Going Blue: IHS Celebrates Janmashtami

This year, Janmashtami was celebrated with vigour and enthusiasm. To start with, the school’s dress code was blue. The morning was busy especially when some of us were looking for a blue coloured dress all over the place. Then, we had a fabulous music assembly. The Junior Nadha Yoga students, Jyotsna akka and a few senior students sang songs in praise of Lord Krishna. In the afternoon, interested students went to the cow shed to bathe and decorate the calves, while others went to the kitchen to help make sweet and salty seedai. What followed was the highlight of the day – Matki Phod. This year, instead of forming human pyramids, it was done in piñata style where a teacher moved the pot up and down by tugging a rope while we had to attempt breaking the pot blindfolded. Next, we had a blue light dinner at Biksha Hall. The hall was decorated with leaves and white footprints at the entrance leading towards the dining area. Inside, it was all blue and the tables were arranged in diamond shape and at the center of each were three leaves with lamps adding beauty to the hall. We were delighted to eat the seedai which we had made earlier and matka kulfi. The night ended with Garba Raas in Tarana where we danced with dandiya sticks to catchy tunes. Without a doubt, Janmashtami was an enjoyable day.  – Praajita, Class VI

 

Experiences & Expressions:

 

Seedai making

We were on our way to the kitchen to make snacks. Before entering the kitchen, we had to wear shower caps, so that our hair doesn’t fall in the food. We commented on each other on how we looked as we entered the kitchen. One word was enough to describe the kitchen – BIG!! It was so humongous that we couldn’t even see its end because it stretched for miles. We washed our hands with soap and sat down with a tray of dough. We were going to make a dish called seedai. We were supposed to make it by rolling small balls approximately the size of marbles. While we were making it, we were singing songs, and cracking jokes. We quickly finished our dough, refilling it every 10 minutes. It was a fun experience and in the end, we arranged the balls is a smiley pattern. – Vishnu, Class VII

 

Garba Raas

We had just had a water fight and were then asked get ready for the night’s party. We were going to dance garba to the most fantastic songs ever. It was Krishna Jayanti and we were jumping up and down with excitement. I ran upstairs, took a nice hot shower, and sprinted to the other room in my pajamas to choose my garba dress. I wore a fantastic blue dress and did my hair the way a princess would. I hurried downstairs and took selfies with my friends. When we reached the dining hall, it was lit up in blue. We had our food, gulped down pot kulfi and headed to Tarana. We ran to the box of dandia sticks and grabbed two each. The music played and we danced into the night. It was the best night ever. – Harini, Class VI

 

Pot Breaking

It was my turn. I tried to open my eyes, but I just couldn’t. The charcoal black cloth was tied tightly around my eyes. As soon as I took my first five steps, I heard someone say, “Go left,” and then another say, “Go right.” I wasn’t sure which way to go. So, I just ignored them and went straight for the pot. I struck once, I missed. Then, I struck again, I missed. And then, I struck it the third time. Then, BOOM, I heard the sound of the pot breaking. As soon as I broke the pot, I heard people cheering my name and soon saw huge smiles on my friends’ faces. I was so happy that I felt like I was on top of the world.  – Dakshina, Class VII

 

Janmashtami

A visionary, bluer that the sky;

A god that truly catches my eye,

The most enriching and colorful man;

Today’s the day it all began.

 

This is a day when we commemorate him,

When we fill pots with milk to the brim;

When the pots all crack,

Then the goodness of Krishna comes flowing back.

 

When we all start to dance,

The peacocks begin to prance;

When his melodious flute begins to play,

All beings begin to live in an eternal way.

 

Today, on this holy day, we pray,

That Krishna will come as an everlasting wave.

 

• Madavan, Class VII

MS Celebrates Plant Day

On August 30th, all the Middle Schoolers braced themselves for another day of class. Little did they know that they were in for a surprise! When they entered the Middle School block, they were surprised to see a chalkboard saying “Middle schoolers, are you ready to hunt?” Confused, they assembled in Manoranjita for the morning’s assembly, thinking they were about to take a science test. Shakti anna told them to go to their houses and wear their tracks. Confused yet again by the change, the MS students quickly changed and came back. Then the teachers announced that they were going to have a scavenger hunt! The MS students had to locate different types of plants around the school campus. For each plant they found, they would get a point, and if they could name the plant, they would get bonus points. After listening to the rules, the children immediately ran around the school looking for the plants that they needed. After 35 minutes of scavenging around the school, the students returned triumphant.

