Journeying Together January 2018 Vol. 19

In this Issue:

Celebrations and Festivities Beyond the Classroom Global Citizenship

Special Assemblies Awards and Accolades Students’ Corner

The festivities for the day began with an informative play performed by the enthusiastic

6th and 7th graders on why we celebrate Pongal. The singers of our school lifted our spirits with an

upbeat folk song, followed by our dancers who set the floor on fire with their performance. The

excitement on everyone’s faces turned to sheer wonder at the sight of the beautiful cow and her calf.

As the pongal started to spill over the pot, thrilled whoops of exhilaration echoed throughout the

school. Our Principal and teachers performed the customary rites with the aid of the priest to invoke

the blessings of the Sun God at this auspicious time. Overall, it was an enrapturing and

delightful day.

- Adithi Sharan and Ananya Vijay Ganesh, Grade VII

The skit performed during Pongal celebrations was based on sharing the significance of

celebrating the festival, with a foreigner on a visit to India. The highlight of the program was

cooking the pongal in a mud pot and performing pooja for the cow and calf as part of

“Mattu Pongal”. When the pongal boiled over, we all shouted “pongalo pongal”.

At the end of the day we got to taste juicy sugarcane.

- Kavya Devareddy, and R Yaalini, Grade VI

Celebrations and Festivities

Pongal O Pongal!

Saluting the Spirit of Freedom

Republic Day honours the day on which the constitution of India came into effect.

The 69th Republic Day celebrations in our school was a moment to reflect and uphold the

spirit of patriotism and pride that every Indian feels for their country. Our national flag was

hoisted by the Principal. The children and the teachers rendered a Bharatiyar song followed by a

dance that perfectly captured not only the geographical diversity of India, but also the unity in

our diversity. Speeches were delivered in Tamil, Hindi, Sanskrit and English, with the same

inspiring message of national integration. Sweets were distributed to everyone.

- Amrutha Nathan, Grade IX

A few students of grade VIII Pavazham, along with our Acharyas, visited the nearby stores and

pharmacies to give the paper bags that we had made as part of our Global Citizenship project on

paper conservation. Most of the shops welcomed us happily and took the bags, appreciating the

efforts we had taken. In fact, a pharmacist said that he would like to get bags from us every

month as they were nice and sturdy.

- Mekala Bala Gopal and R Ananyaa , Grade VIII

Towards a Greener Chennai

The students of VII Manickam went to Canal Bank Road in RA Puram to disperse the seed balls

made by us previously as part of our Global Citizenship project. We took the initiative to fill the

space with as much greenery as we could by throwing the seed balls on the banks of the river.

We were guided by Mr.Ram, Mr.Bala and our Acharyas. Mr.Ram also took us to his

terrace garden where we saw many exotic plant species.

- Nachiappan N, Eesha A Shah and Rohit M, Grade VII

Global Citizenship

‘Please use me’ - Paper Bags

Say NO to Body Shaming

The street play on body shaming performed by Shruti, Gayathri, Mohita, Aditi, Tarun, Prahlad,

Manav, Aruna, and myself Varun of grade XI was part of the Global Citizenship project of our

grade. We had to make sure to get the message across to the rest of the school that it is wrong and

unacceptable to body shame anyone. Our initial idea was to do a play, and over many sessions and

discussions and with help from our teachers and seniors, the idea of a street play materialised. Each

dialogue was accompanied by a drum beat to drive home the point. We were able to deliver our

message ‘Say No to Body Shaming’ in a very effective way.

- Varun Alase, Grade XI

Car Free Day

As part our Global Citizenship project, we chose to address the problem of traffic congestion

outside school. We had a session with local traffic policemen who educated us regarding the signs

used to control traffic, following which, we manned the traffic outside our school. This gave us a

hands-on experience in gauging the extent of the traffic issue. After a bit of brainstorming, we

decided to have a car-free day for the students and teachers of the three sections of grade IX.

Everyone was told to walk, use cycles or public transport to reach school. We were able to reduce

the use of around 30-40 cars on the road that day and felt proud of our initiative.

- Shashank R, Grade IX

Beyond the Classroom

Our trip to Tada was indeed an exotic one. We travelled there by bus with a sense of

adventure and excitement. We stayed in a tent and learnt to get by with minimum luxuries.

