Little Heroes: These youngsters are orphans, having lost their parents to AIDS. Infected with the deadly virus, they haven?t got much time themselves either. On Saturday, the state AIDS cell brought a little happiness into their lives with a puppet show and a visit to Nicco Park. In keeping with the theme of awareness, The Heroes Project, Mumbai, West Bengal State AIDS Prevention and Control Society, Calcutta, and Solidarity and Action Against The HIV Infection in India (SAATHII), Calcutta office, will be screening My Brother... Nikhil on May 14 to mark the 2005 International AIDS Candlelight Memorial. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

How many vowels are there between E and O? What do you link Quit Moos and Cecil Rood with? Which sport is associated with My Castings? These were a few of the questions asked at the Cadbury Bournvita Confidence Champion 2005, held at Vidya Mandir on April 29.

Stars in their own rights, some children are all-rounders. They shine in academics, extracurricular and co-curricular activities. They juggle their time with ease to stay on top.

Derek O?Brien got close to some of Calcutta?s bright, young, confident minds at the Cadbury Bournvita Confidence Champion contest. Around 37 children represented their respective schools at the event. Twelve top scorers were shortlisted for the next round, On Your Marks, testing the participants? imagination and quick thinking.

Six participants ? Somrwita Guha (Loreto Day Sealdah), Aratrika Ganguly (GD Birla), Avinav Prakash (Don Bosco Bandel), Abheek Sil (St Joseph?s College), Amrita Mukherjee (Mahadevi Birla) and Fransisco Romaldo Mendes (Don Bosco Park Circus) ? were then shortlisted for the final rounds.

Super Chargers had questions ranging from maths to lateral thinking. Say What tested common sense, Jumbled Words was a buzzer round and Word Game tested the knowledge of common English. In Face Off, the participants chose to be different personalities ? Lata Mangeshkar, Amitabh Bachchan, Sourav Ganguly, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Manmohan Singh ? and faced questions from Derek O?Brien. Arun Lal made a special guest appearance for this round, even interviewing ?Sourav Ganguly?.

After tough competition, Abheek Sil from St Joseph?s College, Class VIII, was declared the Cadbury Bournvita Confidence Champion. Abheek is not only good in academics, he is also a very keen high-altitude trekker. This hobby of Abheek?s has taken him trekking to places like Dhotre (north Bengal) and Pindari Glacier (in Garhwal, Uttaranchal), among others.

Last year?s winners shared their experiences ? Vamika Bhimani (Ashok Hall), Shahrukh Jahangir (Park English School), Parthasarathi Trivedi (Calcutta International School) and Trisha Pal (Apeejay). There was even a handful of chocolates as prizes for the audience. A short film on the show was also screened.

Asif Salam,
Asutosh College

 

A moment frozen on camera from An Indian Ballet, based on West-Ostlicher Divan by Goethe. The production was staged at the German consulate general by the young performers of Suchanda, under the direction of Surangama Dasgupta. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Strategic success

The All India Management Association-organised National Management Games 2005 saw Puneet Kumar from Reliance India winning the eastern regional round held in Calcutta recently. U. Macwana from Tata Motors was the runner-up.

Over 25 teams participated in the first round comprising corporate managers and working executives from companies like Tata Motors, Reliance India, Hindalco Industries and Indian Oil Corporation. Both teams will now compete with the regional winners from Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi at the grand final to be held in Delhi on June 1.

Speaking about the games, Shirish Sambre, games administrator, said: ?The National Management Games are structured to offer a simulated learning ground to polish and hone the managerial skills of the working executives who participate in these games. For a conjured situation, they devise strategies and business plans to outperform their competitors.?

The efficacy of the business strategies planned by the participants was checked by a special software called Chanakya, which collates the data from the participants covering areas like raw material sourcing, warehousing, manufacturing, distribution, marketing and finance. It also allows the use of many contemporary situations and variables that ensure better and faster learning.

The participants face various business issues and brainstorm managerial practices to draw up conclusive plans. Since the entire exercise takes place under simulated conditions, experiments in plans often pave way for new practices breaking the traditional monotony in business grounds.

The preliminaries in Bangalore were held from May 4-6. It will move to Mumbai from May 11-13 and then to Delhi from May 24-30. The winners of the finals will represent India in the Asian Region Management Games.

 

Career smart

?There are no ideal careers. Only ideal choices.? Career development involves the acquisition of knowledge, skills and values to make meaningful choices with regards to one?s education, training and work. This process is facilitated by knowledge of self aptitudes and interests, the right information at the right time and strategic planning.

To guide students in the right direction, The Telegraph Careergraph Live has organised counselling sessions at Birla High School for Girls from May 3 to 13. After going through a career profile test, students get advice from career counsellors. The results of the career profile test help the counsellors understand the strengths and weaknesses of the students. In the end, the students get a report card of sorts, detailing strengths and suggesting suitable career options.

