Career counseling, Raksha Bandan, sitar show/astronomy

For those of you who don't know, Raksha Bandan is an Indian festival celebrating the bond between brother and sister. Raksha means protect and bandan means promise or bond. It didn't start out like that, however. In history, women would tie these bands on their husband's wrists as a way to protect them out in the war. Over time, however, it has evolved into something between brothers and sisters. Specifically, sisters tie a band (simple bracelet made out of string and beads - some simple some highly decorated and fancy). In return the brother gives the sister a gift (money, clothes etc). In theory the brother also promises to protect the sister, though sometimes it feels some of the purpose of festivals is forgotten ;)

On Monday we celebrated Raksha Bandan at the Ram aur Rahim Tekro with the kids since the kids all had a holiday on Tuesday, actual Raksha bandan. While I was sitting in class waiting to start the celebration, the street school teacher had me come in and talk to the students. It was a very casual conversation. He asked me to tell the kids why education was important, seeing as many of these kids had discontinued their schooling at some point or worked while in school, making them less likely to finish. I started out by asking them what they wanted to do with their lives. They all had various answers - teacher, doctor, engineer. I used that as a starting point - okay, you have your goal, now how do you think you can go about getting there? Obviously the answer is education, but these kids need more motivation than that. I told them how what you do now will pay off later. But more importantly, I asked them why they wanted to learn, why it was important to them. I told them that each and every student needs to ask themselves why education is important to them, and why they go to school everyday. We talked about how going because Mom or Dad says I have to is not going to make it for the long haul - that everyone needs to go for themselves, and know why they want to go, not need to go. And that if each student goes for themselves, only then will you be able to stay in school and get where you want to in life. The teacher and I spoke afterwards and he was asking me what I think would be an effective way to move forward to continue to drill home the importance of education. I told him the kids need a clearer view of their goals - many of them don't know what an engineer does more than what's on TV, and even if they do, many don't know exactly what is involved in getting there - high school, college education etc. So we decided to start out with a basic career counseling crash course - just a way to show the kids what options they have and how to get there, to help them better understand the steps required to reach their goals. I myself don't know the ins and outs of what is required in India, so this will be a good learning experience for me as well! The kids also asked me what America is like, so I talked to them a bit about how India is progressing just like America is, and then asked who all wanted to go to America one day. When EVERY hand was raised, I tried to tell them why America is different - how education is a given, and how women are equal to men in their careers etc. It was a very light-hearted conversation, but I could tell a few kids were hanging on to every word. It probably helped the girls in the class to hear from another girl, but also just being from "America" obviously carried weight. I told the kids that I took a year out of my life to learn from them, and I hope they can do the same from me.

All of the kids were brought together at the mandir. The teachers told the kids about the history of the festival and its significance. The girls had already made rakhdis in art class the previous week so the girls were then put into lines facing one boy from class. They did a tika (chanlo) on each boy's forehead, tied them the rakhdi and fed them panda (Indian sweet). In return the boys all gave the girl a chocolate. It was all very simple yet meaningful. What overwhelmed me the most after this was done and the kids were set off to go home, 7 different kids, mostly all girls, came up to me and tied a rakdhi to me! They understood that it wasn't just something between brothers and sisters and felt some sort of bond with me, even though I didn't even remember most of their names!

That evening there was a sitar show at the ashramshala (hostel for 120 some kids at the Gandhi Ashram). It was hot and there were mosquitoes, but the kids watched the tabla and sitar show whose time was donated to the kids. Then an astronomer came to show the kids the moon in his telescope. This guy has an interesting story - he didn't pass 12th grade, but has a crazy fascination with astronomy, and knows a TON about it. The clouds were out so we couldn't see the moon at times, so one of the teachers had the kids pray (more as a way to quite them down) for the moon, but it worked! It was amazing to see these kids marvel at the telescope just as much as the moon - we take for granted going to the planetarium ever since we were 3 and even groan when our parents tell us we should go to the museum!



Actual Raksha Bandan day was pretty relaxed - family was in and out all day. One thing for sure is in India festivals really are a time for families to get together, and days off are fully taken advantage of. Since my Dada's cousin and wife (also Ba and Dada) are staying with us, all of their 4 kids and their families came to our house to celebrate. With a house full of rowdy kids I decided to sit them down to play the jenga game I picked up at Reliance more because I was missing home than my love for the game. But it turned out to be the perfect game to keep the kids busy and worked for all ages!