Soon after, they changed into formals and returned to watch a documentary…. or at least that’s what they thought. They assembled in front of all the four houses and patiently waited for Sundar anna to tell them what to do next. Soon, he arrived and informed them to proceed to Suryakanti. Curious of what was going to happen, many students ran quickly to Suryakanti and were surprised to see that the entire place was transformed into a fair! A Plant fair! There were many stalls with different activities like face painting, games, a writing corner and many art stalls. Games like Taboo, Hangman, Around the World, and Memory were recreated with an educational twist – they were all related to plants! The children had a great time getting their faces painted and visiting all the stalls.

In the middle of all their fun, they had a quick juice and snack break. Not wasting any time, they rushed back to Suryakanti to continue from where they left off.

At 1pm, Ramya akka announced that lunch was happening at Mandara. Since it was Plant Day, our menu consisted of food items made from different parts of a plant. The salad was made using broccoli flower, Kootu was made using banana stem, spinach sambar featured succulent leaves, potato fry represented the roots, and of course, rice – which is a seed of a grass species.

After eating a scrumptious meal, they were asked to assemble in Akashmalli to watch Episode 2 of The Private Life of Plants, a BBC nature documentary on how plants grow and meet their requirements. To add icing on the cake, for snacks, the teachers had a ‘name that bajji’ contest where students had to guess the ingredient inside each bajji – which included celery, plantain, tomato, karpooravalli leaf and potato. Overall the MS students had a great time exploring the secrets of plants!!!

– Nandana and Araj
I slowly walked toward the Save the Tree stall at the plant fair. I could hear someone asking Sunil anna, “What was the word?”

“It’s a secret,” was Anna’s reply.

When I was near the stall, on the white board I saw a picture of a tree. Anna asked me if I wanted to take a shot at the newly modified version of hangman, Save the Tree. I agreed and quickly revised my plant terms as the game was based on plant terms. There were two other people at the stal – Srivanth, my best friend, and Deepak Raam. We were one of the only people who managed to even win two words in our tries in the original version of the game.

“How do you play?” I asked anna.

“Simple. it’s like hangman but if you get a wrong letter I wipe off the branch and you have 2 minutes.”

The 3 of us teamed up and the game started; we were on. “A?” I questioned. Anna wrote it on the fifth and seventh boxes of the seven letter word. Barely anyone had gone this far.  We were on the third word with 4 chances and 30 seconds. Srivanth chose “I” and guess what? One more branch was erased. “S” I chose and anna wrote it on the first box. “T,” I chose and anna wrote it on the second and sixth box. 5 seconds left, this made the difference.

“STOMATA” I shouted. Suddenly the stall was in pin drop silence. Then, all 3 of us jumped at the same time, high fiving and congratulating each other.  We were the champions!

– Mugilan

I sprinted as fast as my legs could move to Suryakanti. As I entered the house, a sign greeted me: “Welcome to the Plant Fair!” I was told that a documentary was going to be played here; not that I believed Sundar anna very much. I walked towards the lawn. A bell rang in my head, “It is Plant Day!”

– Ashwin

My body shivered as the paint brush touched my arm. I took deep breaths as I wondered how it was going to look. Were others going to tease me? Will they like it? I was continuously peeking and blinking at my arm which was being painted by Arun anna. When he was done, I saw a long brown stem drawn on my clear arm with green leaves. Then, he added a few blue dots. Assuming they were buds, I insisted, “Where are the fruits?”

“Oh yeah, I forgot all about the fruits. For the fruits, we’ll use red,” came the reply.

I smiled as soon as Arun anna said he was done. Initially, the arm painting felt very abstract to me. Later, it looked stupendous and was the best thing I experienced during Plant Day!

– Vedant