-by Prateek Vijayavargia & Pearl Singhal
Tagore International School, Vasant Vihar organized the 2nd edition of their Leadership Summit 'Lead On!' on 15th October 2009. 'Lead On!'was started in 2008 by the Student Cabinet of Tagore International School, Vasant Vihar (The whole event is organized and managed by the student cabinet). The basic aim behind the event is to bring together'Leaders of Tomorrow' and also to give the representatives from the top schools of the NCR a common platform to share their visions for revolution in student governance. The theme for this year’s edition was “Commitment: The Cornerstone of Human Relationships.”
Events
1. Key Note Address by Dr Kiran Bedi
This was a highly inspirational and enlightening 1-hr session with Dr Kiran Bedi as the speaker. It was a very interactive, encouraging and thought provoking session. True to what is said about her, a truly amazing lady. She exemplifies good leadership and firm commitment to a cause. Her confidence, spirit and dynamism were contagious. She shared her views on Leadership and what qualities a good leader must possess. According to her leadership begins at birth, which she aptly proved by citing an example of a child when he cries for something he needs. She firmly believes that implementation of ideas and laws are as important as their conception. The session ended with a 20 minute Question and Answer session. What most of us wanted to know was how she managed to carve a niche for herself in a strongly male-dominated arena (She is after all India’s first ever Woman IPS Officer). She replied by saying that it was her commitment, hard work and dedication and most importantly, the aspiration to fulfill her childhood dream that made it possible. This session had a strong impact on the students and was highly motivating.
2. Tea Break
Next came the Tea Break. On the menu were grilled sandwiches, muffins, and orange and mango juice. The break helped the students to meet and interact with old(omit) with old acquaintances and make new friends.
3. Session with Mr Sanjay Kaul
Next was the interactive session with Mr Sanjay Kaul, a Lead India Finalist and currently a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He spoke to the students about the problems of the country, how effective leadership is needed to tackle many problems in India today. He also proposed a form of ‘benign dictatorship’ (For e.g. Singapore) as an alternative to Democracy in India. He stressed on the need for stringent rules and laws and their strict implementation for the progress of Indian society. He also gave his critical views about the present Government and spoke about how the 'Bhagidari' Programme of the Delhi Government was a big failure.
4. Lead Miss Lead
An entirely new addition this year, this event was a fun and light stress-buster that aimed at testing the co-ordination and teamwork of the two council heads of each school and emphasizing the value and importance of the same.
In this event, one of the 2 members of a team was blindfolded and had to make his/her way through a maze of empty soft drink bottles and collect the 3 flags (which were kept in any of the 3 bottles) in minimum time. The person who was blindfolded was guided through the maze by the other team member. The time limit was One Minute, and 5 seconds were penalized for every bottle toppled.
5. Lunch Session
After the fun-filled Session of “Lead Miss Lead”, it was time for lunch. On the menu were Chinese dishes (Fried Rice, Chowmein, Manchurian, Chilly Paneer and 2 non-vegetarian dishes). It was accompanied by Juices. The lunch break was followed by a quick photo session of the whole group.
6. “If I Were The Leader.....”
This fresh and innovative session involved a hypothetical situation which had to be tackled with strong and firm leadership. The whole group represented members of the ruling government (in power) and had to come up with a solution to the problem put before us. This event involved heated debates and discussions as there were varying opinions. In the end, we agreed on certain solutions and a consensus was reached.
7. Panel Discussion With Eminent Panelists
In this section, four eminent panelists from different fields – Mr. Vikram Dutt, Mr. Javed Abidi, Ms. Richa Saklani and Mr. Divesh Mehta spoke about their views on leadership and emphasized its importance.They gave instances from their life where a strong commitment and effective leadership had made all the difference.
8. High Tea and Closing Ceremony
In the evening, tea and coffee were served along with light snacks. This was followed by the closing ceremony in which all participants were awarded their certificates and the vote of thanks wasdelivered/extended.
