RAINBOW KIDS YOGA!!

Life is a collection of awesome strings of experiences. I had this beautiful experience in the week of March 19-22, 2009 with a fun loving group of people at NYC. I came across Rainbow Kids Yoga when I was browsing for something interesting to do for the Siragu kids in India. You all know that the Siragu Montessori School is a free school with an alternative system of education for homeless street children in Chennai, SouthEast India.

When I came across their website, it took me only a few minutes to decide to take the teacher training course. The peace I felt when I met Gopala the first time was contagious. The other wonderful people who joined the training were all so energetic and loving. I could see their eagerness to learn and share their knowledge with the kids they'd go back to.
The playfulness of the group was inspiring and Gopala had brought out the child in all of us. We all left our adulthood outside and interacted with each other as kids. The atmosphere was filled with fun and learning alternating in a smooth flowing way.

We learned a lot of fun poses for kids and family and Gopala taught us to integrate yoga poses in the kids' stories and also gave us each 5 minutes to conduct a class of our own on the last day of training. Creativity flowed as each one of us got a hands on the teaching and the rest acted like kids trying to create a real atmosphere of teaching kids. It was fun trying to distract the teacher and trying to cope up with distracting kids and engaging them while the assignment was going on. It was so much fun! We laughed so much and enjoyed every single moment of the training. By the fourth day, even though we were exhausted, we went with the flow and did not feel it a lot.
I could go more and more about the whole experience but I think after all this learning, it is up to us to practice it and share it with the world outside. I intend to prepare a curriculum and teach the kids at Siragu School next time i go to India.
you can also see pictures here.

Wings of Evolution - Documentary Film NYC Screening September 20,2008

For ticket details...please visit www.positivepeopletoday.org

Dear Positive Person,

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

A few of us got together and through dialogue, realized our common goal, an idealistic yet realistic one; of sharing the positivity in our beings with the world around us. We would like to project our filling of elation into others, and transcend cultures, time and space, which would be a realized beginning to a better world, where people are joyful creators and up lifters.

On this principle, we formed our non-profit organization POSITIVE PEOPLE TODAY.

And, here we are, sending our invitation to human beings all over the Earth to unite on one simple principle

"POSITIVE THINKING"

We believe that great societies rise with Positive Attitudes which in turn arise from
self-awareness and a proper education. Our objective is to reinforce a Positive attitude in today's world and connect both people and organizations that care, and want to make a difference.
Our Mission is to promote and sponsor projects relating to personal growth, creativity, talent, social and environmental awareness around the globe.

www.positivepeopletoday.org

In this line of thought and taking a step towards action, we at PPT, have adopted the cause of the homeless street children in Chennai, South India, and have decided to raise funds for Siragu Montessori School, a place that makes a bright future possible for underprivileged children through education.

Screening of Award-winning Documentary film
Wings of Evolution
a production of Accessisble Horizon Films

Saturday,Sept 20th,2008
at the
TWO BOOTS PIONEER THEATER, NYC.
SHOW STARTS AT 5PM.

MIT OpenCourseWare

I recently stumbled upon the following link where MIT offers lots of free courses. When i visited the website i found that they have separate course materials for High School students and teachers. I think this will definitely help students and teachers all over the world and help the students decide and choose a course of their interest.

Also there are so many Audio and Video materials that can be downloaded for free. Lots of schools in the rural areas who are creating their own course materials can also make the best use of these materials. And provide higher standard of Education for free. It is our collective responsibility to provide a better education for our future generation.

Thank you MIT for the opencourseware.

