TITLE: Ordinary Magic GRADE LEVEL: 6-9 AUTHOR: Malcolm Bosse THEMES: Communication, nonviolent response to conflict, perspectives and bias. SYNOPSIS: Fourteen-year-old Jeffery Moore has lived in India all his life. When he is orphaned he must return to the family home in America to be raised by an aunt he has never met. He is different from his new classmates. He practices yoga, is vegetarian and is nicknamed after the elephant-headed god, Ganesh. Yet he seems untroubled by these differences, quiet at the center of his being. He realizes that, although he misses his village in India, he also never fully fit in there without extended family and a link to ancestors. The large family home, built by his grandfather, is filled with the stories his aunt tells of their family. Jeffery merges his understanding of both worlds when he undertakes Satyagraha to save the family home from highway developers. He is joined by his peers. Their vigil and fast help them learn about acceptance, inner resolve and the importance of standing up for one’s beliefs despite the odds. QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTED ANSWERS Q. Why did Ganesh’s parents choose to stay in India? A. They worked for organizations that helped India’s poor. Q. What made Ganesh realize that the village was no longer his home? A. The attitudes of the villagers changed after his father’s death. The landlord didn’t trust him. He was referred to as a foreigner. People expected him to leave, asking what he had to sell. Q. Rama told Ganesh that people live in the same villages for generations and have large extended families. "Everyone has someone in India." Is this different from the lifestyle in your community? Which do you prefer? A. Answers may vary. Q. Why did Ganesh feel a sense of belonging in his aunt’s house that he did not feel in the Indian village? A. The house held stories and relics of his ancestors. It gave him the sense of family and the sense of a personal past he was missing in India. Q. What about Ganesh made him seem different from his American schoolmates? A. His accent and formal language, vegetarianism, eastern spirituality, yoga, nickname, lack of competitiveness and different customs (belching). Q. Lucy begged Ganesh to teach her the sacred mantra, the Gayatri Mantra. In what way did she use it? A. She taught it to other students and they repeated it over and over while imitating Ganesh. Q. Ganesh didn’t let Lucy’s use of the Gayatri Mantra bother him. How? A. The students mispronounced it, which in Hindu practice made it void. He wasn’t sure that he even believed in the mantras and rituals it represented. He was more surprised that mocking a prayer was seen as fun. Q. Ganesh’s mother would say, "Scratch our white skin and you’ll find the dark skin of India. What did she mean? A. Answers may vary. Q. How did Ganesh conduct the Satyagraha? A. With dignity, respect and reason. Did not speak out of anger to authorities, or as if he were below them, or as if the wrong doing were any reflection on their character. Q. What did Ganesh mean when he said his aunt "moved with the power of two." A. The memory of her husband gave her strength. Q. The suffering of the teens who were fasting and keeping vigil in the house was intended to awaken the humanity in their opponents. How did Ganesh suffer first to prove he was one of them? A. He ate part of a hot dog, the first meat in his life. Q. The success of the Satyagraha not only saved the family home, it also taught the larger community about the deeper meaning of their actions. What might be learned from it? A. Nonviolence is powerful and courageous. It can succeed. Home and family mean more than a fast-food restaurant. Teens have the willpower to hold to a belief even when it is very difficult, etc..   Developed by Laura P. Weldon. Reprinted with permission of Peace Grows, Inc.
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