Safety 101

Aruna Sankaranarayanan

(First published in THE HINDU, Sunday Magazine, on 5 May 13)

Even though the rape of the physiotherapy student last December created a justifiable furor nationwide, our country, lamentably, remains unsafe for women and children.  Since December, at least seven cases of rape on children have been reported in the nation’s capital alone, the latest being a five-year old girl who was abducted and abused by a neighbour.  Foremost, on every parent’s mind, is our children’s safety.  Yet we cannot keep them under our watchful gaze 24/7 as this would stifle their development.  How can parents protect children without thwarting their natural quest towards independence?

America’s leading security specialist and expert on the management and prediction of violent behaviour, Gavin de Becker, has an impressive array of clients ranging from governments to the CIA, corporations to celebrities and women’s shelters to schools.  He offers parents the following guidelines on how to keep children secure as they gradually navigate the world for themselves.

Firstly, parents must trust their intuition regarding safety.  Nature, de Becker argues, has wired us with a primitive brain that can smell out danger.  However, our “new brain,” as he refers to the logical and rational aspects of our mind, often ignores the warning signals picked up by our “old brain.”  For example, your son, Ankit, has had a Maths tutor for the past eight months.  From an ‘F’, the tutor, who says he gives tuition to cover his engineering college fees, has raised Ankit’s grade to a ‘B.’  The tutor has readily established rapport with 11-year old Ankit.  When your son got his marks, he treated him to a movie.  However, you suddenly feel uneasy as the two of them have now started going for movies regularly and last week, the tutor took your son to a friend’s house to ‘chill.’  You don’t approve of these rendezvous, but you are scared of antagonizing Ankit and his tutor.  What should do you do?

Are you responding to a gut instinct or are you engaging in typical parental anxiety?  de Becker cautions that worry actually jeopardizes our child’s safety.  When we worry needlessly or feel fearful most of the time, “there is no signal left for when it’s really needed.”  While worries are based on imagined or remembered events, our intuition kicks in when we are confronted by actual risks.  When we feel uneasy, de Becker advises us to ask ourselves if we are “responding to something in the environment or to something in my imagination.”  Whereas we worry in response to imagined or remembered events, our intuition is based on environmental cues.  Analyzing the situation, you realize that the tutor is overstepping his role and you have a right to step in.  You do not want your son ‘chilling’ with the tutor’s friends.  Moreover, if the tutor gets offended when you curtail these interactions, then he is more likely to have dubious intentions.  de Becker sagely tells parents that we should not fear offending others when our child’s safety is at stake.

He also questions the wisdom of the Red-Riding Hood dictum of not encouraging children to talk to strangers.  Only by allowing our wards to talk to the waiter at a restaurant, the cashier at a shop and the receptionist at the dental clinic, can we equip children with people-reading skills so that they can sense discomfort or danger.  Moreover, if a child gets lost at a mall or carnival, he is more likely to be able to try and find you if he seeks help as opposed to keeping quiet.  Likewise, children and women in vulnerable situations should approach someone, preferably a woman, for help instead of waiting for someone to come to our aid.  The chances that you or your child will pick a ‘shady’ character are much slimmer than a person with unsavoury intentions looking for susceptible people in sensitive situations.

Parents should avoid giving children blanket dictums like “You must always listen to elders.”  In fact, our children are less vulnerable if they feel that they have a right NOT to listen to an adult’s instructions be it an uncle, teacher or coach if she feels uncomfortable; instead, your child should be able to speak to you about it.  For most crimes where children are targets, like kidnapping and sexual molestation, the perpetrator typically has to take the child to another place to commit the crime; if the child refuses to accompany an adult, he should not later evoke your dismay.  When we go to crowded places, we should have a contingency plan of meeting at a particular place if someone gets lost.

Finally, we shouldn’t make our kids too fearful or brazen as both extremes can prevent a child from responding to actual fear signals.  We need to inform children of potential dangers without feeling that certain topics are taboo.  However, we also need to shield them from the relentless onslaught of sensational television news whose graphic images can numb a child’s sensibilities.

In the recent past, the world has had its share of senseless violence.  From bombings in Bangalore to Boston, and the rape of the little child in Delhi, our lives seem ever so fragile.  In such volatile times, we need to have open channels of communication with our children.  Even though we cannot shield them under our protective wings forever, it is mandatory that we equip children with lessons in safety.

