Fun unlimited

take a break

A young performer tries to adjust his costume as his friends continue their performance at a cultural programme

of Dew Drops Academy of Performing Arts, at Kala Mandir, on May 18. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Not many know that Potus and Flotus stand for the US President and the First Lady, respectively, in the US Secret Service. Did you know that the point of commonality between Rajiv Gandhi, Gautam Buddha and SD Burman was the name of their sons, Rahul. For Subhodipto Kumar, Raktim Nag and Monisith Das, such questions were a piece of cake at the quiz, a part of Masti ki Pathshala, a two-day event organised by the Durgapur Society of Management Science, along with Unish Kuri, at the St Xavier’s auditorium.

Day I (May 11) saw the three students of Sri Aurobindo Vidya Mandir win the first position in the quiz, which included questions on sports, entertainment, history and Hindu mythology.

The T-shirt painting and creative writing contests saw students translating poetry into colour and showing off the power of the pen, on topics like Ekdin rate ami swapno dekhinu, Ashay ashay boshe achhi and The Sun is Square on the Other Side. Prantik Santra of Sarisha Ramakrishna Mission Sikhsa Mandir won the T-shirt painting contest while Jishnu Mukhopdhyay of Baranagar Narendranath Vidyamandir won the creative writing contest. A performance by Bangla band Ishaan kept the audience enthralled.

Day II (May 12) focussed on a session on alternative career options after high school, which was presented in association with the Durgapur Society of Management Science (DSMS). The speakers included Vinu Jha, special service manager, Apollo Gleneagles Group, Arindam Bhowmik, centre manager, Tata AIG, Debashish Ghosh, regional sales manager, HCL Infosys Ltd and Anupam Mukherjee, director, DSMS.

Jha explained the options of taking up hospital management as a career, regardless of choice of subjects at the Plus two level. A query about the advantages of studying MBA after a degree in law was met with information about legal process outsourcing.

Priyam Ghosh, a Class XII student of Taki Government Sponsored School for Boys, said: “I plan to take up some vocational courses when I am in college. I came here to know about the options available apart from the mainstream courses.”

Srijit Dhar, of Assembly of God Church School, agreed: “What I’ve learnt here will help me, as hotel management is one of my career options.”

A staff reporter

 

Rhino forever

With the poaching of rhinos at Kaziranga National Park coming to light, wildlife magazine Sanctuary Asia is organising a nationwide petition campaign Rhino Forever.

It will be addressed to the chief minister of Assam urging him to take action against the poaching.

The petition of the Kids for Tiger project of Sanctuary Asia has collected signatures from 23 schools in the city, including La Martiniere School for Girls and La Martiniere School for Boys, Birla High School for Girls, and The Future Foundation School.

Joydip Kundu, of Sanctuary Asia, said: “We have collected more than 20,000 signatures of students from city schools.” The petition will be handed over by Bittu Sahgal, editor of Sanctuary Asia, to the chief minister. Students of The Assam Valley School who are part of the Kids for Tiger project will also take part.

Sunirmal Chakravarthy, principal of La Martiniere School for Boys, said: “As adults, we are cynical about children’s efforts. But it is remarkable that students have shown concern about an issue so far away from their immediate environment and have taken up the campaign.”

The wildlife authorities are eager to work, but admit that there is not enough manpower to monitor the poaching in the area, explained Kundu who has initiated the campaign.

Rhino Campaign is a part of the Save the Big Five project that includes the lions of Gir in Gujarat and the tigers of Madhya Pradesh.

Romila Saha