of India

The students took on the roles of sabziwallas and sabziwalis, phalwalas and phalwalis, and moved around selling their fruit and vegetables to all present.

‘India Calling’ students at Holi celebrations

Students from Mascot Public School and Cronulla Public School enjoyed a day out at the Holi Mahotsav in Darling Harbour organised by Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan Australia.

Over a hundred students accompanied by their teachers arrived at the venue and changed into their costumes, supervised by teachers and volunteers of IABBV Hindi School.

Representatives of the ‘India Calling’ initiative, namely Dr Phil Lambert, Mr Scott Smith (Project Officer, Expanding Horizons Asia Sydney Region), Ms Janet Freeman (ESL Multicultural Consultant K-6, Sydney Region, NSW Department of Education & Communities), and Ms Kerry (Teacher Sans Souci PS), were also present.

The highlight here was a special Gandhi Dandi March, enacted by 29 students of Cronulla Public School, which included a reading of this historic event.

The peace song, Hum honge kamyab was sung by all students, followed by a rendition of Where the mind is without fear, Rabindranath Tagore’s famous poem.

Another highlight was the Indian costume display fashion parade, in which the students showcased different traditional outfits from around India. The students were dressed in Punjabi lungi kurtas with pagris, while the girls wore colourful salwar khameez sets; Rajasthani outfits were displayed through lehengas, with the Maharashtrian set wearing white kurtas and Gandhi topis. Stunning Indian sarees were also displayed by the female teachers, with their male counterparts looking dashing in their pagris and odhnis

And could Bollywood have been far behind?! It was Nachle and Jai ho all over again, and the audience joined in enthusiastically to the dholna folk dance and Zoobi Doobi, choreographed and lead by Purvi

Desai. The students and teachers then enjoyed free vouchers for their choice of Indian food, courtesy of Bhavan Australia. Some of them were even seen opting to buy fresh coconut water as opposed to soft drinks.

A Rangoli Art and Henna Art workshop conducted by volunteers of IABBV Hindi School was well received too, as was a display of artwork from 2011 ‘India Calling’ students.

The five participating schools in 2012 are Ashbury Public School (‘Mumbai Indians’, Maharashtra); Carlton South Public School (‘Rajasthan Royals’, Rajasthan); Cronulla Public School (‘Kolkata Knight Riders’, West Bengal); Double Bay Public School (‘Chennai Super Kings’, Tamil Nadu) and Mascot Public School (‘Kings Eleven’, Punjab).