Our school participated in the CASCADES  2010 on 02 and 03 January, 2010 at Jamnabai Narsee School, JVPD Scheme.

We won the CASPRO  SHIELD – for only ISC School participants. The prizes that won the Caspro Shield are as follows:

• First Prize for Street Play - NAVTANKI GEN - X
  Participants - Aamna Khan, Mudit Ganguly, Yashovardhan D., Raj Jain, Nihaal Sheikh, Ritwik Chaudhary, Mrinali Kamath and Shiv Parashar
• First Prize for Street Dance
  Participants - Harleen Chadha, Shrishti Srivastava, Radhika Thakur, Ruchira Ramkrishnan Prapti Patel and Kiran Sawhney
• Second Prize for Band - School of Rock Event
  Participants - Hartej Sawhney, Tara Chopra, Rishabh Raghavendra, Pawan Bajaj and Gandhar Parimal
• Hartej Sawhney of Std. XI won the Mr. CASCADE  2010 Title for the Numero Uno Event as judged by Salman Khan, Amol Gupte and Pooja Bhatt.

Other awards from Std. I to Std. X were as follows:

• First Prize - Sonali Pinge and Tanvi Kulkarni of Std. IX for the event Death by Fashion
  Neil Rohra and Yash Deshpande of Std. IX for the event Race Against Time
• Second Prize - Daivik Shetty – IX for the event Miniature Painting
  Varunkrishnan – IX for the event – Hasso Hasao Kavita Sunno (Hindi Poetry Recitation)
  Gaurav Prasad and Ammar Mehvee of Std. IX for the event Hog-a-Thon
• Third Prize - Bhavini Desai and Jhoomur Pal of Std. IX for the event Build-a-House
  Jay Mansukhani and Adarsh Rohra of Std. VI for the event Cascade Quiz Contest.
  Rohaan Kamath and Halak Shah of std. IX for War of CL’s Event
  Navneet Gopinath, Shardul Donde, Harsh Jharwani, Shubham Vidyarthi and Shreyam Misra – of Std. IX for the event TELE GAMES
  Rohaan Kamath and Ishika Chakraborty of Std. IX for the event the Big Fight (English Debate)
• Consolation Prize - Debasmita Das and Halak Shah of Std. IX for the event Comic Column

CASCADE  2010

The Jamnabai Narsee Alumni Association held the annual ‘Cascade’ interschool competition at their alma mater in Juhu. “Cascade 17” was a prestigious event attended by over 30 schools and 2000 students. On 02 and 03 January, 2010. Our school sent about forty-five students to participate in the events which ranged from the Fine Arts, Literary Arts, Performing Arts, Informals, etc. Most of the qualifying rounds were on Saturday, 02 January, 2010 and the finals on Sunday, 03 January, 2010. Our school put on an excellent show and the standard XI students won the CasPro shield for Nautanki Gen-X (Street Play), School of Rock (Band) and So You Think You Can Dance (Street Dance). Overall our school was the second runner up with St. Gregorios declared the winners and Jamnabai Narsee the first runner-up. The contingent leaders were Mrinali Kamath, Mudit Ganguly, Halak Shah, Aarti Kuber and Namrata Praveen. The judges included stalwarts from all fields, with the Bollywood music directors Sajid and Wajid judging the East Meets West (Fusion Music), RJ Mantra judging the war of the RJs (Radio Jockeying Competition) and Bollywood celebrity Smilie Suri judging the So You Think You Can Dance (Street Dance) Competition. The highlight of the event was undoubtedly the Numero Uno (Personlaity) Contest which took place before the Prize Distribution. Numero Uno was judged by Bollywood actor Salman Khan, director of Taare Zameen Par Amol Gupte and Bollywood celebrity Ms. Pooja Bhatt. Our very own Hartej Sawhney of standard XI was declared Mr. Cascade 2010. In short, the Cascade event was a learning experience for all those who went, and definitely an unforgettable experience.

Namrata Praveen

The prize winners were as follows:

Essay by Ishika Chakraborty -

As India moves forward to modernization, the only mode of communication, exchange of ideas and interaction within the masses, is the media. The media today is not only a credible source of information but also a platform for the youth to present their ideals and opinions and play their part in changing the face of India for the better.

