Like every other festival,Durga puja came as usual this year. Our school has a very nice trend,we celebrate every festival in a colourful way so that the kids get introduced to Indian culture and heritage. This year all the plans got ready at the last minute as both the school and us were new,this was our first Dussera celebration in school. On the day we arrived a little bit earlier than usual and decorated the school with fresh mango leaves,streamers and crepe papers. Our instruction for the kids were to wear some ethnic dress or dress as like Ramayana characters. We were both pleased and surprised to see kids coming in attired of Raam, Laxman, Seeta,etc........but the monkey army was the cutest of all. Most of them dressed in orange attires,mouth stained with red paint and carrying small colourful clubs. Seeing them,an idea came in my mind. What if we play a skit regarding Ramayana? Kids will get a better idea if they see the whole thing in front of them. I discussed it with our head and she approved it immediately. Actually it was a wonderful plan.
We planned to narrate the story and bring each character on the stage to act accordingly. I got the charge of narrating the story. I started with Raam and Laxman. Both stood near me and started waving at people. We arranged for bow and arrows for main participants. Soon I found out that whatever happened in Ramayana,here we are not going to experience the same! Raam and Laxman were not at all doing well ....they were busy poking each other with their arrows and making face at the audience. Other kids started laughing at them. But so many things were in store for us,little we realized!
When Raam started going to Forest,he was not at all ready to leave the stage. We planned to walk through the audience,but had to abandon the plan immediately as we saw other kids are trying to snatch the golden bow from Raam which we made especially for him! And poor Raam was quite helpless about it! He ran back to stage,took a corner and tried to hide his bow at his back. We laughed seeing this,but then Laxman also started chasing Raam for the bow and with much difficulty we separated them.
When Shurpanakha came to scare Seeta,it was a funny scene again! We selected a Nigerian girl for that part and she was quite happy about it. But Seeta was not at all happy to leave the stage again! She tried to convince Shurpanakha at the beginning when she was pulling Seeta's hand......but when it had no effect,she gave a tight slap. Next 5 minutes went to console Shurpanakha and start the play again!
Laxman came to cut Shurpanakha's nose........the story was going smoothly and Raavan finally arrived. But.........hopeless,modern Seeta! In real life the character players of Raavan and Seeta are classmates and best friends. When she saw him on the stage,she snatched her hand away from Raam's grip,ran to Raavan and hugged him..........then the both happily descended down from the stage and sat at a corner in the audience! I think Seeta felt uncomfortable to stand for a long time and she wanted some rest!
It took some time to convince both of them and they were back. When Raavan was kidnapping Seeta, she was supposed to protest....but she started blabbering something I Marathi. We got the gist,she doesn't like Raam at al,she's happy to be with Raavan. Poor Raam watched helplessly........but everything has an end! He left the stage,pushed Raavan on the ground,took Seeta's hand and came back on the stage. We all were laughing like anything,but it was the time for Hanuman's entry.
Hanuman had fever on that day. He came very timidly and stood silent in the middle. When we asked him to praise Raam beforejumping over the sea, he said," Yes ma'am......Jai sri Raam,but he's not Raam,Ma'am,he's Pradyuth!" It was hilarious!
