Dr. Montessori's Time in India Part 1

There is not much information about Dr. Montessori's time in India.  Recently, I stumbled upon an article on the web written by Dr. Gardner.  The article is in two parts and I have read them both.  It made me recall my experience of visiting a school that was founded by Leena Sarabhai under the guidance of Dr. Montessori who stayed with her for many years.

Leena Sarabhai and Myself

In 2008 when Stephen and I were in India, we made several phone calls to find out if there were any Montessori Institutes or schools in the area where we were staying.  Fortunately someone from Bangalore gave us the name of a Montessori school in Ahmedabad.  Stephen and I decided to go there for an observation.  It is called the Shreyas Foundation.  We were taken by surprise to see a beautiful wooded campus in the middle of the daily hub of Ahmedabad.  We were greeted by a pair of peacocks as we walked towards the sparingly visible building. 

"I have been here before!" I said to Stephen and he laughed saying, "In your dreams."  No, I really had been here in 1996 with a classmate of mine, Deepali, who had attended this school.  She took me there to show me her school and in particular meet her teacher who still teaches here.

Leena Sarabhai and Stephen

We received a very warm welcome by the office staff and were told that 'Madam'(Dr. Montessori), herself had designed the school building and the campus.  We were given the opportunity to visit two classrooms that were set up by Dr. Montessori.  Observations from these two classrooms are recorded in her books, The Absorbent Mind and The Discovery of The Child. It was an amazing experience and we were eager to meet the founder of the school,  Leena Sarabhai.  We took an auto ricksha to her residence and were fortunate to spend some time with her.  We sat by Leena Sarabhai and listened to fabulous stories of Dr. Montessori and her venture of starting  the Shreyas Foundation.   She held our hands and told us to come to India and that there was much to be done.  

Leena Sarabhai invited us to join her at the school the next week for a cultural program.  Stephen and I took a seat with little students in one of the open air auditoriums where young students won our hearts by their performance.  Stephen has a recording of our conversations with Leena Sarabhai. 

Leena Sarabhai's Garden

It has been four years since we visited Shreyas and hope we will have another chance to visit again.  I am confident that we will be able to respond to this invitation towards serving little people who need us the most and truly there is much to be done.

Dr. Montessori's time in India.... to be continued in Part 2