“Ma’am, please may we come in?”
Feet shuffling at the door.
Fingers crossing under tables in anticipation.
A teacher letting out a deep sigh as she asks in a resigned tone,
“Yes, who is it this time?”
“Ma’am, the Christmas play participants are being called for rehearsals.”
And just like that, there is a flurry of activity as eager hands fumble for their scripts, music copies, water bottles and disappear from the classroom – not to be seen again for the rest of the day.

If you’re grinning by now then I’m going to assume that you’ve been brought up on a healthy dose of what I like to call ‘The Convent Christmas Concoction’. Very simply put, this concoction is basically a mix of everything you will expect to find in a convent school in December. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? What do you expect to find and why is it special enough to get a name, you ask?

Well then, it is time to go speeding back and land right amidst the days of black shoes, school bags and of course, the magic of December.

December 1.
During music class, the teacher announces that he will be picking members for the Christmas choir. While some students shift to the very last row where they hope to remain invisible, you can spot a glimmer of excitement in the eyes of the others.
'Tis that time of the year again!

Perhaps the best part about Christmas celebrations in convent schools is the sheer inclusivity that they usher in. As a matter of fact, when I look back today, five years after I have completed school, I think some of the very basic foundation stones of what I perceive as secularism, was laid down during those rehearsals. In a world that takes pride in compartmentalizing people based on their faith, a Christmas play involving children all over the school, irrespective of their religious beliefs, seems to be such a wonderful and rare gift, even if one realizes it only in retrospect.

Back then however, it was completely normal. So normal that there was often a mad scramble among teachers, to complete the syllabus before the onset of December, because once that happened, it was nearly impossible to get hold of the whole class together.

While the corridors now quietened down, owing to those scattered few who remained in class, the noise that poured in from the halls and rehearsal rooms grew louder and louder, with occasional bursts of “Keep Quiet!” from a few very frustrated school captains.

And there you have it, the first ingredient of the Convent Christmas Concoction-Inclusivity.

December 3.
The children chosen to play Mary and Joseph have just been given their lines. Down the hallway, the three kings keep missing their cue because the mics have not been brought out yet and they are too far away to hear anything. The others refuse to sit quietly backstage.
The teacher responsible for directing the play goes home with a sore throat.
She promises herself that the first things she will do tomorrow are ask for another teacher to help her and request the mics.

If there is one thing (and this is the second ingredient for our mix!) that is both detestable and delectable about Christmas play rehearsals, then undoubtedly, it is the Confusion that almost bordered on becoming chaotic. To keep matters in check, the principal and vice-principal often made sudden stops at the rehearsal, threatened to cancel the play and ordered everyone to put their fingers on their lips.

It is another matter altogether that such enforced silence only lasted for as long as the enforcers remained in the vicinity.

After a point even the teachers stopped shouting to restore peace and quiet. The volume of the mics were turned up a notch higher and life continued in those rehearsal halls like they always had – confused, loud and chaotic.

It was the sound of children across all age groups coming together.

It was the sound of Friendship-our third ingredient for the concoction.

December 7.
It is time for the first combined rehearsal.
The choir has taken their place and the actors are ready on stage. The mics have been adjusted and we are ready to go!
The choir is ordered to put away their copies because looking at the lyrics is now prohibited. Some of them still sneak a look when they can.
The coordination takes some time but by the end of the day, both the actors and the choir know their cues.
Anyone who passes by the hall, makes sure to peep in!

The first combined rehearsal is always a noisy affair mostly because nobody knows when to start and when to stop. Children have to specifically be told to pay attention and listen. Sometimes, they may even have to set cues among themselves in order to avoid awkward pauses in between scenes. It is a classic lesson in Cooperation and Coordination, our next ingredients in the mix. They are a team now. So far, they have just been ‘actors’ and ‘singers’ but together they are the ‘Christmas play participants.’ It may take them some time, but they eventually learn to work with each other, making small adjustments along the way, tweaking lines here and there but ultimately coming together for the greater purpose that is the Christmas Play.

Somewhere in the transition from school to the big bad world outside, we tend to lose sight of this easy cooperation that was so ingrained in us at one point. We become too set in our ways, too unwilling for a compromise.

What changes us?

