This past weekend was graduation weekend at Shanti Bhavan and in true Indian style, the celebration was almost a week long, including parties, competitions, and performances. It’s why we haven’t been blogging much!
The students were in charge of everything, and created roughly a million committees to ensure everything happened on time. Jancy directed the art for the stage, of course:
(As per usual, all photos by the magnanimous Kate Lord)
The sports competitions drew the whole school out (at 6:30 a.m., no less!) to watch the current students compete against SB alum. The cheers consisted of chants like, “East or West, SB is the best!” Which is technically true, because SB would win either way. The students really are crazy-talented at the sports they played. Here are some soccer shots:
That generous spirit may have ended when we got to tug of war, though. We all put on our game faces when it came time for us to play the graduates:
They also put on two nights of performances (remember that dance practice we posted about?), and everyone participated. Here’s Vyshali, one of the girls we sponsor (second from right), performing with her classmates:
And Prathibha, center:
And finally Jancy, performing the waltz with her partner Praveen:
At the end of the night, we had barbeque chicken and went to a party hosted by the school’s founder–where everyone would break into choreographed dance for every other song (not even joking). At the end of the night, before everyone headed to bed, we snagged this picture of the graduating girls; all will be the first in their families to graduate!