The two career counsellors are Mala Mukherjee and Anuja A. Kumar, senior career counsellors from the Institute of Career Studies. Till May 7, 375 phone calls had been made, 280 students had visited the venue and 275 students had been counselled. Students can contact Anuja Kumar at 24614097 between 10 am and 2 pm for registrations on a first-come-first-served basis.

Coming up is the Careergraph education fair, scheduled for May 27-29, at The Park. Apart from education stalls, there will also be career seminars.

 

Students of National Gems school took the stage for dance performances in between the questions at the Inter-school Topical Quiz at Rabindra Sadan on Saturday. Picture by Rashbehari Das

Healthy & wealthy

Awareness is the first step towards prevention. Prevention is the best way for protection. To prevent diseases, it is necessary to remain aware and alert regarding our health.

In keeping with this spirit of good health, free general health check-ups for Classes IV to IX are being held in city schools. These camps started from April 8 and will continue till the summer vacations begin. TTIS, along with AMRI Hospitals, in association with Himani Sona Chandi Amritprash, are conducting the camps.

The health camps are conducted by doctors associated with AMRI Hospital, situated on Gariahat Road. The camps generally start at around 9 am in school, with six to eight doctors, at least two specialists from each department ? Amitabh Roy Chowdhury and Abhijeet Paul from ENT, G.C. Mondal from ophthalmology, Goutam Mukherjee and Devarshi Nandi from dental care and sister Pinki Sengupta.

The camps entail a regular medical check-up. Each student gets a health report with all the test results. It is mandatory for the students to do all the check-ups and show the report to their parents. The health report contains the provisional diagnosis and the investigation suggested.

Students also get a contest coupon that if they fill up with the correct answers will earn them 20 autographed bats by Sourav Ganguly. Two more health camps will be held in Frank Anthony Public School on May 12 and 13.

Sourendra Kumar Das,
Sri Aurobindo Institute Of Education

 

Quiz crazy

For which cuisine is Anadi Cabin famous for? Who is known as Babluda in Calcutta?s football maidan? How would you differentiate between churmur and chaat? These were some questions asked at the Inter-school Topical Quiz held at Rabindra Sadan on May 7, organised by National Gems Higher Secondary School and presented by TTIS. The theme for the fourth year was Kolkata-Calcutta, and it was conducted by quizmaster Barry O?Brien.

Thirty-five teams participated in the prelims. Eight made it to the finals ? Calcutta Public School, La Martiniere for Boys (LMB), St Augustine, Assembly of God Church, St Thomas Boys, Calcutta Boys, MP Birla and National Gems.The prelims consisted of 25 questions with picture slides and direct questions.

The finals comprised eight rounds. In between, students of the host school took the stage for lively dance performances. The special guests were former footballer and coach Subrata Bhattacharya and singers Haimanti Shukla and Usha Uthup.

After a keenly-fought battle, Calcutta Public School emerged champion, followed by LMB and St Thomas (boys).

Asif Salam

Fifty-two schools took up the challenge, 36 made the cut for The Aero Quiz 2005. The prelims with 35 teams was conducted by quizmaster Samik Dutta. Eight made it finally. The Aeronautical Society of India, Calcutta branch, organised the inter-school quiz on aviation and space on May 6.

The quiz started with the eight finalists ? AK Ghosh Memorial, Kendriya Vidyalaya Ballygunge (KVB), Don Bosco Park Circus, MP Birla, LMB, BD Memorial, Heritage School and Birla High (boys). The quizmaster Gaurav Gupta conducted the six rounds ? Direct Question, Bazaar, Audio-visual and more. Historic clips related to aeroplanes and aeronautics were the topic of the day. A.K. Ghosh Memorial won by 10 points after a tie with KVB.

The best cheering award was given to the students of KVB. A teacher from AK Ghosh won tickets to Kathmandu in the lucky draw.

Sourendra Kumar Das

 

Debate debut

I want to thank ABP for sponsoring me at the World Universities Debating Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This was the first time that the university (NUJS) was participating in an international debate. It was the biggest ever, with 612 teams from over 70 countries and over 1,000 participants. We did very well against Asian teams.

In the preliminary rounds, we debated nine times against various teams on topics ranging from HIV/AIDS to discrimination against women in the armed forces, outsourcing to harsher sentences for celebrity criminals. We did not qualify for the ?Break?, consisting of the top 32 teams, but we did fairly well, beating renowned teams like Monash, Wichita and Stallenbosch.

I was ranked seventh best speaker in the English as Second Language category, and my teammate was ranked ninth. We also topped the South Asian bracket, being ranked as the best team in the region. We were also invited to participate in the IInd Shahi Jiwana International Debate, organised by University College Lahore.

Deepto Roy,
NUJS

Correction: The article about the Srijan poetry festival published in Young Metro on May 6 had a couple of errors. The information that Sunil Gangopadhyay and Nabaneeta Dev Sen had come was incorrect. They were both supposed to attend, but ultimately could not. The number of poems received was also not 2,000 but around a 1,000.

Adwaita Das,
Coordinator, Srijan Youth Poetry Festival