 Good morning everyone. Today my sharing will be how people help me to grow, how incidents help me to grow. So, first of all I thank you to Shavitri Bhavan and to all the team which has been organizing this special talks from us. So, I am from a very normal family background. My mother is a worker. I have studied in government schools and today I am working in Udevi school in Auroville as a principal. Sometimes even this I tell to my students it does not matter where we are studying. It does not matter whether you are in a rich school or private school or any other very rich school base. The more sincere I am in my studies I can become what I am now. So, this examples of myself I always share with my students. So, now I will start from my childhood. When my mother was pregnant she migrated to Pondicherry. So, she had some problem with her pregnancy. So, I think she was it was about seven months. So, there were still three four months to go that I had to be born. She had salt too much salt in her body. So, she had admitted in the GH in Pondicherry that is how she migrated to Pondicherry and she had to stay in the hospital for three four months taking treatment. So, she became one of the team. So, she became well, but then she also started helping the team the nursing team. It was in 1968. So, while I was while I had been born she was already one among the nursing team. So, there was a one herd nurse. Her name was Selvadi. So, she used to help my mom to get well. So, when I was born she gave me the name. So, my name is Dhava Chilvi. So, Selvi is part of that sister half of the sister name and Dhava is due to my mother's suffering. So, it is tapas in Tamil means to meditate. Selvi means to be young always to be young. The one who is called Kumari or miss. So, this is the name in Selvi. So, we sometimes call unmarried women Selvi and the name. So, my name is Dhava Chilvi. Now, only I realized that it is not that when the name was given I did not know. After when I came to Auroville and to research on name I knew that the name my name carries a particular value and how it came. So, then since then my mother started living in Pondicherry and there was a society guest house. It was getting started establishing. It is an ashram based guest house. So, where Nainaban and Ashramid was managing that guest house. So, my mother started working since then 1968. I was just a bond baby and we had the brothers. My brothers were there. So, we were growing up there and Nainaban used to take care of the family and we were there. So, I was growing in that atmosphere and our house was near where the reserve grew now. This was our house and we had to my mother had to go every day to society guest house which was near the beach park guest house where is now. So, we grew up and now I am coming to my childhood of maybe 8 year or 9 year or 10 year where I where I started growing up. So, when when I go to school I would say goodbye and Nainaban used to say there is a room. Priyama room is there which is mother and she remember this room. So, go say goodbye and go. This was simple instruction she used to give me. Then I would go there and sit for a few minutes then I go to school. So, this is how my connection to mother and share a window started and Nainaban used to also share stories of how she had connection with mother and how she had had a conversation with mother and how mother was guiding her and how she came to Pondicherry and Ashram through her father. So, these stories small small stories sometimes she used to share me. So, when I look back now Nainaban is a big inspiration to my life and then when I am taking my family members like my brother. So, in this time of the eras sometime we see men are more selfish they do not put women in front. But my experience is my brother being he studied in correspondence. He did not go through a regular education but he took care of me. So, when I remember one incident many many incidents are there but one when I finished my 10th standard I had to go to school. So, at that now we can apply online where we have in one application we can apply to all the schools. But then we had to go manually to apply each and every school. So, in Pondicherry maybe there were four five schools where we had to go manually apply get the place and again go. So, this my brother was happily doing it for me. So, making me in front putting me in front and he was always following me so that I grew. So, there was there is also one incident which was very touchy to me if I have even written a little story about it. When my brother was I was studying 5th standard I guess. So, we had to walk to my mother's place my mother's working place. So, we had to walk from like Sharguru know where is Sharguru now from that place to Roman Rolan street it is about four four five kilometers. So, once I told my brother I would like to go by myself. So, don't come with me I want to try. Then he said fine you can go I will sit in the library. So, there was a library on Parathy street. So, he was he went into the library and I started walking. As it is my first experience of walking by myself I was standing in front of each and every shop looking at the shops. I was trying to look continue to walk look continue. So, it took me a long time to reach my mother's place but I was enjoying all my way. So, then after this he came behind me he told everything I did whatever I did I he told me for me it was a puzzle you are sitting in the library how come you are telling all the incidents which I did. Then at that time I mean it was a lie but he said I was my body was in the library but actually I was following you in my spirit. This is the answer he gave me which I also trusted but now I knew he was following me. But this incident I always remember so that how much care people are taking. So, like this so many things happened