Janmashtmi Celebration

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The rhythmic drum beat was melting into the jade surroundings of the school….., the hullabaloo was on its peak……., children preparing and planning in groups, the fun unbolted and chaos organized……it was the occasion of Janmashtami and ‘matki phod’ event celebrating birthday of the legend Lord Krishna, as during His childhood, He used to form human pyramids to break the pot of butter that was hung far above to keep it out of His reach.

No less than that of Lord Krishna’s childhood, the Gopalas of Atmiya Vidya Mandir were all set to break an earthen pot (handi or matki) suspended with a rope at a height by making human pyramid. Adding more to this excitement, the team of sports teachers planned this as a challenge among the students of different classes. The idea was to create a mound comprising of the team members in an endeavor to crack the pot and grab the contents. The quickest wins the contest.

The hanging pot was filled with chocolates and sweets wrapped in colorful paper. “When the pot is broken, the chocolate and sweets fall out, sending the kids into a frenzy of delight,” In an attempt to reach the pot, kids huddled together to form a human pyramid making it to a convenient height. The event witnessed a lot of fun filled moments, the students of class IX made several attempts with the pyramid but falling as one of them reached the top. But each fall infused more and more enthusiasm and they got into the huddle again and again with double the energy and determination.

The festival indirectly taught them the learning of team work and gave them many fun filled moments that they will cherish for life. The most exciting scene of the event was when students of class X strategized and formed a strong human pyramid to reach the dahi matki suspended at great height. Onlookers were throwing water on the students in order to prevent them from breaking the pot. This event proved to be a perfect amalgamation of sport and fun and providing students an opportunity to be adventurous and to show team spirit and unity… The event ended with the kids playing and engaging into a fun filled water dance.

The teachings of Lord Krishna’s life were all inclusive in the celebration as students were also explained about Lord Krishna as an ideal personality. The preacher of Gita, Lord Krishna’s life is an example, which reflected the power of character. On this very auspicious day, in the morning assembly of Suhradam House, Students were told that Lord Krishna was a true disciple, a friend in need and a compassionate companion. Students were also explained how one can succeed in professional and personal life by learning and trying to emulate Lord Krishna as personification of love and affection and emotionally intelligent.

Thus AVM celebrates Janmashtami, the birth of one of our most loved Gods: Krishna. The festival which reminds us that no matter how hard evil tries, it cannot win over good.

Inducing Patriotic Fervour: Sundaram House

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In the darkness of despair we saw a vision,
We lit the light of hope, and it was not extinguished…
The vision became reality…Bondage became freedom.
And this we left to you as your heritage.
O generation of freedom remember us, the generation of the vision…
-Liam Mac Uistin

These lines of thankfulness are written by an Irish poetic genre…..for the sacrifices of martyrs who brought independence. On the very auspicious occasion of India’s 64th Independence day and its following week, Sundaram House got an opportunity to evoke the solemn passing on of a legacy by those who envisioned freedom and struggled to achieve it, to those generations, who were to enjoy its fruits. Sundaram House students were encouraged to explore and explain Patriotism as a nationalist feeling of pride in or support for our country. And also….how it manifests itself in many forms, both small and large, creating a sense of national pride.

With many activities and presentations, throughout the week, Sundaram House made sincere efforts promoting national unity which starts as a gut instinct, a loyalty and love for country that got to being rooted in the young children in the earliest days of their life.

The patriotic fervour got into the air from Monday 15 August with Independence Day Celebration. On Tuesday, Yash Pachhigar from X A took the audience to a heart-throbbing account of the great sacrifice of Indian Martyrs. He showed a video presentation that of India’s freedom struggle from 1957 till the date of complete independence. Next day was all about India’s achievements in various fields since Independence. Karan of XI Commerce very well presented India’s progressive stride making an impressive stand at International level triggering a feeling of proud for our country for its achievements. Even small things like making others aware of what is so special about our country and at the same time having respect for other countries as well.

On the fourth day of the week, Vishwajeet Solanki and Tanmay Patel from IX made the students aware of some of the prominent problems the nation is fighting with. The next day, on Friday, Kshitij Patankar Sir explained the students what does patriotism mean to the common person of India? How are we to show (show to ourselves, not to others) that we love our country? How do we express the surge of feeling for country… He also mention that the demand of the time is to have a better tomorrow by doing our bit from our side.

Then on Saturday, the cultural bonanza grabbed the interest of the audience as the Drama and dance were performed by students of Sundaram House. Fifty participants, lives of a few Indian martyrs, twenty five minutes and only one mission… a sensational tribute to the martyrs, who had laid down their lives during the freedom struggle, The students looked splendid in their ethnic dresses. It was a real treat to the eyes as well as to the intellect to observe the stirring performance of the young boys attired as freedom fighters and Britishers as rulers of that time. It was altogether a mesmerizing presentation. The creative assembly had been in sync with the mood of the month –season-value , which was patriotism and thereby catching the right pulse of its audience.

The students of Sundaram House prepared a special program to mark the Independence Day. Depicting the life of Mangal Pandey, who was one of the pioneers of the Indian freedom struggle and is believed to be the first Indian hero who rose against the British. He played a major role in the Sepoy Uprising of 1857 that led to the first Indian War of Independence. The role of Mangal Pandey was played by Harshal Gadhiya from X B. The, unforgettable freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, who had imparted the teaching of sacrifice, devotion to righteousness, devotion to nation, helping the society, His role was played by Sonak Ramani of IX A.

