There was MAS and now there’s the afterMAS ! When it is time to retrospect, everything that we were cribbing about THEN doesn’t seem so bad NOW and you know what, we might just do this again!!
A slow rewind into the last few days will reveal a lot about human nature – how tribe A (read section A parents) previously unknown to tribe B (yes - section B parents) is willing to interact sociably and go to the extent of forming bonds over sharing of mutually critical commodities (posters, books, table space, stationery and the likes). How the most evolved tribe members are willing to stay up well past high moon in the pursuit of elementary science comprehension, all for the good of the youngsters of the tribe. Unfortunately and to the utter disgust of these evolved kinfolk, this observation cannot be generalised across the entire tribe as several clansmen were too indifferent to participate in matters of communal scientific proportions and now run the risk of being excommunicated, at least temporarily.
But sociological hypotheses aside, it was one crazy ride over the past 2 months and especially the last 2 days, culminating in a fantastic high on Sunday. Starting Friday, everything that was on paper so far was starting to take shape on the field. And didn’t we all have an ‘awwwww’ moment when we saw the expanse of the (almost) original field after so long? After hearing “The field is back” from parents and teachers alike, my 5 year old came home to duly report “The field is back, the field is back” to her father, only to question after a second “Where had the field gone?”
For most the action started on Saturday morning, but there was a group that worked through the night on Friday, fire-fighting the inevitable last minute disasters to make sure the stalls were ready by next morning. Ready to receive parents laden with skeletons, sun catchers, periscopes, water troughs, magnets, spiders (live and otherwise), heart and lung models, potato batteries and what not. Another moment for us all – a ‘wow’ moment – was the first sight of the beautiful stalls, cleanly laid out with the striking graphic backdrops. Sure, there were mixed reactions ranging from “What the (beep) - Tomatoes?” to “Oh wow. . . Tomatoes!” First glances tucked away swiftly, the teams didn’t lost much time in setting up. Each one had their areas well defined, whether operations or infrastructure, class teams, food teams or creative, all got down to execution of the plans they now knew verbatim. At the entrance, the school’s awesome art department put together the installation that was to welcome all visitors. A race against time, but one won superbly.
For some things went according to plan, for others the strong breeze played spoilsport. Back up strategies and plan Bs came into play, as did that famous Indian invention - ‘jugaad.’ But there was method to the madness and amazingly, even in the midst of all the chaos, there were no flare ups, temper tantrums or fiery showdowns. Perhaps that was because at the helm of it all was our very own calm, smiling Buddha – Prabhat Agarwal. If you wondered what PTA/PSA stood for, just think of Tranquillity/Serenity as his middle name. Peace was also maintained because the school employed age old military tactics knowing that an army marches on its stomach, and thus maintained an endless supply of tea/coffee, fantastic rajma chawal, aloo tikki burgers and the unbeatable combo of hot chai-samosa.
As parents bonded over double sided tape, the panorama took shape. By late evening, we left the arena in the hands of the enthusiastic Encompass team to tie up the loose ends. And tie up they did – even making a 3 am trek all the way to Okhla to replace prints for the entrance that had somehow got damaged.
The rest as they say is … Science, and madly so. Who could miss the vibrant buzz in school right from early morning – the best ever combination of excited children, proud parents and happy teachers. For those who visited, it was a Sunday well spent. But for those who created, what can I say . . . it was just oh-so-worth it!
