Shhhhh ! Quiet please Parents

We are very fortunate to have an excellent Bharatnatyam teacher in our complex, Mantri Classic. Amrita is a dedicated, passionate teacher. She conducts classes literally gratis and we would not hesitate to pay her 10 times her fees for the value she delivers. Its rare to find someone like her in todays commercial world. She and her friend Neeta had put together a wonderful dance show by the kids (all costs & effort incurred by them) recently.

This is a letter written to the parents who attended the show from the kids who participated.

Dear Parents,

We are disappointed. We put in so much effort, practiced for months , our teachers put in so much effort, time, money for making this event happen – Do you know that it took us over 3 hours to get dressed for this show ? and you folks couldn’t sit quietly for 90 minutes !

Normally its you telling us – Stay Quiet ! What happened today – the roles reversed, we felt like coming up on stage and saying – Parents, please be seated and stay quiet till this program is over !

Most of you seem to be bothered only about your children – when they are on stage you come to the front row and keep clicking snaps and once your daughters show is over you keep walking & talking all over the place . Not Done folks !

Kids as small as 6 years were performing – most of them for the 1st time on stage – this is an art form that requires so much of practise to perfect – we hoped you would encourage not just your children but everyone who performed. But sadly you disappointed us

You could have at least maintained some discipline when Kittu Sir (Professor Krishnamurthy – our Teachers Teacher) came on stage to talk a few golden words. But that was the time when there was total commotion – guys some respect for a 76 year old man who has spent his entire life for the cause of Bharatnatyam !

And when the show was getting over not one of you came on stage to thank our teachers – look at the Salsa & Kathak teachers who come to our building – they charge Rs 5,000 from every student whenever there is a public performance – they make a profit out of it – our teachers spent time & money and none of you came and even offered a word of thanks to them on stage ! Thats the least you could have done ( or were you busy pushing your children’s photos on Facebook)

Guys we are very disappointed – you teach us to be disciplined, respect elders , maintain quiet in public places – and here you were walking around , eating Pizza , talking loudly – shouldn’t you practise what you preach ? What standards are you setting by behaving like this.