Once upon a time: Students of the primary section of Shri Shikshayatan School presented their annual function at Madhusudan Mancha in early February. Picture by Sanat Kumar Sinha

The 10-day visit to Calcutta, from January 15 to 25, was an eye-opener for Sangeetanshuman and his friends from 10 schools all over North and East India. During the run-up to Funrise 2007, a sports festival for 90 primary-section students of The Heritage School, the children discovered their hidden talents and gained the confidence to take up challenges. The festival, held on January 24, was a project of Dreams and Teams that required the 20 students, two each from 10 schools, to single-handedly organise the event. The initiative was a first in India by British Council in partnership with the Youth Sport Trust, a charitable foundation in the UK.

The first phase of the project involved a two-day training for the teachers, one from each school, by Karen Arnold of Dreams and Teams, UK. The teachers, christened “trainers”, in turn honed the students’ skills.

Explained Arnold who has been involved with Dreams and Teams for the past six years: “Despite cultural differences, young people around the world are similar in their desire for a better world. The kids here are as eager as those everywhere else to experiment with new ideas.”

Sangeetanshuman, a student of Stuart School, Cuttack, was in-charge of public relations for the festival. He was trained, along with the other kids, in the management of “space, task, equipment, people and success”.

The training sessions yielded good results. The students managed to lead 90 kids through a sit-and-draw contest and games like football, handball and relay races, played with modified rules. Explained Kaushik Barua of Faculty Higher Secondary School, Guwahati: “For instance, you could score a goal only if you had passed a ball four times.”

The students also learned how to put up a good show within a shoe-string budget. Said Niyati Jhaveria of Banyan Tree School, New Delhi, who put up a dance performance: “The budget, only Rs 2,000 was shocking, as was the knowledge that we were to manage 90 children. I had 15 minutes to download the songs and organise the dance.” At the end of the festival, it was a merry bunch that sang along to Knocking on heaven’s door and Jiski biwi moti to the twanging of guitar strings.

Kaushik summed up the dominant mood before the event wrapped up: “Ten days ago, we didn’t know each other at all. Yet having lived and worked side for the past few days, it will be painful to go our own ways.”

Romila Saha

 

The art of selling

An exhibition of Australian books at National Library, on till February 11, has been pulling in youngsters. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Hard Sell, a seminar on strategies for the evolving marketplace, was held on the January 20 in Bangalore. The daylong event, attended by students, professionals and academicians from across the country, was organised by Convergence Institute of Media, Management & Information Technology Studies (COMMITS).

Postgraduate diplomas in banking and micro finance and in retail management and administration were launched on the occasion.

The first speaker for the day was brand guru Prahlad Kakkar. The ad man’s wise words for the students included “using permissible lies while advertising and being good at the art of exaggeration”. Brand director Niranjan Natarajan laid emphasis on the use of emotions and the need for constant image transformation while building brands. Biju Kurien, COO of Reliance Retails, then gave an insight into India’s retail industry and its relevance in economic growth. Collin Timms, chairman, Guardian Bank-leaders in Micro Credit Finance, then called upon the country’s youth to be social entrepreneurs. A quiz on brands wrapped up the event.

Sangeet Shirodkar

whatsup

Career carnival
Yuva, a career carnival presented by The Telegraph, at St Xavier’s College auditorium, on February 10, 10 am.