The finals of the Dabur Red Toothpaste The Great TTIS Challenge 2010, with participants from 135 schools, kicked off on Friday morning at Swabhumi with music and dance and the heady thrill of a challenge. Loud cheers and thunderous applause rent the air as students put their best foot forward to make their schools proud. The curtains came down on the three-day extravaganza with more music and dance on Sunday night. Many went home with prizes and trophies, many more went home with a song on their lips and a spring in their steps, having had the time of their lives at the biggest school fest in eastern India

 

GOD OF SMALL THINGS:

Class II students Pallavi Mondol and Jishnu Roy transported the audience to the land of gods. Though they did not win the Fashion Parade contest, the kids from North Point Day School won many hearts. “We practised only for two days,” said Pallavi. The event was won by Amrita Vidyalayam. Ballygunge Shiksha Sadan portrayed the versatility of women while St Francis Xavier School created fashion from junk. Said judge Arnab Sengupta: “If I was in the competition I’d have lost.”

 

 

show-stoppers:

If little Radha-Krishna brought out the cute quotient of Fashion Parade, the girls from Gokhale Memorial Girls’ School upped its glam quotient with shorts, boleros, skirts and dresses fashioned from jute. They won the second prize.

two to tango:

Instrumental Jugalbandi made its debut as anon-stage event in the carnival, with a team of two making music without vocals.

 

THAT WINNING FEELING:

Pin-drop silence gave way to a triumphant roar as soon as the Champion of Champions school was announced — Vivekananda Mission School, Joka. The gang of students who had just walked away from the stage after collecting the Spirit of TTIS trophy, came back with the glow of a victory well-earned lighting up their eager faces. “We are elated. We had a blast during rehearsal and that’s what brought us here,” said Class XI student Najrin Islam. “Next year we will be back with double the fun for us and double the treat for the audience,” promised Najrin on behalf of her school. The award was given by Hironmoy Sen, the additional general manager (sales), of Dabur India Limited. “This stage gives an opportunity to students to showcase their talent,” he said.

MUSIC MAKERS:

Underground Authority rocked the closing ceremony on Sunday. Here’s a little more about the band that has wowed Salman Khan!
Who: Santhanam Srinivasan (frontman/rapper), Adil Rashid (lead guitar), Soumadeep Babla Bhattacharya (bass guitar), Kuntal De (guitar effects), Sourish Kumar (drums).
They sang: Reworked version of A.R. Rahman’s Urvashi, with a catchy rap. And their own foot-tapping composition, I Can Lead The World With A Microphone, that made waves at Open Mic events in Someplace Else.
High point: Being noticed by Salman Khan on the TV show India’s Got Talent. They’ve even been asked to come up with their own version of the songs from Dabangg.
TTIS Connect: Adil Rashid was a TTIS tiger (student reporter). “It was great coming back to a TTIS event. Some of the kids took our interview and I felt a sense of deja vu! The TTIS Challenge has such an electrifying energy about it and it was great performing here,” he smiled.

 

 

GOLDEN GIRL:

The Champion of Champions student award went to Anubhuti Jain of Mahadevi Birla Girls’ Higher Secondary School. The Class XI student aced the Backyard Art event and came third in Mask Making in the senior category. “I I am so happy to have done my school proud,” said the student of the moment.

 

 

DAY 2 BRUISED KNEES AND EGOS, HOARSE VOICEs AND A WHALE OF A TIME AT DJ NITE

THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY:

Their faces mirroring the strain of the tug, these girls prevailed in the test of strength and teamwork in Tug of War. Moments later, they celebrated their victory with as much gusto. For the boys, the event was not merely about brawn; it was their best bet to win over the ladies ahead of DJ Nite. “The boys of the school that wins can ask out any girl for the DJ Nite,” revealed Radhika Reshmi Banerjee of Indira Gandhi Senior Secondary Girls School, Salt Lake.

At the end of the four-hour event, Hariyana Vidya Mandir won in the girls’ category and Kalyani Public School in the boys’ category. Yes, they walked away with the prize, but not with the girls!

 

 

 

 

WORDSWORTH:

About 50-odd students wracked their brains in Quiz-Crossword. Arnab Banerjee of St Sebastian’s School won the first position in the junior section and Archisman Maitra of West Point Academy in the senior section.

 

 

 

CHEERLEADER:

If doing their best on stage was the mantra of the participants, their friends took their cheering duty as seriously

 

 

 

 

 

SONG SUNG TRUE:

Little nightingales belted out semi-classical and classical numbers for Eastern Solo — from raga Yaman to Bollywood tunes like Albela sajan aayo re of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Judge Shyamal Lahiri applauded their effort. “I have been coming to the fest for a few years now and I expect something new each time.”

 

WE LIKE TO PARTY:

After two days of competition, the kids let their hair down and partied on DJ Nite. Over 8,000 children grooved to the beats of RJ Jimmy Tangree (picture above, right) and his team. And when Munni... (from Dabangg) and Sheila... (Tees Maar Khan) blared, the kids went berserk.

