Marry Chrisimas.
Stencie, the Umeed coordinator in the Vasna area, organized a Christmas party / competition for her students. Decorations were hung from the ceilings and “Marry Chrisimas” was written on the walls and signs. Within each training batch, there are 3-5 classes (business process outsourcing, information technology, hospitality management, customer sales & relations and hardware). Each class decorated their respective rooms and then I was asked to pick a winner.
The students made Christmas trees on whiteboards, shook up shaving cream to create snow, put glitter and powder on fans to create snow, hung decorations throughout the school. The two best were the BPO (business process outsourcing) and CSR (customer relations & sales). We gave first place to CSR class because when I asked them who came up with the idea, they said it was a “team effort”. After, we ate cake and samosas and the students began to dance and tell jokes (I was asked to dance, but got nervous and declined).
Some of my friends at home often question (jokingly, I hope) why my family celebrates Christmas. I always say that we celebrate the North pole, the reindeer and the Hallmark “season of giving”, not Christmas in the Christian sense. I think my parents began celebrating Christmas because 1) it is an omnipresent cultural event that affects all Americans, 2) it was a great way to assimilate to American culture, and 3) a guaranteed way to spend time with family.
So it was great to see that in the predominantly Hindu Ahmedabad, a school composed of 70% Muslims and 30% Hindus and located at ground zero of the 2002 Gujarat riots, celebrated a Christian holiday. People often say that 20 years ago, Muslims and Hindus participated in each others traditions and customs here in Gujarat. Stencie and her students recreated that today.
“Marry” Christmas.
finding rickshaw. 