Sri Aurobindo Institute of Education celebrated a special Mothers’ Day with students and teachers both chipping in with performances.
The event marked the birth anniversary of The Mother, the spiritual collaborator of Sri Aurobindo who the school is named after. The day began with a prayer and floral offerings by the principal Debleena Bhattacharya and vice-principal Nandita Chandra. The school secretary Sankar Banerjee then released their newsletter titled Ascension.
Thereafter, a dance recital was presented to the song Anandamayi, Chaitanyamayi. “I also danced to two Tagore songs later in the day but Anandamayi, Chaitanyamayi was the toughest as far as expressions were concerned. I had to convey a sense of devotion through this,” said Mihika Panchadhyay of Class IX, who was part of the group dances. "I love dancing and try to be a part of every song danced to in our school."
This was followed by a drama The Giver based on a story by The Mother. “The story is about the generous King Rantideva, who gives alms to the needy even at the cost of starving himself,” said Ishita Majumdar, the Benglai teacher who had scripted the play. “The lessons are retained better if students watch a play than if they read a story.” The king’s role was played by Raj Shaw of Class VIII.
Excerpts from the Mother’s book The Sunlit Path were read out by us, students — by Abhirup Kabiraj in English, Somdutta Sircar in Bengali and Tuhin Sur in Hindi.
Students sang Mago tomar arati and Biswa sathey joge jethay and a teacher, Romi Sen Choudhury, recited Sri Aurobindo's poem Who.
The ceremony ended with the closing songs Debi bharati and Ogo ma ogo biswajanani by our teachers. “There are eight or nine of us teachers who sing at various school functions and we performed here too,” said Kanika Paul, a geography teacher. “We would adjust our classes so we would be free in the last period to practise. It’s fun and students appreciate it too.”
Additional reporting by Tuhin Sur