(The author is Director, PRAYATNA.)

Nature Knows No boundaries

By Anagha Bharat

The previous month’s book club of PRAYATNA at Chennai took a lot of children by surprise.  Instead of entering as a group, they were stopped at the entrance and asked for their visas.  From one room to the next, they had to wait in a queue to collect their PRAYATNA passports with their stamped visas from the officer in charge, played to perfection by a staff member.  The children were then divided into two groups, the east and the west side and they were made to sit accordingly.

The book club started with a discussion on boundaries, starting with state boundaries and extending to national and international boundaries.  Children were then told the importance of having a passport and getting a visa for migration.  The book chosen was ‘A Child’s Garden’ by Michael Foreman, which had a weighty theme, but one with a universal message of hope transcending barriers.  The story was about a young boy who nurtures a plant which creeps into his part of town, even though its roots lie across a barbed wire fence, symbolizing man-made boundaries.  Soldiers from the other side of town had placed the fence between the two places.  But the vine, which has its seeds on the other side is unmindful of the boundary and grows all around.  Unaware of the partition, its tendrils and branches grow uncontained.  The boy tends to the plant lovingly and the leaves eventually spread far and wide, and across the entire barbed wire fence, covering it completely.  Under the thick canopy of the vine, the wired fence ceased to exist, the boundaries disappeared and people were brought together by nature.

The theme, ‘Nature Knows No Boundaries’ was explored.  The board was filed with pictures depicting four different events that occurred around the world- the partition of India, the tsunami of 2004, the earthquake that rocked India and its neighbouring countries in 2011 and the Berlin Wall.  Children were told the story of India’s partition and how the boundaries of India and Pakistan were laid.  Two natural calamities, the earthquake in Sikkim in 2011 and tsunami that affected countries off the Indian Ocean in 2004 were taken up for discussion.  Both these disasters brought out the fact that when nature strikes, it does not restrict itself to any particular area or country.  Nature does not belong to any one in particular, neither does it confine itself to any one area.  The next story told was a positive one- of how boundaries can be broken.  The Berlin Wall, demolished in 1989 united a country and its people.  This was followed by an activity where the Berlin Wall was recreated in the room with furniture and each child belonging to either ‘East’ or ‘West Germany’ had to feel what it is to be in ‘my side of the country vs. the other side of the country’.

Children were then shown two role plays which explored how people claim common property to be ‘mine and yours’.  The kids then role played scenarios given to them where they showed how there are fights over which seat belongs to whom in class or on the bus.  The session ended with some food for thought.  What happens if a mango tree in your compound sheds its fruits in your neighbour’s compound?  I pose to you the same question, who does the mango belong to?

(Anagha Bharat is a special educator at PRAYATNA.)

Louis Braille

Sriranjani H J

It was a fine afternoon and children came in with lots of expectations to the final book club session this academic year.  To begin, we shared biographical information of blind people who had made considerable achievements across domains as John Milton, Hellen Keller, Marla Runyan and Stevie Wonder.  Then, we told them to identify an object from a sack, blind-folded and I heard one child retort, “What! That’s so easy!”  And to our amazement, easy it was!  Not one child or teacher failed to identify the object.  After this activity, I began to wonder if the children would really understand or empathize with the book, Louis Braille – Lives and Times.

When I began reading, I observed curious eyes and mouths wide opened with shock and disbelief as the story of Louis Braille unfolded.  It was indeed painful to learn how Louis Braille became blind and to actually see a picture of the possible sharp tools that he played with as a child.  Not one child murmured or whispered a comment.  They were fascinated by the method blind people use to read and wanted to try the method for themselves.  Each child came up to the board and felt the first letter of their name created in Braille.  The teachers were equally enthusiastic to experience how blind people read and we went a step ahead and wrote down our entire names in Braille.  Just as learning to read a visual script is a skill, so to is reading Braille.

We ended the session with an inspiring quote by HelenKeller, “All the word is full of suffering.  It is also full of overcoming.”  We then said our goodbyes and there were some groans when we told children that we would meet next in June!  It was so uplifting for us to know that we have made a difference for children by conducting the book club sessions for the past two years.  Their responses motivate us to come back next academic year and kindle their enthusiasm further.

