An Evening of Performing Arts at Indus International


No James and Ashram were not in the performances. We went to the school to support the upperclassman of the kid's school and for me to see what this is all about. A lot of our neighbours that have kids that go to Indus also attended. Hence the picture above. Nuden, the kid standing next to James has been a good friend to both James and Ashram. He is older than James and really in our neighbourhood age does not matter. Everyone plays with everyone. It is nice and Nuden is a great influence on James and Ashram. He is kind, generous, and respectful.

Ok. I went on a bit of a tangent, but I do have a point to make. For the past 3 weeks, I have had a hard time observing classes at Indus because my mentor teacher at Indus kept saying that the kids were not having classes because they were preparing for Indus Day. To be honest, I did not believe her and I thought that she was brushing me off and did not want me to be in the school. I feel like I am stepping on egg shells every time I come on campus for anything other than for my kids' activities. I get the sense that everyone is thinking in their head "why is she here? Is she going to say something negative about us?" And then on the flip side, everyone stops and says hello to me and chit chats with me and is so kind.

I guess ever since my meeting with the head Principal (There is a CEO, Head Principal, Principal of the Secondary School, Principal of the Middle School, Principal of the Elementary School) I was a bit put off by her unwelcoming stance for me to be at the school. I remember that meeting as if it was yesterday. I still get a bit nervous every time I see her. I still do not understand why she was so quick to say no and then all of sudden changed her mind and the next week I was meeting with the middle school principal. (Don't get me wrong, I am very grateful for the opportunity.) That meeting is still nagging me and is in the back of my head every time I step on campus.

Head Principal Rao


Through my limited time at this very prestigious international school, I have come to learn that the politics run very deep. And the truth is politics is everywhere. Aside from the politics and my 1 uncomfortable meeting, I have learned a lot about Indus and how they are trying to take a stance on developing the whole child. Plus, my experience as a parent has been extremely positive. Both kids are thriving and the teachers really know them well and it has only been 2 months. I also love the curriculum and I can see how much James and Ashram are both thinking about what they learn at school. 

Lo and behold, my mentor teacher was not lying about academic classes being canceled to focus on the performing arts for 3 weeks for Indus day. This evening we went to the Indus Day performances. The primary school kids did not have school today and the whole focus of the school was on these performances AND it was GRAND! I felt as if I was attending a professional performing arts show.


Invocation Dance



 English Play-- "The Good Doctor"


Solo Performance

Hindi Play


 Opening Song

Now, I could see for myself all the time and preparation the students and faculty put into these performance. They even had booths outside of food and drink vendors run by the students to raise money for their houses. (Not sure if I explained this, but their are 4 houses-Hercules, Orion, Pegasus, and Phoenix--each student is assigned a colour and a house for their time at Indus. The houses and colours are used in classrooms for groups, for sports, for community service projects, etc.). Of course students had regular practices since they came back from the holidays, but Indus made a conscious decision to suspend academics for the most part and focus on the final 3 weeks of preparations for the performances. Who am I to judge how a school allocates their time. At least it is clear that they care about the arts. And if this works for this school, then they should do it and good for them for trying to develop the whole child. Really, the performances were outstanding and it showed that there was a lot of time and preparation in and out of school.

I am still stuck. Indus's School vision is "To create global citizens and leaders of tomorrow, through traditional values of Love, Empathy, Discipline and Respect--21st century citizens who think globally and act locally."  I am so stuck. On one hand, I am having a great experience with the school in terms of James and Ashram and on the other hand I still have my doubts. Why is that? Is it really because of my first encounters with the head Principal? Why can't I shake that interaction and move on. Something in me is holding me back to fully believe that the school fully embraces their vision. My plan is to continue forward and to start to talk to people in my neighbourhood who work there or are parents. I am determined to get to the bottom of this feeling inside me about Indus. To be continued...






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