The Cuckoo Movement for Children

"The way to success is more important than success" "Hate the sin, love the sinner" "Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony." "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others" Around 40 years back, Vinoba Bhave, on a march for bhoodan, reached a village near Krishnagiri called Pochampally. He approached a local zamindar who owned over 1,000 acres of land and tried to reason with his humane side. vinoba requested the zamindar to donate a part of his land to the Dalits of that area. The zamindar flatly refused. Not one to give up easily, vinoba set up camp at a nearby dilapidated Shiva temple. Amongst the many people in that camp who had marched alongside him was a young woman named Krishnammal Jagannathan. On the second night at camp, Krishnammal’s baby began crying inconsolably. Vinoba walked up to the mother, picked up the...

A leaf is the most perfect form of life on earth. From a light shade of green in its days as a baby, it changes many colours with age and season until it turns brown, latches away from her mother and dances down to her grave, where she continues to give. While for us grown-ups a forest MUST contain many, many trees, for the child a single tree is a forest in itself. They feel the magic in the air. The croaking of frogs is music to their ears. In an age when the newspapers and TV only glorify violence and make us insensitive to our fellow beings, we must take an extra effort to help our kids return to the roots we have now forgotten. To simpler times when we cared for all life forms. To the age when we painted kolams in our front verandahs, not just because they looked pretty but also because they contained rice powder for the ants to feast on. Cuckoo Forest School is hosting a 3-day workshop of fun and learning. Let’s share stories and listen to the silent music of the hills....