We are reading about Buddha

I had bought Jack Landaw's book called "Prince Siddhartha" off Amazon and had it delivered to a friend. When it arrived I saw that it was full of text and Lakshmi perhaps would not be able to read it till she was at least seven.

But the book has the most beautiful illustrations in water colour. It looks like Japanese poetry but is only more populated.

So that attracted her and we have been reading it. It is a 142-page book and we read it in bed one day and she sat through. I just read one paragraph from each page. The paragraph corresponded with the picture in the book which is liberally sprinkled with paintings. She actually stayed awake and heard through. I was reading in a sonorous voice. "That was comforting and she likes the pictures" I thought.

The next day she brought it again and this time started pulling out certain pictures and we started reading at those pages. Clearly she had got something.

The third day she started asking questions. What is archery? What is bull's eye? What is aim? What is target? I had to draw and explain. Now I was relieved. I could explain all shooting in these terms.

Then came "what is Mara?" There is a picture in the book of Buddha sitting under the tree of enlightenment and Mara is the evil trying to disturb him. We looked at this page repeatedly for several days. One day we were reading this page and she was asking me "what is Mara?".

"Mara is your gussa. He disturbs you when you are doing something" I replied.

She keeps looking at the picture of Buddha meditating and asking me what he is doing. I told her that he was meditating. Mara tries to disturb him but he concentrates and in teh end found happiness and peace. he then turned a teacher.

One night she was trying to do something. Then suddenly turned cranky. I said that is "Mara". She turned around sat still in a lotus position with a very calm look for a while and said "I meditated and am happy now". Something has gone in.

She has been familiar with Buddha for a while. For two Buddha Jayantis we got up early in the morning and went to the Buddha Jayanti Park. That is the most beautiful sight. There is a tall golden Buddha there that is beautifully decorated by people from Tibet House. There is a canal running with hordes of ducks. Few Buddhists arrive, there is usually chanting and the most tasty prasad. Last year it rained mildly and it was one of the most beautiful experiences for us.

Is Lakshmi too young to go into a structured dance program?

Today lakshmi and I are planning to go to Ganesh Natyalaya, the dance school started by Danseuse Saroja Vaidyanathan. We have noticed that Lakshmi has a great sense of rhythm and loves moving her body. It has been reinforced by observations made by nearly everybody.

She has been watching a lot of classical Indian dance. Two Shivaratri's ago she watched Saroja Vaidyanathan and her team dance Tandava Nrityam. She went to a solo Bharatnatyam show. A modern dance event by a Bangalore based group Attakalari. She sat transfixed through Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra's (SBKK) "Krishna". We also went to SBKK's Holi production. She has also watched a Kathakali dance besides watching several dances on Youtube. I have been trying to get DVDs of classical Indian dances with stories but am yet to find them. (There are websites with dollar prices though).

Finally a month ago she went to see Rama Vidyanathan, aroja Vaidyanathan dance at the WWF in a program titled "Dance of Birds". The next day she had a workshop for children of bird movements in Dance -- how birds nest, how they take off, how different birds walk (the penguin walk was really funny) -- Lakshmi still does the nesting bit. She calls Rama "that peacock dancing aunty". "I have found a teacher who can teach her with consciousness" I thought. Rama said she would have to be seven before she could take her as a student.

Two years ago I ordered some dance books off the Amazon. One is about a little girl who learns dancing and her relationship with her father. It is called "The Dance" by Richard Paul Evans. The cover has a little girl, dancing in a meadow, with one leg folded at the knee and long hair blowing in the wind. We have read the book over and over. the girl dances in "The Nut Cracker". A year ago we got a BBC production of Nutcracker and have watched it several times since.

Two weeks ago we went to "The Sleeping Beauty" produced by the India Fernando Ballet company. Ever since Lakshmi has been walking on her tip toes and dancing all the time. She has also been saying that she wants to learn.

A few days ago I pulled out another book we had A book called "I want to be a dancer". Its really hard to dance we told her. We showed her pictures of children in a tutu standing at the barre and exercising for hours. "Hold your hand like a barre, I will stand too" was her response.
And she does too.

Her father however wants her to dance classical Indian dane especially Bharatnatyam. She should have roots. But ballet we felt requires higher level of fitness. So we would take her to both schools and let her choose.

Suddenly yesterday she said she wants to go the Peacock Aunty's class. So we are going to Ganesh Natyalaya today. We are also planning to take a Dance trail with www.storytrails.in during our Chennai holiday.