The culture of community building

Anandhi

For many years I have been connected to the Waldorf school movement in India. Rudolph Steiner, the inspiration behind Waldorf schools, speaks of education as a ‘social, cultural deed’.

The expression of any culture is reflected in its art forms – music, speech and drama, the visual arts of painting, drawing and sculpture – these art forms serve to capture the essence of a culture – whether it is a legacy of religion history or the geographic aspects of life.

Recently, I was part of a festival that in the truest spirit of the word expressed ‘inclusivity’. ‘Friends of Camphill’ is a community in Bangalore. It is a community of adults who need great personal care, given their many developmental mysteries; and others who are caregivers. Yet the manner in which relationships within the community have unfolded over the years, demystifies the word ‘caregivers’. In ‘The Friends of Camphill’ what truly surfaces is only the essence of the word – CARE. The community thrives with the ebb and flow of life, riding on arts as an integral part of their ‘togetherness’.

I would like to take that as a starting point of understanding the word, culture. The word needs to go beyond individual and collective pockets of tendencies which are often seen as ‘culture’ ..… after all, what brings a few people together in the name of culture, can be the very same thing that can polarize people.

‘Culture’ is the quintessence of truth, beauty and goodness, expressed artistically. It harmonizes and brings people together – without compromising on the ‘individuality’ of those in a community.

Individuality after all is as sacred as togetherness. Culture is what harmonizes the two.

There have been many moments in my stint as a teacher in the Waldorf stream, where I have felt extraordinarily poignant moments of the union of the individual and the collective. In these moments – what lived palpably were truth, beauty and goodness – all of which can undisputedly be seen as attributes of culture. Here are a few small stories.

I had once taken a group of children to a park. The group had a deep bonding; no one was ever left out. Amrit, who was coping with developmental challenges, was particularly cared for by all his classmates. We were in the park – with all children lining up to go down the slide. It so happened that another group of children from another school had come to the park. They lacked the patience to line up to climb the steps of the slide. It was soon evident to them that Amrit was vulnerable and they could push him around to get on to the slide. As a teacher I was watching the scene aghast and wondering how to step in and help; but before I could do anything, two strong boys from my class stood on either side of Amrit making sure that he was NOT going to be pushed about. The whole class expressed their solidarity and love for Amrit in their resolve to support him, all in one simple gesture. Not a word was spoken – soon the children from the other school were only too happy to line up and wait for their turn. In a blink of an eyelid, they had felt the integrity behind the simple human gesture. There was no hostility. Suddenly I felt as if the strength of my class had doubled… Wasn’t that a cultured manner of responding to a situation?

Let me juxtapose two situations. When I wanted to teach the history of Hyderabad to my nine-year-olds I donned the purdah and took my children on a walk around the school. Imagine how I froze in fear when I saw a truck full of men who looked like they belonged to a group of Hindu fundamentalists. The truck drove past me. No one gave me a second look – perhaps on account of all the children… perhaps they never intended any harm – but the very history of communal violence in the city was sufficient to wake up dormant fears in me and shake my being to the core.

At the end of the block, we went to see the burial mound of the engineer of the Hussain Sagar lake. A simple structure sheltering the tomb lay alongside the lake. An old caretaker with a silvery beard stood by. As we all stepped into it, the children fell into a natural, reverential silence. The thought that the man who shaped Tankbund – the lake around which a whole beautiful city shaped up over the years, filled their hearts with wonder and gratitude. One girl said, “Teacher, can we sing ‘Bhur Bhuvasvaha’…and without waiting for me, broke into reciting the Gayatri mantra in the Islamic shrine. I looked at the caretaker anxiously. He smiled at me…a knowing smile that the child’s reverence and religiosity was so pure that the institution of organized religion could never taint it.

And then comes the story of a reluctant story teller. There was a girl in the class by name Meghna. She was a wonderful learner in many ways but was always afraid of speaking in front of others. Seven long years went by and she never offered to partake in theatre or other art forms that required her to speak in public. At the end of class seven we began to work with a comedy about Archimedes. When the script reading was over I asked the class, who among the children wished to play the role of Archimedes. Several hands went up…but no one expected Meghna to put her hand up too. The rest of them were so delighted to see Meghna eager to play the role that without my asking, they all felt that she must play the role…and Meghna it was. How brilliant she was as Archimedes.

It felt like a victory for the whole class.

It is my firm belief that if education unfolds as an aesthetic shower, immersing children into the depths of artistic learning, cultural legacies will be preserved in all their richness in human hearts. When the essence of culture is held in our hearts it will give us the courage to preserve, protect and nurture it outside of us.

Artistic living creates the harmony between the Individual and the community. In this harmony, culture thrives as an all embracing life force.

The author has been a teacher at Abhaya School, Hyderabad. She has been closely connected to the Waldorf school movement since ’96, and continues to be inspired by its educational approach. Now on a sabbatical, she trains and mentors teachers across the country. She is also a happy student of Eurythmy, an art of movement – taught in Waldorf schools. She can be reached at anandhi.abhi@yahoo.com.