research and Communications, Cognizant Technology Solutions; Dr. Swarna Rajagopalan, Political Scientist and Writer and Ms. V. R. Devika, Cultural Activist and Managing Trustee, The Aseema Trust lead an interactive panel discussion with invited guests. The discussion was moderated by Mr. Sanjay Pinto, Executive Editor, NDTV Hindu.

This panel discussion was broadcast as an exclusive program “Vanakkam President Obama” on NDTV Hindu on Tuesday, November 9, 2010 from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. with repeat telecasts.

V. R. Devika attended the Week, Hay Festival Inauguration at the residence of The British High Commissioner.

04th November 2010 - Article on the Youth for peace Initiativewas published as part of the “Initiate Change” series in the Hindu NXg dated 04th Nov 2010.

“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Kannankumar

03rd November 2010 – “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Besant Arundale Senior Secondary School by Kannankumar

Meeting for Youth for Peace at Aseema office chaired by V. R. Devika and attended by Premnath, Kalairani and Vasantha Parthasharathy.

02nd November 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM School by V. R. Devika and Sangeeta Isvaran

01st November 2010 – V. R. Devika attended book launch of the Hindu.

“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Kannankumar

“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Avvai Home for Class VI girls by V. R. Devika and Kalairani

“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Avvai Home for Teacher trainees by Kannankumar

ACTIVITIES - October 2010

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ACTIVITIES – OCTOBER 2010

26th October 2010 – “Wall paper on Peace” published in the Hindu Young World dated 26th October 2010, in the Kaleidoscope section.
V. R. Devika gave a power-point presentation on Gandhi at Anjuman Higher Secondary School organized by the American Consulate.

25th October 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Kannankumar.
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Avvai Home for the teacher trainees by Kannankumar

22nd October 2010 – V. R. Devika gave a lecture demonstration on Koothu at Dakshinachitra for Semester at Sea students and Faculty.

21st October 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Kannankumar.
“Spreading the message of peace on a sari” was published as part of the Initiate Change series for Youth for Peace in the Hindu, NXg.
V. R. Devika attended a meeting on Nature Conservation by the Nature Conservation Society.

20th October 2010 – Release of the CD “Penmai – to be a woman” by Dr. Gita Arjun at Bala Mandir German Hall at 3 p.m. The programme started with the song “Engal vazhkai engal kaiyil” sung by the children of Navbharath Matriculation School. The CD was released by Ms. Maya Gaitonde, Secretary, Bala Mandir and the first copy was received by actor Revathi. Children from several schools attended the programme and were the first beneficiaries of the educational CD. Biscuits for the children were sponsored by Adayar Departmental Stores, Adayar.

19th October 2010 – Interview with Pralayan regarding his experience on working with the children of Avvai Home for the production on Gandhi and peace.

18th October 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Avvai Home for the school children by Sowmya and Kalairani.

15th October 2010 – Saraswathi pooja was celebrated in office. V R Devika and the Aseema Trust were happy to welcome Shantha Guhan, Vishalam Ramanathan, Kannankumar, Chandra, Premnath and the teachers from Avvai Home for the Pooja. We ended it with “prasadam”.

14th October 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Kannankumar.
Responses from the readers to the quote on Dignity and Self-respect (dated 07OCT10) were published in the Hindu NXg as part of the “Initiate Change” series for Youth for Peace on 14th October 2010.

12th October 2010 – The poster “Chakram Chakram” a bilingual Wall News bulletin on peace for and by the children from the Aseema Trust was released by Nirmala Lakshman, Joint Editor of The Hindu and Mr. Nandakumar, IRS at the Chennai Girls Higher Secondary School, Saidapet. This poster was produced by the Aseema Trust as part of its Spin a Yarn project.

Chennai Mayor M. Subramaniam inaugurated the poster display by the students of the school. The girls had been given three themes to work on viz., Cleanliness is Godliness; Individual action leads to Collective power; Love and Peace are ultimate weapons. VGP Parijatham Trust partnered with the Aseema Trust in the poster contest.
The NSS volunteers of Avvai Home presented a short production with music, movement and dialogue on Gandhi, directed by Pralayan, the eminent theatre artist, assisted by Manikandan, Hari and Lakshmi, Avvai Home.

V. R. Devika had a meeting with the teachers of P. S. Senior Secondary School.

V. R. Devika had a meeting with the French Consul General.

11th October 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Kannankumar
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Avvai Home for Class VI students by Sowmya Balakrishnan
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Avvai Home for teacher trainees by Sowmya Balakrishnan

08th to 11th October 2010 – V R Devika will give a key note address at the IAEVG-Jiva International Career Guidance Conference: 8-10 October 2010 in Bangalore on the topic “Seven Deadly Sins and Work as Gandhi saw it” with a demonstration on the spinning wheel.

07th October 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Kannankumar.
Responses from the readers to the quote on Courage (dated 30SEP10) were published in the Hindu NXg on 07th October 2010 as part of the “Initiate Change” series for Youth for Peace.

04th October 2010 – The Aseema Trust and the Department of Philosophy, University of Madras have organized a seminar on “Reading Gandhi for the Post Modern World – Non-Violence: Transformation, Communication and Social Justice” at the Department of Philosophy, Tholkappiyar Valagam, University of Madras, from 10 am to 5 pm.

“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Kannankumar

03rd October 2010 – V R Devika did a story telling and spinning session at MGR Janaki School, Arcot Road Saligramam at 11.45 am on 03rd October 2010.

02nd October 2010 – The Aseema Trust has organized a residential camp for 25 girls of Avvai Home at Dakshinachitra Heritage Centre, from September 26th to October 02nd, 2010 under the National Social Service Scheme. The theme of the camp is “Peace and I”. The well-known theatre artist Pralayan has directed a production on the theme which will be staged by the girls at Dakshinachitra at 11 am on 02nd October 2010.

This production was staged at the Government of Tamilnadu’s commemoration of Gandhi Jayanthi at Gandhi Mantapam, Sardar Patel Road at 6 p.m.

01st October 2010 – V. R. Devika gave an illustrated spinning and story-telling session at the India Immersion Center of Global Adjustments at 6 p.m.

Activities - September 2010

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ACTIVITIES – SEPTEMBER 2010
30th September 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Sri Sankara Vidyashramam School by Chandra
The Youth for Peace initiative was conceived with the intent to engage young people in developing concepts of peace at three levels: ideological, practical and analytical. The Aseema Trust in partnership with the Hindu NXg has begun publishing a series "Initiate Change" inviting reader's ideas and responses to the quotes mentioned in the paper. The first of the series was published on the 30th September 2010, with the quote on Courage written by Gandhi himself in the Young India of 16th july 1931.
26th September to 02nd October 2010 – The Aseema Trust organized a residential camp for 25 girls of Avvai Home at Dakshinachitra Heritage Centre, from September 26th to October 02nd, 2010 under the National Social Service Scheme. The theme of the camp is “Peace and I”. The well-known theatre artist Pralayan has directed a production on the theme which will be staged by the girls at Dakshinachitra at 11 am on 02nd October 2010.
24th September 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM Matriculation Higher Secondary School by Priya Nagesh
V R Devika gave the Rukmini Lakshmipathy Endowment Lecture on “Gandhian Communication for Transformation” at 12 noon on 24th September 2010 at Women’s Christian College, College Road, Chennai.
23rd September 2010 – “Takli Spinning” demonstrated and taught by Dr. S. Kulandhaisamy to the NSS girls of Avvai Home from 2 to 4 p.m. under the auspices of The Aseema Trust, represented by Vasantha Parthasharathy, Sowmya Balakrishnan and Bharathi Baba. Bharathi also helped teach the students Takli Spinning.
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Sri Sankara Vidyashram School by Chandra
22nd September 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Besant Arundale Senior Secondary School by Kannankumar
21st September 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM Matriculation Higher Secondary School by Kulandhaisamy
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Bala Vidya Mandir School by Krishnan
20th September 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Avvai Home for teacher trainees by Sowmya Balakrishnan
17th September 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM Matriculation Higher Secondary School by Professor Swaminathan
15th September 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Besant Arundale Senior Secondary School by Kannankumar
14th September 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM Matriculation Higher Secondary School by Priya Nagesh
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Bala Vidya Mandir by Krishnan
13th September 2010 -“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Kannankumar
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Avvai home for Class VI students by Sowmya Balakrishnan
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Avvai Home for Teacher trainees by Sowmya Balakrishnan
12th September 2010 – Our resource person Palani’s wedding.
V R Devika attended a luncheon meeting at the US Consul General’s house.
07th September 2010 to 11th September 2010 – V R Devika at ICPR at Lucknow
09th September 2010 -“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Navbharath Matriculation Higher Secondary School by Sri Kulandhaisamy
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Sri Kannankumar
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Sankara Vidyashram School by Chitra Nagesh
08th September 2010 – V R Devika attended a meeting at ICPR with Professor G. Mishra
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Besant Arundale Senior Secondary School by Sri Kannankumar
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Navbharath Matriculation Higher Secondary School by Sri Chitra Nagesh
07th September 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM Matriculation Higher Secondary School by Chandra
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Bala Vidya Mandir School by Sri Kulandhaisamy
05th September 2010 – Prakriti Foundation’s New Festival 2010, at New Delhi.
06th September 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Sri Kannankumar
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Avvai home for Class VI students by Sowmya Balakrishnan
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Avvai Home for Teacher trainees by Sowmya Balakrishnan
05th September 2010 - Returns for FCRA accounts filed online.
04th September 2010 – V R Devika at Prakriti Foundation’s New Festival 2010, at New Delhi.
Vasantha Parthasharathy met with the auditor of the Aseema Trust.
03rd September 2010 – V R Devika attended a meeting at Gandhi Smriti regarding the Chakram Wall newspaper
V R Devika attended Prakriti Foundation’s New Festival 2010
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM Matriculation Higher Secondary School by Chitra Nagesh
Vasantha Parthasharathy met with the auditor for filing of returns for the FCRA account.
02nd September 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Sri Kannankumar
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Sankara Vidyashram Senior Secondary School by Chandra
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Navbharath Matriculation Higher Secondary School by Sri Kulandhaisamy
01st September 2010 – Meeting of resource persons in office and sessions for September 2010 allotted by Ms. Vasantha Parthasharathy. No sessions in schools due to Janmashtami.

we have been too busy to blog...

2010-09-14T13:01:00.005+05:30

Sorry... I know we lag behind in our blogging but then we have been too busy. Me with my PhD work going in fits and starts, my travels, ppt presentations on Gandhi at all kinds of places, the spin a yearn project, many many new ideas coming up ... among them is a wall bulletin for schools, a youth for peace convention. Sangeeta Isvaran is going around in Brazil and Mexico and US with the sari link project... we are also doing a youth for peace camp for girls of Avvai Home at Dakshinachitra... I am organizing a seminar on Gandhi at the department of Philosophy, University of Madras on 4th October, giving an endowment lecture on Gandhi at the Women's Christian College, Chennai, and preparing for a key note presentation on Gandhi and work at the Jiva career congress at NIMHANS Bangalore.

