Mum team’s solution for flat feet wins award

Shreya Bhandary TNN

Mumbai: Five city students have brought accolades to the country by winning the Open European Championship of the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science & Technology) Lego League held in The Netherlands earlier this week. These students came up with a simple solution for people suffering from flat feet.
Ansh Verma from Ecole Mondiale World School, Shikhar Bakhda, Anant Kandoi and Parth Mehta from Jamnabai Narsee School and Harshvardhan Raje from Singhania School in Thane got together for the first time at the children’s technology workshop in Juhu and the idea germinated in the minds of one of their parents. “Ash and Harshvardhan both suffer from the condition of flexible flat feet, whereby they are unable to walk properly, slap their feet, and due to the lack of arch, experience pain when participating in sports at school,” said Asha Sundararajan, director of the workshop. This is what encouraged them to work out a solution to this problem.

“The students came up with a simple solution of using touch to measure the foot pressure and motors to engage in the dynamic movement of the foot,” Sundararajan said.

It took the team six months to complete the project. “During school, we would rush to the workshop immediately after school and work on the solution. Once ready, the team set for The Netherlands on the first of this month.

Sixty-seven projects coming from various countries across the globe were being presented one after another at the FIRST Lego LeagueAdding a touch of Indian culture to their presentation, the entire team went on stage barefoot. The presentation was selected as the winning project on June 4.

FINDING THEIR FEET: The Mumbai team with their project for coping with flat feet at the competition held in The Netherlands

Workshop to help parents understand kids better

Shreya Bhandary | TNN

Mumbai: “A child’s brain functions better when given a chance to question,’’ said Dr Stephen Rushton, reclusive brain expert from the University of Florida, who along with his wife Anne, is in Mumbai to conduct a two-day workshop to help parents and educators understand brain development in children.

The workshop, which will be conducted over this weekend, will shed light on Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP), a lesser-known term in India that is fast getting recognition in the US.

“The architecture of our brain is very complicated, but it has the tendency to allow experiences we have to shape itself in response to the environment,’’ said Rushton. After studying the importance of various parts of the brain, he started writing books along with his wife to educate people on how it functions. “Every time we pressurise our children to do something, we tend to send negative signals to their brains, leading to stress. Our aim is to teach parents and teachers how they can use our approach to enhance their child’s psychology,’’ he added.

“Mostly, students are talked to, and not heard in class. If we give them a chance to participate in conversations by asking questions, their brains are stimulated.’’

On day one of the workshop, the speakers will interact with principals and teachers from schools around the city. On the second day, there will be a three-hour interactive session with parents. “We want them to leave the workshop with a sigh of relief and go home with new methods of bringing up their kids,’’ said Rushton.

Helping them take the walk of life

Kumar Sambhav I TNN

Mumbai: Meera Devi is patiently sitting with her 12-yearold son on her lap in a corner of a hall, overflowing with more than 400 children and their parents, at Bandra’s Lilavati Hospital. With every bite of lunch she feeds him with her hands, the Worli resident nurtures a dream to see his son break into a walk.

In the same hall, Kalyan resident Anand Kadam is pushing a wheelchair with his twin daughters sitting on it. Besides the timing of their birth, nine-year-olds Komal and Kajal have another thing in common: they cannot walk due to a knee disorder.

Like Mukesh, Komal and Kajal, more than 500 children with varying degrees of disability thronged the free children’s orthopaedic corrective surgery camp organised at Lilavati Hospital on Saturday.

Meera believes the camp will help his son, who suffers from cerebral palsy and has not been able to walk since his birth, lead a pain-free life. “We want to send him to school. Right now, he can’t even stand on his own. We hope this camp helps him,’’ said Mukesh’s father Mohan Lal.

Kadam said it was an opportunity for him to give his daughter “expert treatment’’ that was affordable. “This camp is for a noble cause. I really believe it will change the lives of many children,’’ he added.

The camp was organised and funded by Child Foundation, an NGO set up by paediatric orthopaedic surgeon Ashok Johari. It promises to not only take care of the immediate operation, plasters or botulumin (botox) shots, but also of follow-up visits for up to a year, that too, free of cost.

