THETHE VALLEYVALLEY ◆ ◆ Volume No. 49 Rishi Valley School July 2003 In This Issue Revival... Revival... 1 This term has been one of revival. Two of the long lost traditions of the School have phoenix-like risen from From the Principal... 1 the ashes—asthachal and the students’ council. Asthachal... 3 Students’ Council... 3 After efficiently warding away mosquitoes evening after Debate... 4 evening, asthachal has successfully been reincorporated Humanities workshop... 4 into the School routine. Copenhagen... 4 The revival of the student council has been part of a Hindi and Telugu plays... 7 concentrated effort to increase student participation Junior School excursions... 7 in the working of the School. Breakthroughs were made, 6th Standard rural interaction... 8 as students were included in decision-making processes, Hikes... 8 such as selecting the musical evening songs. Both of New Year... 9 these in some way reinforce principles on which the Wetland census... 9 School had been set up: providing space for inner reflection and the opportunity to take on Sports coaching for girls... 9 responsibilities. Basketball coaching... 9 Tennis... 10 —Student Editors Student-staff cricket match... 10 External football matches... 10 The estate and dairy... 10 InFrom the thelast Principalissue of the... “Valley” we had made an appeal To Sathibai—A Tribute 11 to old students to send in short pieces on Sathibai Akka. Several have come in, and they form the bulk of the second part of this edition of the newsletter. There are probably many more such pieces waiting to be written. We have at long last been able to reinstate the practice of Astachal. It had been removed from the daily schedule about five years back, in part because of the mosquito menace (it was proving to be next to impossible to sit there at that hour). Now after a determined effort the 1 • The Valley July 2003 practice is back. Earlier the matter had been debated at length within the teacher body. There were doubts raised as to whether we are already operating under a tight schedule, and whether this would merely add to the existing sense of rush. Ultimately we decided to go ahead. However we will need to assess its impact on the student-and-teacher body after a while, and decide whether a review is in order. Mr. Subbiah Naidu, our Estate Manager for many years now, is stepping down from his post, and Mr. Muralikrishna Reddy, who was in the School during the mid-90’s and rejoined recently, will now take over the post. Old-timers will remember that Mr. Naidu joined the School as Physical Director, soon after Dr. Balasundaram became Principal, in 1960. It was V under his direction that many of the sporting facilities currently existing came into being; e.g., the leveled football field. Probably old-timers will also remember the swimming lessons Some years back the he supervised—in the Malli Bavi! Mr. Naidu shifted his line of School won an award work to the Estate after Krishnaji himself suggested it, having seen his feeling for the land. Great things have happened to for its work in greening the campus and to the surrounding areas since then—the the Valley—the “Indira percolation dam has been built (1989), and a terrific amount Priyadarshini of afforestation done on the hillside behind the Dining Hall; Vrikshmitra” large numbers of saplings (Tamarind, Neem, Red Sanders, and others) are now routinely distributed to the villages in the Valley. Some years back the School won an award for its work V in greening the Valley—the “Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshmitra”. Mr. Naidu will now serve in the capacity of Advisor and Consultant to the Estate Department. Mr. R G Mishra (“Mishraji” to all) who joined the School soon after Mr. Naidu, and was here on his second stint (he left in 1985, was Head of a school in Kodaikanal for several years, and then rejoined in 1996) will be leaving us. We will certainly miss him and his stirring assembly talks, delivered as always in his most expressive and powerful voice. Mishraji had a great feeling for Hindi poetry, and his last talk, on the poet Harvansh Rai Bachchan who passed away recently, conveyed his feelings beautifully. We will greatly miss him, and his impromptu ability to capture in verse the idiosyncrasies and personalities of each class that he taught. 