Day 8 - Finishing Touches & A Game of Rugby

The collective collages that were started yesterday could not be completed in a day. The largest piece is about 5’ X 5’ in size, and the two smaller pieces are 2’ X 5’ in size.

We also had to deal with a little bit of impatience settling in the group cause it looked like it would never get done, but then once we made them all hold a brush and work on the large piece, it suddenly got exciting, as it seemed to them to come together quicker.

And so they learnt, that they can work faster if they work together, a lesson important for life, and for tomorrow the day of the exhibition.

Most of the day was spent in completion of these pieces, one of which will be gifted to the Sanskriti Kendra for their museums.

Post lunch, was more fun and team building games, and then we had a surprise visit from Pierre Bellemere, a French rugby coach who has been living in New Delhi and working with the Rugby Academy here, along with Kamaldeep Dagar, player of the Indian Rugby team, and Apurv Pandey, a professional in the garment industry in New Delhi but a ardent rugby player, and also my younger brother. These young sportsmen are trying to promote sport amongst the youth and especially Rugby which is a fairly new sport to India but even though it looks rough, the players have to follow a strong code of conduct on the field.

They started with a few warm up exercises, and then divided the kids into two teams and made them play a little game of Rugby. The most amazing part of this exercise was to see the girls and their agility for the game.

The kids were in for another surprise, when Pawan Sharma landed up to meet with them and help them to refine their play that was created and worked on a couple of days earlier. He has done an amazing job in bringing them together as a team too.

We ended the day with a little party in the dorms along with the other resident artists of Sanskriti Kendra, as it was the second last day. The resident artists though generations older to them had grown attached to the kids and were feeling a little sad to see them leave the day after, and hence, it called for a party.

Everyone shook a leg or two, and there were some new dance steps that were created.

Later in the night, they all sat down together and re-capped their last 8 days by looking thru all the photographs and videos I had taken thru the workshops. It was lovely to see them comment about themselves and each other.