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Shaan on song, fun on frolic
Kids? Calling Card
Actress June points children in the right direction at the launch of a kids? club. Kid INOX is just for youngsters. The members will be invited to special events, get freebies like movie tickets and cake on their birthdays, enjoy access to the multiplex?s facilities for kiddie parties with clowns and tattoo artists, and more. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya Neil O?Brien conducts The Eddie Hyde Memorial Quiz, the oldest open quiz in India. Picture by Rashbehari DasSome toddlers celebrate Diwali with light, not sound. Picture by Rashbehari Das
November 10 saw a 3,500-strong crowd descend on Don Bosco, Park Circus. The event was a concert, which as is customary, started over an hour late. But this was one audience that didn?t mind a bit.
For the children under the care of over 30 city-based NGOs, a playing field to run helter-skelter on was as good as hearing pop star Shaan sing. Well, almost.
An evening out was what Smile Foundation promised these children, from organisations including Sabera Foundation, Loreto Day School Sealdah, Nirman, Don Bosco Ashalayam and Calcutta Rescue.
?There are many NGOs that provide education, healthcare and shelter for kids. But we would like to look into their all-round well-being, to bring a smile to their faces,? explains Rishabh Bapna, founder-member of Smile, a student of Bhawanipur Education Society and an ex-student of Don Bosco. Most of the backstage helpers were also students.
Shaan was roped in for a performance this year. In 2003, it was Sonu Nigam that kept the crowd enthralled for the year-end concert which, organisers hope, will continue to be an annual affair.
The Mumbai-based Bengali boy showed up just as the sun disappeared, and the kids stopped running every which way to make a beeline for the stage and the star. But before they could catch the Tanha Dil man on song, a choir from Inspiration Foundation and violin-toting girls from Sabera Foundation performed for their appreciative peers.
But sing Shaan finally did, greeting the ?mishti mishti? kids before him, wishing them a shubho Bijoya, Kali puja and Id before breaking out into Dil Ne Tumko Chun Liya Hai?
While the songs flowed fast and smooth, he didn?t hog the limelight either, introducing talented young singer Abrakanti, who sang Ai Ajnabee and Ami Je Jalshaghare.
Madhumita Bhattacharyya
Question time
The first open quiz in the country, The Eddie Hyde Memorial Quiz, was revived on Saturday at Church of Christ The King in Park Circus. The quiz, which was first conducted in 1967 by Neil O?Brien at the same venue, was last held in 2000. This time around, too, the veteran quizmaster, who is known as the father of quizzing in India, was at the helm.
But what was significant was that the number of teams had gone up 10-fold from the four teams that participated in the first Eddie Hyde Memorial Quiz, notwithstanding serious competition from the India-Pakistan cricket match at Eden Gardens and the 10th Kolkata Film Festival.
Conspicuous by their presence in large numbers were school teams. They were provided an added incentive in the form of one guaranteed place in the final round. Ultimately, St James School took the place and did quite creditably.
But the top honours of the evening went to Dalhousie Institute-A, represented by veterans Shouvik Guha, Tathagata Chatterjee and Philip Antunis, as well as Srimati Roy. They narrowly edged out Inmaniacs in a nail-biting finish. The team with the most creative name, Ump Bump Fizz, came third.
The eight-round quiz was as engaging as all Neil O?Brien quizzes are. The pop picks of the evening were:
nWhat inspired the shape of Toblerone chocolates?
Mt Matterhorn in Switzerland
nWho was posthumously made a citizen of Palestine by the late Yasser Arafat?
Jesus Christ
n?Seeking truth from facts? is the motto of which political party?
Chinese Communist Party
nName the most famous sculpture of George Stanley.
The Oscar statuette
Kaushik Ghosh
Carnival with a cause
For the people of Sangram, in Arunachal Pradesh, hardship is a way of life. Before the Irish Christian Brothers set up a primary school there in 2001, education and healthcare was a distant dream. In fact, it takes over eight hours to reach the nearest healthcare centre.
However, funds are still in scarce supply to run the school and help the people. The region suffers from a lack of basic amenities and infrastructure. In order to send doctors to Ane Morium School and improve healthcare facilities in Sangram, the students and the Old Boys Association of St Joseph?s School in Bowbazar are organising Josh 2004.
This two-day carnival will help raise money that will be utilised to upgrade the health and education facilities in the area.
