The dark New moon (Amavasya) night of
October 27th, 2008 was lit up with oil lamps to usher
in the Festival of Lights, Diwali. At Balamitra Model
School, Sagar Nagar the preparations to celebrate began
early in the day itself. This time around, the children
and staff of the school had a Diwali with a difference.
This year the festival was a recreation of the Advent
of Christmas (as in Germany) where the celebration starts
four weeks before Christmas. On the day of Diwali, the
volunteers recreated the occasion to suit the Indian tradition
by lighting up diyas. A spiral symbolizing the Spiral
of Life was put up with sand, leaves and flowers with
candles on a raised podium adorning the heart of the spiral.
Every child walked through the spiral, lit up the diyas
and placed them at regular intervals on the spiral mount.
From one single source of light a whole whirl of lights
lit up the room and the illumination of the spiral marked
the beginning of an unusual Diwali for the children of
Balamitra. Attended by the staff and children of Samata,
this Diwali night was made more memorable by the Balamitra
choir who belted out an array of lilting melody from the
repertoire of songs in various languages. The glowing
lights were followed by thunderous sound of firecrackers,
which the children had gleefully lit up.
Diwali at Balamitra this year was a special occasion to
remember by thanks to Anna Hall, Freya Meredith, Josefine
Reiks, Jan Paul Dollinger and Anna Stellmacher, our enthusiastic
volunteers. Well done and Thank you folks!