which now I know it is a spiritual experiences. So, I would also like to share a few incidents where I had to be on my own and manage the situation. So, it was like college time. I was studying in Karakal. It was my first year D.A. So, my elder brother lives in Karakal. So, I had to I got an admission in Karakal college. It was about 10 days after I had I got admission in the college. So, I had all my new books on my cycle. I used to go by cycle from Kotticherry to Karakal where it was like 6 kilometers and I had all my new books in the cycle. I think it was July or the time when it rains. I was not prepared to get wet and I was coming after my college. It was maybe 5.30 and two other friends also came with me. We were all cycling and my cycle got my cycle did not work and it started raining. So, I could not paddle. I waited till the rain stopped but it did not stop. So, I had taken the courage to get wet. It is okay if my new books get wet but I just keep going to my house. So, I started pushing my cycle and came home. But this incident for me it was like a big thing. Young girl, new place, long distance. I had to decide what to be done. So, from where the courage came I did not know but I had taken the right decision even in spite of getting all my new books wet or me getting wet but the wise thing is to reach home in the evening. So, like this there were few incidents which happened where I realized some inner connection. Maybe not then when I think about now these things are quite a meaningful incidents to me. Then another incident same similar incident where I went abroad. My one of my friend invited to Germany. I went there and we are not supposed to work there but there was a person who had to go on a holiday for two weeks. So, this person asked me whether I can do a newspaper delivery job. So, to deliver the newspapers I had to start at 4.30 in the morning then finish by 6.30 in the morning. And again the same thing I had to cycle. There was a place where they have the newspaper and I had to take it and deliver it to the house. So, it is about 140 papers and I used to do that but just one paper the last paper I had to walk 10 minutes upward where there were no houses. Everywhere along the side forest but one house was at the end of the hill and after I delivered that I am my hand is empty no more newspapers. But just beside the house there was a viewing spot you can go and view I need to so beautiful. So, every day all the 16 days I would go and stand there and view that beautiful place in the morning and I came back. So, this whole newspaper delivering incident for me and I think about this you start with something heavy you end empty nothing inside and you start when it is dark I end in a light the lights are coming and I start down but I finish upstairs viewing all this beautiful nature. So, for me this was very meaningful and I never forget this in my lifetime. So, these are incidents which gave me courage and also to touch to have some touch in my inner connection. So, these are for me more important and value in my life. Then another I mean I am actually prepared with incidents I just would like to share all the incidents small small incidents where I really saw divine mother was with me. She was working through people through incidents and she was giving me courage through all this this is what today I have my sharing is about. So, in the same way once when I came from Germany I had to travel alone and I was so scared I did not want to travel alone by myself. Then we started my journey started in Switzerland Basel where I had to take a train to Singen and from Singen again another another train to Frankfurt from Frankfurt I had to take my flight. So, I was so scared to travel alone but as soon as I entered in the train at Basel I saw one Tamil Sri Lankan priest he used to work in in church I think Tamil spoken person with his family I was delighted to have this company. So, he came up to spot and up to Frankfurt then he left me in Frankfurt I was doing this check up know to care passport check ups and all that there I saw a person who did not look very how to say I would not really talk to him he looked a bit strange but then it happened to me that I had to sit next to him in the flight I was saying oh my god what is this but he was also a priest he gave me company this flight had to stop in Amsterdam because there was some problem so he actually the person who went with me and we were taking care of each other luggage we used to share our some of chatting and all that and then after in Sri Lanka he had to go and take another flight so he left me and I am traveling to Pondicherry by airplane and inside airplane someone is calling me Selvi with my name I was amazed because I didn't I didn't expect this then this person comes to my to Pondicherry where I knew so she I knew her very well she is traveling coincidentally on that particular day so then she accompanied me till Pondicherry so this is like I was scared but I had a strong prayer or I don't know I was scared but I I realized that I am not alone that is this incident told me that you are not alone you are always taken care yeah so this I always remember this I even have written a little short story on this called Vaiditunai Vaiditunai means on the way you have a company and somebody accompanies you so since I started till the end I had somebody or other to be with me this was a wonderful thing now this was all when during my studies or during my stay in Pondicherry then in 1991 I married I married and I came to Auroville so in Auroville we started living in in the nursery next to Minakchiaka so when I came to Auroville I started living in the nursery and Minakchiaka was next to my neighbor so as soon as I came she was giving me a task which till today I do she said mother has given me given names for flowers so