NEWSLETTER
14th August 2006

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SCHOOL WATCH

1st August : Slide show on rainforests presented by Class V.
2nd August : Soccer match between Modern school (Barakhamba road) and Vasant Valley. VVS lost 4-0
5th August : Class VI-XII visited Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary.
VVS vs. Sri Ram school-VVS won.
VVS vs. Amity school-Amity School won.
8th August : English debate held for class VI
Best speakers : Vandita Khanna, Ishan Sardesai & Faaiza Seyid.
12th August : Class XII visited the Ghazipur landfill site.
Mathematics foundation workshop held for classes VI-VIII

The Waste Without and the Waste Within

Being an obstinate advocate of the myopic cliché that social activism walks in hand with being ‘leftist’, I wasn’t particularly in the best of spirits before the landfill visit on Saturday. As a matter of fact the thought of coming for the trip only happened to cross my mind when it was made compulsory. I wonder if it takes the same ominous threats to wake a seven-year-old up at four o clock every morning to scavenge for a living out of garbage, to scour for value in the seemingly worthless and clean up for the indifference of the privileged, as is the case at the Ghazipur landfill in East Delhi.
If one comes to think of it, our perspectives recklessly warp our definitions of privilege, because this privilege is characterized by ignorance and, even worse, an ostentatious denial of this ignorance. Our rooted stereotypes reduce humanity to a mere commodity, and where there is a commodity there is waste. Therefore, the fact that many a metric ton of household rubbish is generated in Delhi everyday barely bothers me, what does however is the waste of human life facilitated by it, for the Ghazipur landfill has gone beyond serving the purpose of a metropolitan city’s convenient trashcan and transcended into being a satanic haven for a few discarded souls to live their insignificant existence as specters of our society’s extravagant wastefulness. This extravagance stoops below materialism as it desecrates these people, devouring them with as much ferocity as it makes us consume. Their existence is reduced to a void, as there is no substance in their being, aspiration to them is an arcane concept and education taboo. They don’t seem to yearn and desire, for in their eyes lies suspended a queer blankness, shyness from reality as if the garbage is the only object they want to relate to. The flies don’t bother them and nor do the malodorous carcasses. Their lives revolve around a seventy-acre microcosm of Delhi, a pessimistic resurrection of a city choking on its own denial and wantonly destroying itself with shallow exhibitionism, an exorcism of a society, which wears its greed gallantly and lives in a far-fetched illusion of itself. And the weak are left as meager spectators to this Bollywood style melodramatic, crass plagiarism of westernized promiscuity.
As one of my favorite GNR numbers very aptly puts it, “If you got the money, honey, we got your disease!” If material richness is our paradigm of happiness it is our bane, the single perspective which diseases our minds, the cure of which is in our conscience alone. Looking down at one of the modest four-foot-something eleven year olds at Ghazipur, a kid with an excessively simplistic outlook of life, revealed to me the extent to which maturity complicates our existence. It misconstrues our circumstances, and develops a proliferating hunger for desire, but it also facilitates inquisitiveness for truth, which resides far beyond the abstract barriers of objectivism, and that is the desire we fail to appreciate. In retrospect going to the Ghazipur landfill was a humbling and eye opening experience, one from which I personally learnt a lot.
By Minhaj Adil (12)

Newsletter Nostalgia

(a reminiscent account of Newsletter experiences from a one-time much beloved member of the editorial board : Varini Sharma)

I felt quite sentimental as I sat in a plastic red chair in the air- con-ed (Singaporean terminology; read: air conditioned) computer lab, the cursor of the mouse blinking rapidly. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I discerned a faint voice reminding me of the customary “No checking your email” rule. Amidst the fascinating bustle of the Jahan/ Iqbal duo, Mrs. Kumar’s futile attempts of “Will everyone please keep quite?? And you, excuse me…ONLY NEWSLETTER MEMBERS HERE”, Nivedita’s exhausted “Varini just interview yourself and type it out…pretty please?” Jaagriti’s “Hmm (sigh)...I think I’ll teach these kids PageMaker...something to do at least.” Samad’s incredibly random-“Delhi is a cool city.” SVAT Cat’s “Okay. You do this. You do this. You do this. You do this. And I’ll see you later. And make sure you finish Busted, cover all events, write that article you were going to write in the December ’05 issue, cover the sports fixtures, ( the rest drowned out, but I’m guessing Svati (the poor tired soul) meant the newsletter was to be completed before she died)”….”— I came up with a bit of garbled, “Starbucks- inspired” poetry.
The swirl
Of creamy caramel
Complements
The darkened wood floor
Deepened melancholy strains
Of the far away radio
Urge me to rise;
Wash the dishes.
Memories flicker
Like tossed pebbles
On a gushing river
In a long lost hill station.
I thought the music
Would last forever
But the guitar strums
To the last of the words.
The breeze
Catches my imagination
Like autumn leaves
In a blustery wind.
Do we ever forget?
Or do they just escape
Like long lost frivolous
Childhood dreams,
And I am left
Like the strained dregs of tea
In a broken china cup
That was precariously balanced
On the edge
Of a stained coffee table.