In a race against time, our country today is at a position from where it will take a huge effort to move further. While we still struggle to find our place amongst the developed ‘nations, what we need now, is not just visualization, but implementation. However, it is unfortunate that none of these are really happening. India remains in the hands of a few administrators, with a mindset that makes our country a toy in the hands of other powerful nations. In such a situation, how does the youth voice its opinion? Why should we remain amongst the spectators, when we can emerge and make a change? We, for decades have been ‘watching’ India grow, but now, I, as a part of the country, want to bring growth myself. ‘The pen is mightier than the sword’. The justification for this proverb cannot be better given than by the example of our own country, where people believe the media more than they believe in the runner of our country. Today, newspapers are not just an accessory with a cup of tea, they instill values, inspire minds and provoke the nation to make a change. Journalists have the power to connect billion people together. Today, an Indian is no more interested in knowing what’s going on in Bollywood, they want to know what’s going on in their country, and I, want to be the one to tell them. Delegates often give sophisticated speeches, apparently, to connect with the people. Yet, we must understand that the people can connect only to those who speak their language – the language of common man and who better to do so, then the youth itself?

Story by Uma Tulapurkar,V / C

Thousands of years ago, there was a very large and dense jungle in the central part of India. It was a beautiful place. Tall mountains surrounded it from all sides, as if to protect it from the outside world. During monsoon, clouds would descend so low on those mountains that one felt as if the mountain and the sky have melted into each other. Hundreds of streams, shining like silver in the Sun, cascaded down those mountain slopes in carefree exuberance and morphed into large rivers as they reached the plains. Those winding rivers crisscrossed the grasslands of the jungle and on their banks life thrived in dazzling variety of sizes, shapes and colors. Abundance of flora and fauna flourished in the womb of the Mother Nature.

The jungle was a perfect habitat for all kinds of animals- large and small, carnivores and herbivores, mammals and reptiles- co-existing in a natural harmony. The Lion was the king of the jungle and everyone respected him. But there were other large animals as well- there was the majestic elephant, the robust rhino, the tall giraffe, the mammoth hippopotamus and then there was the strong camel!

In those days, camel used to live in jungles- not in the desert as we know today. In those days, the camel was very handsome animal with long curving neck and a straight back. His legs were very strong- he used it to run very fast and his kick was very powerful. With one kick, he could easily break a large tree or toss an animal away. The camel was very much aware of his strength. He knew that the other smaller animals were in awe of his powerful legs. Over the years, the camel started to enjoy scaring the other animals. He used to challenge them and threaten them. One day he stood in the way of a deer and refused to let the deer walk by. “Hey little deer, go back or I will kick you”, he thundered. The poor little deer quickly disappeared in the nearby grass. Other day, he put his huge foot on a python and challenged, “You fat, long snake, show me your strength. Let us see if you can wriggle out from under my foot.” The python was in pain and had to plead for mercy. Another day, he obstructed a herd of cows by felling a large tree in their way.

Day by day, King Lion started receiving complaints about the Camel from terrified animals. At first, the king Lion thought that a little piece of advice would suffice to bring the Camel back to normal behavior. He summoned the wise, old elephant who went out to search the Camel and found him by the river side. “Hey young Camel”, trumpeted the Elephant, “what is this that I am hearing about you? Why are you wasting your youthful energy on these little harmless animals? Look at me. I am also very strong like you, but everybody loves me because I do not trouble anyone.” The Camel was in no mood to listen any words of wisdom. “Old elephant”, he shouted back, “don’t try to teach me. I don’t want to hurt you as you are old, but I know what I am doing and I don’t need your advice. Go away, old fellow.” The wise, old elephant was shocked to see the rudeness of the Camel. No one had ever disrespected the wise, old elephant like this before. He felt very bad and went back to the King Lion. “King Lion, the camel has become very rude. He has forgotten the basic courtesies of behaving politely with fellow animals in the jungle and has even shown disrespect for elders. I am shocked at his behavior. I think you yourself need to admonish him for this, he is not in a mood to listen any advice from others.”

Now, the king Lion was very upset and called the camel to his den. “Camel, you may be strong but you should not scare other animals. You are misusing your strength. There are complaints against you. You have been rude to everyone and have shown disrespect to the elders. You are distributing the harmony within the animal kingdom. You have to change your behavior and you must obey the laws of jungle.” The camel did not like the rebuke at all. He said rudely to the king Lion, “Hey King! the God has given me such strength and all these animals are jealous of me. What can I do if they feel scared of my natural strength? I don’t care for their complaints and you should also not listen to them.” He walked away from the king’s den and continued his misbehavior.

The king lion then decided to seek help from the holy priest of the temple in the jungle. The priest was well-respected by everyone in the jungle for his devotion and his friendly nature towards all animals and birds. The priest use to go the temple on top a small hillock near the river, every day early in the morning. There he used to perform his daily pooja and sing melodious prayers to the God. The chirping birds near the temple joined him in his prayers. Most of the animals loved to wake up in the morning to the pleasant tunes of his prayers. On every full moon day, the priest used to hold a special sermon for all animals when the moon rose over the horizon. For everyone it was a fabulous spiritual experience to bask in silver moonlight and listen to the soothing words from the learned priest. They all had the greatest of respect for the priest.

