Hi, my name is Amit. When I was young, I wanted to go to a forest and sit under the trees and learn the truth about life. Life though had other plans for me. Sometimes I feel that maybe it did not turn out to be very different from what I had planned. There are moments when I think of myself as a simple monk seeking peace and children around me are the trees helping me understand little by little.
I am engineer by degree and graduated from IIT Madras in 2008. In 2009, I quit my job and ever since have been spending time with children, working with and learning from them. I hope that we human beings learn to love again. I dream of a world where in the name of education and competition we do not kill our children’s curiosity and innocence rather let them participate in finding their own meaning of life. I love working with hands, playing and making simple musical instruments.
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Hi, I am Ram. I worked for over 10 years in the corporate sector, mostly in IT after my engineering. My unhappiness with that work and life led me to some reflection and exploration and I found myself moving into the world of children and education.
I started to teach at Centre for Learning, a small alternative school in Hyderabad, I soon realized that meaningful education is inextricably linked to the society and environment and the issues in it. It led me to travel, meet people and inquire into development, natural farming, human rights, inequity, the nature of our economy and paths of spiritual seeking. Education/Working with children has largely been the central part of the work I have done for the last over 15 years, it has also been the means for me to reflect upon my own work, beliefs, life, and lifestyle. Besides that I work on farms when I find time and like to see places on the bicycle.
I see my work with A Little Grove as an attempt to create a space of learning conducive for conversations and self-reflective inquiry for adults and children. This I hope may help us to draw from each other in finding our paths to living a more sensitive and fulfilling life. I’d like to think that humour, music and food can be unobtrusive ways to connect, engage with difficult issues and dismantle some walls.
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Hello, my name is Anjali. I am a facilitator at the centre. I like to learn along with children, as one of them.
I believe learning is fun when the boundary between the teacher and the taught becomes one. Sometimes a child is a teacher and vice-versa.
I like to cook, I’m interested in knowing how the human body works, I listen to music, I’m interested in forensic science, and I like to travel and learn about different cultures.
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Hello, I am Shalini. I have worked in the field of school academics for over 30 years. Being a craft enthusiast from childhood, I have presently chosen to facilitate and enable children of A Little Grove to learn some traditional crafts. I enjoy being with children and believe that there is a lot we as adults need to learn from them.
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Hi, I am Ankita. The easiest identity I submit to is being an art and nature-enthusiast. I grew up amidst the green jungle patches and grey rocks of the University of Hyderabad campus. Spending my childhood picnicking by the lakes, getting lost multiple times in seemingly simple backyard wilderness, and watching as birds and insects shared my garden on summer afternoons quietly paved the way for what would come to matter to me dearly- connecting with nature and sharing that experience with others. I enjoy observing nature and looking out for patterns and connections between species.
I have worked with children in the space of education for over 7+ years. I believe art & conversation to be an immersive medium to explore emotion and expression, and find myself using this lens while working with children on areas including environmental stewardship, self-discovery, nature connection and socio-emotional learning.
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A Little Grove (Aligro) 