(Ranjani is a Special Educator at PRAYATNA.)

A Truly Happy ‘New’ Year

Aruna Sankaranarayanan

First published in THE HINDU, Sunday Magazine, 7 April 13

Unlike the end of a calendar year, the end of a school year holds great psychological promise for children. Even though we adults make solemn resolutions on New Year’s Eve, like working out regularly or not yelling at our children, these noble intentions usually fade away with the morning’s hangover. Before we know it, old habits rise to the fore again. One reason we find it difficult to stick to resolutions is that circumstances do not change with the dawn of a new calendar year. The same humdrum routine resumes and the thrust to be a slightly different person dissipates like fizz from an uncorked champagne bottle.

However, for children, the transition from one class to the next is indeed significant. Summer holidays are much more than a vacation for them. A different teacher, change of classmates and new textbooks excite children with the possibility of starting afresh. We adults must be careful that the baggage from the previous year is not carried forward. For example, Devi’s Maths teacher in Class V believes that she is hopeless at the subject, so the child fervently wishes to make a favourable impression on another teacher. Vinod, a loner in Class VII, is tired of being called “bookworm” and hopes there will be a few like-minded boys in his new section.

Children get slotted into unflattering categories rather easily. Almost every class has a clown, a dud, a klutz, a nerd, a sneak and a goody-goody. As most labels are superficial, schools must ensure that a child does not carry an ignominious tag right from grade one all the way to 10. I still remember being put into B-division during PE class based on a single running race. This was in Std. I. Children in A-division were given umpteen opportunities on the athletic field, while B-group was only allowed to march and take part in the drill. What was even more shocking about this system was that a child could not upgrade himself/herself to A-division. When I was in Grade IX, the school got a new PE instructor who abolished this hierarchy of opportunity. Suddenly, B-divisioners were screaming with glee as they attempted high jump (never mind that most of us did not clear the bar) or held a basketball, possibly for the first time in our school lives.

When children move up a grade, the new teacher should try to form his/her own impression of each child instead of relying on reports from the previous teacher. After getting to know children for about a month, he/she can ask the earlier teacher for opinion and inputs. But, even after learning about a child’s academic history, teachers must provide children a chance to begin anew.

Parents may use the summer holidays to help children leave negative experiences from the previous year behind. The vacation offers an opportunity for rejuvenation. What can parents do to reaffirm that a new beginning is in store? Parents should help children break free from the shackles of over-scheduling. Holidays do not serve their purpose if they are spent shuttling from tuition to camp to class. By slowing the pace of frenzied activity, we can give children time to unwind and untangle the knots in their heads.

Summer is also an ideal time to provide children with psychological space. You don’t have to nag Rakesh to have a bath, eat on time or finish his homework. As far as possible, let children work out their own rhythm. Summer also provides parents with downtime from nagging, and can be cathartic for fraught nerves. As you don’t have the tension of schoolwork, you can bond with your child on a deeper emotional level. Instead of always ‘telling’ the child what to do, you can actually ‘talk’ to your child. As conversations meander and drift, you may get refreshing and surprising insights into their worlds.

A big question that haunts parents, especially those working, is how to keep their wards occupied in the summer. By and large, put the onus on the child. Let her pick her activities. Children may try out new skills and pursue passions. Cooking, karate, calligraphy, ballet, skating — the child may venture into uncharted terrain without pressure on outcomes. If your child is bored, encourage him/her to form clubs with friends, collect titbits and trivia, start a community initiative like introducing recycling in the neighbourhood or spreading awareness of pedestrian’s rights. Children should also have ample time to play and summer affords them an opportunity to befriend visitors. Friendships forged with children from other places can lead to meaningful and diverse relationships. If your child is an avid reader, allow the child to read books of his/her choice.

What about academic work? Should parents make sure that kids stay abreast of their school lessons? If a child has specific difficulties, the stress-free time of summer may be used to catch up on certain skills. However, any academic class should be restricted to a maximum of five hours a week. All children, especially those who struggle in school, need time and space to recharge, recreate and reinvent themselves. When children resume school, parents and educators should ensure that “The old order changeth, yielding place to new.”

(The author is Director, PRAYATNA.)

