Janmashtami Celebrations 2025
On the joyous occasion of Janmashtami, the children of Shikshantar celebrated Krishna and his childhood feats through songs, roleplays and interactive experiences. The little ones in ‘Vanar Years’ intently listened to the narration of the story of Kalia Nag by the didis. The children went on to give the tale their original titles - “Krishna and the Kalia nag”, “Krishna and the Kalia Nag and the ball“. Children also imagined Krishna in their midst and shared through their free expressions ‘Krishna and me..’ “Krishna और मैं mound पर rolly polly कर रहे हैं।" मैं Vanar Vatika में झूला झूल रहा हूँ और कृष्णा बांसुरी बजा रहे है... मेरे साथ माखन भी share किया ।”
With handmade decorations and delicately painted little ‘matkis’, they brought a lively vibrancy to the celebration. Stepping into the ‘गोकुल नगरी’ corner rocking the Krishna idol on the swing, they sang songs ‘चपुके चपुके कान्हा आया...’, ’नटखट कनहिया तुम कहाँ छुपो रे...’ and moved merrily to ‘छोटी छोटी गइयाँ...’, ‘मेरे छोटे से घनश्याम...’. During the theme, children created characters and elements related to stories of Krishna such as makhan matki, Krishna, Balram etc These came together to create a ‘Gokul Nagari’ depicting episodes of Krishna’s life ‘Butter bash’ ‘Kalia Nag’ and ‘’Govardhan Parvat.’
The ‘Finding Feet’ children prepared for the festivities by designing their own ‘बाँसुरी’ and artistically coloured cutouts of ‘matkis’, channelling their inner Kanhaiyas as they sang along to ‘नन्द घर आनदं भायो...’. Watching the Class II group didis’ roleplay of Krishna ji created a burst of enthusiasm visible in the dance corner, children happily exploring creative movements to the song ‘गोपाला गोपाल नाचो...’ As the celebration ended, the children moved to Daana Paani for a special lunch where ‘माखन’ prepared with great care by the Class I children was shared with all and was relished with ‘Pooris’.