Carpets were laid out in BB-BC Park, chairs were arranged for parents to watch and students were ready to hop, skip, and jump. But the rain gods had other plans.
No sooner did the tots complete their march-past than it started raining!
The teachers of the BB and CK Block-based preschool Nurturing Minds showed resilience. At first the kids were whisked under sheds to perform. But the youngest ones were confused and cried their lungs out, some on the laps of the teachers and attendants, but the older ones danced happily with pompoms to the IPL theme music.
“The last two years sports day was held under such pleasant weather,” said Sandhya Rani Padhi, mother of five-year-old Susant Padhi. “My son is excited and has been talking at home about the march, dances and games he has been practising. But then kids have fun everywhere. We appreciate the effort of the teachers despite the challenging weather.”
When the rain would not stop, the youngest batch — aged around two — was taken back to their school under umbrellas and in cars, where they held a couple of events amidst sustained howling by the juniors. But the rain subsided and the spotlight shifted back to the park.
“Students had been practising for weeks and we are glad they got to play it out in the sun finally,” said principal Soma Chandra. There were events like balancing race, obstacle race and dumbbell races but there were medals for all.