you find out 550 flowers and the identification of mother so this was my first knowledge of flowers I knew there are flowers but I did not know they carry the name different name from mother so I was trying to find out the names till today if I don't know a name I try to find I try to go into the mother's flowers book I always try to keep so at least 100 maybe 100 150 flowers she has given a lot I think about 800 names but I know a little bit again and again I'm trying to search because mother has spoken a lot about flowers and one thing what she has said is they are more receptive than us so you can we can use them to get the receptivity as a medium so sometime when I would like to pray for harmony pray for purity pray for protection so I always use that image within myself either I take a flower in the hand or I close my eyes I imagine as if I'm offering these flowers to mother which really helps me so this was Minakchiaka started this work with me so for me the people are the instruments mother is nowhere divine mother I mean divine mother is nowhere divine mother is within us within me within you within all the people who I meet within all the incidents who I who occur to me so this is how I I am connecting my life on day-to-day work so like that there are so many people in Auroville in Pondicherry who has contributed to my growth like Anandi who lives in transformation she used to come and take me to all the yoga classes ashtanga yoga every week twice she would drive to my house she would say come let's go to the class so this helped me to keep my to keep me fit and when I was carrying a baby she used to come all the way my home she was singing devotional songs not to me to my daughter so the friendship which I had made meaning to me by these incidents it was like not just chatting your friend with someone it's not for just chatting or sharing your food or sharing your shopping experience it is much more than that so when sometimes with my neighbor I go for a walk or my husband Palani and my daughter sometimes when we take a walk in Auroville we take a small message that day message which I got in my through my email mother's message so we speak about that we try to understand what the message actually means to me what it delivers and did I have the same experience that particular day or previously and how I can change the incident by having this message so this conversation helps us to grow it is meaningful when when I grow my friend and when my friend grows me so I always we always share within our family or I strongly believe whoever in in front of me apart from negativity or positivity that person should help me grow and I should help him grow this is the purpose of my life that is how I so if I can't be in harmonies with my family members with my friends with the neighbors who are living it how can I harmonize the whole world so any small thing I should start with myself any small change which I want to see in others first it should be it should start from me so this is how my connection with my family members and my neighbors so I always try to look at my mistakes even if there is some dish how many between us the first thing which I do is to look into myself what change in me would bring the harmony so this is how I have taken things in lead so now comes my school and how I gained my knowledge in teaching my work experience so I started working in uh nutrition from 1991 so there there was a person uh England person her name was Greta Jackson she was also working there as a main coordinator in a nutrition school now it is called IKM so she taught me many things which I am now carrying out as a principal like how to work on timetable how to do substitute how to make the class more interesting so she used to have work called inset which is in service training she used to gather all of us and we used to work on a math problem how to deliver this problem in in front of the children so she was also my inspiration and she had to leave once or away she had left or away but she started working in Gujarat with some other institution some schools so she actually invited me there she paid for the ticket and she asked me to assist her teacher training workshops so it was like a few teacher training workshops where I assisted her through which I gained how to teach teachers which actually helps me in today's life like when I am a principal of a school I also need to know how teachers would work being myself a teacher is one thing but being a responsible person for many other teachers is another thing so this Greta Jackson and Heidi Watts who is now in united states she used to also come every year to Auroville where we had workshops among all the Auroville teachers 10 days in a year so we were all together transition teachers the bandam teachers ourselves and then she also sponsored me to go to united states for an training program in 1994 I was there in Antioch for about three four months where I had learned different styles of teaching so this this my work is my passion to learn this from these people added value to my teaching so I can go on tell about people and how they helped me and how mother has guided them to guide me so when I came there was once here in Auroville they wanted to give mother and Sherwood was education to newcomers there was a in entry service whenever we go they ask questions like what did you read what do you know about mother like that so I was thinking about this how we can inspire local people or the one who cannot read also should have a chance to read or to hear about mother's work and Auroville and all that so Surya Gandhi who works in dental clinic I shared some of my thoughts with her so we both were thinking and we created a way of learning and we work together so we had done a few workshops on this at a time we handled about 20 25 people they were