Wings Of Evolution Screening at Scarsdale Public library, New York

We had a screening of Wings of Evolution yesterday at the Scarsdale Public Library,New York, at 1pm. The screening was arranged by Susan Grosz, a friend we made from the South Asian International Film Festival in October 2007. We did not have to do anything except show up for the screening at the library because Susan had taken care of everything that was needed; right from the publicity to the arrangement of the venue including all the formalities involved. Jeff took care of the technical part of things and arranged for a projector for the screenings. We have wonderful people to help us in this journey and they volunteer their time and effort for this cause.
Susan introduced us to the audience and said that amidst all the chaos in the world and news every single day, Wings Of Evolution was there to give hope. What an introduction!
We were inspired by just those words!
A group of around 40 people showed up for the screening even with the weather being so cold outside. The after-session of the screening was very interesting with people asking us questions about a lot of things.
Firstly, the overall response was amazing and the audience said that indeed they agreed to Susan's introductory comment that there was hope in the film. There were around 6-7 school teachers who were very interested to know about the details of the syllabus at the School. They were interested in the fact that the children at the Siragu School were allowed to take any classes they preferred whether it was the reading corner or writing or math or science or anything they chose to attend. Some of them voiced out their concern about the public schools in India and how the attendance worked there. They were impressed at the kids' openness to the learning process in spite of being first generation learners and also appreciated the kids for teaching their parents English when they went home.
Some of them voiced out their concern for the exam patterns in schools in the world and how competitive children have forced to become.
Well, they were also keen on the World Wide Postcard Sharing project and said they would ask their kids to participate in it.
So, the overall response was very positive yesterday.
We also introduced our non-profit organization POSITIVE PEOPLE TODAY to the audience and requested them to take a look at the cause. We are trying to raise funds for the Siragu School through Positive People Today. Please go to the following link to take a look at the fund raising page of Siragu School.
We reminded the people that remaining positive about things changing for the better in the world was very important and PPT was one such attempt to spread Positivity!

WINGS OF EVOLUTION in City University NY

Hey everybody...we will be having two consecutive screenings of WINGS OF EVOLUTION, one on Dec 5th (Wednesday) and one on 6th (Thursday) in one of the classes of the City University of New York...and this is through a friend of mine Carol Huang who teaches there (the screenings will be in her class and we will have a Q&A session after that)...this week with Carol's help, we will be visiting one of the directors of the Asian American/Asian Research Institute to request for another screening of Wings of Evolution...
We need to spread the word so that humans all over the world are somehow inspired to take children off the streets and care for them and give them the education they deserve!
Let us unite the children of the World!

Wings of Evolution - Post-Film Screening

Wow, this has gotta be the longest break in our blog. Surprising none of us had the time and energy or even the slightest inclination of writing something.
But hey, here it is finally, after our screening at the South Asian International Film Festival 2007.
"Wings of Evolution" screened on October 6th, 2006 at 2:30p.m at the Rubin Museum of Art, NYC. Before the screening we had a filmmakers lunch at Rialto's, NYC - just a networking event I'd say. Nothing extraordinary but we met a few of the directors/producers who were mostly from other states. We also met filmmakers from the Pune film institute.
Anyway, as for the screening itself, we were standing outside the theater and till about 2:20p.m or so, we hardly had people coming in. Just 1 or 2. But by 2:30, the theater had about 35-40 people were sitting in. Not a bad number I'd say but not the best either.
Many of our friends, that is, some of you readers - didn't or couldn't turn up because of excuses, excuses - and we are supposed to understand. Hmmphh!
Ok anyways, we got some good response/feedback from the audience. Also, some suggestions as to what could be done to improve. We have someone who's interested in showing the film to a school audience in NY. So we are working on it. Hopefully sometime early next year.
The above is a pic of the post-screening discussion moderated by Richa from the SAIFF staff.
Alright then, will get back on the other sundry news soon. Watch out!

Wings of Evolution - World Premiere

Hi folks,
As some of you may know, Wings of Evolution is World Premiering at the South Asian International Film Festival 2007 on October 6th, 2007, which is a Saturday at 2:30 p.m under the Doc'Film Series 3. Do try to attend the screening and let us know what your thoughts are.

