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On Monday, 1 October, ESS and EVM students of Grades 11 and 10 had the opportunity to visit the Bhoomi Festival organised by Navdanya. This festival celebrated 25 years of Navdanya, which is a women-led organization that aims to save the seed and the Earth. Held at India International Centre, this was an event bustling with environmentally active and passionate people and was any environment student’s dream come true.
The day saw a string of activities that were held one after the other. It opened with a group of school children singing songs celebrating the Earth and all that it gives us. We then watched a film which was put together by Tadpole Artists Collective and were amazed by the level of contribution that Navdanya had made to society. However, the speeches that followed the film were even more eye opening, mesmerizing and gut wrenching, all at the same time. These speeches were delivered by a group of women who have been associated with Navdanya for a long time and participate in similar work. From the farming styles and lives in Odisha to the problems being faced in Europe by Kokopelli, we witnessed it all! What followed was unarguably the best part of the whole festival: The street play. It was titled “Kaunsa Gaun, Kiska Khet?” We had only read in our books about the problems that farmers all over our country face, but what this play, performed by a group called The Players showed us the deterioration of a village (Kaunsa) due to mechanization in farming.
A lot of other activities took place all of which the students enjoyed immensely. We will surely carry a part of the lessons that we learnt at this Festival for the rest of our lives. Finally, we had a chance to meet India’s famous environmentalist, Dr Vandana Shiva and we discussed many issues related to the environment.This wonderful trip would not have been possible without Mr Gurucharan Kumar, Mr Arvind Chalasani and Ms Bhagirathy Jhingran. Thank you.
Text: Shreya Singh, Grade 11
The day saw a string of activities that were held one after the other. It opened with a group of school children singing songs celebrating the Earth and all that it gives us. We then watched a film which was put together by Tadpole Artists Collective and were amazed by the level of contribution that Navdanya had made to society. However, the speeches that followed the film were even more eye opening, mesmerizing and gut wrenching, all at the same time. These speeches were delivered by a group of women who have been associated with Navdanya for a long time and participate in similar work. From the farming styles and lives in Odisha to the problems being faced in Europe by Kokopelli, we witnessed it all! What followed was unarguably the best part of the whole festival: The street play. It was titled “Kaunsa Gaun, Kiska Khet?” We had only read in our books about the problems that farmers all over our country face, but what this play, performed by a group called The Players showed us the deterioration of a village (Kaunsa) due to mechanization in farming.
A lot of other activities took place all of which the students enjoyed immensely. We will surely carry a part of the lessons that we learnt at this Festival for the rest of our lives. Finally, we had a chance to meet India’s famous environmentalist, Dr Vandana Shiva and we discussed many issues related to the environment.This wonderful trip would not have been possible without Mr Gurucharan Kumar, Mr Arvind Chalasani and Ms Bhagirathy Jhingran. Thank you.
Text: Shreya Singh, Grade 11
