To paradise – Cuckoo Forest School
Its been a long dream to travel to paradise and feel love. Yeah, you read it right.. paradise on earth. Finally, after so many barriers our trip started. It was a fine morning, in the month of April (summer in southern parts of India). At 4am, our cab started from koyambedu Bus terminal, Asia’s biggest Bus terminal. They picked me up from Hinducollege Bus stop. When I boarded, I could see three people have already boarded – shareef, chandini and Habib. I already knew shareef via our group “THIKKUGAL ETTUM“, a volunteer group. The other two are new to me. Chandini was my office colleague Monica’s friend and Habib was a new volunteer. We further travelled and picked up Monica from her location. Our journey started!
Initially, hesitation prevailed as everyone was new to each other. But, as the journey continued we started to mingle with each other. Among us Habib was the calmest, we all tried to get along with him. yet, he remained a bit isolated. Little talks geared up and we had one more person to join us- Radhika. We picked up Radhika from mathuranthagam, a small town in the outskirts of kancheepuram district. The journey continued and we halted for breakfast in a motel where I ordered Dosa and others ended up ordering food of their choice. When shareef ordered egg omelette we used all tactics to get the best share of it. It reminded me of my college days where we used to have gala lunch breaks. That’s when we came to know that Habib can interact nonchalantly.
The journey resumed, we reached Singarapettai, a town in the Uthangarai taluk in Krishnagiri district in Tamilnadu. From there, we need to reach CUCKOO FOREST SCHOOL, which I previously called paradise. I slided down my car window and enquired the localites regarding the way. A man who weared white shirt and white dhothi and had a big moustache was sitting in a small petty shop. He headed towards us for help and ended up mocking at me as he couldn’t understand my ascent. After many trials of reciting it and using sign language we understood no people out there can understand our ascent. I ended up using Google maps and finally we reached our destination. As soon as we reached our destination, all networks disconnected, one good reason for people to move from hustling urban life and spend time in Cuckoo.
CUCKOO FOREST SCHOOL– there are so many reasons why I call this place a paradise. One main reason is the nature. Admist high held mountains, the cuckoo forest school stands beautifully without affecting nature in any way. As I entered the premises, I enquired about siva Raj Anna( Anna in Tamil meant brother..Not brother by blood but by love). I have heard a lot of good stuffs about him and have always wondered on how can a person be so selfless. I had met him once in a book fair at Chennai, they had a stall there. As soon as he saw me, he greeted me with a big smile. “I startled, thinking, ‘How does he even remember me?’ Probably, he has got an extraordinary memory power.”
Started with chitchats, we gazed on the surroundings for a while. Anna started explaining us about cuckoo. We had various questions to know about Cuckoo, Anna listened with patience as we shooted out our questions and then he started answering us one by one. They created Cuckoo in all means to keep nature as such. They constructed their Adobe by observing the light penetration and wind direction.
The bricks used there are not burnt and they used their own mud to make bricks. When we coin the terms “living by nature” , nowadays it’s been fashion to tell the organic way.. Anna made it clear that they don’t follow any such “organic foods only” methodology. There were totally five adobe’s, among which the AADHI KUDIL (AADHI in Tamil meant ‘first’ and KUDIL stands for ‘cottage’) was the initially constructed one, followed by the rest. While we saw few more construction was carried out in making out nursery.
The best thing about CUCKOO FOREST SCHOOL is that they will love you for who you are, despite caste, race, status, character, and thoughts.Anna continued explaining us about the education system they have planned to implement there. There school is open for a one month toddler to people in dotage and the theory behind this was quite interesting when siva Raj Anna explained. It’s when a child grows up with people in dotage they learn life better by understanding that the material possessions are nothing but decisive and would stay grounded in life. They are trying to break the stereotypical education system which we are in , and which teaches us to compare each and everything we hold rather being grateful for what we have. We at times forget to admire the beauty around us, and fail to acknowledge the love around us.
Inspired by their education system, Cambridge university wants to tie up with them and the proceedings are in progress. I heard that Anna was offered to talk in TEDX enormous times, but he denied that opportunity. I was curious to know why and i ended up asking him. His reply made me spellbound, ” the taste of the fruit should be felt and it can’t be explained by the roots” was his opinion.
He wants his student to give a speech in TEDX as a human being with compassion that would lead the human race the right path to live. Eventhough, he can raise crores of fund by giving a speech he denied for a cause he believed which money can’t buy. He stated “Magic happens and we just have to wait for it” and smiled. This is when I loved him, for I see a man who believes in magic just as I do. Yeah, Anna magic happens for those who look for it.
Apart from Anna, there were many souls who showered love on us. One among them was VADIVAZHIGI amma (amma means mother in Tamil). Be it with her innocent smile, or with her delicious dishes she for sure captures your heart. People call her Amma as she takes care of everyone and every little soul out there and always enquires whether they need something to eat.They had three pets: Jordan, vazhiya and chocolate. Jordan was a black fur dog, chocolate was an dog too whereas vazhiya was a pussy cat.
Jordan was a normal dog, but people out there called him the ZEN MASTER. Anna briefed us on the story behind how he reached Cuckoo. A posh family raised Jordan, and he always had the best of food and amenities until the terrific incident happened. In an accident, Jordan lost his owners and failed to eat in their absence. That’s how Cuckoo brought him in. Even now, he eats food only if someone pampers him, and he showers the same love on everyone. Like Zen masters, Jordan teaches us that the way to live life is by loving each other.
Luckily, origami workshop was conducted on that day by Thiaga sekar Anna. We attended the session post lunch and he taught us how to make crane. There was this one little kid who captivated everyone with her charm. Maybe because of that she was named “charmitha”. Her passion towards origami inspired me. She was stealing the show there . One thing I should mention there is the food prepared by vadivazhagi amma with so much love. It was a simple curd rice but it was that palatable that we literally drooled.
After having a great time, we bid goodbye to Cuckoo with a heavy heart. Surely, I would love to stay there forever. Our return journey started, and we dint miss to enjoy it. When we came in the morning, we noted that the puliyanur village were full of mango trees. As per the saying, “stolen mangoes tastes best” we decided to steal it from the mango yards. Shareef was bit scared, but that’s when Habib got into action.
Both ran into the fields and stole few mangoes and when they heard the sound of someone coming, they ran back to save their lives. It was so much fun teasing them. But one thing that made us startled was Habib. Was he the same guy whom we thought was shy in the morning?? Our journey continued with endless speeches, mocking fun at each other and playing games. Guys, you gave me one of the best days of my life. Looking forward to make much more memories!!!