Tamil Nadu - Others   

`Monkey act' enlivens children's evening

Deepa H. Ramakrishnan

Programme by inmates of a hospice for terminally ill AIDS patients has the crowd in stitches

Pondicherry: The December 1 evening was dedicated to a group of tumbling monkeys who made the crowd laugh with their hilarious antics.

The children of Snehalaya, an orphanage and Shanti Bhavan, a hospice for terminally ill AIDS patients at Chinnakalapet, had a good time, participating in various programmes, including a candle dance, light music programme and two skits.

The children enacted the popular Jataka tale about how a crocodile wanted to kill its friend, a monkey, because its wife wanted to eat the monkey's heart. The audience broke into peals of laughter as the monkeys' tails kept dropping and the lead monkey tried to prompt the crocodile, which forgot its dialogues.

In `Birds', the children of Shanthi Bhavan, run by the Sisters of St Joseph of Cluny and Brothers of St John, participated with enthusiasm. The story is about a little sparrow that wouldn't listen to its parents and is attracted to food, which a hunter uses to trap birds. The bird gets trapped but its parents helped by other sparrows do the rescue act.

Abilash, a social worker, said Shanti Bhavan, which was started in 1999, has 38 patients, which includes 15 children, most of whom are infected with AIDS and whose parents are no longer alive.

The patients come from Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Andhra and Kerala. The centre provides free stay, food, recreational facilities and medical facilities to the terminally ill persons. They have a non-formal half a day school for the children with one teacher. Mostly patients come from the Tambaram Sanatorium.

Contact no 2655790 for details or assistance.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Agonising wait begins for water supply connections
Public resent halting of repair works on bridge
Useful for textile exporters and manufacturers
Rise in number of dengue cases
Be job providers, students told
Cyber laws to be strictly enforced in browsing centres
`Monkey act' enlivens children's evening
Old beauties on Bangalore roads
Consumer council for repairing rain-battered roads
`Tirupur roads will be ready in two months'
A bid to enter Guinness book
Awards presented
Pranayama course

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu