Gift an education...Make a life !

Dear Patrons,

Isha Vidhya celebrates the tradition, culture through festivals,
events and occasions of all that's part of rural India.

We were waiting to bring you a detailed report of the occasion
of the 'Pongal' (celebration of the harvest), which was celebrated
on January 13th!  As expected, the celebrations turned out to be so
colourful and eventful that we thought our words won't do justice to
describe how it was and hence, we let you get a feel of the
celebrations through the high resolution pictures!

We wanted to share the excitement of a teacher, who experienced
all of it!

Shares Sudha K, 3^rd standard teacher:

"In a very short span of period, we planned for this celebration, as we
needed to conduct Term-2 exams, simultaneously. Even though we’d
allotted very short time to practice, our encouragement made the kids
to practice very well.

Prior to the day of celebration, we asked the students to bring fresh-harvested
turmeric with plant and sugarcanes, if it’s possible. Bur, surprisingly they
brought all the ingredients like raw rice, jiggery, coconuts, etc. along with
what we suggested.

We decorated the Pongal pot and made arrangements for making sweet
Pongal. On 13^th Jan it was a fine afternoon to begin the celebration with a
prayer. Pongal was prepared in the traditional way, which was eagerly
watched by our students. One of our teachers sang a beautiful kummy
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kummi) song for which all the staff performed
the dance very well.

The enthusiasm shown by teachers energized the students to begin their
joyful performances. Middle school girls did a wonderful presentation of
song and dance together, which attracted all. Tamil speech by a cute little
student was really awesome. Our traditional classical dance Bharathanatyam
by all age group of our school was truly a feast to our eyes. Followed by that
was a detailed speech in English about our modern world Pongal celebrations
without overlooking the traditional methods. The final touch of the day was
the free dance, which was performed by our teachers, kids, volunteers and
everyone present there for Alai Alai and some more songs of Sounds of Isha.
I feel great to be with Isha Vidhya!"

So, there you go, dear patrons, a real-life account of how Isha Vidhya is
preserving the rural cultures and traditions while at the same time empowering
the next generation of citizens with English and computer knowledge - the best
of both worlds - for the rural children who are mostly first-generation
school-goers from underprivileged families!

We appreciate your continued support to your favorite project Isha Vidhya!