By Varini Sharma
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The little weed

My house was destroyed many times
But I never gave up hope
As long as there is a crack
For me to come up
There always will be a rainforest
Growing and being destroyed.
-Aneesha Bhandari V-B

I am a weed

I am a weed that has lived through
forest fire,
And I can see the next one coming.
Its coming so fast,
IT seems as if its running.
Its going to burn the forest down,
And all the animals are going to
have a bigfrown.
So bye-bye,
Lonely sky.
I’ll meet you the next time I sprout.
-Ranjit Pratap Singh V-B

Forgive us ‘O’ Trees

O mighty trees, please give us shade,
For we don’t want to cut you
with a blade.
Some of us want to save you,
But the others want to destroy you.
So don’t disappear,
Or we will fear,
A world without any air.
Shreya. M. Kadaba V-B

Questions Students LOVE being asked…

1) Don’t you think you should be studying for the Monthly tests?
(Umm….NOOO!!!!!)
2) Isn’t it time you went to bed? You have school tomorrow...
(But it’s not even midnight!!!)
3) Wasn’t the summer long enough to finish your assignments?
(It was long alright but I didn’t find the time to do it!)
4) Didn’t you wear those jeans yesterday? And the day before that? AND the day before that?
(Yeah... and the T-shirt too…why?)
5) Why are you late to class? Don’t you have a watch?
(Yes I do..and that too a Swatch, but I never looked at it)
6) Where is your homework?
(Uhh…I have an original excuse, I did it but the ink evaporated!)
7) Should we have a review tomorrow?
(Yipeeee…open book right?)
By Avanti Gupta (10)

Tall Tale

I was getting bored in my summer holidays. I used to laze around and pass my time by reading books. Then one day, I got a call. My maid picked it up and said it was for me. I wondered who it could be; and guess what it was Cafu, thee captain of the Brazilian soccer team!! He said, “Hey! Abhiveer, I’ve heard you are a very good soccer player. Why don’t you come and join our team? Our practice starts next Saturday. I’ve booked you on a private plane that leaves day after tomorrow. Would you be interested?” interested? I would even give my arms and legs for this opportunity. I stammered and said, “yeah, sure.” After that he hung up. I pinched myself to see if I were dreaming. Then I ran as fast as I could. I told my mother and father everything, for a moment even they were frozen. After some time my father took me for my sports shopping, mother packed my bag and my brother sat there feeling jealous. Days passed, I could not wait for tomorrow because it was my flight to Germany. The next day we left early for the airport. Io said bye to my parents and set-off. It was an eight hour journey and we finally reached. We started our practice the verynext day.we worked hard on our game. I was staying I a seven star hotel. Our first match was against Ghana. We won. Then slowly we started to climb the ladder and reached the finals. In the finals we were playing Italy. I already knew Italy is a really good team. We were playing in Berlin. We started the match and it ended in a draw. There was no extra time and it came down to penalties. I selected my penalty takes. They were Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Kaka, Roberto Carlos and me. Italy and us missed all except one. Italy kicked first. They missed. Then it all depended on me. I heard the whistle and kicked. I scored. We had won. My dream had come true.
Abhhiveer Arjun 5-C

