Shashi Tharur remembers the late President APJ Kalam

Shashi Tharur remembers the late President APJ Kalam on the occasion of his first death anniversary on 28 July 2016  (reproduced from The New Indian Express)

 

Monsoon Blues- and Reds and Greens. MS Paint spashes its paint bucket

During an ICT class, with the help of MS Paint, Vaishanvi M of Class V B sums up   what monsoon means to her. In  fifteen minutes.

Letters Between a Black Father and his Son - TIME July 15

Pollution affects foraging capacity of Bees - The Hindu

Nehala Firoz's Drawings on the Environment and National Integration

A Reminiscence about Artist K. G. Subrahmanian by Art Teacher Kabita Mukhopadhyay

A reminiscence about artist K. G. Subrahmanian by art teacher Kabita Mukhopadhyay that appeared in the Madhyamam weekly.

 

Monsoon Slides Past

Students of Class VIIIB, guided by their teacher Ms Manjusha, used their computer skills and imagination to create a PowerPoint presentation on the monsoon.

A Class VIII English Lesson and Recollection of a Tsunami

Saved in the Nick of Time

An English lesson from the text book Honeydew sparks off recollections from Class VIII student Maria Jovita of the time when a tsunami hit her family in Vypin. Maria was only eleven months old then, but the traumatic experience is still talked about in her family. 

Tsunami -hit Vypin on 26 December, 2006

The opening page of the lesson on Tsunami from the Class VIII text book

 I would like to share the terrible experience I had when tsunami hit our lives. It happened in December 26, 2004. I was then only eleven months old. My family had gone to Vypin to celebrate Christmas. It was a warm morning. We were watching TV after breakfast.  Suddenly we saw some people come running up from the beach. “What happened? “Why are you running so fast?”

 “A great tsunami is about to hit us,” they said. “Run. Escape. Now. Or we will all be swept away.”

 We took what we could of our belongings and ran as fast as we could. . By then the crashing waves of the tsunami had reached our house. The water had reached up to our windows and was pouring in.

 We waved down a passing autorickshaw and sped to the railway station.  We telephoned our relatives in Calicut and asked them to pray for us.  We got on the next north bound train and sat in stunned silence. After we reached Calicut five hours later, we called our neighbours in Vypin. All of them had managed to escape. We thanked God for saving our lives.

Songs from the Desert

A lecture demonstration by Bhutte Khan Manganiar and group under the auspices of the North Kerala chapter of Spic Macay was held on 02 July at the school auditorium. Kalbeliya and Bhawai dancers performed to accompaniment by Manganiar musicians. The musicians are from the Langas and Manganiars who are groups of hereditary musicians. Bhutte Khan conducts workshops and lectures across the country to propagate the folk tunes and beats of Rajasthan. Bhutte Khan Manganiar and group are in Kerala till the 5th of July. 

 

Interview: Bhutte Khan Manganiar,  Rajasthani folk musician.  Interviewed by our fluent Hindi speaking staff, Ms Anita Kumari  and Ms Remya. Translation of excerpts as follows:

Where are you from?

We are from Western Rajasthan, from Jaisalmer near Barmer which borders Pakistan.

 You say your community have been singing and performing for seven generations. When do you start training?

 In the Manganiyar community we are not given any sort of training. I myself did not get any. Our children start singing automatically. They even cry in a sort of melodious way, we like to think.

 Are your children given regular school education?
 Yes, that goes on along with their musical development.

 Have your troupe performed abroad?
 Yes, we have visited many foreign countries.

 And what do they think of our Indian folk music.
They have great deal of esteem and regard for our folk music.

 And what do you do when are back in you village?
We carry on with our performances. We are often called to perform at wedding and other traditional events. This this keeps us busy.

We find the attire of your dancers very colourful and striking even though it had dominant black tones to it.
That is right. Our costumes are quite captivating on stage.

 Are these dancers related to you?
No, they are not. These dancers are from another community who are traditional dancers.

Are the younger members of your community keen on following in your footsteps?
Our younger generation is very much interested in carrying on our tradition. At the same time they like to try out new generation or Bollywood songs. A member of our community Moti Khan was on a national television channel show performing our traditional songs.

 Now a word about Kerala. Have you been to Kerala before?
Yes, we have been here three times already.

And how do you find the place? How does this compare with the climate in Rajasthan?
We find it extremely beautiful and green.  Back home it is very hot except it rains. But in Jaisalmer it is hot around the year.

How do you find Kerala food?
We like it though it is considerably less spicy than our Rajasthani food. Besides our roti is made from maize not wheat. All in all  Kerala, has been an amazing experience for us.

No rain, no rainbow- Anunanda V. S. Class IX A

Dear friends,

On a rainy day I was sitting in my courtyard. The raindrops fell on the cement ground with a certain sound. When I listened to it carefully, it sounded as if they were telling me something and I listened carefully. They seemed to say,

“Dear Friend,

I was sent away by little Johny at first. But I didn’t know that mankind would send me completely away from their environment. I have been terribly disturbed for the past few years. Mankind has destroyed my balance and my atmosphere. I used to feel very proud of myself as my arrival was always a pleasure to farmers and children. But now they themselves delay my arrival by cutting down trees and committing cruel activities that lead to global warming. I was deeply hurt when they contaminated me with harmful gases and acids. The water bodies that I originate from are terribly polluted due to so-called development.

All these led to many disturbances and imbalances in my life cycle. When I did not rain down people cursed me and called the situation ‘drought’. When I did not stop pouring, they hated me more for creating a flood. But are these self-created hazards?

Many students are taught how to save me and their environment. But they view these lessons only as a part of their burden of studies.

Man invents many things to make his life easy, but he does not try to save my life, without which he would not survive.

If this continues, a day will come when neither I nor you can control me.”

Saying this the last drop fell to the ground.