Just a little information about the production and the team.
This is the second feature-length documentary project by the Accessible Horizon Films team, the first one being Men of Burden - Pedaling Towards a Horizon. The film was finished in June 2007 and has just started going the festival route. This is way different from Men of Burden, not only in terms of theme, but also in style and tone - primarily focusing on children and the educational system in India and even focuses on global culture and understanding.
Directed by Ramesh Mourthy & Raghu Jeganathan, Edited by Kousalya Jeganathan and Mohandass Radhakrishnan, Produced under the Accessible Horizon Films banner with excellent music by Composer Srikanth Devarajan of Studio 1234, the film has come a long way from production in Dec.2006. Check out for more updates soon.

WINGS OF EVOLUTION - TRAILER!!

My Three Weeks of Vacation in South India

How does it feel like when u go to your home land after 3 years? Yes, I felt it when I went back to India after so many years. I flew to Muscat and then I to Chennai, India. This time it was not just a vacation for me, I also had to shoot a documentary film about the Siragu School in Chennai.

A week at Siragu:

The first week I spent the day at Siragu and the evenings in T.Nagar, Chennai. My friend Packiya was helping me with the documentary in the day time and brought me food from different restaurants at night J. Kids at Siragu are amazing and they are so full of love. I never knew I could get along with the kids so well. I learned lots of new things in that school from the kids and teachers there. The kids there talk to trees and treat them as their friends. If we could have done the same thing all the past years we would not have caused the environmental pollution and global warming. One of the kid was saying “Hi Tree, How are u? Sorry for hurting you… We wont hurt you anymore…. “ Isn’t it amazing?

And they teach Vedic Maths and Practical learning to their kids, I wish I were in such a school. I would like to share something I learned there. It is a simple math process for you all. What is 9 times 6 and how did you come up with the answer, I just knew the answer all these days because I had memorized the tables so many times in my mind.

Here is how they teach at Siragu...this is for numbers above 5 to 10...

9 * 6

1. Take your 2 hands

2. First with your left hand you count up to 9. You will be left with 4 fingers open for 9. Isn't it?

3. Then with your right hand, count up to 6. You will be left with 1 finger open for 6, Right?

4. So now you have 4 open fingers on your left and 1 open finger on your right.

5. Count the number of open fingers in both the hands and then multiply them with 10. You add 4 on your left and 1 on your right and multiply them with 10. That gives you 50 right? (4 from left+ 1 on right * 10 = 50)

6. Then count the number of closed fingers on the left and right...which gives you 1 on the left and 4 on the right and multiply them together. ( 1 from left * 4 from right = 4)

7. Now, add results from step 5 and 6. (50 + 4= 54)

So, 9*6= 54!

Isn’t it cool? Now try 8 * 7

Practice well, that is the key to faster learning!

Like this they learn everything practically.

Other than learning, we played football, cricket, took pictures, ran around… and laughed all the time. Uma and Muthuram are the founders of Siragu, they are very helpful and cooperative. Right now our documentary about Siragu is under post-production and we will keep you posted with the updates. I feel that every kid in this world deserves the best quality of education no matter where he/she is (from streets or from a house) and it should be free. Only proper education will make our World a better place and take us away from all the chaos happening around us right now.

To know more about Siragu School, visit http://siragu.org/

Second Week:

I went to my home town Pondicherry (soon it might be officially called as Pudhucherry ;) ). Yes, the place where we have Aurobhindo Ashram, Auroville, beaches and of course discount/cheap liquors. Nehru street the happening place in Pondicherry got so congested full of 2 wheelers, bicycles and cars. And in the evening I hardly found any place to stand in the beach. For those who need more sand to run around, take sun bath or build sand castle, we have the Auro beach. It is a few kilometers away from heart of the city. People are still the same- kind, friendly, helpful and more. I loved to be there after such a long time. I revisited all the usual hang-outs - my school, the beach, the train station, Nehru Street, temples, Ashram, Auroville, the pani-poori shop etc.