What You See Is Not What Is

By Anagha Bharat

Six years ago, PRAYATNA in Chennai started its book club with children’s most favoured author, Roald Dahl.  A favourie of the author himself, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was read out then.  After all these years, PRAYATNA went back to the old master.  This time round, it was The Enormous Crocodile by Roald Dahl.

The story is about an enormous and greedy crocodile who is always up to clever tricks to gobble up children for his meal.  Not liked by the other animals, the crocodile devices plans by himself to fool the children in the town.  But little does he realize that the other animals of the jungle, Trunky, the elephant, Muggle Wump, the monkey and the Roly Poly bird are watching out for children, sensing the danger they are in.

So when the mean crocodile places himself like a see-saw for children to come and sit on him, Muggle Wump wards off the children.  For the second trick, the crocodile fixes himself as still as a wooden crocodile on a roundabout.  But this time the Roly Poly bird with its attractive tuft of feathers ruins Mr. Crocodile’s plans.  The crocodile who still hadn’t given up hope, places himself as a bench under a picnic table for his third trick.  But having had enough of the crocodile’s devious ways, Trunky finally holds him by his trunk and throws him out of the universe.

The book with its inspiring illustrations by Quentin Blake lent itself for a very entertaining mime.  Having interesting props for all the animals, the teachers put up a spirited show, leaving the children enchanted.  Seeing the teachers in a different light, the children cheered them on to bring out their best.  A quiz based on the many details of the book was also held.  Since the story spoke about different ways in which the crocodile disguised himself, we discussed the concept of ‘camouflage.’  The meaning of camouflage was explained with examples.  The attention of children was then drawn to the board which was a riot of forest colours.  In the forest, many animals were camouflaged.  Each child was given a turn to come up and point to the hidden animals.  In some pictures, the hidden animals were relatively more obvious than the others.  All the children enjoyed this activity as it involved them to observe closely and distinguish between the foreground and the background.

Children were then asked to describe situations when they engage in forms of deceipt to save themselves from others.  While all readily agreed that they deceive others, few of them came up with actual examples.  The session concluded with a discussion of Roald Dahl’s books.  Children were introduced to many of his other bestselling novels and were urged to get engrossed in his enthralling stories.

(Anagha Bharat is a special educator at PRAYATNA.)

A Home for All

Karuna Davis

Who gives you the most enthusiastic welcome when you get home? Which family member never scolds, criticizes, or commands? Who is unreservedly affectionate, never irritated and always has time for you? Who never gets bored of your company, overlooks all your shortcomings and forgets the times you haven’t kept up your end of the deal? If this sounds unimaginable, maybe it’s time to consider having a pet dog (I can’t say the same about cats!) Nevertheless, pets in general are known to be therapeutic to us selfish human beings.

It is common to spot stray cats or dogs wandering the streets. Even a cow sitting in the middle of the road is not that much of a novelty in our country. After last month’s book club at PRAYATNA, Bangalore, we became aware that taking care of all living beings is very much a part of our constitution. Therefore, being kind and taking care of stray animals is a responsibility that each of us has.

In the story, Madeline and the Cats of Rome, by John Belmelmans Marciano, the well meaning ‘orphan’ of the street, Catelina, steals from tourists to feed hungry stray cats. Stealing is clearly wrong and so Madeline comes up with a plan to help Catelina save the cats. They put up the all the cats for adoption and everyone is happy!

Since we most frequently come across stray dogs in Bangalore, they were the focus of our session. Through a role play the tough life of a stray dog was portrayed. Being attacked, inclement weather, no food and ill treatment are some of the issues stray animals face. We explained reasons for general dog behaviour like panting, digging, biting, barking and jumping. For example, did you know that when dogs jump, it could be to show their dominance over you? Biting could be due to fear or pain.

Children are especially at risk to dog bites and so they were educated on how to approach a dog and read the body language of the dog to avoid getting bitten. For instance, playfully sneaking up on a dog or bothering a sleeping dog is unsafe. Similarly, sudden movements or approaching a puppy around its mother could cause a dog to bite. Those who owned dogs were encouraged to take good care of their pets by giving them adequate exercise, affection and discipline. We concluded by handing out the number of an animal welfare organization for children to call when they come across a wounded animal or if they wanted to adopt one. We have taken the first step towards being kind and considerate of stray animals.

