VIDYA VIDYA DHWANI MANDIR

Newsletter Vol 24 Issue 1 November 2017

As the school year draws to a close (at least for us twelfth graders), and we prepare, with heavy hearts, for Editorial several rounds of revision exams, the rain has generously Individuality offered us some respite. We all clearly remember 2015, when we had first one, then two, and finally nearly twenty “It is important to foster individuality, for only the five days of rain holidays, and I know many people i n d i v i d u a l c a n p r o d u c e n e w i d e a s . ” (including myself) who wish this becomes a regular Dr. Albert Einstein phenomenon. But when you're in school, it's the working In today's world of knowledge explosion, the days that count and not the holidays. 'individual' is losing his/her ability to think on one's own. Speaking of working days, and the few of them that With the near-total dependence on modern technology remain, it's pretty amazing to realise that it has been nearly and electronic gadgets, ranging from mobiles to internet fourteen long years since many of us twelfth graders joined servers, to 'think' for us, how do we ensure that children this school, and though we will abruptly step out quite soon, retain their curiosity and creativity, to think beyond “Google search” and formulate ideas of their own? the memories will always remain ingrained deep within us. At this juncture, I would like to thank all those who have As teachers, we have the responsibility to kindle supported my interest and given me the opportunity to their curiosity and nurture their creative imagination. write. It has been an extremely pleasant four years for me, We need to make them realise that they are not a group of working under three Editors, and eventually rising to Editor learners treading the beaten path, but unique myself. individuals with the ability to discern, decide and design afresh, so as to reach further heights on their own. Finally, about this issue. We have all the regular columns, with a special set of questions for you to rack your This can be achieved by providing the students with minds over. Happy reading! platforms, challenges and opportunities in the form of various activities to display their special strengths. They Rohit should be guided and assisted to plan and pace their learning schedule encompassing the basic academic requirements as well as their individual arenas of Letters to the Editor creative excellence. "I have a sneaking suspicion that once I step out into the Our school tries its best to provide this balance. 'real world', I'm going to come back running to my Apart from the regular academic tests and examinations, mother." - Petrified 12th grader activities are organised to showcase students' potential. "I'm not allowed to study during arts when I have a test This year too we began with a scurry of activities next period. Well, okay, guess I'll just origami my way such as Entrenous, Reflections, Inter House Dramatics, through 12th!" - Stressed 12th grader Sports day to mention a few. Students as usual participated with great enthusiasm, exhibiting their "Sometimes I wish I had an alter ego called Monnah individual and collective prowess in various fields. H a n t a n a t o m a k e l i f e m o r e i n t e r e s t i n g . " We have tried to cover and compile a report on the - Weary 8th grader various activities of the school. "CCE is being removed! Just when I thought I was lucky Hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did since I still had a one year countdown for the board compiling it. Happy reading. exams, this bomb is dropped! Why can't things become Lakshmi Murali easier?" - Frustrated 9th grader

EDITORIAL  Rohit  Antara  Adithi Malavika Samartha Reshma  Annapoorna  Srilakshmi  Meera  Mahima  Tejasri BOARD  Nitish Lakshmi Murali Anuradha Anand  FAREWELL-2017 Matthew-Samartha Hayden George Sports Day - Srilakshmi visits VM The one day of the year when athletics trumps the average school - Rohit textbook came around again this year on the 5th of August as our school celebrated its 62nd annual Sports Day at the sprawling YMCA Grounds, . The momentous day of sweat, toil and adrenaline began with the March Past by the High school students, followed by the customary oath taking and the torch bearing ceremony. Soon after came the Middle school drill by the 7th and 