Students of Lakshmipat Singhania Academy perform Tagore’s dance drama Chitrangada at Kalamandir. Picture by Anindya Shankar Ray

What came as a surprise at Lakshmipat Singhania Academy’s (LSA) 12th Founder’s Day celebrations at Kalamandir on November 23 was the effort that the school put in for using the platform for spreading messages of women empowerment and world peace. The programme was presided over by Harishankarji Singhania, chairman of Lakshmipat Singhania Education Foundation and Sharda Singhania.

Tagore’s dance drama Chitrangada, the story of the warrior princess of Manipur, was presented in a new light, taking off on the idea “inner beauty is the true beauty”. The play was directed and choreographed by Sanjay Bhattacharya. “Involving almost 150 children from classes III to XI in a single dance drama was no joke. We wanted the maximum participation from our students and hence included special scenes so as to increase number of participants,” said Meena Kak, principal, LSA. Teachers of the school meticulously translated the entire script of Chitrangada to Hindi, especially Ganga Sinha and Santana Bose, who also helped in composing the background scores.

“Chitrangada’s growing up years had been specially highlighted to show how she was reared as a boy. This is perhaps the only deviation from the original script of Tagore,” said programme co-ordinator Pratibha Banik.

The run-up to play day involved rigorous training for several months, but LSA students “enjoyed every bit of it”, according to Chandraneev Das, who played Arjun. The wonderful nuances and expressions of Kurupa played by Arushi Jain and Surupa played by Ishaani Banerji also reflected how involved the children were and what efforts both teachers and students of LSA took to make it a flawless presentation.

The western dance programme — themed on Michael Jackson’s green-call Heal The World, involving over 70 children from classes I and II — was a testament to the energy and dedication of both students and teachers. The movements were difficult, but in the end, the tots pulled it off with elan. The children also sang their hearts out on The Beatles track Let It Be, dedicated to world peace.

Saheli Mitra

The real deal

Thirty-five students from the Department of Social Work and National Service Scheme (NSS) wing of St Xavier’s College, Calcutta, set out for a camp in the village of Adharmanik (Baduria Municipality, North 24 Parganas). Set close to the India-Bangladesh border, Adharmanik is home to the administrative office of Swanrivar, an NGO working towards rural development. With the objective of lending a hand to others, NSS, which undertakes several village development programmes, geared up for the Puja Camp 2007 enthusiastically.

Accompanied by NSS director Cheryl Francis, the students embarked on the journey on October 28, guided by the slogan ‘Not Me But You’. The camp was inaugurated at a poultry farm, where the procedure of rearing chickens was explained to the students. It was an interesting experience. The primary activity centred around documentation of all the prominent places of interest in the municipality. These documents were of prime importance, as these would later serve as records for the municipality and references for foreign tourists. Thus, in order to complete the assignment efficiently, the Xaverians visited various places, studied its history, relevance and architecture and documented the same.

The students also visited Beliakhala, a flood-affected area and one of the three most arsenic-prone villages in the world. They also studied the lifestyle of the people, prepared reports and met patients suffering from chikungunya.

Through such interaction, the students got a chance to interact with the local residents and sketch a lucid picture of the prevalent social and economical condition in these villages. Various techniques of agriculture, like land-shaping, kitchen gardening and Integrated Pest Management were introduced to the Xaverians. They aided Swanirvar in preparing learning materials in English, Mathematics and Bengali, to be used in government schools to make aid primary students.

NSS director Francis conducted various sessions on meditation, leadership and personality traits at the camp. This was also the first time the NSS members came in such close contact with nature, as well as enthusiastically participated in a sequence of tribal dances with the local inhabitants. The camp concluded with a valedictory function and the NSS whole-heartedly thanked Swanirvar for their guidance.

Prarthana Bagrodia,
IInd year, St. Xavier’s College

Earth call

Tots from The Cambridge School participate in the programme on building awareness on global warming

The fruit of three months of labour culminated in a series of exciting events on Friday, November 23. The whole of The Cambridge School — right from the Kindergarten to Class XII — participated in a global warming awareness programme initiated by the Indian Chamber of Commerce.

The programme kicked off with an enthusiastic song-and-dance performance by the neighbourhood children, along with students of Classes XI and XII. This was followed by Classes V-VII providing creative interpretation of the deterioration of the environment, while students of Class IX conveyed their message and concerns involving the many dangers via elocution and songs. Classes I to IV took part in a walk to warn people about the dangers of global warming.

A large portion of the learning experience was recorded on innovative models and charts, displayed on the school boards and tables. Concluding the programme were computer presentations made by Classes VIII and X focusing on global warming worldwide, its adverse effects and means of prevention in our city and daily lives.

Samiaa Rahman & Helen Kim