Friday 6 July 2012

Play Day


At 3: 55 PM today, there were hardly any clouds in the sky and the sun was shining brightly above us. The park just had two or three people sitting in the shade of the trees while the swings were completely deserted. As we walked towards Deepa Academy, I wondered if it was a good idea to get the girls to the park today.

They were already seated when we entered the room, and surprisingly they stood up and greeted us as we came inside. We mentioned the idea of going to the park; brighter smiles and a few squeaks of excitement followed with a lot of clapping!
They held each other’s hands as we got out of the academy and walked towards the park. We could sense their impatience and excitement to reach the swings, as they started walking quickly once they were on the jogging track.
What happened after this . . .












There was laughter, and squeals of joy. They urged us to sit on the swing with them, play with them, go on the slide with them. They sat on the swings and competed on who was going higher, something that got me terribly scared. When I asked them to be careful, I got a reply saying “No worry Akka!”
We watched them play a game in which there is a “denner” who has to run and catch everyone else, who are supposed to be clapping so that the denner knows which way to run.
Watching them laugh, have fun and forget everything else in the world, made me feel nostalgic about my childhood and had me realize the joy little things can hold.

We didn’t realize when it was 5, the girls had to be dropped back at the academy for their evening prayer at 5: 30. We were pretty surprised when they themselves insisted on sitting on the benches with us and talk about their hobbies, a homework which we had given yesterday. Each one said 4-6 lines and wanted us to talk about ours. We could sense how they felt more comfortable with us; they openly asked us questions and joked about my inability to dance!

When we finally left them till the stairs of the academy, each one of them waved back with a huge smile on their faces.
Mission successful! 

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