We welcome Bharathi who has come in as a volunteer into the Aseema family

with much love,
Devika

Activities - August 2010

2010-08-12T13:44:00.006+05:30

ACTIVITIES – AUGUST 2010
31st August 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM Matriculation Higher Secondary School by Sri Rammohan
30th and 31st August 2010 - V R Devika attending meetings at The Department of Culture, New Delhi, on connection with the project “Youth for peace”
30th August 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Sri Kannan Kumar
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Avvai home for Class VI students by Sowmya
27th to 29th August 2010 - V R Devika attending and presenting a paper on “Nai Talim” at GANDHI SMRITI & DARSHAN SAMITI, New Delhi
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Avvai home for teacher trainees by Sowmya
27th August 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Sankara Senior Secondary School by Prof. Swaminathan
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM Matriculation Higher Secondary School by Chitra Nagesh
26th August 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Priya Nagesh
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Navbharath Matriculation School by Chandra
21st August 2010 – 20 college girls from Maithri Educational Institute, taken to Dr. E. V. Kalyani medical Centre, for medical check-up by Dr. Gita Arjun and her team.
Talk on Gandhi and spinning demonstration by V R Devika at Titan, Mogappair
20th August 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM Matriculation Higher Secondary School by Prof. S. Swaminathan
19th August 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Priya Nagesh
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Sankara Vidyashram School by Sowmya
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Navbharath Matriculation School by Dr. S. Kulandhaisamy
18th August 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Sankara Senior Secondary School by Prof. S. Swaminathan
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Navbharath Matriculation School by Chandra
17th August 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM Matriculation Higher Secondary School by Chandra
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Bala Vidya Mandir School by Dr. S Kulandhaisamy
16th August 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Priya Nagesh
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Avvai home for Class VI students by Sowmya
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Avvai home for teacher trainees by Sowmya
13th August 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM School by Dr. Kulandhaisamy
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Avvai Home for teacher trainees by Sowmya
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Besant Theosophical Society School by Priya Nagesh
12th August 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Sankara Vidyashram School by Krishnan
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Navbharath Matriculation School by Chandra
11th August 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Besant Arundale Senior Secondary School by Kannankumar
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Navbharath Matriculation School by Dr. Kulandhaisamy
10th August 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM School by Chandra
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School by Chitra Nagesh
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Bala Vidya Mandir School by Rammohan
09th August 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Priya Nagesh
“Spin a Yarn for life” sessions (two) at Avvai Home by Sowmya for the Class VI students and the teacher trainees
07th August 2010 – V R Devika gave an illustrated talk on Gandhi and demonstrated on spinning on the Charkha for the NSS volunteers at Ethiraj College for Women, Chennai
06th August 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM School by Chitra Nagesh
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Besant Theosophical Society School by Kulandhaisamy
05th August 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Sankara Vidyashram School by Chitra Nagesh
04th August 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Besant Arundale Senior Secondary School by Kannankumar
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Navbharath Matriculation School by Chitra Nagesh
03rd August 2010 – Lecture and demonstration by V. R. Devika on “Koothu” at Rukmini Arangham, Kalakshetra
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM School by Chandra
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Bala Vidya Mandir School by Chitra Nagesh
02nd August 2010 - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Priya Nagesh
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School by Dr. S. Kulandhaisamy
01st August 2010 - Citizen’s run

Activities - July 2010

2010-07-07T13:00:00.003+05:30

July 30th - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Besant Theosophical Society School by V R Devika and Priya Nagesh. Power-point presentation on Gandhi by V R Devika
Vasantha Parthasharathy met with Ms. Rajalakshmi of Avvai Home regarding students participation in the Citizen’s run to be held in 31st July 2010.

July 29th - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Navbharath Matriculation School by Chandra
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Priya Nagesh
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Shankara Vidyashram School by Dr. S. Kulandhaisamy

July 28th - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Besant Arundale Senior Secondary School by Shri Kannankumar and Sowmya Balakrishnan
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Navbharath Matriculation School by Chitra Nagesh and Krishnan
Accounts of the Aseema Trust audited at office by the Chartered Accountant from Venkatraman & Company, queries answered by Vasantha Parthasharathy.

July 27th - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School by Manikandan
Report in The Hindu Young World dated 27th Jul 2010 “Spinning to reality” by Nileena M.S.

July 26th - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Priya Nagesh
Vasantha met with Ms. Rajalakshmi at Avvai Home to discuss timings for dance sessions for the Class VI students and teacher trainees for the current year 2010.

July 24th – CD by Dr. Gita Arjun, shown by Raviraaj to V R Devika and Vasantha at the Aseema office

July 23rd- “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Vidya Ratna P. T. S. Hr. Secondary School by Dr. S. Kulandhaisamy and Dr. C. Shenbagavalli
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM School by Chitra Nagesh

July 22nd- “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Prince Matriculation Hr. Secondary School by Dr. S. Kulandhaisamy and Dr. C. Shenbagavalli
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Navbharath Matriculation School by Chandra
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Priya and Aparna Nagesh

July 21st - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Srimathi Matriculation Hr. Secondary School by Dr. S. Kulandhaisamy
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Sai Vidyalaya School, Chennai-4 by Dr. C. Shenbagavalli
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Besant Arundale Senior Secondary School by Kannankumar and Sowmya
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Navbharath Matriculation School by Chitra Nagesh and Aparna

July 20th - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Chennai High School by Dr. S. Kulandhaisamy and Dr. C. Shenbagavalli
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM School by Chandra and V R Devika
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School by Manikandan

July 19th - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Vidya Ratna P. T. S. Hr. Secondary School by Dr. S. Kulandhaisamy and Dr. C. Shenbagavalli
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Priya Nagesh

July 17th - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Gandhi Peace Foundation, Chennai-18 by Dr. S. Kulandhaisamy and Dr. C. Shenbagavalli

July 16th - “Spin a Yarn for life” sessions (two) at Srimathi Malathi Srinivasan Matriculation Hr. Secondary School, Chennai 600014 by Dr. S. Kulandhaisamy and Dr. C. Shenbagavalli
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Besant Theosophical School by Priya Nagesh
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM School by Chitra Nagesh
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School by Sowmya Balakrishnan

July 15th - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Navbharath Matriculation School by Palani and Chandra
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Priya Nagesh

July 14th - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Besant Arundale Senior Secondary School by Shri Kannankumar, attended by Sowmya. V R Devika accompanied Ms. Nileena from The Young World, Hindu and explained what was being done at the session. Ms. Nileena observed the session and also conducted an interview with Ms. Kalaiarasi, the principal of the school.
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Navbharath Matriculation School by Chitra Nagesh

July 13th - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM School by Palani

July 12th - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Chandra and Srividya
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School by Manikandan

July 10th – V R Devika addressed The Lions Ladies Club, Saidapet.
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Stella Maris College by Dr. S. Kulandhaisamy and Dr. C. Shenbagavalli

July 9th- “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Besant Theosophical School by Shri Kulandaiswamy
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School by Sowmya
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM School by V R Devika and Chitra Nagesh
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Srimathi Malathi Srinivasan Matriculation Hr. Secondary School by Dr. S. Kulandhaisamy and Dr. C. Shenbagavalli

July 8th- “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Priya Nagesh and Sowmya Balakrishnan. Class observed by Srividya.
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Shankara Vidyashram School by V R Devika, observed by Srividya
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Navbharath Matriculation School by Palani
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Prince Matriculation Hr. Secondary School by Dr. S. Kulandhaisamy and Dr. C. Shenbagavalli

July 7th- “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Besant Arundale Senior Secondary School by
Sowmya Balakrishnan, Sri Kulandaiswamy and Sri Kannankumar
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Navbharath Matriculation School by Chitra Nagesh
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Srimathi Matriculation Hr. Secondary School by Dr. S. Kulandhaisamy and Dr. C. Shenbagavalli
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Vidya Ratna P. T. S. Hr. Secondary School by Dr. S. Kulandhaisamy and Dr. C. Shenbagavalli

July 6th - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at AMM School by Palani
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Bala Vidya Mandir School by Chitra Nagesh
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Chennai High School by Dr. S. Kulandhaisamy and Dr. C. Shenbagavalli

July 5th - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School by Priya Nagesh and Sowmya Balakrishnan.
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Sankara Senior Secondary School by V.R.Devika and Manikandan
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Vidya Ratna P. T. S. Hr. Secondary School by Dr. S. Kulandhaisamy and Dr. C. Shenbagavalli

July 3rd – Meeting at office conducted by V R Devika to review sessions taken in June and confirm sessions for July 2010. This was attended by Vasantha Parthasharathy, Sowmya, Mathangi, Palani, Manikandan, Vasanth and Chitra Nagesh.

July 2nd - “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Sankara Senior Secondary School by
V. R. Devika and Vasantha Parthasharathy.
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Besant Theosophical Society School by Krishnan
“Spin a Yarn for life” sessions (two) at Srimathi Malathi Srinivasan Matriculation Hr. Secondary School by Dr. S. Kulandhaisamy and Dr. C. Shenbagavalli

July 1st – “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Kumararani Meena Muthiah School, taken by V.R.Devika
“Spin a Yarn for life” sessions for classes VII and IX at Olcott School, taken by Sowmya Balakrishnan
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Navbharath Matriculation School, taken by Palani
“Spin a Yarn for life” session at Prince Matriculation Hr. Secondary School by Dr. S. Kulandhaisamy and Dr. C. Shenbagavalli