8th grade students, as well as the aesthetic drill display by the 6th graders that was replete with twirling, colour coordinated ribbons, and the primary school drill that was executed with finesse. In contrast to previous years, there was a change in the On July 21, our school played host to a usual schedule was observed. very special visitor - Australian ex-cricketer The heats for most of the events Matthew Hayden, who was in town to were held separately on the 31st promote the Tamil Nadu Premier League of July at the YMCA Grounds. (TNPL). With students and teachers cheering The qualifiers from the heats on his arrival like they had never done before, participated in the track and field he did not disappoint. event finals on Sports Day. Hayden enthralled the students with Competitive spirit and house stories of his youth, and taught them several pride pervaded the air as hordes values including hard work and dedication. of students swarmed near the tracks, cheering on for their houses with He spoke of his love for and Indian unparalleled enthusiasm. cinema, and also, his comfort wearing a As the end of the day drew veshti. near, the nail-biting house Our school “surprised” Hayden by relays were held with a great b r i n g i n g i n a l u m n u s L a x m a n amount of fluctuation in the Sivaramakrishnan. Both sportsmen had an points on the leaderboard that engrossing panel discussion with our was met with joyous yelps and students and groans alike. e v e n However, despite all a n s w e r e d houses giving it their all, there some rapid- could only be one winner. f i r e Nangaparbat House emerged q u e s t i o n s . the victor, with Kailash finishing a close second. F o l l o w i n g this, they had F o r t h e p r i z e a photo session with the school cricket distribution ceremony, we teams. were honoured to have Mrs. Neeraja, whose To top things off, e n c o u r a g i n g w o r d s Hayden batted a few motivated all the students balls bowled by our present at the occasion. school cricketers, after which he and And for the first time, Sivaramakrishnan the rain decided to wait planted a sapling in until the day was over the primary block, before dousing everyone drawing a memorable in refreshing drizzle, morning to a close. bringing a fitting end to an exhilarating day. a snapshot of School Day culture. The next - Antara act gathered up quite the crowd, This year, the much presumably full of looked forward to people wanting to Annual Day was c a p t u r e t h e i r held at our open air friends in layers of auditorium. And it makeup on film. It c o m p l e t e l y was none other than the Sanskrit play, which delved into e x c e e d e d a l l mythology to present the tale of Shiva and Sati. The acting expectations. With was effective and expressive. The audience dropped their the stage itself fitted cameras to gawk at the brilliantly carried through fight o u t w i t h and dance scenes, which created a powerful aura. professional gear The next was the Dance Drama, a classic favourite. The and sound systems, as well as display screens, the sheer amount of talent and crisp choreography was truly place seemed transformed. The first event, as always, captivating. The final event, was the reputed school orchestra, the Amritalahiri, t h e c l a s s i c , y e t which performed four songs with the composer contemporary High school Thyagaraja as their theme. The middle school English Play was staged by the play came next, enacting a tale out of Mandarin lore. winners of the Inter-House The enthusiastic middle schoolers had vibrant fiery Dramatics, Nilkant House. costumes and even danced with a Chinese dragon as a T h e i r a d a p t i o n o f prop. All this, against opulent castle backgrounds, was Wodehouse’s ‘Code of the a delight to behold. Woosters’ had clever script Next came the Hindi play, depicting the life of the mystic writing and versatile acting, and was supplemented by Kabir Das. Following the theme of Indian culture, came hilariously apt music. By the time the curtain fell, the the Tamil play, which was a melange of folk dances of crowd was in splits, ending the programme on a bright the Tamil people, skilfully narrated through the witty note. The entirety of the event was, as a certain sassy dialogues and melodious voices of the singer-narrators, butler would say, “Very good, Sir”.