(Karuna Davis is a Special Educator at PRAYATNA.)

Fingers that See

Gita Nambiar

On January 4, the world celebrated the birth anniversary of Louis Braille, the man who invented the Braille system of reading, which created a revolution in the world of the blind.

Born to a saddler, Louis injured his eye while playing with knives in his father’s workshop.  At the tender age of three, he became blind.  In a world where the blind used large wooden letters to read, Louis invented the Braille, at the age of thirteen, while still in school.  However, his teachers did not appreciate this new system, which incorporated using six raised dots to form letters.  It was only after his death, at 43, that the world adopted this new system, ushering in new hope to thousands of blind people the world over.

PRAYATNA too celebrated his birth anniversary with the reading of a story on the life of Louis Braille.  To get an idea of how it felt to be blind, children were blindfolded and asked to pick objects from a bag and identify them.  Some could and others couldn’t recognize the objects.  They also had to find their way to the person holding the bag, guided by their friends.  Certainly not an easy task!

Following this activity, the story was read out to the children.  A quiz was conducted, based on the life of Louis Braille.  One could appreciate the brilliance of this young boy, who did not give up, but instead brought light to blind people across the globe.

The lives of five other sightless visionaries were discussed.  These included Galileo Galilei, Helen Keller, Marla Runyan, John Milton and Stevie Wonder.  Galileo was a great inventor and astronomer who invented the telescope, thermometer and compass.  He continued to study the stars and planets, write and invent in spite of becoming totally blind.  Helen Keller, a stunning example of a person with severe disabilities, who achieved so much.  She was blind and deaf but studied to become the first blind person to graduate from university.  She dedicated her life to the uplift of the disabled.  Marla Runyan was an outstanding athlete, who won five gold medals in the World Paralympics.  John Milton wrote the renowned poem Paradise Lost after he became blind and continued to write poetry till he passed away.  He valued freedom of expression and secularism.  Stevie Wonder wrote and sang songs in spite of being visually challenged.  Some of his famous compositions include “Superstitions” and “I Just Called to Say I love You.”  These individuals did not allow their disability to deter them from attaining great heights in different realms.  A lesson each of us needs to learn!

Another activity for children was identifying the letter of the alphabet that had been created using raised dots of a piece of card, with their eyes closed.  Here again, some children succeeded, but others did not.  They were given these cards to take home.  At the end of the Book Club, the children understood that losing one sense does not have to be a permanent impediment.

(Gita Nambiar is a Special Educator at PRAYATNA.)

What We All Need!

Karuna Davis

Comfort, security, affection, companionship, support, love and loyalty are some of the many things that friends give us.  It isn’t hard to understand that friendship plays a significant role in our psychological well-being.

Strangely enough the story we read for this month’s book club at PRAYATNA, Bangalore, was not about good friends, but what good friends must not be.  In the story of The Jackal and the Cat, by Anita Desai, the cat helps his friend, the hungry jackal get some food.  However, when the jackal gets into trouble, the cat abandons him.  Some may say that the cat was just shrewd but clearly he is not a friend that could be relied on.  The story ends with the thoroughly broken jackal remembering a song his mother had sung to him about being careful to identify your true friends.  Later on, the story of Krishna and Sudama was related.  Here, Krishna was a friend to Sudama in his time of need unlike the cat in the previous story.

The children at PRAYATNA brought along a close friend for this session. They introduced their friends to the group and told us why they liked each other and how they spent time together.  Many children mentioned how their friends helped them when they got hurt and played games with them.  The affection between them was pleasantly evident for us to see.  Almost all of them were smiling; some held each others’ hands and others put their arm around their friend.  They helped each other while making friendship bands and were candidly appreciative of their friends.

Children with learning difficulties are usually not the most popular amongst their peers.  In fact, most often this group of children faces far more ups and downs than their counterparts.  Research shows that having friends, even just one good friend can act as a buffer to moderate negative experiences and outcomes.  As parents and teachers working with this group of children, this is something worth considering.

Though friendship isn’t exactly a skill we can teach our children, we can facilitate its development.  For instance, as adults we can show acceptance and genuine affection of a child who is being isolated.  Not in a “teacher’s pet’ sense but in a way that may allow other children to become more open towards them also.  For younger children we could set up ‘play dates’.  We could also provide opportunities for children to display their talents and skills to build their sense of confidence and find common interests with others.  Ultimately we hope that each child may know the fulfilling experience of having a good friend and being one too.

