I meant to post this picture of Annie doing her yoga at the airport in Paris while waiting for our plane:

We walked around a cute little park alongside Sharon’s home (Sharon’s a good friend who’s invited us to come to India for about 30 years). I surprised a kid with a balloon as we walked (what a surprise):
This evening we met with a friend of Sharon’s. She runs a special school for kids who live in the slums of Delhi… kids who come from poor gypsy families. (her web site: http://www.sterresharma.com ). Her school tries to teach these kids how to survive in today’s ‘real world’.
On Monday I’ll do a short show and Annie will perform in her Frog costume for them. In the next week or two we’ll return and I’ll lead them in some balloon workshops as Annie designs some new costumes for them (they’ll make the costumes, Annie will design them, guide their tailors, and select the materials).
Years ago I remember speaking at a career day in the Bronx for kids who had little hope of making it out of their “slums”. The Principal’s believed that these kids believed they only had three avenues of getting out of their poverty 1) sell drugs… 2) be a sports star… or 3) be a music star. He felt their odds of becoming doctors, lawyers, and scientists were much better…. and that being salesmen, store workers, accountants, etc… were all really possible, but the kids didn’t have any guidance. So he brought “professionals” into his school once a year to talk with the kids. There wasn’t much time for all of us, so each class only heard two or three professionals. When I’d give my “balloon pitch”, I figured these kids would go home saying, “I have four ways to get out of this life style, 1) selling drugs, 2) be a sports star, 3) be a music star, or 4) be a balloon man.
I’m now picturing India coming up with a bunch of Bug and Balloon performers in the next 15-20 years.
We were driven to this meeting in heavy traffic and felt we were going to be in one accident after another… however driving here seems to be like swimming with a school of fish or flying with hundreds of birds…. somehow there aren’t any collisions (well, we didn’t see any).