Activities - June 2010

2010-06-21T17:19:00.011+05:30

June 30th - “Spin a Yarn for life” session conducted at Besant Arundale Senior Secondary School by Sowmya Balakrishnan.
“Spin a Yarn for life” session conducted at Navbharath Matriculation School by Chitra Nagesh.
Submission of the synopsis of PhD on Gandhi, by V R Devika at the University of Madras
June 29th – “Spin a Yarn for life” session conducted at Kumararani Meena Muthiah School by V R Devika and Sowmya Balakrishnan.
“Spin a Yarn for life” session conducted at AMM School by Palani.
“Spin a Yarn for life” session conducted at Bala Vidya Mandir School by Chitra Nagesh.
V R Devika met with education experts from U.S. at the U.S. Consul General’s house
June 28th – Chitra Nagesh conducted a “Spin a Yarn for life” session at Olcott School
June 25th to 27th - V.R.Devika’s meeting at Indian Council of Philosophical Research, New Delhi
June 22nd - Session at Kumararani Meena Muthiah School (under SDTT project) by V R Devika.
Session at Bala Vidya Mandir by Chitra Nagesh
June 21st - Session at Olcott School under the SDTT project conducted by V R Devika, with Priya Nagesh and Sowmya Balakrishnan.
June 20th - V. R. Devika spoke at the meeting of Tamil Heritage group at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
June 19th - Meeting at office V R Devika, Vasantha and Sowmya to fine-tune school schedules for June 2010.
June 18th - Priya Nagesh conducted session on "Spin a Yarn for life" under the SDTT project at Besant Theosophical School.
June 17th - Palani conducted a session on "Spin a Yarn for life" under the SDTT project at Navbharath Matriculation School.
June 16th - V.R.Devika conducted a session on "Spin a Yarn for life" under the SDTT project, along with Vasantha Parthasharathy at Besant Arundale School.
Chitra Nagesh conducted a session on "Spin a Yarn for life" under the SDTT project at Navbharath Matriculation School.
June 15th - V.R.Devika conducted a session on "Spin a Yarn for life" under the SDTT project at AMM School.
Chitra Nagesh conducted session on "Spin a Yarn for life" under the SDTT project at Bala Vidya Mandir School.
June 11th - Priya Nagesh conducted a session on "Spin a Yarn for life" under the SDTT project, at Besant Theosophical Society school, with introduction by V. R. Devika.
Palani conducted a session on "Spin a Yarn for life" under the SDTT project at Navbharath Matriculation School.
June 09th - V.R.Devika conducted session on "Spin a Yarn for life" under the SDTT project, along with Chitra Nagesh and Palani, at Navbharath Matriculation School.
June 08th - V.R.Devika conducted session on "Spin a Yarn for life" under the SDTT project, along with Mathangi, at Bala Vidya Mandir School.
June 03rd - V.R.Devika conducted a workshop on Gandhi and peace education for teachers of bridge schools for drop out children run by Hand in Hand in Kanchipuram on 3rd June 2010.
June 01st – Meeting at office on “Spin a Yarn” project. Presentation on Gandhi

Activities - May 2010

2010-06-21T17:06:00.000+05:30

May 28th - Concert by Bombay Jayashri at SOS Children's village.
May 7th - International Visitor Leadership programme - Meeting with R.J.DeSena Founder President Council for Peace, Creative Arts Team, the City University of New York and witnessing performance of "Face It" - presented by City at Peace - New York.
May 6th - International Visitor Leadership Programme - meeting with Ms.Elizabeth Enlow, Regional Director, American Friends Service, Ms.Karen Bernstein and Ms.Nivedita Gutta, of Safe Horizon Mediation Programme, Ms.Jane Brody of Peace first New York City.
May 4th - International Visitor Leadership programme Meeting with Mr.Lakshitha Saji Prelis, Associate Director, Peace building and Development Institute, American University, Mr.Jefferey W.Helsing, Deputy Director, Education and Training Center of U.S.Institute for Peace, center for Mediation and Conflict Resolution, Washington DC
May 3rd - May 22nd - Summer workshop at SOS Children's Village.
May 3rd - International Visitor Leadership programme visit Meeting with Ms.P.Kowall, Programme Officer, Office of International visitors, US Department of State, Mr.Lau Gieszel, President elect of Association for conflict resolution at Meridan International House,Surprise meeting with Joanne Huskey, Mr. Charles F.Dambach,President and CEO Alliance for Peace building, Ms.Patricia Maulden, Institute for Conflict Resolution, George Mason University, Washington DC.
May 1st - Talk on traditional performing arts, Nataraja icon etc for Natya Institute, New Jersey.

Activities - April 2010

2010-06-21T17:05:00.000+05:30

April 30th - First consultation held for Avvai home girls at Dr.E.V.Kalyani Medical Centre.
April 24th - 28th - Conference of the International Partnership Network, Toronto, Canada.
April 19th - 30th April 2010 - Summer workshop at Yellow Bus, Besant Nagar.
April 16th - Meeting at World Education office, Boston, MA.
April 16th - Visit of Ms. Niyati Mehta of Sir Dorabji Tata Trust to The Aseema Trust office.
April 15th - V R Devika in conversation with Prof.David Reck. India, arts, Gandhi etc. Amherst College, MA.
April 15th - Talk on Gandhi film studies dept. Amherst College by V R Devika, MA.
April 14th - Talk on Gandhi Mt.Holyoke College by V R Devika, MA.
April 13th - Meeting at Avvai Home, Meeting at the office with SOS Children's village director.
April 13th - Epic Theatre in India - Drama of Queen Goddess Draupadi - illustrated talk by V R Devika at Mt.Holyoke College, MA.
April 13th - Meeting for internship opportunities in Chennai. Mt.Holyoke College, MA.
April 10th - V R Devika attended "Gond Art of India" seminar at Wellesley College, MA.
April 9th - Girls and performing arts in India talk presented by India Studies Centre, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT.
April 7th - Gandhi - presentation to two public schools in Chicago.
April 6th - Meeting with Raviraaj at office.
April 4th - "Traditional performing arts of Tamilnadu", Gandhi etc talk for students of Natya Institute, Chicago.

Activities - March 2010

2010-06-21T17:04:00.000+05:30

March 31 - Talk by Dr.Gita Arjun at Avvai Home.
March 25 - Public lecture on Gandhi, The College of Wooster, Ohio.
March 25 - Master class on Bharathanatyam Mudras, dance department, The College of Wooster, Ohio.
March 23 - Visit to Short Pump elementary school for talk on Gandhi, Richmond, Virginia.
March 23 - Demonstration of spinning wheel, Montessori school, Richmond, Virginia.
March 21 - Talk on traditional performing arts of Tamilnadu, Gandhi, Nataraja etc for students and parents of dance school of Padmarani Rasiah.
March 20 - Talk on Gandhi at the Satsang of Yogaville, Virginia.
March 19 - Girls and Art in India Jenkins Art Centre, University of East Carolina, Greenville, North Carolina.
March 18 - Talk on Gandhi - Ledonia Wright Centre, University of East Carolina, Greenville, North Carolina.
March 17 - Introduction to Asia, class of Prof.John Tucker, University of East Carolina, Greenville, North Carolina.
March 17 - Hinduism class of Prof.Derek Meher, University of East Carolina, Greenville, North Carolina.
March 16 - Public lecture on Gandhi at Unitarian Church, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
March 15 - Visit to Martin Luther King memorial and exhibition, Atlanta, Georgia.
March 12 - Illustrated interaction with BA class of theatre arts University of Veracruzana, Xalapa, Mexico.
March 11 - Talk on "Power of Performing Arts in India" for the theatre arts department, university of Veracruzana, Xalapa, Mexico.
March 10 - Talk on Gandhi for the Interdisciplinary masters, University of Veracruzana, Xalapa, Mexico.
3rd March 2010 - V.R.Devika left for her lecture tour of Mexico, US and Canada.

Activities - February 2010

2010-06-21T17:02:00.000+05:30

23rd February 2010 - Brain storming and orientation meeting for the new projects with Raviraaj, Mansadevi, Priya Nagesh, Sowmya, Vasantha and Devika in the office.
22nd - Prakriti Foundation's Poetry with Prakriti book release with Madras Book Club.
16th - 19th February 2010 - V.R.Devika's visit to New Delhi to ICPR.
15th February 2010 - Prakriti Foundation's Butoh dance from Japan performance at Chandra spaces.
13th February 2010 - Orientation workshop for teachers in charge and resource persons ahead of the start of the project "Traditional performing arts and Gandhi in Education" in ten schools of Chennai with support from Sir Dorabji Tata Trust.
12th February 2010 - V.R.Devika gave a talk on "Siva, Nataraja and the constellation Orion" on the occasion of Sivarathri at MGR Janaki college.
10th and 11th February 2010 - Visit of filmmaker David Skinner and his artist wife Catherine Skinner to office.
8th February 2010 - UMA session at Avvai Home by Sowmya.
7th February 2010- V.R.Devika's illustrated presentation on "Gandhi's Ahimsa and pluralism" for Rotary International's conference on "World Peace for youth" conference in Cochin, Kerala.
5th February 2010 - "Spin a Yarn .." outreach at Cochin Bhavan's Elamakara School and Vidyodaya.
1st February 2010 - UMA session at Avvai Home by Sowmya.

Activities - January 2010

2010-06-19T12:08:00.008+05:30

31st January 2010 - Prakriti Foundation's Tree of Life festival sand sculpture contest at Elliots beach
30th January 2010 - Sarvodaya day celebrations at Central Railway station, Chennai with Gandhi mission and Anusuya foundation. Spinning, songs and dance on non violence.
29th January 2010 - University of Madras and story telling and power-point presentation on Gandhi at AMM School.
28th January 2010 - V.R. Devika gave illustrated talk on Gandhi for Martin Luther King jr Day, organized by the Indo American Society at Stella Maris College and attended citizens meet for Indian Express.
27th January 2010 - V.R.Devika chief guest at annual day of Karumuthu Thiagaraja Chettiar school, Madurai.
26th January 2010 - V.R.Devika chief guest at Republic day parade flag hoisting at Perambur railway school. Meeting at Bharatha Kalanjali, rehearsals at Mogappair Rukmini Natyakshetra.
25th January 2010 - Southern Railway head quarters, UMA session at Avvai Home by Sowmya. Mothers day of SOS Children's village.
23rd January 2010 - Prakriti Foundation's events of book release at Kalakshetra and Gharana music festival.
22nd January 2010 - Power point presentation on Gandhi at Yellow bus school, Prakriti Foundation's Gharana music festival.
21st January 2010 - University of Madras and meeting of Medha Maithri on geographical connections
20th January 2010 - University of Madras and Kalakshetra,
19th January 2010 - University of Madras, Khadi Gramodyog Bhavan and Southern Railway head quarters.
18th January 2010 - Meeting with General Manager Southern railways for 30th January programme with Mr.Rammohan. Visit to Parijatham trust for women entrepreneurs. UMA session at Avvai Home by Sowmya.
16th January 2010 - Meeting with Mr.D.K.Oza at Central Station.
15th January 2010 - Meeting with Dr.D.K.Oza for 30th January programme.
14th January 2010 - Pongal festival at Dakshinachitra.
13th January 2010 - V.R.Devika cultural resource at Mamallapuram for visitors from US
12th January 2010 - Meeting at Roja Muthiah Library with Ranvir Shah and Lori Hudson.
11th January 2010 - UMA session at Avvai Home with Sowmya.
10th January 2010 - V.R.Devika and Vasantha Parthasharathy guests of honour at the valedictory of cultural week of Rukmini Devi Natyakshetra, Mogappair. V.R.Devika at the Natya seminar of Rangamandira at MGR Janaki College.
9th January 2010 - Sports day celebrations at Avvai Home Sowmya and V.R.Devika attended it.
8th January 2010. V.R.Devika's meeting with Lynn Weil communications director of the House of Representatives committee on foreign affairs US.
8th January 2010 - V.R.Devika in conversation with dancer Priyadarsini Govind at Rasam restaurant organized by Deccan Chronicle newspaper.
7th January 2010 - Prakriti Foundation's Book release and talk by Romila Thapar on cyclical and linear time in ancient India.
3rd January 2010 - Meeting of Mamalla heritage group. Talk on Pallava Art. V.R.Devika felicitated with a shawl and a shield by philanthropist Nalli Kuppuswamy Chetty for receiving the Gnanasamudhra award.
2nd January 2010 - V.R.Devika gave a presentation on Gandhi and a demonstration of spinning to the students of Rukmini Devi Natyakshetra at Mogappair, Chennai.

