Confessions of an ex sunday school choreo teacher !

It was originally my Pastor’s wife’s idea ......No, not the confession, but the latter part of the subject title.

This was a couple of years ago when I was with a small but Spirit filled church in Pune and she (the pastor’s wife that is), after watching me dance at a church family camp decided that I had the required credentials to teach the Sunday school kids choreography for the upcoming Christmas Program. I, being a novice then, gladly agreed. If I only knew what was coming...... but the Lord being the Wise One that He is, chooses to unfold things in his own way ....

I hate to say it, but I started on the wrong foot (no pun intended !) . After, choreographing a song, I went on to the humongous assignment of selecting the dance participants. Shaving a roaring lion with a rusty razor would have been easier, but finally I zeroed in on a list. Heavens could not have prepared me for what came next. As soon as the list was out , I was ghaeroed by annoyed mothers demanding to know why I had not selected their child. All my pathetic efforts at explaining they were to be put in the drama and the choir and that the dance required only 8 participants fell on deaf ears. Choreo is what they wanted, and choreo is what they will have ! Sigh ! Hell hath no fury like a mommy whose darling is scorned ! Finally we hit upon a brilliant idea of setting up 2 choreos that accommodated everyone’s desire to shake a limb.

With the mommies pacified, I embarked on the task of teaching the choreo steps to the eager and not so eager dancers in the making. The older kids were relatively easy to manage, but the younger ones had me reaching for my panic aids – my bible & my water bottle more than once. Now, I had no idea that a creature that is about 3 feet tall can have the combined energy of a dozen frisky puppies and 6 ponies. Seriously, there ought to be more awareness campaigns on things like these for unsuspecting inexperienced sunday school teachers! They were either running helter-skelter or bickering with one another or doing their own thing without paying the slightest attention to me. One tiny boy in particular used to run across the room flagging his arms like a football player who has scored the winning goal and return back to his original position, which was kind of cute to watch. Pity, he had this urge every 5 minutes. And the rule of co-ordination does not apply to individuals below 7 years. Each one has his predefined timing which he has randomly but firmly established and any attempts to modify this is futile if not highly offensive to that individual.

While, the seniors were moderately tame initially, when it came to the dance costume, everybody had an opinion. And the opinions of 13 & 14 year olds are not to be taken rightly, so I have learnt. After debating and discussing and exploring options from the mundane to the bizarre we finally decided on something that was both manageable as well as attractive. After all “The Look” is supremely important to today’s teenager!

Finally in spite of the million changes and the zillion encumbrances we faced, both the groups were steadily groomed and were eventually ready to perform. And how they performed! My heart swelled with pride and joy as I saw them on stage, dancing for the Lord. It was then I realised, it is such a privilege to be with young minds and to watch them grow spiritually. It’s like being a part of a wonderful transformation process that is much larger than you ever could be.

I have learnt , it’s not just about a choreo, it’s about how you handle these precious people the Lord made you responsible for in a small but significant way and how are you helping them to know Him better.

Yes, during my stint as a choreo teacher , I have been bothered more than once, but when I see a tiny little thing run across the room just to say ‘hellow teacher’ , or when a 13 year old puts her hand around your shoulder and tells you how she has been kind to someone at school, I know I wouldn’t trade this for anything !

And I would like to think that, at the end of a performance, the Lord looks down from heaven smiles and says “Yeah , that was cool . I liked it ! “

Copyright(c) Neha Shinde 2008

Pondicherry Paradise

It was boredom and a life as dull as dish water that propelled the trip. Yep, boredom of a massive kind coupled with work , business travel and the TRAFFIC of Bangalore .

Yes ! I am talking about the Pondicherry trip!!! Bored with meetings and pressurized with deadlines and deliverables, 5 of my friends & I decided to let our hair down at Tamil Nadu’s greatest asset ( ahem after Rajnikanth of course !). Though it’s a union territory, Pondicherry or Puducherry to the locals is very much a part of Tamil Naidu including the language and culture.

So, we decided on a trip to this ‘heaven on earth’ and set out in a Qualis on a Friday night. The idea was to travel in the night, cover ground and be ready for 2 days of sight seeing. What we did not account for was something as natural as sleep. Anyways, after fidgeting for the 100th time for a comfortable position, we along with the dawn finally arrived in Pondicherry.

