The Diwali Party - 11th Oct 2009, Ettimadai Village

A teacher before she/he goes into the class knows how to behave with the students. A kindergarten teacher will talk in slow and lyrical manner so as to connect to her twinkle-eyed, innocent audience. A primary teacher will know that she has to speak in a manner that is genuine but at times childish. A secondary teacher will know that her students probably know certain things that she does not and will speak with certain amount of tact and gravity. All this comes out of the way in which the students react as per their age. Now put all of these different kinds of students into one single room or under the same tree and what you elicit out of the teacher is a range of emotions sliding over the EQ scale from 1 to 10 at rapid pace.

Each one of the volunteers of the ‘Outreach’ program has to display exemplary range of emotions and skill to tackle, tame, cajole, coax and pacify the kids of the Ettimadai village. There are kids who are 2 years old to those who are 17 years old in the motley crowd that gathers under the village tree each Saturday/Sunday for interacting with the students of Amrita. Every weekend its about a few lessons, a few poems, a few giggles, a few nudges and pokes, a few mischiefs, a few fights and so on. But Diwali is the time when it is all of these without THE BOOKS. Diwali celebration for Outreach is like the one big occasion when all the kids get to spend a full day singing, dancing, playing, shouting and basically having fun with the students and ex-students of Amrita.

The Diwali Party as we all call it is after all dedicated to the child in all of us. We all rise up to the levels of these children and try and enjoy each and every moment of the day with them. They are the protagonists of the elaborate script that is carefully crafted each year by Shobana madam and her loyal bunch of students/friends. The stage was set this time around with lots of gift being bought for the kids to be given as prizes for various events. Most of the Amritians came in with something or the other for the kids, like Pencil boxes, soaps, story books, pencils & stationary, etc . The faculty quarters of DG & Shobana madam turned out to be a common meeting point where all these tired souls gathered at the end of a hard day’s shopping in the hot streets of Coimbatore. The coffee at the dgshobs’ residence did wonders in energizing many a tired limbs. The uncertain excitement of the next day was keeping everyone on the tenterhooks anyways.

Some kids gleefully accepted a free ride in Bala sir’s car on their way to Amrita Vidyalayam – the venue. The presence of Vidyashankar meant that we need not have to worry about keeping the children entertained. I do not know if the kids understand what devotion/spirituality/religion is, but what I do know is that the kids observe the lighting of the lamp, the prayer, the somber poses of the adults around and consciously contract their movements themselves. It’s always a fascinating experience watching the children place their hands over their folded legs and prop up their heads, watching with open mouths, the performance of a singer who can hits the right notes with the young audience. As long as Vidhya holds stage, it’s a relaxing time for all of the rest. But as soon as the volunteers know that he is about to finish, a sense of panic overcomes and all of them start fidgeting to find out what next to keep the little ones occupied. If there is a slightest lapse in the entertainment, suddenly you will find dozens of children wanting to answer nature’s call at the same time or dipping their hands into the water-jug. It’s a crisis we all could do well without and that’s when there’s a Tarzanesque shout from the back of the audience and you find the lean frame of Udhyakumar making way towards the midst of the children, shouting out instructions to keep the children in their seats and telling them of what to do and what not to do. The ever-jovial Venkatesh then goes to the stage and in his inimitable style of speaking Tamil, soon takes over as the MC of the occasion and although I don’t understand much of Tamil, I still know that he connects to the audience. And boy, he and Vidhya then start eliciting responses from the kids.

Soon there is a conversation happening between the whole bunch and the volunteers, and this inspires others on the fringes to also shed their inhibitions as was evident when Banerjee sir, brought himself to the front and rendered a Bengali children’s song, replete with funny words and actions. The presence of Satwa, the group of young men from Chennai who had come down to the village with an alumni of ASB, Sandeep, made a lot of difference to this year’s Diwali party. They soon took over the proceedings and divided the children as per their various age groups and organized small games for them. Soon you had the huge hall filled with laughter and mirth with small groups of children spread across the hall playing various games. Some of the games were super fun to watch, like the one where a balloon is tied to the legs of the kids and whoever manages to keep her/his balloon from being burst by the rest is the winner. We all had a riot watching them go after each other with infectious energy.

