FREMONT, CA: I am a mom of three and a scientist by profession working for a biopharmaceutical company. Like any other working parent living here, it’s needless to say how busy our lives are! Even starting your day as early as 4:30am in the morning, I am always short of time, especially when it comes to spending quality time with kids.
Balvatika, is a name that I have given to my passion of just being with the kids. It’s a dream of living with pure souls, sharing their laughter, their innocence and their serenity. It’s not a profitable or non-profitable organization but just my way of bringing families together in our community. All of us are living so far away from our motherland and so it becomes more important for us to live our culture and pass on our values to upcoming generations. I am involved in this volunteer community service, which now has become my passion, where I try to organize short plays.
The first production of ‘Balvatika’ was in the year 2005 when my second child was less than a year old and my 1st one was almost two. The whole journey started with my first play, ‘Ekta Main Bal’ which was based on a short story emphasizing the power of unity. This play was in Hindi and I still remember it was so challenging for me to make sure kids speak Hindi. Most of the rehearsals I was focusing on the language rather than on the script.
It was an enjoyable moment for all of us. We all would burst out laughing at any wrongly pronounced Hindi word, because it would completely change the meaning of the sentence. Those were the moments that would fill me up with so much excitement and positive energy.
My second play was titled ‘Makhanchoor’ which was based on Krishna’s childhood mischiefs. This was the first time when my own kids participated in the play and my own son acted as ‘Krishna’ and my daughter acted as ‘Yashoda’. It was such a pleasurable moment for me, for the kids and of course for the other parents too. This play was performed at Fremont Hindu Temple in year 2010, around ‘Janamashtami’ and the audience was limited to the parents and their friends.
‘Ramayana’, the latest play production from Balvatika is my comeback to my land of dreams. It was one afternoon when I was stressed out from work and the house chores, when I decided that I wanted to bring Balvatika back in my life.
I sent a text to my neighborhood group chat to find out if they would be interested in their kids doing the play. Fortunately, I got a very warm, nice and positive response. I decided to go with performers/actors with an age group of 4-9 years and older kids being involved as narrators and back stage managers. It was a great learning experience for all the kids.
Since Diwali was coming up I decided to do the play on, ‘Ramayana’.
My neighbors, whom I consider my extended family, are amazing people from different parts of India and now settled in the Bay Area. I cannot imagine my life without them. They all got together at my home and I explained to them all the details about ‘Ramayana’.
I would like to recognize all the parents for such a great success of Balvatika’s Ramayana. They were so punctual in dropping off and picking up the kids. Their trust in me, about me doing some great work with their kids, is very much appreciated. From the bottom of my heart I want to thank you and want to say that I love you all.
We started our practices late in the evening on Tuesdays for an hour and then for two hours on weekends. We celebrated birthdays (if there were any for any child), Dusshera, Diwali and all the festivals that happened during that time frame. It was such a great pleasure to get together with all the families and just be with them.
It was a day before I went to New Jersey, when I called Mr. Deepak Chhabra, Chair Events to find out if the kids could perform in Fremont Hindu Temple. Such a great support from him made me feel that I was not alone in my mission.I loved the way some parents send me the messages that kids were missing me and the practices, when I was out in New Jersey for a business conference.
We had four practices left after I came back and of course lots of preparations for the props and the costumes. Again, it was a joint effort of all the neighbors to make sure we arranged for the costumes. The parents whose kids were not participating also pooled in all the help they could offer. I got busy with all the props that were needed and without any further delay the big day was already there.
We had an amazing ‘Ramayana’ performance from Balvatika’s 3rd production. And along with it, the kids got the opportunity to show their talents. Amazing singing by Rhea Jain on ‘Raghu Pati Raghav’ added so much positivity to the whole atmosphere in Sarasvati Hall. Then we had another great Odissi classical dance performed by Rinisha Giri. We ended the show with semi-classical dance performed by Isha Juneja to a Bollywood song ‘Shivay’. I never thought that with less than an hour of preparation, my daughter, Isha could come up with ‘Shiv’s Tandav Nritya.’
I was so happy and excited to see my dream live on stage, on November 13, 2016. Who says 13 is an unlucky number, I shall never forget this day in my life, it was my dream coming true…
Hats off to all the staff of Fremont Hindu Temple, including the handyman who did the curtains the way I wanted them to be, the administration for all the IT help, Co-Chairpersons Mr. Rajesh Verma and Mr. Deepak Chhabra for taking time out from their busy schedules to watch the show and for all their appreciation. Deepak ji provided support in every aspect. I was so touched by all the support that I got from Temple Staff. It’s just commendable.
Last but not least, I would like to thank my husband Nitin Juneja for all his support that he has shown in this whole journey, his understanding and making my dream his own dream. And I would like to thank my kids, Isha, Vasu and Shiv for just being there for me in making sure everything ran so smoothly.
A big salute to all the characters who acted in this play. Zoya Paruthi as Kekeyi, Shrupnakha & Soldier, Aryan Bhatia as Ram,Rishab Jain as Laxman, Simran Singh as Sita, Vasu Juneja as Bharat, Nyra Bhatia as Golden Deer, Aanya Giri as Dashratha & Raavan, Kavya Dutta as Manthra & Hanumaan, Shiv Juneja as Soldier, Isha Juneja as Backstage Manager and Rhea Jain as Narrator.
Madhu Juneja