“This time, DJ Nite was even better managed than previous years and the crowd was perfect. Jimmy played for more than an hour and we danced to our heart’s content,” said Class XII student Subhanga Banerjee. Back home, his Facebook status message read “had loads of fun at TTIS DJ Nite...in a real mood to party.”

ROCK ON:

Western Group saw a mix of original compositions, heavy metal as well popular rock. Army Public School impressed with a cover of The Cranberries’ Zombie even as their lead singer made for a pretty picture in her school uniform and high-tops. The real show-stealers were St Lawrence School and the Assembly of God Church School, Park Street, who got the crowd headbanging to Metallica’s Enter Sandman and Iron Maiden’s Hallowed Be Thy Name. Pailan World School, St James School and St Lawrence High School won the top three prizes.

FUN, FROLIC & FUSION FOOTSTEPS.

 

 

 

 

A RETURN TO INNOCENCE:

The judge for 3 Minutes to Fame, actress Aparajita Ghosh Das, broke into an impromptu jig with TTIS cubs and tigers (student reporters). “With these kids, I am feeling like a kid myself,” smiled Aparajita.

 

 

TIGERS TOO WANNA HAVE FUN:

They slogged for a week and more to make sure that the events were held without a hitch. But true to the mood of the carnival, in between the madness, the TTIS tigers took a break to cheer the performers, sing, dance and make merry

 

 

BREAK-ING NEWS:

The first event of the finals was 3 Minutes to Fame, where one had to impress the judges with any form of talent in just three minutes. Participants broke tubelights like they were matchsticks, sang without musical instruments, showed off their skills with the nunchaku, danced to poetry and even mimicked celebrities, much to the amusement of the judges

 

 

 

 

SWEET SURRENDER:

A little treat for a little participant in between back-to-back events

 

 

 

dance with me:

The Fusion Dance round was all about razzle dazzle as team after team tried to impress the judges as much with their moves as their make-up. The winners, Kalyani Public School (picture above), entertained the audience with a mix of Indian and Japanese martial arts peppered with Bharatanatyam. Another team fused western music with Bhangra steps.

BACK WITH A BAND:

In 2008 and 2009, band Heartbeats of Aditya Academy Senior Secondary School, Barasat, walked away with the trophy in the Western Group category. In 2010, they were back, but this time as a guest band. And they played Sweet Child ’ Mine by Guns N’ Roses that had won them the prize two years ago. “We thought 2009 would be our last year at the TTIS Challenge as we were passing out of school. But we have managed to came back as a guest band and things couldn’t get better than this,” said Sounak Saha, the lead guitarist, living up to the carnival’s theme: face-off with fame. “We are back in our homeground,” said Ankit Aditya, the lead vocalist.

Highlights

3 MINS TO FAME

First Hirak Sarkar, Bholananda National Vidyalaya

Second Chandrika Das, Vivekananda Mission School       

Third Krishan Routh, St Sebastian’s School

ANTAKSHARI        

First The Future Foundation

Second GSS Girls’ School

Third Salt Lake English Medium School

FUSION DANCE

First Kalyani Public School

Second Sudhir Memorial Institute       

Third Khalsa Model Senior Secondary School

EASTERN SOLO

First Ananya Naha, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Second Antara Chowdhury, The Heritage School

Third Sangborti Das, Ballygunge Shiksha Sadan

WESTERN GROUP

First Pailan World School

Second St James School

Third St Lawrence High School

AD-MANIA

First Calcutta Public School, Kalikapur

Second Hirendra Leela Patranavis

Third Bodhicharya Senior Secondary School

TUG OF WAR (BOYS)

First Kalyani Public School

Second St Sebastian’s School

Third Vivekananda Mission School

TUG OF WAR (GIRLS)

First Hariyana Vidya Mandir

Second Bodhicharya Senior Secondary School

Third Khalsa Model Senior Secondary School

UNCONVENTIONAL ORCHESTRA

First Hirendra Leela Patranavis

Second Sunrise English Medium School

Third Don Bosco, Liluah

INSTRUMENTAL JUGALBANDI

First Adamas International School

Second Vivekananda Mission School

Third Litera Valley School

FASHION PARADE

First Amrita Vidyalayam

Second Gokhale Memorial Girls’ School

Third St Mary’s Convent Howrah

BEST MALE MODEL        

Lakshyajit Singh, The Frank Anthony Public School

BEST FEMALE MODEL        

Diti Saha, Ballygunge Shiksha Sadan

BEST SMILE        

Mayank Ghosh, St Mary’s Convent, Howrah        

WESTERN GROUP BEST PERFORMER

Promit Chowdhury, Pailan World School

IMPACT BEST ACTOR        

Raktim Neogi, Bandel Vidyamandir High School

BEST CHEERING SCHOOL        

Hirendra Leela Patranavis

SPIRIT OF TTIS        

Vivekananda Mission School

CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS STUDENT        

Anubhuti Jain, Mahadevi Birla Girls’ Higher Secondary School

CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS SCHOOL

Vivekananda Mission