Incredible India

Namaste and greetings from India, ok ok we weren’t actually in India but it was close enough….!!!! Here is the story behind us embarking on a journey of cultural wonders…

So it was just your ordinary day and the girls where playing in the art room.. When Maya told Leah that she couldn’t join her and Cianna’s game cause she was darker than them… My heart literally sank, where had my 4 year old heard this…? When I asked Maya why she said that,she couldn’t answer..? I could just see her face crumble and the tears start rolling down her face as I explained why it wasn’t a kind thing to say, from the look in her eyes she hadn’t even realized it was wrong to say that…. First off let me explain if you look at our family we are like 50 shades of coloured so it’s not something she would have picked up from home or even noticed, we are all so different from hair type to skin colour to height ?????…

Long story short it turns out someone was saying that to her and she didn’t even realize that it was a bad thing and just accepted that she couldn’t be part of the group cause she was darker than them, and figured it to be logical sense in her four year old mind…I must commend Maya’s school for handling the situation in the way they did…. but I still felt that I should do more at home to build my child up to be proud of who she is and be more accepting of others and appreciate different cultures… So when Kanya called me and asked me if I wanted to start making and selling cultural boxes for a fair she was managing, I got so excited about the endless possibilities you could expose kids to culturally through art… Financially at the time I wasn’t in the position to make a big amount of boxes to sell and go to the fair, but at that point I had the light bulb in my head go off..!!! I am going to take my girls on an art journey around the world, teaching them about different cultures and traditions all through the medium of art… My mission with the girls is to grow them to be international ambassadors…

So we set a play date with Maya’s school friends and their siblings to come to our house and taste a slice of Incredible India… We had in store the lost art of making pinch pots with clay, some Indian dancing, fun facts about India, Rangoli patterns and a colour festival.. We decided to dress for the occasion and each mom brought a plate of India to share, we had biriyani, chipati’s/roti’s, chicken curry, rita, samosas, bunny chows and the list goes on and on.. Of course we had some drinks to wash  it all down with,moms need some relaxation juice every now and then hee hee hee..and just to be true to the whole cultural experience I ate and drank everything, on some days training for half marathons doesn’t really count ha ha ha ha…

We converted the garage into a make shift art studio for the day, and I realized I miss teaching so much..! It was so much fun having a class for the day.. I took the role seriously and transformed into Gorima and my trusted side kick was Fatima aka Leah ??? Maya was looking at me like she couldn’t believe this mad woman was her mom, but it was fun to role play and dust off those teaching cobwebs..!! My main aim for all the activities we did was the kids could explore all the different art media with the mind set that what ever they made was Perfectly Imperfect, its about the journey rather than the destination..!!

When I was younger my mom would tell me so many stories about India, she was an air hostess at the time and would read me stories from India and describe in great details the smell and mystery that India had…. She always said she would take me there one day, and going on this India journey and reading stories from India for my own kids got me so excited to go there one day with mom and the kids..!

Things needed for an India play date:

• Clay
• Beads
• Holi Powder (for the Rangoli patterns)
• Rangoli stencil
• Small Sieve for powder
• Pictures of India
• Indian music
• Indian clothes
• Indian food
• Indian folk tales for kids (our favorite is the hare and the foolish lion)
• Anything you feel with enhance the Indian experience ?

When the girls where in bed I asked Maya what her favorite part of the India play date was and she replied I loved throwing the powder on each other… The colour festival was the best part for me too… Can you imagine what it must be like in real life in India it’s definitely on my bucket list..!! Although I could just see my OCD husband in the back of my mind having a breakdown about the colour powder everywhere so we made sure it was cleaned before he got home, but while the cat was away the mice did play and boy did we have fun with colour ?????

I cant wait to take the girls on our next cultural adventure… The world is our oyster..!! I know there is so much more I can and will do to build our girls up to be proud of who they are and where they come from… This is just the tip of the ice berg for them to understand who other people are and why they are proud to be who they are… I saw the world through my moms eyes as she travelled as a air hostess and brought the magic of cultures into our home and so in turn I plan to gift my girls with the same experience through art…

As a wise woman once said:

It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength. (Maya Angelou)

Although I must admit it will be hard to top our India experience… the colors, the smells, the tastes..!! I truly understand why they call it Incredible India…! I bid you a great week filled with magic… I bow to you my friends, Namaste….

Love