Hemani Pandya

What do I like to do when I am doing nothing? Learning and sharing it with others. Its just another way of saying that I am a teacher who is still learning. I teach yoga and other stuff like Russian language. I like to read. I also like to paint, it's my favourite hobby. Dancing is another passion. I share a lot of stuff that I learn, with children in my neighbourhood. We all do painting and craft work during holidays. This way we learn from each other, share our creativity and enhance it with each others help. I attended a three day workshop by (Art)ScienceBLR at Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education TIFR, Mumbai. I had gone there as a parent accompanying her son. I came as a chaperone and ended up as a participant.

After the introductions and "About Us" we were gradually led into the process of making a microscope. This was on the first day of the workshop. 18th Feb 2016.

We took a web-camera, disassembled it, foraged for some stuff in garbage bins, then assembled everything into a microscope. Everyone was making microscopes in teams. We all went looking for "suitable" parts with so much excitement. Never in my imagination or dreams had I seen myself opening garbage bins to seek stuff with which to make a microscope. The making of the microscope procedure got extended into day two of the workshop as well. On the second day we all gave "finishing touches" to our microscopes. Then came the ARDUINO. This time I was more of an observer than the doer. I had just heard the word a few times before. Every time I heard the word it sounded like some scary giant ogre of the techno land. Well, it is not so scary at all.