There were many fun filled activities too like cycling, swimming, and football. We learnt how

to pitch tents and cook on an open fire. The amazing bonfire at night was accompanied with

mouth watering roasted marshmallows. The team building activities taught us the values of

team work and sharing. The nature walk was fun and we experienced the beautiful outdoors

to our hearts fill. Sadly, the trip was over all too soon, but our first over-night trip was

definitely most enjoyable and memorable.

- Kayal Kamal Nathan, Bhavna Badrinarayanan

and Smriti Krishnan, Grade VI

First time Campers

The students of grade VII went to Yelagiri on an outbound trip. It was a long ride, but

totally worth it, for in the end we had tons of fun. We went trekking, did zip lining and

zorbing and also had a campfire. The team building activities improved our leadership and

co-ordination skills. The cottage stay with our friends was comfortable and exciting as we

spent a lot of time with our friends. It was an amazing and marvellous trip that created

memories that will never fade.

- Mugil Vignesh Shanmugam, Grade VII

Outdoor Adventures

Our much awaited trip to Coorg began with a train journey to Mysore, followed by a bus

ride. When we reached our destination, we were filled with awe to see the wonderful

campsite nestled away in the hills of Coorg. The trip was a different experience for

most of us. The sprawling scenery around us, the stay in tents with our friends and

managing on our own added to the fun. The long, tedious trek up a waterfall and

our visit to the Tibetan monastery were the highlights of this trip. The Coorg

experience is going to be a life time memory for us.

- Tejas Nageshwaran, Grade VIII

Mystic Mountains

Awards and Accolades

The following students won medals in the International General Knowledge Olympiad:

Grade III- Roshan M Lakshman, Rishika S, R. Aarthi

Grade IV-Nithilan Ranjit, Gautam Arun, Abirami .V, S. Karya

Grade V- Shreya Sriram, Anika Rajesh, S. Aprameyan

Grade VI- Vinaayak, Smriti Krishnan, Amrita Rajesh

Grade VII- Reshmi Balakrishnan, Mugil Vignesh Shanmugam, Ananya Vijay Ganesh

Grade VIII- Aniruddh S.J, Aditya .B Prakash, Lakshmanan

Grade IX- Trisha Balakrishnan

Olympiad Winners

It was a bright, sunny day and we were all excited about our trip to Vandaloor Zoo. In the zoo we got to

see chimpanzees, deer, peacocks, otters, emus, black panthers, leopards and many other animals. We

were very excited to see crocodiles and a white tiger. After our lunch at a restaurant, we all came back.

- Medha Haasini Bysani, GradeII

A Day among the Animals

The following students won medals in the International English Olympiad:

Grade III – Abhirav Narasimhan, Ashok Narayanasamy Sathish, Sainaveen Lakshmi Narayan,

Zakya K. Palicha, Rishika .S, Vashisht Gokulakrishnan, Sadhna Ashwin, Neha Saravanan

Grade IV- Arihantha Srikrishna, Madhurima Sriran, Ahalya .Chandrashekar, Janavi Gopinath,

Janisha Vignesh Kumar, Akshara Vijay Ganesh, R. Nitin Valliappan, Sebastian Xavier,

V. Sanjana Meenakshi, AL. Arunachalam, D. Vaathsalya, Bhavya Shri Shanmugam

Grade V –Taran Balakrishnan, Rahul, Asmi.S.Tirunarayan

Grade VI – Bhavana Badrinarayanan, Vinaayak, Smriti Krishnan, V. Pranav, Nishanthanan K S

Grade VII –Reshmi Balakrishnan, Ananya Vijay Ganesh, Krishna Karthikeyan, Mugil Vignesh

Shanmugam, Aditti Hari Shankar, Anirudh Sairam

Grade VIII – Srihari Mukundan Madhavan, Mahendra Kurup, Hamsini G, Tejas Nageshwaran,

Koushik .H, Ananya.R

Grade IX – Ananya Reddy Mannur, Amrutha Nathan, L Sailavanya , Trisha Balakrishnan, Anya

Rajyalakshmi Rajha, R Tejaswini

Grade X – Harshini Ramkumar Gargeya. Gargeya, Samyuktha Sreekumar, Bharadwaj

Sudarsan

Chenchulaxmi S Suresh of grade VI was

the runner-up in the Inter School

Badminton tournament organized by the

Chennai Sports Academy.

