Sept 23, 2019
Last week – though finishing Monday (today) – was the Literary Fest at Pawar School. It’s a week of all kinds of literary-related events. You might think we have something similar in the US, but not really. First of all, it’s done in THREE languages. Second, it involves many performances (rather than, say, reading books aloud or the like). Acadia’s standard (=grade) had a within-grade competition in Choral Recitation. Choral Recitation is when the whole class recites a poem, and there are specific actions and intonation. They had judges from other schools, including a principals, who determined a score for each group. Alex was a reporter, and she and several of her classmates would attend and write up events, which then the teachers and Editors would edit and pull into stories. They also had to interview some of the performers.
Thankfully (and thanks to Parag), we got Acadia’s uniform in time for the performance! Here she is in it.
And I don’t think this was the reason, but maybe there was a little bump from the uniform, as her class got 2nd place! They did a great job. It was a Maya Angelou piece. I’m including a picture here, with a link if you’re interested in the full performance . You can find Acadia on the far right, 3rd row. Note that this is her class – ONE CLASS. Little bit larger than the US :-)..
Did you find her?
Here’s even more of a challenge — find Acadia in the sea of braids and uniforms (sitting at the assembly after her class’s Choral Recitation) and Alex (doing her reporter job in the back).
Cadi sitting with her class 
Alex as reporter
After the Choral Recitation event, there were Declamations. A Declamation is when you take a speech from someone famous, or someone who made a bit impact, and you deliver it. You’re trying to offer the same emotion, and the performer dresses the part as well. These were really well done – and I think the students were 7th or 8th standard (grade). Among others, there were political figures, Steve Jobs, activists, and even Will Smith. Here’s “Will Smith” on stage. Note also these were done in three languages! The students could select a speech that was delivered in Hindi, Marathi, or English. Amazing.
These students had competed within their classes first, and the students performing that day had won their classes. (For context, you are in a standard (e.g. IV) and a class (e.g. D). A standard is a grade, and then the classes are just labeled A, B, C…. From what I can tell, this school generally has through F, so 6 classes per grade. You’re with that group of students all day for the year, and the teachers rotate into your classroom.)
After the Declamations, the judges need time to finish comparing scores, etc. So, as you’d expect, there’s a little filler. Well, I guess they needed a little more filler, so the person at the podium said, “And now we will hear remarks from Parag Sir.” I looked at Parag. Parag looked for another Parag. Nope, they meant him. Hilarious. So, he went up front and gave remarks. Here’s him addressing the crowd.
Next were awards. And they decided to have me (Megan) give out some of the certificates. Seriously. “Megan Ma’am, will you please follow me to the stage to present awards?” So that was all fine. I didn’t have to announce anything. Literally just handed the award and posed for a picture with each kid – who didn’t know me at all! I assumed I would give out the English ones, but nope, they had me handing out the Marathi ones. So here I was congratulating the winners, telling them each they did a great job, and I hadn’t understood a single word any of them had said! My new motto for India is, “Come visit. You never know what is going to happen.”
As a final couple pics, I thought I’d share a Rangoli that was painted on the floor for the event, and a picture of a ton of kids trying to interview Parag. The key question was, which performance did he like best. They were not happy about his evasive answering. They were all good!
Rangoli – painted on the floor 
Last but not least, on Tuesday morning, we were interviewed for the live radio show that was part of Literary Fest week. The first two days were in English, the next two days were in Marathi, and the final two days of Hindi. There is a youtube video of the show. Interested? It will cost you a pretty penny to have us release that URL to you :-). We received these lovely bouquets for our participation. These flowers all came from the school grounds. Not sure about the “plates” they were on, but they likely were made by the art classes.
Over and out from the literary fest!
Joshi-Staples Family India Adventure! 