The school reopened today after the
vacations. The children share news about how they spent their holidays. “When
did you put mehendi on your palms?” Meena asked Aarti. “At my uncle’s wedding,”
Aarti said.
“You must have had a lot of fun at the
wedding,” David said. “Oh, yes! I enjoyed the wedding feasts the most,” Aarti
said. “At the wedding, we had fun with all my cousins and other relatives
eating and doing everything together.” Aarti said,
“Why don’t we do something like this in
school? Let us also have some fun together.” Rehana asked.
“ I have an idea,” David said. “Why
don’t we have a class party ? Then we can also eat and have fun together. We
have parties in our colony whenever there is a festival.
We collect money from everyone for theparty. We cook some dishes and buy other things from the market,” Rehana said.
Reena said, “We don’t need a festival to
have a party. Saturday is half-day. Why don’t we plan to have our party then?” Everyone
in the class decided what each would bring for the party.
On Saturday the children really enjoyed
their party. There was so much variety in food. They played so many games.
Everybody was so relaxed. There was singing and dancing too. They decided that
they would have such a party again.
A class party is a good opportunity to
get children to eat together. Children can also be encouraged to prepare songs,
dances and plays for the party.
Celebrating Bihu
Sonmoni woke up early and ran to meet
her friends Tanvir, Fatima and
Mazani. Today was a special day in Assam.
The new rice crop had been
harvested. The village was celebrating the
festival of Bihu. The four friends sang and chatted happily as they made the
Bhela Ghar.
Let us read how they celebrated Bihu:
Sonmoni – Hurry up ! We must finish
making the Bhela Ghar of grass and bamboo before the feast tonight. Tanvir Yes,
today is Uruka. The whole village will eat together.
Fatima – Have they started preparing the
feast? Sonmoni – Yes, everyone has contributed money to buy the bora rice, fire
wood, bamboo and Mezi. Hariya and Bhadiya have not given money, but they are
helping with all the work.
Fatima – What about the meat, fish and
vegetables? Sonmoni – Some people have gone to market to buy all these things.
The bora rice has been soaked. The whole village is busy making pitha.
Some people are cooking and some are roasting
the sweet potatoes. Some will help to serve the food at night. In the evening,
everyone will be served tea and pitha.
Uruka is the evening before Bihu. Bora
and Cheva are the common varieties of rice used in Assam. These are ‘sticky’
rice. Encourage children to locate Assam on the map.
Tanvir – I am waiting to eat the cheva
rice that we will get at the feast. I really love it. Fatima – How will the
cheva rice be prepared?
Sonmoni
– They will light a fire and boil the water in the big tao (a big vessel). On
this vessel, they will put the Kadhahi containing soaked rice and cover it with
banana leaves. After some time, the cheva rice will be cooked and ready to eat.
The Bhela Ghar was ready. The four
friends ran off to change their clothes. Soon all the people in the village got
together at one place. The women were dressed in yellow. They wore beautiful
mekhalachador.
Sonmoni and her friends ran to the Bhela
Ghar. The drums started to play and everyone started to sing and dance.
The Bhela Ghar was set alight as people
danced around it. Everyone danced till they were tired.
Then they all sat down on the ground in
rows and ready to eat. The food was served on banana leaves. Everyone enjoyed
the feast.
Mazani: Sonmoni! We should go and sleep
now. We have to get up early tomorrow to light the Mezi.
It is almost one o’clock in the
afternoon. The smell of food cooking is coming from the verandah and our
stomachs are rumbling. We are so hungry, we are not able to pay attention to the
lesson in class.
Ding, Ding, Ding… at last, now the bell
rung! All the children ran out and went to wash their hands. Master Moshai sent
all the children to the handpump at the corner of the courtyard.
“Anondo, see that everyone washes their
hands properly,” he called. After washing our hands, we all stood in
queue to take our food. Some had their own boxes, and others had plates.
Then we all sat down in a circle with
our food. Before we started to eat, we sang together We play together, we eat
together. For the good of everyone, we will always be together.
Today there is bhat-shukto (rice with
vegetable and gravy) in our meal. Yesterday, we had luchi and chhola-dal.
Outside Didi Moni’s room, a list of food items has been displayed. It tells what
we will get every day of the week. Would it not be wonderful if on some days we
got an extra treat – maybe something sweet!
There is another interesting thing about
lunch time at school. Everyday we change our places in the circle and sit next
to a different child. I really like this because I can meet new children and
make new friends.
The food was not always very nice.
Sometimes, rice was of poor quality, sometimes, it was not properly cooked.
Some parents did not like their children to eat such food.
Didi Moni explained to them it was
everyone’s duty to make sure that the children got fresh, hot and properly
cooked food. Also make sure that every child gets afternoon meal regularly.
The parents also decided to help. Now
things are better. We eat fresh, hot and properly cooked food together. The
younger children sometimes cannot finish all the food, but my friends and I are
sometimes still a little hungry even after we eat.
Now adays many schools give food in
school during the day. It was not always like this. When my didi was in the
primary school, children did not get afternoon meal in school. Some children
come to school in the morning without eating anything. Imagine! Having to study
on an empty stomach!
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