?The terrain leading to Sangram is terrible. Those who have been there before prefer not to revisit it. The carnival is our endeavour to raise funds and send some health specialists to set up basic infrastructure in that region. We will pay the travel expenses of the doctors and provide them with decent means of transport so that they can accomplish the task without any obstacles,? says Neville Mcnamara, principal of St Joseph?s College.
The carnival will kick off on November 20. One of the highlights is a musical night by Shayne Hyrapiet. Join the effort.
Zeeshan Jawed
Rally for rights
Spoiling the kids on Children?s Day is good, but making youngsters aware of child rights is even better. So, UNICEF and Prayasam, a civil society organisation working for child rights, will be having Saatrangee to celebrate Child Rights Week (November 14 to 20). Bharatiyam, in Salt Lake, is where the five-day action will take place. Students from Salt Lake, Calcutta and North 24-Parganas will take part.
Chhotii Si Baat, the quiz contest on the theme Kolkata: Past and Present, will be held on November 16, 10 am.
The next day, it?s Chhotii Muh Bari Baat, an interactive session and poster and slogan competition on Media Moulds Millions of Minds, at 10 am. Srijato, Rangan Chakraborty, Tapan Bandopadhyay, Bijoylaxmi Burman, Dr Kedar Ranjan Banerjee and Paritosh Sen will participate.
Chhotii Si Asha is a musical event on November 18, 10 am, on the themes of Change the World with Children, Calcutta Treats All Children Equally and Protect the Earth for Children, chosen keeping the global movement for children in mind. The celebrity list includes Tanmoy Bose, Utpalendu Chowdhury and Anjan Dutt.
November 19 is the Chale Chalo Rally day, to propagate child rights. Sabyasachi ?Feluda? Chakraborty and Parambrata ?Topshe? Chatterjee will join in the march, which will begin from City Centre at 8 am and end at Bharatiyam.
Rani Karnaa and Madhubani Chatterjee will be there for Chhotii Chhotii Sapney, the choreography programme at 10 am, on Protect Us From War (children do not start wars but are often caught in between), Save the Earth for Children (everyday the world is becoming more polluted) and Listen to Children (we are the world, we are the children).
On the final day, it?s Bhoomisuta, a contemporary dance production on child rights performed by Ahlladi, Prayasam?s dance-theatre group, and the formal launch of the First Student?s Council in West Bengal. Biswanath Chowdhury, state minister of social welfare and jail, and Rudolf Schwenk, state representative, UNICEF, will be present at 6 pm.
Protection platform
Interact District Council (IDC) 3290 is hosting a mega International Understanding Project, in association with Singapore International Foundation, in December, under its theme project Sanjog, to promote child protection against abuse and exploitation. Sanjog coordination office, Grouppe Developpment, is facilitating the project.
The Singapore International Foundation team will comprise 20 girls, students from the Far East?s oldest school, St Margaret High School. Twenty interactors from various schools under IDC 3290 will be selected through a screening test. They will play the role of the Indian counterparts for the the workshop.
The event, from December 2 to 15, aims at building consciousness amongst the youth on their vulnerability to abuse and exploitation and how they can protect themselves from it. The residential workshop will be conducted at Dhyanashram, Joka, a missionary institution.
Daily theatre and movement workshops, fun-filled activities and visits to various marginalised areas will be part of the programme. All the activities will culminate in six performances, to be staged in city schools. The Singapore group will also consist of trained facilitators.
IDC invites school principles, teacher coordinators and Interact Club presidents to nominate interactors from the respective clubs. Those interested in applying or knowing more can write to: sangeetshirodkar@rediffmail.com. The deadline for applications is November 18.
Sangeet Shirodkar,
District Interact secretary, RI District 3290
In harmony
Come October and the Bengali psyche gears up for the festive season and the Puja spirit fills the air. For non-puja people, the chance to enjoy the spirit of delight and harmony of hearts was organised in Hartley?s school.
Harmonics 2004 took over the campus temporarily just before the Pujas, held at Vidya Mandir Hall. The chief guest was mayor Subrata Mukherjee, who inaugurated the function, saying that being with children reminded him of his school days.
Nine schools participated in the fest. The events included a quiz show conducted by Andrew Scolt, the eastern group singing competition Swarmandalam, ad-spoof, jam session and group dance in western style. The off-stage events, which took place earlier, included painting, tattooing, relay poetry and collage. All the participating schools got their share of the laurels.
