Greetings friends and welcome to the busy season for the library!   As things start warming up here’s a roundup of the last quarter at Seem-

Activities during the quarter

Tuitions – Even though there was very little available time and attendance, tuitions have continued for all the groups during the quarter.

In February, for a month prior to the examinations, Vijay conducted special classes for 4 hrs a day for Classes 10 & 12.

Taekwondo & Yoga– these sessions continued on Sundays, with the toddlers from Class 3 & 4 also joining the cohort.  We now have more than 40 kids attending the sessions regularly.

The children also practiced for a month in Feb and showcased their training in a yoga & taekwondo display for the women and visitors attending the Khushi-ka-ek-din programme. Set up in bright sunshine under the clear blue skies in a grassy field the children’s skills were much appreciated by all.

Yoga & Taekwondo display at KKED

Art Workshop – Samarth has also included the younger children from Feb onwards in his group. So, we now have about 10 children from Class 5 – 7 in addition to the existing middle school group. The younger kids are enthusiastic participants, with Samarth having to modify his methods to accommodate their tearing hurry to start the activities. We now hope that this programme continues with more and more kids gaining more exposure to the arts.

The recently enrolled juniors at the art-based workshop

Eco camp at Ramnagar ( 10 – 12 Jan) – This year we modified the format for the annual exposure tour. Instead of visiting a city, we decided to take the kids on an ecological journey. Clearwater Analytics, had agreed to sponsor part of this experience. So, a group of 17 girls and 7 boys from class 7 -12 along with 5 staff and 14 volunteers from the sponsor organization went to Camp Hornbill, Kyari village, Ramnagar from Jan 10 – 12.

This is an eco-tourism initiative setup by local entrepreneurs on the periphery of Corbett National Park in Ramnagar. It has been developed keeping in mind the environment and is a great place to learn about nature.

The organisers, who are keen environmentalists, arranged a packed schedule which included a bird-watching tour and a jungle walk, where they explained about the habitat, the various birds, their habits & identifying characteristics, the flora and fauna encountered and the evolution of them all in the surrounding environment. The children were shown documentaries on Jim Corbett and enjoyed singing and bonding around bonfires in the evenings.

In addition to various team building games and exercises based on the local ecology, some children went on a mountain bike ride through forest tracks – an altogether exhilarating experience.

One of the highlights was a swim and float down a very old British-era canal that runs near the camp. Despite the freezing cold waters, all the kids and accompanying volunteers from Clearwater took part in this activity, with a number of them running back shivering cold to take another float!

This was preceded by a cook out with all the participants collaborating in producing a picnic lunch of dal, rice and veggies, supplemented by chutney that was ground on the rocks by the riverside. All this was an altogether different learning experience for the children and the accompanying adults.

Eco Camp at Camp Hornbill, Ramnagar

Jaihind Projects Photo shoot (13 – 15 Jan)– Jaihind Project is an initiative, that aims to provide a platform for smaller NGO’s and community workers to be showcased through their social media films. During our Dehradun exposure visit last January we had taken up accommodation at the Jaihind Academy, after which they had identified us as a potential NGO to cover.

Their 3-member team camped at Seem and interacted with the children and the staff & volunteers, capturing footage. They then compiled a short film that was put up on their youtube channel. See the video at  https://youtu.be/lQ-2IkG2CRw?si=bfr3rHI-N1cb5Emq

Khushi ka ek Din (09 March) – The 3^rd annual edition of Khushi ka ek din, a day long fun fair exclusively for women, was organized in collaboration with our sponsors Clearwater Analytics, Noida. HCL did all the on-ground arrangements and community mobilization and the team from Clearwater sponsored the expenses and arranged for the prizes & printing.14 of their volunteers assisted in the actual conduct of the programme. The stage & other tents were set up in an open field, which has now become the favoured location for the programme in village Byasi. The festive atmosphere was enhanced by a bright sunny day and colourful buntings stitched by the women of Khili buraansh, the sewing samooh set up by us.

About 300 women from the surrounding villages and 20 more from other organizations arrived from 9:30 am onwards at the location and after registration started flocking the games and sales stalls that were set up.

The children from the library put up a splendid and much appreciated yoga & taekwondo display. A folkdance & music troupe from Almora had been invited to put up an hour long performance. With holi approaching, a traditional Kumaoni holi song & dance was performed, which soon had most of the women joining in – matching step-for-step.

The food stall, set up by Rabbuda from Khairna, serving tea, chowmein, momos and chole-bhature against coupons issued to the women, was a big hit.

Group games in pairs were also arranged with lots of prizes for the first three winning pairs. A lucky draw for all the registered attendees saw 2 lucky winners getting a grand prize.

 For those of you who may be interested in seeing all the photos at your leisure here’s the link : https://photos.app.goo.gl/zUAnN2wSD8VceSvU7

Some snaps from KKED 2025

Gillo Team visits (8 – 15 March) – Much to our delight “Gillo on the go” came a second time in the year.  Their tour covered HCL and some primary schools around Seem. At the library they performed three short plays for children and since they have already interacted with the kids on earlier occasions, they asked the kids to remember the older plays and perform them. They also conducted very interesting workshops where different groups of kids wrote, setup stage and performed their plays.  The highlight of the workshop was seeing them perform a full story on a table top, complete with sets and sound & light effects. This was emulated by one of the library group productions.

Gillo at the library

Gillo at surrounding schools – During the morning half of their stay, Gillo visited GPS Nauna , GMS Majhera and Greenfields School, Siltona and performed a play and conducted a workshop at each school. As always, they presented a set of story books to each of the schools as well athe library.

Holi 2025 (13 March) – as in previous years, holi was celebrated with the women of the village and library kids. They all congregated in the amphitheater , smeared colour and sang and danced with gay abandon. This is one day when the kids don’t get a chance to perform and the stage is left to the women. The celebrations ended with the distribution of tea & the traditional gujiya.

Holi celebrations at the library

Painting workshop – Wally and Julia, two friends from Germany visited us and spent a morning conducting a fun painting workshop for the children. The kids were told to bring a stone each which they could paint and take back home at the end of the day. Most of them brought more than one stone, so we now have a “painted stone” decoration in the premises! The two of them had brought paints, brushes and all the required material while on route from Chandigarh.

Painting workshop

Khili Buraansh Samooh – The women have been managing their affairs independently for more than a year now. They also attend local fairs and exhibitions where they set up stalls and sell their products. Recently they participated in the Grameen Bharat Mahotsav at Haldwani and won accolades for their attractive and innovative kumaoni magnet doll & keychain and won the prize for the highest sale on the last day.

Khili Buraansh at Almora Lit Fest & Grameen Mahotsav, Haldwani

Dear friend it is heartening to see that the library is going from strength to strength each year and we will be entering our 10^th year in June this year. All this has been due to the constant encouragement and support from each and every one of you – so thank you very much and look out for our decadal year celebrations starting June!

So, bye for now and enjoy the summer holidays!