Students of class 10th had been given an activity to preserve a plant reproductive part of their choice, study its reproductive cycle, identify any changes in the natural reproduction cycle, and investigate on the reasons behind the change. They also were asked to ponder on how to preserve various species and how human interference can change their original life cycle as a part of life skill.
We wanted students to see the various manifestations of passion driven knowledge or skill and felt the need to highlight how niche occupations can emerge when a person strives towards achieving his/her passion.
As an extension of the activity we had a small talk with Snehal Sir who shared success story of a Scientist turned artist – Dr. Anagha Shinde.
Dr. Anagha while working on a herbarium project found her way towards her passion for art and flowers. She took her flowers all the way from a science classroom to an art studio. The journey took many turns, had a lot of improvisations from selecting flowers, pressing them using appropriate technique- mastering the skill of preservation, presenting the flowers on paper which would keep their original beauty intact, take care of them with their original colours over a longer period of time. This finally evolved the dried flowers into lovely petal girls.
Her passion created new records, connected her with people globally, and arrange workshops and exhibitions. Her petal girls also got appreciation from celebrities.
In their latest Endeavour, the flowers have once again channelized their way out of frames to jewelry and glassware.
Snehal Sir was a part of this entire transition. He shared her success story from Science technicality to an emerging Art which can be pursued as an occupation.
Students were astonished to see neighborhood flowers taking different shapes. They enjoyed guessing the flowers and showed lot of interest to learn about them more. They said,’ We never imagined what a dried flower, which is normally discarded, can offer us even after it is gone’. Anush from class 10th B gave vote of thanks.
The session was arranged to help students see beyond subject technicality and widen their scope of thoughts and creativity.
Even today the pressed flowers continue to impart their fragrance…
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