Established in 1936 The Doon School WEEKLY Saturday, March 1, 2008! Issue No. 2176 C CAR HINDI RICKET CRAZY22 4 REPORT EGULARS2 PAGE R 2 6 The Bounty of Bio-diversity Vishnukaant Pitty reports Dr Vandana Shiva’s talk on environmental issues and shares his experience of a recent visit to Navdanya On Saturday, February 23, Dr Vandana Shiva, the Fritjof Capra, a renowned physicist and an acclaimed au- founder of Navdanya, visited the school to give a talk on thor, had been conducting there. He spoke on his theory the various environmental issues concerning the world in of ‘The Web of Life’ that he had been propounding in his general. Navdanya is a programme founded by her to sup- books. Although most of the people at the workshop found port environmental activism. It supports the rights and it difficult to grasp all that he said, they did interact with interests of local farmers, and also plays a major role in their questions and doubts. The topic of discussion slowly conserving the many indigenous seeds and plant biodiversity shifted from the web of life to another one that was, per- that is under the threat of extinc- haps, easier to discuss for the rest tion. – da Vinci and his works as a sci- She began her talk by entist. He spoke on how da Vinci emphasising the need for the preferred experimental learning world, especially countries like In- to the learning by rote which is dia, to have varied biodiversity. so common nowadays. She explained, through many ex- What we learnt during this en- amples, how most of the ecologi- tire interchange of thoughts and cal problems prevailing in the world were caused by the lack ideas over the matter, in essence, was that when quality time of sufficient biodiversity in the world – for example, she was spent outdoors, only then could one really get an in- said that the main cause of the climate changes in the world sight into the problems ailing the environment. The work- was the shift in the equilibrium of natural biodiversity that, shop was attended by many foreigners, almost all of whom on a general basis, was maintained by nature. She spoke at were surprised at the damage that ‘man’ was doing to his length about the benefits of having high biodiversity within environment. Quite a few of them commented that they the state. Slowly the topic of the discussion shifted to bio- were really surprised by the protection Navdanya was of- piracy and why it is causing a problem in today’s world. fering to the economy of farmers and the conservation Having been involved in taking the company, that it was practising to shield the diversity of seeds in the Monsanto, to court for the controversy over the bio- land. piracy of Basmati rice – an often cited example of bio- At the end of the talk, Dr Vandana Shiva thanked Dr piracy, Dr. Vandana Shiva was able to give us a valuable Capra for his inputs in the workshop as a physicist and a insight into the political dealings of the case. She spoke man of science. After this, she had a small group discus- with great conviction about the claims that Monsanto sion with all the Doscos and The Doon School masters had laid to justify its ‘theft’ of the Basmati and its sale there. It was then that the topic of Navdanya and its under a new name - Texmati. After a few jokes at the various activities came up. She told us how the cases against expense of Monsanto, the mood lightened considerably the unacceptable government rules were fought, stressing in the hall (after all the talk about the way people had on the fact that mass movements always made more of proved to be liabilities for the environment through their an impact on the government, rather than a direct appeal. mismanagement of resources, not to mention being over- She spoke to us about the impact that the economic poli- consumptive) and, finally, the discussion was thrown cies of the government were having on the farmers and open to the house for an interactive session with her. about how, she felt, the government could help the farm- Many interesting aspects of the discussion were brought ers by providing them a kind of governmental security for to light in this session. For example, it was pointed out that their produce. high biodiversity, with its plentiful gene bank, was a good Also, when the subject of the implementation of resource for its own survival as it formed a kind of a foun- existing laws protecting farmer rights, rather than the dation for the varied genes to provide the base for genetic formulation of