Providing education is not a business at India International School in Japan

This is the second post about India International School in Japan (IISJ) in this blog. The first post was before more than two and a half years after a visit to the school when my elder daughter joined the kindergarten. Now the reason behind this post is the queries raised by some of the visitors to this blog through blog comments and personal e-mails.

I have received both good and bad comments about the school. Some commentators were rude to scold me for writing good things about the school. In that post I tried to see the good things of the school. I don’t really want to reply to those negative comments received earlier since reply to a negative thing will also be a negative thing.

One thing we need to realize is the availability of such a facility in a far away land for Indian children. The approximate number of Indians in Japan may come around 27,000. Most of them are bachelors. Those with children were facing problem due to lack of schools based on Indian syllabus. Most of the Indian professionals stay in Japan for a shorter period and they need to return to the country. Continuing education in India, once they return back was solved by the presence of Indian schools in Tokyo. Indians living in other parts of Japan does not have this opportunity.

Festivals are essential drivers for social life

The second day of Edogawa ward festival at Komatsugawa park had some new and exciting shows. The dancers were more professional and their movements were eye catching. There were professional drummers brought to perform at Komatsugawa stage. They took the audience to a highest level of enjoyment.

The social gathering found a new phase when the local Indian community got mixed with the Japanese people in stage performances also. Indian girls performed classical dances and the performance of Bharatanatyam, a form of classical South Indian dance by an Indian girl got wide appreciation from Japanese community. Interestingly the dance performer’s teacher is a Japanese national.

Japanese students also have shown their dance skills for the second day of the festival. The food stalls were crowded. Kimono dress stall also attracted many people.

During one of my trip back to India, I could meet Ms Nakamura from Tokyo, who teachers Indian dance to Indian and Japanese students. She is a well known dance performer in Kummi dance, which is a dance form being performed in Tamilnadu, one of the south Indian states. It was a new experience to hear from a Japanese about classical dances of India.

At the end of the stage performances, the Japanese classical dance was performed. The old woman performer showed her skills at the stage and dancers came down to the ground to join with the public. The public also joined with the dancers and they made a circle, moving slowly with a dance steps around a tree. It was a perfect example of cultural fusion point. People from different nationalities, most of them from India, joined in the traditional Japanese dance.

It was 9 O’ clock in the night and still the music was in the air compelling people to dance with the steps shown by the elder performer at the stage. People were not tired even after making several round around the tree with dancing steps. Departing seemed painful for many people.

The next day, while going to office I could see some people still sitting around the stage and park as if they did not like to go back. This is the gloomy part of any festival. The festival and celebrations will be over, but still people carry the memories with them.

The good moments they shared in the social gathering and celebration linger in the mind. That is one of the purposes of festivals. The sweet memories tempt people to organize and join for festival in the coming years too. This is what we also do, waiting for the next year’s festival. Such small hopes are the bigger motivations for life – essential drivers of social life.