10th September 2016
Thursday
Being the younger one, my birthdays have always been a
big deal at my place. Every year since I can remember, we use to start planning
party games, make custom made invitations, have return gifts wrapped and decide
on the menu from a month in advance. As I grew older there was always a surprise
cake cutting at 12 from one group or another, followed by a series of pre and
post parties from a week in advance. There used to be at least 30 invitees, and
my 21st birthday had about 40! The past few years it’s been a little
mellow, though; maybe, because I am getting older.
I woke up this morning to a continuous chain of students
knocking on my door to wish me happy birthday. And as I entered the dining hall
for breakfast, the entire room sang happy birthday! We had an E-base origami
session at 8 AM which was a freestyle-make-anything-you-want-spree. The idea
was to see how many they can make on their own with instructions. Only a few of
them managed to finish it with no help. Most of them got stuck at difficult
folds. But most of them finished 3 in time for the assembly.
I had 3 substitution classes with class 6th so
we all finished the mini Biogas Plant! It was a lot of fun. One group “M-sealed” the joints, the other painted it
black and the last mixed the cow dung and water. It was great to see how the
girls didn’t cringe even once while mixing it; even though the boys did and
kept teasing them about it. But all in all we are very excited to see whether
the experiment is successful after a week or not. Fingers crossed. Class 7th
did a crash course in what they had been learning the past few days and I had a
very serious chat with them how they are the only class who is not doing a
project!
Class 5th was not at all in the mood to study
today and they pleaded quite strongly that they wanted to watch videos today
with a happy birthday song, which was hard to say no to. Class 2nd made
an origami turtle, learnt about its self-defense mechanism with the moral Slow and steady wins
the race! Just about very class sang happy birthday and I received a lot of handmade birthday cards.
Now for the best part of my day: Dolma Ma’am met me three
times during the day; once during the assembly, once she called me to her
office to assign a task and once in the evening in the main office, and she
didn’t wish me even once. I found it a little odd because we had had a
conversation about this a few weeks ago, and all the kids in
You guessed it! There was a big surprise birthday planed for me by Dolma Ma’am with 12 people, a cake with candles, a table full of snacks, finger food, salami and sausages, a wreath of flowers that I was made to wear on my head, gifts, song singing, cake smearing, party games, a formal dinner with a spread of delicacies and abundant love. It was the sweetest gesture from the MIMC team and they really made me feel a part of the family.
Dolma ma’am is the coolest principal in the world. She later told me; not wishing me all day was the hardest thing she had to do while planning all this on the side. It’s amazing how she manages to effectively lead an organization, fulfil her professional duties, beautifully bring up an 8 month old baby, spearhead teacher meetings, entertain international delegates and plan a surprise birthday party for a volunteer intern all in a day’s work! Most of all her humility about the responsibility that has been bestowed upon her, along with her kindness and tact towards people and everyday situations, makes her the most awesome principal ever!
All in all a wonderful birthday, even though it was spent away from family, it was like being with a larger family who made you feel as loved.
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