Upon the request made by the king Lion, the priest agreed to counsel the camel. Next day, while returning from his daily pooja, the priest went to meet the camel. “Hey strong camel, here, take this prashad from the Lord and pray to him. All the animals of the jungle feel that you have become too arrogant and causing harm to others. May the God bestow some humility upon you!” Hearing this, the camel threw a fit and instead of accepting the prashad, he kicked the priest. The priest was badly hurt and fell on the ground wailing loudly in pain. The God was watching this from the heavens. The priest was a favorite devotee of the God. Seeing the atrocity caused by the arrogant Camel, the God got very angry with him and decided to punish him. He descended down to the jungle. First he went to the wounded priest and caressed him with his magical fingers. The priest got cured of his wounds instantly and got up and bowed to the God in reverence. The God then turned to the Camel and scolded him- “Camel, your arrogance has crossed all limits and you shall be punished for violating the harmony of this jungle. I have been watching your misbehavior for so many days from the heavens. I thought you would listen to the advice given by the elders in the jungle and improve your behavior. But you have gone from bad to worse. Today, you crossed the limits by hurting my favorite devotee. You must be punished. I will teach you a lesson for your lifetime.” The God struck the camel on his back with his stick and camel’s back produced a huge hump. “This hump will never go away, it will always remind you of your misdeeds. People will taunt you on this ugly looking hump. You will lose your majestic style of walking and will limp forever because of this hump. You do not deserve a place in this jungle amongst other fellow animals. From today, the hot desert would become your habitat. You would never return to the jungle. You would have no animals for your company in the desert! Let everyone know the penalty for breaking the rules and destroying the harmony of the jungle.” Then the God disappeared. The Camel started pleading but there was no one to listen to his pleas. It was too late for the Camel to realize his grave mistakes. He had no option but to accept the bitter fruits of his misdeeds.

Since then, camels live alone in the hot desert, while all other animals enjoy living together in the green jungle. Even today, you can see the huge, ugly hump on the camel’s back and he limps when he walks. The God never forgave the Camel for his mistakes.

It was an event to help young impressionable minds mould their opinions towards the world of management.

OCUMEN  2010  AT  IIM – LUCKNOW

2010 began on the co-curricular front with a team from our school participating at the Indian Institute of Management’s event – Ocumen 2010. It was organized by the student committee Oculus and was an opportunity to witness a high profile B – School experience.

The event was held on Sunday, 31 January, 2010 and an ice-breaker session was held the night before to help the participants interact with one another. This was done rather innovatively where students were given a slip with 15 blank spaces to fill with names of 15 students from the crowd, whom they were supposed to interact with within 15 minutes. Then as their names were called out in random order, the participants came up and introduced themselves, while those who had their name on their list struck it off. There were students from Delhi, Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow, Kolkatta and Mumbai and it was delightful to meet students from a variety of backgrounds.

The main day events were as follows – a finance – based game that involved a treasurehunt, where the clues were mathematics puzzles which led to a crossword; an operations – based game that dealt with management of resources on three levels – factory, distribution and shops.

The third game was a marketing game where the first stage involved identifying brands by their logo, print advertisement, video advertisement and slogans. The second stage involved creating a print advertisement for either Kwality Walls Ice-cream or Cadbury Gems. The fourth game was a general knowledge quiz which had a preliminary written round and a final stage round.

There was also an activity called “VISION  INDIA  2025” where each school team was to represent a ministry in the Cabinet, either Health, Defence, IT, Finance, Home, Agriculture, Science and Technology, Energy or Human Resources. The teams were given a task to formulate objectives that they would fulfil as a government in 2025. An interactive session with a Radio Jockey from the Radio Mirchi, Lucknow team was also held.

The final winners of Ocumen 2010 were Modern School, Barakhama Road, Delhi and the runners-up were Modern School, Lucknow.

The students representing the school were Surbhi Modi, Aakash Srivastava, Abhilasha Mohanram and Aakriti Anand of standard XI and the teachers were Mr. Milin Pathak for Economics and Ms. Renu Nagpal for Commerce. Our school team was one among 18 schools nationwide.

The team also went sight-seeing around Lucknow to imbibe the country’s cultural heritage. The sights visited were Bada and Chhota Imam Bara, Rumy Gate, Planetarium and Science Centre and the Lucknow 2000. The team had a very enriching experience on and off the IIM campus and came back with much more insight into the world of management.