new ones came up, then Dr Vandana immunity among the diverse species. Shiva admitted that as of now, Navdanya was focusing The next day, a group of boys, escorted by the follow- mainly on the aspect of getting the desired environ- ing: PMV, NRK, DEB, PKB and Bobbie Lamont, went to ment-friendly laws passed and not really concentrating Navdanya on a visit. We were to join a workshop that Dr (contd on page 5) 1. The Doon School Weekly Saturday, March 1 News-in-Brief Auto Expo, 2008 EW PPOINTMENT Auto Expo, 2008 N A Uday Shriram and Varun Rai Deep Singh (ex 585 HA ‘01) joined the teaching faculty The moment we pushed our way past the gate at Pragati on February 25 and will be teaching Economics and Maidan, we knew that we were in for the ride of our lives. Music. Glamorous is the plainest description of the Auto Expo We wish him a fruitful tenure. held every second year. The enthusiasm sizzles in the air as IAYP AWARDS lakhs of people flock in every year to behold the spectacle. With all the coolest cars, gadgets and not to forget the mod- The following boys have completed various levels of the els, it is definitely the place for a teenager to be. We were IAYP: lost in the rush almost as soon as we had entered. Gold: Pranay Kapoor, Jagbir Ningthoujam, Arjun Gulati Almost immediately, we found ourselves in the hall show- and Shailendra Singh. casing vintage cars, from the legendary Chevy Impala to Bronze: Sidhaant Gupta, Arpan Agarwal, Neel Madhav the stunning Aston Martins. The Harleys and Indians just and Shahaan Pushp. begged for a ride. The Volkswagen showroom was next, Well done! where there was a host of caravans, SUVs and some con- BADMINTON TROPHIES cept cars. The Maruti showcase was very impressive with a The results of the Inter-House Badminton Compe- huge collection of Zen Estilos, all differently modified, with tition, 2007, are as follows: a tweak here and there. The A-Star and Kizashi concept gave us a taste of what was coming next. The Dilip Chhabria Senior Cup: Junior Cup: showroom had concept cars inspired by everything from 1st: Jaipur 1st: Jaipur Gallardos to Ambassadors. Standing proudly at the Honda 2nd: Hyderabad 2nd: Hyderabad showroom was the soon-to-be launched Jazz and also the 3rd: Oberoi and Tata 3rd: Kashmir Accord as well as their own F1 car. The Suzuki bike stall 5th: Kashmir 4th: Oberoi and Tata featuring the Bi-plane and the Hayabusa were a treat for House Cup: the eyes. 1st: Jaipur We arrived in the afternoon at the General Motors show- 2nd: Hyderabad room, which had some sleek and stylish Chevy concepts as 3rd: Oberoi and Kashmir well as the all-time favourite, the Cadillac CTS. The mon- 5th: Tata strous Hummer H3 put its Indian counterpart, the Mahindra Axe, way out of its league. We went through a pair of huge Unquotable Quotes gates and were greeted by a large and milling crowd. You I’ll give you suspended. got it: it was the unveiling of Ratan Tata’s revolutionary Shreyvardhan Swaroop intends to take stern action. Nano. It was pretty impressive for just Rs. one lakh, apart Are you doing your post-graduation in MBA? from the fact that my cycle tires looked gargantuan in front Samarth Jaiswal, feeling inquisitive. of the Nano’s shining wheels. Arriving at the BMW show- Open to page last. room, we pushed our way next to the tiny entrance be- PKN, in a hurry to finish. yond which was BMW paradise. Two bouncers tried des- Clip your face. perately to subdue the crowd, but a hundred against one Ayyappa Vemulkar, the shearer. isn’t much of a match. We were soon face to face with the Someone hit a chalk to me! BMW-3 and five series. There was even a six-series con- Kanav Mehra, failed fielder. vertible. What luscious curves it had! Boys, don’t indulgence in talks. We finally reached the domain of the elite, the Audi and AKM, we are listening. Mercedes clubbed into the same hall. We couldn’t tear our- It was a do and die situation. selves from the super SLK 350s. We took every car manual SBL, the next Bruce Willis. the Audis had, the posters of which still hang in my room. Did the whole form get a form change? We drooled over the Q7s, A4s and Lemans F1 which were Vivek Santayana wants a clarification. all laid out in a shining array of metal. However, all we I’m not going to submit photos under a camera name. saw of the Lamborghini or Ferrari in the Expo was a dust- Vivek Santayana invents a new class of pseudonym. covered Gallardo and F430 which were enough to send us Defence the ball! into shivers of ecstasy.