குழல்இனிது யாழ்இனிது என்பதம் மக்கள்
kuzhalinithu yaazhinithu enpadham makkal
மழலைச்சொல் கேளா தவர்
mazhalaichchol kelaa thavar

The sweet voice of children sounds more melodious
to parents than music from the finest instruments.
(Thiruvalluvar’s Thirukkural)

Should Sita have restrained her tendency to be charitable and not crossed the Lakshmana Rekha to give alms to Ravana disguised as a beggar? Should Sita have escaped from Lanka with Hanuman rather than stay back for Rama to come and rescue her? Should Hanuman have burnt Lanka – did he have a temper problem? These are some of the unusual but profound questions that children from Bharathi Vidyashram debated with great fervor on Saturday, June 4^th 2016, at the fifth annual day of Bharathi Vidyashram, the cultural education wing of the Hindu Temple of New Hampshire. Packed with interesting features such as this debate, music recitals and plays in various languages, and a quiz program, the dedicated volunteers and enthusiastic students of Bharathi Vidyashram pulled off an evening of entertainment for an eager audience consisting of families, friends and patrons at the award-winning Performing Arts Auditorium at the Nashua High School North.

BHARATHI VIDYASHRAM

Students of Bharathi Vidyashram (which can be translated as “Institute of Indian Wisdom”), who showcased their grasp of Indian wisdom and culture through performances with themes drawn from Indian and Hindu culture, range in age from pre-K to grade 12. The students in this school are divided into 5 age-based groups named “Dhruva” (pre-K and kindergarten), “Nachiketa” (grades 1-2), “Prahlada” (grades 3-5), “Shankara-Sharada” (grades 6-8) and “Vivekananda” (grades 9+), after revered icons of Hindu culture. The masters of ceremony for the event were the “Vivekanandas” Krithika Suresh and Vedavyas Munugoor, who shepherded the audience through the rich sequence of features in the show with clear explanations. Shakuntala Krishnamoorthy and Usha Dwarak kicked off the event by lighting the lamp at the make-shift altar for Lord Ganesha set up on the stage that was decorated with a beautiful backdrop

ANNUAL DAY PROGRAM

The program started with vidyarambha shlokas (traditional invocations to various deities including Lord Ganesha - the remover of obstacles, Devi Saraswati - the Goddess of Learning and the Gurus) recited by the Dhruva children.

HINDI CLASS

Students Arushi, Anshuman, Pranai, Harish and Ashwin of Rajesh Venugopalan’s Hindi class then sang the beautiful song “hum ko man ki Shakti dena” from the 1971 film “Guddi” and composed by the celebrated lyricist Gulzar. The next item was a play based on the divine sibling rivalry between Lord Ganesha and his brother over a mango fruit, triggered by the celestial mischief maker Sage Narada. Dhruva students dressed up in pretty costumes mimed (voice-over was provided by Vaishnavi) the roles of Narada, the four-headed Brahma, the elephant-headed Ganesha, his brother Lord Muruga, Lord Shiva and Parvati Devi.

TELUGU CLASS

Students of the Telugu class (lead teachers Vasu Dasari and Sampath Deva) then gave a brilliant demonstration of their grasp of their mother tongue. The first item was a play called “Nanna Puli”, a Telugu version of Aesop’s “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”. The children including Varen Dasari (the narrator), Maitreyi, (tiger), Hiranmayi (lamb), Abhinav (Rangadu), Rohan (Somayya) and Pranav (Bhimudu) impressed the audience with their Telugu with no traces of western accent. This was followed by individual recitals of popular moral poems in Telugu by Varen, Abhinav, Hiranmayi, Maitreyi, and Rohan. There was more demonstration of Telugu prowess by young Pranav who listed the names of various body parts in Telugu, Mohan who recited some Telugu gems of wisdom, and Abhinav who effortlessly recited the numbers up to 35 in Telugu!

TAMIL CLASS

It was the turn of the Tamil students next. A group of about 30 energetic children delivered a full-throated recital of Tamil Thai Vazhthu, invocation to Mother Tamil. Sreekrrupa, Lakshmirenuga, Rohit, Pranay, Sahishnu, Shreyas, Anirudh, Haarissh, Charvi and Sri Krishna recited the “Aathichoodi”, a sequence of alphabetically arranged moral dos-and-don’ts composed by the Tamil Saint Avvaiyyar,  Two kids at a time took turns to recite 10 couplets from the first chapter (“Kadavul Vaazhththu”) of the ancient Tamil work “Thirukkural”, starting with “Agara Mudala Ezuththellaam”. The show also included two plays in Tamil, in which children took turns to narrate the story lines both in Tamil and English. The theme of the first play, based on an Aesop fable, was “A friend in need is a friend indeed”. The theme of the second play, based on a Panchatantra story, was “Arivaal vetri peralaam” (anything can be accomplished with intelligent action). Little kids in cute monkey costumes charmed the audience with their antics.

