Students of LMB at an inter-school debate meet at Welham Girls’ School in Dehradun

They are argumentative Indians in the making. They play with words and their puns put their opposition on the backfoot. They are members of the debating team of La Martiniere for Boys (LMB), who have won national level and inter-school competitions.

An important activity in the school for over 45 years, the boys have mastered the art of winning storms over a teacup.

“A good command over language, ready wit and the ability to deliver repartees without being personal are some of the qualities of a good debater,” feels Sunirmal Chakravarthi, principal, LMB. “Debating builds confidence and enables one to think for oneself,” he adds.

The school has three teams, with four members each, from classes IX to XII. “The senior-most team generally goes for the national-level debates,” says Noel Ritchie, teacher-in-charge of debating. The school organises two inter-house debates to spot talent, one for the seniors and the other for middle school students. Topics for the inter-house debates are announced a month ahead.

The boys research the topic and discuss them with seniors or teachers in advance. This gives the children exposure and also grooms future debaters.

“The students are encouraged to read widely and be well-versed in current affairs. A debater should be confident, articulate and magnanimous in defeat,” says Ritchie.

While articulation is important, the boys feel that content also plays a major role. “In any debate, content carries more points than delivery. If that is not strong enough, we cannot form a convincing argument,” says Sreevardhan Agarwal of Class XI, the vice-captain of the senior school team. “Debating is not about preparing a speech, mugging it up and reproducing it, but about thinking on one’s feet,” he adds.

The hard work has borne fruit. The boys won the Saroj Srivastava Inter School English Debate at Welham Girls’ School in Dehradun in April, and the national level LN Birla Memorial Debate in July. They also qualified for the eastern region final of the Frank Anthony Memorial All-India Inter-School Debate organised by the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations, to be held in August.

Jhinuk Mazumdar

Spotlight on school life

Students perform at the Patton One Act Play competition. Picture by Anindya Shankar Ray

Why on earth did you put gel? Have you ever seen a principal with his hair in spikes like these?” The teacher’s exclamation sent Shagnik Bhattacharya scuttling to the greenroom tap. A few dabs of water, a comb passed hastily through his hair and Shagnik was ready for his role in Eduphobia, his school The Heritage’s entry at the third annual inter school Patton One Act Play competition at Gyan Manch, held on August 1 and 2.

Near the gate, Sukrit Sen of Class VIII, St James School —who takes piano lessons at home — is saying shyly, “This is the first time I have been in a play, it was wonderful. Someone wrote the song we used for our play, Reality Show, but I scored the music.”

In the audience was the mother of Priyanjali Pal of Class XI, Modern High School. Priyanjali had written the script of To Be or Not to Be. “They have a drama club and perform quite often in school. But they worked really hard on this one, rehearsing before and after classes. I think this is a wonderful opportunity to learn about theatre, society and working together,” said the proud mother.

Organised by British Council, Padatik and Patton, the event showcased 12 schools. The plays had been selected after several preliminary rounds of screening and a workshop. Groups of upto 10 students were required to write and perform a play on the subject: “The education system is a menace”. Apart from acting and direction, students also had to design their own sets, props and costumes.

There were marks for technical excellence in operating light and sound equipment, doing makeup, and scoring music. The audience was anything but passive. If loud applause and boos greeted the performances, drawn curtains roused chants of “Why are we waiting!”

The judges, theatre personality Zarin Chaudhury and Samarjit Guha of British Council complained about the lack of imagination and variety in the scripts, since few had gone beyond issues like school and parental pressure. However, the restricted scope of the subject reduces possibilities for innovation. Perhaps the freedom of choosing subjects would allow more innovation to trickle in.

Awards for best production went to Modern High School. La Martiniere for Boys won best technical and best direction awards for Rebel, about a group of students who rebel against their teacher and glimpse a future where the teacher is a dictator. Birla High School for Boys got the Best Script award for Shiksha Na Prahasan, the first Bengali play to be allowed into the competition. Rishika Das Roy of Modern High School won the top award for acting.

Sebanti Sarkar

THE DIARY

Postmodern Blues

I have grown so tired
I have not read for a while,
Travelling on the 10 o’ clock metro
I reminisce the days gone by.
The pen and the paper,
The record player and the book
Are the only things I can find,
As I count my belongings on a cold afternoon.
I can drive that fast car,
I know the clutch and the brake
Can speed up and ride away.
But which direction should I take?

Pranamita Roy,
MA, English,
Calcutta University