Spin a yarn for life .......

2010-06-09T11:11:00.004+05:30

Our new project "Spin a yarn for life through arts..." supported by Sir Dorabji Tata Trust began with a performance of the dance Ahimsa Devi by children of Rukmini Devi Natyakshetra and spinning on the Charkha by students of Avvai Home on 30th January 2010 (Mahatma Gandhi's martyr day marked as Sarvodaya day) at the Central Railway Station. The month of May is the month of summer holidays after school examinations and we organized a summer camp for children in performing arts and education and a performance of interactive Carnatic classical music by the well known musician Bombay Jayashree at SOS Children's village. The project began in right earnest in schools of the city with a session at Bala Vidya Mandir, Adyar on 8th June 2010. The days coming up will be full of these sessions. Mahatma Gandhi as a background to think of peace and self reliance and living nature-friendly lives in today's world is the theme. We have the support of excellent resource persons like Prof. S.Swaminathan, Chitra Nagesh, Priya Nagesh, Palani and others in this project. V.R.Devika is the honorary director of the project.

VRD's travels

2010-05-18T08:04:00.014+05:30

V.R.Devika has just returned from a fabulous trip to North America. 66 days with 28 lectures, one conference, one week of International Visitor leadership programme as the guest of the US State department. She took 14 flights, 12 train and bus journeys in Mexico, USA and Canada and met fantastic people.
Pictures at picasaweb.google.com/vrdevika
March 10 - Talk on Gandhi for the Interdisciplinary masters, University of Veracruzana, Xalapa, Mexico.
March 11 - Talk on "Power of Performing Arts in India" for the theatre arts department, university of Veracruzana, Xalapa, Mexico.
March 12 - Illustrated interaction with BA class of theatre arts University of Veracruzana, Xalapa, Mexico.
March 15 - Visit to Martin Luther King memorial and exhibition, Atlanta, Georgia.
March 16 - Public lecture on Gandhi at Unitarian Church, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
March 17 - Introduction to Asia, class of Prof.John Tucker, University of East Carolina, Greenville, North Carolina.
March 17 - Hinduism class of Prof.Derek Meher, University of East Carolina, Greenville, North Carolina.
March 18 - Talk on Gandhi - Ledonia Wright centre, University of East Carolina, Greenville, North Carolina.
March 19 - Girls and Art in India Jenkins art centre, University of East Carolina, Greenvilee, North Carolina.
March 20 - Talk on Gandhi at the Satsang of Yogaville, Virginia.
March 21 - Talk on traditional performing arts of Tamilnadu, Gandhi, Nataraja etc for students and parents of dance school of Padmarani Rasiah.
March 23 - Visit to Short Pump elementary school for talk on gandhi, Richmond, Virgina.
March 23 - Demonstration of spinning wheel, Montessory school, Richmond, Virgina.
March 25 - Master class on Bharathanatyam Mudras , dance department, The College of Wooster, Ohio.
March 25 - Public lecture on Gandhi, The College of Wooster, Ohio.
April 4th - "Traditional performing arts of Tamilnadu", Gandhi etc talk for students of Natya Institute, Chicago.
April 7th - Gandhi - presentation to two public schools in Chicago.
April 9th - Girls and performing arts in India talk presented by India Studies Centre, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT.
April 10th - "Gond Art of India" seminar at Wellesley, MA.
April 13th - Meeting for internship opportunities in Chennai. Mt.Holyoke College, MA.
April 13th - Epic Theatre in India - drama of queen, Goddess Draupadi - illustrated talk at Mt.Holyoke College, MA.
April 14th - Talk on Gandhi Mt.Holyoke College, MA.
April 15th - Talk on Gandhi film studeies dept. Amherst Colelge, MA.
April 15th - In conversation with Prof.David Reck. India, arts, Gandhi etc. Amherst College, MA.
April 16th - Meeting at World Education office, Boston, MA.
April 24th - 28th - Conference of the International Partnership Network, Toronto, Canada.
May 1st - Talk on traditional performing arts, Nataraja icon etc for Natya Institute, New Jersey.
May 3rd - International Visitor Leadership programme visit Meeting with Ms.P.Kowall, Programme Officer, Office of International visitors, US Department of State, Mr.Lau Gieszel, President elect of Association for conflict resolution at Meridan International House,Surprise meeting with Joanne Huskey, Mr. Charles F.Dambach,President and CEO Alliance for Peace building, Ms.Patricia Maulden, Institute for Conflict Resolution, George Mason University, Washington DC.
May 4th - International Visitor Leadership programme Meeting with Mr.Lakshitha Saji Prelis, Associate Director, Peacebuilding and Development Institute, American University, Mr.Jefferey W.Helsing, Deputy Director, Education and Training Center of U.S.Institute for Peace, center for Mediation and Conflict Resolution, Washington DC
May 6th - International Visitor Leadership programme - meeting with Ms.Elizabeth Enlow, Regional Director, American Friends Service, Ms.Karen Bernstein and Ms.Nivedita Gutta, of Safe Horizon Mediation Programme, Ms.Jane Brody of Peace first New York City.
May 7th - International Visitor Leadership programme - Meeting with R.J.DeSena Founder President Council for Peace, Creative Arts Team, the City University of New York and witnessing performance of "Face It" - presented by City at Peace - New York.

First Session for Avvai home girls at Dr. E. V. Kalyani Medical Centre on 30th April, 2010

2010-05-04T10:53:00.001+05:30

As an outcome of the talk on Reproductive Health by Dr. Gita Arjun at Avvai home on the 31st March, 2010, the Aseema Trust was happy to take 17 girls to Dr. E. V. Kalyani Medical Centre for their free medical check-up on 30th April, 2010.

The girls were registered and then went one by one for their height-weight check-ups. This was followed by blood tests for haemoglobin content. Dr. Gita Arjun and her team comprising of Dr. S. Rajasri and Dr. Soumya Balakrishnan next did medical check-ups for the girls. The required medication was prescribed and some capsules were even provided free by the doctor. The results of the blood tests are awaited for further treatment.

There will be no consultation in the month of May 2010 as the children will be away from Chennai for summer vacation. The next check-up is scheduled for 26th June, 2010.

Summer workshop at Yellow Bus - Koothu by Palani

2010-04-20T11:51:00.006+05:30

The Aseema Trust facilitated a summer workshop on traditional therukoothu movements at Yellow Bus School from 19th to 30th April 2010, Children in the age group of 6 - 12 enjoyed their time with Purisai Palani grand son of Kalaimamani Purasai Kannappa Thambiran.

Please see the attached link for the photographs of the first session on 19th April, 2010.

Dr.Gita Arjun at Avvai Home

2010-04-01T17:36:00.007+05:30

The Aseema Trust is very happy that the most distinguished gynecologist of Chennai, Dr.Gita Arjun readily consented to answering questions about their bodies that the girls of Avvai Home school had expressed during their sessions of our project UMA (Using Media to address health issues among Adolescents) in partnership with World Education, Boston. The meeting took place on 31st March 2010 at Avvai Home.
For more photos click here.

traditional performing arts

2010-03-04T21:43:00.003+05:30

V.R.Devika gave a talk on Traditional performing arts for the prestigious south India heritage group organised by Mr.Chari at TAG centre.

siva nataraja orion

2010-02-15T22:01:00.001+05:30

V.R.Devika gave an illustrated talk on Siva , Nataraja and the Orion constellation on the occasion of Sivarathri on 12th February 2010 at Janaki MGR College at the invitation of its Natya department.

The HIndu young world report of Sarvodaya day at Central

2010-02-12T19:02:00.003+05:30

http://www.hindu.com/yw/2010/02/09/stories/2010020950451400.htm

The Hindu Young World February 9, 2010

Progress for all
SELINE AUGUSTINE
Sarvodaya Day saw unusual activity at the Central Station with singing, dancing and spinning the charkha.
Mahatma gandhi coined the word 'sarvodaya' as the title of his translation of ruskin's tract 'unto this last'. sarva means all, and udaya means uplift.
All dressed up :Waiting to get the feet a-dancing.
As usual the Central railway station was crackling with life and frenetic movement on Saturday last. But as the passengers and their kin entered the main hall they did a double take on seeing half a dozen school girls busy spinning the charkha! It was Sarvodaya Day and the Aseema Trust, Anusuya Foundation for Women and Children, Gandhi Mission, Chennai, together with the Southern Railway had come up with the idea of paying tribute to Gandhiji on his death anniversary.
The founder director of Aseema Trust, V. R.Devika, said the reason for choosing the Central station is that “it is only in the railway station that you can see people of all hues, all dispositions and all status”. The girls from Avvai Home were adept at spinning and when onlookers were invited to try their hand at the charkha, a few foreigners were eager to volunteer.
Try your hand
There was this woman from Bihar who was waiting for her train later in the evening, Bemikaladevi — she came and took to it like a duck to water. It almost seemed like she had missed working on the charkha, Devika remarked.
The day's programme was to urge men and women of India to unite for peace and justice based on Gandhian principles of truth and non-violence. The date was chosen as it is on this day 62 years ago that the Father of the Nation fell a prey to an assassin's bullet.
Interestingly, it was Mahatma Gandhi who coined the word Sarvodaya as the title of his 1908 translation of Ruskin's tract, Unto This Last. Sarva means all, udaya means uplift. Thus the word signifies Progress for All.
Sowmya Madhanagopal and her students took the stage next and sang songs and bhajans dear to the heart of the Mahatma, beginning with Vaishnava Janato. A good many in the audience joined when the troupe came to “Shanti Nilava vendum”.
Then came the show stealers, the little dancers from schools in Anna Nagar. Trained by choreographer Premnath, the colourfully costumed kids danced to the song, Ahimsa devi (recorded by Bombay Jayashree) which described her 63 attributes. The Anusuya Foundation honoured all the artists and the programme came to a close with “Raghupathi Raghava”.

Spin a yarn in Cochin....