2 • The Valley July 2003 Our building restoration program continues. Having “done up” all the older hostels and added in a major way to the Senior School block, we now plan to take up, in turn, the Laboratory and Audio-Visual Room complex, the Office complex and the Hospital complex. A couple of new hostels too will be built fairly soon, for students of the 7th and 8th standard. There is enough work to last us several years more! —Shailesh Shirali RVAsthachal is the oldest... KFI School. Asthachal, when the whole School, students and staff, sit quietly together in the evening and gaze at the hills and the late evening sky, and listen to sounds from near and far, is an integral part of the culture of the institution. Several years ago, asthachal had ceased to become a part of the daily schedule in RV owing to the mosquito V problem. For many years the reintroduction of asthachal had been debated, with however no progress. “Asthachal, when the whole School, students Finally, this year the mosquito problem was efficiently tackled, with recourse to large quantities of saambrani, placed in and staff, sit quietly strategic spots around the hill. Sand was put on the asthachal together in the hill and tulsi herbs planted (to keep mosquitoes away), and evening...” undergrowth blocking the view was cleared, giving the hill a new look after many years. Timetabling complications were also dealt with. V Asthachal refers literally to “the place where the sun sets.” The idea is to sit quietly, face the setting sun, tune in to the mood of the evening, and then to recapitulate the events of the day. It gives a student or teacher the space and time to look into his/her personal life, and to calm the mind. Though many students question the purpose of asthachal, it is nevertheless a good experience. Asthachal will now, we hope, be an integral part of RV life. TheStudents latter Council...part of the term saw the revival of the Student’s Council in School, a body that has not been functioning in recent years, despite attempts to revive it. The Council took 3 • The Valley July 2003 off on a different note from its predecessors. It aims now to be not a problem-solving body ThisCopenhagen critically acclaimed... play by Michael Frayn, but also one that has a role and responsibility brought to the School by an ex-student of in the functioning of the School. The Council the 1980’s, Gopal Krishnamurthy, delighted so far has involved itself in putting up an the seniors and staff who watched it. The assembly debate on the present food policy play was staged in an unconventional place— in School. One of the primary aims of the the senior School library, a “first” as far as Council is to promote active student the school is concerned. Based on the famous participation in the working of the School, meeting of Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr and students and teachers have been working at the latter’s house in Copenhagen during together to see how this can be made World War II, creating fiction from the practicable. documentation of the actual event (which ended in acrimony), the play is a vivid exploration of the past. The play, directed by Debate... th There was a debate on the 14 of March Gerard Bayle, explores the Bohrs’ meeting with organized by the Student Council, on the Heisenberg, with the three of them trying current food policy of the School. This was hard to understand just what happened that the first debate in a couple of years and was night. In the process they repeatedly enact received well by the audience. The speeches what happened, in different permutations. made by the contestants were fiery and at Niels Bohr was played by G Bayle, Heisenberg times humorous (not always intentionally!). by G Krishnamurthy, and Margarethe Bohr by Though the arguments were heated and on a Isabell Brand. The characters were portrayed rather controversial topic, they did not to perfection, and the layout of the stage degenerate into unpleasant exchanges (circular, with the audience sitting around (though there was a brief digression into the actors) ensured that the play was one of topics such as bovine dietary habits!), and the most memorable events of the term. this reflects creditably on the participants. On the whole the debate was entertaining as well as enlightening, and we look forward to SanjayHindustani Chimalgi, music a young... vocalist, visited RV more such events in the terms to come. (he was brought here by Sannihita, an ex- student) and presented a concert. It was well Humanities workshop... received by the students. During the concert The School played host for the KFI humanities he spoke to the students informally, workshop, which involved several teachers of explaining the intricacies of Hindustani music. humanities from various KFI Schools. He sang some evening ragas, presented a new Humanities students of the senior classes raga and sang a Kabir bhajan originally sung attended some presentations. One session was by Kumar Gandharva. It was a very enjoyable preceded by readings from Shashi Tharoor’s evening. novel, Riot. On the last day, the visiting teachers sang some of their assembly songs for the senior school.