Ekalavya

Ekalavya

The greenroom at Bidyut Bhavan was busy. Kids — almost a hundred of them aged under four — sat wearing colourful costumes. But their make-up was easier said than done.

“They’re eating their lipstick and spreading it all over their face. They’re keeping their eyes shut tightly, making it tough to do their eyes and those who are crying have the make-up running,” said Dipankar Chanda, a professional make-up artiste who admitted that dressing up kids was his toughest assignment yet.

But when the tots took stage for the convocation and annual function of Ekalavya play house and Montessori, they looked like cherubs.

They performed the Durga Stuti, for which they had dressed as Durga and other gods in the pantheon. They recited poetry, sang the Saraswati vandana and danced to film songs and a bihu number.

For the dances, choreographer Swarnav Kris Basak sat on his knees below the stage and showed the kids the steps as they mimicked him. One or two of the excited kids left the dance and walked up to the choreographer, only to be asked to return and resume the steps.

“My son used to be an introvert but this school has helped him overcome his shyness,” beamed CJ Block’s Kavita Bihani, as her son Divyansh shook a leg to to an instrumental number. “My son can sing the Gayatri mantra and Om jai jagdish after learning them at school. I am happy that he is learning our traditions.”

Co-ordinator of the AD Block school, Neelam Bardia, said the students were smart and picked up the steps they were taught. “It is not tough training the children. They are intelligent and only need practice,” she said.

Edify Kids

The theme for the annual day of Edify Kids last week was Colours of India. So children dressed in costumes of different states and put up dances on songs from those regions too.

The children dancing to a Goan song wore bright floral dresses, garlands and floral hair bands. Those dressed in Kashmiri attire danced to the song Bhumro from the film Mission Kashmir. The little Punjabi folks shook a leg to bhangra and the senior-most students danced to Des Rangila from the film Fanaa. The show culminated with all of them saluting the Indian flag.

“My mother and grandmother have come to watch me,” said four-year-old Reit Ghosh Rajak, dressed in a colourful ghagra choli and preparing to perform to Des Rangila.

The show also had a convocation ceremony where 11 of the children graduated. “We chose Colours of India as the theme this year as we want children to learn about unity in diversity,” said director of the DL Block school Abhishek Ray. “We have students from Punjab, Orissa, Assam and south India besides Calcutta and they must learn to live in harmony.”

The anchor of the event doubled as magician and kept the audience entertained with tricks while teachers too performed to songs.

Shem Star

Children of Shem Star had a blast at their first annual day function at Rabindra Okakura Bhavan recently.

Shem star

The first show in the line-up was a fancy dress parade. The parents had been given three themes on which to dress up their kids — nature, mythology and ambitions. So the tots came dressed as strawberries, butterflies, Krishna, Saraswati and astronauts.

Next were the dance items. While some classes had songs all to themselves others danced in groups of boys and girls. Boys got Bam bam bhole from the film Taare Zameen Par. A teacher pranced around them dressed as a joker and the boys danced and jumped in colourful shirts, trousers and bow ties. Some landed on their neighbour’s feet but neither the neighbours nor the audience seemed to mind.

The girls danced to Barbie girl. “I know all the steps and will be guiding any of the younger kids who fumble on stage,” Sharanyaa Gupta, all of five years, said before taking stage. The show ended with the students and staff together dancing to Jai Ho.

Subhra Coomer, head mistress of the CB Block school was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly the show went. “The children did not cry,” she said. “We usually hold an annual sports day but this year we went for an on-stage show instead.'”

Eurokids

Eurokids

A teacher placed a black graduation cap on Aanya Sinha’s head but it was too big for her and ended up covering her eyes. But the two-and-a-half-year-old girl wasn’t going to cry on her graduation day. She adjusted the cap smartly and went on to accept a certificate and memento from her teachers.

The BB Block branch of Euro Kids held its graduation ceremony on its premises recently. A total of 110 children graduated from play group, nursery and Euro junior (for those aged between three-and-a-half and four-and-a-half) classes. Several moms had come to accompany the kids and click pictures of them receiving the certificates.

The focus of the school is more on extra curricular activities and social development than academics. “We are proud of our graduating children and they will surely do well once they join primary schools after training with us,” said centre head Soma Chandra.