First day, first show

The books are bought. The pencils sharpened. New ID cards (temporary) made. Shoes polished. Bags packed. The big day has come.

Actually it came on Monday. The rains came too. Water poured down from heaven and the kids (with their parents in tow) poured into the school.

Our two stepped into 4th standard (Asha) and 2nd (Enoch).

They were supposed to be wearing their new uniforms - but the cloth merchants who are the monopoly suppliers for the school (you can just imagine the sums passed under the table to be able to outfit 7200 students) messed up so royally and so the school allowed the old ones to be worn for another few days.

January 14th thus saw them decked out in the blue and whites from last year (we had bundled them up to be given away - and brought them out for their last hurrah).

But this morning they were clad in their new uniforms:

There is one big advantage to wearing uniforms - it cuts out the constant one-up-childship of preteen mini-fashionistas. The choices for dressing up are simple - normal uniform or physical education uniform (white t-shirt with white shorts).

The first 3 days of school have been gratifyingly good. The kids do love school and have been reading all summer. Now we have a stream of information about their new teachers, friends, what they heard today, what they will do tomorrow. For us as parents it is a joy to step into the halls of learning again - through our miniature selves in Asha and Enoch.

A big breath. A prayer. And they are off into the adventure of learning that this year has for them. Hooray for school!