Each of us has our own favourites among the kids. Some kids remember you and come over to you and ask you “How are you Anna? Why are not coming these day? You in Bombay?”. One of the girls came up to me and asked, “Anna, you remember me?”. I did remember her from last year, but I had forgotten her name. “I do”, I said, “Savitri, right?” “Nooooo Annnaaaa,” she said with her hand on her head, “it’s Savitha, not Saaaavitra”. I could not help but burst out laughing. This got her and her friends laughing and making fun of how forgetful I was. These kids make fun of us in such innocent ways. Then there are kids whom you think of as reticent and serious types. They will not look at you or return your gaze. They will not smile at you or connect to you in any sense. You start thinking of them as not so friendly types. But then suddenly they see some other volunteer and jump out of their seats and the next thing you know, they are climbing on top of that person, laughing and shouting and blabbering with the volunteer. Amazing! you stand there dumbstruck.

All around we could see hugs and kisses, especially the girls in the volunteer crowd were so motherly in their affection that they were showering their love on the little boys and girls. We guys, the usual reticent lot in such emotions, kept ourselves to doing the hard labour part of going to the ground, clearing the field, drawing the lines for sports and arranging the vessels etc. Each of us has a way of behaving when with kids. I remember the last year when there was no electricity for the whole day at the Diwali party and all the kids were sweating it out and poor Vidhyashankar had to sing almost 50 songs just to keep the entertainment going. There was this 2 year old child who found her way into my lap and then spent the whole afternoon there. When you feel a child’s heart beat next to your own and when her tiny fingers hold on to the back of your neck like her life depended on that ‘hold’, even if you feel tired, hungry, thirsty and claustrophobic, you still do not want to move a muscle for the fear of waking up the little one catching up on some well-deserved sleep after the daylong exertions. This time around there was less of physical exertion than last year and also the overheads fans helped. I was searching for the same child in the crowd, hoping that she might want to come over and sleep on me again. But alas, she has grown big. So she and her friends didn’t need to rest themselves on our laps or shoulders.

The lunch was efficiently taken care of under the expert guidance of Jhansi madam. These kids are such fast eaters, my god! By the time you just stretch you back after finishing one round of serving, they are already clamoring for more biryani or more sambar or more rice. They attack the food with such infectious enthusiasm that you feel more hungry seeing them enjoy the food, while you got to wait for all of them to finish.  The delightful part is when these kids come and talk to you when you are eating, “Anna why are you eating so less?”, “Akka why are not eating that piece of tomato?”, “Anna why are you eating so many papads?”, “Akka why are you not folding your legs properly?”. It’s hard not to notice how much these kids have absorbed from their interactions with the outreach crowd. They are more conscious of what is cleanliness, hygiene, health etc. I remember three years back, they used to be shabbily dressed and not very aware of hygiene. But now we all can see a great deal of improvement in the way they conduct and carry themselves. This is what motivates the outreach crowd to put more efforts into the cause with great deal of enthusiasm.

The fun and the games continued inside for the little kids, and the sports were for the bigger boys and girls. There was the usual figure of Anand and Inba, conducting the outdoor sports with efficient charm. Not surprisingly the girls showed more enthusiasm and competitive spirit in even this, putting some of the boys to shame, I must admit.

At last the most awaited part of the day, the prize distribution ceremony began. It took a huge amount of effort on the part of all the volunteers to sort out the goodies and make sure that the kids got everything. The prizes were distributed by Sandeep first up and he did it with panache, shaking hands and whispering a word of encouragement to each one who came up. Shobana madam, Jhansi madam, Venkatesh, Udhay were constantly controlling the crowd with amazing skill. Soon each and every child was holding on to a bag full of goodies and the icing on the cake was the fire-crackers that Shakti always brings to the party. The village would have reverberated that night with the sound and the light of the crackers that were distributed to the children.


Diwali party is also a chance to come back to college, catch up with your batch mates, juniors and seniors as well. This time around there was Sandeep from 2005 batch, Anirudh from 2006, Vidhya, Shiva, Saurabh and myself from 2007 batch, Shakti, Venky, Navneet, Amardeep, Mihir, Davison from 2008 batch, Udhay and his friends from 2009 batch and Jitu & his friends from the current batch. Apart from this the usual pioneers like Inba, Anand, Sreeja, Radhika and the rest of the gang from various departments of Amrita were there too. It’s always one big party with all us together. Not to mention the final ‘chai’ session in the canteen for the whole gang. I and DG always look forward to this more than anything else.

When things are wrapped up, what one is left with is the feeling of ‘niceness’. Everyone feels nice after the day is over. When the kids’ faces light up with joy, when they climb on top of you, when one allows them to compete and show their skill, when one gives them an occasion to discover facets of their personality unknown to them, when one takes them out of their usual routine and see a different world – that’s when you find yourself feeling something different and nice. A feeling that I am yet to put a name to. Ask any of the volunteers what makes them come back again and again to celebrate Diwali with the kids and they might not be able to tell you exactly – why. Some things are better left unsaid and unexplored. And maybe this is one of them.