Important mile stones 4- The real Montessori great grand mother

A REAL MONTESSORI MOTHER

I was blessed to visit one of the senior citizen of this great nation on last Sunday. I am teaching Tamil to master Adithya Krishna. He is in grade 3. His mother Ms.Gayathri is a business woman cum classical musician in Madras. She was very often talking about her grand mother Srimathi. Sulochana.
So many times we have planned to visit this great lady who is in her 77th year. She has started learning the traditional Tanjavore art from a teacher at the age of 60. Her husband is her strength.
She has a very big home. It is not a home but it is a temple of arts. She is working every day with her creativeness and imagination to bring all the forms of Hindu gods and Goddesses on canvas. Her home is decked with all her craft, art and unique objects.
She welcomed me with true motherliness. She first thanked me for recognizing her art and said she is an electron in this ocean of art. Her politeness is the very first lesson. She is trying all forms of arts.
She took me various halls and rooms which are named with various names of rivers, temples etc. She said that there is no one on this earth to learn every aspect of any art form.
She got educated in Coimbatore city till grade ten. Then she got married and shifted to Madras. At that time Dr.Montessori was living in Madras. Her school in Adyar Allcot Momorial place was so famous. So she has admitted all her 4 children under Montessori system.
She felt proud for sending them to Montessori school and said that newspapers often communicate about Dr.Montessori’s talks in Adyar and her husband has visited few times.
She said that her children grew with confidence and chose their own path and living happily. Adithya’s grand mother [one of the daughter] is a dancer. She studied Bharathanatyam under SrimathiRukmini Arundael in Kalashetra. She has seen Montessori for many times.
We were talking about many aspects of family life, schooling, children, devotion etc. I asked a very important question:
‘’ What is the difference between children of your era and today? What we want to implement in our school?’’
She has answered as follows: ‘’ Please expose our children to Indian culture and tradition. They need to follow various social values like forgiving, politeness and patience…’’
She said that every work has to be dedicated and devoted to God. The work has to be exercised and practiced regularly. This is the most important feature of Montessori system also.
We had a very divine time. Then she gave me few photo copies of her paintings and she never gets money and blessed Namma Veedu School.
Let us implement the great message to this great grand mother through the art sessions in Namma Veedu. First we need to create the interest in villagers to listen _ view _ and appreciate the classical arts.
So we have planned to play the classical Veenai string instrument and Flute through our audio sessions. Then we are also putting the various paintings of various styles. First I have started collecting the drawings, paintings and scribbling of my students and Pranav [ Pradheep’s son].
Let the children first admire their own age work. In this context we thank Ms.Gayathri for making this visit to her grand mother’s home. Let the children appreciate the art and be peaceful in their mind and behavior.
Thank you!!!