Pongalo Pongal!

Class 10 students organized this year’s memorable Pongal festivities which spanned over two days. Charming announcements and teasers were posted in the dining luring people to come and experience a taste of tradition.

On the 14^th of January, all gathered together in the evening for a class-wise kolam competition. The juniors by far were the most enthusiastic of the lot and demonstrated stellar teamwork.

On the 15^th, the newly constructed mandapam near the school entrance was inaugurated. Pongal culturals were held in the open grounds. The Hindustani students opened with a Kannada song ‘Munjaneddu Kumbaranna’ in which a potter describes the blessing that is his work. This was followed by two lively Tamil songs, ‘Vaanam Partha Bhoomi Inge’, a prayer to Mariamman for rain, and ‘Vandiyila Nellu Varum’, a song about the harvest. The program then featured two folk dances – a Tippani dance from the Saurashtra region in Gujarat by the Middle Schoolers and a Tamil folk dance in celebration of a bountiful harvest by Senior School dance students. An on looking cow and her calf added their commentary throughout the program.

Immediately after the program, students gathered on the Pongal grounds to prepare chakkara pongal over an open fire. After the Pongal was ready, a small ceremony was held before the sweet was distributed. Decked in ethnic attire, students spent the rest of the morning taking pictures, dancing and eating sugarcane.

In the afternoon, everyone gathered on the sports ground for traditional village games – chasing a tyre with a stick, slow cycling, tug of war, and various relay races. In keeping with the spirit of Makar Sankranti, interested students also had the opportunity to try their hand in kite flying. To top it off, a moonlight dinner was held in the gardens.

New Year Celebrations at IHS

IHS brought in the New Year IHS style.

Dinner was sent to each of the houses. Juniors watched ‘The Polar Express’ before heading off to sleep.

Middle and Senior students were keen to stay up and partake in the midnight countdown. A movie marathon was organized beginning just after dinner. Students watched back-to-back movies with an intermission at midnight, at which time they came together for the countdown and a bit of dancing, enjoyed cake and wished one another.

Interested students attended a special midnight Nadha Aradhana at the Dhyanalinga Temple, and brought in the New Year in a more contemplative style.

On the morning of the 1st, as their seniors were snoozing after their late night, the Juniors, who slept early the night before, arose bright and early and went on a field trip to a nearby organic farm, where they prepared a scrumptious meal together. Students took turns cooking, and went on a guided exploratory tour of the farm, which featured a variety of fruits including gauvas, lemons, three types of mangoes, bananas and custard apples.

In the evening, all gathered together for a moonlit dinner.

Turning Citizens into Scientists

Beginning this term, IHS had decidedly taken steps to learn more about and participate in nationwide citizen science initiatives, so that students and faculty can contribute in real-time to scientific understanding and learning becomes more relevant.

During the first term, a group of interested teachers enrolled in a training facilitated by Mr. P Jeganathan of the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), during which time he introduced teachers to SeasonWatch and eBird.

SeasonWatch, a citizen science program initiated by Citizen Science Program of National Centre for Biological Sciences, encourages people to track the seasonal changes of trees in their vicinity over an extended period of time (at least a year), and thereby add to seasonal change data.  Mr. Jegan provided the big picture in regards to how their scientific contribution will make an impact and modelled the data collection procedure for students and facilitators. Data collection began last term during which time a committed group of students adopted a subset of trees considered to be representative / indicator species and observed them for 10 – 15 minutes on a weekly basis.

“It’s a wonderful way to be with nature. I love to observe my tree every week and I even have my own nick name for it,” shared MS student Sahana. “I feel that in some way I’m also contributing toward stopping global warming.”

There was also a felt need to bring birding back online, a once popular pastime of IHS students. Mr. Jegan stepped teachers through how to systematically record birding observations, noting down the time, location, type, species identified, and number of birds. Several sets of 8 x 40 binoculars were procured, as well as pocket guides of birds of peninsular India and flashcards of common Indian birds available through Early Bird -India, an NCF initiative.

The caveat was that before taking it to the students, first there must be a committed teacher birding group. Over the subsequent few weeks, teachers spent time noting down their sightings, and before they knew it, nearly 70 distinct species were identified within the campus. Mr. Sivakumar S., the lead for the IHS birding initiative, participated in the Tamil Nadu Birders Meet, and has enrolled in a 6-month Home Study Course on Ornithology offered by the Institute of Bird Studies and Natural History, Rishi Valley to further his understanding.

Over the last few weeks, birding has been opened up to interested middle schoolers, and IHS hopes to participate in the Pongal Bird Count and thereafter continue to submit ongoing lists to eBird India.

“For some people birdwatching might be boring and to some extent monotonous; but to me, watching birds is a fun-filled adventure that includes a thrill factor which never abates,” said MS student Anbu Damodaran. “When you spot one bird, you see another, then a different one. The excitement never stops!”

Another citizen science initiative that is presently being explored is the India Biodiversity Portal, in which individuals can upload data regarding the biodiversity of flora and fauna within their vicinity, and take support of experts in identification and mapping. Photography enthusiasts – both students and teachers – have already begun taking pictures of IHS flora.

IHS hopes that these pilot initiatives become a mainstay in the coming years, and that there are many more student citizen scientists.