Mahi Kaiwar, a BSS alumni, completed grades 3 to 7 with us.
She fondly recalls her times at BSS and all that she did and learnt at school.
Mahi went on to complete a Bachelor of Arts in Literature after finishing school, and is now entering the animation industry as a concept artist.
I studied at Bangalore Steiner School from 3rd grade to 7th grade. I went on to complete my B.A. in literature with a history minor and am now entering the animation industry as a concept artist. I recall my years at BSS with deep fondness– the flaps under the tents were a goldmine of toads of all sizes, the big mango tree next to the chicken coop was our pirate ship, and the campus and community wasn’t just our school, but a home.
One aspect of studying at BSS that has had a lasting impact on the way that I view the world was the main lesson block system and the way the curriculum was structured. We never learned in isolation; instead, we immersed ourselves in the interconnectedness of art, literature, science, music, history, theatre, and more—engaging with ideas through a wide range of disciplines. I remember learning about the Renaissance in “the Age of Discovery” block and perspective drawing in art class around the same time in 7th grade, tying together the cultural shifts of the era in our academics and art practice. This approach of exploring many angles allowed for a deeply contextualised education, while also placing equal value on various fields of theory and practice. As someone on the brink of entering a highly specialised workforce, my years at BSS remain a plea to take a step back every once in a while. They laid the foundations of my relationship with art, and are a steady reminder that my work is part of a whole.
On a completely different note, my years at BSS were defined by a very distinctive social milieu that played a formative role in my early years. The community was close knit, with students, teachers, staff and parents forming relationships of support and care. Classes were very small, with my classmates becoming partners in shenanigans and tomfoolery for life. However, the very same environment that created a sense of belonging, also resulted in challenging social and personal hurdles, along with the complex moral questions that came with them. Our class teacher(s) actively worked with us through these hurdles– without taking punitive or authoritarian positions– allowing the messiness of early adolescence to become a space for stepping into the other’s feet and learning, for self reflection and change.
While my time there– with the “nature walks”, the beautiful campus and all its creatures – built a Romantic appreciation of nature in me, the school’s emphasis on practice and doing cultivated my relationship with nature in terms of labour and environmental conditions as well. We tilled the earth, planted seeds, watered and weeded, harvested, cooked our food and ate it. We cut down bamboo, carved it into knitting needles, and knitted sweaters with them to wear on cold winter mornings. Our engagement with various stages of production nurtured an acute recognition and respect towards the centrality of the environment and the labour that goes behind everything we consume, while also leaving me with many handy skills and the desire to learn more.
My years at BSS gave me a trove of dear memories and were integral to my development as a person. They helped me form an intimate relationship with my work, in that I don’t view who I perceive myself to be and what I do as separate. They fostered an understanding of the interconnectedness of things, whether in art, relationships, the environment or the self. For me, the school was a breath of fresh air in a world where it is far too easy to isolate and externalise.
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