Jana Gana Mana

Another night of waking up at two preceded a light breakfast of toast, plain dosa's, and papaya, then we hopped on our bus and headed to Razena Matriculation Islamic School, a coed private institution with a large number of Muslim Students, and many Hindu students as well. When we entered the school there was a big fish tank on the right, and 'Welcome' had been planted with grasses in a built in planter. This was another school that was primarily formed around a sandy courtyard, and the principal led us there for the girls morning prayer. The praying was really beautiful, and they were led in chants and the Indian anthem which is beautiful. After morning prayer, (and keep in mind there were around 550 girls, all lined up in perfect rows...it was really moving), we observed an English class of 49 perfectly disciplined 6th grade girls. Classes were very fast paced and there was no wasted down time. The teachers are also very humble, most of them do not have desks of their own, and use a child's desk or a small table to sit on. Unlike the Us where a teacher is spread out across the entire classroom. The principal says that attendance and discipline are not much of an issue. After about half an hour in the girls classroom, we went back to the courtyard for the boys prayer that made me cry. The boys were called outside with a steady, powerful drum beat, and they fell into their perfectly straight lines and began their chants. A group of middle school boys came up to perform the national anthem (Jana, Gana, Mana) again, and it was literally so beautiful I couldn't handle it. These Muslim prayers are so visually powerful its hard to understand until you witness the synchronization and discipline. After boys prayer we participated in a short basketball game (I just took pictures), and then we watched the boys play a traditional Indian game which none of us can remember the name of right now. I'll figure it out soon. After observation we joined the principal for questions and a lentil pastry snack. Then some of the middle school-aged Muslim girls came in and gave us a little henna on our arms. We were able to have really good conversations with these girls about what they liked and what they wanted to do when they grew up. The girl that gave me my henna told me she hoped to go to University in the United States, but knew her parents would never allow it. She ended up giving me a henna drawing when she was done which I love! The school prepared us lunch - rice, curried lentils, a spicy-sauce colored hard boiled egg (ew - but i ate it anyways) and some fry bread, and then we went to learn some dances from a group of older and younger students. I started feeling sick around then and had to sit out for most of the time, but it was really fun to watch these Muslim students perform modern dances, and they were really into it. We left the school after the afternoon prayer, also beautiful, and headed back to Niketana. You really end up focusing on the beauty of people's faces when their hair is covered, and you end up seeing how gorgeous they are when you are just focusing on their eyes. Then we paid two rupees (roughly five cents) to go into a pretty park with a large temple - good for taking pictures. There were alot of curious people staring at us, but what else is knew. A family in the park wanted to take a picture with us white girls, and a boy at school asked for my autograph today. It may seem funny, but its not something that is good to be encouraged because we are no different than they are. When we got back I rested a couple of hours (uploaded pictures), and then we went to the dance festival to watch a dance that was a story relating to the Hindu religion. It was really interesting. The hand gestures and facial expressions were a very important part of the story, and the dancer could make her body look like flowers, musical instruments, and two characters at once. We topped our night off by FINALLY trudging through traffic to a vegetarian restaurant where we ate Paneer Tikka Masala, naan, coconut cashew curry, and some other sauces and fresh squeezed pomegranate juice. I am not looking forward to eating processed food in the US again. I'm about to call it a night tonight and get a little sleep before tomorrow!