SANSKRIT CLASS

Students of the Sanskrit class (conducted in conjunction with Samskrita Bharati) demonstrated their talents next with song, dance and play. Twenty five kids sang “Surasa Subodha Vishwa Manogyaa”, a song in praise of the Sanskrit language that asserts that learning Sanskrit is not difficult. This was followed by a Sanskrit play whose theme was “anyone can dance when the music is good”. This imaginatively scripted play with creatively designed animal costumes is set in a dance competition called by the Lion King of the Kishkinda forest. The protagonist, a poor giraffe lacking dance skills, is helped by his animal buddies to win the competition. This was followed by another interesting play whose goal was to illustrate the idea that “in one’s quest for Atma, one fails to recognize that the seeker himself is Atma, the Para Brahma”. The storyline consisted of students of a wise Guru who orders a head count of their traveling team when they reach their destination. The students become desperate when everyone of them comes up one short, and concludes that someone is lost. The mystery is solved when a group of villagers notice that nobody counted themselves. The play was followed by a recitation in Sanskrit, and self-introduction of the students in Sanskrit.

MUSIC CLASS

This was followed by an entertaining Carnatic Music program by the students of Usha Dwarak. The first song in praise of Mother India – “Jaya Priya Bharata Janayitri” was song in chorus by a group of 11 children. This was followed by “Vara Veena”, a geetam in Raga Mohanam. This was followed by a demonstration of the “sapta tala alankaras”, sequences of swaras composed in seven different talas – “dhruva”, “matya”, “rupaka”, “jhampa”, “triputa”, “ata”, and “eka”, by a choir of children and teachers that included Aravind, Sreekrrupa, Srinath, Srijith, Ananya, Anirudh, Shanthi, Komala, Vindhya, Soumya, Divyashri, Shreya, Meghana, Pranai, Sahishnu, Mishka and Bhavani. This was followed by a rendering of “Vinayaka Ninnu” in Raga Hamsadhwani by the first ten singers in this group. Vedavyas Munugoor and Sindhu Donepudi, accompanied on the violin by Raghavendra Ramabhatta and on the mridangam by Sivaharan Thurairaja delivered a memorable mini-concert that included “Rama Ninnu Nammina” in Raga Mohanam, and a thillana in Raga Mohanakalyani composed by Maestro Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman. The program also included recitations by children of various shlokas including “Hanuman Chalisa” and other shlokas on Lord Hanuman, “Nama Ramayana”, and “Krishnashtakam”.

QUIZ AND DEBATE

The program included a trivia/jeopardy program conducted by Vijaya Bashyam with questions drawn from the “Vana Parva” of Mahabharata. Two teams consisting of four children competed with each other to win this challenging contest that included some questions (such as Q: “Which mountain did Ghatotkacha climb carrying the Pandavas on his shoulders?” – A: Gandamadana) which neither team nor the audience was able to answer! The piece de resistance of the evening was the debate based on the Ramayana alluded to in the introduction, conducted by Raidu Rayasam. Both the debating teams offered equally persuasive arguments (“Should Hanuman have burnt Lanka? Did he have a temper problem” (a) No, if your tail is on fire won’t your run around like crazy? (b) Yes, but he could have ended killing innocent people if he was not careful) and both were declared winners!

SPEECHES

The annual day included speeches by several leaders of the school. Raidu Rayasam quoted from the story of Uddalaka and Swetaketu from the Chandogya Upanishad to illustrate the value provided by Bharathi Vidyashram, outlined the various programs of the school, and the need for acquiring more space to accommodate the expanding needs. Both Raidu Rayasam and Veeramani Ranganathan appealed to the community for financial support to support the expansion, and outlined a “Donor Tree” program to help raise $150000 in funds for this purpose. Lakshmi Munugoor, Director of the school, recalled how at a community gathering 6 years ago, more than 600 people had enthusiastically supported the establishment of Bharathi Vidyashram (initially known as Bala Gokulam), how the school has grown in various ways since, and how the school participates in various community outreach and service activities including the Nashua Soup Kitchen, Chennai flood relief, Bike for Dharma, Walk for Hunger, and the World Yoga Day. He praised Raidu Rayasam as a man of vision, and event organizer PremAnand Rao as a man of action. Munugoor thanked all the volunteers responsible for the success of the school.

The event concluded with recognition of all the children who were presented with medals and trophies, and a dinner catered by Udipi Nashua.

APPEAL FOR SUPPORT

Bharathi Vidyashram appeals for financial contributions from the community to support its expansion program. Please click here or contact bvexpansion@htnhbv.org for more information on how you can help the school with your tax-deductible contributions.

PICTURES: A collection of pictures from the event shot by Sunil Nambiar may be viewed by clicking on this link.

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