awards in orderly lines, providing Prize Day the camera a - Tejasri & Meera plethora of smiles each time. The A pleasant start to a not-so-pleasant day defined by the o u t s t a n d i n g sweltering sun was commenced by an instrumental student award extravaganza performed by a few students from tenth went to Roshan S. grade which left us enraptured and actually managed to Kaundinya and pique the interests of our usually dull minds towards the Best Outgoing Carnatic music. This was soon followed by the girl award went to Anupama Athulan. The best all- presentation of the awards. The whopping 20 years of rounder boy award was bagged by Krishna Sumanth and service award was given to RS Geetha miss and the best all-rounder Venkatesh Anna and the award for the colossal 30 years girl award was given of service was given to our office admin Sridhar sir. Then to Shivani Devi G. came our chief guest, Mr.Mahesh Dharmadhikari, the The award for best CBSE Regional outgoing student in head, who gave extra curriculars u s w o r d s o f was secured by inspiration and Gautam Singharaju. motivation. The award for sports The "impeccably went to P. Nrupesh. perfect" students Our joy knew no bounds when we knew that we could moved through escape the clutches of wet mud and run back to the to collect their "comforting" caress of our classrooms! Club Inauguration An Author Visits Math Award Math Lab Inauguration The various clubs of our school started afresh on Malavika Natraj, author - Adithi & Malavika the 9th of June 2017. Mr.K Prabhakar Reddy, of several books for Mrs.Lakshmi Venkataraman and Mrs.Uma children conducted a Yoga Day Nagarajan were the guests of honour and they c r e a t i v e w r i t i n g shared with us their thoughts on Vidya Mandir. workshop on September Our school celebrated Yoga 5th for the juniors. The children thoroughly day on the 21st of June Chitra Miss received the Best Math teacher award from enjoyed the interactive session with the author. with the senior students the Srinivasa Ramanujam Academy of Math Talent. exhibiting a variety of Green Warrior Award asanas under the sun. A Visit to the High Court IAYP Primary and KG Activities The students of 11E, those pursuing the legal - Antara RSP Induction Aishwarya Vasudevan studies course, visited the on a and Tarunika Sunil of Easily the most popular field trip. the batch of 2015, section of the school, r e c e i v e d t h e g o l d t h e K i n d e r g a r t e n standard of the Duke of celebrated their Sports The title of Green Warrior was conferred on Edinburgh's International Award on 27/06/17 Day with pomp as the Vijayshree Miss for her dedicated work in planting after successfully completing Service, Skill, Physical toddlers ran races and saplings and encouraging others to do so as well. Recreation and Residential Project over a period of performed their drill in twelve months. The achievers started on their route an explosion of colours, News Buffs to success in school, earning their bronze and silver confetti, hula hoops, The Choir Abroad medals. Aditya and Rahul qualified beads and a lot of little for the finals of Today Shanti Miss was a Chemistry Lab Lifts smiles. A Bhagavad News Wiz 2.0. m e m b e r o f t h e Gita competition also Madras Youth Choir The newly furbished T h e e l e v a t o r s was conducted for the group, one of the 17 C h e m i s t r y L a b , s e e m t o b e students. The KG which is as colourful i n v a d i n g t h e c h o i r s f r o m 1 4 successfully carried out their usual activities for as the transition teachers' staff c o u n t r i e s t o b e the term. e l e m e n t s , w a s room right now f e a t u r e d a t t h e declared open by Mr.K Prabhakar Reddy. He has contributed but I'm sure they The fifth grade of the Serenade Washington DC Choral festival 2017 to money to award the best student in Chemistry Practicals every will 'lift' up their P r i m a r y s e c t i o n celebrate the 100th birthday of John F Kennedy. year. spirits soon! celebrated Sports Day along with the Middle and High schoolers this time around, and Katha Club - Match authors Bookmark making workshop Poster competition conducted by the Environment even beat out the sixth organised by the Arts Club with their books Club for WWF on 15th August. The topic was graders for the overall ‘Earth 100 years from now’ girl champion. The annual SPAM music Club Activities competition and competition were held with much enthusiasm.

Bridge India Foundation - service on The Heritage Club, along with the Arts Club, organised a trip to Dakshin Chitra Teachers' day The Astronomy Club has The Interact Club members visited The Commerce Club conducted a Fifth edition of VMUN - on 21st students 'stargazing' in Karnaprayag, a children’s welfare trust session on future career options and 22nd April. This year saw the rapt attention introduction of two new committees IPC & HWC. Entrenous - Mahima E n t r e n o u s g i v e s o f f t h e impression of being a talent - Reshma expo- exclusively among us, as the name suggests.While events Reflections is our Annual were going on, students inter-school culturals that wandered from observing kolams sends every participating in the carpark, to dumb- student's mind whirring with charades indoors. enthusiasm, enough to send them spiralling over the edge Creativity combined with pop- culture had students doing with excitement. Middle school publicity for Ed Sheeran in the students and high school poster-making contest. students strolled into school in the morning of the 14th of July The presence of a legitimate High awaited by the sight and smell Court lawyer to judge 'Lawyer Up' of food stalls, tantalizing didn't faze VM's Most Confident, who defended muggers aromas wafting in the air. The and amusement-park rights alike, with a will. events were kicked off by Coming to our school's glory- musicians. 'Light Music' popular singer Rithvik Raja, who is also an alumnus of our showcased everything from singing to beat boxing, school .The main events included Quiz, Light Music, Dance, thaalam to clapping, mridangams to ukuleles. Shipwreck, JAM, Channel Surfing and Green Screen. The A spectacular finish to the whole students participated enthusiastically, making Reflections a f f a i r w e r e t h e d a n c e s . 2017 a grand success. In the winner's event, Sashee Kiran Everyone's mid-class practicing from PSBB KK Nagar was declared 'Mr.Reflector' and won a paid off, with 11'B' coming first. 5000 rupee worth Home Centre gift voucher and a trophy. Their spangled outfits, and the PSBB KK Nagar also bagged the overall trophy. All in all, it presence of DC's Joker may have was a terrific and memorable two days. helped.

