Rounding out their study of Indian culture, the girls in Class 3 welcomed a very special visitor last week, Kunjali Shah ’90. Ms. Shah, vice president of the luxury travel and cultural services company Our Personal Guest, chatted with the girls about their studies and told a few personal stories. The girls listened with great interest, asking questions about her favorite holidays and her family.
“My favorite holiday is Diwali,” she told them. “I love the festivals and the lights. I love the prayers for good luck.” Having recently studied this Indian festival of lights, the girls were eager to share what they had learned.
Ms. Shah told the students that she tries to go to a new town or city in India every year. She went to a map of India in the classroom and pointed to the cities in the southern regions that she would visit on an upcoming trip. The students were curious about the names of the towns and enjoyed a brief discussion of the name changes that occurred when the country was no longer under British rule.
The girls were also captivated by Ms. Shah’s stories about her family in India. Her great-grandfather was involved in the movement to free the country from British rule and was a close colleague of Gandhi’s. The other side of her family is Nepalese, she said, and evoked a few “oohs” as she told of her grandmother growing up in a castle.
Before leaving the girls Ms. Shah gave them one last gift: Beautiful gold and navy bags containing bangles and bindis!
Click here to view more photos from the visit.