Land of holidays

Today is Teachers' Day in India and the kids had a near holiday today. I mean Mira had one, and Ash was made to skip (by us) the 2-hour programme in school since the school van did not ferry children to school today.
The extended weekend came in handy since their paternal grandparents are a-visiting en route to Australia. There is another holiday coming up on Friday - Onam. Just last week they had two - Ramzan and Vinayaka Chathurthi on Wednesday and Thursday. This year hasnt started well for schools, what with the legal wrangle over Samacheer Kalvi or the uniform education system that the previous government had introduced and which the new government scrapped. As a result schools reopened 15 days late, and many taught grammar and basic maths for two months until the Supreme Court decided that Samacheer was best for Tamil Nadu. The kids' school however decided to go ahead with the earlier matriculation books, which to me seems far better than the Kalvi syllabus. Now the first term exam dates seem uncertain too.
p.s. On Friday, Mira presented a unique bouquet she had made for her class teacher - she drew a flower, coloured it, cut it out, and stuck inside another paper wrapped around it, and also stuck some sequins inside to make it attractive. Her stern teacher, who apparently has a soft spot for her, was pleased with it.