Keeping kids engaged during summer holidays is a herculean task even though the school bombards them with projects, revision worksheets ( prequel to Summative Assessment scheduled to take place within 3 weeks after reopening) to be done during vacation. The situation is worse for those who confine within home instead of leaving for home country or other leisure tours.
Children growing abroad in a multi-cultural environment with less or no exposure to our culture and tradition has always disturbed me. There may be weekly Satsang for children.However the ambience is quite different and cannot replace or substitute the one-on-one discourse received from parents or a Guru.
Post Upanayanam, Krishna began waking up at 5. 00 am (half an hour earlier than his usual time) to perform both Sandhyavandan and Samita-danam (fire ritual) and left for school. In the evenings he is always back from outdoor games by 6.30 to have quick wash and perform Sandhhyavandan and Samita-danam. Initially, he was finding it difficult ; but eventually he settled down.
As Summer holidays began, I thought of spending an hour or two to impart him the basics of scriptures,it's significance, music, stotras, culture and tradition. Every mid-morning, we began the session. Thankfully, I had bought few books during my recent Kalady visit. The books published by RK Mutt and Sringeri Sharada Peetham came in handy to teach the basics. Apart from Hindu Gods and Goddesses, an overview of few purAnas and it's importance, epics, importance of rituals were part of the grooming session. Everyday I read out few chapters from Ramayana retold by Rajaji and he'd listen with rapt attention. My love for music and training in Carnatic has been an impetus to learn stotras in various rAgas. Krishna's inclination towards music and songs simplified our stotra session. He became enthused to learn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashtakam stotras .. Sometimes we both hummed devotionals as well. I'd record his chants to make him understand the errors in pronunciation and he rectified the same. Before I embarked to teach him something, I had to learn and internalize.And thus the summer holidays emerged as a learning experience for me too. "While we teach, we learn".
Children growing abroad in a multi-cultural environment with less or no exposure to our culture and tradition has always disturbed me. There may be weekly Satsang for children.However the ambience is quite different and cannot replace or substitute the one-on-one discourse received from parents or a Guru.
Post Upanayanam, Krishna began waking up at 5. 00 am (half an hour earlier than his usual time) to perform both Sandhyavandan and Samita-danam (fire ritual) and left for school. In the evenings he is always back from outdoor games by 6.30 to have quick wash and perform Sandhhyavandan and Samita-danam. Initially, he was finding it difficult ; but eventually he settled down.
As Summer holidays began, I thought of spending an hour or two to impart him the basics of scriptures,it's significance, music, stotras, culture and tradition. Every mid-morning, we began the session. Thankfully, I had bought few books during my recent Kalady visit. The books published by RK Mutt and Sringeri Sharada Peetham came in handy to teach the basics. Apart from Hindu Gods and Goddesses, an overview of few purAnas and it's importance, epics, importance of rituals were part of the grooming session. Everyday I read out few chapters from Ramayana retold by Rajaji and he'd listen with rapt attention. My love for music and training in Carnatic has been an impetus to learn stotras in various rAgas. Krishna's inclination towards music and songs simplified our stotra session. He became enthused to learn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashtakam stotras .. Sometimes we both hummed devotionals as well. I'd record his chants to make him understand the errors in pronunciation and he rectified the same. Before I embarked to teach him something, I had to learn and internalize.And thus the summer holidays emerged as a learning experience for me too. "While we teach, we learn".
As days passed, he turned enthusiastic about the whole stuff. On those days, when I couldn't teach him due to domestic work or health issues, the lad would grumble for not making it. One day I asked "Why don't we continue the same even after the school reopens?" After listening to his exclamatory response, I said " We just need to spend 15-30 mts daily" and he agreed. The school reopened on the last week of August and the exams which is scheduled to begin on second week of September is likely to conclude by first week of October. On many days, we couldn't proceed as per our plan and missed so many days. Nonetheless, the tiny steps we initiated towards understanding our tradition gives me great satisfaction.
Hope Krishna and I will resume the Sanatana session soon after the exams.
Hope Krishna and I will resume the Sanatana session soon after the exams.
Postscript: Birthday bash is awesome than Vidyarambham.Invoking laukika (material) aspects in Upanayanam ceremony is cool. Throwing party in connection with thread ceremony is super-cool. However, doing SavitrOpAsana and Samita-dAnam (fire ritual) daily is neither cool nor fashionable for a vast majority. Rather it is considered as archaic and uncool by a larger section. And we lament that younger generation is responsible for the destruction of our culture and tradition.
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