(On the occasion of 25th Birthday of Garware Balbhavan.............)
The smell of fresh green grass; stuck traffic outside honking horns, other kids are congregating at our group, where at the background I hear cheers & whistles; sweat making the face wet, dropping from the forehead blurring my vision; thirst diverting the attention but no one can afford to lose focus or leave the amazing game of ‘Round Runs’ that is going on under the beautiful Gulmohor tree. This is not any ordinary game at hands; it’s a game between girls versus boys; and we are falling behind the girls. Game is full of high spirits. At the end, girls win and we boys, after everyone finished pointing fingers at each other, finally settle and congratulate the girls. The war of the Titans was over, for a day!
I have written down what comes to my mind when I think of Balbhavan, but it is not limited to this beginning.
There are so many such memories that I have in store which I can share now. Some of which are typically ordinary and some are way beyond ordinary. They involve places, people, friends, activities & games. I am sure the picture above is very common to any one’s childhood, with few replacements - like Football or Cricket or dabba aispais in place of ‘Round Runs’ - like game is played on a society road or school ground instead of Garware Balbhavan.
And here, the place mentioned, does no longer makes this childhood experience of mine, ordinary or common. Garware Balbhavan was a second home to me, a place to go and have fun, play with friends, learn art & enjoy creativity, participate in activities & explore the natural world in field trips.
Well, the primary reason I am calling Balbhavan my second home is because my mother was part of Balbhavan right from the beginning when Shobha Tai started it. She was a Tai in Balbhavan and I started coming to Balbhavan because of her. After the school I used to go to Balbhavan to her and that’s how I got enrolled in Balbhavan. Fortunately (?), I was never in her group but, her being there always, was an advantage as she used to be there right from the opening hours till Balbhavan closed for the day. She was my passport to wait till late hours in the campus, read books, play in the huge hall of Balbhavan and listen to all Tai in a meeting.
Ultimately, as I realized later, she was the main reason I got to know the most beautiful, everlasting gift that Balbhavan gave me, and for that matter, many other people also. It was the time when I was in the senior group, enjoying the participation in all Balbhavan activities that I could not do as a junior pupil. And a part of that was learning different games and compete with others, especially girls. One day, I had a big fight with couple of girls and I don’t remember over what? You see, fighting and learning along the way, was a part of Balbhavan experience. The great experience that I referred as extra ordinary.
So, I was sitting alone on the large slide in the backyard of the main building. These two girls came and asked me whether I am son of their beloved Meera tai? Well, as I was Meera tai’s son, they no longer were fighting and now, over 15 odd years we three have been best friends and soul mates for each other. My mom being in Balbhavan became a reason to introduce me to Balbhavan and the greatest gift in my life.
Through my journey in Balbhavan, the places and people attached to Balbhavan, made the experience priceless. An unintended beginning, as I never imagined, has put me on this path of nostalgia. As I think back, I realize the friendship, is in the way it is, mainly because of Balbhavan and things we learned there.
Balbhavan was never a compulsion; neither was it a part of childhood conditioning to me. Overall development of a child was at the centre of all Balbhavan activities & plans. The activities focused on physical development of a child were always there, Balbhavan was play ground for me; but also activities for mental development of a child were the core that I learnt in Balbhavan. Importance of crafts and arts in life, I learnt that in Balbhavan. Even today while teaching my students I give them examples and references I learnt in Balbhavan.
Nature camps and visits were also an integral part of my attachment to Balbhavan. Not just the guest experts but the variety that was there in Balbhavan’s Tai, guided me to different streams of arts and science. The first bird I saw or the first natural museum I visited or the first trail I walked was with Balbhavan group. The interest generated at Balbhavan, I try to pass it on to my students in the way I learnt them.
In Balbhavan it was not a typical class of school arts where one has to paint or draw, but it used to be exploration and experimentation. I still remember our group visited to Mahadji Shinde Monument at Wanawadi, as a field trip. One could assume that such trip would be a normal visit to the monument, listening to history, eating lunch and coming back. With Balbhavan it was different and, importantly, interesting. We experimented with tracing the stone patterns of the monument on normal paper with crayons. I still have those tracing with me.
The summer camp used to be another treat for me. All possible sports from football to athletics, from archery to roller skating were taught in Balbhavan. The famous ‘Camp Fire’ was another treat I remember boldly. This was the day when we were allowed to live overnight in Balbhavan. We used to bring our dinner with sleeping bags and blankets. The camp fire songs and late night talks and bonding with friends, none is forgettable.
Now through my work, I meet many young and old people, here & abroad, that are some way or the other attached to Balbhavan. People I met in my college days, who are my friends now, were a part of Balbhavan in their childhood. The biology experts & scientist I meet were there to take workshops in Balbhavan when I was there in Balbhavan as a pupil. It’s a small world, I feel, or Balbhavan is too big to enclose the world, I think the later must be right.
