UWC Mahindra College monthly newsletter

Head of College's message

2012-02-01T01:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome from the Head of College

Visiting the rural villages in the valley last week, where our students engage with our local community, made me fully aware of the incredible opportunity and obligation we have as a UWC.

Nelson Mandela, refers to the Bantu term “Ubuntu” to express this opportunity. It means becoming human through the humanity of others. Emanuel Kant expresses it in another way stating, “Der Mensch kann nur Mensch werden durch Erziehung” “humans can only become human through education”. Perhaps this is the core purpose of a UWC education, to bring the humanity of others to the attention of our students. Empowering our students with knowledge, understanding and skills to give them the capacity to make a difference through their lives is an important task, but we must also engage our students in what Kurt Hahn called their “age of idealism”, with the humanity of others.

Atlantic College was founded 50 years ago and this September, throughout the UWC movement, we will celebrate this anniversary. At UWC Mahindra College we are engaged in deciding how we will mark this occasion. It will certainly involve a celebration of the past and we are busy restoring the photographic record of our first 15 years but, much more importantly, it must involve a look forward to our next 15 years and the next 50 years for the UWC as a whole.

We encourage our students to ask and we must ask ourselves a fundamental question about our very existence because if we take our existence for granted, we risk complacency, self-contentment and stagnation. Returning to the UWC family and joining UWC Mahindra College, seeing our students working in the valley and meeting young people from our local communities, who have been given the opportunity to have a UWC education, confirms my belief in the fundamental importance of our existence.

These are exciting times at UWC Mahindra College. There is a great sense of purpose and a desire to develop the academic education of the IB in much more meaningful ways with the unique opportunities we have, such as our Akshara Program, the Biodiversity Reserve, and our Triveni of Creativity, Action and Service in which our students discover the value of our world and the humanity in others. With the commitment, engagement and capacity of our faculty and students and the input of the Board, the Indian National Committee and more than1000 former students, we have the opportunity to truly make education a force for peace and a sustainable future. In this anniversary year we enthusiastically ask for your participation in celebrating the past and contributing to the future.

Pelham Lindfield Roberts

Head of College

Survey results

2012-02-01T00:35:00.000-08:00

Thank you to all the people from a wide section of the UWC community who took the time and trouble to complete the survey which went out with last month's newsletter. Although the numbers were small, we were able to gauge your opinions with the help of Google Surveys! Yeh for Google!

Results do confirm your acceptance of the newsletter in its existing form and comments were supportive and positive. Ideas to include different articles will try to be accommodated and we will try to provide more photos, though this is always a big challenge; getting just some of the millions of photos that are taken each month uploaded onto a common drive so we can all share them! I'll do my best.....

You can review the results of the survey here. When you can see the spread sheet, if you go to the drop down horizontal menu and click on Form and then Show summary of responses you will get the information in chart form which is easier to read.

Penny Fidler
Head of External Relations / Webmaster

Recognition

2012-02-01T00:30:00.001-08:00

A very big thanks to Dr Julie Taylor, Pioneer Class of 1999, who donated a matching gift to help sponsor a Zimbabwean (or otherwise African) student.

We would also like to recognize all members of the community who, in eating one simple dinner per week (austerity dinner), allow the difference in cost of the meal to support our scholarship fund.

Your gifts help UWC Mahindra College to arrive at its vision target of welcoming 100% scholarship students.

Thank you!

GAP year opportunities

2012-02-01T00:30:00.000-08:00

UWC Mahindra College welcomed Kevin Morley, the Head of GAP year projects in UWCSEA, during the month of January.

“I took over the project in 2008” Kevin told me. “I inherited an initiative where the college sent 5 people to work in a village school in Kenya. Political problems forced us to discontinue the project so I had to improvise and subsequently I arranged for 5 people to work in NGOs in Cambodia. I was then requested to expand the programme so through different channels and contacts over the last 3 years I have set up to work with 12 NGOs / educational / environmental institutions on projects in Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, India, Philippines and recently Nepal has been added to the network. We try to limit our contacts to those within in easy access of Singapore, both for ease of communication with our volunteers and also cost factors.”

The programme has certainly been successful as it has grown from its original 5 volunteers to 32 this year and an anticipated 40 next year, which is around 15% of the total graduating class. The ideology of the GAP year is putting the ideals of the UWC movement into practice by wanting to learn together and being able to care. Volunteers pay the organizations they work with in order to cover the net costs that the NGO incurs arranging the supervision and logistics of having people within their group who are not, initially, able to provide a substantial value to the organization.

UWCSEA provides a support structure for a GAP year student who in turn provides a service to an NGO, which should not take away any paid work from a local person; it is essentially value added work which should provide additional benefit to the organization. Students need counselling sessions before they leave to make sure they understand that it is the volunteers who are the major beneficiaries of the process and not the organization. They must consider what benefits the community will have as a result of their presence 6 months down the line.
Kevin has suggested our Triveni department to try to set up their own GAP year project to work within India and then it would make sense, in the long term, for both colleges to cooperate with each other and set up possible exchanges of volunteers using our Indian and South Asian connections. UWCSEA has undertaken a collaborative programme with the British Council in Singapore in order to provide potential volunteers with a 30 hour course in the basics of teaching English Language. Approximately 50 UWCSEA students successfully complete the course each academic year.

As well as heading up the GAP year department, Kevin also teaches Self Taught language classes to a group of students covering 14 different languages including our own local language Marathi. He is the teacher to 2 of our Akshara students currently studying in Singapore and was welcomed by Micha, a volunteer student herself on a GAP year from UWCSEA who is currently working with the Akshara team. She will be on campus until the end of May. Kevin and Dr Harsha Joshi, who heads up the Akshara programme, have been exploring ways in which they can formulize arrangements to allow 2 UWSEA students to work with the Akshara programme each year. Kevin has been very impressed by the quality of services and experience opportunities that this programme can offer future GAP volunteers in the fields of education and community service. It’s all in the family here at UWC you might say!

Learning through extending our resources

2012-02-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

In February 2011 on a campus roof top a small group of students gathered and started to plot; soon after, the Climb Committee was born.

The committee emerged with an aim to begin to develop provisions and create opportunities for climbing to become part of a regular occurrence within the community. What was to follow was a series of meetings, a lot of discussion, some proposal writing, a search for donors, marketing bids, postal hiccups, presentations, administration errors, some more letter writing and some additional discussion. This approach was impelled by students taking responsibility for what they believed in, a process purely driven by passion. Working together and understanding their own strengths and weaknesses, the Climb Committee has this term started to climb on a regular basis, not only that but they have started to develop ways of extending these opportunities to the greater community.

Abhijit Singh who can be described as a driving force behind the Climb Committee, says:

“The Climb Committee is not just another rock climbing club. To me, it is a symbol of perseverance and dedication towards a goal. We thought that to build a climbing wall on campus would be a perfect way to challenge ourselves. The long summer break did slow us down, but we were determined to get the wall built. Once our 2nd year stared we sent many proposals to climbing cenres and organizations throughout the world and also to other UWCs. Often organizations and climbing halls did not want to donate to a small school in the middle of nowhere in India, however we did not let those rejections discourage . After several presentations and further discussions with instructors, clubs and administrators of various organisations we succeeded in getting enough donations for holds, equipment and funding. With the help of these donations, we were able to build a small yet functional bouldering wall on campus. Now that the wall has been built we have been able to start inviting others to climb and can now offer a service to other community engagement activities on campus, to use climbing as a means of physical challenge and engagement with the rst of the community. It is only a matter of finding your passion and working towards it that leads to great success. It is hard to believe that something that started out just as someone’s dream has turned out to be such a success. It has definitely shown me that dedication can lead one to achieve one’s goals.”

Tudor Etchells, another fundamental brain behind the project states:

“The donations have really made a change in our community, enabling climbing to flourish. We now have a fully functional bouldering wall. Along with this we have created a climbing club, aptly named ‘The Jugs’. Meeting twice a week we encourage and assist amateur climbers to develop their skills. Again, we cannot thank you enough for your continued support. We hope that you can sustain your support. It really is crucial to the existence to our project.”

The Climb Committee would like to take this opportunity in thanking Boulders Climbing Centre, Cardiff, UK for their donaton of climbing holds and equipment, UWC Atlantic College for donating holds, UWCUSA for their climbing hold donation, UWC of South East Asia for more holds and a special thank you to the Climbing Academy, Bristol who have supported a UWC climbing project for the second time, the first being Climb Swaziland in 2009. Their generous donation of climbing shoes has really gone a long way. We would also like to extend our gratitude to Ramesh Devmane and his team for constructing a bizarre overhanging plywood structure based on a series of ideas we came up with, and to Oliver Miska for his route setting abilities.

Although we have had tremendous success in the past 10 months, we will not stop here. Next as a committee we plan to explore more rock formations close to campus. If you have a pair of old rock shoes lying around that you wish to donate or you would like further information on our initiative, feel free to contact us: ahepworth@muwci.net And if you happen to visit our campus in the near future do come and have a climb on the campus wall!

Andrew Hepworh
UWC Mahindra College Outdoor Programme

Exploration Society

2012-01-31T05:30:00.000-08:00

The newly formed Exploration Society has split into two separate segments, an official off / on campus and a student initiative.

ExCore (on campus community project) is a project whereby:

Students will have the opportunity of obtaining the Mountain Leadership Award
The core group will facilitate community based expeditions of various sizes (ie from ½ day hikes to multi day expeditions). Offering a service to ‘ExMore’, other community Trivenis and the extended community here on campus
To support extended weekends, project week, holidays and orientation week initiatives
To arrange story nights, film nights and support the exploration operation in general
Teaching of mountain leadership will eventually emerge as competence as the area grows

ExMore (student initiative)

Overnight treks
Multi day expedition (at least one night!)
A single module from the Mountain Leadership Award (MLA) .. Members still have the opportunity to gain the full award if they wish!
Single day hike / Micro expedition

Parikshit & Paresh

Student Profile

2012-01-31T05:00:00.000-08:00

Marte Norway Class of 2012

Favourite quote: "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken" Oscar Wilde

Hobbies: Yoga, photography, reading

Languages: Norwegian, English, knowledge of Swedish & Danish

Why did you choose UWC Mahindra College: It was the first choice when I applied because it is the opposite of Norway and I was looking for a new perspective on how to live. Secondly I read about the Triveni activities and so I knew that the college worked with children’s home which is one of my passions. To some extent, to know more about Eastern ways of life. I think UWC has such a great philosophy which really gives you a good experience of the world. Firstly you have international friends and as the world gets smaller and smaller this gives us a really good way of understanding our neighbours.

What do you like best about the college: I think it’s a mixture of many things. I don’t want to disregard the climate but I also really like the community here. It is so different from my friend’s circle at home, so diverse, including quite simply the way people dress. It is situated in a beautiful location; within 5 minutes you can be in a silent space with only the sound of the wind. It’s amazing!

What were your most challenging moments in UWC Mahindra College: In the first month it was pouring rain, I didn’t know who my friends were and I was half the globe away from my parents – it was tough. Academic pressure is there! It’s a demanding setting that never lets up.

What are your hopes for your future: I would like to have a great life with good health and to learn a lot through further education. I want a good job, a huge family and to travel (visiting people from MUWCI).

What is your wish for the future of the college: I hope the new Head of College will bring some fresh ideas and that we can get a good student council that will look after our needs.

Parent Profile

2012-01-31T04:50:00.000-08:00

Jeff & Nannette - parents of Max Class of 2012

This is the first time Jeff & Nannette have visited India and is the first big international trip they have made together.

Jeff worked in outdoor education for 25 years before moving on to be a curriculum director five year’s ago and Nannette’s background is in energy and body work. Firstly a reiki practitioner and massage therapist she is now following shamanic studies at the Four Winds Society www.thefourwinds.com/ She completed the main programme designed for practitioners who work with clients which first addresses personal healing work and then moves on to deal with professional client work. When asked about the integrity of reiki in the market place today Nannette commented that she feels reiki allows people to remember who they are, understand their own power and what we are capable of when human beings work together.

Nannette spoke about how much they were looking forward to visit Max in his new “home”. “We felt a huge relief that the college was situated in such a clean area far away from the pollution in Mumbai that we were really not expecting nor did we feel able to deal with”, Nannette smiles. “It’s like a sanctuary here”. On arrival they felt so welcomed by Max’s friends in the wada where he lives; “everyone came and introduced themselves and started conversations easily which was stellar! Faculty also made us feel so welcome so our family feels very integrated in the college just like back home.” Jeff noticed the difference here between the maintenance and kitchen staff and their role in the community as compared to the school in the US where he works and also the absence of students in these areas which gives a very different feeling.

“Now we have experienced India,” Nannette adds, “we really want to understand more… We need to go home and read up on this very powerful country that we were not really expecting. I just love the people but don’t feel yet like I really know how to respond to them.” Their biggest joy is seeing how capable Max has become. “He left a boy and has grown into a man, capable of navigating so well that he has somehow surpassed us” Nannette says quietly with a tear in her eye. “I feel our place as parents has shifted; he was the boss when we arrived and it was just so great to see him manage everything for us as we moved around and to experience his life here in this environment!”

Nannette’s website for those interested in energy work is www.sacredmesahealing.com

Jeff conducted a talk on building Canadian style boats that conveniently tied in with the current initiative called the Paddle Association, set up by outdoor educator Andrew Hepworth, to explore building canoes with local materials.

Jeff works at Eagle Rock School, which was also a school inspired by the work of Kurt Hahn. It is an experiential school that delivers a strong service component curriculum and professional development training centre that work hand in hand with disenfranchised students often from difficult family backgrounds. The school offers a 25 day wilderness trip orientation programme which all students must complete specially designed to help new students engage with each other and work efficiently within a community. Outdoor education is integrated into the curriculum at many levels; classes are also typically integrated to provide a larger concept and rarely just centred around the core subject.

The professional development centre provides an opportunity for outside teachers to come to experience life in the school as well as providing PD leaders and staff working with other schools around the country to coordinate networking in this field. The school also helps to fund its own recent graduates through a Graduate Higher Education Fund which provides a fixed amount of money to help them with higher studies.

After a short description of his work environment and the ethos of the school he went on to show a presentation which gave a step by step narrative of how to build the Canadian style Cedar Strip Canoe. At Eagle Rock boats that are built by the students are then sold back to the local community to enable the school to recover the relatively high cost of the building materials. This particular class involves maths concepts, cultural geography and a woodworking component.

Andrew, our current outdoor educator, has been keenly discussing building techniques with Jeff and will try to use some of these here on campus. Kurt Hahn said every student should make something with his hands and the first UWC college, Atlantic College, integrated boat building as the first skills-based class chosen to put this ethos into place. Meanwhile, here in UWC Mahindra College, all eyes are now on the Paddle Association to see what they will come up with. Good luck everyone!

UWC TV channel

2012-01-31T04:30:00.000-08:00

LipPoChun UWC contacted the linking group to suggest starting a new online television channel so that the different UWCs around the world could keep informed and connected with each other.

One of the students from LipPoChun wishing to start this internet TV channel contacted the Triveni office, who then forwarded it to our film club.

We were enthusiastic about the project and sent our snippet called the "slice of life", which is a short clip showing some areas of the life at each school (that month's topic was cafeteria). When we sent our video, we received a really positive response from the student organiser in LipPoChun, our film club was granted the privilege to host the next UWCtv's episode coming out in early February.

The project is now running smoothly, and we are moving towards something very positive with all the other UWCs! I am now in contact with a few of the other members and so far, 8 out of the 12 colleges (excluding the college of agriculture in Venezuela) are part of this project.

The UWC TV channel is now online at http://www.youtube.com/user/UWCTelevision

Guillaume

MUWCI Film Club

New Science block

2012-01-31T04:00:00.001-08:00

The ground floor of the new Science Block was inaugurated on 12 January by the Head of College, members of the administration and the science faculty. The ground floor classroom can accommodate around 40 students and provides a light and well equipped space for teaching and experimental work.

UWC Mahindra College ambulance

2012-01-31T04:00:00.000-08:00

The college received its new ambulance on 14 January which was duly "blessed" and made ready for any emergencies. Let's hope we don't need!

Living below the poverty line

2012-01-31T03:30:00.000-08:00

First of all, we are both terribly sorry for beingquite so awful at following up the final phase of us living on £1 a day. It hasbeen playing on our conscience for a long time, made worse by all the mediaattention to the crisis in East Africa. We have no excuses, but at leastfinally, we’re doing it!

So, why did we live on £1 a day for 5 weeks?

One of the better meals - dal and rice

We have both, at numerous times, met people who areforced to live below the poverty line and it never gets easier to see. It isbandied around the news and media, but the reality of experiencing it is so farremoved that it is impossible for any of us to really appreciate what it islike to be chronically hungry or starving. When we saw the campaign for peopleto live on £1 a day for 5 days we wanted to do it, but felt that 5 days was nowhere near enough to really even begin to experience the challenge – physically,emotionally or practically. So we said we’d do it for a month – of course notrealising that the month we’d chosen was actually 5 weeks! We wanted to do itfor numerous reasons. Not just to experience it and make it more personal, butto raise awareness of what it’s like (relatively) through telling people aboutit and to raise money for an organisation who strives to educate people inissues of poverty and development all the time.

What was it like?

Making the most of every meal!

The only way we can describe what it is like tolive below the line is horrible. If that was our lot forever, we for one wouldfind it incredibly hard to put a smile on our faces each day. It sounds likewe’re exaggerating, but honestly, we’re not! From talking to lots of peopleabout what we were doing, it was interesting to see how many people thought itdidn’t sound too hard -”it’s okay, just eat beans on toast” for example. Whatthey didn’t realise was that the effects lag.

As with most challenges, the first part was not toobad. We had the motivation and enthusiasm, coupled with the ignorance of notknowing what it would end up like! We found it exciting trying to work out whatfood we could buy, what we could make with that food and how to spread ourpurchases across all the major food groups in order to make it as nutritionallyviable as possible. We even created a special spread sheet to work it all out!It was quite fun going around the supermarket working out which products werebetter value for money, feeling awkward when all our shopping was simple and“bad for you”, and then making our crazy concoctions.

However, slowly but surely this novelty wore offand it became a chore, a constant worry, and a drag. We very quickly gave up on trying to get a balanceddiet. It was impossible to eat any fruit and the only vegetables we couldafford was a pinch of the cheapest frozen veg every now and again. Protein andcalcium were treats. This was one of the first things we realised about thediets of a lot of people living below the line. For example, from the areas weknow more about the basic diets consist of starchy carbohydrates from eithercorn, rice or cassava (parts of Africa) and more rice and wheat (SE Asia).Not only is this nutritionally limiting but so incredibly boring. We know thatvariety is a luxury, but it is one that the majority of ‘rich’ people take forgranted. We were fed up of eating yellow looking carbohydrate-heavy andtasteless food!

On an average day, we consumed 1000 calories.Despite being able to top this up every weekend with our 2 meals of luxury, ourenergy levels plummeted. We became lethargic, apathetic and grumpy. Our jobsinvolved us sitting down all day working at computers. This was anotherrealisation – for those whom this is a way of life (at the risk of makingassumptions) work usually consists of manual labour, farming or something thatrequires far more energy than we were using. And we were exhausted. We felt sounhealthy and while it may sound ridiculous, the spark of life just wasn’tthere by the end of it.

The end result
Through living below the line, we hoped to raise awareness about just howdifficult it is to buy and make everything you need to eat and drink whenliving below the poverty line and from our experience we have realised just howdraining it is, especially over time. It is quite difficult to fathom thatpeople have to constantly live like this whilst also working incredibly hard inother aspects of life and we believe nobody should have to. We hope that whatwe have done has helped raise awareness of the struggles faced by many and thatthe money you have all donated helps RESULTS UKto carry this on.

We raised over £600 and could not have done it withoutyour generous donations and continual support – even the constant cries of“you’re absolutely crazy!” helped to keep us going! The Live Below the Line2012 challenge has just opened for registration and we thoroughly recommend yougive it a go if you fancy doing something different and worthwhile this year.It was a tough old challenge but it pushed us in ways we had never thoughtabout and it was incredibly satisfying to complete – http://www.livebelowtheline.org.uk/

Here’s to us all doing our bit to end food poverty.

Thank you all.

Beth & Dan (Beth Class of 2004 )

School Leadership Programme

2012-01-31T03:00:00.000-08:00

The UWC Mahindra College campus hosted Shikshangan, an organisation committed to quality education for every child, who conducted a series of workshops on campus as part of their 17th offering of the School Leadership Programme, a 6-day residential workshop for current and aspiring school leaders, Academic Supervisors, Administrators, Vice-Principals, Principals, Curriculum / Content Planners, senior teachers, interested management members, as well as others engaged in the education sector.

The workshops addressed the three components of Personal , Academic and Organizational Leadership and were conducted by Vijay Gupta & Devika Nadig, both co-directors of Shikshangan and participants included Ms Dolly Jacob and Ms Hema Shrivastava from RBK School, Mumbai; Ms Benaifer Kutir from JB Petit, Mumbai; Mr Dawood Vaid and Mr Javed Khan of Burooj Realizations, Mumbai; Mr Nabeel Muhameed of Peace Educational Foundation, Mumbai and Mr Ajit from Krishamurthy Public School, Begusarai. More info is available on their website.

Alumni assistance required....

2012-01-31T02:00:00.000-08:00

Are you a MUWCI alumni? Interested in staying connected to our college on the hill? Excited by an Inclusive Arts Project aimed at connecting alumni, MUWCI students and the surrounding communities? Want to know how you can help make this happen? Then please take a few minutes to read over our proposal....

Who we are
We are two MUWCI alumni recently returned from our ten year reunion, inspired to expand our work in Community Theatre to the place where the seed was initially planted. The last 10 years have taken both of us across continents and through theatres, most recently bringing us to find a shared passion for Community Arts Projects and a desire to research how through our work we can explore the role of theatre in achieving greater inclusion within various communities.

What we're doing
Some of our recent research has highlighted the effectiveness of theatre within a Learning Disability environment. Inspired by our return visit to India, our current project Rubbish Boy and the Buried Moon is a sensory, interactive performance that uses puppetry, music and movement to immerse young audiences in the fantastical journey of a little boy struggling to find the moon (and maybe the right way to be in the world). Exploring themes of environmental re-envisioning, sustainability and the consequences of our actions in the world (alone and together), the project draws on methods of Sensory Interaction and Play Theory as an integrated way to engage some of the hardest to reach children. We are currently developing this project in cooperation with a number of special needs schools in London, as well as a London based theatre.

Why Maharashtra?
As MUWCI alumni we are interested in taking our expertise in this field back to the place where our passion for community work was initially sparked. Remembering the incredibly worthy work of Sadhana Village reminded us of the need in India for models of inclusive practice and we want to extend our research in this area whilst simultaneously hoping to give back to the local communities surrounding our college.

The Plan
So far our proposed outreach to India for this first stage (April-August 2012) includes:

Touring Rubbish Boy and accompanying workshops to schools and Inclusive education / care centres in Maharashtra
Collaborating with the Youth, Environment & Sustainability (YES) summer programme at MUWCI to devise an Inclusive Theatre Programme to be taken to surrounding schools and centres
Facilitating the creation of a piece of Inclusive Theatre with adults at Sadhana Village in collaboration with MUWCI students, to be performed for the local community. (We are also seeking similar adult centres to expand this work to)
Developing an ongoing link with MUWCI students to expand their practice of Inclusive Theatre work with the local communities
Academic research into the need, uses and possible developments of Inclusive Theatre Practice in India. (The focus of Katie's Masters dissertation)

Through this diverse programme we aim to forge lasting relationships between current students and alumni, as well as between the college and surrounding communities. Further, we hope that exploring self-advocacy through creative expression will help to enrich the lives of some of the most marginalised people whilst contributing to the vital Environmental work MUWCI are already facilitating.

What we need from you
We are currently in the process of securing funds through the MA in Applied Theatre at The Central School of Speech and Drama, however this is a minimal amount and we are therefore casting our nets wider. We are seeking potential funders for the project as well as contacts within the field.

We believe that this project would fit into the CSR briefs of a number of companies and would love any of you to get in touch if you know of anyone that you think would be interested. We are equally keen to forge contacts within the field of Special Needs Education and if there are any centres or individuals you could put us in touch with or recommend for our tour, we would greatly appreciate it. Our website is currently in development, however we are more than willing to forward any further information to whoever is interested.

Click here to read a short project outline for centres / schools with our biographies.

We realise that April is now around the corner (in logistical terms) and so need to move on this as soon as possible.

In the hoping...
Kati Francis Class of 2001 / Sasha Nemeckova Class of 2002

Alumni Profile

2012-01-30T00:00:00.000-08:00

Eduardo graduated from The Mahindra United World College of India in 2004. "It was while at the college that I received first-hand experience with economic, social and cultural realities completely different to my own; a contact that not only enriched me on a personal level, but also inspired my career ambitions." he recalls.

After a gap year in which he taught English in a rural community in Northern Burkina Faso and travelled to East Asia, he went to Scotland to study at the Mackintosh School of Architecture in Glasgow followed by an exchange year at the University of Porto (Portugal). He was later involved in a project to provide emergency shelters using eco-architecture techniques in Western Saharan refugee camps in Algeria.

He went on to work for the Guggenheim Museums in Venice and New York. In 2009, upon receiving the Huygens Scholarship, he started a Master's in Museology at the Reinwardt Academy in Amsterdam. He combined his studies with a research assistantship at the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam. In the summer of 2010 he moved to Beijing for a year to continue researching for his thesis in the role of Heritage, Urbanism and Social Cohesion at Tsinghua University.

He is currently a La Caixa Fellow, enrolled at the MA Brand Development programme at Goldsmiths University in London, specializing in Urban Branding.

Head of College's message

2011-11-28T19:45:00.001-08:00

It has been an honour to be part of “MUWCI’s” journey over the past few years. As with all earthly utopias, this place has its quirks and tensions, its odd mix of magical ideal and murky reality. But being here has engaged my imagination and allowed me to find delight in the things that really count. Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love, wrote the 13th century mystic poet, Rumi. I have felt the quiet power of that pull in my time here.

Of all the things I will take away with me the most precious is a richer understanding of life and the part that education can play in shaping it. Teaching can too easily be reduced to a technique or even a technology. But the best teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher. Relationships are the key – as one sage put it, we only truly learn from those we love.

Like many UWC graduates, I have found things of enduring value here and they have shaped my sense of that ‘one thing’ besides which all else is trivial. Therefore, I feel I am graduating rather than leaving – and there is quite a difference between the two! Graduating is as much about what we take away as what we leave behind. And what do we do when we find that ‘one thing?’ Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome at the zenith of its power and expansion, penned these words when contemplating the challenge of new opportunity: Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now……….take what’s left and live it properly. Such is the remarkable opportunity life offers us when we step into something new.

In a few weeks from now, Mr. Pelham Roberts arrives as the new Head of College. His strong background with UWC and extensive experience give him the ideal foundation from which to lead this community into the next exciting phase of growth and development. I know how much his visit here left the deep impression that he was the right person for the job – and I also know how very enthusiastic he is about the opportunities here. It is a great pleasure to be handing over to him. I know you will all join me in wishing Pelham and his family everything of the very best as they begin this new adventure in India.

Dr Jonathan Long

Head of College

Survey

2011-11-28T19:44:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone for filling out the short survey on the newsletter last month. We had a total of 252 responses, the largest group being our parents and alumni (63 and 99 respectively). Nice to know that we also shared our news with 11 National Committee readers, 27 UWC alumni other than our own, 9 friends and 8 other UWC students. Our community is large and we appreciate you all! The newsletter had a total of 1360 hits last month including 4 from Luxembourg, 14 from the Netherlands and 3 from China.

This month, in order to help us provide a newsletter tailor made to suit your requirements, we are requesting you once again to fill out a short survey which you can access here

We look forward to compiling your answers and sharing them with you through our January newsletter.

Have a fabulous Christmas and a healthy, happy and peaceful new year.

Penny Fidler
Head of External Relations / Webmaster

Oasis Game

2011-11-28T19:43:00.000-08:00

The month of October had a not-so-ordinary agenda for this hilly home of ours. The Triveni office had created space for different people from both the ”outside” world” as well as from the college to share with us ideas and / or initiatives through workshops. One of the workshops -- facilitated by the wonderfully spirited Azeer, Rachana, Sumi, Sumeet and Santosh -- was about a game, or movement, or philosophy, or simply something impossible to label, referred to as the Oasis Game. Now you may ask “why Oasis?” Well, because what this term advocates is a somewhat paradisiac refugee for the exhausted traveller, where she / he can find water in abundance in the middle of the dry desert.
This metaphor does great justice in describing what goes on in the minds of those who experience the game, for it is an experimental process of discovering beauty where we are lead to suppose there is none. The game is about understanding that you, I and everything surrounding us, are all the resources we need to make life good, worth living and, last but never least, b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l.

It all started with a group of students who wanted architecture to change not only physically the space they were working in, but to transform the reality of those who share that particular space. The aim of the game is to create simple and fun platforms to strengthen the relationships within the community and stimulate them to figure out what is -- and then build -- their own oasis, questioning what society seems to generally agree to be one.

It was a bit complicated to call It a game when telling any of our peers that 4 hours of each day were committed to the “workshop”, and that on Saturday we happened to spend some –oops--- an extra 10 hours. It was altogether a very intense week. We laughed until our stomachs hurt, we questioned everything and everyone, we danced every time something sounded musical and we even let tears escape from our eyes when reminiscing and sharing each other’s realities. But most importantly, it was one of those unique moments when I genuinely felt that we were all sharing the same space, the same beat of the music being played through the very same game. We talked about our individual problems at some point during the sessions; we all have them – or they have us – but whatever. Life is just too beautiful to be bothered. Moreover, one could find the oddest combination of souls inside and outside the MPH, looking forward to Azeer exposing his “ESPETACULAR” way of articulating his hips and hands while delivering such inspiring ideas (sometimes spoken in a sweet “indianized” Portuguese, sometimes in English, often times not in words). Faculty, staff, students, construction workers, Oasis facilitators… all together, all-the-same.

In spite of my attempts in this article to explain the meaning of the Oasis Game, it does not seem right to do so by describing it with words. Perhaps covering your eyes with a piece of cloth, positioning you at the edge of a slightly high platform and shouting “let go, we are here!”, perhaps then you would understand a little better. 

Sofia Class of 2012

The Travelling Archive

2011-11-28T19:42:00.000-08:00

During the week of 21 – 25 November, UWC Mahindra College was extremely privileged to host Moushumi Bhowmik, parent of Aranyo Arjaan Class of 2008, with musicians Satyaki and Robi, who came to give workshops and also perform at the local Khubavali temple.
Back in 2004, Bengali singer, composer and music researcher Moushumi, had embarked on this journey with sound recordist Sukanta Majumdar, supported by the Bangalore-based India Foundation for the Arts. The years that followed have been intense with music and friendship, festivals and fairs, field recording and documentation, and finally the dissemination of the music through archives and presentation / performances, lectures and writing, while the two have continued to travel. The map of ‘Bengal’ expanded to include places as far away as Brick Lane and Commercial Street in east London, where immigrant Bangladeshis live. For this part of the fieldwork, Moushumi received support from the Charles Wallace India Trust and an acquisitions grant from the World and Traditional Music section of the British Library.

Through The Travelling Archive now, Moushumi and Sukanta take a step forward in sharing their joy of listening with, literally, a wider world, using the services of ‘our magnificent mass communication technology’.

For further information visit their website.

Project Week

2011-11-28T19:41:00.000-08:00

Every November, students and faculty set off on Community Interaction Project Weeks across India. During this week they experience the work of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs); working with and learning from professional organizations that engage with various facets of ‘development’ in India. Students have a ands-on opportunity to learn about India in greater depth, hone skills for their weekly CE activities and, ultimately, understand how complex the attainment of the UWC ideals is. The student presentations that accompany this newsletter are snap shots of their experiences this year. For more information about the organizations we visited please click here

Nandita Dinesh

Head of Triveni department

Project Week - CHiRAG

2011-11-28T19:40:00.000-08:00

www.chirag.org

Central Himalayan Rural Action Group (CHiRAG) is a non-profit grassroots development organisation working with rural communities in the Central Himalayan region of India. Their main office is located in the village of Sitla in the state of Uttaranchal. CHiRAG is also involved with issues of social empowerment and community mobilization, income generation and training, and communication that it considers critical to its integrated development strategy. Areas of intervention include preparatory schools or balwaris, primary school support programmes with a focus on environmental education, village libraries, science laboratories, centres for adolescent girl empowerment, preventive and curative health programmes, and a local self-governance programme.

During the week students will be taken to the health centres, introduced to the adolescent girls programme, and work in the horticulture farm. They will also visit the weaving and oil extraction unit and have an opportunity to attend a village meeting. Please check the following websites for further information:

www.canadaindiavillageaid.com/chirag_newlife.htm
www.bostonglobalaction.net/UK/chipko.html

Click here to see this year's students' CHiRAG presentation

Project Week - Eklavya

2011-11-28T19:39:00.000-08:00

http://eklavya.in/go

On this project, based in the small town of Hoshangabad on the scenic Narmada River, questions will be raised concerning the purpose and reality of school education in India. In particular, we will ask: What role can education play in social and political transformation? What difference does scientific literacy make? What is the value of reading? In whose interest is education? Evidence and answers will be sought through activities with children and teachers. We will be guests of Eklavya, an NGO that has been developing innovative teaching programmes, writing and publishing children's textbooks, storybooks, magazines and books on science and education, as well as training teachers, teaching students, making educational toys and science kits, and assisting schools in planning and development. The goal will be for students to learn something about the people of India, their educational needs, and the politics of poverty. Besides visiting a local government school, students will have the opportunity to help plan and conduct a Bal Mela in which rural children gather to do science experiments and art activities. Students will also be expected to either write or illustrate some material that will be considered for publication in one of Eklavya's magazines.

Click here to see the students' Eklavya presentation

Project Week - APSA

2011-11-28T19:38:00.000-08:00

www.apsaindia.org

The Association for Promoting Social Action (APSA) is a child-centred, rights-based, community development organization founded in 1981 and located in Bangalore. APSA works at two levels: at the grassroots level where the focus is on empowerment of the poor; and at the macro level of the state and the country through advocacy and policy planning. This two-pronged approach is reflected in the planning and implementation of all of APSA's projects.

Click here to see the students' APSA presentation

Project Week - Sangama

2011-11-28T19:37:00.000-08:00

www.sangama.org

Sangama is a human rights organization for individuals oppressed due to their sexual preference. Sexual minorities include, but are not limited to, hijras, kothis, jogappas, lesbians, bisexuals, homosexuals, and transsexuals. Sangama aims to help these people live with self-acceptance, self-respect and dignity. They emphasize the concerns of sexual minorities from poor and non-English speaking backgrounds and sex workers, who otherwise have little or no access to information and resources. Sangama aims to bring sexuality, sexual preference and gender identity into the realm of public discourse and link it to human rights development and other social movements. Sangama campaigns for changes in the existing laws which discriminate against sexual minorities, including sex workers and people living with HIV / AIDS. They work with family members, friends, co-workers and partners.

While at Sangama, students will have interactive field visits, watch documentaries, hear personal experiences from the community, take part in sessions on lesbian issues, and participate in workshops on human rights and sexuality. Students may also participate in any ongoing campaign that may be current during our time with them.

Click here to view a selection of photos from the Sangama trip.

There is more in us than we think, but how do we know and how can we find out?

2011-11-28T19:36:00.000-08:00

Relating five phases or aspects of reflective thought, proposed in 1933 by John Dewey with our bouldering expedition, it is possible to document ways in which we learnt and how we find out that there might be more in us than we first thought.

First of all we need experience, that of course was the easy part!. All we had to do was take a short (10 hour) bus journey into Hospet and then hop into Hampi, cross the river and walk into the mass of pinkish granite boulders, formed an estimated 2300 million years ago.

Armed with rubber-soled climbing shoes and crash pads, we headed for the unknown, (apart from the fact that it was known, because many climbers including the worlds best have explored these areas and, in 2008, Rohit Chauhan produced a Hampi climbing guide....... but apart from that it was unknown to us.....)

1. Suggestions

Next comes the ‘project’, of which there were many possilities. Dotted around the landscape, the projects came in the form of natural lines, cracks, distinctive features and sequences of chalk marks. As we stumbled upon each one it was apparent that there was an inhibition to act, to pursue, arising in a flood of suggestions: some that considered more than one course of action, which line, which way to the top. Interest begins to gather as personal and group projects emerged.

