Sharad
The visit to Kanchi’s (Ranjana aunty, as known fondly to many of us) land proved to be a lot more exciting than one had imagined it to be. Though planned out as a trip to bake the clay wok by the children, there was lots more to it.
We left Bangalore on a hot sunny afternoon (Which most children knew was valentine’s day, shhh….shhh…– hee hee hee), the quiet Armada was made noisy only by our constant screeching, screaming, shoving and pushing games. Upon arrival the rocks there gave us a warm, or should one say a hot welcome. Amazingly, neither the temperature of the rocks or the hot sun stopped the children from exploring and enjoying the beautiful land scape.
The baking started late afternoon and it was quite interesting to watch how keenly the children were observing the process. We divided the clay work into two groups, one to be baked black and one so that the natural colour would show. The clay work that the children wanted black was placed in a pot and sealed so it wouldn’t be directly exposed to the fire.
With the kiln packed and the baking under way,we decided to take a walk to CFL which is very close to Kanchi’s land. All of us thoroughly enjoyed the walk thorough the fields, rocks and bushes. The children were all thrilled to be at their teachers’ school.
After an early dinner and some star gazing on a moonless, cloudless night we were all ready for bed. With the fire still blazing in the kiln and the stars shining above we all went to bed.
The next morning the excitement of opening the kiln and checking the “Terracotta” was visible in each one’s eyes. This was done after the sumptuous breakfast of “tatte idli and vade”.
Needless to say the baking was a great success under Kanchi’s guidance.
We returned making promises to ourselves to go back to this beautiful land more often.
