Sporty kids

I dont think I have ever attended a Kiddie Sports Day of the kind I witnessed today morning at Ashwin's school. When I was in school, the competitions included a plain 50 metres race, high jump, long jump, sack race (where u had to hop to the finish standing inside a sack), frog race (where u hopped forward to the finishing point sitting/squatting like a frog), lemon and spoon race (where you balanced a lemon in a spoon in your mouth and ran) etc. I cant remember the others. And since I hated participating in sports, I always looked at school Sports Days with dread.
But today's event turned out to be a day of great fun and merriment for parents, kids and teachers alike. And I have never heard about parents witnessing children's sports in schools in Kerala. V, who initially talked like an Indian dad about being too busy at work to attend something so trivial, agreed to come. The class teacher had sent me a note asking me to send in Ash at 8.30 am since he was in the race. And we presumed we could make a Bolt of him in 15 years since he ran as fast as a mouse.
But when we reached, the teacher told me that the he was in the group event - musical chairs - since the kid he was supposed to substitute in the car race was present today. The teacher's assistant applied a dab of lipstick on his lips and cheeks, and pinned a paper tiger on his shirt. The discipline they can instil is amazing - Ash did not budge from his seat even as we waited outside with Mira. So we trooped off to the venue, which was damp from the morning's drizzle.
Ash did not win any prize in his event though a teacher told me that he always ran well. Most of the kids didnt seem to know that they were to grab a chair when the music stopped. Ash would sit and then run to another chair that he found empty. He ran holding the hand of another hyperactive boy.
There were games that used the themes of Jack and Jill, Red Riding Hood, Parrots and Mangoes, Fishing and so on. All in all, we enjoyed the morning thoroughly.