The “OK Boys,” Kerala
Kerala, India. Land of lush, green abundance and cool winding backwaters. Land of the prawn tali and fish molee. The least corrupt state in all of India, Kerala also boast a 93% literacy rate. As my friend Abi says, “There are many Indias.” I think Kerala might be my favorite one. I traveled here during my […]
And they schooled me every time
Today I taught the girls at Crescent Orphanage the basics of painting and invited them to explore their unique purpose and dreams for life. “My dream is to be a teacher. It is the most important job in the world.” […]
Check out this video of our Hearts of the World Calcutta workshop. It was shot at the Hope Foundation by our friends at Monkey Projects Studio. Enjoy! (Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
Tea, Tea Everywhere…
We leave the hot roads and impressive temples of Madurai and set off for Kerala. The drive will be long, over 10 hours, many of them at a slant, as we must cross a mighty mountain range to get there. The lush viridian jungle swallows us as we climb a winding switchback, sandwiched by drop […]
A Heart of Rain in Sadhana Forest
Shalev is the seven year old daughter of the founders of Sadhana Forest, a sustainable community who’s driving mission is to reforest 70 acres of severely eroded, arid land on the outskirts of Auroville. We hosted the workshop at the “Children’s Land” of Sadhana Forest, a plot of land allocated specifically for children to cultivate, […]
Hearts of the World, Chennai
“I want to help preserve the endangered Tamil language,” said P. Pattarasan, during our Hearts of the World workshop at S.S.S.P. orphanage in Tambaram, Chennai. “That is why I painted Kannadasan in my heart. Because he is a legendary poet and I want to be a successful poet also, so that I can save our language by […]
Giving Hands Inside a Loving Heart
What’s in your heart? Sundarban Orphanage in West Bengal was our third Hearts of the World workshop of the India Tour. My favorite response was from the founder of the workshop himself, Jalaluddin Gazi, a taxi driver who grew up in poverty. At age 7, to his despair, he was pulled from school due to lack of […]
I’m so excited to share this video about our first workshop on the Hearts of the World India Tour. We went to Bal Ashram in Varanasi, the oldest living city on earth to ask kids, “What’s in your heart?” For more videos and updates from the road visit our Facebook page Huzzah! (Source: https://www.facebook.com/)
Mr. Lotus Twenty-Nine
Meet Pankaj Bishnoi! He’s our driver, translator, videographer, Hindi teacher and new friend. Pankaj will be with us for our entire 105-day journey through India. Hailing from Haryana, India, his name means “Lotus Twenty-nine,” he can eat eight chapatis in a sitting and he likes Punjabi dancing and wild deer. He dislikes traffic cops, parking […]
Jhilimili, Jangal Mahal, India
“No foreigner has even been there,” said Gangaram, the president of Jhilimili who will be our guide. Another guy who frequented this region. told us, “The tribal people in Jhilimili eat burnt rats on a stick.” “I’ve seen the elephant gangs crush cars and homes and just last week they killed a man.” “Make sure […]
The Hearts of Kolkata
“Namaskar!” Says thirty little voices in unison, greeting me to their classroom. The meaning of Namaskar is ‘I greet the god in you.’ “Namaskar!” I shout back. We are conducting our third Hearts of the World workshop at Kasba Girls Home in Kolkata. We work in one room and with so many kids it’s a […]
The powerful fuel of passion
A shirtless man with a joyful face dressed in a lungi hands me a coconut he’s just chopped from his yard with his machete. His wife sits in the room, smiling at us with shy, curious glances. We are in a small village just outside of Kolkata visiting the father of the man with the […]