“Children are not things to be moulded, but are people to be unfolded.“   
                                                                                                                              -Jess Lair

‘Bhasha wahi jeewit aur jagrit hai jo janta ka theek se pratinidhitva kar sake.’ (Only that language is alive and awake that represents the people.) --Pir. Mohd Munis

It is rightfully said that ‘Hindi is the pride and honour of our past, the mirror of our present and the lighthouse of our glorious future’. September 14 is celebrated as Hindi Divas. Hindi was adopted as the official language of the Constituent Assembly of India on this day, in the year 1949.

The vast body of work that Hindi literature boasts of can be accorded due importance when the youth are exposed to its richness. This responsibility was shouldered by the Hindi Department of R.N.Podar School who spearheaded Hindi Divas celebrations on Sept.19, 2009.

Primary students of Standards I, II, III and IV recited poems ranging from inspirational to humorous.  ‘Hasya kavi sammelan’ held the audience in splits as the ‘nanhe shaayars’ commented tongue in cheek on social and political maladies. Class V presented Abhivyakti, in other words:’ Poems Come Alive’ in which various poems like ‘Sudama Charitra’, ‘Khooni Hastakshar’, ‘Hum Baalak Hain Veer Desh Ke’ and ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’ –  were not only recited but enacted as well. A wide range of emotions from passion to tenderness, patriotism to humility were sensitively portrayed. In addition magnificent props leant a life like aura to the stage.

Secondary students of Class VI competed for the best elocutionist prize with their expert recital of poems and comical satires. Not to be outdone, Class 7 passionately debated on a wide range of topics:

‘Bharat ke chand par kadam’, ‘Saphal jivan ke liye anushasan avashayak’ and ‘Aane wale kal ko aaj se behtar kaise banaye’.

Recitation Competition:  First Position - Shivangi Murarka (VIC)
Elocution Competition: First Position - Madhav Goel (VII B)

Class IX paid tribute to the universality and timelessness of Hindi literature through enactment. Each section chose some great and illustrious pieces of Hindi poetry and brought the characters live on stage. Our young talented actors left everyone awe-struck by their stupendous performances. Class IX D’s presentation of poetry on The importance of Trees drew wide applause, fetching them the first prize. The performances of IX C & IX B were equally admirable and they jointly stood second.All in all it was an enriching experience, made unforgettable for everyone present.

ALL FOR KIDS

Primary children and Standard VI students were active participants in the ‘Mumbai Inter School Elocution Championship’ organized by the organisation, ‘All for Kids.’ The topics were - ‘An extract from any inspiring speech’, ‘an inspiring poem’ and ‘a short inspiring story.’ Participants were given a novel opportunity to emulate their favourite leaders’ speeches or narrate a story from the life of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King or any other great leader.

Suggestions poured in on the essay topic, ‘An idea to make Mumbai better’. Best features were published in the ‘THE HINDUSTAN TIMES’.

The art of public speaking is a test of fluency and eloquence, accent and articulation, gesture and pronunciation; all these qualities together form a well-rounded personality and are often responsible for turning today’s leaders into tomorrow’s statesmen.

At R. N. Podar we take concerted steps to provide a platform for public speaking to our students. An excellent opportunity was provided in the semi final round of the M. R. Pai Memorial Elocution Competition which was conducted in the school.  Topics like The menace of copying in exams, Significance of Republic Day Celebrations and The importance of team spirit were extremely exciting and gave participants ample scope for rhetoric.

The competition is being sponsored by Godrej Industries Ltd. Mr. A. B. Godrej is the Vice- President of the Forum of Free Enterprise. Since 2004 the Forum has been conducting this competition with the objective of encouraging young boys and girls to develop the art of public speaking. An Inter School Contest shall be held in January 2010, the participants for which will be selected from among the first prize winners, in competitions held at various schools.

Farmers in India are in a crisis: The escalating numbers of farmer suicides is a matter of grave concern and was the subject of discussion in the assembly presented by Class XI Commerce batch.  The topic, ‘Life in Credit, Death in Installments’, very aptly focussed on the debt-ridden lives of Indian farmers.  Students had prepared insightful audio- visuals supported by graphics which gripped the attention of everyone seated. Statistical facts were employed to substantiate case studies such as those of The Grameen Bank of Bangladesh and farmer suicides in Vidarbha. The government’s role was discussed at length.

India today stands as the hottest tourist destination. This augurs well for the hotel industry thereby giving fillip to better infrastructure creation. Many international players are heading towards Indian markets to expand their businesses. With the government's full support in developing infrastructure, increase in demand, open sky policies and increased competition, the hospitality industry is getting consolidated and has many more opportunities to grow further.

Journalism as a career choice affords innumerable opportunities for creative expression with the added advantage of travelling far and wide. For all those who are fond of telling a story, journalism is a wonderful option. At R.N.Podar we believe in starting early, so our High School students have embarked full throttle into the exciting world of journalism under the expert mentoring of Mr. Shishir Joshi & Mr. Aloke Thakore who head the organization, ‘Journalism Mentor’.

 “ARGUMENT WITH EVIDENCE” the theme of the first session emphasised on the need for objectivity and honesty while reporting. These sessions have become animated discussion zones wherein doubts and uncertainties about the profession have also been addressed.

We hope our budding journalists shall one day prove to be tireless champions of the rights of Indian citizens, particularly the downtrodden sections of society.

The essence of this quote coupled with an endeavour to bridge the gap between the three was the aim of an extremely important session titled - “How to Make Winning Presentations?”. 

