Nature walk and working on project work
Day IX
March 23, 2017; Thursday
Nature Walk to Khanduja Chopati and Zhir Forest Nursery at Jhalawar, Rajasthan
At 6:40 am, participants have started journey for bird watching at Khanduja Chopati, Jhalawar. It took ten minutes in cab to reach there. We started our bird watching in groups with
kind guidance of Mr. Anil Rogers (bird specialist) and Acharya Madhusudhan. All
the participants could watch different species of birds and their habit around the pond. I
found bird watching an excellent way of connecting with nature and enjoying
natural aesthetics. Earlier, I had vague knowledge about bird watching though
there is a bird watching club in our school. Now, I could realise the importance
of it.
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| Mr. Anil Rogers (bird specialist) explaining about birds and their migration in general to a group of participant |
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| Mr. Anil Rogers (bird specialist) letting participants to observe species of birds available at the site |
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| Sun in the trees |
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| Participants from Bhutan, India and Nepal |
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| Nature walk on leaves |
Bird watching was followed by another incredible journey toward Zhir
Forest Nursery at 18:13 am. At the nursery, we were fortunate to have Dr.
Parmeshwar Singh chauhan, a student of Acharya Madhusudhan. With guidance of
Acharya Madhusudhan, Dr. Parmeshwar had joined him and initiated preservation
of forest with the nursery while taking a post of professor in horticultural
university of Jhalawar. After having fifteen minutes for snacks, students were
divided into groups to two, and teachers and coordinators were assigned
different scientific names of trees. With the scientific names assigned to
teachers and coordinators, sir explained different trees thriving in the
nursery in brief about their major features and importance. Dr. Parmeshwar was
very passionate about nature and he also talked important concepts about nature
in one and half and hour along with participation of expert on bird watching-
Mr. Anil Rogers. It was interesting to
learn about different types of nursery available at the nursery namely,
permanent, semi-permanent and temorary nursery based on need of water.
Moreover, types of nursery based on position of the nursery like raised bed
nursery, sunken bed nursery (
water
blocking problem) and normal bed nursery. We were also informed about types
of seed germination viz, hypogeal, epigeal and oviparous seed germination.
Anyhow, our learning experiential and connecting ourselves to nature was very
memorable time. With this opportunity, I would pay loads of thanks to Acharya
Madhusudhan, Dr. Parmeshwar Singh chauhan, Mr. Anil Rogers, teams from Zhir
Forest Nursery, the coordinators of APSI community and to everyone who had been
making the programme wonderful.
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| Participants after reaching Zhir Forest Nursery, Jhalawar |
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| Listening to Acharya Madhusudhan, Dr. Parmeshwar Singh chauhan and team near the gate of Zhir Forest Nursery, Jhalawar |
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| Dr. Parmeshwar Singh chauhan - wonderful man taking participants around Zhir Forest Nursery, Jhalawar |
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| Bougainvillea -a shrub with leaves modified into thorn and later turning into flower |
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| Exploring forest and learning about different species of tree |
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| Amazing presentation of flower by bamboo treee |
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Participants eagerly listening to the resource person about bhodhi tree under bhodi tree.
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After taking journey from Zhir Forest Nursery at 10:00 am,
we came back to RTDC in cab for tea and breakfast reached RTDC. It was ten
minutes journey and had good breakfast. Then, we had choice time for us before
we gather for group wise reflection time at 11:30 am till lunch at 1:00 pm.
Afternoon session at Pallavan school
At 1:50 pm, we headed to Pallavan School. After sitting in project
groups, a session on assessing project work was started at 2:30 pm by Mrs. Nitya.
Participants spent an hour for discussing about chosen project. Later, at 3:30
pm the session was continued on ‘Peer fees back’ followed by group wise discussion
and sharing of ideas on ‘Criteria for assessing presentation’. Then, students
were dispersed and another fifteen minutes session with teachers was started
for discussing about reflection and roadmaps that were done by students.
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| The question for discussion in project group |
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| Ms. Viena from Indonesia leading her project group |
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| Mrs. Nitya giving instruction on coming up with good project |
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| Dr. Saroj Thapa and Mrs Nitya leading teacher's group discussion on reflection and roadmaps |
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| Group 2 members in discssion |
At 5:30 pm, all the participants had Frisbee time which was
ended by a another session of discussion with Ms. Namrata at 6:50 pm about two
questions viz, 1) How do you come to know about the programme? 2) What are your
expectations from the program?
Eventually at 7:18 pm, we came back from Pallavan School and
had dinner at 7:40 pm. After the dinner, participants and all the staffs
celebrated Ms. Munazzah’s birthday.
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| Frisbee time for all the participants |
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| Teachers enjoying Frisbee |
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| Teachers having discussion in group with Ms. Namrata and recording on phone |
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| Sharing experiences before coming and after being part of APSI |
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| Ms. Munazzah's birth day celebration at dinning hall, RTDC hotel, Jhalawar |
