The Magic Begins
Amazed again and again
August 30, 2010
The monsoon rain was blinding as the cab pulled up to my hotel. I dashed into the lobby. In my room I collapsed into the chair exhausted and feeling a bit discouraged. I had thought about this day for the past two months almost every day. And now, after eight hours of teaching the fourteen children at Prerana, I was not at all sure what they had really learned. The day felt so scattered and chaotic. The space was so noisy with someone outside the window using a high pitched, shrill metal grinder most of the day. With much of what I said needing to be translated, I never felt the teaching had any rhythm or momentum. I got up and checked my e-mail. There was an e-mail from Saumya, the woman from Prerana who had helped all day with translating and handling all the logistics. "Today was so great!!! The kids enjoyed themselves so much, learned so much and are all looking forward to the session tomorrow." Looking back, I think my exhaustion and unrealistic expectations clouded my sense of how much really happened for the children.
When I walked into Prerana the next morning -in the midst of a monsoon downpour and stepping over a drowned rat outside the door to Prerana- all the children were seated at their tables, their magic props neatly arranged in front of them and BIG smiles on their faces. "Good morning, sir," they shouted. They were definitely ready for more magic.
We gathered in a circle and pla
yed some theater games that everyone seemed to enjoy. The games brought us together as a group and got the kids use to feeling foolish and nervous and doing it anyway. And having some fun in the process.Then they took turns performing one of the magic routines I had taught the day before and include in the routine a story of their own making to illustrate the magic. Thinking up the story was their homework assignment. They were all good, a couple were brilliant and one amazed me.
The mechanics of the magic was good for rank beginners and the stories were mostly imaginative and engaging. The whole thing was fantastic for first time performances.
But thirteen year old Chanda was the one who amazed me. The day before she was painfully shy, finding it impossible to stand up in front of us and practice one of the tricks, barely able to look me in the eyes. Chanda is slight with delicate features and long slender fingers -perfect for magic. During her performance she began to show a confidence and ability that seemed to come from some buried place inside her. I began to imagine she will be able to use the magic to find and express parts of herself she finds difficult to express. Saumya later told me that the Prerana staff had invited Chanda to join the magic class because she was so shy and perhaps could use the class to come out of herself and find a confidence and personal power she needs to resist the pressures she will face in the oppressive and intimidating world of pimps and brothel keepers. She was very pleased with her performance.
I was thrilled with the performances and the day went from there and just got better and better over the eight hours. I am looking forward to the mid week session and the sixteen hours we will be together this coming weekend. I guess I'm really looking forward to seeing Chanda and the other sorcerer apprentices. I look forward to being amazed again and again.