2010-02-08T21:50:00.002+05:30

The Rotary International in Cochin had a conference on "World Peace for youth" February 5 - 7th 2010. V.R.Devika was asked to speak on "Gandhi's Ahimsa and pluralism". She was asked by Shyamala Surendran, managing trustee of Sarvodaya International, kerala chapter to do an outreach of Aseema's "Spin a yarn .." project by giving a presentation on Gandhi and ahimsa and a demonstration of spinning on the Charkha to two schools also. The response from the students of class 9 and 11 of Bhavan's Elamakkara and of classes 5 and 6 of Vidyodaya were tremendous as well as the two hundred and odd students of various colleges in Cochin who had registered for the conference judging by the number of students who came up to Devika to discuss during the lunch break.

January 2010

2010-01-31T14:13:00.007+05:30

The Aseema Trust ended January with the Sarvodaya Day commemoration at the Central Railway Station, Chennai. A wonderful collaboration with D.K.Oza's Gandhi Mission and Anusuya Foundation and with the enthusiastic participation by G.Rammohan, the event was memorable.
see more pictures here http://picasaweb.google.com/trustaseema/SarvodyaDay30thJan2010#
We had spinning on charkha by girls from Avvai Home lead by the warden Mrs.Jeyaraj and Bharathanatyam dance on Ahimsa Devi (sung by Bombay Jayashri) by the students of Rukminidevi Natyakshetra run by Premnath our ever sincere resource person and songs liked by Gandhi sung by Sowmiya Madanagopal and students. We projected still images and video clippings of Gandhi on a screen. Passengers waiting in the concourse said they had a most satisfying day. Bemikalamba, on her way back to her Madhubani village in Bihar after visiting Rameshwaram had to spend ten hours in the Chennai station due to the late arrival of the connecting train to Patna. She rushed in when she saw the spinning wheels and began to spin furiously getting very fine thread. This was just what we wanted.. connection with the masses. She joined in when we all sang Raghupati Raghava Raja ram at the end. As we were coming out, the police men and women at the gate told us that they had the most moving time in their entire career watching this.
January has been hectic. Sowmya Balakrishnan has joined us and we are very happy with her enthusiasm and her expertise. She has been conducting the dance sessions at Avvai Home school and teacher trainees. Sessions were held by her on 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th. Raviraaj and Mansadevi of Kalanjiyam did sessions on evaluation of impact of these sessions.
V.R.Devika gave a ppt presentation on Gandhi and Khadi at Premnath's Rukminidevi Natyakshetra on 2nd and was the guest of honour with Vasantha at the valedictory of their cultural week on 10th.
On 13th and 14th, V.R.Devika guided two couples from the US at Mamallapuram and Dakshinachitra's Pongal festival. We participated in full measure at Prakriti Foundation's annual Dennis Hudson memorial lecture and the release of Vaikunta Perumal temple an interpretation by Dennis Hudson. 4th - 8th.
On 8th V.R.Devika was asked to do a face to face with dancer Priyadarsini Govind for Deccan Chronicle newspaper.
V.R.Devika attended the Mamalla heritage group talk sessions every Sunday. She also interviewed usha Rajkumar, an entrepreneur extraordinary for Eves Touch magazine.
V.R.Devika gave a ppt presentation on Gandhi and spinning to the children of Yellow bus school on 22nd more pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/trustaseema/AtYellowBus#

and participated in Prakriti Foundation's Gharana Dhrupad festival 22, 23, 24.
SOS children's' Village mother's day celebrations on 25th.
V.R.Devika gave an illustrated talk on Gandhi at the Martin Luther King jr day of Indo American Society at Stella Maris College. on 28th.
V.R.Devika gave a ppt presentation and told stories of Gandhi as part of Prakriti Foundation's tree of life festival at AMM school on 29th.
Sarvodaya day on 30th.

Shiva, Nataraja and Orion

2009-12-13T09:51:00.005+05:30

V.R.Devika gave an illustrated talk on Shiva, Nataraja and Orion at the literary club of Gymkhana club of Chennai on 12th December 2009. It was organised by club member and Chennai favourite gourmet cook and cook writer and textile expert Sabitha Radhakrishna.
more pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/trustaseema/20091213GymkhanaTalk#

Fundraising with Nalamdana, Kalakshetra and Perch

2009-11-25T08:03:00.004+05:30

PERCH volunteers did a very loving flower kolam on 21st and 22nd November 2009 at the entrance of Kalakshetra koothambalam. PERCH the theatre group headed by Rajiv Krishnan had offered their very successful English plays based on the famous Malayalam author Vaikkom Mohammed Basheer's short stories for fund raising for the activities of Aseema and Nalamdana. We at Aseema use traditional performing arts for message dissemination and Nalamdana uses theatre. We are partners in projects with World Education. It was Nitya Balaji of Nalamdana who suggested we have the fund raiser jointly and we went along though we were doubtful if we can raise any funding and sell tickets at all. The plays are brilliant and provide vignettes of life of ordinary people in Kerala in fun filled action packed stories. I asked Leela Samson an amazing woman who heads Kalakshetra for the space. She readily agreed to give us the Koothambalam as we do our projects in Besant Arundale school and Besant Theosophical schools run by Kalakshetra foundation. We had a really good time. On 21st I thought there may not be more than twenty people but more than three hundred people turned up with Tamil film actors Surya, his wife Jyothika and brother actor Karthi turning up long before the crowd began to come in. They stayed till the end and enjoyed the programme. On 22nd I thought there would be a bigger crowd. there was a crowd, but not bigger than the Saturday crowd.
We had the satisfaction of a perfect coalition event with all partners, Aseema, Nalamdana, PERCH and Kalakshetra coming together in great camaraderie. It was worth doing even if to discover the possibility and values of friendship and team spirit.
V.R.Devika

Gnanasamudhra award to V.R.Devika

2009-11-16T08:33:00.007+05:30

more pictures at

http://picasaweb.google.com/trustaseema/AGnanasamudhraAwardToVRDevika#

Samudhra magazine for the arts awarded "Gnanasamudhra" title to V.R.Devika for her work in linking arts and education during their 7th anniversery celebration on 15th November 2009. The award was presented by philonthrophist Nalli Kuppuswamy Chetty and Mrs.Y.G.Parthasarathy, dean and director of Padma Sheshadri Schools. Dr.Srinidhi Chidambaram inaugurated the function by lighting a kuthuvilakku and Mr.Natarajan, former director of Doordarshan and Mr.Nagai Muralidharan participated. The citation reads "Samudhra is proud to confer the title "Gnana Samudhra" on V.R.Devika art educator, writer and critic during its 7th anniversary celebration in recognition of her innovative approach in linking art and education and using it as an effective tool especially among children. May God Almighty bless her with long life and strength to continue rendering service towards the cause of fine arts" signed by Dr.Nalli Kuppuswamy Chetti, Patron and Dr.Radha Bhaskar, editor.

Childrens Day

2009-11-14T19:06:00.005+05:30

14th November Children's' Day.
V.R.Devika was chief guest at a sharing session with children with social and economic disadvantages organised by play school Yellow Bus at Shastrinagar women's association premises. They presented costume dance and a puppet show for children and gave them gifts. There were some collage work also. Kalanjiyam, our partner organisation came and distributed free audio Cd's of Pappara Mittai consisting of stories told by children to children. V.R.Devika did some story telling too.

more pictures at

http://picasaweb.google.com/trustaseema/ChildrensDayWithYellowBus#

Reinventing Education

2009-11-14T18:58:00.002+05:30

On November 11 and 12, V.R.Devika, managing trustee of the aseema trust took part in a two day conference on smarter education for a smarter planet conference organised by IBM in its reinventing education project of activity based learning for primary schools. She is on the advisory board of IBM's reinventing education projects. She introduced our partner organisation Kalanjiyam to IBM.

Ashok Leylands School

2009-11-09T20:45:00.004+05:30

A session on gandhi for classes 8 , 9 and 10 of Ashok Leyalands school in Hosur on 6th November got great response from students. Wonderful interactions.
Afternoon was a presentation on Traditional Performing arts in Education for teachers with story telling. Wonderful response again. Teachers were really full of fun and great participants.
Pictures are at
http://picasaweb.google.com/trustaseema/HosurAshokLeylandSschool?authkey=Gv1sRgCJHL-fadn8maKA#

the drive to Hosur from Chennai was just beautiful with a very good road, a very pleasant weather and great scenery. Driving back from Hosur to Chennai was very interesting. We lost our way and were on the way to Salem and had to turn back to come to Chennai. The rain in Chennai was just unbelievable.

Kathai Aruvi with Kalanjiyam

2009-10-13T21:06:00.007+05:30

more pictures at http://picasaweb.google.co.in/trustaseema/Kalanjiyam#
We had a workshop on Gandhian ideals in education and story telling for schools teachers from various little villages in Kalanjiyam centre at Kalluppatti village near Madurantakam. Please see the mail below. We gave away 20 sets of Kathai Aruvi sponsored by Ramanan Lakshminarayanan. Raviraj and his wife Mansa Devi bought 5 acres of land at Kalluppatti and have been doing great value addition to panchayat and governement schools around that area. They are cultivating the land and all the produce is for the children. Amazing work with Kalanjyam staff being the women in the area who go around to the schools and see to clean toilets, health cards for children, ensuring children wear slippers and look for other needs of the school. They are doing a library and strengthening the govt primary schools in the area. check out http://www.kalanjiyam.org/

This is a reaction from Raviraaj

Dear Devika,
Greetings from Kalanjiyam. I, Mansa and all at Kalanjiyam were extremely happy with your visit today and all will cherish the time you spent with us. As always, I learned a great deal from you, as did our staff. The program today will be very useful and valuable for our teachers who participated. They will really benefit from the Kathai Arivu and hope that you will come again to give more inputs to our children and teachers in this regard. We will share with you on how the teachers use the Katahi Arivu in the near future. Primary Schools participating today were:
from Kalpat, Dharmapuram, Periya Vellikkadu , Chinna Venmani Periya Venmani, Ariyanur,. Melakaandai, Kizhakaandai, Maruvalam, Zamin Endathur, Ozhavetti, Athivakkam, RC School, Pavunjur, RC School, Nelvaipalayam, DGSEA Vilvarayanallur, Gurukulam, Maduranthakam, Thiruvangunam, Melapattu, Mambakkam, Kandaracherri, Maduranthakam, Nelvai, Vedavakkam, Nethapakkam, Nesapakkam
with regards
Raviraaj