We were booked in Auroville, and we landed at the Arubindo Ashram assuming that was the place, but after some clarifications, we realized Auroville is not the same as Aurbindo Ashram and off we went hunting for the bed and breakfast place booked . A couple of us were still struggling to open both eyes ,while some were grumpy about an almost sleepless night.

Anyways, all sleepiness & grumpiness soon disappeared when we reached Auro village- the place is so fresh and beautiful ! It’s a few kilometers away from the main city and is a world of its own. The road leading to the village is paved with thick bushes and trees, with a couple of very European bakeries and eating joints thrown in here and there. True to its word , it is a lovely small village – Auroville.

The place where we stayed was beautiful, with brick red walls and lovely pottery all around the place and amazing freshness! The rooms were clean and reasonably priced , and with a lovely green campus sourounding it , it was more that what we could ask for.

One of the places we visited in Pondicherry and one which is worth seeing is the Aurbindo Ashram. Now, I am not too inclined towards spirituality and might just not expound too much on what is it all about. All I know and what I researched on the internet on the ashram is that, it was founded by Sri Aurobindo who was one of the leaders of the early freedom movement who later turned to development of a new spiritual path called ‘internal yoga’. Not that I am a follower of yoga , but the place does has some sort of mystery surrounding it and is enveloped by silence. A whisper would be like a yoodle in that place- such is the silence prevailing there.

There are quite a few articles on display like a sofa set (which I presume was used by Sri Aurobindo) with life sized portraits of Aurbindo and ‘ The Mother ‘ ( who was Shri Aurbindo’s companion) all across the ashram there are a couple of photos of the couple with impressive names like Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi too , with the usual fare of books and triklets. A place you might want to visit out of curiosity even if you don’t favour the spiritual aspect of it.

Then there is the Promenade, which is again a long stretch about 1.5 km along the beach which kind of resembles the Marine Drive of Mumbai. To be very honest there is nothing to see there and you may want to go there just to relax in the evening and watch the sunset. There is a huge statue of Mahatma Gandhi, which is hugely photographed, probable because there is nothing else to snap. When we went, there was some interview of a dancer being conducted by one of the star TV network channels which conjured a lot of excitement. Too bad they didn’t seem interested in a bunch of females ogling at everything in sight .

It would be unfair to this blog if I don’t mention about the streets surrounding Promenade, and that’s when I realize how Pondicherry got its punchline ” Very French. Very Pondicherry” Standing there, it is impossible it distinguish India from France. The street you are standing on could easily be one in Allevard .With its large French windows and French signposts and names. It’s almost like being transported to France minus the flight cost . And we had a ball clicking snaps in all sort of dramatic poses , after all what’s France without a little romance and drama huh ?

But it was a museum, the name of which I don’t quite remember near the Promenade that caught my fancy. I must confess, I am total sucker for museums, art galleries, forts, and palaces and stuff like that and I had a field day checking out things there. There was this huge mirror, so ancient looking and I wondered how many generations of royalty must have preened into it before it came to be admired by the hoi polloi.

There was also an ancient carriage at display with lantern stands and space that could accommodate only two people and as I gazed into it, I could almost visualize an English Memsahib being escorted back home after a bridge party or two Sahibs on their way to a place for business. It’s fascinating how these things of art and history can play with your imagination and give you a fleeting glimpse of the world that once was.

Anyways , coming back to the present , one of the favourite destination of generation next is the Paradise Beach at Auroville . It’s a private beach and is only open to the residents of Auroville. Since we were staying at Auoville, we thought we qualified for it and boy did the gang have fun. I am not really a beach person. If you ask me to choose between beaches and mountains, mountains would be a clear winner. But that was one beach where I did have lotsa fun. We snapped away to glory, and the gang had a rollicking time in the sea. I being the hydrophobic that I am, stayed put on the sand and enjoyed seeing the tiny crab like creatures, squirm back into the sand every time the waves washed them away. I did a lot of shell picking too, knowing very well that these shell would be in the trash can the moment I reach Bangalore. But what the heck, I am in Pondicherry !