We don’t quite know.

What we do know is that if we have to put together a Christmas play today; we might not be able to do it as effortlessly anymore.

December 10.
A clamor has broken out amidst the actors on stage during a short interval between rehearsals. The trouble?
Mary refuses to part with the doll that has been chosen to play Jesus. The others want their turn with it but she is stubborn and holds on with all her might. Numerous complaints later, the teacher bans the doll from further rehearsals.
She will bring it out only on the very last day of practice when she hopes the children will be too excited about the performance to pay any attention to the doll.

Of course, not all is rosy when you are working with a large group of people. There are bound to be squabbles and a fair bit of fighting. In fact, despite the vast difference in age between then and now, even today, an event that requires large scale organization has frequent fallouts and disagreements that need to be sorted. Back then, it was the teacher’s responsibility to make sure that the team stayed intact. Today, it is ours, and as we go around resolving conflicts among adults who refuse to listen, it makes us wonder how our teachers ever managed it with a bunch of noisy children.

This then, are our next ingredients for the concoction – Conflict and Resolution.

As we slowly trudge our way through adulthood that hits us after school, we learn that a lot of the problems in our world, when stripped down to its bare essentials is just the inability to amicably resolve a difference of opinion, a conflict. And yet, back then, in the magic of December, no problem seemed too big.

Or maybe life is always easier when you count on someone else to solve your problems?

December 14.
Enter the Art Team!
These people have been quietly working in classrooms so far and remained largely out of sight. Today, as they finally bring out everything they have been working on, everyone watches in awe and wonder.
Nobody apart from the teachers is allowed within the vicinity of these props and decorations.

Growing up, I have always been intrigued by the art team. They are so quiet in their work that you often forget they exist until a few days before the show when they turn up with their creations. Half the magic of December (and by proxy, of Christmas) is created by these people. They are the ones who made the barn and the crib and the holly and the Christmas bells and transformed an ordinary looking room into something extraordinary, seemingly almost overnight.

I remember that they came in after all the rehearsals were over. When everyone was going home, they lined up their scotch tapes and paints and scissors and got to work. By the time you came back the next day, everything looked different.

In a way, I think it would be accurate to compare them to the elves who came in the middle of the night and helped the shoe maker while he was asleep. They remained invisible for the most part, but their work spoke on behalf of them.

This is one of the final ingredients in our Convent Christmas Concoction – the Quiet ones. The ones who diligently work backstage. The ones who start after everyone else has finished.

We often forget to accord them their due credit. We tend not to notice them because they are quiet and efficient. But, look carefully and you will find such people all around you every day. They help make your life easier.

We would be nowhere if it weren’t for these people whom we so consistently overlook.

December 16.
It is D-day!
Apart from minor mishaps (like the bit where Mary almost dropped Jesus), like every other year, this too has been a great success.
Everyone (including the teachers and the principal) has happily joined in the carols and the Christmas songs and had a wonderful time. As the curtain drops, the choir breaks into Feliz Navidad and the hall explodes in a burst of magic, music and happiness.
Christmas may still be 9 days away, but in convent schools, we believe in starting celebrations well before time!

There is something about the magic of Christmas that you can’t quite describe.

But come visit a convent school in December, amidst their Christmas celebrations and you’ll experience that magic in all its joyful, innocent splendor.

I’ll then put down the last ingredient of our mix as a phrase which I hope sums it up – The Final Day.

I can tell you that the ambience in a hall on that final day is one of elation, excitement and hope, but even a mix of all the most positive words in the dictionary will fail to sum up the feeling that resonates in that hall for those few hours. It is impossible to define the sense of belonging and togetherness that it infuses in all of us. Limiting it with a definition would in fact be doing it a disservice and when specifics ruin the magic, I’ve found that it’s always best to stick to the vague.

After all, we don’t need to always understand why we love something, do we?

Sometimes (not very often), just some very rare times, Love is enough.

And the time of the Convent Christmas Concoction, is definitely one such time.

20/30/40/50 years after you’ve completed school:
December 1.
You wake up humming carols.
Set your Spotify playlist to Christmas songs.
Make yourself a cup of hot chocolate.
Bring down the Christmas decorations.
‘Tis that time of the year again!