2. Intellectualisation

The movement required is intrinsic, engaging with these established boulder features to redefine our evolutionary mechanisms; convincing our minds that falling is not a bad thing. When the project gets complex (the projects in which we aim to participate) we start to intellectualise; to define the problem, to raise the important questions about the sequence in which we move each hand and each foot, how do we sustain our balance, discussion of the consequence of falling, the arrangements we make to position the spotter (a person ready to catch you when you fall), to arrange the tactics of when to apply all the energy we have and when to take opportunities to hang in stillness, knowing when to give up and when to try again.

3. The hypothesis

Once we have gathered this information we are able to create a hypothesis. We convince ourselves that this boulder, this line, this situation has become an opportunity. A calculated opportunity to get to the top!

4. Reasoning of the hypothesis

This hypothesis can be developed further by gaining more information, asking more questions, and beginning to understand our own ability in context of the problem. This line of thought often happens on the walk out of the boulder field in the evening or at first light whilst passing around a small pot of chocolate porridge.

5. Testing the hypothesis

These projects very quickly get your heart pounding, your blood pumping, and make you shout outrageous thoughts. Fighting with the rock or dancing in collaboration with it, emotions often take their toll. In these moments we are simply doing – testing the hypothesis - otherwise know as ‘climbing hard’!

Self motivation plays its part, becoming almost as important as the support from the group... the cries from others encouraging you to continue can be heard from all around, some times attracting attention from the locals: ‘VENGA’ ‘YOU HAVE IT SARA’ ‘SORT YOUR FEET OUT’, COME ON!

The sequence of events are not restricted to order. Dewey did not see them as linear, they could be collapsed or expanded, but offer an outline for what he referred to as ‘reflective thinking’. Some projects took days to accomplish, others not so long. But for each comes a sense of joy, a joy of completion. It is hard to explain this feeling of completion, especially when you know that you were unable to accomplish the project on the first attempt, but after 20, 30 or even 50 tries, in the end you managed! Happiness comes from the knowledge that your finger tips can now rest from having been embedded in the hard sharp crystallised granite. Incomplete, they remain a ‘project’!

We now wait in anticipation to see if these experiences will enrich the next, which of course is another of Dewey’s fundamental notions of learning.

Click here to watch the students' video.

Inspired by the Hampi second year climbers
Words by Andrew Hepworth
UWC Mahindra College Outdoor Programme

Kalamezuthu pattu

2011-11-28T19:35:00.000-08:00

Pictorial designs are the inheritance ofhumanity from ancient times. All over the world, they first appeared on floorsand walls of human dwellings. In India they have existed as part ofritualistic life in Hindu households since time immemorial. Kolam in TamilNadu, Rangoli in Northern India and other forms in different parts of India areintimately connected with women and their domestic routine. In Kerala, it is inthe form of pookkalam, made of flowers during Onam season. A different kind ofdrawing on the floor, Kalamezhuthu is associated with sacred groves and is aform of agrarian worship. It is a temple-centred ritual, tribal in origin,Dravidian in spirit, tampered with or enhanced by changing times andinfluences. This pictorial art, with its inseparable rituals, takes a discerningreader to the roots of the aesthetic sensibilities of cultural Kerala.

Theword kalamezhuthu may be roughly translated as powder drawing, pattu as song. Thisis a magnificent form drawing performed by creating large figures representingdeities using coloured powders and the floor as the canvas. No tools are used duringthis creation. The powder is spread on the floor in the desired pattern lettingit flow in a thin stream between the thumb and the index finger. These largepictures are drawn on the floor of the temple hall or specially prepared pandal(pavilion) rendered sacred by purifying rituals and decorated elegantly withtender leaves and colourful flowers. The picture (called Kalam) is drawnaccording to stringent guidelines in respect of pattern, details anddimensions.

The powders are made out of naturally available material. They are of fivecolours, representing the five elements (water, air, sky, fire and earth)called panchabhootas, which constitute everything created. These materials arerice (white), charcoal of husk (black), turmeric (yellow), a mixture of limeand turmeric (red) and green leaves of certain trees. The art of shadingespecially the background, gives a velvet touch. The border, done in circlesand squares, in lines and dots, using colors in certain combinations are notjust for decoration. Permutations and combinations are used for foregrounding,or to create illusions.

Theprocess of Kalamezhuthu starts at noon on the day when Theeyattu is to beperformed during the night. The ritual, which is essentially a fertility riteenacted especially for childless couples, starts with singing songs in praiseof Ganapathi, Saraswathi, Guru (celestial preceptor) and other gods. Thesinging is accompanied by drums and gongs. Kalamezhuthu pattu is performed as part of the rituals to worship andpropitiate gods like Kaali and Vettakkorumakan, a Hindu diety worshipped inparts of northern Kerala. HE is alternately referred to in Sanskri as Kiratha-Sunu (sonof Kirata) and said to be the son of Lord Shiva (a Dravidian god) by HISconsort Parvathi when HE had assumed the form of a Kirata (hunter) to deliver aweapon known as Pashupathasthra to Arjuna.

Kalam progressesthrough three steps; kalamezhuthu, drawing of the picture, kalampaattu, singing the myth to the accompaniment of instruments, and kalathillattam,enactment of the myth in stylized performance. And it has three aspects -aesthetic, religious, and social. There is a misconception among many people that Vettakkorumakan is LordAyyappa. Actually, Lord Ayyappa was born to Mohini and Lord Siva. Vettakkorumakanis more or less exclusively worshipped in the Malabar region of Kerala andPalghat. His chief temple is the BalusseryKotta Vettakkorumakan temple about 25 km from Calicut. Afterthe ritual is completed the enactor takes back the power from the image bydestroying it.

The influence of the tantric art form ispresumed to be a later addition. The figures drawn come alive when the eyes ofthe central figures are opened, again at a particular time marked by ritual. Lightedoil lamps around the image make the kalam a sacred space whererituals known as thiri uzhichil are considered a form of worship. Thefigures drawn usually have an expression of anger, and other emotions.

Kalamezhuthu artists are generally membersof communities like the Kurups, Theyyampadi Nambiars, Theeyadi Nambiars andTheeyadi Unnis. Vettekkorumakan pattu is just done by Kallattu Kurups.

'Shadanga' or the six limbs of Indian art,lay prominence on the basic structure or language of a work of art, written inconsonance with the liturgical texts. The six limbs enumerated are: rupa-bheda,pramanani, bhava-yojana, lavanya-yojanam, sadrisyam and varnika-bhanga. Theselimbs translate into drawing proportion, arrangement of line, mass,design, harmony and perspective. Emotion or aesthetic feeling can also beexpressed through form. Of the six categories. as many as four deal with theexternal qualities of painting and can be measured objectively. The other two,bhava (emotion) and lavanya (grace) are subjective qualities, which areadded by the artists intuitive skill.

UWC Mahindra College would like to thank themembers of this particular community for giving us the honour and privilege ofwitnessing this sacred ritual rarely, if ever, seen outside Kerala. It gave usa first hand experience of an ancient ritual transcending time and space thatwas much appreciated by the audience. If you ever visit Kerala, do try toexperience yourselves one of these pujas, so dedicatedly performed with onlyone purpose; to express a devotion and faith in the Divine to help resolvewordly issues.

Karanjit - India Class of 2012

2011-11-28T19:34:00.000-08:00

Favourite quote: "If you aren't busy being born, then you are busy dying.- Bob Dylan"

Hobbies: Music, song writing, photography, reading stories, photography books, opinions and personal blogs

Languages: Punjabi, English, Hindi

Why did you choose UWC Mahindra College: I chose this college because relative to other schools in general I felt that I could interact more with the local community which would in turn bring out changes in me. I wasn’t looking for bookish knowledge, I was looking for an experience that would help me see India in a different light through community engagement and contact with other international students.

What do you like best about your College: The people for sure! Whenever you pass by anyone here you smile and say hi and it feels really good to live in a community where you know everyone like a family member even if they are not necessarily close friends. I especially enjoy late evening talks with the wada parent and friends, these are the things I really like about this place; getting to know more about them and their lives.

What were your most challenging moments in UWC Mahindra College: I am very occupied with a lot of activities so sometimes it’s really a huge workload but I am preparing myself for the future through multi tasking and I feel its important to come to terms with pressure at an early age. Because it’s a close knit community and also because I’m a teenager you have these mood swings, so it’s a challenge to remain even tempered and to control your emotions. Conflict management!

What are your hopes for your future: I really want to work as a photo journalist because I like interacting with people, knowing about their lives, travelling and photographing cities and recording what they mean to me personally. This is what I want to do in the next year or so; to photograph events, people and portraits. Eventually I would like to become a war photographer to be able to document the emotions of being in a place where you know you can die at any moment.

What is your wish for the future of the college: I feel that the college is really trying to change in order to look better but I feel it is changing to become like any other school. With more and more stress on academics rather than community engagement, I hope that MUWCI wont change. What makes MUWCI are the people, the villages out there and the interaction between the two.

Sieru – Ethiopia Class of 1999 - The Pioneers

2011-11-28T19:33:00.000-08:00

“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.” Mother Theresa

Sieru visited the college in October 2011 for the first time since he graduated in 1999 as he had been unable to attend his 10-year reunion held on campus in August 2009. When his first-year, Sasha Sud, announced his wedding plans in New Delhi, this was the catalyst that pushed him to finalize his long awaited return to India after 12 years.

Being from the pioneer class, of course, he was amazed at the change in the campus. Back in those days the buildings were still under construction and any plants and trees were still in the seedling stage. The colour was brown and the noise of the construction work going on ever present. On entering the campus gate, he was greeted by a local person who welcomed him as if he was known to him. The man, who is now a security guard, asked him what year he studies. Sieru then told him he was from the first batch. The man then replied, me too, I was here 1995-1997! Sieru, bewildered, said, “I believe the college started in 1997”. The guard replies, “Yes, that is because I was in the construction team!” It turns out that back then the man had been employed by the construction company and later retained when the construction was finished. Imagine to be recognized after such a long time!

As Sieru came up the drive, although he had been warned that the campus would be unrecognizable, he still could not contain his excitement and surprise at how much has changed. He wanted to see the swimming pool which had not been there in 1999 but OMG the drive up was jungle; the roads covered by trees; he felt as if he was travelling up through a green tunnel. That was quite an experience! He found in particular that the landscaping had been very tastefully designed and well maintained. The college was almost unrecognizable. However, looking through the large entrance door, now covered in greenery, led him to a more familiar territory - the admin block and the AQ, which remain largely unchanged. New features, the inner garden and an inauguration plaque in front of the Triveni board, a bust of Mr. Mahindra inside the Admin Block, along with some classrooms that have been given over to departmental offices.

Commenting on the social life, another striking difference between 1999 and 2011 is the facility to communicate with family and friends back home. Back in 1999 Hotmail and Yahoo were just kicking off… a few students had laptops, with little a computer lab in the AQ that had frequent power outages. People back home too did not use email much; there were limited ability to communicate with friends and family through the internet. Due to the construction work, the telephone cables on campus were regularly getting broken so it was very difficult to keep in touch with family and friends. No Skype, no FaceBook, difficult for students now to imagine how that could have been! Movement curfew was at 10:00 pm. This had one good outcome though. It forced all of us to spend more time with each other, getting to know one another and building friendships, spending hours in the common rooms discussing issues and talking to each other. Nowadays, students spend a lot more time on their laptops, using the wifi available on the common rooms. People spend more time on facebook and skype than the amount of time the Pioneers spent with each other. This lack of technology was had lead to many lasting friendships for the first batch. Animals and snakes had not yet figured out that the intruders that were invading their space were here to stay so there were many unexpected and unwelcome crossed paths unlike today where there is so much vegetation for them to hide away in.

The pioneer class was well aware that they had a responsibility to set the tone for future students coming to the college and discussed how new first years were to be received. Back then, college decisions were mostly based on past experiences from other UWCs, these rules were then customized to the Indian environment. Indian culture was more restrictive back then, which made standards of dress code and behavior off campus more important to maintain.

After graduating, Sieru went on to Trent University in Canada to study Computer Science for 4 years on a full scholarship. Feeling completely at home at Mahindra UWC, he found life in a Canadian university sometimes insular, since coming from a UWC college, he had come to expect that anyone you talked to would be an idealist with an open mind and global perspectives but this was not always the case. That was quite a shock for him, a reality check! He found himself re-thinking what making a difference could be in his current context. How do you change a world that doesn’t want changing? He later decided that change comes from within, and that through his interactions with people he could at least share his thoughts and influence people’s mindset. He began to feel that if he could change just one person at a time then this would slowly make a difference. He actively participated in Trent’s International Program, including the annual Cultural Night performances and Potluck Dinners, modeled based on the Pearson UWC activities. This was helped by the former Director of International Students Program at Trent, who had been the founding Head of Pearson College, Jack Mathews. In the Pioneer years at Mahindra, Cultural Nights happened about 5 times a year, one from each continent, where music, dance and food was celebrated by all..

After Trent he returned to Ethiopia where he worked for over 2 years in the telecom industry, training people and heading a project that introduced of telephone service to over 2000 villages in the south for the first time. In 2007 he was accepted for grad school in the UK on an EU Erasmus Mundus Scholarship, a joint masters program, led by the University of Reading with study terms at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) and the University Carlos III of Madrid (Spain). He did his thesis on Sustainable Development: Developing an e-government Application to improve Governance. Sieru finally returned to Canada upon graduation and now works as a software developer in Toronto. He volunteers with a local youth organization as well as with the UWC NC back in Ethiopia.

He recently set up a scholarship fund to cover expenses for an incoming Ethiopian student who could not afford to pay for the flight ticket, pocket money, project week and security deposit. The NC had lost several scholarship seats to the college for lack of this money in past. There have only been three Ethiopian students studying at UWC Mahindra College in the past 14 years. With this new fund, Ethiopian students will be able to attend the college every year, provided the UWC scholarships continue.In the future, Sieru would like to open a business in Ethiopia but at the moment he continues to work in Canada to gain experience and save some investment capital.

He sees himself split between the two countries. His home in Ethiopia, where his desire to instigate changes may even drive him into politics, and his adopted country Canada, where he loves the people, the country and the democratic system.“I do find myself continually defending my UWC ideals, and fighting prejudices against people due to the fact that I have known so many different and wonderful people from so many different backgrounds at UWC,” Sieru says with a smiling face. “Change is one drop at a time.”

Head of College's message

2011-10-31T11:00:00.000-07:00

“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”

Arundhati Roy's words from "The God of Small Things" sums up the deep expectation which underpins the world's great Festivals of Light (Diwali, Hanukkah, Christmas). With the festival's colours and sounds still hanging in the Indian air its easy to recall the inspiring mythology of Diwali and its story of the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness.

These festivals remind us of a significant energy in the human spirit which has always reached out for something better - to improve the human condition and to fight back those forces which strive to keep us in dark places. This is the same energy which inspires the work of UWC - "to make education a force for peace and a sustainable future." In short, to make the world a better place - and certainly to leave it better than we found it!

These energies also find their place in the ebb and flow of a busy UWC campus - an air of purposefulness, adetermination to succeed, to enjoy life, to enjoy each other's company – and,most importantly, to discover that there is far more in each of us than wethink.

UWC's commitment to diversity and to engaging young people with the real challenges of humanity is a bold and courageous undertaking. But, who knows, maybe it will be in places such as this that Roy's new world will draw its first breath!

Chairman's message

2011-10-31T10:59:00.000-07:00

On behalf of the Board of Governors of UWC Mahindra College (MUWCI), I am delighted to announce the appointment of Mr Pelham Lindfield Roberts as the next Head of College with effect from 15 December 2011. Mr Pelham Lindfield Robert’s appointment is the culmination of a thoroughly professional and holistic search process for which I compliment the Search Committee.

Dr Jonathan Long, as per his request, will be relieved of his duties as Head of College with effect from 15 December 2011. While accepting his resignation, the Board places on record its appreciation of Dr Long’s leadership and commitment to ensuring continuing academic excellence and robust systems and processes, as well as his dedicated pastoral care, and commitment to community service and sustainability. Under his leadership the College has achieved remarkable progress during his tenure.

Mr Pelham Lindfield Roberts brings with him about 20 years of experience in international education, including UWC experience at Atlantic College, Wales, UK. He is personally deeply committed to the UWC ethos to make education a driving force for positive change. I have great pleasure in welcoming him and his family to UWC Mahindra College. I am confident that under his leadership the spirit of the UWC philosophy will flourish and the College will deliver the kind of value based education that is so relevant and necessary for the world today.

Keshub Mahindra
Chairman – Governing Council
The Mahindra United World College of India

Recognition

2011-10-31T10:58:00.000-07:00

A very big thanks to Mr Tarang Jain who generously donated funds to provide one scholarship for a new student and an elliptical trainer for our state of the art gym, located in the social centre. Mr Jain is a current parent of first year student Dhruv.

Thanks also to our Director of College Studies, Dr Cyrus Vakil, who made a donation to our Akshara project this month.

UWC Mahindra College thanks all its donors for their valuable contributions in helping to provide additional scholarships and facilities. Your help is valuable and appreciated!

DoS meeting Hong Kong

2011-10-31T10:55:00.000-07:00

Parallel to the College Heads’ meeting, Directors of Studies from different UWCs met at LPC Hong Kong in the week of Oct 17. All UWCs with the exception of Pearson, Adriatic, Maastricht and Bosnia were represented. Unlike Heads’ meetings, which take place at least twice a year, this was only the second time that UWC DoS’s were meeting (the previous one being 9 years ago)!

Such meetings are an excellent opportunity to benchmark one’s practices with practices in other UWCs with a similar student body, and see if other good practices elsewhere can be adapted to one’s local conditions. Some can’t. An afternoon class in a temperate climate works well, and allows some UWCs to start at 8:30. In the heat of Mahindra, afternoon classes rarely work, and hence classes end at 2:00 and hence must start at 7:30!

But such meetings also leads one to pose the question again: Are we one movement or a collection of 13 different colleges? At times it felt like the latter. For some Colleges – largely in LDCs -- the main challenge was retaining good faculty beyond two or three years. In several others, usually in the developed world, it was the lack of turnover that was a problem. (One UWC is mid-way through an early retirement program which will see 9 long-time faculty – 40% of their existing staff – leave!)

