Krishna Mela- It invokes different images in different minds at Chinmaya Gurukul. For teachers, it’s the culmination of weeks long practice session, for parents it’s a time to be excited and watch their kids on stage, for kids, well for kids it’s a lot of fun. Krishna Mela is a yearly showcase put forth by teachers and kids. Kids get to learn a lot throughout the year and parents get to see some key points of the curriculum. In addition to it, like any mela or fair, there’s food, shopping, face painting and a variety of fun stuff.
This year Krishna Mela was on May 18th. Typically, the showcase for each class is about 8-10 minutes. What they choose to do in that time is generally decided by the teachers in lower grades . In higher grades, kids also participate, not just in what they want to do ,but will also help with the script, dance choreography, costumes, audio video etc.
A couple of weeks before, BV admins work on the schedule, making sure they take into consideration a variety of factors. Props team and AV team will also send out their spreadsheets, in which teachers can upload their Powerpoints, audio etc . Practices will be on in all classrooms; here you will hear the thump of legs moving in unison and there you will hear the singing of chaupais .
Meanwhile food team will solicit donations whether monetary or food from parents. This is a form of fund raising where the food is sold at a nominal rate on the actual mela day and a lot of it comes from parents and volunteers. There’s also a team that solicits vendors who can sell their different wares be, it clothing, art, jewelry or household decoration objects . Another unique aspect of Krishna Mela has been the Ethnic Cloth Drive, where parents donate gently used Indian clothes which are sold at a nominal rate and all the proceed go back to the ashram.
May 18th dawned. The ashram looked festive, and Sundar Krishna sported a beautiful handmade mala with flowers from our ashram. Tents were erected all around the lawn and vendors and food team were busy setting up. Meanwhile Props team was all set, with sets designs and props. AV team, similarly were setup at the front, not just to assist the showcases but also to record all performances.
At 9:00 am after opening prayers by Sushma ji and Siva ji, the shows started in earnest. There were 5 shows scheduled and nearly 800 students were set to perform. The emcees headed by Darshan and jchyks did a wonderful job of introducing every performance starting with the little kids. Parents crowded around the front taking pictures as teachers directed them. As the shows progressed, you could see the joy on the parents faces and the relief on the teachers 😊
As each show ended, people crowded around the food stall and other vendors which were doing brisk business. Here and there people congregated enjoying the festive atmosphere, catching up over chai and poha for breakfast or chai and Samosa chaat.
Finally, at 6:00pm, the last performance ended. Meanwhile outside the crowds were thinning and the cleaning crew started their work of picking up trash, cleaning up the common areas, washing dishes and putting things back in their right places.
Putting together Krishna Mela is a Herculean task but it cannot be accomplished without the love and joy of hundreds of volunteers who do a million tasks big and small, with no trace of self-aggrandizement. And that is reflected in the results.
This also marks the end of our Balavihar year 2024-25. Have a wonderful Summer. See you in August!!!
All Krishna Mela pictures can be found at the Google Drive Link
