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best talent in the country and
to this end we have done
particularly well at tennis,
coming home with trophies
at the National Level last
February and May. We also
did quite well in Squash, with Sanjukta David, Dewangi
Sharma and Junafisa Pakyntein walking off with bronze at
the IPSC Under-19 tournament held at Daly College,
Indore in April 2015.Twelve players trotted off to Chennai
in February 2016 being selected for the SGFI Nationals
(ISA). Gaining membership to the Indian Public Schools
Conference (IPSC) has also meant that our top performers
in various disciplines have been able to benchmark their
talent – both as individuals and as a team – on a much
bigger sporting arena.
Dance and music have flourished and we have had some
international accolades as well in Dance. Our Indian folk
and classical dancers and Indian musicians did us proud at
the All India Pune Fest held in May 2015 and also at the
International Dance Fest held in Bangkok in December
2015. Of course these outings across the length and breadth
of the country are expensive affairs but at the end of the day
the euphoria of knowing you are the best, the confidence it
embeds, the friendships it forges and the goodwill it fosters,
makes it all worthwhile.The Athenaeum once again hosted
the prestigious East India Debates and although we lifted
the trophy after many years, we stuck to tradition and
presented the winner’s trophy to the runners-up – Vasant
Valley School, New Delhi. For the very first time at
Founders’ 2015 we really had a coming together of Indian
and Western Music, Indian and Western Dance and
Theatre in a wonderfully coordinated adaptation of
Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘Tasher Desh’.The Mass PT and the
Torchlight Tattoo which had been abandoned for many
years were revived. The students were delighted to have
Rahul Bose as the Chief Guest at Speeches and his speech
which was anecdotal was received very well by one and all
inspiring them to be positive through the troughs of life
and not to forget to be humble at the crests. We were
fortunate to be able to host renowned flautist Pt Hari
Prasad Chaurasia in March 2016.
It is always a good thing to try and build tradition and the
long forgotten Rock Concert was revived last year to the
sheer delight of all the students and the Fete, which was
discontinued about seven years ago, is being merged with the
Summer Fest. We are cut off from the outside world and
living such an insular life for an extended period cannot be
good for anyone. Such interludes which have nothing to do
with academics are something to look forward to and they
help ease tensions in the absence of educational outings and
expeditions – these too, I have no doubt, will be revived in
the very near
future.We
have moved forward on every front
and the awkward transitional phase will only fight for
fleeting mention in the annals of the school’s history.
July 2016 21
Rebirth of a Tree, Ardhanarishvara