Through the soft board displays Sundaram House presented an impressive array of Indian Civilian and Gallantry awards along with short details about them written in an interesting manner. With an extreme elegance and unsurpassable appeal, this short information on prestigious Indian Awards exhibited the virtues as well as value of these honours in the field of art, science, social and civil services, sports as well as military services. This soft board display presented an irresistible appeal to the students to bag these honours in future.

Thus Sundaram House has persuasively conveyed the value or the moral message of patriotism explaining If the new generation of India wants to bring about a real change in feeling and outlook, they will have to rediscover these courageous martyrs who loved India as the mother and approached the fundamental questions of life with a robust physique, sharp intellect, and immense purity of character.

Independence Day Celebrations

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Freedom is our very nature as only with freedom can joy,
Generosity and other human values blossom

What if the pilot of a plane feels that he should have enough freedom to fly the plane as per his wish? What if driver of a train takes the freedom to stop the train wherever he wishes to? What if a doctor takes the freedom to treat the patients of only his choice…..freedom does not mean absence of boundation but taking up responsibility………..

These were the inspiring words of respected Jignesh Sir who was addressing the students on the auspicious occasion of Independence Day celebration. At the reopening of the school after RakshaBandhan break students, teachers and hostel staff of Atmiya Vidya Mandir gathered at the administrative building hall to commemorate the national festival on 15 August 2011.

15th August is the day on which students are encouraged to have a feeling of being proud Indian so that their hearts fill up with patriotic fervour and immense love for motherland. The ceremony started with pujan of Thakorji by the esteemed guests who were the trustees and members of school management. Then the sports Captain Abhishek Patel and his group marched in unison, escorting the guests to the decorated arena where the tricolour flag was to be unfurled. Principal of the school Dr. Vijay Patel hoisted the flag and the school choir group with Yogin Patel of VIII B sang the national anthem. Anand Pandya of VIII A was playing popular marching tunes from quite at a distance, created a mesmerizing ambience.

Sharing his views on the occasion, Abhishek Ariwala from X A delivered an enthralling speech .He beautifully explained the need of the hour as youth can be the most contributing mass to bring a constructive change to the nation. It was followed by a heartening speech by respected Jignesh Sir who suggested some practical guidelines to the students to follow on daily basis to set themselves free from negative thoughts and bad habits. The whole programme was very well hosted by Yash Pachchigar of X A and Sahishnu Patel from XI Sci. The programme got over with singing of national anthem and distribution of sweets.

Identifying and motivating the Lingua-Holics

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In line with the vision of Atmiya Vidya Mandir, which is to provide an environment to create keen competition amongst the students, all the children of the school are divided into four houses. Every week the students of these houses compete against each other in either a sports competition or an academic competition.

This year’s academic competition kicked off on Saturday the 23rd of July 2011. The English department of Atmiya Vidya Mandir did the honours by conducting an English competition with participants comprising from first standard to tenth standard. The competition was organized to enthuse in the students the love for the English language. This event took place in the prayer hall from 11.45 am to 1.30 pm.

Each house – Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram and Suhradam, had 20 participants from standard 1st to 10th. The participants were divided into three levels i.e. first level included students from first standard to fourth standard, second level included students from fifth standard to seventh standard and third level included students from eighth standard to tenth standard. Each round included all the three levels of students.

  • First round was the Spell Bee round and was designed and hosted by Renuka Madam. In this round the participants in a fixed time limit had to spell as many words as they could correctly.
  • The second round was a Creative Reading round which was designed and hosted by Ruma Madam. The purpose of this round was to invoke in the students the importance of reading that included correct pronunciation, intonation, modulation and expression of the mood of the content in a creative way.
  • Third round comprised of Riddle and Tongue Twisters and was designed and hosted by Binu Madam. In this round the participants were asked riddles and in a fixed time limit had to answer the riddle. The tongue twisters were meant for 10th standard students. They had to speak the tongue twister five times clearly without stopping and it was fun listening to the students with their twisted tongues.
  • The fourth round was designed and hosted by Paras Sir; the motive behind this round was to help the students get better at sentence structuring and had jumbled–sentences. The participants needed to frame the five set of jumbled words into sentences.
  • The fifth round was about the listening and comprehension component of the language and was designed and hosted by Seema Madam, where in the participants listened to a passage and filled up the questionnaire based on the audio within a limited time frame.
  • The sixth and final round comprised of videos portraying values for living life which was designed and hosted by Saumya Madam. The participants had to identify the value after watching the video.
After each question being answered correctly the house members of their respective houses jumped with joy and clapped and motivated their house members on the stage. The spirit for the team and the environment of positive competition was visible to all enjoying the competition.

The judges Rupashree Madam and Kshitij Sir were also very excited and they kept the students motivated by their consistent words of praise and applaud. Shivam house scored the highest by bagging 744 points. Suharadam house scored 655 points and held the second position. The Sundaram house and Satyam house scored fairly well bagging 615 and 560 points holding 3rd and 4th position respectively.

The overall competition was hosted by Seema Madam and she brought the audience to their feet by asking them various competition related questions. The students from the audience who answered the questions were aptly awarded with a candy and huge applauds from the teachers and the audience.

By ~
Binu Madam
English Department