At least 50 doctors from all over India were deployed for check-ups and surgeries at the camp. “The surgeries will start from Saturday night and continue till Sunday. The operations will also be conducted on the 15th and 16th of this month,’’ said Dr Johari.

It is estimated that 5% of children in India suffer from some physical handicap, their numbers adding up to almost 20 million. Dr Johari said with his small efforts, he wants to bring a change in the lives of such children.

“Our main objective is to spread awareness about orthopaedic diseases. There are many deformities that can be fully cured if they are treated at the right time. But in many cases, even doctors are not aware and deny the treatment. Those deformities take severe shape with time,’’ he added.

“Child Foundation aims to raise awareness on how to help such children . We want to offer a platform for various philanthropic organisations,’’ says Ashiana Dhillon, a trustee of the foundation.

GOOD DEED: A free children’s orthopaedic corrective surgery camp was held at Bandra’s Lilavati Hospital on Saturday.

They splash colours on bleak backgrounds

Sibi Arasu I TNN

They add a smidgen of colour to bleak cityscapes. For over seven years now, Himanshu S, an artist and teacher at the Rachna Sansad College Of Fine Art, and his friends have been going around Mumbai conducting art workshops and interactive sessions for those who don’t get a chance to express their opinions and can’t afford a fancy summer workshop to fine-tune their painting skills and art aesthetic. From a half-day painting session at a remand home in Matunga to a month-long workshop with the people of Koliwada in Dharavi, they’ve done, and continue to do, it all.

Himanshu, who is one of the core members of the group of avant-garde artists and painters who call themselves the Common Room Collective, says their art deals more with the people and less with art galleries. “For me, painting and ‘proper art’ are secondary; the work that I do with people has greater meaning and more priority in my life,’’ he says. “It’s more about the process of doing than the final product itself.’’

The workshops do not follow any set pattern and the collective tries to keep them as unstructured as possible. “When we go to a place, we don’t go with a pre-determined idea of all the things that we want to do; we do have a rough idea but we take it as it comes. I usually ask the kids to paint whatever they want to and then go on to do other things after that,’’ says Himanshu.

A few months ago, The Collective took part in the Urban Typhoon workshop in Koliwada, Dharavi, where they conducted a month-long workshop for the kids in the area. During the course of this, they painted on the roads, the walls, and any space that they could find in the slum. This was conducted simultaneously along with other ‘serious’ studies to figure out a wholly inclusive redevelopment plan for the area. One of the ideas that Himanshu proposed to the kids was to paint their dream home, and he says some of the ideas the kids came up with were mindblowing. “I know their sketches are not going to be taken into account in any slum redevelopment plan, but I really think authorities and city planners should just glance through them at least—after all, the houses are going to be built for them,’’ he says.

The children and even the adults who take part in the workshops conducted by Himanshu and the collective find it a unique experience. Little attention is paid to the final product; the process is what matters. As the workshops progress, the lines between those conducting the workshop and those attending get blurred, with everyone becoming an artist and painter and creator of masterpieces.

Himanshu reiterates his workshops will always be more about ‘how’ rather than ‘what’ art is produced. At the same time, he feels he cannot do with painting, as “the inherent honesty of the drawn line makes it the best vehicle for the voice of dissent’’.

With further events with people of different communities and groups across the city lined up, Himanshu is a quite busy for a self-styled “aimless wanderer’’. He is helping organise another month-long workshop at Koliwada where his group plans, along with the kids of course, to paint the walls of the houses in the area. A gallery exhibition of some of his earlier works is also on the menu. However, he doesn’t give this too much importance. “As long as I want to paint, I’d like to be doing the other things that I do,’’ he says.

sibi.arasu@timesgroup.com

LITTLE ARTIST: At the Dharavi workshop, children painted on the roads, walls and any space that they could fin.