Ahimsa Devi

2009-10-11T09:28:00.004+05:30

Ahimsa Devi The Aseema Trust is very happy with the success of the performance of "Ahimsa Devi" a dance on attributes of non violence choreographed by V.R.Devika and Premnath with the students of Avvai Home. This choreography was a part of discourse on non violence along with a project on reproductive health, sex and sexuality and HIV Aids that we are doing in parternship with World Education. Sessions on HIV and Aids were done by Nalamdana and on sex and sexuality by Raviraj of Kalanjiam, our partner organisations. Bombay Jayashri sang the sixty Sanskrit names of Ahimsa Devi's attributes with Ananthanaryanan on Mridangam and Ganapathy on percussion. Music direction and recording was by Sai Shravanam A Tamil translation of the words written and tuned by Lakshmi, music teacher at Avvai Home was sung by the girls before the performance. The girls also enacted a play on HIV and AIDS and sang a song on health and empowerment from their sessions with Nalamdana

more pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/trustaseema/AhimsaDevi#

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report in the Hindu Young World

http://www.hindu.com/yw/2009/10/13/stories/2009101350091400.htm
Tuesday, Oct 13, 2009
Setting Ahimsa to dance
MADHUMITHA SRINIVASAN
Students of Avvai Home presented "Ahimsa Devi" in dance form to a rapt audience.
The girls explained how Ahimsa devi grants protection, bounty, access to knowledge and happiness.
Expressions : Explaining the significance.
You know Ahimsa as something that Mahatma Gandhi preached and followed till the very end, but did you also know that Ahimsa was personified as a Goddess in Jainism? Twenty six girls from Avvai Home enlightened all present at their school about the concept and her various names. “Ahimsa Devi” was a production conceived and organised by Aseema Trust as a part of their extended Gandhi Jayanthi celebrations.
In dance form
The girls, dressed in knee-length cotton sarees and pyjamas, depicted a third of the Goddess’ 60 names through dance that was set to a song sung by Bombay Jayashri, accompanied by Ananathanaryanan, the Veena exponent of Kalakshetra and musician Ganapathy on Mridangam, Tabla and Pakhawaj. The soulful music blended well with the smooth choreography by guru Premnath, a long-term associate of Aseema in its workshops.
In the dance, the visibly nervous but excited girls explained to the audience how Ahimsa Devi grants protection, bounty, access to knowledge, generates happiness and bears our sins.
“When I was reading a book on Ahimsa, I stumbled upon this ideology of the Jains where a concept is personified as a Goddess, just like how we have personified ‘Mother India’.
I was also reading about the 60 different names that she has and then it struck me that it would be interesting to make it into a dance production. That’s when I started working on it,” explains V.R. Devika, Managing Trustee, the Aseema Trust.
The girls, all of them students of Std XI, who participated in the programme were also equally enthusiastic about having a different outlet apart from just academics and also put up a social awareness play on HIV AIDS as it was important to raise awareness and educate their fellow students about it.
Apparently, the girls were involved in a discussion about the “Ahimsa Devi” production and they examined each name and its significance, and also suggested possibilities of concepts like how Ahimsa ensures wealth — possibly, by not destroying the environment; we only stand to benefit from Nature’s bounties in return.

Gandhi Jayanthi 2009

2009-10-03T10:51:00.005+05:30

The Aseema trust held the following events for Gandhi Jayanthi 2009

1. 1st October 2009 - Video clippings and talk on Gandhi by V.R.Devika at Janaki MGR College

2. Video clippings and talk on Gandhi by V.R.Devika at L.M.Dadha School.

3. "Creating a Sahridaya" Workshop for school teachers at Balamandir resource centre.

4. Spinning on the Charkha with students from Avvai Home at Nageswara Rao Park.

Tamil heritage group talk and video

2009-09-29T08:07:00.003+05:30

Mr.Badri Sheshadri has put V.R.Devika's talk on traditional performing arts in education on video in his blog. See it in this link
http://thoughtsintamil.blogspot.com/2009/09/blog-post_28.html

Photographs at

http://picasaweb.google.com/trustaseema/TraditionalPerformingArtsInEducationTalkAtTamilHeritageGroup#

A truly generous and great artist

2009-09-22T19:17:00.011+05:30

Bombay Jayashri is truly a great artist. Here is my story. ICPR (Indian Council of Philosophical Research, New Delhi), sent me a book "Ahimsa - from Mahivira to Mahatma" by Dr.Geeta Mehta to review for its journal. In its Jainism chapter, I came across the description of a Goddess Ahimsa Devi and her sixty names. Immediately, I thought of a dance production on it. My idea was to discuss these sixty names and their meanings with the girls of Avvai Home and get them to perform a small dance for their peers. (Ahimsa is Sanskrit for non-violence in case you did not know) Audaciously, I sent an email to celebrated Carnatic vocalist Bombay Jayashri asking her if she would sing them like a viruttam and record it in her home and give it to me to work with adding I would understand if she was too busy. My joy knew no bounds when she called me within minutes of my sending the mail and said she would like to do it well and that she will fix a time and date with a recording studio she knows and will come and do it. She was at the Resound studio of Sai Shravanam in Parameswari Nagar at 8 am and gave a superlative recording within minutes. She made the sixty names into three groups and chose the ragas Revathi, Kalyani and Darbari Kanada and sang so soulfully that it gave me goose pimples. I wanted to add percussion and Veena. Sai Shravanam is a genius with recording and mixing and an extremely talented musician himself having learnt the Tabla from Zakir Hussain and accompanied celebrity singers and dancers including Aruna Sairam, Bombay Jayashri and Chitra Visweswaran. He is a graduate in computer science, has an MCA and a certificate examination in music production from Berkeley University. Has done a stint as a speech and sound specialist at the Computer Science Department of the Indian Institute of Technology – Madras and has created quite a few albums which are doing very well. Sai Sharavanam brought in percussionist Ganapathy and got him to play Mridangam, Tabla and Pakhawaj for the three different ragas in three different tempos and then got Ananathanaryanan the Veena exponent of Kalakshetra to play ragam and tanam, added a few effects of nature, recorded my commentary and did a mix (all recorded in different sessions) and voila, we have a superlative music piece for 24 minutes. All the musicians and the music director worked with touching enthusiasm and affection and did not even talk about money. This I feel is a great reward for the work that the Aseema Trust is doing and now Premnath (dance graduate of Kalakshetra doing great work in north Madras with a very good school of dance and music and art that he calls Rukminidevi Natyakshetra and a great resource person for Bharathanatyam for Aseema) and I are really very nervous to work with such high quality music with 25 girls of Avvai Home in their NSS camp. We only have an hour each for four days. Let us hope the same luck that got us this great music will stand by with us when we get the girls to perform at Avvai Home in Adyar at 3.30 pm on 5th October 2009- - ---------V.R.Devika

The Aseema Trust’s Gandhi Jayanthi engagements.

25th – 30th September NSS Camp at Kanathoor. 1st October – “Creating a Sahridaya – M.K.Gandhi” talk with power point presentation of video clippings by V.R.Devika 10 am MGR Janaki College, 1 pm L.M.Dadha School, Choolaimedu. 2nd October – 10 am - 3 pm - “Creating a Sahridaya” Workshop for school teachers by V.R.Devika and Priya Nagesd of Samanvaya at Balamandir resource centre. 6 pm - Sarvodaya International presentation “Vande Mahatma” by Swarnamalya at Nageswararao Park. 5th October – 1 pm – Spin a Yarn – Besant Theosophical School, 3 pm – Avvai Home. 6th October – Spin a Yarn – 10 am Children’s Garden School, 7th October – 10 am - Navbharath Matriculation, 12 - Vidyodaya. 8th October – 10 am Suddhananda Vidyalaya.

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Dance session at Avvai Home

2009-09-07T20:10:00.005+05:30

7th september dance session at Avvai Home for school girls and teacher trainees with V.R.Devika and Vasundhara Thomas.

Traditional performing arts in education

2009-09-06T12:36:00.004+05:30

V.R.Devika gave a presentation on the lessons she learnt from traditional performing arts of Bharathanatyam, Therukoothu, Oyilattam and Devarattam for use in teaching in the classroom on the occassion of teachers day (September 5th which happens to be Dr.Radhakrishnan's birth anniversary). Video clippings shown were of Mahatma Gandhi's dandi march, Therukoothu Tugil, Pillaiyyar, padukalam, Jakkamma shrine in Kodangipetti village, Devarattam at a wedding in Kodangipatti, Kottaipatti Senraya Perumal temple festival and Devarattam and Sevaiattam there with clippings of a large number of children dancing in productions based on these forms. Demonstrations of Bharathanatyam adavu was done by Premnath and Koothu mantapam was done by Ashwini Kashi with Devika. Preetham helped Devika to edit longer videos and taking clippings from them for power point presentation. The leture was organised by Tamil Heritage Group with Prof. Swaminathan, Dr.T.K.Ramachandran, Annamalai, Badri Sheshadri and Kannan. The Spin a Yarn booklet and poster on spinning was distributed by The Aseema Trust at the programme.

aruna sairam at SOS Children's village and chatnath homes

2009-09-06T11:47:00.004+05:30

September 3rd 2009

A great concert for children by Aruna Sairam at SOS Children's village. Accomponied by J.Vaidyanathan on mridangam and Padma Shankar on violin, she enthralled the children with her little affectionate narration and great singing. Rhythmical and interactive. Great. She did this concert completely free of charge when I told her about sos village she was happy to come and sing there for children. Om Shakthi in honour of mothers, Vaarathirundal (Kanthimathipillai tamil) , Ganapati abhang and Ooththukkadu Kalinga Narthana tillanna for children. It was a memorable evening. The Aseema trust is happy to have organised it.

Inter Faith

2009-08-25T21:54:00.004+05:30

The Aseema Trust was invited by the US Consulate General Chennai to be part of the organising of an inter faith dialogue meeting with Anju Bhargava, representing the Hindu faith in President Obama's interfaith advisory committee with college students at Stella Maris College. The Aseema Trust facilitated the focus group discussions. Some group presentations were just fantastic. In the evening there was a discussion about inter faith programmes at the Us consul general's house. Anju Bhargava was asked a lot of questions by Harmony India and at the end of it there was an Iftar for the muslims who had taken part in the discussions.

workshop

2009-08-21T22:41:00.005+05:30

A workshop with school teachers on Swaraj, Swadeshi and heritage education at Dakshinachitra by V.R.Devika on 21st August 2009 had powerpoint presentation on Nataraja icon and the cosms, Swaraj and Swadeshi as talked about by Mahatma Gandhi, the mysteries of Mamallapuram and a tour.

