It was a day of no studies and all fun when St Francis Xavier School hosted Francotsav on campus. The fete featured games, stalls — even a mock “jail” — and students, parents, and friends were all welcome.
Head girl Aariba Jawe came dressed regally, like a Greek goddess. She was volunteering at the stall themed “Pantheon”. “We have games here like Nemesis Loop, where one has to use a lasso with a noose-end to try and ring cones on a table,” she explained, adding that they had come up with ideas through research. Nemesis is the Greek god of vengeance Nemesis Loop is the cycle where excessive pride leads to divine downfall.
A boy poses in an astronaut cut-out
Another game, inspired by Poseidon, the god of the sea, had people using Poseidon’s trident to “fish” for toy lobsters, crabs, and seals in a large bucket of water. “But these are rubber toys and were sinking. So we used the theory of the Dead Sea and added salt to make them float,” said chemistry teacher Rameesha Dey Sarkar.
A mighty popular attraction was the computer games room. Road Rash and Open CV Flappy Bird drew crowds, but the biggest hit was the battle game Tekken 7. “Some students are playing this three times in a row, and there’s even a waiting list at times,” laughed head boy Aryan Singh, as another volunteer, Afzan Hossain nodded. “I don’t think we’ll get to leave this room even once today.”
Physics students had created games where participants had to race remote-controlled cars on a track or use a robotic hand to move a toy without dropping it.
There was also a dance floor, where visitors had to buy coupons to watch performances. “I’ll be performing to a Rabindrasangeet,” said Didriksha Saha. “And I to a semi-classical piece,” added Arshika Saha Roy. “We always perform at school shows, but this will be the first time others will be buying tickets to watch us. It has to be excellent and we shall do our best,” said Arshika.
A food court offered momos, chaats, and even biriyani, mostly prepared by teachers. There were trampolines, bouncy castles and selfie corners too.
There was also a pop-up “jail” with bars. Jahnavi Kundalia giggled with glee as she paid Rs 10 to have her friend, Shreyan Ghosh, “imprisoned”. “He’ll have to pay double for a self-bail,” she said, mischievously clicking a selfie with the boy behind the toy bars at the popular stall. But Shreyan chose to “phone a friend”, and Naitek Gupta came to his rescue, paying Rs 10 to bail him out.
“A lot of hard work goes into this fete,” said principal Anil Srivastava. “It’s fun and frolic, but the underlying motive is to raise funds for charity and teach children how to organise events, as they are the leaders of the future. This initiative is the brainchild of Ajay Chopra, the school secretary and administrator, and whatever sum is raised shall be donated to Tata Medical Center, along with a contribution from the management.”