Champ on Court

Special Assemblies

Students of Ashoka and Tulsi had our assembly on respecting our grandparents. This was our

first time on stage and we all had fun participating in the skit and singing songs.

- Darshan E, and Mithran A, Grade II

Students of Vilvam and Chandanam did an assembly on Pongal. We sang songs about the

harvest festival in Tamil, Hindi and English. Some of our friends danced for a Tamil song.

We learnt how the harvest festival is celebrated all over India.

- Sahana Sairam and Nandana Raman, Grade II

Our Pongal Day

Respecting our Grandparents

To the girl child

To that bundle of joy in your arms that you carry home to call as your daughter, to that friend you

always confide in, to the girl who’ll grow up to build the pillars of India one day and to the woman

that girl would grow up to be. Let us embrace the girl child. Let us believe in her dreams to be

whatever she chooses to be. Let us encourage her to pursue education that will dispel the darkness

of ignorance and poverty to replace it with knowledge and wealth. Let us simply give her an

opportunity to be herself. In the light of recent events and many atrocities committed against her,

she still stands fearlessly, not questioning life “why me?” but “try me”, hoping for a better future

for herself. Let us provide her with adequate means to sanitize during her inconveniences. Let us not

stop her every time she wants to play that extra 10 minutes, when she wants to run that last extra lap

on field or when she demands to play with the boys too. We need to learn to embrace her beauty of

just being a girl. We need to let her just be instead of trying to eliminate her at every stage in life as

if she is a curse or a misfortune. We need to stop comparing her unfairly and inferiorly to boys as if

she’s no match for them. We need to simply support her, believe her and finally love her for who she

is, for she is the girl child.

- Varsha Babu Vatul, Grade XI

Students’ Corner

Students belonging to the four houses – Agni, Prithvi, Vayu and Akash, did a thematic representation

on the topic ‘Conserve to Preserve’ on their house display boards. The display integrated elements

from the preservation of water, energy, food and waste management.

Conserve to Preserve

Stand-up Paddling on The Chaliyar River

During my first term break, I went to a place on the banks of the Chaliyar river in Kerala, called

“Jellyfish water sports centre”. Here I did stand-up paddling. Now stand up paddling is like

surfing and it is the exact same thing but the board is a little bigger and of course we have a

paddle. It was really fun!!!!

Onshore I practiced the moves that the local expert taught me. I was also taught how to get on the

board, stand and use the paddle. I also explored the island that was in the middle of the river. As

we were in a fast flowing river, we needed to take all safety measures. So, I wore a life jacket and

carried ample water to avoid dehydration.

I went swimming in the shallow waters, sat and relaxed on my board and did a little bit of yoga. I

also did another 6 km journey with small breaks in between. If you want to have fun like I did, do

try stand up paddling.

- Kaveri Deepak, Grade V

A teacher-

The best baker in the world;

bakes a wonderful cake in all,

perfectly moulded and beautifully decorated

wonderful and pleasant inside out.

Perfectly mixes the batter in the KGs

Pours them into the mould in 1st and 2nd

Lets them settle during 3rd and 4th

Taps them here and there

To help them bloom everywhere.

5th and 6th, set in the oven;

starting to heat and ready to bake.

Heating and puffing up all the way

through 7th and 8th, ready for every new day.

Moulded and chiselled in 9th and 10th

All ready to face the world in 11th ,

And set out to soar after the 12th.

Never can there be a better baker,

than the one who touches the

heart and soul of the cake,

A Teacher.

- R. Tejaswini, Grade IX

My Dear Teacher

Teacher Editors - Dr. Sarayu Ganesan, Ms. Yoshida Menon and Ms. Anuradha Babu

Student Editors - Ms. Samyuktha Sreekanth and Mr. Rithvik Senthil

Design and Technical Support - Ms. Preethi E

Photography - Mr. Ganesan and Mr. Sugumar

In February …

February 17 - Fun Fest

CA/SA– Please refer to our website for dates of examinations.