Meanwhile, we happen to run into the school director whose father founded the school beginning with about a dozen students, and he tells us a little bit about the school’s history. His father owned the land the school is on, and quite a bit of the property surrounding it. The farmland that exists in the surrounding community now is there because people basically squatted on his land. He was a civic-minded gent, and decided in 1982 to establish a school here in honor of Maa Amandmayee, who had just died.

Who was Maa Amandmayee? She was a renowned mystic and spiritual teacher, revered all over India and reputed to have been the incarnation of a Hindu god. People would come from miles around to hear her discourse. And one of the places they came to hear her was right here — she maintained quarters here for a time, and would deliver sermons out under the huge, splendid tree — which is perhaps 3 or 4 centuries old. (See sidebar for more about her.)

PICTURED: During the program some of the staff continued to do grounds work. Portrait of one of the teachers from Junior Wing dressed in formal attire (Kimberly was told that she would also be dressed in the same attire but maybe that was just a miscommunication.) She was amused because the teachers’ uniform here was similar in pattern to her uniform in Cambodia.

At last, the program gets started with attendees — kids and adults — in chairs on the lawn. It’s a bit sultry until the sun drops down to a certain point, and then it’s much more comfortable. Some of the high school students, sporting white sashes designating them as “captains” patrol the crowd with the intent of helping keep their peers, especially the younger ones, in line. There isn’t a great deal of demand for their services, as the students in the chairs are not particularly disorderly; but Dennis is glad to see his students, (including some of those who are most problematic in the classroom) assigned such a responsibility, and hopes it just might have a lasting positive impact on their own deportment in class. One can hope.

PICTURED: Dance Story of the Hindu god Ganesha by upper classes

The program includes some rather long-winded speeches in Hindi by several dignitaries. But the bill is also enlivened by a variety of charming and entertaining performances by the students of several different grade levels. The kids have a lot of fun and do an excellent job — even as they battle a few lengthy power outages. Later, dinner is served to all attendees.

PICTURED: Upper Kindergarten traditional dance (Kimberly helped the emcees improve their English, but they were already great)

And now that this much-anticipated occasion is finally behind us, perhaps the students will be able to focus on their classes (which they often missed in order to practice some presentation or other). So now, we’ll get to see what it’s like to teach here under normal circumstances and the usual schedule.

PICTURED: Kindergarten dressed as Hindu gods and goddesses giving speeches about their characters. The blue one was sick and her mother took her home as soon as she was done. Parents whipped out their cameras to capture the moment, as parents all over the world are prone to do.