JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<script src="http://cdn.kendostatic.com/2012.2.710/js/kendo.all.min.js"></script>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://cdn.kendostatic.com/2012.2.710/styles/kendo.common.min.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://cdn.kendostatic.com/2012.2.710/styles/kendo.blueopal.min.css">
<div id="databindnode">
    <div class="row">
        <label>31 Days From:
            <input id="dateFrom" class="datePicker" data-role="datepicker" data-bind="value: startDate"/>
            <button class="k-button" data-bind="events: {click: today}">Today</button>
        </label>
    </div>
</div>

JavaScript

var viewModel = kendo.observable({
        startDate: new Date("2012-09-04")
    });
kendo.bind($("#databindnode"), viewModel);

$(".datePicker").width(182).kendoDatePicker(
    {
        format: "yyyy-MM-dd",
        change: function (e) {
            var datePicker = $(".datePicker").data("kendoDatePicker");
            alert(viewModel.startDate); // why isn't this updated??
            alert(datePicker.value()); // why isn't this updated??
            }
        });