Happy Holidays!

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This week is the ultimate of holiday weeks in India, and let me tell you: Shanti Bhavan certainly knows how to throw a party! We only have two days of school off (November 13 for Diwali and November 14 for Children's Day), but the celebrations started on Saturday, and I cannot express how lucky I feel to be a part of them.

First off: Children's Day. One of the best holidays I have ever experienced. It's officially on Wednesday (on Nehru's birthday), but we celebrated early so staff members could participate and still go home for Diwali. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, going into Saturday. There was a lot of prep-work: For weeks in advance we (the volunteers and staff) would hold little secret night "meetings," which were actually short, overheated, often candle-lit rehearsals. We were expected to put together a performance of some sort, with choreographed dances, songs, and skits. We handmade a card for each of the 200+ students. We chipped in money to buy a bag of chips for each child.

This was fun enough, but I think I initially approached the whole idea of Children's Day in a very American way. As one volunteer put it, whenever she asked her mother why there wasn't a Children's Day in the US when there was a Mother's Day, her mother would reply, "Every day is Children's Day." I thought it was a cute idea, and one that I could get behind, but I couldn't help but also feel that we were working every day for the students, and after especially long days with them, it was sometimes difficult to motivate preparing extra entertainment for them.

But the thing about a school like Shanti Bhavan is that, no matter how much energy teachers may put into helping and caring for their students, there is never enough love to go around for each individual student. Much of the time students have to depend on each other for individual attention, and although that is good in its own way, it is also important for the adults to remind the kids that they are willing to do anything--even to be extremely silly onstage--for their students, because they love them. I cannot express how the youngest children's eyes brightened when they saw the cards with their names on them. They carried those cards with them for the rest of the day and asked various adults to read and re-read the form letter inside.

The performance was a wonderfully eclectic mix of traditional and hip-hop dance, skits (in English and in Hindi or Tamil), and song. All of the adults--even the graduates, visiting during their semester breaks--helped out in some way. I ended up dancing in the volunteers' rendition of "Gangnam Style" and "Bare Necessities" (which I choreographed), singing "I'm Not That Smart" from 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and doing a brief bit in a teacher's dance. I also acted in a skit where all of the volunteers pretended to be the students and Ms. Beena, the Vice-Principal, was the teacher. I was the whiny child who bellows "Mi-i-i-i-i-i-iss!" every time I felt some injustice occurred. I also threw in the occassional "PJ!", which stands for "Poor joke!", but is often used in completely innappropriate contexts (like when students feel something is unfair). There was also the pencil-sharpener, the arguers, the jellyfish, and the sleeper. Needless to say, the skit ended with Ms. Beena giving us all ragi-ball for dinner (the common punishment here for misbehavior). The kids loved it (one of the 11th graders fell out of his seat, I hear).

At the end of the day, we watched Brave, which is SO much better when you're watching with children. The best part was the fact that Merida, the main character, says the phrase, "It's unfair!" a dozen times, and that was another phrase we used frequently in our skit. So the students really enjoyed those moments.

And now today is Diwali, the Festival of the Lights. The day has been a relaxed one; the students had virtually no responsibilities, so I spent time singing in the music room with Vinceya, a senior, and Pushpa, a graduate. Brinda, another senior, played piano for us. Vinceya is one of my voice students (and English, of course), and although she cannot read music, she has a good ear and a fine, soprano voice. I look forward to seeing how she develops in the next month as we work on some Phantom of the Opera together.

The rest of my day was spent reading, sorting my belongings, and taming my sticky attempt at curled hair. The first two I managed just fine by myself, but the latter required some help from Cathy, another senior. Apparently, women are expected to wear "new sarees" for Diwali, but I did not want to because past volunteers have singed their sarees on the firecrackers (not to mention I would have to borrow a saree). So, instead, I promised to make myself look as nice as possible with what I had. Well, what I had was bobby pins and some hair spray some other volunteer left, but I soon discovered that the hairspray was crappy. My hair feels goey. But Cathy was gracious enough to french braid my hair very nicely and turn a mess into something fancy.

In any case, at 6:30 p.m., we all gathered to see a couple of dances (learned today from music videos, I believe). And then we went to the dining hall, which the intrepid 11th graders had decorated and re-arranged. Little lanterns were everywhere, leading to a beautiful display in the center of the hall. It was so beautiful, seeing everyone moving in their sarees and fancy kurtas in the firelight. I tried to take a few pictures, but then Sebastian, a 7th grader, asked if he could use my camera. This is common, and likely the best way to get really good pictures at SB. He was the first of three students who borrowed my camera over the night. I'm not sure who took which pictures, but I am certainly grateful for them all.

Dinner was coriander rice with potato, and dessert was a gelatinous sweet. Then, the "crackers" were taken out. Not only sparklers and loud firecrackers, no, but also what appeared to me like sure instruments of death. There were flat, round crackers that you lit and then spun so it would send sparks in a whirl over your shoes. There were "flowerpots," which sent fountains of sparks ten feet high. The field behind the dining hall was thick with smoke and children, and I now have a new understanding of Civil War battlefield imagery.

In general I stayed out of the chaos, but that made me anxious, too, because I was there to be with the kids, and how can I connect if I remain aloof to one of their favorite days? So, when Gayathri, one of the 11th graders, asked if I wanted to light a flowerpot, I agreed. Heck, I'm in India, right? Why not? So she goes off to find a lantern with which I can light this monstrous cracker (it's a cone as big as my hand), and then we find a clearing in the field. I tried to light it, but although the top caught fire, it went out before anything happened. So, I tried again, with the same result. At this point, I'm really nervous--what if there is no wick left and my hand explodes off when I put the flame to it?--but the kids seem unconcerned, and tell me to try a third time. "Hold the flame there until the white comes out!" they told me. Apparently, "the white" means a warning flash of foot-high white sparks. Upon seeing this, I ran back with my lantern, and I only momentarily glimpsed the red and green of my flowerpot going off. And, of course, since my back was turned, a spark landed on me. The kids seemed impervious to the sparks (or maybe they just were good at avoiding them). I'm satisfied to report, though, that both me and my clothes came out of Diwali fully intact, without any scorch marks. Success, if I do say so myself.

I think my favorite moment of the night, though, was the small fireworks show at the end. For five minutes, the chaos stopped, and everyone in the field looked up into the sky. Two girls were standing on chairs next to me, and for every single one, they whispered, "That's beautiful." These fireworks weren't huge or specially designed or very colorful, but it was the best display I've ever seen. How often does a person get to see so many people that she loves appreciating, in awe and stillness, something that they love? That's the image that I'll always remember about Diwali.

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Photos

Children's Day Banner
These are real flowers and greens!

Comments

[Susan Mullin]

Thanks for sharing
I enjoy reading your blog. Thanks for keeping us up to date with what is happening at Shanti Bhavan.

[Carol Mock]

Diwali at Shanti Bhavan
Your avid participation and apt descriptions of this traditional Indian festival gave me a better understanding of what it means--'at ground level,' so to speak. Keep the lively blogs coming!!