[PGD] in brackets

Open brackets.

I step out of Little India and step into the recent past. PGD has an all too familiar sound for those of us who know Strathmore School in Nairobi, Kenya. It stands for Prize Giving Day, and today 29th September, happens to be PGD.

It's next to impossible to omit from my memory the PGDs I have attended as a student, those as a past student, and in the last 8 or so years, the PGDs I took part in as a teacher at "Strath" (as we familiarly call it).

PGD is in a sense a day for parents, teachers and students. It's a day for parents to proudly see their children assembled before them and staging an extravaganza of talent in the form of skits, plays, rhymes. It's a day for the teachers to reflect on the 9 month's worth of work – “Teaching is worth it!” I many-a-time told myself. It's a day for the students to don their navy blue blazers and bask in the glory of Nairobi's sun as their names are read out to collect prizes for participation in class, academic merit, sporting excellence, extra-curricular activities like The Scroll Magazine and Scroll Digital ...

Strath is a place where parents, teachers and students integrate in quite a unique way. Perhaps it’s because the inspirational spirit of the School came from St Josemaria Escriva. This spirit has placed the School in a class of its own.

Close brackets.

[Pics: The parents always have a good laugh as they encourage the little ones to put the boxes in the right place - the kids learn to work in teams from the moment they join the School. The "blue blazers" in the last pic made up the editorial team of the School Magazine that year marketed as Scroll 205]
Kd

Mikhail Sideways

Mikhail Sideways is not his name - it's just that when I dubbed the clip I made the ever so small mistake of not holding the camera the other way. If Quick Time Player were a little more flexible, I would have been able to give a flip to the image. There's always a next posting I guess.

Mikhail Carvalho is a buddy of mine who I met when I came to India early in January. Contrary to what he says in the clip, he is teaching me some classical guitar. What you hear in the clip is God-given talent - he didn't attend classes to get to the level that he is at. From an early age he liked the guitar and started reading music on his own. He's just recently started going to tuitions because in this art there's nothing better than learning from the hands of one who really knows.

If music is one of the talents that God gave you, spend a little time everyday -15 to 30 minutes- in practising. There are now thousands of sources on the internet that can introduce you to the "ABC of Music" - you'll be amazed at how far you can go on your own. And, if you're lucky, you may bump into a "Mikhail Sideways"!
Kd

Ganpati ends in the building

After 5 days of poojas, dance and incense, the idol was finally escorted out of our building. I've included a short clip that was shot rather hastily from the balcony of my flat; next year I will try to do a better job!
Actually, it was not the only idol to leave its place; almost 8,000 idols were yesterday immersed in different locations of Mumbai. It was farewell to Ganesh till next September 15. In Mumbai major roads -24 of them- were shut for 6 hours, starting 12 noon as processions of thousands of people accompanied the Ganesh idols to their immersion points. I understand that for the next two days, the roads will be shut for the same duration as more idols are taken for immersion.
Kd

Festival of Ganesh Chaturthi

Mumbai is always alive, but I am told that in the 2nd week of September, there's more life than usual. On the 15th of this month, Ganesha comes home to bless his devotees in the the popular 10-day Festival of Ganesha Chaturthi.
In the building where I live, Friday evening was a racket as someone could be heard hammering away in the hall. Well past 10 p.m., I went down to find out what was happening. The manager of the building explained to me that the they were putting up a stage for Lord Ganesh. The next day, I saw the hall looking like never before: clean floors, I mean really clean! The sides of the hall were decked with lights. Later in the evening, the watchman called me to see the pooja for Ganesh Chaturthi. I couldn't stay for long, but I was able to capture a picture.
After 10 days, the Festival will come to an end and all the Ganesh idols will go in procession to the accompaniment of music and dance for immersion in the sea or a nearby lake or river.
Kd

Oh Vadodara!

It's just over one year since I visited Vadodara in the State of Gujarat. Great place to be in with plenty of "zindagi" (life) as we say in Hindi. Enjoy the clip!
Kd

Made in Jaipur

I am just over six months old in India and I don’t think that I have come close to discovering half the treasures this country has.
In August, I had a chance to leave Mumbai and go to Jaipur, the “Pink City” - capital of Rajasthan. I was with a couple of friends. It is not exactly a stone’s throw away from Delhi - about 3 hours on some very good roads and on some not so good ones too.
A light drizzle graced the day. At the foot of the hill leading up to the stunning Amber Fort stood twenty-odd elephants in what appeared to be an “elephant parking” of sorts. It’s not that difficult to climb onto one of these creatures because you are escorted up a flight of stairs to the boarding gate by one of the many guides. And there you pay and are issued a boarding card and led onto the elephant saddle. With great prowess, the “mahmout” got his animal to taxi out of the loading bay. The ride was awesome! Ten minutes later we were staring up at the white marble and red sandstone edifice that overlooks the Maotha Lake; it’s interiors are filled with exquisite paintings of hunting scenes that depict the temperament of the Rajputs. The intricate carvings on the walls are beautiful.
At the end of our tour, we walked down to our car passing many oncoming elephants. We made our way to the Pink City where you have the Hawa Mahal and the City Palace. We didn’t even bother going into the latter. At the entrance sat a man playing a flute. Out of a basket in front of him, two pharaoh-like heads popped out, seemingly hypnotized by the charmer. Jokingly one of my friends turned to me and whispered, “First, the elephant ride, now the snakes ... do you think there’s any chance of finding Aladdin’s lamp?” No need to answer. After a fabulous day, we made our way back home.
Kd