For some UWCs the IB and IB averages were very important; for others it was less so, and even occasionally an impediment toward implementing the UWC Guiding principles. On the whole, compared to 2002 when most DoS felt that the IB fulfilled most of the intellectual and academic needs of UWC students, this time the IB was seen as “currently the best available option”. In the words of one DoS, whose sentiment was widely shared, “It is important that the IB monster does not dominate the larger UWC experience.”

Has the IBDP transmogrified so much in 9 years? Perhaps, in size (with UWCs constituting an ever-shrinking fraction). And in the IB’s corporate determination to expand into national school systems very dissimilar to UWCs – both philosophically and in student and faculty composition. Also, the IBDP – for instance in its ideal “IB learner profile” -- has also been recently influenced by MYP and PYP programs which are irrelevant to the vast majority of UWCs, which do only the IBDP.

But, perhaps more significantly, since October 2010, the UWC’s finally have a clear articulation of their goals and identity: the UWC Guiding Principles. Less controversial than the UWC Code of Conduct, and less glamorous than the UWC branding exercise, the Guiding Principles are perhaps a much more substantial achievement. They allow curriculum designers to pose a clear question: How many of these goals can be accomplished simply within the IB classroom? And where and how do we step in to supplement or transcend the IB, when it falls short? And is there scope for defining a common UWC curriculum which embeds these UWC Guiding Principles?

It was unfortunate that this question could not be taken up at any length in the final session, when Heads and DoS’s were scheduled to meet together, because several Heads had to leave to attend a local fundraiser. Oh well, there’s always next time. This time considerably well before 2020, one hopes.

Cyrus Vakil
Director of Studies

Outdoor education

2011-10-31T10:54:00.000-07:00

The outdoors has an intrinsic connection within the UWC movement, back in 1962 a rule existed in our sister college Atlantic; the rule stated that not less than two afternoons weekly have to be spent out of doors for health reasons. (Röhrs & Tunstall-Behrens, 1970, p.109).

Outdoor Education has come along way since that time, along with finer tuning in research to define those ‘heath reasons’. Alongside this justification also lies the opportunity to explore other areas of our intellectual, physical, emotional, aesthetic, and spiritual development here in a UWC. For example sharing cultural perspectives, connecting with a physical landscape as well as its people, questioning our environmental value or physically challenging ourselves can all count for a richer experience. The outdoors offers a medium for this, not more so than here, where we are deeply embedded in the Sahyadri Hills. It is possible to leave campus by travelling up the hill in walking boots as well as down the hill in jeeps.

This term momentum is building, the development of student led societies for exploration and means for exploration are emerging. The Paddle Association will soon test their first hand made boat for floatation purposes; the Exploration Society are documenting stories of their journey’s and micro expeditions and the Climbing Committee are bolting the first hand holds to the newly built campus climbing wall. In our next issue, we will feature some of these journeys in detail and explore further the purpose behind them.

For more information on learning through outdoor education at UWC Mahindra College visit the website: http://www.uwcmahindracollege.org/how/outdoor-education

Andrew Hepworth
Student Volunteer Outdoor Education

Focus on Triveni

2011-10-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

In the Triveni Team’s attempt to revamp the Triveni system this year, we have created a blog. The main reason for this is to overcome the perpetual fear that all students have about the IB requirement to ‘reflect’ on CAS.

The vagueness surrounding the term ‘reflection’ has created an air of discomfort among the student body and the Triveni team has taken on the task of addressing this by setting up concrete monthly reflection goals.

The blog creates a creative space in which all Trivenis can post their reflections, in whichever form they wish: video, text, photographs etc. Their task in September was to create mission statements for their activities, with their short and long term plans. In October, they will each create 2 minute videos that express their learning from a series of workshops that have been held on campus.

In an atmosphere like this, the Triveni blog is an opportunity to showcase our community’s creativity, and we are all excited to see what comes out of this new forum.

To read the blog... There are various ways to navigate: scrolling through gives quite a random overview, the buttons at the top give access to activities by CAS area, and the sidebar has links to posts by individual activities.

Jessica
Triveni department

MUWCI tv

2011-10-24T10:53:00.000-07:00

MUWCI.tv was started last school year by the college Film Club in order to create and share videos with a greater audience.

It also serves to try and promote UWC Mahindra College while archiving footage for alumni and current students. Since then it has developed into a larger project, inciting the film club to work hard to create better standards and more professional projects. The website now has reachedfurther than our initial goal of simply providing for current students which is shown by the number of countries that have viewed our website so far.As of mid October MUWCI.tv has been viewed from 67 countries worldwide! Here are some of the statistics we have gathered:

Total countries: 67 including:

Belgium (30 views)

South Korea (38) Moonsoo's fan base

Singapore (8)

Guatemala (7)

and Algeria (3) wow

Countries with most visits:

India (obviously) (2,334)

USA (426)

UK (128)

Germany (96)

Norway (69)

Country who spent longest average time on site:

Switzerland (3 hours 14 minutes) good job Meret!

Italy (2 hours 6 minutes)

Most page views per visit:

Thailand (11.46 pages/visit) woo!

Second most used language on site:

French

Most random country to visit yet:

Bahrain (2) really?

The MUWCI tv team

Yerang - South Korea Class of 2012

2011-10-16T10:57:00.000-07:00

Favourite quote: "When you love you should not say, God is in my heart, but rather, I am in the heart of God." Khalil Gibran

Hobbies: Playing piano and flute and listening to music, drawing, making jewelry, socializing with my friends

Languages: Korean & English, learning French

Why did you choose UWC Mahindra College: To experience diversity and get to know people from different places, to become independent both academically and in my life. I thought I was independent when I came here but being here was a reality check for me. I also like the location of the college and I really wanted to be in the countryside and I have learned so many things from this environment. I am now more relaxed and find it so different from life in the city.

It has taught me how to live in a different way which I find unique here and I also like the fact that the ratio of students and faculty is small.

What do you like best about UWC Mahindra College: Being forced to be independent. Having freedom brings responsibility which I am learning to deal with and this in an important factor in my life as I have to be independent anyway but I feel I am now ready for this challenge. I feel I can now go anywhere without the support of my family. I feel I can do anything.

What were your most challenging moments in UWC Mahindra College: For me it was really difficult to talk to people because of my cultural background which does not encourage people to speak out. It’s interesting to be in an environment where one is encouraged to express one’s opinions, especially in the classroom. Also English was a big challenge for me. I think in English but it’s difficult to express my thoughts in the academic context still.

What are your hopes for your future: I hope South Korean students will feel better about themselves with more diversity and freedom and not stressed about their academic future. Students hardly have any time to spend with their families. I have not experienced this situation personally as I didn’t go to high school in South Korea but I see the effect it is having on my friends. I hope the government can improve the educational system. For myself my dream is to travel all over and experience many different things, learning to see things from many different perspectives. I would also like to study art.

What is your wish for the future of UWC Mahindra College: I would like to see more interaction between local people and students, first and second year students and between students and faculty. More Middle Eastern students would be nice too to add to the diversity.

Johanna - Sweden Class of 2008

2011-10-12T10:56:00.000-07:00

When Johanna graduated in 2008 she decided to take a GAP year to detach herself from her MUWCI experience and to be able to get a fresh outlook on her life and reassess her opinions on things. She began the year by travelling to Amritsar, to visit the Golden Temple, to Nepal to see where the Buddha was born, and then to Kashmir, which was she remembers as “a breathtaking experience”. Returning to Sweden to work for a few months to finance the latter part of the year, she then went to work in Nicaragua in an orphanage for babies to 8 year olds for 6 months. She was put in charge of the music department and taught English to the pre-school children. It was inevitable that she learn Spanish as nobody spoke English so she was happy to see her language skills developing over the 6 months, to the point where she was able to help the 8 year olds with their homework. Parenting was another important skill she learnt, along with detachment in not interfering with the different ways of child rearing that she knew from back home. It was a self-sustainable orphanage that functioned as a family unit; the children were not adopted out and if they were able, had their university or vocational training expenses paid for by the organization. For further information www.mph.org.
She then travelled to Honduras and in true MUWCI style, met up with her former room-mate in Mexico for more travels and catching up before going to study Politics and International Relations at Aberdeen University. She is Captain of the Sailing Club and Vice President of Charities, one of the departments which make up the student Government and assists with the Student Council, which is responsible for fund raising on behalf of the student body. Being a city university Johanna was able to make her own friends and appreciates the freedom that is given to students within their learning environment. She is glad she took a GAP year which she feels enabled her to begin university with a broader approach on life. During the long summer break she came to Calcutta to work with Destiny Reflections, an anti-trafficking organization that focuses on economic empowerment for women. They provide vocational training in shelter homes as well as training to those who are working in the red light districts. The products which these women make are exported to the US which provide funds for medical care and medicine, as well as the training costs,

Head of College's message

2011-08-29T21:00:00.000-07:00

The first few weeks of term have been a whirlwind of activity for students and faculty alike! With 114 new students on campus we have recorded a record total of 223. With journeys to campus which began all over the world, this is a true “United Nations” of culture, background, nationality and creed – a dynamic mix which lay at the heart of Kurt Hahn’s founding vision for UWC back in 1962.

Despite an endless torrent of new information to absorb, new experiences and an intense pace to daily life, it has been good to see happy and relaxed faces around campus and every sign of newcomers settling in. Torrential rain has brought its own challenges to the start of a new year, but energy is high as the excitement of this remarkable UWC opportunity gains momentum!

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (author of The Little Prince) reminded us that “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” Behind the everyday scenes of busy lives and frantic schedules is a far more significant process of challenge and transformation.

We prepare young people for exams and we equip them to earn a living - we do all these things with rigor, nurturing the academic potential and high achievement of each individual. Yet, the education we offer is designed to go far beyond these goals, to develop the whole person and not just a part, to help each individual to become, in the words of our mission statement, ”agents of change” in the world.

I hope this latest edition of the newsletter will give you a sense of the energy and enthusiasm which make this such a unique place – indeed, a remarkable place, where some of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s “essentials” become apparent!

Condolences

2011-08-28T20:59:00.001-07:00

The Mahindra College community has been deeply saddened to receive news of three recent tragedies, the deaths of Sylvia Gift Nabukeera (Class of 2006). Einat Tabori (Class of 2001) and Pema Norbu (Class of 2008);

Sylvia, a 2010 graduate of Luther College, died on 24 June in Nairobi, Kenya.

http://www.decorahnewspapers.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=13&ArticleID=25807

Einat came to India for a class reunion and died when she fell off a cliff in the Parvati valley.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4103999,00.html

Pema, who was a student at Earlham College in the USA, died on 27 July in a car accident.

http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/news/local/east_central/earlham-students-victims-of-i-70-crash

In mourning the death of these three exceptional young people, we extend our sincere condolences to their families and friends. Tragic losses such as these impact this small and close-knit Mahindra College community in a significant way. Our thoughts and sympathies are with all those who knew and loved Einat, Sylvia and Pema.

New website

2011-08-28T20:59:00.000-07:00

UWC Mahindra College is pleased to announce the launch of their new website:

www.uwcmahindracollege.org

which is an attempt to present UWC Mahindra College within the framework of the UWC organisation as a whole.

Each UWC constituent has an equal role to play in helping to present UWC as a coherent, effective organisation – one which is easy for people to identify and engage with. An indicator document, a follow up on the UWC style guide, has been distributed to all those working in areas of communication to help enforce these documents and the branding statement in general.

We hope you like and enjoy it. If you have any comments or suggestions please mail them to pfidler@muwci.net

Please note there will be no newsletter at the end of September. The next newsletter will be sent to you at the end of October.

Thanks

Penny Fidler
Head of External Relations / Webmaster

Welcome to new faculty

2011-08-28T20:58:00.000-07:00

UWC Mahindra College welcomes its new faculty members who join us from the US, Canada, Spain , France & India. Nandita Dinesh, an alumna of Mahindra College, will head the Triveni office, Ainhoa Orensanz will teach Spanish, Arvin Dang will teach Economics, Douglas Amwine English, Dr Oscar Avila-Akerberg Biology and Alix Petter French & she will also help out in the Triveni office.

Ainhoa joins us from Zaragoza in Spain. She describes herself as a learner for life with a good sense of fun. A graduate of Salamanca Univeristy she has degrees in Spanish Language and Literature, Pedagogics, English Language & Literature and Comparitive Literature and is currently a PhD candidate also at the same university.

Arvin grew up in Singapore and Hong Kong and attended UWC SEA. He has a BA (Honours) degree from Oxford University in Economics and Management. His interests include writing, education and philosophy, technology and social entrepreneurship.

Douglas Arnwine left Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences in the US to join the English and history departments at UWC- Mahindra College. He has a BS in Philosophy and Anthropology from the University of Oregon, and MA in Liberal Arts and an MA in Eastern Classic from St John's College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He taught at Seattle Academy for 5 years and at Desert Academy in Santa Fe, NM for 2 years where he taught a variety of courses in Literature, Philosophy, History and Mandarin. He will also be teaching TOK at UWC-Mahindra College.

In addition to Doug’s academic roles, he has assisted in boy’s soccer and cross-country teams and served as Head Strength and Conditioning coach for the last three years. He is a certified Russian Kettlebell Instructor (RKC) and has helped integrate field and weight room conditioning programs for many athletic teams. His other extracurricular commitments include leading outdoor and service programs to India, Zambia, Alaska, and Washington State’s Olympic National Park. He's very excited to join the community here.

Alix Petter, a Canadian national, completed her BA in Literary Studies at the University of Quebec and is building on her experience to support the learning of inspired and motivated young students. She has a passion for language and literature and a keen interest in community development. Before coming to Mahindra College, she worked in the not-for-profit and community sectors, most recently at Santropol Roulant, an intergenerational meals on wheels / urban sustainable food hub in Montreal. She has also been involved with various forms of teaching and education for several years, from teaching swimming lessons at 16 to more formal teaching support while at university. She loves to cook, garden and travel, and is very excited to be joining the college community this year.

Dr Oscar Avila Akerberg is a Mexican / Swedish national and an alumnus from Mahindra College who graduated in 2000 and returns to teach Biology, ESS and TOK. He earned a PhD in Physics and Neuroscience doing his dissertation on how populations of neurons transmit sensory information. His extra curricular interests include choir singing, photography, dancing, football soccer, cooking, among others. He has studied in Sweden, Denmark, Mexico and recently finished his PhD at MgGill University in Montreal, Canada.

Nandita Dinesh, our second alumni who graduated in 2002, will head the Triveni office. She will be responsible for the CAS programme, Project Weeks and the Third Year Option; and will also teach English. Nandita has an MA in Performance Studies from New York University, and a BA in Economics and Theatre Studies from Wellesley College.

Independence Day

2011-08-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

UWC Mahindra College celebrated a wet Independence Day on 15 August 2011. The flag was hoisted by Dr Long who gave a short congratulatory speech which was translated into Marathi by the Head of Administration Ramesh Devmane. Sweets were distributed by Susan Long to the courageous few who braved the weather and the early Monday morning call to attend the celebration.

Student Profile

2011-08-28T20:56:00.000-07:00

Yaniv Israel Class of 2012

Favourite quote: "Eat everything on your plate." my grandmother

Hobbies: Swimming, hiking, cooking, gardening, reading, hanging out with my friends.

Languages: Hebrew, English and a little Arabic.

Why did you choose UWC Mahindra College: I wanted to be in a learning environment made up of different cultures and experience life in India.

What do you like best about Mahindra College: There is such a variety of people with different ideas and points of view here. I particularly like the fact that i can speak with people on a deep level about so many different things and learn a lot about their countries and cultures so my objective of coming to Mahindra College was met. Living in India is giving me an opportunity to travel with my friends and learn how to be responsible at such a young age. I also love the beautiful campus.

In Israel I used to swim all the time, about 9 times a week, so I was always in the pool. When I came here I learn't that I can do other things and that is much more fun for me. I feel I can express myself better and I get lots of satisfaction from my interaction with others instead of being all the time in the pool.

What were your most challenging moments in Mahindra College: Being away from my family and friends is difficult. I miss the food at home and studying in English is really challenging and difficult.

What are your hopes for your future: First of all I will have to go back to Israel and serve in the army for 3 years as part of my national service. After that I am very interested to study landscape gardening in one of the universities that combine this course with Environmental Studies either in the US or in Israel.

What is your wish for the future of Mahindra College: I hope that Mahindra College will become more self sustainable, waste less and recycle more. The buildings could be more ecological to save electricity and the water could be harvested to save water. The gardeners could also use more ecological methods like permaculture. In the community I would like to see more interaction between the faculty and students with the local staff.

Alumni Profile

2011-08-28T20:55:00.000-07:00

Beth Wales Class of 2004

After graduating I continued the interest that I'd always had in Geography and environmental issues, but which had been deepened and developed at MUWCI through my course choices and Triveni activities, by studying a BSc in Environmental Policy at the London School of Economics. I continued at LSE straight after with a MSc in Human Geography (Research) not only because the job market was such at the time that I needed the extra qualification but because I felt, at the end of my degree, I had only just touched the surface of the environment / development discourse.

Throughout the 4 years I spent at LSE I was heavily involved in numerous environmental, political and cultural societies such that I was awarded an Honourary Studentship at the end of my tenure by the Student Union. After finally graduating, I was determined to get some more real life experience and was accepted by Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) to become a capacity builder in the education sector in the northern Nigerian city of Kano. This was an amazing experience because as a VSO volunteer you live and work as though you are a local. Unfortunately my year-long placement was cut short due to a prolonged episode of malaria!

I am now working as a freelance researcher on a policy document for the Rio+20 climate change conference to be held next year and waiting to start a PhD at the University of Leeds on the potential for community based carbon sequestration schemes in dry land Africa whereby local communities can benefit from the commodification of natural resources in a way that allows them to live sustainably. MUWCI was fundamental in making the person I am, with the aspirations (and itchy feet) that I have. I wanted to save the world before attending and my MUWCI experience made it an even more fundamental part of me. MUWCI will always be a part of me.

Summer programmes

2011-08-28T20:54:00.002-07:00

MEZA was a 2 week summer program that explored these questions: What is culture? What does it mean to interact 'responsibly' with a community outside of your own? How does one culture influence another?

Through practical workshops in theatre, music, photography, dance, food and other cultural activities, students explored how to maximise the potential that the arts hold in bringing communities together. Participants were guided by different artists in residence; and explored themes like the Global South, sustainable livelihoods, colonialism / neo- colonialism, globalization and economic development.