Therukoothu at Swanubhava

2009-08-12T21:24:00.004+05:30

The Hindu : Friday Review Chennai : Colourful slice of culture
Online edition of India's National NewspaperFriday, Aug 07, 2009
Colourful slice of culture
SUGANTHY KRISHNAMACHARI

Music, dance and folk arts… Svanubhava 2009 offered students a complete artistic experience.
PHOTOS: R. Shivaji Rao EXCHANGING MUSICAL IDEAS: Therukoothu performance in full flow
A ten-year old is in a tearing hurry, and has no time to answer my questions.
She’s running off to watch Pt. Birju Maharaj’s Kathak performance, organised as part of Svanubhava, the festival of classical music and dance for students.
I manage to corner Apoorva and Ananya from Pune. They are not students of music or dance, and do not know Tamil either, but this doesn’t seem to pose any difficulties. “Music is not constrained by language barriers,” they aver.
S. Balaji, a student of the Government Music College, and Tilak and Saravanan, former students, say, “Lectures by practising vidwans are extremely useful.”
Petra and Lida, both from the Czech Republic, like the air of informality that characterises Svanubhava.
Students at Kalakshetra.
The relaxed atmosphere helps students to shed their inhibitions and participate in interactive sessions such as Neyveli Santhanagopalan’s lec-dem on Tiruppugazh.Discourse on Tiruppugazh
As always, Santhanagopalan connects with the audience at once with his gently bantering tone, which, however, does not distract from the seriousness of his purpose, which is to popularise Tiruppugazh among youngsters.
The lec-dem begins with a brief introduction to the life of Arunagirinathar, the author of Tiruppugazh.
Santhanagopalan teaches the audience anga talam, and sings a verse in the talam, and the audience keep beat.
What’s more, there’s an unexpected treat waiting — they are given copies of the hymn and they sing along too. While research in the area of music therapy has focussed on the raga aspect, maybe research into the beneficial effects of talas should also be taken up, Santhanagoplan suggests.
What did the audience think of the programme? Ramna and Archana from Kerala have decided to include Tiruppugazh in their Bharatanatyam performances in future.
A section of the auidence.
Ramya Shridhar, a sixth grade student from Chicago, says proudly, “I now know all about anga talam.” Balasubramanian, a first year post-graduate student of music, is lost in admiration of the children who were part of a percussion ensemble. “I am glad Svanubhava had an exclusive tala vadya concert. I hate it when people go out during tani avartanam. Hopefully such programmes will bring about a change in the attitude of future audiences.”
Unnikrishnan’s full bench concert the following day, is a good idea, for the students who, the previous day, heard a tala vadhya concert, now see how different percussion instruments can be used in a concert. The gethu and konnakkol are big hits with the young seekers. Avudayarkoil Subramaniam explains the difficulties that the gethu, a stringed percussion instrument, poses.
S. Karthick says aesthetics are imperative in konnakkol, and it must not be a hindrance to the vocalist. Sukumar and Rajesh, students of the Government Music College, say, “We didn’t know that there is much more to konnakkol than mere routine reciting of jatis. Besides, we had never seen the gethu before.”
In his lecture on how to structure compositions, P.S. Narayanaswamy recalls how Semmangudi’s sangatis would suit the raga bhava and the sahitya. For example, he wouldn’t sing Veena Kuppa Iyer’s Ananda Bhairavi varnam like other tana varnams, but would add spurithams. In structuring compositions, Semmangudi ensured that his sangatis were suitable for all types of voices. That is why his patanthara is popular. He gave different types of embellishments to different kritis in Kharaharpriya. For example, ‘Rama Nee Samanamevaru’ can be sung even by beginners. ‘Chakkani Raja’ is for those with more gnanam. ‘Navasiddhi Petraalum’ has a completely different flavour.
A person in the audience wondered what influence P.S. Narayanaswamy has on his students. A.S. Murali had a pithy answer: “Our guru’s influence is obvious in the way we sing.”
In the discussion on guru sishya paramapara, Padma Subramaniam, Chitra Visweswaran, Kamalakar Rao and O.S. Tyagarajan emphasise that a guru discerns the potential and the limitations of a student and teaches accordingly.The folksy touch
A new addition this year is therukkoothu by Purisai Duraisami Kannappa Thambiran Parambarai Therukoothu Mandram. V.R. Devika gives a brief introduction to the art of therukkoothu. We learn that E.Krishna Iyer even tried to persuade the Music Academy to include therukkoothu in their programmes.
The theme for the day is ‘Panchali Sabatham’ from the Mahabharata. “Panchali Sabatham is usually a six-hour programme in villages, but here we pruned it to 40 minutes,” says Purisai Sambandam. “We have used three viruttams and 15 songs.” Since it is considered inauspicious to end with Panchali’s oath, the programme ends with Dushasana tiring out, when he is unable to disrobe Draupadi.
“There are ten adavus in therukkoothu that involve the use of the legs, but with the songs and the body movements, this number increases. There are jathis in koothu, and we teach the jathis and their adavus,” explains Sambandam.
Neyveli Santhanagopalan.
Ramdharshan, a fourth standard student, and Mokshavati, a fifth standard student, find the koothu lively, but cannot follow the story. “It would help if they told us the story first,” they say.
There is more to come in this year’s Svanubhava. To quote Santhanagoplan, students can look forward to “many more divine experiences from Svanubhava.”

SWARAJ workshops at Dakshinachitra

2009-08-12T20:32:00.002+05:30

August 10,11,12,13, 2009
V.R.Devika designed a workshop for school students and teachers on the topic of "SWARAJ" and "SWADESHI" at Dakshinachitra. Issues discussed were what Swaraj actually means apart from political independence and democracy and elections. students were asked to come up with meanings. A powerpoint presentation with video clippings of original mahatma gandhi footage was shown to students. Then they were asked to go explore Dakshinachitra and come back and sit in smaller groups, deliberate among themselves on what they had seen and heard the morning and recall it in words on chart papers and then present it to the larger group. The first 93 class IX boys and girls from Uthandi government school had a game with Priya Nagesh on Swaraj which had different tasks assigned to children who had to look after their role in the group. then the students discussed that freedom also meant cooperation and recognition of rights of others. Spinning on the Charkha was tried by several students and then a quiz on the poster exhibition of Tamilnadu's contribution to freedom struggle put up by Roja Muthiah Library was held and a lacquer decorated pen was given as prize for each correct answer. The second day the workshop was shifted to Thirupporur school as Tuesday is a holiday for Dakshinachitra. Class XI was engaged in a conversation on Swaraj and given a demonstration of Spinning. A workshop is scheduled again on 18th August as the powerpoint could not be presented. The third day, students were given the brief on what, why, how, who, where of Dakshinachitra.

CCD Sevayur Madurai teacher's workshop

2009-08-04T07:18:00.000+05:30

August 1 and 2, 2009
V.R.Devika gave a two day workshop on Gandhi and education for rural school teachers at Sevayur an and half away from the city of Madurai. It was organised at the CCD sadhana centre. Organised by Priya Nagesh of Samanvaya knowledge trust, apart from Devika, Meenakshi of Puvidham a great earth lover who runs a school which teachers children of farmers to not just learn the letters but also love nature and learn to farm with Madhavraj a committed teacher in her school gave teachers glimpses into child friendly learning methods. There was also spinning on the Charka. An amazing experiment that is happening there with farming, education and self sustenance through the efforts of Mr.Muthu who is spearheading CCD and its community projects is simply amazing. CCD has been facilitating a process of developing the local resource base, building on the traditional knowledge and skills, and improving the community access to mainstream resources. The scale is awesome and the feeling of participation and warmth is very palpable. To know more, go to http://www.ccd.org.in/

Project I

2009-07-22T21:40:00.001+05:30

Session on 20th July 2009

Project 2 - Spin a Yarn - Teacher workshops

2009-07-18T11:27:00.001+05:30

Workshop for teacher trainees in partnership with Lisle International

Dance skill as empowerment and communication.

Session - 13th July 2009 - 60 Avvai Home teacher Trainees.

Session - 9th July 2009 - 30 University of Madras English teachers of Government colleges

Session - 6th July 2009 - 25 Avvai Home teacher trainees.