from village they were from some of the students so what we did was we collected simple books of mother and share a window and Auroville maybe 50 100 books and we had a place like a hall we arranged all the books in a nicely manner like maybe a form like a circular or something and we also had arranged a lot of flowers then we also arranged a lot of craft work materials like color papers scissors real flowers jasmine all that and then we called we invited the local people and we told we started with a few minutes of silence and they can take any book the book which they're attracted to and read the book for about 20 minutes they can read if they don't know to read they can take books which have only picture they can just look at pictures mother's picture or share windows photos like that after 20 minutes for about one hour we don't speak no one speaks to anyone we only go and do the activity what are the activity whatever activity we feel related to or even if there is no relation but we choose something we try to do and if people cannot do craft work if people cannot do embroidery they can also go and make a garland that is why I have some thread and some flowers after we have done all the work whatever we had read in connection and thinking about that we do we carry out some work for about an hour then we come and share our reading what we have understood so the sharing after the experience of reading and being quiet the sharing was very valuable normally when you read and immediately you share they're not receptive they talk to each other or they make noise they don't focus their attention in a circle but after the strong experience of being quiet and carrying out some work and thinking of their reading the sharing was very meaningful even 20 people till the last person completed the sharing we were all quiet we were all listening so this we have I learned it working with Surya Gandhi and we both had done this work with some of the villages some of the students and this was also for me very important where at the same time we had 20 different learning outcome from each one of us where we had shared and the school which I am working now I am working in Udhavi school I have been teaching from grade 1 to 10 so I would like to share a little bit about my teaching style in my classroom so whenever I have my students in front of me I feel they are my strength I am not alone and I value their strength so much if I want to do some refinements refinements in them I always include their their input I ask them what differently we can do how differently we can carry out this work for example simple things like keeping the classroom neat and clean and small children know they don't know that very well unless we teach them so I give them like let's say our bags need to be put in line how we can do they give some ideas and then carry out one or two days but then again they make a mess then how I do I ask them please come out let's stand in front of our class look at the class look at the classroom see what do you see I ask when these are like seven year old so they are they say this is what I see bags are in different place my books are not in the right place board is not clean whatever they observe then I tell okay now five minutes everybody does one work we finish then they do it and here I show them different model one is to carry out all together at once and some other model could be I don't want to be disturbed with my class I am carrying out my class but everyone makes one change while my class is happening in the end of the class the change completely the change is happening the whole classroom is in shape so this is about day-to-day activity and also how to practice valuable sharing so there was one time I had a class children were not friendly with each other so there I wanted to practice love and kindness and I asked my children that we would like to learn and practice love and kindness so let's start having one person in mind every day so if I have like 20 students I had picked up one who is a very naughty person I told today we are practicing love and kindness with this person which means if that person does a mistake we forgive or give importance to that person during snack time during lunch time you ask him to go first so I had to also tell in which way we can help the person that the person feels he is taken care so not not just be love and kind that word does not mean anything to the kids so we need to give a little guideline which I always did and it worked so after practicing this somehow the root behavior of the children slowly changes in the end they become friends of each other so this was one of the thing I always tried to to work in my classroom so I have to share one another thing being in Udhavi school today my biggest inspiration is Mr. Sanjeev Agarwal who passed away since I came to Auroville he has been my friend my Anna he helped me in in many of my work so he was my mentor even when I used to work in ICAM and in Udhavi I always shared my teaching experience he was guiding me he would always tell what could have been different or he appreciated what was what he liked about and yeah today he is not there he is the one who who took care of Udhavi school so now it is with us and I also strongly feel inspirited he is there with us so by these examples how I would like to see my life when I look back at my life I see people behind me I see incidents behind me instead of seeing just myself so all day today small small incidents small small experiences with all these people made me strong made me grow and made me learn and I strongly believe this is the divine mother's force which guides through my family through my daughter through my husband through my friends and through all these people and through all these incidents so this is what makes me my life meaningful thank you