Our artists in residence were Grand Master Masese (Kenya, Music); Anna Kirsten Le Harivel (New Zealand, Food) & Nandita Dinesh (India, Theatre). The programme also included a visit to Ahmedabad where the students worked with the Budhan Theatre & the Darpana Academy for the Performing Arts.

For more information, please look at the blog created by Meza participants: www.mezauwcindia.wordpress.com

Nandita Dinesh

MEZA facilitator

Faculty English / HOD Triveni

Gomukh project

2011-08-28T20:54:00.001-07:00

UWC Mahindra College is located high in the Western Ghats, an area of incredible biodiversity and culture. The valleys surrounding the college are highly cultivated, mostly for cash crops and rely on water flowing from the Mulshi dam for irrigation during the dry season. The social, economic and environmental problems facing the rural sector in India are immense but in a country that is changing so rapidly the potential for sustainable development is equally great.

It is in this context that UWC Mahindra Collefe students decided to join forces with Gomukh Center for Rural Sustainability this year. Gomukh is a small, collectively owned farm that promotes organic agriculture in the local valleys. They grow a remarkable variety of vegetables using sustainable irrigation techniques and fertilizer from their own cows. Gomukh also acts as a hub for other local organic farmers, distributing their food directly to customers in the valley and in Pune city (which means that some of the college's staff are able to cook with 100% organic, locally grown ingredients seven days a week).

Gomukh is a young organisation but is already well established and so it was easy for the students to get involved. During their first session students helped to plow a new field and subsequently saw that field through almost every stage of its cultivation; it is now lush with the cabbages and corn that they planted. Throughout the year students have dug holes, worked in the greenhouse and helped build the new dry storage unit working side by side with the farmers.

“It’s a very social activity, which can clearly be seen by the relationships between the group members and the farmers,” says Rebecca, a first year coordinator from England. “I have formed a really good relationship with one of the farmers, giving me an extra incentive to practice my Hindi skills.”

After a long day in the classroom the labour of the land has become very gratifying for the students with most of them coming to look at it as a point of stress relief in their busy week. “The fact that you do manual work is satisfying” says Anu, a first year from Bangalore. “I could actually physically see the progress that is made, which is a nice contrast to the more intellectual life I lead at UWC Mahindra College.” Progress they have made indeed — four students volunteering for two hours is equivalent to a whole day's work; the holes dug have deepened quickly!

Another aspect of Gomukh is the journey. Although the college drivers were ready and willing to take them many students normally chose the more direct path across the hill. "One hour there and another back, sometimes in sweltering heat or monsoon rain, has become a venerable bonding session and a chance to get to know the village children" says Liam, a staff co-ordinator of the project. "It has made the whole experience significantly more 'organic'!"

After great success this year the students have even greater plans for the future. They hope to take on larger projects at the farm such as building a seed bank to preserve local heirloom crops. Gomukh is so well connected that they also hope their work might lead them into the wider community. Students are also planning to employ some of what they have learnt on their own campus to make local, organic food available in the UWC Mahindra College community and to cultivate more of their own land. “I see organic farming as an interesting option for me to invest my time in,” says Martin, a first year from Denmark. “Organic food is simply better in taste, look and ethical value than non-organic food.”

For many UWC Mahindra College students working with Gomukh feels like the perfect partnership — both have so much to gain from each other. The potential for measurable development, personal and economic, is immense, the future of the project holds a lot of promise.

“Gomukh is not just about farming,” says Guillaume, a first year coordinator from France. “It’s about all aspects of life that make us human. It is an activity that changes you in all dimensions of persona and most likely one of the most unique activities on campus. It comprises a sense of personal challenge, idealism, integrity, modesty and honesty which all comply fully with some of the UWC ideals. I am proud to be a part of this.”

Liam Goodacre
Faculty Philosophy

You know you're in MUWCI when

2011-08-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

You know you are in MUWCI when:

Sleep is not anymore part of your lexicon

When friends become family

When the space is not too far

When you find out that even the brain can get sour

When rat is no longer a nick name for ratori but actually an extra roommate

When you need to climb up a hill to get internet

When magi becomes a proper meal

When people are getting collectively bald

When you are equally likely to lose your camera as your virginity

When you have lice

When tomorrow is already today

When you have 10 pairs of socks which are combination of 20 lost pairs

When different sorts of flora become a clothes drying system

When you can hear the Malaysians everywhere. what? kiren and neal's laugh..

When you find your underwear in the laundry machine with someone else's clothes

When you have a specific set of clothes for holi, mad games and AQ lock down

When you find your chapels on someone else feet. Or maybe only one of them

When tests become fun

When coffee is a stimulant not a drink

When in your shower regularly stands- shampoo, soap, lotion, frog

When you hear the same argument ten times but in different accents. … and they still don't agree

When in a cricket competition there is, the driver's team, cockers, guards, students, faculty and the white team

When you discover how many people can fit into cars, bus and your bed

When 10 people can eat one pasta with fork and one chopstick

When you interact more with local animals then local people

When sometimes you feel like you live in a post card

When mom is a synonym for sally

When you are fifth in a line to a broken printer 5 minutes before IA is due

When the common fridge literary become common

When you clean a pot with a sponge that is probably more dirty then the pot itself

When in any important announcement tika will walk in

When you can't leave your room because there is a monkey outside

When you and your roommate hang out by accident in someone else's courtyard

When a stain on your dress doesn't really matter anymore

When you only use your iron for your graduating dress and physics tests

When you wear more of other people clothes then your own

When you see more wedgies then you ever want to see in your life again

When your birthday cake becomes a community cake

When a party consist of more than 10 people

When you shout at your roommate to turn off the music and then realize it is coming from the valley

When you fall asleep on top of all sorts of books and in all sorts of positions

When formal occasions means wearing shoes and underwear

When you facebook chat with the person you sit next to you in class

When a fire in the valley actually means that you need to go and put it out

When packages from home can make up for anything that happens. No matter what state the chocolate is in

When you hear don't touch me every time a power cut happens

When a free block is another word for sleeping in the library or triveni office

When you can bitch about people next to you in your own language

When the AQ pond becomes a free fishy pedicure

When you get to the legendary tree on mount Wilkinson and find out it’s actually bush

When you use your hands to say if you agree or not

Osnat & Sophie Class of 2011

The Trial of Socrates

2011-08-28T20:53:00.000-07:00

After an intense half-hour trial, the jury found Socrates guilty and condemned him to death. The accusers dragged up many obscure details from the Republic and used them to portray Socrates' interests as perverted. The defenders did an admiral job of defending his philosophy, but the jury deemed it as insufficient.

Liam Goodacre
Faculty Philosophy

Li Doshi swimming pool

2011-08-28T17:52:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder who or what is Li Doshi? The Li Doshi swimming pool at Mahindra College was inaugurated by ace swimmer Nafisa Ali which was made possible through an endowment offered to the college by Mr Kwok Li, a graduate of UWC Pearson College in Canada.

Head of College's message

2011-06-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

The College year came to an end yesterday in the joy and celebration of Graduation. Like all transitions in life Graduation brings mixed emotions – the excitement of new opportunity and the sadness of farewell. Graduation often feels like a conclusion – but it is also a staging post of a much longer journey.

As the Honorary President of UWC, Nelson Mandela put it:

I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can only rest for a moment, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended.

Graduating from a UWC is not just any old transition. When students arrive at a UWC it is to take on a unique and exceptional challenge - to be part of an experience which could so profoundly change their lives that they would leave determined to make the world a better place.

As with all earthly utopias, UWC has its quirks and tensions, its odd mix of magical ideal and murky reality. Those who graduated as members of the Class of 2011 have been touched by UWC’s unique alchemy and know that life can never be the same because of this experience.

UWC’s task has always been to help young people find their ‘grand passion’ in life, that ‘one thing’ which is, alone, worth living and striving for. Many of our graduates find things of enduring value here which shape their sense of that ‘one thing’ besides which all else is trivial and of no real consequence. And what do we do when we find that ‘one thing?’ Rumi, the well-known 13^th century mystic poet once penned these words, “Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love.”

Graduation Norwegian style

2011-06-01T05:59:00.000-07:00

Dear Students,

You have probably seen Marius H and I walk around in our very nationalist red trousers?

In Norway the year you graduate high school you dress up in these clothes and have a lot of fun from around 1 May till 17 May. It all ends this day because it is our national day, and after that we have our final exams. This tradition is called “RUSS” and what you do is basically celebrating the last days before you become a “grown up” and have to be responsible. So in these 17 days we do a LOT of silly things. We have a list of things that we can chose to do and it is for many about trying to do as many as they can of these. For each thing you do you get a small thing symbolizing the things you did tied into a string in the hat we are wearing or supposed to wear. So it is really just fun and for us because of IB a nice funny break between studying and exams (at home it is more a full time almost only this kind of thing).

ANYWAY

We want to invite ALL second years to join us in doing this tradition. We will have an initiation into it on SATURDAY at 5 pm on the POOL LAWN. What this means is that you guys come to the pool lawn and you all have to do a very silly thing and after that you get a string (ebullient to the one in our hat) which you can wear around your neck, and for each of the things on the list you do you will get to tie something into it.

We really hope you join, it is a really big thing at home (even our parents did it when they graduated high school) and it would be really nice for us to have someone to shear it with J

SO SEE YOU AT THE POOL LAWN 5pm ON SATURDAY...
.
Love from the Norwegians! <3

The Trial of Socrates

2011-06-01T05:58:00.000-07:00

As the climax of their epic reading of Plato's Republic, the Philosophy first years will be putting Socrates on trial. Accusations include: blaspheming against the state, blaspheming against the gods, and trying to instate himself as king. Badrul will play Socrates--G block will accuse and A block will defend him. We need a jury to decide whether he is innocent or guilty! Please come along to SPACE at 1.30 to listen to the trial and cast your vote. It will last an hour.

How did it end... more to come.

Liam Goodacre
Philosophy

Head of College's message

2011-05-05T02:00:00.000-07:00

For many generations of students here, the month of May on campus is like a magnesium flare – it burns fast and furious! The frenzy of IB exams has begun and as temperatures soar into the 40’s there is a feeling of relentless intensity about the place.

But, somehow, this UWC experience has always been one which feeds off intensity. UWC students certainly know how to fill Kipling’s unforgiving minute with sixty seconds' worth of distance run! But amidst the end of term vortex there are still little islands of calm to be found – from the peace and quiet of the Library filled to the brim with students deep in revision to those who find their own havens of stillness on this stunning campus.

“All man's miseries,” wrote the philosopher Pascal, “derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone.” Silence and solitude rinse external attractions from our attention and force us to look inwards. In looking inwards we discover the important questions and truths which only ever whisper to us.

Opportunities for silence and solitude are rare today – even here. Little wonder that times of quiet and calm can feel uncomfortable and strange. For people who regularly build quiet spaces into their days, silence becomes a friend – a source of strength and inspiration. If we are to survive the frantic and superficial rush of life we each need our ‘desert place’ - a time and space for quietness and calm.

The great Sufi poet Rumi wrote, "only let the moving waters calm down, and the sun and moon will be reflected on the surface of your being." Or as Emerson put it, “let us be silent that we may hear the whisper of the gods.”

As we come to the end of another year, my hope is that students and faculty alike will have encountered some of those truths which only ever whisper to us and some of those realities which only ever reveal themselves from a place of calm. Therein lies the possibility of a real education and the heart of the UWC experience.

Dr J Long

Adding UWC flesh to the IB skeleton

2011-05-05T01:59:00.000-07:00

It is increasingly difficult to maintain that all or most subject combinations within the IB necessarily lead to the fulfillment of the UWC mission. While IB courses were supplemented, at Mahindra College, by additional courses and evening seminars this had been on an ad hoc basis.

An in-principle decision was recently made by the colleges Head of Departments and then ratified by the faculty body to substitute the IB 7^th subject option with a choice of evening courses on topics of broader UWC significance. These “UWC Courses” will be team-taught, be relevant to the furthering of the UWC mission, and be a mix (in different proportions) of theory and practice.

While it will not, yet, be compulsory for students to take one of these courses, students are strongly recommended to take one, or two, of these in their two years here. Effort grades for these will also be recorded on transcripts.

The faculty have displayed strong interest, and a number of proposals have already come in. In the direction of environmental sustainability there will be a course on “Environmental Management”, which will teach both theory and implement it in the college's Biodiversity Reserve. In the direction of cultural understanding and physical activity (a la Kurt Hahn) there will be a course on both the theory and practice of Yoga. An interdisciplinary seminar on the science, history and politics on nuclear energy will also be on offer. With the Indian government proposing a nuclear energy plant coming up in Jaitapur, only a couple of hundred km from the college, the global debate over nuclear power has become a local one.

Another offering on a key UWC issue will be an evening seminar called “Ideas and Interventions”. “I+I” will raise issues of the relationship between art and action, intellectual and activist, while examining some of the difficulties individuals (including UWC graduates) have had in bridging the two worlds. Western and Indian contexts, past and current.

As in earlier years Mahindra College students will continue to have two popular choices offered to them: the Global Perspectives course (the successful completion of which fetches a Cambridge Pre-U certificate) and the IB World Studies Extended Essay, which requires students to explore, with fieldwork, a global issue in a local context. Mahindra has piloted the first and both pioneered and piloted the second, for several years, and both are scheduled to go mainstream within their respective Boards (Cambridge and IB) shortly.

Dr Cyrus Vakil

Director of Academic Studies

INCredible weekend, 2011

2011-05-05T01:58:00.000-07:00

One hundred and twenty interviews over 3 days. The numbers were enough to make the then-approaching INC weekend seem just as exciting and hectic as it turned out to be. Over the weekend, Mahindra College saw many new faces; some wore hassled expressions on their faces while others seemed to love the place too much to be bothered by the challenges it was going to throw at them. In any case, while these zero years gathered to hear the Headmaster introduce them to the community, we, the student body, bustled around with lists and timetables, ready to take charge of the activities for the weekend.

Throughout campus, student volunteers led interviewee groups around campus – some to their faculty interviews, some to the less intimidating “fun sessions” at the Social Centre and some, including understandably curious parents, on long campus tours. All of a sudden, there seemed to be a sense of pride associated with campus as we advertised our best facilities and features while answering questions that ranged from trivial to meaningful to outright amusing with a certainty gathered from personal experience.

Eventually, from fake identities in the academic area that ultimately drove some unsuspecting interviewees into splits of laughter before their interviews, to games involving underwear colour and toilet paper at the Social Centre, the student body did a more-than-sufficient job of sharing the “MUWCI-culture” with prospective zero years and their parents while easing the interview tension over the weekend, and certainly had a blast in the process!

Alumni who participated in the INCredible weekend were: Class of 2000 - Bhavika Shah, Class of 2002 -

Rohan Agarwal, Tarun Jagwani, Anmol Tikoo, Class of 2003 - Akshay Gupta

Juhi

Going bald for a cause

2011-05-05T01:57:00.001-07:00

On 31 March 2011, students from Mahindra College shaved their heads to raise awareness for cancer and HIV / AIDS. The event was a huge success as many students either shaved their heads or donated their hair, while many others were there to support those who were brave enough to lose it all.

Originating from an event organised in 2008 by our college students, it seemed only logical to continue the legacy in order to unite the college once more for a common cause.

Contrasting from a group of 20 girls in 2008, this year there were a mix of boys and girls: some who cut their hair short, some who shaved their heads and some who donated long locks of hair. In total 13 locks of hair were collected which will be sent to an organisation in the United States called “Locks of Love” who manufacture wigs for children under the age of 21 who have lost their hair to disease.

This event originally took place to support those suffering from cancer as half of the donations will be going to the Deep Griha Society in Pune, a charitable organisation where much work is also undertaken to help those living in the slums of the local area. We are hoping that through this fundraising we will be to build a more positive and stronger relationship with the Deep Griha Society as well as support their cause with our fund raising efforts. Through a local initiative, we will hopefully be able to see where exactly the money will be used within the organisation.

Link to the event in 2008:

http://interuwcmag.wordpress.com/2008/02/07/muwci-girls-go-bald-for-an-hivaids-clinic/

William

Easter in the Czech Republic

2011-05-05T01:57:00.000-07:00

So our main celebration starts on Monday, which is the only day off school and work. But the preparation for it starts days before - girls are starting to dye eggs or bake a cake in the shape of a lamb. It is traditional to use red ribbons, so we put them around the lamb's neck or anywhere.

But all the fun starts with boys. Because one or two days before, they go out and find thin twigs of any length and start weaving them into a whip. Nowadays, people usually buy this whip called "karabáč" or "pomlázka" in the street, but it is best to make it yourself. Or they may be even more traditional and evil and go and find a juniper, which is a bush with small thorns (really small) and just take some twigs from that.

I am sure you are starting to guess what happens on Monday. Yes, it is true. Girls are waiting at home for boys to come, usually looking out of the window all the time. But as soon as they see a boy (or man) with a colourful whip with red ribbons coming to their house, they keep screaming and laughing, knowing what will come. They open the doors and boys start to beat them with the whip saying a rhyme about Easter at the same time. The idea is not to hurt the girl - although it may (and usually does) sting and hurt a bit ... or thorns! But the purpose of this is to keep girls healthy and beautiful. Sometimes it may happen that boys need to chase this girl around the whole house and garden, till they catch her. Sometimes they throw us into cold water or spray us with an enormous amount of perfume. At the end, we give the boy an egg or chocolate to show them that we are not angry and thank them for making us healthy for the whole year!

And that's how it ends. The tradition differs a bit in the countryside, where life is more rugged - there is no possibillity of being left out and not getting whipped there. People also sing songs, drink a traditional drink made from plums and so on. It is really fun! Although many people would think that it is horrible tadition and we all should save these poor women - when you are in the right spirit, you really enjoy Easter. (After midday girls can take their revenge and whip the boys and throw water on them, but no one really does that).

So that's it! And how is Easter in your country?

Hana

Lectures

2011-05-05T01:56:00.000-07:00

Mahindra College offers its students voluntary participation in various events taking place locally. One of these is Open Space, a creative platform for students and citizens to explore, understand and initiate social change. It is a forum where people can express opinions and ideas of interest, read poetry, screen films, host a discussion group, or build a campaign. OS is also the place to meet and interact with (online and in person) writers, filmmakers, artists, activists and changemakers intrepid enough to believe that we can build a more equitable, sustainable world.

