Our first gathering, under a blue moon

On the evening of Saturday, May 30, 2026, fifteen of our closest friends and neighbours came over to a patch of grass in our community park in Dubai. Above the buildings, somewhere not yet risen but already promised, was the second full moon of May. The blue moon. The smallest full moon of the year. We had been waiting weeks for this night, and our daughter Anagha had been planning for almost as long.

This was the first ever Starkind gathering. A small one, on purpose. Just kids, parents, a mat on the grass, a clear sky, and a moon worth waiting up for. Our one year old, Agastya, was there too. He had no idea what was going on, and that did not stop him from being everywhere at once.

How the evening went

Anagha led the whole thing. Thirteen years old, clipboard in hand, voice steady. She had been writing the program for two weeks, rehearsing it under her breath between her own projects. We let her run it her way.

Welcome with glow stick bracelets. Every guest got one as they sat down on the mat. Soft greens, oranges, pinks. The kind that catch the last of the daylight and then keep glowing once the dusk really arrives. There is no better icebreaker for a group of ten kids than something that lights up on their wrist.

And then there was Agastya. Our one year old appointed himself the night’s chief social coordinator. He worked the mat from one end to the other, accepting glow bracelets like state gifts, pointing at things only he could see, and toddling between laps as if he had appointments to keep. The most active participant of the evening by a wide margin. Anagha kept her composure beautifully every time he wandered into the middle of her program.

The Starkind introduction. Anagha explained, in her own words, what The Starkind is. A warm place to learn about the sky, made by our family, for families like ours. That was the gist. We had told her she did not need to memorise the website description. The kids understood her perfectly.

The significance of the blue moon. A short, very animated explainer about why the moon that night was called blue (it is a calendar thing, not a colour thing), and why this one was also the smallest full moon of 2026 (the moon was near apogee, the farthest point in its orbit from Earth). Several kids asked very good follow up questions. One asked if the moon ever gets lonely. We did not have a good answer.

The countdown. Mridula lit the central candle and the kids counted down from ten. At zero, she said the words we had been waiting to say out loud: The Starkind is open. Welcome to the first chapter. Some clapping. Some confused clapping from the smaller kids. All of it lovely.

Make a wish under the blue moon. Each kid got their own candle. They cupped their hands around the flame and made their wishes in silence. For a full minute, nobody spoke. Just the candles, the dusk thickening into proper night, and somewhere east, the moon beginning its rise. We will not pretend we were not a little undone by it.

Trivia about the moon. Quickfire round, Anagha as quizmaster. How long does the moon take to orbit Earth? Why does it always show the same face? What is a sea on the moon actually made of? The kids called out answers, talked over each other, got most of them right. Knowledge under the stars, the way it ought to happen.

Refreshments, then the giveaway. Chocolate bars for everyone (some of which were eaten before the candles were even out). And as people headed home, each family took a printed Starkind flyer with our note inside: A gift from our family to yours.

A small thank you

Fifteen people on a patch of grass is not a launch. It is a kitchen table beginning. But it is the kind of beginning we wanted: warm, small, honest, with our kids in the front row instead of an audience watching us. We are grateful to every family that came, to every kid who asked a good question, and to the moon for showing up exactly on schedule.

There will be more chapters. We do not know yet what shape they will take. If you would like to host one in your own community, or you are curious about what The Starkind does between the gatherings, the rest of the site is yours to wander.

The sky belongs to anyone who looks up. We just want to make sure as many people as possible know that.

Praveen, Mridula, Anagha, and Agastya