Ramona's Birthday Celebration

Yesterday we had a wonderful celebration of Ramona’s birthday! We all still feel like having a hangover from dancing, eating and enjoying! It was a fantastic evening and do you know what was so great about it – apart from my wife of course? It was the joy of the children which I noticed yesterday once more.

We have a very big advantage whenever we have a party: our school children are always invited. We don’t need to worry about the amount of guests. We have our school children. Our parties are never boring and always full of life and joy. Because of our school children.

We invited them already a day before and that’s how on Ramona’s birthday, they requested their teachers to give them some time for drawing, writing and painting birthday cards. They got their papers, colour pens and time for doing it and when they arrived in the afternoon, of course way before the time we had told them to come, they gifted Ramona the most beautiful handmade cards!

When the first children were coming, the Ashram family and our guests were still fully busy decorating the Ashram. My beautiful wife decided to get into her birthday present by the family: a wonderful new dress which had a few of our friends look at her in surprise, as it was so different from her usual clothing! We took some pictures and enjoyed watching the children coming excitedly into the Ashram.

Then the music started. And oh, you don’t need to ask children twice to join you at the dance floor! They opened up, they got wild and they danced in such a great manner, you could think most of them came straight out of dance classes!

Our friends who were staying with us at the Ashram got ready as well and the first guests from outside the Ashram arrived as well. The children, happy and open as they are, started talking to them, pulled them to the dance floor and played and danced with everyone. Who would not enjoy being asked for a dance by a ten-year-old girl in a glittery dress?

Yes, these children are poor but all of them have one set of clothes which they wear on festive occasions. We know these dresses, it is the same one on each of our birthday parties but it makes them feel special and beautiful to wear them. And it looks wonderful!

The dance was followed by a great dinner prepared by the Ashram kitchen. After that, a must on every birthday party: the cutting of the cake. And just when everyone had put their last piece of cake in their mouths, it started raining flower petals! The children had volunteered to help picking flower petals off seventy kilos of differently coloured flowers – and then we all enjoyed throwing the flowers on each other!

Everyone had a blast! Our guests, we ourselves, all our friends from near and far and of course the children! And again, what I enjoy the most at this is once again this thought: for our children, this is a very special event. A party of a kind that they don’t get to experience often. Not even their wedding may have so many guests or so great food. But we will always celebrate our events with them – because it makes all of us happy!

Post by Swami Balendu.