Open Space organises programmes and processes that encourage citizens, especially young adults, to see society, ideas and politics from fresh perspectives. They do this by providing an extensive library of films and books, conducting workshops, film screenings and talks, large comfortable cushions, WiFi and free coffee. Our space is free and its organizers are a bunch of sometimes serious, usually happy people always up for a cup of coffee and a good conversation.

Open Space uses the power of media, art, literature, film, theatre and pop culture to explore the ideas of identity, diversity, social justice and sustainable and equitable development. They aim at creating awareness on these subjects using new and innovative ways and amplify their reach by working closely with other organisations to foster change. They welcome collaborations with youth groups, campus clubs, online communities, and campaigns.

Their capacity-building programmes seek to build perspectives, knowledge and skills in different areas, including gender and sexuality, active citizenship, cultural diversity and pluralism, and globalisation and development. They focus on urban middle class youth and concerned citizens.

Their regular film screenings range from the serious to the bizarre, and end with lively discussions and debates. Seminars rake up several emotive issues related to art and politics, human rights, peace-building and much more. And often include live music and readings to listen to, have fun with and be inspired!

Alumni

2011-05-05T01:55:00.001-07:00

As we welcome our alumni to the newsletter readership, thanks to you all for being so responsive in getting lost or incorrect email IDs to us. We will be adding these to our group mailing lists in order for you to receive the newsletter on a monthly basis. If you know of anyone who did not receive the link please let us know.

Going bald for a good cause - Part 2

2011-05-05T01:55:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to thank all of you for your kind and generous donations which have finally (mostly) been collected. So far we have raised a staggering amount of around Rs 20,000. This has been the result of an amazing effort so thank you all once again.

After some deliberation about where the money should be donated, I have decided that it would be more appropriate to contribute more funds to the local community through our donations. Therefore it has been decided to give:

- Rs 16,000 to the Deep Griha Society in Pune

- Rs 4000 will be added to the previous funds raised by the Japanese students on

campus towards the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami relief fund

Guillaume

Stats

2011-05-05T01:54:00.001-07:00

A record 1898 people viewed the newsletter from 4-7 April 2011.
The newsletter had 2690 hits last month and over 9000 hits since its conception in September 2010.

Mamma Mia

2011-05-05T01:54:00.000-07:00

Like any musical Mahindra Colleges' version of Mamma Mia was presented as an ambitious extravaganza featuring a large cast, complex choreography and an exciting stage setting. This production cut costs a little and set a new benchmark for the idea of economy. The budget was so low that this reviewer’s check of the receipts shows that there was change from 500 rupees. The costumes for example were a steal as, apparently, was the guitar.

Unfortunately though this theatrical offering was more of a tragedy than a musical. Some of the singing was great and some was tragic, some of the acting was great and some was tragic. And so on.But did anyone care? Not this audience. Not these actors. Everyone had a truly wonderful time.

So some examination needs to be made of the criteria used by any critic. What should we admire? Do we demand only perfect skills and accomplishment in acting and music? Do we need to respond on an intellectual level to take home a powerful message to nurture and reflect on? Is it enough to engage the audience and dance around and have fun?[1] Is it the process and the spirit in which the actors nurture and support each other?

This event is best described as a satire of the genre rather than the real thing. In this way it echoed Phyllida Lloyd’s original film that contained the barest of plotlines, designed only as a vehicle for the actors and for the irritating insistence of the music of the ‘70s Scandi band Abba. On a more metaphorical level it mocked the frivolous side of college life, just as Karen’s April Fool’s Day satire mocked the school’s ‘Guiding Principles.’ Not surprisingly of course most members of the community preferred the obliqueness of the sugar-coated satire that Mamma Mia presented. At this level the performance worked perfectly well.

There was inevitably some confusion at the beginning. If members of the audience were not familiar with the story then it would seem very hard to establish what was happening. If you’d grown up on a remote island like Sibo, there was no reason you would be familiar with the film or Abba. The scenes changed so often that it was hard to interpret whether the pace of the play was directed by Power Cuts or whether the actors had merely stopped briefly to check the cricket scores. The introduction of abseiling skills on the walls around the stage added creatively to the drama.

All the actors deserved credit for their infectious enthusiasm and some for their bravery, and some for their skills. When the actors played themselves – the parts of the character that represented themselves – the audience responded with enthusiasm. When they acted the part that the plot demanded, they appeared more wooden and the audience was respectfully quieter.

Miika and Ricardo reached sublime heights in a variety of ways. The role of the Chorus in Greek tragedy is well understood and Mamma Mia’s chorus was no exception, directing and corralling the actions and thoughts of both characters and the audience. Their timely interventions gave a coherence to what could have been fragments of the story. Urbano looked interested in connecting with any of the girls on stage, but finally settled, just in time, for the well-meaning Trusha. If there was a star then it must have been Sanni, who grew in the role once she abandoned her Meryl Streep role. Given a choice between Rounak, Ricardo and Miika it might have been wiser for her to draw lots.

Maria and Gesa’s lesbian scene was the only deviation from the plotline of the original film and reflects Mahindra College’s fascination with gender identity. Perhaps a sequel could continue the exploration further through a pantomime of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, the film that first lampooned and glorified Abba’s music.

This reviewer felt that, while certainly not the most polished of performances, it was indeed most enjoyable . On this hill, under these stars, at this time, for this audience, it simply worked.

[1] It is an interesting by-line that the original meaning of the word Wada comes from the acronym of “We All Dance Around.”

Jack Forbes

Faculty TOK

Head of College's message

2011-04-02T21:00:00.000-07:00

Amidst the frenzy of a busy term with IB exams looming large on the horizon it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture! What is a UWC education all about and what’s the point of it all anyway?

Twenty three hundred years ago, Aristotle described happiness as the ultimate goal of life. In the mid-1990s, scientific journals published about 100 studies on sadness for every one study on happiness! Today though, the once vague picture of what makes people happy is becoming much clearer as psychologists have discovered some fascinating insights into the reality of happiness.

University of Pennsylvania psychologist Martin Seligman, author of the book Authentic Happiness, has done a great deal to explain why some people are happy while others are not. The evidence is fascinating: The happiest people pursue personal growth; they judge themselves by their own standards, never against what others do or have.

Even physical health, assumed by many to be crucial to happiness, only has an impact if people are very ill. Seligman’s research even suggests that, relative to income, once $50,000 is reached, happiness levels off. Seligman writes: "…people who value money more than other goals are less satisfied with their income and with their lives as a whole …" Seligman maintains that external circumstances only have a minimal effect ("no more than between 8 and 15 percent of the variance…") on happiness. Studying a wide cross-section of people and delving into the major religions and philosophies of the world, Seligman has identified key qualities or characteristics possessed by people who are genuinely happy:

Wisdom and insight, courage and resilience, love and kindness, justice and integrity, self-discipline and self-control, spirituality and self-awareness, optimism and humour. Few of these qualities can be taught in a classroom or measured in an exam. Most of them come as the result of experience or the product of challenge. All of them carry the evidence of struggle, determination and, sometimes, failure.

If a UWC education is really going to make a difference it has to include the active cultivation of positive values in the lives of young people: the inner strength to face and overcome difficulties, the ability to look beyond the material world to more permanent and meaningful satisfaction in life, and, who knows, even to find that genuine happiness which is something everyone hopes for.

Dr J Long

UWC extranet

2011-04-02T20:59:00.000-07:00

How to register

Go to http://extranet.uwc.org/register/ select your member type and fill in your details.
If you are not registered automatically, your details will be verified by UWC International within two working days (providing we have your details on file).

Once you’ve registered take a look around, add info on your profile and start adding content. Help on adding content is available in the FAQ section. http://extranet.uwc.org/faq.aspx

Feedback

We will be continually monitoring the extranet in the initial weeks after launch to ensure it all goes smoothly. However if you do experience any difficulties or problems please let us know so we can work to fix any bugs that may arise. We would also welcome feedback and suggestions for future developments. Please email communications@uwc.org or post in the ‘The extranet’ forum http://extranet.uwc.org/forum/default.aspx

UWC International

A Touch of Class

2011-04-02T20:58:00.000-07:00

A variety of performances by students of UWC Mahindra College took place at the Mazda Hall in Pune on 23 March 2011.

Tomoko, Benjamin, Eun-ji, Yerang, Yuefan - pianists

Matthew, Hana, Shaked - vocals

Karanjit, Raunak, Guillaume, Mette, Margit - other instruments

In a programme of Beethoven: ‘Pathetique’ Piano Sonata (2nd Mvt.); Mendelssohn: Rondo Capriccioso Op. 14; Karol Symanowski: Mazurka Op. 50 No. 1; Philip Glass: Metamorphoses; H. Necke: Csikos; F. Schubert: Der Krahe from Winterreise; Rolf Lukowski: Der Herbstmond Scheint; Joni Mitchell / Charles Mingus: Dry Cleaner from DesMoines; Original compositions for piano and other instruments and also some jazz and popular songs.

The students of UWC Mahindra College are selected from all over the world to become part of a truly international community of talented and interested people. Being part of the UWC movement and living a hectically busy life both academically and socially, the students who manage to maintain their musical discipline display an exceptional initiative and vigour.

The concert at the Mazda Hall gave an opportunity for these students to display their talent in public.

A unique educational institution in the valley

2011-04-02T20:57:00.000-07:00

The Sadhana English School in Kule, about 15 kilometers from the college, is the only Waldorf school in rural India.
Waldorf schools, part of an education movement based on Rudolf Steiner’s philosophical theories, began in 1919 in Stuttgart, Germany. The schools offer an alternative attitude towards education where experiencing the world is the most vital part of education: Waldorf teachers strive to transform education into an art that educates the whole child—the heart and the hands, as well as the head . Nowadays it is usually a preferred kind of education for modern, educated, middle-class and above parents, conscious about the role of the school and hoping to prepare their children to the demands of the world in the best way possible. In Kule this approach confronts the local context, with unimaginable problems for the majority of Waldorf School’s students worldwide: malnutrition, illiteracy, scarce health care… One may say that in such an environment it is the “basics” that should be provided primarily and that implementing a system developed in the satiated West does not make any sense in such extreme conditions. In my opinion, such an approach is entirely wrong as one of the most significant aims of education is providing a variety of opportunities despite one’s social background.
Since September I have had the opportunity to visit the school every week and give English classes in small groups (1-3 people) to the young teachers who work there. Thanks to the personalized character of this Triveni activity, I discovered a lot about the school. It is run independently from the government and was established in 2009 with donations from Japan and Germany. There are 104 students from three to six years old in three grades (junior / kindergarten / senior kindergarten and first grade) and every year a new grade is added (the current first class consists of only seventeen students, the first students admitted to the school). The fees are Rs 900 a year which include meals during class time and transport (provided by a yellow school bus donated by the Mahindra company). The walls are colorfully painted, here and there hang quotations from Rudolf Steiner or posters with the English alphabet. There are no desks in any of the four classrooms, a characteristic of Waldorf schools worldwide.
On Saturday 26 March the school organized an Open Day for parents of both present and prospective students, in order to give them a clear overview of the atmosphere of the place. “In the government schools the pupils generally refer to teachers as “madam” or “sir” whereas here the children say “thai” (sister) and “dada” (brother. “The place is more like home” remarks Ravindra Jadhuv, one of the teachers. “We do not put pressure on children, we leave them freedom to do what they want and be active” agrees Reshma Jori, the youngest, only 20-year-old, employee. As pioneers, they have to overcome many obstacles. The main concern of parents is homework. They disapprove that we do not give lots of homework like other schools and keep comparing the students with their peers from government schools, where much focus on study is given. The parents do not always understand the concept of “learning by doing” and complain that kids learn how to read and write later than in the state schools. “We ask them to be patient and explain that we are trying to do it better and that it takes time” says Ravindra. “I think the Open Day and the art exhibition was a success, because we showed the parents that their children have different kinds of activities here, such as knitting or sports. They came to know what is happening and how it is different.” says Harshali Shejule expressing her joy. Since Saturday she is extremely busy filling admittance forms from parents from many surrounding villages. Another teacher, Laxmi Mahindrakar, whose own children are studying in the Sadhana School also considers the event successful: “The parents really liked the children’s activities. We encourage them to admit their kids here.”
Although the student’s artwork looks confusingly similar, and the educational equipment long present elsewhere, such as computers, whiteboards or projectors is unaffordable, the school manages to plant Waldorf ideas in a new and rather challenging ground surprisingly well. Hopefully its development will continue and soon many other rural areas will follow this extraordinary example, giving new opportunities to the youngest generation in Indian rural villages.

Olga

Art exhibition - first year students

2011-04-02T20:56:00.001-07:00

As a precursor to what may come next year for some IB art students, first year students spent some time with their teacher Nandu, researching and observing the rise of the installation movement which began in the sixties as a political statement against galleries and buyers dictating the future of art.
The students were not given a specific topic or theme but were simply asked to choose unconventional art materials along with a space somewhere on campus and try to integrate the objects into the space in a personal way. Installations were only available for viewing either at a specific time or within a few hours in late afternoon or evening so it was so much fun, with timetable of the art installations in hand and a plan of some sort, to try and get them all in within the limited time frame.

All the exhibits were wonderful and a lot of thought had been put into them. It was also especially encouraging to hear that the students were not graded for their efforts. Well done first year art students and Nandu for all your hard work which was much appreciated by the whole community!

See the slide show of pictures in the right hand navigation bar for photos of almost all the exhibits and apologies to those students who I was unable to photograph due to time constraints!

Penny Fidler
Head of External Relations

Holi

2011-04-02T20:56:00.000-07:00

With winter neatly tucked up in the attic, it's time to come out of our cocoons and enjoy this spring festival.

Every year it is celebrated on the day after the full moon in early March and glorifies good harvest and fertility of the land. It is also time for spring harvest. The new crop refills the stores in every household and perhaps such abundance accounts for the riotous merriment during Holi. This also explains the other names of this celebration - 'Vasant Mahotsava' and 'Kama Mahotsava'.

UWC Week

2011-04-02T20:55:00.000-07:00

This year, instead of having many separate cultural evenings, dance shows, and a mostly forgotten UWC Day performance, several groups worked hard to collect our annual cultural events into one intense week of cultural fusion.

Here's how it happened:

Every afternoon and evening, instead of regularly scheduled activities, Triveni hosted student-led workshops on culture and cultural fusion. Activities included laughing workshop, amazing race, Sushi / Portugal and clown workshops, basic salsa, United Football World Cup, Viking games, Egypt / Israel, origami, bread workshop, Indian folktales, Bollywood films, Malaysian food, Chinese mythology, Biodiversity tour, Mexican dance, climate change, Mulshi tour, German / Hebrew, Chinese / Japanese, China / Tibet, String theory debate, Mayan numbers, Indonesian dance, astronomy / cultural constellations. Students were required to attend at least three and faculty and staff were, as always, encouraged to participate!

-- On Monday, there was a linking dinner - pizzas for everyone. From Tuesday onwards there were cultural dinners each evening, each featuring recipes from students' home regions. The food was very tasty (just the like the food we had during last year's cultural evenings). Some of the dinners included a performance element, and each had a special ambiance, so no Maggi that week.

-- On Saturday was our annual UWC Day show. With the modified Triveni schedule, it was possible for students to have more free time than usual for rehearsals -- balanced with the usual demands of homework, of course. With this in mind everyone was able to plan their week wisely.

For more information and write ups by the students please check the March edition of the student newspaper.

Michael Griffith
HOD Experiential and Community Learning

Student interaction

2011-04-02T20:54:00.000-07:00

A ten-day CAS Project Week for 19 students and two teachers from the International School in Hilversum, The Netherlands, was recently organized by Nandita Deosthale, a former staff member of Mahindra College.
The focus was on Community Engagement both on and off campus with special attention given to the Akshara project. Their engagement concentrated on areas where the students were able to work on a project that was chosen by the community itself. The Akshara team led by Milind Jori did a fantastic job of organising two projects for the students:

Completing the Youth Centre at Bhadas village: The young people of Bhadas, the last village down the road from Mahindra College, had felt the need for a space in the village where they could meet to study, discuss and interact with each other, as this was not possible at home. After overcoming huge resistance from parents and village elders, the youth were given the use of a small room that was in a completely deteriorated condition. Thus was born the Youth Center! The young people worked very hard during their spare time to renovate this space and the students from Hilversum, gamely helped them out. They cut bamboo, carried tiles and helped in finishing the roof. The most encouraging part of the experience was when the older men in the village started helping when they saw students from outside working alongside their own children.

Drain building at Asde and Sileshwar: Both these villages do not have proper drainage facilities at their water source and as a result the women have to walk through a lot of dirt and slippery areas to and from the water point. The students dug a channel in the mud several times but each time it was washed away but they did not, at the time, have resources to build a cement or stone drain. The Hilversum and Akshara students started building a permanent drain but the Akshara students will complete the task.

Apart from these projects with Akshara, in the mornings the students participated in Triveni activities on and off campus such as Sadhana Friends, Paud Children's home, paper making, Sankaar boys and Manavya.

We are also very thankful to these students, on behalf of the Akshara project, as they also gave financial support by funding five students for a year and also donating money towards chairs, a fan, and a UPS and inverter for the Youth Centre.

After 7 days on campus they left to Mumbai for two days of sight-seeing and then flew back to Holland. They had a fantastic experience and would like to make this an annual event! Mahindra College also had the benefit of having students from another school interacting with our students, not to mention adding to the scholarship funds.

Community Engagement

2011-04-02T20:53:00.000-07:00

At UWC Mahindra College, we started working this year with a local Organic Farming Collective called Gomukh.
Gomukh works with farmers to promote organic techniques in the Kolvan valley and also runs a food distribution network (so I get organic, locally grown vegetables delivered to my door!). Three times a week a group of students walks across the hill to work in the fields. It's very therapeutic to work the land after a hard day in the classroom. We hope to develop the project in many ways, including building a seed bank and trying to link up the food distribution system with our cafeteria.

The project is in its early days, but promises to be very effective. I think that one of the main keys to our success is that Gomukh is an existing non-profit which has already done most of the leg-work of setting itself up. Students are able to be active and helpful from day one, without having to lay down the initial infrastructure of setting something up. At the same time, our input is very valuable and I believe that Gomukh and Mahindra College both have much to offer each other in terms of development.