Kids get terror management lessons

Sukhada Tatke | TNN

Mumbai: Gopal Moorthy and Smruti Koppikar were a little thrown when their nine-year-old daughter Ananya asked for the newspaper. It was the morning of September 14, and the news that day was especially disturbing, full of the gore of the Delhi blasts. They considered dodging their daughter’s request by saying the papers hadn’t come, but ultimately decided to let their daughter have her way.

“Terrorism is a reality, it’s our urban reality, something that our children will have to face,’’ says Moorthy, a project consultant. “Many kids her age face harsher realities, but this is part of hers. It is inescapable. How long can we protect her from it? And should we even attempt to protect her?’’ Ananya was allowed to read the morning paper under her parents’ supervision. “She did go over the photos, read some stuff and felt bad for the children of those who were killed,’’ says her father.

Later, the questions started and didn’t stop. “Who is a terrorist? Why does he kill? Can they kill you? And me too?’’ Says Koppikar, a senior journalist, “We ourselves are still trying to find answers to most of the questions. However, we decided to tread cautiously and not lie to her.’’

Even as parents in households across the country struggle to answer searching questions from their children, schools are going the extra mile to teach children about terror, without frightening them. Six months ago, the Holy Family School in Andheri conducted a workshop on terror and bombs—a dark subject for the classroom, admits its principal, Fr Francis Swami, but the times had forced his hand.

A deeper cause for concern for school managements is the safety of hundreds of children entrusted to their care. School administrations are taking no chances. Evacuation drills have marched into the classroom and now share space with maths and science.

FIGHTING BACK ‘Terror drills aimed at spreading awareness’
Mumbai: With blasts becoming a weekly event in the country, schools are training their children on terror fighting. “We are training them in this way so that if a dire situation strikes, they do not panic,’’ says Pramila Kudva, principal of Hasanat High School in Marol. “Although we did conduct these drills before, we feel a greater need to do so now, what with frequent bomb hoaxes. We do not want to inject fear in kids but we have to address these issues anyway.’’

Similar preparedness paid off at the Podar group of schools in Santa Cruz, which has 20,000 students on its premises during the day. A few weeks ago, there was a hoax call, but no one panicked. “We have CCTVs installed everywhere on campus,’’ says the principal, Anvita Bir. “We regularly conduct drills and evacuation activities with the help of experts from the fire department. The level of awareness in kids is very high and we try our best to do whatever we can.’’

Nazma Kazi, principal of Ajuman-e-Islam School at CST, says that these issues are discussed during the morning assembly. “We also have workshops with teachers on how to react in an emergency. Once the teachers are well prepared, we will train the children too,’’ she says.

According to counsellors, sensitisation at an early age is a good thing, but it’s important to do so in a reassuring manner or else the child could end up anxious and
angry.Psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty says there is definitely a sense of unease among many children. “Curiosity related to bombs is rising. Chemistry classes are suddenly popular, with words like ammonium nitrate taking on a whole new meaning. While some kids are questioning the cause of all this killing and dying, others are harbouring tremendous anger and vengeance,’’ he says. “They want to see those who caused these blasts punished. They say things like, ‘we should kill them in the same manner’.’’

Counsellors who work with children say that it’s better for parents to level with their children instead of glossing over the truth. “However harsh the truth, it is best not to hide it from them,’’ says psychologist Ambereen Pradhan. “Usually, parents prefer to remain silent because sometimes they don’t know what to say. Often, the answers that they do give only reinforce prejudice in the child towards another community.’’

Advocate Shabana Khan, who works with an NGO, Parivartan Sanstha, didn’t know what to say when nine-year-old Kajal asked her why kids had been killed by bombs. “Kajal had heard about little Santosh who died in the Delhi blast when he found the unclaimed bag lying on the floor,’’ says Khan. “She didn’t understand why someone as young as her had died when all he was trying to do was help. Khan said the only thing that seemed to make sense was to say, “We musn’t stop helping.’’

