12 Feb 2018 -
"Srishti Sandilya is our new V.I.P of the week. She was born in Netherlands and moved to India just last year. She is a gentle and soft spoken child. Srishti shared pictures of herself in Netherlands with her parents, grandparents, kindergarten school teacher and her vacation in Rome. She mentioned that she took some Ballet lessons in Netherlands and showed us a picture of her dancing with her instructor. She enjoys spending time with her grandparents, loves to eat pasta, play lego and dress up in her mother’s jewellery. Srishti is a peaceful child and expresses herself very honestly."
15 Feb 2018 -
"Today our V.I.P Srishti’s mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. Sandilya visited our classroom. They shared information about Srishti’s childhood. She was born in Netherlands and lived there for the first five years of her life. She studied in two schools there and as a result she speaks Dutch fluently. Today we learned that Srishti loves singing and dancing. She speaks in four different languages – Dutch, English, Hindi and Bengali. Srishti sang “Happy birthday” for us in Dutch, “Sunshine on my shoulder makes me happy” by John Denver and “Sing, sing a song” by The Carpenters. We also heard her favourite Bengali song “Mamo Chitte” and Hindi song “Pinga” from the movie - Bajirao Mastani . All the children responded well to these songs and were happy to sing along with Shirsti and her mother.
Srishti is taking Ballet classes and we look forward to her performance in class. She is a talented musical and creative child. We wish her the very best . Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Sandilya for a fun filled and entertaining session."
18 Feb 2018
One of my private ballet students moved from the Netherlands to India. Through photos, she shared about her Dutch life. And that's how my ballet teacher body & face ended up in a classroom in Calcutta❤️
Shristi, you are beautiful and creative. I love your shiny eyes, bright mind healthy sense of self/individuality. Dance on!
4 MONTHS with MIMI – 24 March 2018
My sister came home for a 3-week holiday in Dec. Half-way through it, she had an accident & had to undergo knee surgery in early Jan, which prolonged her stay till mid-Feb. But before she could leave, Baba fell ill... & she had to further extend her stay till end-March. The 3 weeks became 4 months - mostly hospital months. What it gave us - apart from the endless uncertainties & anxieties - was time together. After almost 20 years... since that time when wesisters had both left home for different reasons.
The best part of these 4 months was however not us, but the time that Srishti got to spend with her aunt, her "mimi", inadvertently. Loads of extra fun-time, when a lot was accomplished playfully: learning Bengali, straitening crooked English alphabets, practising tables, and impromptu dancing... every half a chance they got. All of it liberally peppered with quite a bit of scolding & crying & arguing as well... & then making up frantically with hugs & kisses. Ma must have been delighted to see the antics of this two-some from wherever she is watching us!
The ballerina at home in her brand new costume! – 24 June 2018
There are loads of other 'new' things in Srishti's life now - rapidly falling milk teeth (there was tremendous peer pressure about that, as most of her classmates had faced it before her); new class (Grade 1) with a slew of new subjects (Bangla, Social Studies, ICT). She also has Music, Drama & Art apart from PE this year. She seems pretty enthusiastic about it all. But above all, she is super-excited about the school bus. She is now availing of it on her way back home. I thought she would complain after being used to a car for a year & always having me to drop & pick her up. But no - she seamlessly integrated herself with her peers on the bus & seemed to me more a part of a bunch of gregarious giggly monkeys! The ballerina in her was unrecognisable then!