January 28 - 5th February

Tree of Life Festival 2008
Nature, Chennai, Us

What would happen to urban landscape without trees? As people who live in the city, we know that the burst of leaves and blossom that trees experience adds colour to our lives, though we do not often notice and acknowledge. The Tree of Life festival is an annual festival conducted by Prakriti Foundation that enables people in Chennai to connect to trees and the environment that sustains them through art, story, performance and workshops. We have planned several events in the Tree of Life festival 2008 to take place from Jan 28-Feb 5.

Schedule
Monday January 28
* Spinning on the Charkha and Gandhi stories Besant Theosophical School - V.R.Devika
* Story telling by Jeeva Raghunath in Shankara Vidyashramam, by Chandra in Balamandir
* International Puppet Show "Pocusueno" from Spain in association with Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust and Teamwork films New Delhi - at 12 noon for children and at 7 pm for public at Museum Theatre

Tuesday January 29
* Spinning on the Charkha and Gandhi stories at Mrs.YGP School by V.R.Devika
* Story telling sessions by Jeeva Raghunath at Padma Sheshadri School, TP Road, Sonali Punjabi at Vidyodaya, Chandra at Navbharath Maticulation school
* Puppet show by Brigitte Revelli at Alliance Francaise at 12 noon
* International Puppet Show "Rutinas" from Spain in association with Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust and Teamworkfilms New Delhi at 10.30 am and 7 pm at Museum Theatre
* "Tree Temple", a talk at Apparao Galleries, Wallace Gardens

Wednesday Jan 30
* Story telling in schools by Jeeva Raghunath at Sri Shankara Senior secondary school, Sonali Punjabi at PSBB Millenium School, Chandra at Sankalp
* Puppet show by Brigitte Revelli at SOS Children's Village at 6 pm
* "Gandhi and communication" with film clippings by V.R.Devika at Kalakshetra
* "Nature and Architecture" talk by Murad Ismaili at Apparao Galleries at 7 pm

Thursday Jan 31
* Spinning on the Charkha and Gandhi stories session at Sri Shankara Senior Secondary School and 1.30 pm at Mylai Karpagavalli School by V.R.Devika
* Story telling by Jeeva Raghunath at Bala Vidya Mandir, Chandra at Avvai Home

Friday Feb 1
* Spinning on the Charkha and Gandhi Stories session at AMM school by V.R.Devika
* Story telling by Jeeva Raghunath at Besant Theosophical School, by Chandra at Vasantham special school
* Ayurvedic tree planting in streets of Wallace Gardens by Asan Memorial School children
* Inauguration of six public sculptures by Apparao Galleries

Saturday Feb 2
* Tree walk with Nizhal at Guindy National Park 7 am
* Sand sculpture contest on Elliot's beach 4 pm

Sunday Feb 3
* Bird Race with Madras Naturalists Society "Dawn to Dusk"

Tuesday Feb 5
* World Premier of "The Absent Lover" by Preeti Vasudevan's Thresh.

www.treeoflifefestival.com

Spinning on the Charkha and Gandhi Stories Sessions and Story telling session in Schools.
January 28 – February 1st 2008

Spinning on the Charkha
Cultural activist, educationist and a Gandhi devotee V.R.Devika, (currently pursuing her PHd on Gandhi and his communication at the Department of Philosophy, University of Madras), of The Aseema Trust will demonstrate spinning on the Charkha and tell Gandhi stories to Children in schools.

Story telling with Trees as the theme in schools by Jeeva Raghunath, Sonali Punjabi , Emily Parrish and Chandra.
Jeeva Raghunath is a professional story teller who comes from an artistic family and has created a niche for herself as a story teller par excellence.

Sonali Punjabi is a house wife and businesswoman who has made story telling her passion.

Chandra is a well known Tamil theatre actor who took her training and became a professional actor at koothuppattarai theatre group. She specialises in working with special children and uses her theatrics to a great advantage in telling stories. She also teaches meditation and is a healer.

Emily Parrish studied Drama and Theatre Studies at the University of Kent, England. Fascinated by cross cultural theatre and the ancient art of storytelling in a contemporary performance context, she took a storytelling apprenticeship with Dr Vayu Naidu. She now works for Vayu Naidu Company as Storyteller and Education Co-ordinator, performing and leading workshops at schools, universities, festivals, museums and refugee centres in London and beyond. She has been on sabatical in India since July 07. She spent the summer living in a Ladakhi village and her journey has now brought her to Tamil Nadu where she is working at the Kattaikkuttu School.

Participating Institutions : Shankara Vidyashramam, Navbharath Matriculation School, Balavidyamandir, Besant theosophical high school, Padma Sheshadri Schools, Bala Mandir, Navbharath Matriculation School, Sankalp, Avvai Home, Vasantham home for special children, Vidyodaya, Kalakshetra, Besant Arundale School, Mylai Karpagavalli School, AMM School, Asan Memorial, Mrs.YGP School and Vanilla.

Pocosueño
A puppet show from Spain
12 noon and 7 pm, 29th January 2008
Museum Theatre

Company: Periferia Teatro - Murcia, Author and Stage Director: Juan Manuel Quiñonero, Scenography: Mª Socorro García y Rafael Escudero , Music: Dayton Allemann, Length of the show: 50’

In the country of the "Sleep well", King Dormouse and Queen Marmot are desperate, their daughter, the little princess Littlesleep, can not sleep because she has nightmares. When she dreams she see monsters that scare her so much that her crying awake the whole kingdom.