One of the challenges that many of our community engagement services face is the language barrier. It is difficult to make a difference in a community if you do not speak the language. In fact, it is difficult to make any sort of a connection at all. Thankfully, one of the members at Gomukh speaks good English--it is this channel alone on which our project stands. But I like to see the language barrier as an opportunity instead of a hurdle. What better way for students (and myself) to learn Marathi than through working in the fields with farmers?

The students have set up a blog for our project, which can be found here: link. Please feel free to leave comments!

Liam Goodacre
Faculty Humanities department

Theatre Season 2011

2011-03-02T22:48:00.000-08:00

‘Theatre Week’ was initiated by a member of faculty at Mahindra College several years back, and it immediately became a cherished tradition.Some years, there were as many as seven plays on in a week and more than half the college population was involved in some aspect of the productions! More recently, the cluster of plays was commuted to ‘Theatre Weekends’ to give people a chance to share equipment, get to each others shows and also to break up the intensity of the occasion for the sake of everyone’s health and sanity! This worked well, and became what is now a ‘Theatre Season’ through the whole month of February at MUWCI. Another expansion has been an attempt to make connections between the theatre shows we put on here and the outside world, for the purpose of introducing more cultural exposure here, to raise standards and expectations, and to share with others what we are doing.

This year, we had seven productions in Theatre Season, and it was surely one of the best ever, exploiting a variety of venues on campus and presenting a diversity of dramatic forms and functions. We were also fortunate to have visiting artists who engaged the students in reflection about the meaning of their theatre making and the possibilities it holds for problem-solving and transformation. First, there was Marc Weinblatt, whose ‘Theatre of the Oppressed’ facilitation led to some very outspoken and soul searching dialogue in the college as a whole. Then the contrasting one man shows of Tim Mann and Parnab Mukherjee, the first of which inspired some daring theatre enterprise on the part of students and resulted in their performance for the Sadhana Special Friends who were curious and delighted with the offering.

Special thanks are due to the Sodexo workers who moved furniture, staging for each production and to Nautial and Eknath, electricians, who were on call for lighting and sound support. The students in the sound and light crew, who worked very hard to achieve some very creative and professional results, and to the Theatre Core Group who, with Zia, coordinated submissions and auditions, venues and budgets for all the productions. Thank you!

Blackbird (David Harrower, Zia)

Zia took the plunge and started Theatre Season early this year with a typically Zia psychodrama investigating a case of paedophilia. Yanna and Tudor took up the challenge of Blackbird’s tense and naturalistic dialogue. This was extremely hard for a number of reasons, for example, the awkward interjections and overlaps written into the script and the uncompromising naturalism and restriction of the after-hours office setting. Most of all, the problem was to communicate and explore the untidy complex of emotions surrounding the memories these two characters were sharing after a long absence. Was her childhood thrill of power and love a forced aberration, his overwhelming desire an abusive perversion? During their conversation a number of different ways to look it are investigated and the confused emotions involved revisited even to the point of a furtive and passionate kiss. The play itself was decidedly adult and the young actors may not have completely realised everything there. However, they did well to tackle it at all and Yanna did come across as an uneasy mix of affected assurance and simmering complaint. Tudor, for whom this was an acting debut, gave a sincere performance about a sensitive issue without losing it. This was to his credit, and the audience was certainly left with thoughts about the matter of the play to go away and mull over, just as they should be.

The Fairy tales of Mr Night (Benjamin and Krista)

Is your life a story? Have you ever wondered who wrote it?

A young man is struggling with the question of free will as he observes the story of his life being told through the fairy tale characters of the Brothers Grimm. With Laura and Margot as the lethargic psychiatric establishment, and Bartek and Lennart as a pair of bumbling Bavarian-looking authors, the story got off to a comical start.

The tidy central conceit is maintained throughout until the doctor (Laura) finally points out to our young hero that he has found the teller of his story and is ready to live his life, in essence, he is cured. Ironically, Guillaume had fallen out of a tree the night before curtain-up and so was in a wheel chair or on crutches throughout. In the last scene he literally threw his crutches away as he found his new psychological security and embarked on the prospect of taking up the reins of his own life-carriage.

Although the play did hang together as a whole, there was some sense that we were missing parts of the weave that might still be filled in, and we enjoyed it more as a series of vignettes. Lucia and Santiago were great fun as little red riding hood and the wolf, while Yaniv’s effusive young prince with sparkling golden crown was a hilarious foil to Karen’s altogether more grown-up Repunzel (Karen showing the presence to really carry a show). It was a charming setting of a touching tale.

Space (Timothy Mann and Neil Farrelly)

On the following night, in the same venue – the Art Centre - Timothy Mann combined the versatility of a mime with the timing of a stand-up in a sequence of bizarre interactive interludes called ‘Space’. The semi-improvised performance-art was impressive as he leaped in and out of a series of distinct, and often hilarious, characters. Tim’s interactions with the audience were also surprisingly telling, and there were hilarious moments as the audience met face to face (nose to nose) with the faith healing ‘Vacuum Man’, the arthritic professor of astronomy, or the self-aggrandising macho-man ‘Mike’. Meanwhile, the farcical and tragicomic rubbed shoulders in a tenuous narrative unfolding between the far-flung characters. Our theatre students then took part in the show, staging an interlude ensemble piece looking at some interpretations of Space – particularly in terms of personal and national boundaries. This was fun, and both performers and audience were energised by the experiment. In the second half, as the strands of the story started weaving together towards a sad conclusion, Tim’s amiable professor invited the audience to release the atoms they had stowed away earlier off into the atmospheres and a fan of hopeful hands lifted up in to the night sky. Neil, the director, finished off the evening by inviting the students to run a short, wild improvisation session on the main theme to close.For more information on Nose2Nose.

Nekropolis (Parnab Mukherjee)

Thanks to Karen Haydock for making contact with travelling performance activist Parnab Mukherjee, whose deep thoughts and concerns were shared in an hour of fascinating one man show. The solo began with tormenting images of the brutal mistreatment of prisoners by soldiers in some struggle somewhere – Myanmar, East Timor, Manipur? The excoriation of the soul of middle class complacency that followed used surprisingly classic texts and figures, in particular Gandhi and Tagore, as its references, while being unremittingly contemporary in its focus. In a dark tunnel a man sells first his silence, then his cliché, then his protest and fourth, his dreams. Finally, he gives up global citizenship - as a freebie. Along the way, he tries these ideas out to see what they mean to him and the social critique of the writer comes through. He points out the blind eyes turned to many injustices in India and South East Asia and examines the syndromes securing the complacency of a comfortable middle class. In particular, I noted his deep vitriol for the word ‘pedagogy’ and all the hypocrisy it’s used to cover – the ultimate, for him, in style without substance. It was a challenging and powerful thought process, staged with courage and spontaneity in the mode of Badal Sarkar’s ‘Third Theatre’. And surely it was thought provoking for everyone in the small and somewhat shell-shocked audience.

A minority view should have a meaningful place within the majority view…

Merantau (Phui-yi with Meret)

Merantau was a physical theatre exploration; a devised piece emerging from the theme ‘Spirituality at MUWCI’, by a small group of young actors. The commitment and passion of the performers was never in question, and their focus was impressive. Phui-yi has tried to ‘make the invisible visible’ (Peter Brook). In that, she has found a very essential task - one that is, perhaps, the aim of all art. Has she achieved it? That is for each member of the audience to say. Certainly, there was very alive and responsive, spontaneous, yet highly trained ensemble feeling, with mask work, movement and physical theatre practice worthy of a good theatre school. The theme became a rather dark meditation, in the end, with acrobatic manoeuvers conveying a sequence of half-deaths, suggested suicides, and a struggle to return to life. The setting was minimalist, yet completely professional: a small black-box theatre, a back-lit screen, some careful lighting, a box. In the corner, two musicians in black (Margit and Raunak) discreetly added a sound-scape of noises, whistles, hinted phrases, rhythms out of time and even, at one point, a melancholy dance on acoustic violin and skin drums. Above all, what impressed was the inspirational leadership and focus of the direction and the passion and energy of the performers. Beyond that, the show also achieved this, I think: it lifted people out of their every day sense of time and, by the intensity and presence of the actors’ work, the audience was given the chance to reflect a little longer, pause for breath.

Gross Indecency (Moises Kaufman, Alejandro and Omer)

This was an unpromising choice for theatre season, since we’re in an international setting; it is a wordy play that needs to move at high speed and with great clarity. Lucidity was something that Jeppe did, in fact, achieve remarkably well, despite English being a second, if not third, language for him, and his Oscar Wilde was suitably dignified. He had pathos too, and if he did not quite reach the sparkling panache and devastating regret of the original, we did, nonetheless feel bewildered and sad for him as the trials turned against him. Isis, as his nemesis in the form of Bozy’s outraged father and then as his final, imperious prosecutor, was confident and in command of both her copious lines and her roles to very good effect. There probably needed to be more ideas for the static chorus of commentators, who were required to take on a series of roles from jury, judges, newspaper reporters, relatives, public figures, male prostitutes. After quite a lot of thought about the play and its many issues, crucially, the cast managed to pull off an effective rendition without cheapening the subject matter and retaining the piece’s humour. The use of the well of the library was an inspired choice on the part of the directors. At the end, a palpable sense of achievement came off the stage in waves as the company took a bow. Not bad!

Bestia (Clare)

On the final weekend of the season, we were invited to the magical setting of the butterfly garden, enclosed with trees around the pond and lit by candles, to the strains of Wan-yi’s flute. This was the natural location for Clare’s original fairy tale with its contemporary ecological and psychological overtones, and its distinctly Victorian, morality-tale ethos. Shalmali was suitably wide-eyed and frantic as an older sister feeling neglected on the arrival in the family of her mewling and puking younger brother. In a, sometimes strained, series of rhyming and half rhyming heptameters, she sets off to magic him away by consulting the dark spirits of the forest. Karan managed an easy balance of menace and comedy in his portrayal of the embittered hare who brings the ecological theme to a head (forgive the pun). Beautiful papier-maché half masks brought to life the animal coven of untrustworthy souls who share her amateur necromancy. Thankfully, the actors were always at pains to make themselves audible, and attention to details of costume, set, lighting and ambience made it a gorgeous little production.

Benedict Clark

HoD Aeshetics

More reviews

2011-03-02T22:47:00.000-08:00

Clare in the Butterfly Garden

Bestia seemed a kaleidoscope of familiar stories reborn as a cautionary tale. The emphasis shifts from primal fears of invisible forces and the powers of magic to the twin messages of environmental awareness and the ethical imperatives associated with speciesism. As they say in Spanish: es tan bestia que quería meter el piano por la ventana.

The atmosphere and freedom created by the setting empowered the actors and reduced the need to develop characters or establish a setting. While the play was short, it actually began when the audience entered the candlelit amphitheatre.

While the actors represented the animals of the forest, the audience was also aware, like Shalmali, that snakes, spiders, toads, rats, bush hens, mongoose and wild dogs lurked unseen in the undergrowth. Imagining the unknown creates strong dramatic tension.

The deconstruction of the rabbit figure shows a clear historical development from the cuteness of Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit and Richard Adam’s Watership Down to the guile and cunning of Brer Rabbit popularized by Disney. Eventually there is the metamorphosis of this benign figure into the frightening rabbit of Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko. Frank, the rabbit offers Donnie support and advice while at the same time possessing sinister and demonic powers. Karan provided such energy and sincerity to the part that it was difficult to believe that he had not been misplaced by one of Donnie’s worm-holes.

Christoph‘s acting was a little wooden but he grows into the part and brings the gravitas of Tolkein’s Ents to the disparate characters who inhabit his forest. The brother, while the catalyst for the plot, turned in a terrible performance but Hana as Bambi rejected genocide and helped free Shalmali in a way that suggests the possibilities of a rapprochement between humans and animals. Rebecca was a graceful and convincing owl, when she wasn’t playing mother. It was difficult to determine which role suited her best. The moon was one of the stars of the show.

The rhyme of the script was significant in stylizing the play and the humour broke the boundaries of the Grimm fairytales and shifted to the whimsy of Lewis Carroll. Students and most faculty responded to the familiar jokes about a Napoleonic complex or the swallowing of dictionaries. The subtlety of the unraveling of Shalmali’s experiences with the presentation of the rabbit stew was both humorous and a clever shift back to reality. All writers draw on their experiences and the degree to which this play was autobiographical will provide critics with many opportunities for exploring psychological interpretations.

Perhaps if the flute player (Wan Yi) had dressed as Pan there might have been added enigmatic absurdity and it may have also allowed her to be rewarded with a bow at the end along with the rest of the cast and crew. A Jabberwocky would have been a powerful counterpoint to the Rabbit and the burning of Shalmali as a witch might have provided a powerful visual effect and historically accurate description of the appropriate social outcome of her meddling with the forces of evil. But maybe these ideas are just the outcome of my imagination being overstimulated by an intriguing and entertaining presentation.

While this reviewer continues to lament the narrow cultural framework that the plays have drawn on, the 2011 Theatre Season was successful in its ability to explore the range of skills in our community and encourage significant teamwork. Until next year, we will all just have to make do with the unremitting informal dramas of everyday College life.

Merantau

A sense of voyeurism held the audience throughout the challenging production of Merantau where the six cast members exposed a range of raw emotions in a confusion of passion.

Various interpretations circulated post-performance. One popular view was that we were watching the adventures of a group of Ninja agents operating in hostile territory. The opening showed the strict training and the display of physical prowess, another scene showed the infiltration of the Ninjas into a hostile environment (the audience). Their powers to transcend life and death left the audience with a strong sense of their supernatural powers. An extension of this idea is to link the play to Pencak Silat, the ancient Indonesian martial art and the journey that was foreshadowed from the translation of the Indonesian word merantau. The opening screen then becomes the geek’s version of the Wayang Kulit and the music the insistent monotony of the gamelan while the actors present their shadow lives.

A more popular view was the play as an allegory of the development of Capitalism in China – the silent opening and the growing ‘voice’ of China in the world, the infiltration of Western markets by joining the audience and laughing at the naivety of Western consumers. The sickness of the 2008 economic crisis was brilliantly portrayed by the coughing agony of the capitalist countries who, while operating collectively, always held their own self-interest above that of the others in the group. The final unmasking of those hidden faces behind globalization and multinationals provided a climax and the collapse of capitalism was eerily portrayed by the suicide of each cast member as share markets plummet. The six actors represent the G6, Europe’s six most powerful nations. The denouement provided the opportunity for a new world order, perhaps the re-birth of a Christ-like Keynes figure to bring a New World Order incorporating the established power of the East.

Other views saw the play as an exploration of madness, the elements of Marat Sade and Perkin’s The Yellow Wallpaper where walls and light are boundaries, being particularly dominant.

Whatever the confusions created, the energy and the commitment of cast and crew to the performance carried the audience in the enigmatically named area of The Space, representing both the physical activity and the ‘space’ in the mind.

The music drew the audience Eastward and provided links to the theme of madness via the haunting music of Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood (蜘蛛巣城), particularly recalling the growing hysteria of the mad dashes of Miki and Washizu around the eerie Spider’s Web Forest. Congratulations to both performers who provided a theme and continuity that was occasionally missing in the fragmented structure of the play.

It was a relief to move away from the predominantly Euro-centred theme of this year’s Theatre Season. Despite such a range of nationalities at UWCMC, its roots in India and the movement of almost all students to the educational teat of American Colleges, the dominant discourse for Theatre Season seems to be that of European rational organization. Merentau’s break with this was a brave challenge to that stiff orthodoxy.

Blackbird

Aronofsky’s film Black Swan and David Harrower’s Blackbird have in common the use of the motif of a bird – symbolically fragile and beautiful - that then presents its dark side to become the mirror opposite of our expectations. Both Una in Blackbird (Yanna) and Nina (Natalie Portman) in Black Swan struggle to play roles defined for them by society, yet they both somehow transcend their tragic failure and achieve a personal but flawed understanding of their lives.

The play places significant demands on the two actors who carry on their conversations almost as two distinct monologues. The ebb and flow of this dialogue creates a pattern where first one, then the other, assumes a position of power and credibility in the eyes of the audience. Una’s bitter denunciation of Ray and his apparent deep contrition create an atmosphere where the audience almost believe the taboo romance of fifteen years earlier might create a solution to the apparently equally damaged and flawed characters. Yanna’s interrogation creates enormous pressure on Tudor, and the bastard certainly deserves it.

As the play develops the audience becomes complicit in the sense of voyeurism and tawdriness that is the hallmark of popular media. Like Clegg in John Fowles’ The Collector, Ray presents his case for a legitimacy of his actions. The audience explores the options for blame, the possibility for Ray to be free of responsibility and Una to be both victim and seducer simultaneously. Society’s intervention is as condemned as it is inevitable and proper. The sinister nature of the play’s denouement is cleverly worked into the plot as Yanna and Tudor pace the narrow corridor that is the stage, amidst the rubbish and detritus representing the dysfunctional world they both operate in.

Playwrights traditionally reflect issues in society and the shock value of taboos. Sophocles explored the theme of disobedience in Antigone, Shakespeare raised love above family responsibility in Romeo and Juliet. Harrower shows the same concept of sensationalism by exploring the hypocrisy of society through Ray’s unlawful liaison with the twelve year old Una and the awful crime of pedophilia. Society fails to provide anything other than token support for Una and a punishment that offers no redemption or reform for Ray. The mood darkens dramatically when Una sees not only Ray’s partner, but his stepdaughter, a reflection of herself fifteen years earlier, and she reaches the shattering awareness that not only is Ray a pedophile, but the illusion she had nurtured that there was, at the heart of their brief affair, some essence of integrity.

Choosing a play that limits the opportunity for a larger cast diminishes the option to seek a range of new talent. The rawness of the two young actors in this production showed significant possibilities, but perhaps the lesson is that the Mahindra College Theatre Season is a broader concept than just the actors. This was shown admirably through the teamwork and evident enthusiasm of the production group. Costuming was a challenge - Jeppe would, I am sure, join me in condemning the dress sense of Una and Ray whose ill-fitting and uncomfortable costuming reflects their lack of confidence and a sense of hopelessness that invades the play. The decision to present in a classroom suggests that the production team wished to emphasise the didactic nature of Harrower’s play. What then should the audience reflect on? The historical illicit relationships of UWCMC? The tragic consequences of crossing boundaries pursuing freedom? Perhaps the inability of Ray and Una to acknowledge who they are while consciously exploring the boundaries of the roles they play? Should we reflect on the one million child prostitutes in India? Perhaps none of these, but David Harrower and those active in this production for the UWCMC Theatre Season will be disappointed if you don’t respond to some aspect of the plight of the Blackbird.

