Part of a series about skits produced for the Ramavaram children.
About a year ago, we started thinking about how teaching the children skits, and having them perform them in front of an audience, would be a great way to teach them the importance of positive thinking, health education, and human values. The plan was to design short, simple, skits that would be simple to learn but that could impart these values to the kids as they learned them and performed them. Now that our educational programme is rolling, we hope that we can use these skits soon.
We asked a group of our volunteers from Dallas, Texas to come up with ideas for such skits. Here’s the skit synopses:
Honesty/Truth
Some kids are playing a cricket match when the best batter is apparently run out. The only people who know whether it is out or not are the kid who threw the ball, the kid’s best friend, and a group of younger kids who aren’t old enough to play but watch (the extras). The fielder who threw the ball is best bowler, and he has a personal rivalry with the batter who appears to be out. Since everyone playing trusts each other, they ask the kid who threw the ball whether he thought it was out. He says yes even though he knows it was not. The younger kids watching know that it is not out, and they make a commotion. The game continues. After the game, his friend confronts him and tells him that he knows that the batter was not out. His friend asks him whether he felt what he did was right. The kid who threw the ball expresses guilt and remorse and agrees to play fairly next time. He plays fairly in the next game, and both the bowler and the batter do very well in the game.
Non-violence
For the past few months, Karthik has been bullied by a senior. Karthik always reacts angrily which gives the bully great entertainment. This continues for quite a while before Karthik tells his parents his ordeal with the bully. His parents advise him to remain calm and to take no action against the bully. They emphasize that taking any violent measures is especially wrong. Karthik thinks about the advice his parents gave him and decides to follow their suggestion. The next day the bully makes fun of Karthik, but Karthik does not react. This continues for a few more days until the bully leaves Karthik alone.
Love
A family lives in a village which depends on a well that is almost 8 kilometers from their house. The parents are older, so their oldest son dutifully gets the water every single day. But the parents do not know that he is also getting water for the neighboring families. When the parents find out about this, they become concerned that their son might be straining himself and angry at their neighbors for taking advantage of him. Then, the son explains to them that no one asked him to bring them water. He just noticed one day that most of the neighbors were elderly and were having trouble bringing water from such a far distance. He went and asked his neighbors if he could perform this one service for them. He also reminded his parents that he had grown up beside these same neighbors; he told his parents that many of them were like family to him. In this way the son taught his parents the importance of love and the great impact it can have.
Right action
A shopkeeper in the local market sells statues of important people in India’s history. He is a man of excellent character and always tries to do the right thing. He has a family that he has to support, and he has a very hard time of doing it because he does not make much money. However, he and his family have always been able to get by. One day a man comes to his stall in the market and decides to buy a statue. The shopkeeper charges 50 rupees for the statue, but the man gives him 500 rupees accidentally. When the shopkeeper realizes this, he asks a friend to watch his shop and runs after the customer to give him back his change. The thought of keeping the 500 rupees which would have sustained his family for an entire month never crosses his mind. He finally catches up to the man and gives him back the money. The man was very thankful, and he asks if he can reward the man. However, the shopkeeper refuses the reward knowing that he was only doing what was right. The customer then asks if he can buy the rest of the statues that the shopkeeper was selling. The shopkeeper, who is very surprised by now, almost refuses, but the man insists. In this way, the shopkeeper is rewarded for his right conduct.
Peace
A brother and sister have a heated argument while their parents are not around. The brother runs outside to cool down and takes a walk down the street. Some of the houses he walks by are very calm, but others are very loud. The people inside are arguing very loudly. The boy realizes their mistake and takes it upon himself to try to keep a more peaceful environment at home. While the boy was walking outside, the girl talked to a friend. She told her friend the argument that she and her brother had. Her friend advises her to try to control her anger next time; she tells her to seek a more peaceful solution to the problem rather than yelling and arguing. The next time they have a disagreement they peacefully resolve it without raising their voices at all.
Sacrifice
The giving of a rakhi: A girl wants to give a good rakhi to her brother whom she loves very much. But the one that she has in mind is expensive, and she does not have the money to buy it. So, she decides to sell her most prized possession. With the money, she buys a beautiful rakhi for her brother. Her brother is very happy, and this makes the girl very happy.
Determination/Perseverance/Dedication
A kid in a poor house and a poor neighborhood while traveling to the market sees a successful doctor who has a clinic near the market. He observes the doctor for a long time and notices that he treats all his patients with love and compassion. He also notices that the doctor charges very little for his services. The boy then realizes that he wants to be successful like the doctor, and he goes home dreaming of becoming a doctor. He then perseveres and achieves his goal.’
Responsibility
A family of five lived in a modest home. The father went to work everyday, and the mother took care of the children. The mother was very devout and performed a pooja everyday. One day when she had to go to the market she asked her 3 children to offer prasadam to the Lord. She told them how important it was. However, after she left the 2 eldest children went off to play disregarding everything their mother had told them. The youngest child, however, wondered what the Lord would eat if prasadam was not offered. She understood how important it was to her mother that prasadam be offered, and she went to her 2 siblings and convinced them to help her. Together, they offered prasadam to the Lord and felt very happy.
Respect
A very new teacher is starting to teach a very rowdy class. All the students are making fun of the teacher, except Krishna and Ram, 2 brothers whom all the students look up to. After the class, Krishna proposes an idea to Ram. He suggests calling all of their classmates (extras) together and asking them to behave better the next day. They call everyone together and tell them that they must be respectful to the teacher since she is an elder and is trying to help them. On the next day, to the teacher’s surprise all the students are obedient and respectful to the teacher.
Humility
Vishnu was a very good student in school, and he was also very proud of his successes. His parent would advise him not to get overconfident, but he did not listen. Vishnu used to score higher on tests than all of his friends, and he would routinely brag about his scores to his friends. He would also make fun of his friends who scored lower than him. One day his friends grew sick of his arrogant attitude and did not talk or play with him. Vishnu was sad, and when he went home, he complained to his parents about his predicament. His parents told him that this was the result of his own actions. They told him that it is not good to be too proud or overconfident of one’s successes. Instead, they told him to be humble about his grades. They told him not to brag to any of his friends and not to make fun of them either. They also told him to help those who were really struggling. Vishnu followed their advice, and soon his friends were talking to him again. Also, he was able to make many more friends through his humble demeanor.
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Thanks to the authors for their time and for giving this project such careful consideration. They are Krishnakanth Chiravuri, Srikanth Chiravuri, Vidhi Makanji, Neil Mithal, and Abhiram Gunturi, all from Dallas, Texas. They really put a lot of work into this project and it was inspiring to see their efforts.
Some of our volunteers from Dallas, Texas, wrote out a number of skits to emphasize various human values to the community. We hope that we can teach them to the kids in the Ramavaram community so that, in the process, they can learn the values imparted by the skits.
May, 2009 is around the corner. For most of us, this means that we won’t be in the city for this month. Nonetheless, we have a number of plans for Sangam India that continue throughout May.