After 2 days I went on a trip with my family to Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, the southern most point in India where the three oceans meet. It is a must see place in South India. I was there on the Dec,26^th and it was so crowded there. Only later I realized it was the same time when Tsunami had struck a few years back. And it was also the time when Swami Vivekananda was last seen on that rocks there. Saw the sunset and stayed there that night. Then we went to Nagerkovil and visited few temples there (Of course you know temples are the places where u go when u are on a family trip ;) ). Kumarakoil, where you can take bath in the lakes. After seeing the lake I got reminded of the movie "Motorcycle diaries" where Che swims across the river to celebrate his birthday with the patients on the other side, and I swam across to the other side with a little struggle. Then the nearby Manimutharu, and went to Kalaraikuruchi to see the Pabanasam Dam and the Agathiyar Falls and took bath in the falls. One thing which you cannot experience in Niagara falls and of course run behind the monkeys if they take ur towels, soaps or your snacks. And then finally to Tiruneveli (to buy alwa (sweet)) ;)

No matter what changes in time, people in those villages are very kind and helpful as always. That is the best things u get there in villages. No matter where u are from, if you ask for directions or any help they will go out of their way to help you… and offer something to drink and to eat.

Third Week:

Was back in Pondicherry, got sick with fever and cold for 2 days but did some important last minute shopping …. (sweets and snacks for my friends here, without which they wouldn’t let me in)

Films and Updates

Just a little update on what's happening with our films

1. Men of Burden - Pedaling Towards a Horizon
After the NYC premiere at IAAC, there hasn't been much happening. Although our plans for future screenings are on. We have been talking to some folks in the Cycle Rickshaw (Pedicab) industry here in New York for arranging private screenings. Hopefully by mid-January, we'll know more. So far, DIY distribution seems to be the way to go. More on that later.

2. Wait No More
Our new completed short film is all ready to go places (crossing fingers). We got some good reviews for the film from our inner circles, but still, until it hits the big screen and people outside our inner circles say something good, we aren't going to rejoice. The DVDs are burnt and ready too, and some have hit the submission currents, so let's see what's in store.

3. New Untitled Documentary film
Yes, our documentary on Siragu school based on underprivileged/homeless children in India still is 'Untitled'. We have a few options but they are just 'ok'. Nothing too exciting. We will be getting the footage in our hands next week and then we will start Post-production. Very excited. But, so long.

Principal Photography: Complete

Can't believe we are done with Principal photography. So many things have happened over the last few days that we are finding it hard to believe the primary work on location is behind us now. In the last couple of days, we did the interview bits with Uma and Muthuram, you know, asking them about the specific activities that the children did over the days of the shoot. Seemed like their thoughts fit in quite well with the overall objectives and the goal of the documentary.
An irony is that we still haven't come up with the Title of the film, weird but true. The same thing happened to our new short film, Wait No More, we came up with the title only during post-production. But hey, if any of you have any ideas just holler.
The picture above is that of the kids during the football games, I think. We got a lot more pictures, but they are still in India. We are waiting for the tapes too. Man, can't wait to get our hands on them and start post-production. Ok, gotta go, a movie's waiting to be seen.

Siragu Documentary Update

The second and third days have been great. We made great progress with the shoot. We went with Uma and Muthuram to the actual Nadaipathai (pavement) where the parents of the children live.
You can see Uma and Muthuram in the photo above with the parents, talking to them. They showed us the whole environment where many pavement-dwellers lived. It was an amazing experience meeting people who are so straight-forward and simple.
Back at the school, Siragu, we played football/soccer with the children. Man, was it fun! Ramesh, Raja and almost all the crew members joined the game and were so exhausted after that.
At night, we had a campfire with the children where they were asked to write down what they didn't like and threw them into the fire - they threw 'War', 'Guns', etc into the fire. Babu (Ramanujam) was the one who initiated it, with the whole thing being a very deeply emotional experience - the children striving for peace, love and unity. Can you believe it?
The little girl(2nd photo) with the hat is Meenakshi who recently joined Siragu and she tagged along with the crew most of the time.
Watch out for more updates soon.