So, well even with a really new team we managed to come 2nd. Yayyyyyyyy it's an achievement!!! 1st position was bagged by Sachdeva Public School. Man they were actually good! and this was for the first time ever that we felt that someone was actually better than us! and the 3rd position went to Springdales School and Mt. Carmel School (special evening batch for EWS). A brilliant show all in all and we got to witness some amazing performances and some really harsh realities that we usually close our eyes too. It was the last School Street Play for me and nostalgia did set in. But the best part about this time was that unlike previous times I found myself much more relaxed, somehow winning and losing didn't matter anymore.Perhaps when you reach a certain level it does stop mattering!!!! But yayyyyyyy we did win (almost)!!!!!
wel wel!!! as u mst hav figured it out already dis post is bout Street Play (also popularly known as NUKKAD NATAK!!!).More specifically The Annual Inter-school Literacy Week Street Play of which i've been an active member for the past 3 years.
For those who're interested in knowing bout Street play n Literacy week , here's some background(others may decide to skip it)-
(Thanks to Wikipedia)
Street theatre is a form of theatrical performance and presentation in outdoor public spaces without a specific paying audience. These spaces can be anywhere, including shopping centres, car parks, recreational reserves and street corners. They are especially seen in outdoor spaces where there are large numbers of people. The actors who perform street theatre range from buskers to organised theatre companies or groups that want to experiment with performance spaces, or to promote their mainstream work.The logistics of doing street theatre necessitate simple costumes and props, and generally there is little or no amplification of sound, with actors depending on their natural vocal and physical ability. This issue with sound has meant that physical theatre, including dance, mime and slapstick, is a very popular genre in an outdoor setting. The performances need to be highly visible, loud and simple to follow in order to attract a crowd.
Literacy week- is a 1 week fest conducted under the Delhi Schools' Literacy Project (under the National Literacy Mission).Various social and educational programmes are organised and environmental projects are taken up during the year. Various schools involved with the project put up a short cultural programme on the theme of literacy.
National Literacy Mission (NLM)- was set up by the government of India on 5 May 1988 with an aim to eradicate illiteracy in the country by imparting functional literacy to non-literates. Thus, National Literacy Mission was established not only to make everybody just self reliant in the three Rs — reading, writing and arithmetic — but also to make them aware of the development issues affecting the society. The target group of NLM is people between the age of 15 and 35. National Literate Mission works under the guidance of National Literacy Mission Authority, an independent wing of Ministry of Human Resources and Development.
Well well dat wuz d info part of it!!!! But the fun element comes in here.My school(ie New Era Public School, Mayapuri) has been actively involved with the project for a long long time and so we get to participate in d literacy week activities.The most interesting part of the "fest" being that it is conducted entirely in hindi(dats pretty obvious considering that hindi is our mother tounge!!!bt still.......).Its pretty rare in today's times with the country going crazy bout english education 'in this era of globalisation'(pun intended) bt thats a different debate altogether. so..............well the activities include declamation, recitation, street play(of course!) n sm other things which i dont exactly know much bout!!! Our team has probably had the most consistent performance in past decade or so(dunno where to verify my facts bt i'll try to get em sorted out).
The prep starts about a month or so before D-day.Well actually they neva end considering that we keep a hawk's eye ;-) on the events(as in happenings in d city, country n even world) which can be related to literacy.The initial days usually involve discussion of events, n making up of the script (thats behind the scenes so not many people know bout it!!). But the actual fun begins wen the practices(ie putting together of the play) start. well i dunno if there's any other activity in the school to which the euphoria, enthusiasm n,obviously, the amount of masti!! of the Nukkad Natak can b compared to.really.n im not even exaggerating (one of my fav teachers says that exaggeration is my forte!!).The memorising of dialogues, the innovativeness n of course the at-the-last-moment-changes bring out the creative best in MOST (saying ALL wud definitely be a helluva exaggeration)!!!!And finalli the travelling to the venue on D-day n d jitters during the performance n anxiety of the results makes it a worthwhile experience.Winning or losing takes a backseat at when 1s put in their best and even enjoyed every single moment .but yeah i wont say it doesn't feel gr8 2 win ;-).
Well well, so it is D-day 2mrw. competition's loads tougher than previous years (coz of a modification in d zones). But gonna give it r bestest neways!!!!
.jpg)