I'm told that this year's tenth veteran of the Vidya grade did even more spiffing a M a n d i r I n t e r h o u s e job than usual, with 10'C' dramatics. While literally coming third overall. Second jumping out of our seats to w a s 1 1 ' B ' , w i t h t h e win ourselves a chocolate phenomenal 12'D' first. at the classic interval quiz, we finally settled down after a morning well spent, with bated breaths to Interhouse Dramatics 2017 applaud our winners. - Samartha And the Award goes to ...... The annual Interhouse D r a m a t i c s , w i t h Nilkant came up first and Kailash followed second. musicals as the theme to Best director went to Nithya Sethuraman (Nilkant) add a twist to the usual, Best music director went to Namrata Menon had us dancing all night (Kanchenjunga) with Eliza Doolittle and Henry Huggins (My Fair Best costume designer when to Ananya S. (Nanga Parbat) Lady-Kanchenjunga), Best art director went to Rohit Ashok (Nilkant) squealing with laughter Best actor (female) was tied between Yamini Prashanth at the antics of Jeeves and Wooster (Perfect Nonsense – (Kanchenjunga) and Annapoorna A. (Nanga Parbat) Nilkant) and thoroughly enjoying Mrs.Fitzgerald’s Best actor (male) went to Nishanth R. (Nilkant) snarky remarks (Mother’s Day-Nanga Parbat) while plotting our way to the jailhouse with Soapy Smith (The Best supporting actor (female) went to Shreya Sanjay Cop and the Anthem-Kailash). (Kailash) Our judges for the day were Mr. Dilip Rangan T., actor Best supporting actor (male) went to Aditya and playwright, and Mr. Arvind R. Vyas, ex-VMite and Chandrasekhar (Nanga Parbat) painting was done in a small Going the extra mile: SVSC area the first time and then the whole stretch of the wall 2017 was a bustling and enthusiastic year for the was painted. It was a members of the Study Circle. In the colourful and inspiring month of June, all classrooms were given at least two experience. There was also silk cotton plants, which gave the students a feeling of an extension of the VM responsibility. On the international yoga day, the SVSC garden to the primary members with some other students of the middle school section. Several plants were performed the enriching Surya Namaskar at the transferred beside the Vivekanandar Illam. cricket nets. All the money Newspaper collection from plants and silk cotton neighbourhood residents was plants grown in used the next initiative of the SVSC plastic bottles were given to the coastal security guard members. The money from to be planted along the selling the papers was used to coasts in the month of buy plants and manure for October. those residents. This brought together all the residents of the The members of SVSC came up with the concept of a society and gave them a feeling of belongingness. This 'Green Diwali'. All grades had various competitions on the was done as a cycle thrice in and Sripuram. topic 'Green Diwali' which they had to perform as a class. The next move was painting the walls of M.K. Amman All in all, this was a fun, glorious and very much social year Kovil Street, which were plastered with posters. The for the Swami Vivekananda Study Circle.