The King and the Queen call the most brave warriors and the most intelligent scholars to finish with the princess's monsters, but no one achieve to beat them.

Would there be someone in the kingdom capable of finishing the nightmares of Little sleep?


Rutinas (Routines)
La Punctual, Barcelona
A Puppet Show from Spain
At 10.30 am and 7 pm
29th January 2008
at The Museum Theatre, Panthean Road

Director: Eugenio Navarro

A humourous show inspired in the popular European tradition - played out by glove puppets with many characters and situations including Spanish bull fighters, crocodiles and much more using the universal language of puppet theatre.

Tree Walk
Saturday February 2nd
Guindy National Park

In association with Nizhal

Nizhal, an organization committed to promoting tree culture in urban areas, has been regularly organizing tree walks in different areas in Chennai to bring about an awareness of its rich flora. These walks help to foster a relationship with the trees that are seen around us in parks and gardens, line our streets and roads, and benefit us in numerous ways. Besides learning to identify trees, walkers can learn unique and interesting facts about each tree, its nativity and uses.

Details
The Tree Walk at the Guindy National Park will be on Feb 2nd ( Saturday) between 7 and 8 .15 a.m. Walkers are requested to carry a bottle of water, a small note pad and a cap. To report 15 mins earlier positively( at 6.45 am) outside the Children's Park Ticket Counter.

The group strength must be limited to 30 max. Participants may register with us by sending an email to prakritifoundation@gmail.com or calling 9840098495

A contribution of Rs.50/head towards Nizhal is requested by Nizhal.

Sand Castle Contest
2nd February 2008, 4 pm at Elliot’s Beach Besant Nagar

To add fun to being with nature, to feel sand in the fingers as a tribute to nature and to celebrate the long beach we are blessed with in Chennai and to enjoy the sea breeze and to kindle creativity in play, a sand castle contest on the theme of nature and us is organised as part of the tree of life festival 2008 on Elliot’s beach in Besant Nagar.

Groups of three are encouraged to participate. They have to register first with Prakriti Foundation by sending an email to prakritifoundation or calling Vasantha Parthasharathy on 9841009927. The groups have to bring their own showel and bucket and be ready to start work by 4 pm on the beach in the designated area. A team of judges will declare one winner.

Puppet Shows
in association with
The Alliance Francaise, Chennai

Brigitte Revelli, a French Puppetteer has been coming to India for long and has teamed up groups in Kerala to produce some remarkable puppet shows using shadow, gloves and string modes. She has showcased her work earlier in Chennai at the The Other Festival which was co produced by Prakriti Foundation.

She now has teamed up with the group Nigalchee in Madurai and will perform "UNTIL LIFE..."

The central figure present on stage during the whole play is a tree. Its trunk is in tree form. Its top (branches and leaves) are represented with a round screen of 2m diameter where the shadows projection will take place. This round screen will represent alternatively the cosmos, our planet and the leaves of the tree. The scenes with masked and real actors take place around the tree, (black light, shadows and masks sequences alternatively.)

The story : A crow comes to visit the famous beautiful blue planet. With wonder he discovers its creatures. Among them, a man full of arrogance. He neglects the talk of trees (fairy tales, mythology inspired by the forest), takes advantage, kills creatures around him. A snake scares him and before being killed, gives him a lesson that he neglects too... Progressively, the man’s actions lead him into a complete loneliness. Water and air become also unavailable, polluted. Breathing itself become impossible. Where to escape ?

An answer or hope comes from an unexpected and humble side....
The end is hopeful with love

Shows
12 noon for school children at Alliance Francaise, College Road. 29th January
6 pm for children at SOS Children’s Village, Tambaram, 30th January
6.30 pm at Kalakshetra, Thiruvanmiyur 31st January

Bird Race
In association with
Madras Naturalists Society

3 rd February 2008

What is a Bird Race? The Bird Race is a dawn to dusk event where teams of bird-watchers will spend the entire day birding in and around a metropolitan area (within a specified geographical limit to its outer boundaries). The race ends in the evening with all teams meeting at a suitable venue over dinner, an interactive tête-à-tête, and the prize-ceremony. The participants will try and record as many species of birds as possible and learn about the finer points of bird-watching from the experts and the experienced. While there are strict rules there is a fun element to this exercise, which has helped stimulate enormous interest in bird-watching as a highly popular hobby. The event has given us a good idea of the nature of the region's birdlife and helped build up support for environment and nature conservation.

Who can participate? All interested birdwatchers and nature lovers are welcome to participate in it. The Event is open to all. Age and sex no bar. Beginners/novice birdwatchers are welcome. Teams from schools, colleges, organization, institutes, corporates are welcome.

What are the rules? Participants will have to form teams (each team will consist of 04 (four) persons). Groups are free to constitute their own team but must ensure at least one is a proficient birder, familiar with the region's birdlife, and who can be the team captain. Each Team will be provided with a Bird Logbook (consisting of a checklist of all species of birds recorded within the geographical limits of the concerned city's BirdRace) with appropriately marked columns for reporting observations. Each team remains as a single unit for the entire day and up to the evening programme. The team may, if it so wishes, employ the services of a driver for their vehicle (if they should choose a site that involves driving). The driver may or may not be a bird-watcher.

Why should I participate? This event will provide a wonderful opportunity for all the birdwatchers to get together, catch-up with each other, exchange notes and talk bird lore and re-seal working relationships.

Where can I get more information? You can visit www.indiabirdraces.com for more information.