On Monday, when tiny tots — dressed up in uniforms, carrying a backpack and clutching a water bottle — prepared to enter for the first time the world of formal learning, the weather gods themselves paused ‘Operation Monsoon’.

Indeed, golden rays of sunlight pierced the dark rain clouds that had until then hung low all across the state. They dispelled the uncertainties that parents and teachers likely harboured about how their wards would fare in the new surroundings on a rain-soaked morning.

If the ride to the school was eventless, the proceedings that began on getting there were anything but. Decked up and gleaming, the classrooms were an arena of festivities, which commenced at 8.30 am with performances by the students.