Independence Day Singapore Trip - Meera -Antara From the 19th to the 23rd of July, 6 girls O n I n d i a ' s 7 1 s t from standard 10 Independence Day, our a c c o m p a n i e d b y school celebrated by Vijayshree Miss and p r e s e n t i n g t o t h e Bhagyalakshmi Miss students, food for thought travelled to Singapore about the future of this as part of the cultural country. The tricolour was exchange program hoisted, and the program with the Methodist started. Played out in the Girls' School. In the first few days, the girls were split into form of a narrative, the groups and assigned "buddies" who took them along to program included a their classes. On the 22nd, Singapore Racial Harmony debate, and enlightening speeches to remind us of both Day, they performed a program on racial harmony. Later the past struggles for independence, and to excite and on, community service activities were arranged for the inspire us to make a future for ourselves and our country. students, such as going door to door to collect The girls of tenth grade performed a medley of dances from newspapers for recycling, and helping a nearby all over the country, while informing us in-between institution prepare food for the needy, for them to routines the cultural significance of each art form. As the interact with the locals and get a wisp of the Singaporean event wrapped up, we collected our customary chocolate, culture. Overall, it was a memorable and special and left with thoughts of patriotism and ambition. experience that they would never forget. Behind the Scenes - Annapoorna Drama Review A little known fact is that the segregating of students - Srilakshmi into their houses in 11th, is not done by the PT teachers (with whom pleading to be put in a particular house will not work), but by the prefects who scramble to claim the sportive ones for their house- ah, the injustice of the choosing…. Speaking of injustices and drama, the inter-house dramatics need not only refer to onstage drama- as THE MOUSETRAP demonstrated by VMites; A popular conspiracy theory It's seen the Cold War, has evolved, involving the Nilkant house and their the Queen's coronation, supposedly rigged winning of dramatics for 4 years survived 13 British Prime consecutively- could there be any truth behind these Ministers from Winston rumours, or are they just exaggerated tales invented by Churchill to Theresa May – the losers? and it's still going. This year too, Nilkant won, and as a bonus, the cast got 'The Mousetrap' – also to work with a professional theatre artist and known as 'Three Blind dramatics judge Dilip for the high school English play. Mice', is a murder mystery However, it may not have been quite the big break they play by Agatha Christie, had imagined, considering as they had to work for more the Queen of Crime. It than 4 hours straight under the direction of the opened in London's West taskmaster with high standards! Well, as they say, End in 1952, and has been ’Perfection doesn’t come easy’... better work on your running continuously since then. It has by far the longest levels, my dear actors. initial run of any play in history, with over 26,000 performances. Christie's neat puzzler of a plot is easy to defend. It has Grey Matter defied the inevitable mummifying process of more than 64 years worth of performances and still possesses an The first one with all the right answers wins a grand uncanny precision worthy of the mistress of murder's prize! Bring your answers to anyone on the Editorial chilling, penned creations. Board by 3 PM today! Young couple Mollie and Giles Ralston have decided to 1. Students in ancient Babylonia and Sumeria set up an inn at Monkswell Manor and their first intake of inscribed their lessons on clay tablets with a stylus in guests is a rather peculiar bunch of shady characters. The cuneiform writing. These could be used wet and guests then get imprisoned by the snow and suddenly a erased to be used again, or baked to create a detective appears on the scene, hot on the trail of a lunatic permanent document. This was a primitive form of killer. From then on, it's a race to solve the crime before the which common classroom object? executioner strikes again, while the other guests try to 2. In response to Russia's launching of the space fathom which of them is a raving murderer. satellite Sputnik in 1957, a fifty-year trend toward However, Christie's best thrillers were known for their less X came to a halt. As the United States became psychological conviction and subtle sense of evil, which committed to compete with the Russians, a cry came may now seem tame compared to the modern whodunits. out for more and better education in both math and The characters are also a bit two – dimensional, and seem science. The vast majority of educators and parents more like cagey archetypes of suspicion than well-rounded called for more X. What is X, which most students roles, which works in its own right. The dialogue also creaks today try to avoid at all costs? in a few places, with certain 1950s references and lines 3. Charles Barbier had developed a “night writing” going right over the audience's heads. system for the military after Napoleon requested a I excuse all of this because it's not every play that runs system of communication that soldiers could use for more than half a decade and still draws in a full house. even in darkness without making any sound in the (Plus, it's not every play that has authorities that respond process. Barbier's system was too complex for the this comically to adverse circumstances. Really, skiing military and was rejected. What did this inspire later? policemen? In Berkshire?) I definitely recommend The 4. This word did not exist before January 2001. It is a Mousetrap to all those who want the full 1950s Britain experience as well as to those who can truly appreciate a very interesting hybrid made of a Hawaiian word charming murder classic. And it's a must watch if you're a which means 'quick' and a Latin word that means diehard A.C. fan, or a theatre droid (I fall into both 'learning', which is exactly what this portal of categories). knowledge does. What is the hybrid word which all of us are extremely familiar with? If you do watch it, don't forget....Keep the secret!