A participant in the 3 Minutes to Fame contest on Day One of the fest; (below) Tug of War was a popular draw on Friday with 45 school teams putting spirit and strength to test. Pictures by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Sona Chandi The Great TTIS Challenge took off at Swabhumi on December 7 with 123 participating schools.

Enthusiasm was naturally at a peak on Day One. First up on stage were some winners of last year’s fest. Krosswindz added adrenaline with renditions of Brian Adams’ Summer of 69, Hotel California, and their signature number, Prithibi.

Event number one ‘3 Minutes to Fame’ was an instant hit with its dance and comic routines. Boogie Woogie contestant Rupam Gupta of Don Bosco Liluah bettered his moonwalk routine from the prelims. Upalabdhi Kanoria of Loreto Convent Entally danced to Chal Ja Re Hat Natkhat from the film Navrang. Pallavi Bhowmick of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Barrackpore (Army), presented a three-minute package including excerpts from Joy Goswami’s poetry, Tagore’s Raktakarabi, mimicry and kathak. One had to agree with Nabil Mamsa of St Joseph’s College when he said variety was what made this the “most popular event at the TTIS carnival”.

The serious issue of child rights was the topic for the Creative Writing Contest in which many participated. But the winter sun was aglow and one found it hard to choose from the many fun things to do, like a treasure hunt, a two-minutes-to-fame stall, a handwriting competition, hula hoops, mobile games and lucky draws.

Gift of the gab and originality were what the judges were looking for in the War of the RJs. Yuvraj Dasgupta’s “Radio 420’ drew guffaws with its tagline “only nautanki all day”. Judges pretending to be callers of a live show challenged the young RJs with irate questions, only to be impressed by their panache. Saroni Chakravarti of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Ballygunge, said: “It was fun. I performed in front of my favourite radio jockeys.”

In Laughter Challenge, Calcutta Boys’ High School presented ‘Koffee with Krissh’, a spoof of popular television chat show. Delhi Public School Newtown changed the Sholay locale to Calcutta and Methodist School did a comic Ramayana.

Eastern Solo Vocal contestant Sreosree Bhattacharya from Agrasain Balika Siksha Sadan sang an Asha Bhonsle number from the film Kaajal while Aishwarya Shankar of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Ballygunge, present a bhajan.

Day Two of the carnival had four events. Six groups presented skits in the Street Play contest. Students of St Augustine’s Day school Shyamnagar wearing black costumes addressed health issues.

The Bey Blade contest was a huge draw, with prizes at each level. “It is the first time that I am taking part in the contest. I enjoyed it,” said Md Arshad Khan of St Laetitia’s School.

Cartoon drawing contest brought the Singur controversy to the fore. Subarna Saha of Agrasain Balika Vidyalaya said she had drawn Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister and a Tata honcho.

Antakshari got even the teachers jiving. Unconventional Orchestra created music from buckets, computer keyboards, vases and paintbrushes.

 

Day One results

COLLAGE (junior)

Rohit Mourya, Don Bosco Park Circus; Sapratik Bhattacharya, St Xavier’s Institution Panihati; Vineet Gupta, Oxford House

COLLAGE (senior)

Rachita Pal, Nibedita Vidyapith; Ayushi Rani, Oxford House; Aniket Chakraborty, St Xavier’s Institution Panihati

T-SHIRT PAINTING (junior)

Irandati Das, Hartley’s High School; Kankana Raha, Hartley’s High School; Sk Akib Zaman, Children’s Foundation

T-SHIRT PAINTING (senior)

Sarthak Ghosh, Lycee; Ishani Chatterjee, Delhi Public School Ruby Park; Madhuban Mukherjee, Kendriya Vidyalaya Barrackpore (Army)

3 MINUTES TO FAME

Saurav Ryan Ghosh, St James’ School; Abhilash Dutta, St Joseph’s College; Nitin Chaturvedi, Shree Jain Vidyalay; Rupam Gupta, Don Bosco Liluah

EASTERN SOLO

Dipayan Banerjee, South Point High School; Ishita Chakraborty, The Frank Anthony Public School; Madhubani Ghosh, Mahadevi Birla Girls’ High School

WAR OF THE RJS

Debarati Sanyal, Ballygunge Shiksha Sadan; Pooran Punjabi, DPS Newtown; Yuvraj Dasgupta, Don Bosco Liluah; Shivam Sinha, Pailan World School

CREATIVE WRITING (junior)

Hardik Sheth, Vidyanjali High School; Siddhant Sarkar, The Aryans School; Teesta Lahiri, The Future Foundation

CREATIVE WRITING (senior)

Rakhi Chakraborty, Bridge International School; Avijit Kumar Dutta, Salt Lake School; Shayeari Dutta, Calcutta Girls’ High School

LAUGHTER CHALLENGE

Methodist School, Don Bosco Park Circus, North Point Day School, St Augustine’s Day School Ripon Street

December 9: Fusion Dance at 9 am, Fashion Show at noon, Western Group Dance at 2.30 pm, followed by prize distribution

Closing ceremony, musical performance on December 9 evening