Dancing queen and basketball star

Today was National Teachers' Day in India. It commemorates the birthday of Dr. Radhakrishnan, former president of India and great educator. This meant that at Jen's school, the pupils ran the school and the faculty were treated like royalty. One of the festivities included a faculty/student basketball game of which I, Jimmy the tall-skinny-white-man-can't-jump-American, was invited to participate in. The last time I officially played basketball was in 7th grade. OK, I didn't actually play that much but I did own a uniform and go to practice and could distinguish between Larry Byrd and Magic Johnson in a pinch.

I obliged Rakesh, the friendly coach and one of only 4 male faculty at the school, by agreeing to play. Let's see, that was at 9:30am and it was about, oh, 87 degrees and 300% humidity. Needless to say, the staff were kind as I managed to break any stereotype they may have had about tall American men and basketball. It was a lot of fun and I actually managed to make a few baskets to help the Teachers best the Students 27-23. As it was outside and I played in pants, I'm pretty sure I lost about 2 litres of water in sweat. Even after 30 minutes, my face was beat red. This didn't stop my new found groupies from wanting a picture with me though.



All day long students would approach Jennifer and hand her elaborate homemade cards and wish her Happy Teachers' Day. These smiles and tokens of appreciation were overwhelmingly kind and as Jen remarked, "It's humbling to be appreciated so much for actually doing so little." Here's Jen getting one of her 20+ homemade cards.



As it's a K-12 school, we got to interact with students of all ages. Mainly by performing our duties as celebrities by giving our autographs. It was the weirdest, nicest thing to sign the palm of an 8 year old boy, dressed in his all white Monday uniform as I dripped sweat in the local vicinity. How do you look into those deep brown eyes and say, "No, really, I'm no celebrity! Did you see me play? I'm not as important as your mom or dad or teacher!" So I again obliged and signed notebooks, scraps of paper and hands as Jen did the same next to me. Kids are weird and kind in every country.



After the game that exalted me to sweaty basketball star, we headed into the auditorium and took in a talent show by the students which included singing and dancing. Didn't understand a word they said, but it was amazing and cool all at the same time. Especially the 9 armed dancer.



At the end of the last very lively dance performance, the dancers did the predictable and unthinkable. They came down in the crowd and persuaded my very lovely and rhythmic wife to join them, along with the principal and other staff they felt honored to embarrass. Had it not been for the camcorder in my hand and my insistence that I “need to film this,” I would have suffered the same fate. No hops AND no groove in the same day would have been simply too much to handle. Jen on the other hand proved herself to be quite the dancing queen – even if she did only have 2 arms.

It was a day we’ll always remember and a good reminder to try to look through the eyes of a child - for they see something remarkable even in the most ordinary of things, like me.

Jimmy