Manovikas Kendra students perform at Science City auditorium on their annual day. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

It was a special day for Rajdeep Banik, a student at Manovikas Kendra. After all, he was to perform before a full house at Science City auditorium that evening. “He sang all day, just to get the perfect notes. He so wanted to impress. I felt happy seeing my son smile,” said his mother Shampa.

Rajdeep was one of the 750 children of Manovikas Kendra who left the audience mesmerised with their performance last month. The occasion was the school’s annual day. Industrialist Basant Kumar Birla and his wife Sarala Devi were the chief guests at the event.

The cultural programme began with children of various age groups chanting the sloka, Vakratunda Mahakaya, followed by a welcome song, Shobare Kori Aobhan.

Tagore was invoked as students danced to Ananda dhara and Tai tomaar ananda amar por.

Next in line was a colourful dance performance to a Bickram Ghosh composition. Around 145 children, many of them wheelchair users, dressed as gods and goddesses danced to the beat.

The audience was also taken on a tour of Old Macdonald’s farm. The children dressed as the farm animals had the audience in splits with their gestures.

There was some folk flavour too with a fishermen’s dance to O majhi re jhum uthe jia ra mora. The final act of the evening was the show-stealer with hearing impaired students dancing to Bollywood numbers.

Two of the performers also spun a football on their fingertips, amid loud cheering.

“These children have taught me how to take life positively. They endure so much pain, yet they are always smiling,” said Aparajita Bhattacharya, a physiotherapist at Manovikas Kendra.

chit chat

When math is fun

nMore than 700 students from Bengal aged between four and 14 displayed their mental maths skills at the 31st Regional Abacus Competition, Brainobrainfest 2012, held at Mahajati Sadan on April 1. The audience were left spellbound as some students calculated 75 sums in less than three minutes and others solved problems while skating. Avik Chowdhury, a Class VI student at Future Foundation School, said: “This is the second time I’m participating in the meet. Abacus has helped me to get more marks in math.” Dhrubajyoti Chattopadhyay, the pro vice-chancellor of Calcutta University, gave away the prizes to the winners. The prize distribution was followed by a cultural programme.

Young achiever

Sagnik Guha, a Class X
student at Birla High School for Boys, was declared the winner of “Tagore at 150”, a national essay competition organised by Intach. The other four winners were from Chennai, Delhi, Rampur and Hazaribag. Sagnik’s essay was on the poet’s contribution to culture and education. There were 3,000 entries. As a winner, Sagnik will get to attend the closing ceremony of Tagore’s 150 years celebrations in Santiniketan on May 7.