{"id":415,"date":"2008-06-21T18:32:32","date_gmt":"2008-06-21T13:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/naveenbachwani.wordpress.com\/?p=390"},"modified":"2008-06-21T18:32:32","modified_gmt":"2008-06-21T13:02:32","slug":"the-big-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/2008\/06\/the-big-school\/","title":{"rendered":"The Big School!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pumpkin’s admission to Bombay Scottish<\/a> (Powai) had come through.\u00a0 She was scheduled to join the “big school” on 20th June 2008.<\/p>\n

We had spent weeks preparing for the big day.\u00a0 Naturally, as parents, we were more anxious than Pumpkin was.\u00a0 And, between the two of us, the wife even more so…<\/p>\n

There were uniforms to be bought, labels to be made, and a host of other formalities to be fulfilled.\u00a0 Then, there was the matter of getting Pumpkin used to getting up early!\u00a0 The two months of summer vacations from her morning playschool-routine did not help.\u00a0 But, we had a plan.<\/p>\n

A week before d-day, we would all practice getting up early and getting Pumpkin ready, as if she were really off to school.\u00a0 We even took all the photos of Pumpkin in her school uniform, a few days earlier, so we wouldn’t have to spend time doing so on the morning of the big event. (And boy, did she look all grown up in it?!)<\/p>\n

When the day finally arrived, every thing seemed well under control.\u00a0 There were no unpleasant surprises.\u00a0 The plan had worked!<\/p>\n

I’d already informed my office that I would be in late.\u00a0 Even though one parent was required by the school to accompany the child on the first day, we’d decided that we would both go.\u00a0 It was an important time in her Life.\u00a0 So, off we went, to the big school…<\/p>\n

The energy in the school auditorium was noticeable.\u00a0 The hall was filled with anxious parents accompanying their little ones, all geared up for their first day in school.\u00a0 The school’s principal was addressing the audience, informing all parents to stand in their respective queues for the various divisions of Junior KG.<\/p>\n

One by one, as their names were called out, the children started trotting-off to their class.\u00a0 Some, of course, were bawling away to glory, refusing to leave their parents’ shelter.\u00a0 Pumpkin?\u00a0 She was raring to go – all excited about joining a new class in the “big school”!!!<\/p>\n

After all the children had disappeared from sight, the principal informed the parents to take a seat for a brief presentation on the school’s rules, and a few words of advice from her.\u00a0 The rules were mostly about discipline and do’s and don’ts.\u00a0 Some, fairly routine, while others were reassuring to us as parents.\u00a0 But, what followed thereafter was quite a surprise.<\/p>\n

In the 30 minutes that ensued, the principal spoke candidly to the parents on her experience with kindergarten-going toddlers, and about what she would like us to keep in mind.\u00a0 I wish I had recorded her speech for your benefit, but it is well ingrained in my mind.\u00a0 I cannot reproduce its simplicity and genuineness.\u00a0 It was heart-warming to note that someone at the helm of such a large institution cares so deeply <\/em>about these children, as if they were her own.<\/p>\n

We’d chosen this particular school because of its emphasis on overall personality development, less emphasis on learning-by-rote and impeccable reputation as an ICSE institution.\u00a0 Little did we know that, in doing so, we would also be enrolling Pumpkin in a school that genuinely cares about its students and their well-being.<\/p>\n

The words that followed covered topics ranging from not using “the principal” as a stick or carrot to not forcing your children in tuition classes at a tender age such as this.\u00a0 I’m sure all of us in the audience would benefit tremendously by her advice, if we only cared to listen.<\/p>\n

Soon, the parents’ session came to end, and the little ones came running back from their classes into the waiting arms of their mothers and fathers.\u00a0 Pumpkin did too!<\/p>\n

We were both anxious to hear all about her first day.\u00a0 When we asked her what she did once she reached her class, her simple answer was : “I sat down<\/em>!”\u00a0 Then, she narrated a fascinating story about PowerRangers and getting some magical powers, attributing it to her class teacher.\u00a0 At this point, we realized that we would simply not be able to tell what had really happened and what she had imagined in her happy state of mind…<\/p>\n

This would mark the first day of the rest of her formal education.\u00a0 And, we were only glad that she would spend her formative years in Bombay Scottish.<\/p>\n

Related Reading: A Circus and a Carnival<\/a> | Off to School<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pumpkin’s admission to Bombay Scottish (Powai) had come through.\u00a0 She was scheduled to join the “big school” on 20th June 2008. We had spent weeks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-wonder-years"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}