But what is sad about places like the Paradise Beach is that these beautiful places are taken for granted and there is so much damage done to them that after a while they cease to be what they once were. For example ,a lovely beach like the Paradise beach is so beautiful on one side but go a little further and you will find human faeces, beer cans , plastic bags and all sort of garbage strewed all across . Even the narrow path that leads to the beach is so dirty. It saddens the heart that a place of wonder becomes a trash can for some. I do hope that there is something done about it. Once can’t afford to waste away a place like Paradise Beach.

Anyways , Now that we were in Pondicherry it was obvious that we could not go without souvenirs for our friends and much to our delight , there was a paper mill right on our way back to the village which made and sold hand made paper . And believe it or not , I have never seen so many beautiful things created out of paper. Apart from the hand made and printed sheets of paper, there were beautiful envelopes, small and big boxes to keep jewellery and what not, folders , pen holders, paper bags, and even paper jewellery. Gosh ! I don’t even remember all that was there but it was real fun checking things out.

With our souvenirs in place we were ready for another day of sight seeing during with we covered a few temples and on our way back we visited Mahaballipuram and its famous cave temples. The cutest thing there was this huge round stone which was labelled "Krishna’s butter ball" cute na …Anyways, the place is great to explore with carvings and all . We also visited Kanchipuram, where I indulged myself and bought a Kanchivaram Silk Sari, not that I am into saris but it seemed like a shame to go all the way to Kanchi and not buy a sari.

With that silk sari shopping our weekend getaway came to an end and we headed back for the hustle and bustle of the city of Bangalore, but feeling blessed for the opportunity to take a peek into a beautiful laid back land .

Tripping Back ! :)

Well, I am back after a long hiatus! Much as I hate saying this , but I did commit the cardinal mistake of sacrificing my blog at the alter of work . But thanks to all you people for your subtle and not-so- subtle reminders about updating my blog - I am back finally!

4 months since I last wrote , the world had been pretty much the same .Indian cricket continues to be a heady mix of glamour and money, Sonia Gandhi continues rebuffing Rahul Gandhi's claim to the PM post, Deepika Padukone continues to be the next IT girl , Hillary & Obama continue with their mud slinging , Sunil Mittal is still the richest man in Britan, Rakhi Saawant continues revelling in controversies, and I still haven't met Johnny Depp !

Personally too ,things have pretty much been static , of course if you discount the crazy pace of work that hijacked my idyllic existence.

But amidst all the chaos of teleconferences, meetings , buckets of coffee and never ending mails that threatened to crash my mailbox, I did find time for a quick trip to Belur -Halebedu .To the unaware Belur is located in the Hassan District and was the early capital of the Hoysala Empire ( remember reading about them in our History books ?! No ? Neither do I! Was never my History teacher's favourite ! ). The Chennakesava temple which was build by king Vishnuvardhana is the main tourist attraction. The place is amazing to say the least. I am a huge sucker for ancient and historical buildings and things and this temple was a huge delight. The dancing stone figurines are an example of artistic fineness and the attention to details is simply mind boggling.

Inside the main temple complex, there is a stone statue of Queen Mohini, who apparently was the most beautiful of all the queens of the King Vishnu. Her face , they say was exactly one seventh her body , which in olden days was a sign of a good physique. Needless to say , Mohini ji also attracted some modern day male followers both Bharti & Firangi, who just did not want to leave the place. Sigh ! Some women have all the fun !

The temple in Halebedu is also a treat to watch and we tripsters had a field day posing away to glory, check my videos to see some of the exploits. There is a small lake adjacent to the temple , where boat rides are given for a small fee that will take you past a small island where you can see some birds.

All in all t’was a great break from the hectic city life and in case I have inspired some of you to grab your rucksack and head towards Belur , here are few useful tips :

• You might want to hire a guide once there , otherwise you will find it hard to understand the story and meaning behind the statues.
• Make sure you leave early , so that you reach the first temple mid morning when the sun is not so hot
• The sun is blazing after mid morning , so sun glares and hats are recommended and ladies don't forget your sun screen lotion , you'll sure need it.
• Make sure you take the boat ride in Halebedu, its a lovely & calming end to the whole experience.

So there you go, my first post after months and I already gave you a place to add to your travel list. I am kind ..Ain't I ! :)