Dashami is special. Each year, we have a small performance for all the children at dance class. They wear nice clothes and jewellery. Their faces glow with the anticipation of a dance programme. It’s the one day in the year that parents are allowed to come for class and watch them dance! Dressed in their best, adjusting their bangles and dupattas, they are the stars of the show.
Plus, there’s food. It’s like a party because our teacher, Mythili Mami, makes sundal for all of us. When I say ‘all of us’, I do really mean that. There are about 50 students in all, plus parents. There are workers in the society, who clean the hall and collect the garbage. There’s the watchman and his family and other people who happen to be around. All morning, my teacher works towards making our Dashami special.
Apart from sundal, we have chips and pedas. We dance and have a small ritual where we go individually to take Mami’s blessings, and then we all eat together. Of course Dashami is special!
But this year, it was different, like everything else. We’ve been conducting online dance classes for a while, and I wrote about our struggles on this journey. Yesterday, in so many ways, was a landmark. Our first online programme.
Yes, there was no sundal. But after the programme was over, we sat together and chatted. We extended the programme, the way we always do by talking, sharing stories, catching up. For the first time, we had students from all over the world – from the US, from the UK and from different parts of India. Thanks to the online model, those who hadn’t been part of the programme for years were with us again.
Of course things went wrong – how could they not? People turned up late and didn’t dance at all. One child had a power cut, so even though she was all dressed up, she couldn’t join. Some forgot to turn off their cameras. One student clicked ‘present’ instead of switching her camera on.
Yet, at the end of the programme, I was overwhelmed by how far my teacher – and, in a sense, everyone – has come on this technological journey.
Here are two pictures that I always want to share on Dashami. I love that the same two dancers play opposite roles in these two Dassehra stories. Rama kills Ravana and the goddess defeats Mahishasur.
There was one moment that made this starkly clear to me. One child, who was ready and online well in time, had tech trouble. She could not turn her camera on. I had my usual set of suggestions – pin someone, unpin. Change the layout. Leave the call and come back. All of that.
A few moments later, my teacher asked, “Can she not come on her mobile phone?”
And it was as simple as that. Using another device solved her problem and the show went on.
From being the person who needs help with all things technological to being the one with the solution to a tech problem … that’s how far my teacher has come.
Once more, Vijayadashami was special.
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