Events

2009-07-17T13:26:00.028+05:30

31st December - V.R.Devika conducted a session on traditional performing arts and Gandhi in education for a group of teachers of Kendriya Vidyalayas at Dakshinachitra. V.R.Devika also inaugurated the street photo and book exhibition organised by the progressive writers association at Saidapet.
30th December - V.R.Devika facilitated a face to face encounter with Bharthanatyam artist Alarmel Valli for Deccan Chronicle news paper. Poetry with Prakriti validectory with readings by Ruth Padel and Aditi Saxena at Oxford book store.
29th December - Trip to Kanchipuram to invite the priest of Vaikuntaperumal temple to the 7th programme of Prakriti Foundation.
28th December - Natyakala conference of Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai. Poetry with Prakriti reading by Aditi Machado at Evolutione and Neetu Das at Oxford book store.
27th December - Natyakala conference of Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai. Mamalla heritage group meeting on scripts of pallavas.
26th December - Natyakala conference of Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai. Meeting with Mr.D.K.Oza. Poetry with Prakriti readings by Ananta Kumar Giri in TFL Gym.
23rd December - Poetry with Prakriti with Deepika Arvind at Shilpi and Asan memorial school and Manav Kaul at Vastrakala and Evolutione.
22nd Dcember - V.R.Devika facilitated a face to face encounter with Bharathanatyam artist Urmila Satyanarayana for Deccan Chronicle news paper. meeting in the University of Madras.
21st December - UMA session at Avvai Home with Sowmya
20th December - V.R.Devika attended the meeting of Mamalla heritage group. Screening of film on sculptures Vaasthu marabu by Bala Kailasam. Poetry with Prakriti festival reading of Parnab and Sampoorna at madras terrace house.
19th December - Poetry with Prakriti Festival reading of Parnab Mukherjea and Sampoorna at Apparao galleries.
18th December - Poetry slam of Prakriti Foundation with US consulate.
17th December - V.R.Devika attended a piano and carnatic vocal programme at the US consul General's residence.
16th December - Inauguration of Poetry with Prakriti festival at Taj mount road.
15th December - Post Natyam dance presented by Prakriti Foundation at Chandramandapa.
14th December - UMA session at Avvai Home with Sowmya. V.R.Devika compered a programme of music from Srilanka for Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
13th December - V.R.Devika attended a meeting of the Mamalla heritage group. Talk on early history of Tamils.
12th December - V.R.Devika gave a talk on "Shiva, Nataraja and Orion" at the literary club of Gymkhana.
10th December - V.R.Devika chaired a session on Women rights and empowerment at Loyala College.
7th December - UMA session at Avvai Home with Sowmya and Vasundhara Thomas and V.R.Devika
4th December - Workshop on "Identity" with students of Navharath Matriculation School at Dakshinachitra by V.R.Devika
3rd December - Workshop on "Identity" with students of Navharath Matriculation School at Dakshinachitra by V.R.Devika
2nd - 6th December - The New Festival of Prakriti Foundation.
30th November - UMA session at Avvai Home with Sowmya and Vasundhara Thomas.
26th November - Creating a sahridaya gandhi session with class VII of Olcott School.
23rd November - UMA session at Avvai Home with Sowmya
21st and 22 November - Moonshine and skytoffee and Sangathi arinnyo two english plays based on Vaikkom Mohammed Basheer's Malayalam short stories staged by PERCH theatre group as a fundraiser for The Aseema Trust and Nalamdana at Kalakshetra.
16th November - UMA session at Avvai Home with Nila and V.R.Devika
15th November - V.R.Devika was awarded the title Gnanasamudhra by Samudhra magazine.
14th November - V.R.Devika chief guest at children's day programme of sharing organised by Yellow Bus play school
11 and 12th November - V.R. Devika took part in IBM's reinventing education conference.
9th November - UMA session at Avvai Home for school girls and teacher trainees.
8th November - V.R. Devika and Vasantha Parthsharathy facilitated Citizens Run
6th November - Gandhi and spinning a session with classes 8,9,and 10 of Ashok Leylands school, Hosur and traditional performing arts in education with the school teachers by V.R.Devika
2nd November - UMA - dance session at Avvai Home for school girls and teacher trainees.
27 - 31st October - V.R.Devika was a part of the Horizon group to look at demining in Srilanka.
26 October - UMA session at Avvai Home for school girls and teacher trainees.
25th October - V.R.Devika did a story telling session of Indian mythology and culture for students of Semester at Sea at Dakshinachitra and compered a programme of music from Brazil for ICCR at Mylapore Fine Arts Club.
23rd October - V.R.Devika compered a programme of music from Columbia for ICCR at Sri Krishna Gana Sabha.
21st October - V.R. Devika gave an illustrated talk on " Nataraja and the Orion constellation" for Medha Maithri women's group.
20th October - Visit to Kanchipuram to photograph scultures. VRD and S.Anvar.
19th October - UMA session at Avvai Home for school girls and teacher trainees.
15th October - VRD attended a meeting of public affairs section of US consulate.
14th October - viewing a film on Child Sexual Abuse with Ashraya, visit of Sowmya for music education in schools and Raviraj and Mansa of Kalanjiyam to Aseema.
13th October - brain storming session on reinventing education IBM project at Corporation girls School, Nungambakkam
12th October - UMA- dance session at Avvai Home by Vasundhara Thomas.
12th October - Gandhi and education workshop at Kalanjiyam, kalpatt village, Madurantakam
10th October - Spin a Yarn at Patashala.
9th October - Spin a Yarn at Besant Arundale School.
8th October - Spin a Yarn at Vidyodaya.
8th October - Spin a Yarn at Suddhananda Vidyalaya.
7th October - Spin a Yarn at Navbharath matriculation school.
6th October - Spin a yarn at Children's garden school and Besant Theosophical School
5th October - UMA - Ahimsa Devi and reproductive health and HIV aids programme at Avvai home with Bombay Jayashri as chief guest.
5th October - Spin a Yarn project session at Bla Vidya Mandir .
2nd October - Spinning on the Charkha at Nageswara Rao Park for Gandhi Jayanthi with Avvai Home girls.
2nd October - Creating a Sahridaya workshop for teachers at Balamandir
1st October - V.R.Devika's illustrated talk on Mahatma Gandhi at L.M.Dadha school.
1st October - V.R.Devika's illustrated talk on Mahatma Gandhi at MGR Janaki College
September - 28 - UMA session at Avvai Home for school girls and teacher trainees.
Septmeber 28 - V.R.Devika at Lakshya dance academy for Vijayadashami
Septmber 25 - 30 - UMA- Training sessions at NSS camp at Kanathoor for Avvai Home
September 21 - UMA session at Avvai Home for school girls and teacher trainees.
September 19 - performance of Kolattam at kolu facilitated by the aseema trust.
September 16th - Bombay Jayashri recording at Resound studio.
Septmber 15th - Play About Caliban Prakriti Foundation's Hamara Shakespeare at Stella Maris College
September 14th - UMA session at Avvai Home for school girls and teacher trainees.
September 10th - Puppet show amost twelfth night by Katkatha at Balavidyamandir school for prakriti foundation's hamara shakespeare festival 2009.
September 9th - Puppet theatre almost twelfth night at Asan Memorial school for Prakriti Foundation's Hamara Shakespeare festival 2009.
September 7th - UMA - Dance session at Avvai home for school students and teacher trainees with V.R.Devika and Vasudhara Thomas.
September 5th - V.R.Devika gave an illustrated presentation for teacher's day on " traditional performing arts in education" at Thakkar Bapa Vidyalaya campus for Tamil Heritage Group.
September 3rd - V.R.Devika organised a Carnatic classical concert for children by celebrity singer Aruna Sairam at SOS children's village.
August 31st - UMA session at Avvai Home for school girls and teacher trainees.
August 28th - V.R.Devika took part in the exchange visitor alumni association of US consulate general meeting in Bangalore
August 24th - Interfaith dialogue with Anju Bhargava and college students at Stella Maris College and at US consul general's residence.
August 24th - UMA session at Avvai Home for school girls and teacher trainees.
August 21st - V.R.Devika conducted a workshop on Swaraj and Swadeshi for school teachers at Dakshinachitra.
August 17th - UMA session at Avvai Home for school girls and teacher trainees with Vasundhara thomas of Kalakshetra.
August 10th - UMA session at Avvai Home for school girls and teacher trainees.
August 10th, 11th, 12th, - Swaraj and Swadeshi and Gandhi workshop for school students from rural schools around Dakshinachitra.
August 4th and 5th - V.R. Devika at Swanubhava organised by T.M.Krishna and Bombay Jayashree. Presented Therukoothu. http://www.hindu.com/fr/2009/08/07/stories/2009080751550100.htm
August 3 - UMA session at Avvai Home for school girls and teacher trainees.
August 1 and 2nd - V.R. Devika at CCD Madurai doing a workshop for rural teachers.
July 30th and 31st - Melanie and Lilian at Navbharath matriculation school. conversing with children.
July 29th - Spinning for Melanie and Lilian.
July 28th - Melanie and Lilian from US started their internship at Aseema.
July 27th - UMA session at Avvai Home for school girls and teacher trainees.
July 25th - V.R.Devika attended the inaguration of peace academy.
July 20th - UMA - Workshop session with Avvai Home school and teacher trainees.
July 19th - V.R.Devika emceed a progromme on dance and mathematics by Three Aksha group of Philadelphia for ICCR.
July 17th - workshop with Nalamdana to prepare for "UMA" project
July 16th - VRD inaugurated Hindustani music festival in memory of Gaanayogi Pachakshara gavai.
July 9th - VRD did a workshop for English teachers of government colleges on communication skills and Gandhi.

Project I - South India Girlchild Initiative - UMA

2009-07-10T08:20:00.001+05:30

Session 2. 13th July 2009
Session 1. 6 th July 2009 Pictures from the 2nd day's workshop of UMA (Using traditional Media for awareness of reproductive health ) dance skills development and discussions on self and womanhood 13th July 2009 at Avvai Home school. Madhumathi was the resource person with V.R.Devika the director of the project.

The Aseema Trust's new project "Using Media to create Awareness of Reproductive Health and HIV and AIDS among Adolescent Girls " has begun at Avvai Home. This project is to use the learnings of the earlier project "Using Traditional Performing Arts as empowering tool for vulnerable girls" which we conducted in partnership with world education 2006 - 09. A workshop on programme planning and development of logic model, programme planning matrix etc was conducted by Konda Reddy of World Education with our partner in this project Nalamdana. We later had a meeting with Nalamdana to plan and now have started the skills of Bharathanatyam dance training session at Avvai Home with the girls of TVR School (age 10 - 15 years) A rewarding experience to talk to these wonderful girls.

A session with New English teachers of Government Colleges

2009-07-09T22:08:00.000+05:30

I did a session for the refresher course of the new recruits for English departments of Government Colleges all over Tamilnadu at the department of English, University of Madras on communication skills as learnt from ancient Indian performing arts texts, Mahatma Gandhi and his way of reaching out and the messages he gave the world with his bodily action, his writings, his silences, his fasts, his walks and his death seeing it through the eyes of a student of Indian dance and drama. I was sure at the end of the session that I would get quite a few invitations from the colleges the participants will go to. I realised no picture had been taken. So I took these with my cell phone after the session.

Kathai Aruvi Tamil Story Cards with Aseema........

2009-07-07T19:05:00.000+05:30

Kathai Aruvi, the magical 100 Tamil story cards library in a bag is now available with Aseema. Yes we have it taken on ourselves to reach the story card library to as many rural schools as possible. Kathai Aruvi story cards were produced by Chatnath Trust to make Tamil reading attractive for children by making each story separately in a laminated card. So 100 children can read at the same time and each card can be exchanged with another 100!. The 100 cards come neatly put in a jute bag. Your library can be neatly put away and the lamination makes it easy to be handled by a group of rough kids. A bagful of 100 attractively illustrated (in colour) cards is

available with us for Rs.600. Anyone interested in buying it and sponsoring it for rural schools is welcome to contact us. Our contact details are in our website http://www.aseematrust.org/

Aseema videos and pictures

2009-07-07T12:23:00.001+05:30

pictures at the aseema trust gallery on Picasa
Videos
Tips for spinning on the charkha by V.R.Devika
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD766bXwbg8
Graffiti on Sari I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAYeIDNlhAk
Graffiti on Sari II
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5xXu9zdxJo&feature=related
Graffiti on Sari III
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZVyG0q-6H0&feature=related

A New Beginning

2009-07-05T14:45:00.000+05:30

A New Beginning....
Yes. The Aseema Trust is getting computer savvy. That is because we have run out of money for website updating etc. So here is our new blog and we have begun our self uploading and self sustenance from this minute on. I ( V.R.Devika, the managing trustee of the trust) am very happy to tell you that we have successfully completed three years of our project "Using traditional performing arts as empowering tools for vulnerable young girls at Avvai Home and Navbharath Matriculation School" as part of the South India Girl child Initiative project of World Education. We have been incredibly happy with this partnership with world education and are very happy that they are continuing the partnership for another three years to use the learning of the earlier project to work with adolescent girls on reproductive health and HIV and AIDS awareness. The major response we received for the earlier project is a call from Mrs.Rajalakshmi of Avvai Home. She said she wanted this project to continue as she saw immense benefit for the girls, most importantly for teacher trainees and so the school was willing to give a tiny amount for the sessions. Same kind of call came from Mr.Prince Gajendra Babu of Navbharath Matriculation School. He said he was willing to save on something else and give a little to continue the project in his school. If this is not a medal wonder what else is? Calls for celebration. Crowning this was a request from Avvai Home for me to become a part of its committee. Feels good.