It is an undeniable fact that this particular Power Point tool has become an integral part of the life of every working professional, student, even a philanthropist. Conducted by the International Finishing Academy the session focused on ways to inform, motivate and persuade the audience towards a particular line of thought. It was an eye-opener for many, to be told that the font type, font size, colour scheme, background colour, usage of bold, italics, underline, all follow certain rules and ought not to be used indiscriminately. Ultimately the combined skills of the presenter and the presentation result in making winning presentations.

Street Plays were adopted as the medium to channelize and mobilize youth energy in spreading awareness on issues such as literate Mumbai, clean Mumbai, accessible Mumbai, self – reliant Mumbai (fight against poverty) and nurture Mumbai (fight against child labour).Teams from various schools across Mumbai displayed their solidarity with these social causes by performing nukkad nataks at prominent city junctions like Infinity Mall and Carter Road Promenade.

6th &7th November 2009, witnessed Podar Grounds bursting with energy as a multitude of youth descended on the arena, dressed in bright red YUVANA t-shirts to partake in an array of youth centric events spanning diverse fields ranging from literary arts, fine arts, performing arts, informals, sport and music.

AEP being a vital and sensitive area of Secondary Education; The Central Board of Secondary Education which is one of the implementing agencies of the Adolescence Education Programme had appointed R.N.Podar School as the Nodal Centre for conducting Training Programme for Teachers and Advocacy Programme for principals.

The training programme was conducted over a period of 3 days i.e. November 10th, 11th & 12 th. The venue was R.N.Podar School premises. Vice Principal Ms. Sunita George conducted the training programme for teachers. Advocacy Programme for principals was held on November 13th, 2009. Over 40 school teachers from in and around Mumbai schools attended the programme. Various strategies and approaches were employed to make the sessions interesting as well as to demonstrate how AEP and Life Skills classes can be made effective and appealing. Teacher Trainees had to conduct practice teaching sessions in the school classrooms with a designated topic on AEP,  in order to assess their ability to conduct such sessions and also to analyse the usefulness of the activities they had been trained in. Mrs. Sunita George was the observer and gave valuable inputs/ useful feedback to the teachers.  

The last session for principals was conducted by Mrs Avnita Bir which was attended by principals and vice principals of CBSE Schools, Kendriya Vidyalayas and Central Schools.   

Heartiest congratulations to our talented young achievers who brought laurels to the school by excelling in various fields.

Amulya Nanda of Standard II won a gold and a silver medal in the under 8 category in the CBSE West Zone Skating Championship organized by New Era Sr. Secondary School, Vadodara.

Aditya Dwarkesh and Sandhya K. of Standard IV stood 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Inter School Chess Championship.

Initiated by the Indian Institute of Metals – Mumbai chapter, “The Metal and Material Quiz” aims at creating awareness about material sciences and the role of metallurgy in industrial and technological development.

R.N.PODAR students, Aishwarya Agarwal (XIIA) and Spandan Kumar (XII B) won the third prize in the quiz competition which was held on 22nd Aug’09 at IIT Mumbai.

• Clay Modelling
• Origami
• Card Making

Students of Grades III, IV & V had to choose from the following activities:

• Card Making
• Little Chef
• Mask Making
• Jewellery Making
• Best Out Of Waste

Secondary students participated in events ranging from Hairstyling to salad making to graffiti. Excitement was evident on the faces of students as they walked into school on Wednesday. After recess creative hands sat down to work with barely concealed enthusiasm and oodles of energy to accomplish the task at hand. As time passed, we could see talent emerging from future designers, chefs, artists and artisans!

On display were some unique articles having been produced out of waste, delicious treats, beautiful cards and aesthetic jewellery. It was a treat to watch tiny tots using their tender hands to model clay, just like expert potters.The show – stopper of the day was graffiti where students let their hair down and let their imagination run wild on the theme ‘Youth’. The event was a real eye- opener. Judges had a difficult time choosing the winners and announcing the prizes. But every student was a winner that day, because each had a talent to display!

It is a matter of privilege that our school was selected to participate in the Singapore Education Familiarization Programme conducted from 9th to 12th November ’09 by the ICS (International), the leading Institute of Career Studies in collaboration with Singapore Tourism Board. Out of fourteen all India premier institutions that were invited, R.N.Podar School was selected from Mumbai to send representatives for the programme. Mrs. Anjali Mahajan, Asst. Headmistress represented the school.

The programme included visits to renowned universities such as:

NUS ---National University of Singapore
NTU---Nanyang Technological University
SMU ---Singapore Management University

Others included SIM, TMC, MDIC, PSB, DIGIPEN, Institute of Technology Singapore and LASALLE. The sprawling campuses, state of the art architecture, well- equipped libraries, tastefully decorated interiors offer an immensely stimulating and invigorating environment to meet the intellectual needs of students.

What made the trip most rewarding was the realization that the school has established its name overseas. Many faculty members from various Singapore Universities and students too, were familiar with the name R. N PODAR.

CHANGE MANAGEMENT

                                               By Pallavi Burkey

Change is the only constant in life and yet we choose not to change. Change brings in a lot of discomfort and disrupts set routines. There is a certain amount of uncertainty which inhibits us from accepting new patterns of functioning.

Globalisation has exacerbated the need for revolutionary changes in life styles, consumption patterns with emphasis on altered thought processes. To address this burning issue, we conducted a workshop on Change Management on December 1, 2009, for Senior Secondary teachers. Topics such as: what is change, why is it important, why  I don’t  want to change, how do I feel about it and how do I deal with it, were discussed, in an interactive manner with a few activities to garner awareness and excitement on the issue at hand. It was heartening to observe teachers warming up to the idea of change. As a matter of fact they seemed to welcome the idea!