What Did We Do On 15th August

The apartment residents geared up and put together a series of programs for Independence Day.

The day began with flag hoisting followed by painting competition for the kids (Moms eh?)

For the first time I made the effort of dressing the kids in tricolors (and also self).

Ojas was in orange & white stripes with green pants and he insisted that the orange pants matched with his T-shirt. Tejas wore green & white with orange shorts.

Then there was a running race. Both of them came last in the larger group. So the group was condensed as there was age disparity. Seeing their poor performance they were grouped with kids about 1 year younger to them- Tejas came 1st among 4 kids who participated.

Afternoon I participated (as audience) for the quiz for older kids and could not get even a single answer right. Ah, well, anyway its too early for me. I await my turn. Another 7-10 years, I will know the answers when the kids grow up.

Evening we had the fancy dress for kids and for such a short notice between morning to eveningI had to come up with the costume and had to prepare the kids for the same.

The easiest costumes that I could think of were - fruit seller and monkey man since I had the fruits, basket, soft toy monkey that could go on the back and be firmed with the velcro on the hands and a dholak.

The fruit seller's costume was my dupatta converted to a lungi.

For an hour we practiced.

Tejas the Fruit Seller
Fruits Le lo.....

Ojas was the prop for the act - How much apple?

Tejas- 100 rupees

Ojas- no 50 rupees

Tejas- hands over the guava

Tejas' handing over the guava was so spur of the moment that I decided to convert that into the script.

Ojas the Monkey Man

Naach mere bandar paisa milega

Tejas the prop- monkey walla aayo

Ojas shows a few acts using the monkey

Offcourse I directed the entire show sitting at the foot of the stage.

The fruit act was perfect with heavy prompting from me.

The monkey act was ok except that Ojas refused to sing naach mere bandar and took the mike and said- bandar kaun hai? on stage

Later in the evening there was a tambola. Offcourse I never got a single prize as the numbers that were being called out were from a different set fo numerals alltogether!

And as if I did not learn the lesson the first time, I participated in th 2nd round also.

The good part was the hangama that self, a neighbour and a bunch of kids were creating with demands of money back and calls for desired numbers..

There was musical chairs for ladies. 3 of us strategised. We move only when the one in the front moves and touches the next chair. I reached till the final using this strategy. Off course no body dared to call foul. Who will? The perks of not being a kid anymore.

I did try to buy the last competitor out during the final round.

I would have won had the other lady's husband not distracted me. I turned to talk and the music stopped!

The day (night) ended with fruit shop juice with neighbours!

Oh yes and the kids ate the fryums sort of snacks that are wheel shaped. Came to me asking- what is that on the flag- that looks like fryums (they meant the chakra)