References:

http://ldx.sagepub.com/content/9/5/307.short

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/reading-writing-rithmetic-and-relationships/

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=7909551

http://www.ldonline.org/article/Helping_the_Socially_Isolated_Child_Make_Friends

(Karuna Davis is a Special Educator at PRAYATNA)

Finding Their Own Levels

Aruna Sankaranarayanan

In today’s buzzing, beeping world, it is increasingly rare to see a child curled up with a book.  While alluring digital distractions prevent children from forming a lifelong passion for books, sometimes well-intentioned parents can also thwart a child’s burgeoning interest in the printed word.

Time and again, I hear parents bemoan that their children are not reading much.  When I ask these parents if their child used to read earlier, a surprising number answer in the affirmative.  “Yes, Preetha used to love books earlier,” “Rohan would flip through picture books even as an infant.”  Why then did this love of books diminish as the child aged?

On further questioning, parents reveal that the child was reading books that were far too simple or easy.  Parents then pressed the child to read books of a higher level.  As a result, the child stopped reading altogether.  An unfortunate outcome of overzealous intentions of parents!

When children read for pleasure, we must remember that the activity has to be pleasurable from the child’s perspective.  If you think your child is reading books that are far too simple, don’t voice your criticism.  You are more likely to help the reader in your child blossom if you encourage any attempt at reading.

Even if your son is reading books printed in a big font and have only a few sentences per page in Class III, don’t dampen his enthusiasm by being judgmental.  On the contrary, you may try to engage the child in a conversation about the book without being critical.  Over time, which may take a few years, the child will naturally move to a higher level on her own.

One of the best ways to foster reading is to give the child agency in book selection.  And one of the surest ways of nipping the reading habit in its bud is to impose your choices on the child.  Just as water seeks its own level, let each child find his or her reading level.

(The author is Director, PRAYATNA.)

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Anagha Bharat

This Christmas season, the PRAYATNA Book Club, at Chennai celebrated a tree, but not quite a Christmas tree.  Instead, it was about ‘Jack and the Flumflum Tree’ by Julia Donaldson.  The story had a poetic rhythm and brought out the creativity and ingenuity of the human mind to use different objects.

Have you ever considered using a chewing gum to plug a hole in a boat or using tent pegs to climb a tree?  This was exactly what Jack, Rose and Stu did during their journey to the Isle of Blowyernose.  The trio had to get to the Isle to procure the purple fruit of the Flumflum tree to rid Jack’s granny of the spots left by the ‘moozles’.  But little did they expect the journey to be an eventful one, filled with many hurdles.  Thanks to the thoughtfulness and foresight of granny, Jack and his friends managed to overcome every obstacle- be it sharks surrounding their boat, the flooding of the boat or finally the monkey who stole the Flumflum fruit.  While granny had equipped them with a bunch of objects they seemed redundant at first, the trio’s keen and creative minds made them use those objects for rather unusual purposes.  Their sharpness and mindfulness eventually led them to the fruit which cured granny of her moozles.

This story introduced the theme ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’.  Children were initially asked what are some of the things they pack in their suitcases and some things that their parents insist on them carrying for no particular reason.  Following the book reading, a quiz was held asking for the many details the book provided.  The entire group came up with enthusiastic responses to all the questions.  This was succeeded by an entertaining group activity wherein each of the three groups was given two everyday objects such as a water bottle, paper clip, box and so on.  The children had to brainstorm different and unusual uses for these objects.  This activity began with some of the unusual uses of an umbrella, demonstrated by a PRAYATNA staff.  The children soon followed suit and put on their thinking caps.  Had time permitted, more objects could have been given to the children as they seemed to be enjoying the demonstrations and discussions.

The final activity of the book club involved art and craft and kids were taught to make paper bags with old newspaper.  The last few minutes were spent in frantic activity, folding, sticking and stapling on the handles to their individual bags.  Each child took home his or her handmade bag.

Next time, before we throw something deeming it as waste, stop and think.  For it might have an unusual use hidden somewhere and you may never know when you will next need it!

(Anagha Bharat is a Special Educator at PRAYATNA)