On 14th August, 2017, the school celebrated Janmashtami on the school ground amidst a highly sanctified atmosphere that was reverberating with stories of Lord Krishna and songs and bhajans sung in his honour. The whole school gathered on the ground around 9 a.m for the pot breaking(Matki Phod) event. Two pots were arranged for the matki-phod (Dahi Handi) event, one tied rather low for the students of classes 1 & 2 attired as Lord Krishnas and Radhas and the other was tied high for the students of middle school to Sr. Secondary section. The special guest was our Principal Ms. Preeta Pillai, who addressed the students and wished them ‘Happy Janmashtami’ and highlighted the importance of gathering there and added that the way each one of us celebrate our birthdays, we have gathered to celebrate Lord Krishna’s birthday. Besides the values that one need to learn from his life is ‘ just as Lord Krishna had a humble beginning and rose to become the lord of the Universe with determination and dedication to his work’, we also need to nurture such values in life to reach our goals. The Co-ordinator of the Primary section Ms. Dolly Patel talked about the significance of the day and asked the question ‘What was one thing that Lord Krishna liked to have? ’ the students readily answered ‘Makhan’. She then sang the bhajan, ‘Hare Rama Hare Rama…Rama…’ and the students repeated after her. The popular lines ‘Hathi Goda Palki…’ was sung in unison by the students, the next lines, ‘Jai Kannaiya Lal ki’ too created good vibrations!
Then it was time for the main attraction of the day i.e the pot breaking event. The tiny tots of class 1 & 2 were led to the part of the ground where their small pot was tied and having made a small pyramid with the help of their teachers, one of the Govindas climbed on and broke the pot having held it tight with his left hand and striking the pot hard with his flute on the right hand. The girls who were dressed as Radhas in Chaniya choli stood around joining hands, and danced round the pyramid. Class 1 & 2 students performed two to three rounds of teen taali with their teachers joining hands with them and moving round and round the spot where the broken pieces of pot lay scattered thus showing their joy of having broken the pot of butter.
Soon after the matki-phod event of the Primary, the students of the senior classes came dancing to the tune of the Hindi popular number, ‘Govinda alaare aala…teri matki sambhal brij bala’, to the spot where the matki was tied rather high and soon started making human pyramids which was finally made at their fourth attempt as the students were finding difficult to balance. As soon as the pyramid was made a student of class 1 whose face was coloured blue as shyama varna kannaiya quickly scrambled to the top and with a flute, struck the pot hard till it broke scattering its contents like a few coins and chocolates. There was a huge round of applause from the students. Thus the Janmashtami celebration was a cute and decent affair.
Students of class III to VI made beautiful and decorative crowns with peacock feather attached on it for Lord Krishna, students of class VII enjoyed solving crossword puzzle which helped them to collect information about Lord Krishna’s birth place, name of the parents, brother, friend and many such details. Students from class VIII to XII Solved question based on Mathematics and Physics which helped them to know how to make a Human Pyramid. They implemented the same for the matki-phod (Dahi Handi) event which was a great success.