Jack Forbes

Learning Resources department

Agents of Conformity

2011-03-02T22:46:00.001-08:00

“UWC… what is that?” I prodded my dad.

“Well, from my understanding, it’s a pretty neat school where you get to meet interesting people from around the world while learning to take on your own responsibilities in an environment that fosters freedom, independence, and responsibility.”

This may not have been exactly what my dad said to me the first time I was exposed to UWC, but it was fairly similar. He told me of an entirely unique school that valued commonly overlooked ideals, which largely contributed to the whole of the students’ education, rather than solely their academic ambition. A UWC, according to the official website aims to create “Agents of Change” through the parallel education on a personal level that ultimately does not aim to create the super-student, but instead the super-individual. “Man,” I thought, “This sounds like the perfect place for me.”

The first few weeks of the first term exemplified this mentality. People applied from around the world with common goals and values in line with that of the UWC. Everyone signed the community agreement before meeting anyone else and assumed that the UWC would hold true to its equivalent agreement with the student. In those first two or three weeks all the first years, nervous, confused, and excited as they were, demonstrated what any and every UWC should. The students were outgoing, respectful, aware of their actions, and generally looked for provocative discussion with others. I experienced this myself, and became enthused that my hopes and expectations had been fulfilled.

One night, while sitting in a courtyard in Wada 3, I stumbled upon an unfamiliar 2^nd year who was worked up about the changes they had seen in the school between last year and this year. The topic was mostly about smoking, Sheesha and punishment in general. I politely listened, as I was still culture shocked and adjusting to being in a completely new environment, and then thought about what they had said. It seemed to me that everything Dr. Long was doing was great. He was trying to withhold the ideals established by Kurt Hahn that emphasized personal health through moderation and respect for those around you as well as yourself. “What’s the issue here,” I thought to myself, “it seems to me that there’s a bunch of smokers that simply want to promote their addiction rather than thinkers trying to better the school.”

A couple weeks later when I went to my first night in Paud, I saw more of what the school was really like; at least as Dionysus promotes it. People ‘unwound’ and demonstrated typical teenage behavior after the release of the often-tight grasp of their parents. We tend to think, “I’m a half a world away… no one can touch me… I must be invincible!”

There is an important distinction, though incredibly subtle, that I think both students and faculty miss in this ongoing disagreement. Students come from a place of pseudo-invincibility and want to promote complete freedom one finds after university while living on their own. Faculty come from a place of caring for the students and wanting to maintain a balance of freedom and structure to both protect and educate the students in areas of their life outside academia. The trouble is, firstly, that the balance is incredibly hard to achieve. How can we give different people the perfect dose of freedom? The second trouble is that the students and faculty think they’re talking about the same thing. While students advocate complete freedom with responsibility, they fail to see that they cannot alone regulate themselves in a healthy way.

Rules offer us a medium of governing our actions. To try to achieve a balance of freedom, the faculty must be responsible for setting these boundaries. However, I do not believe that this campus is a place of dictators and tyrants; it is rather a place of semi-democratic moderators. If you were troubled with the problem of setting laws for a community of people, what would determine the necessity of a law? If someone does something harmful to themself or the community, then a law would need to be established for the protection of both the individual and the community. If the act committed by that individual were never committed, or was done so in a non-harmful way; however, the law would have no place in that society. In this sense I find that parallel to the wise cliché, “With freedom comes responsibility,” we find that with responsibility comes freedom. If we as a student body choose to demonstrate more responsibility and respect, the rules being made without our consult would not be in place or need to be decided for us in that sense.

What I just said, however, is very ambiguous and I feel deserves some clarification. How are we as individuals supposed to demonstrate more responsibility and respect? I think that the answer lies in our understanding of the two words and their connection to our actions. When I hear “respect”, I think of the ideal person doing good to others. When I hear “responsibility”, I think of the ideal person living in moderation and consciousness of the relationship between their actions and the effect they have on the community they live in. These definitions are true in a general sense; however, what I should be also be hearing is not solely that of an idealistic and general implementation, but that of a simple and achievable act. Rather than the ideal respectful person I think of doing general good deeds, I should think of keeping a cleaner courtyard and saying “Namaste” to the RKHS workers and gardeners as I pass by. Rather than the ideal responsible person I think of being self-aware, I should think of keeping my voice down at night for my neighboring room and waking up my sleepy roommates up in the morning so they don’t miss their first blocks. When a student passed the workers on the basketball court and noticed they lacked proper shelter and basic things like blankets to keep warm at night, he didn’t just keep walking. He decided to put together donation boxes and act on the basis of a need within our community to do something, which I see as exemplary to the UWC’s model of an “agent of change.” It is often these small things in life that matter more than the large ones.

This is actually quite a big issue I see in our community. I heard a story from a friend about the time he noticed the “smallness” of the cooks in the kitchen on Diwali. He noticed the people around him that were doing so much for him that are overlooked everyday. In the heat of celebration he decided, though some may have discouraged it, that they should take a break and celebrate with the rest of the community. He led the cooks out of the kitchen and started wildly dancing and laughing. Some of the cooks even had tears in their eyes as they reached into the air with liberating joy. It was a moment, he said, that made UWC make sense.

It is moments like these, on the very basic and fundamental level that need to be had first, in my opinion, before we go gallivanting about raising money for a cause that is noble, yet completely disconnected from our community. There are countless chances, which we all have to learn and benefit as UWC students on campus every day. Instead of being nerds by day and philanthropists by college meetings, we should instead strive to live one and the same all of the time. We must keep in mind that a UWC is a school, which aims to foster the education and formation of self-aware students and ultimately create “agents of change”. If we cannot live our lives at MUWCI in this fashion, then there is no conceivable manner in which we are going to live our lives after MUWCI like this.

Regardless of whether we as individuals have been meeting this ideal or not, we are still all young and ambitious seeds of change. The chances to nurture ourselves are all around us and moreover incredibly supported by our teachers and peers. It is a once in a lifetime chance to become the person UWC claims to create. What I see right now, due to the nature of the school and the reality of student life, is the self-perpetuation for an environment ideal for the incubation of Agents of Conformity. We (students) are butting heads with the faculty because we think we know what’s best for us. I refute that proposal on the basis that we are not ready for or aware of what’s best for us. We also continually demonstrate our lack of respect and responsibility both individually and for the rest of the community. The purpose of this essay is not to change the school in a general and ideal way. The purpose, and reality as I foresee it, is to dig up everyone’s seed of change and replant it with a new vision in mind. I’m not looking to change the hearts and minds of everyone, simply to give everyone something to consider in the argument. As most of us already realize, we are in an immense position of control in a community like this. The key, I believe, to being ready to start to utilize this control is to recognize where we as a student body are at, and then to decide whether we want to be silent students in an IB school which has strict rules that are forced upon us or whether we want to be agents of change in a UWC where rules are agreed on by the community and respected rather than feared. The choice does not belong to the community, rather the individual. So if we really want to perpetuate the UWC ideals we so often long for, we should first look to ourselves.

Max

Akshara programme

2011-03-02T22:46:00.000-08:00

Mahindra College is a host partner in implementing the Akshara programme. Being a non-profit organization with a goal of imparting top quality education to its own students makes it the logical centre for the programme. As well as providing physical support, its intellectual support for articulating the vision of the programme is a great advantage. It should be noted that although the programme uses the infrastructure of the college, no financial support is received from either the UWC organization or Mahindra College.

The Akshara Programme, launched in 2005, works to change the deterministic role that economics plays in people's access to opportunities.

The programme is focused on breaking a vicious cycle of poverty by creating conditions through which children from impoverished rural communities located near the college campus can receive a vocational or professional education. Once a participant has learnt a skill, Akshara uses its network to assist each participant in getting his or her first non-subsistence job.

Akshara operates in villages around the college, which is situated about 40 km from the nearest city, Pune, and about 7 km from the nearest major village, Paud. While the programme involves partners including existing village schools, families, communities and formal and informal non-governmental organizations (NGOs), UWC Mahindra College is often referred to as the "host partner". The team is based at the college, which provides additional support including classrooms, labs, sports and art facilities, and accounting and pedagogical support.

Akshara is currently working with more than one hundred village students in the 8th, 10th, 11^th and 12th grades and students who are in further education. The 8th to 10th graders attend supplementary classes five days a week. They receive instruction in Math, English, Science and Marathi and participate in extra-curricular activities such as dance, theatre and art. After passing their 10th and 12th standard exams, students choose from a variety of opportunities for further academic and vocational training. Three former Akshara students are currently completing their final year at Mahindra College on full scholarships, and two more students are applying to join the UWC student body next year.

Dr Harsha Joshi

Director Akshara Programme

Weekend hike

2011-03-02T22:45:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, 19 February a bunch of 10 students were ready for the hike to Tikona fort. Even before the sleeping dust was rubbed out of our eyes we sat in the jeeps driving alongside the magnificent mountains of Mulshi valley. Meeting up right besides the Great (and when we say great we really mean it!) Valley for a typical college reflection we got to know from Andrew and Martin: “Hey guys, where do you want to go? We are not at Tikona!” This was the first of many, challenges we received from them. As a group we discussed some possible destinations we wanted to check out. And that was how we started the one day-long hike.

Rotating leader and risk assessment, we walked up streams and steep hills. For Emilio, Eric and Sundeep nothing was considered a problem until Marte, in charge of the risk assessment, had to stop them from being too optimistic. Even though the dry season is fast approaching and the landscape is gradually turning drier by the day, the forest covering one side of the canyon seemed oblivious to such changes. The walk through the forest was in partial shade, illuminating the oranges of the leaves, the emerald green of the trees and putting some parts in dark blue shade. Even looking back at the canyon from the road, about 1 km away, you could see the blues, greens, oranges reds and purples in the forest. It was amazing and quite refreshing to see so many colours at once.

In the evening, we decided to set up 'camp' in a meadow we had noticed during the hike. It was perched on the side of the canyon with spectacular views. Using the wood which we had gathered on the final stages of the hike we made a small fire, under firewomen Tony's watchfull eye, and with the expertise of Marte's Norwegian fire skills. After two paper cups of pasta cooked in a mixture of onions and cabbage cut and prepared in my straw hat we spread out our sleeping bags and chatted. We told stories from home including some ancient myths; Eric in particular blew us away with his stories while we stared into the fire's embers. The sky as always was full of stars which Mark helped us understand, until the moon began to rise from the east illuminating the sky.

Waking up at sunrise with the morning star and the moon gradually dipping down behind the mountains, we lit the campfire ready for breakfast. It was silent, no stress; only the surrounding nature, right under the magnificent pyramid peak. We could not have had a better start of the day. As we walked the last kilometers back to the starting point all of us had to soak up the last view of the canyon. And everyone agreed that we had had a nice hike.

Marte & Becky

Farewell

2011-03-02T22:44:00.000-08:00

On Monday, 28 February 2011 all faculty came together to wish goodbye to Louis Kalkumbe, who leaves UWC Mahindra College after 7 years of service as Head of the IT Department. IT, as everyone knows, is a thankless and stressful job! Dr Long thanked Louis for his continual support and good humour in carrying out his duties to ensure 24-hour connectivity for the college, among a long list of other things, and best wishes were extended to him in his future career in Pune.

IB Subject Specific Seminar, Brussels

2011-03-02T22:43:00.000-08:00

The IBO organised a Subject Specific Seminar in Brussels for languages on 11 February 2011 which was attended by a large number of teachers from all over the world. This was an important event for many of the more uncommon language teachers as no workshops have been held for them in the past. This time the IBO organised generic workshops which gave a chance to these language teachers to get additional training in setting IB standards which is additionally important as IB schools will start teaching a new syllabus from August 2011. There are two main highlights to the syllabus change. Firstly, it will give some ownership to students by giving them a written assignment to do which will replace interactive orals and secondly, it will make multiculturalism the main centre of the syllabus.

Harendra Shukla

Faculty - Hindi

Cricket premier league tournament

2011-03-02T22:42:00.000-08:00

The cricket tournament officially known as the MUWCI Premier League took place during the month of February. The pools were decided as below.

POOL-A	POOL-B
GORAS	FACULTY
HOUSE-KEEPING & MAINTENANCE	KHILAO PILAO
STUDENTS	DRIVERS
SECURITY	AKSHARA
GARDENERS

POOL A

The tournament started off on 3 February 2011 with one of the best clashes (this is student for match!), the clash between the goras and the students' team. A much talked about match which created heat waves on both sides. The goras were captained by Lasse while the other side was headed by Harish. The match ended with the students winning by a huge margin of 80 runs and a warm handshake between both opponents. The second match held on 4 February between the gardeners and the maintenance staff ended with victory going along the side of the gardeners. On 5 February the match between the goras and security was concluded by security winning with ample wickets in hand. On the same day, the students had their match with the maintenance which resulted in the defeat of the latter, with the students chasing the target within half of the overs played. Such was the enthusiasm that even on a Sunday morning matches began at 8:30 am!

That day the gardeners went on against the security but expectedly the security turned out to be one of the strongest teams in the tournament. 10-11 February turned out to be demanding for the student team as they had matches on both days with no rest period in between. Unfortunately, the student team, which was expected to make the semi-finals, was edged out when it lost both these matches with a close end result against the gardeners and the security. So eventually the survivors of Pool A were the gardeners and the security who advanced into the semi-finals.

POOL B:

The start of Pool B matches began on 5 February with the faculty playing against the kilao pilao (more commonly known as Sodexo). The latter came up with an easy victory over the faculty; the faculty team was not at its full strength as some of the players were not able to be present at the venue. The second match on the same date was between the Akshara team and the drivers, with the drivers completely dominating the Akshara team by a huge margin. The 6February was a hectic day for the match officials with 2 matches on the same day. The first match was faculty against the drivers that was pretty interesting as both teams tied neck and neck but the drivers just edged over the faculty to win the match. The second match between the Akshara and khilao pilao teams where once again the khilao pilao team showed its dominance. The next match decided which team would be entering the semi-finals with khilao pilao. The drivers won by a good net-run rate that allowed them to beat the faculty team. So it was the drivers and khilao pilao in the semi-finals.

The last stage

The semi-final was set up: khilao pilao versus the gardeners while the drivers went on to beat security. The khilao pilao team continued to show its strength, not in terms of quality of food, but this time in terms of hitting the ball. It surpassed the gardeners with great ease. On the other hand the drivers, who were the holders of this cup last year, had a tough time saving their cup but finally they overcame their bowling problems and went on into the finals.

The final came with all hopes on the Sodexo team. Dr Long was the chief guest along with Sue, and their pet dog was also there to watch and entertain itself. The last match started off with some poor fielding coming from the Sodexo side and good batting from their opponents. Moreover, when Sodexo went to bat, Suraj saved them from a complete whitewash. Soon the tail-enders also derailed with the drivers reclaiming what really belonged to them, the winning cup. They won the match by 17 runs and the sounds of applause and rejoicing celebrated this special victory.

When the applause was over the prize distribution started with Sandeep (faculty) and Jai (Sodexo) sharing the ‘Man of the Tournament’ award and Santosh (Sodexo) walking away with the 'Man of the Match award. It really was a great tournament and lots of fun.

Pulkit

Guests on campus

2011-03-02T22:41:00.000-08:00

Mahindra College welcomed two guests this month, both of whom became familiar faces around campus, taking part in all the activities and leading some. First to arrive was Martin Cadée who is currently taking a sabbatical break from a range of interesting projects and was on campus for a couple of weeks.

Martin has recently co-founded an international school for young entrepreneurs in The Netherlands (www.knowmads.nl). Previously, he was academic advisor at a liberal arts college - where he first came into contact with UWC students. He has worked in the department of Philosophy at Utrecht University and in the fields of organizational development, sustainability, cultural diversity, world view education, physical geography and wilderness education. His workshop “Are you ready to change the game?” - Exploring learning for a better future where the idea(l) of educating change agents, both experiential and in some good old talking. was explored was well attended and greatly appreciated. What does it take to 'change the game'? What does this mean for education? Martin shared some of his experiences and thoughts on this issue from recent wilderness journeying and establishing a school for young rebel / idealist entrepreneurs.

Second came Andrew Hepworth who has worked in both UWC Swaziland and UWC Norway in their outdoor education programmes and is currently based at Edinburgh University where he is completing his Masters in Outdoor Education.

Andrew came to carry out a placement as part of his course - but his presence was felt everywhere, as he shared his experience and expertise around adventure, outdoor education and experiential learning. His first attempt at constructing a Greenlandic kayak out of bamboo and covered with plastic sheeting has yet to be tested in water but thrilled all those who helped out.

A few statistics

2011-03-02T22:40:00.000-08:00

During the last month this is how the stats look for who's reading the newsletter....

From the following countries:

India                            623
United States              185
United Kingdom            60
Germany                       57
Denmark                       57
South Korea                 43
Finland                         37
Netherlands                  36
Czech Republic            34
Japan                           34

A total of 1653 people visited the blog last month giving a total of 5448 since the first newsletter in September 2010.

Head of College's message

2011-01-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

Exciting, challenging, dynamic and vibrant!
These are some of the words which sum up life on campus! As I write, Theatre Season is in full-swing and the place is alive with the energy of a thriving international community. There is not much time to catch your breath in the pace of this busy experience. As Kipling put it,

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

Such is the commitment here to making the most of life in all its possibility and potential!

Some major changes to our buildings and facilities are currently underway too. These new developments are the vital signs of a thriving school. However, we must never forget that the true heart of a good school does not beat in the stone and concrete of buildings and facilities - the real impact takes shape in the lives of young people. This is not only found in academic achievement but most importantly in the personal development of each individual – shaping character, forming habits and nurturing those values which will last a whole life long.

Rooted in strong values, UWC’s renowned approach has stood the test of time and provided young people with a reliable foundation for life. They may sometimes be unconventional, eccentric or even difficult (!) – but they each have the potential to make a difference, to tip the balance in favour of the good and, even in gentle ways, be influences for change and innovation.

We look ahead with resolve and optimism to further developments in the coming months. There is great strength and depth here and these are the timeless qualities from which we draw inspiration and courage.