ON GUARD: Hemraj High School, Borivli, received a hoax call on Saturday

Times of India Article - 24/12/2007 - About a Child's Self Esteem

Children should look to keep their esteem engines going

Meher Marfatia

Sandwiched between ‘self-employed’ and ‘self-evident’ in dictionaries is ‘self-esteem’: a good opinion of oneself. It’s something children can do with, considering the increasing number of student suicides and campus shootouts. But, what seems such a free and easy state of being could actually be the trickiest to achieve.

Pegged at Number 4 in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, self-esteem precedes self-actualisation which sits at the apex of this pyramidal theory of human motivation. Inadequate esteem results in discouragement and feelings of inferiority, he explained.

Although poor self-esteem lies at the core of much social turmoil, from inner angst expressed as aggression to communication breakdown on the personal front and at the workplace, it’s still an underrated quality, agree mental health experts. “Self-esteem is equally vital in the corporate world. A person’s state of well-being definitely sends positive motivation down the line,’’ says Mehul Kuwadia, CEO of Grey Cells, a training consultancy. While self-esteem generates a ripple effect and develops mutual respect in an office, Kuwadia warns, “A fine line divides esteem from ego. False pride shouldn’t block progress.’’

If low self-esteem triggers the classic superiority complex, there are tougher things to come to terms with. The strangest syndromes, apparently unconnected with esteem, very often are. Take the case of a man whose fear of flying is extended to sick reactions like extreme acidity each time he has to board a flight. While it obviously made him an infrequent traveller, his psychoanalyst discovered he was not only frustrated at this “failing’’ but also resented a wealthier wife. As she dug deeper, the the rapist unravelled self-esteem disturbances dating back to childhood insecurity and envy of a younger brother suddenly becoming the centre of attraction for his family, a problem that made her patient’s own sense of worth plummet.

Ruta Vyas, who conducts self-esteem workshops for children and corporate groups, blames the patriarchal structure of society where a woman’s worth is defined by prescribed standards and expectations. “A woman’s life is seldom hers, claimed by those who ‘depend’ on her. To fulfil these roles, she does not see herself as an individual with her choices but, unhappily, as an enabler of other people’s priorities,’’ says Vyas.

An alarming aspect is that selfworth can be synonymous with warped body image perception. Calories count as they mount in weightconscious urban India. The thin-is-in craze can assume severe delusional aspects if personal dissatisfaction with physical size and shape becomes obsessive. Women tend to bite this bait easier. Susie Orbach’s argument in her anti-diet guide Fat is a Feminist Issue—that women’s relationships with their bodies mould complex psychological patterns—couldn’t be truer than in these dangerous days of eating disorders, with anorexia and bulimia claiming younger girls than ever before.

Thanks to the women’s movement, attention has been paid in recent years to the need to nurture self-esteem among girls. Journalist Ammu Joseph points out, “These efforts are necessary and should be widespread. But it’s as important to address selfesteem issues among men, in the interests of society as a whole. No man with genuine self-esteem would ever beat or rape a woman. The high prevalence of gender violence indicates a low prevalence of self-esteem among men.’’

Shoring Up Self-esteem

Know that life is not a contest where some win and others must lose. Each person has a unique designated place in the world. Be yourself. Self-esteem is not how people feel about you but how worthy you feel you are.

Filter feedback. Don’t accept everything coming your way with blind faith, from significant others too; our closest ones too have the power to make or break us.

Get a life and be busy, don’t keep the spotlight on thoughts of yourself. An idle mind gets into a negative spin.

Exercise and care for your body, it goes with a healthy mind. Generally, people who think they look good, feel good as well.

Become financially independent, even in a small way. It certainly does boost self-worth.
Help out. Teach a skill, assist the elderly or volunteer for a social event. Anything that helps someone else will also leave you feeling good.

Keep all promises, even the smallest ones—this makes you confident of being dependable and trustworthy.

Finish things you start. Achieve modest milestones set and you’ll believe yourself capable of bigger things.

Have a sense of humour. Laugh a lot, mostly at yourself! Don’t get all selfreprimanding when you make a mistake. Laugh at it, learn from it and move on...

(Source: From Ruta Vyas who runs I Love Me workshops for youngsters)