The Mothers International Debate

There are many things we must be thankful for as students of this school. Some of those came to me in several enlightening moments during this debate.
So the next time you’re about to crib about reaching in time for morning assembly for the brief prayer and National Anthem please thank god that it is just that. That it is not one and a half hours of soulful Indian classical music at 7 30 in the morning followed with prayers and sayings of the “Mother” ( that would be Shri Aurobindo’s Mother , the guiding light of this blessed school).
So we sat through it all with polite smiles and attentive looks but there was the underlying feeling of pity to those who dealt with it every morning.
But don’t get me wrong , although the morning assembly and endless (almost incomprehensible) chief guest speech could have been given a miss there was lots to learn too. The fact that in this school where Indian classical music is paramount , the musicians and singers of this school are proud to display their talent unlike *ehem ehem* some schools where it is often a stigma (or at least that’s the general paranoia) to perform “Indian” music was great. Also,their school bakery with fresh cakes and bread was a pleasant surprise. The debate was great and we made it to the final round with the best interjector trophy in tow.
By Amba Kak (11)

Delhi is so cool...

It’s the monsoon season again, yes that time of year when everybody gets drenched in water. Much like how I get drenched in water everyday when I go for my bath, but not quite as there isn’t any soap or shampoo involved, and yes, most people do not brush their teeth while in the rain.
Delhi, Delhi, Delhi. There is something about this city. Whether it is the charming eunuchs who greet you in the best of shopping areas, or the beggars who bang on your car window at every traffic light, the city’s inherent charm is inescapable. One rainfall and the streets are converted into miniature swimming pools, the sidewalks are non-existent and illegal constructions outnumber the legal constructions. That is our capital, dear readers, the capital of several empires and the free India.
Sarcasm aside, we all love Delhi. Delhi has a unique atmosphere and a number of unique experiences to offer, whether it be the shopping areas, restaurants or the auto-rickshaws zipping about all over the place, every thing you see and experience is unique to this city.
By Samad Ali (12)

 
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Hwa Chong Asian Young Leaders Summit

You know that feeling you get just before you are about to go on stage for a big performance, that bitter sweet ache of uncertainty and excitement about how the show will go? That’s how I felt about the first Hwa Chong Asian Young Leaders Summit: unsure but very excited. The four of us who had been selected to go were extremely different people but none the less leaders in our own right. We boarded the plane, both   apprehensive and with a
growing sense of happy anticipation. The first few days at Hwa Chong were spent building ties and getting to know our fellow participants from the other countries – Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, China, Japan and Singapore.
When we were at home we had been gloating about having it easy for two weeks while our friends slogged it out in school while we sunned ourselves in sultry Singapore, but we were in
for a bit of a surprise. Our days were packed! We were busy from 6 in the morning to ten at night. The itenary included everything from a day at Sentosa to meeting the President. A lot of what we dealt with during the course of the summit was based on commerce and science, these being two subjects that rarely enter my house I was glad of the exposure. I come from a family that I can only term as ‘literary snobs’ as we simply don’t feel that science, economics and math’s are as important as art and literature. So I was quite surprised when I found myself enjoying talks by the Economic Development Board of Singapore and the agency of Science Technology and Research. Some off the lectures were obviously boring and more often than not a few people would doze off while others would struggle to keep themselves awake. Other than that our days were well balanced: if the mornings were spent listening to lectures and touring various organizations, the evenings were spent having fun and relaxing. Our days were exciting and busy: being kissed by a sea lion in the zoo, playing soccer near the beach on our visit to east coast park, stuffing our faces with éclairs, watching the 4D show in Sentosa, gossiping with the Saudi Arabian girls late into the night, learning to sculpt balloons!(?), taking surprisingly accurate personality tests and seeing how well we know ourselves, bargaining  with shopkeepers at little India ,cracking idiotic jokes, bonding with the facilitators and shopping at orchard road. The closing ceremony at the Hilton was held with grandeur. The real icing on the cake though was our performance – the boys sang melodiously in praise of lord Ganesha the girls swayed gracefully to the tunes of Vande Mataram and finally we had a combined dance to Rang de Basanti. As we danced the Bhangra the audience joined in clapping and hooting and it was rumored that someone even saw the staid Indian ambassador unconsciously moving to the music in his chair while the rest of the ministers looked on with bemused expressions on there faces. At the end of the performances the facilitators played a movie they had made during the course of the summit all of us participants locked arms and jumped up and down belting out the tunes to the popular hip hop songs playing in the back ground. The video was awesome and emotions ran high as a few people even started crying at the thought of leaving. By the time we got back to the boarding school horrified at the thought of spending are last night sleeping we all settled near the dining room in groups and finally started playing the Japanese version of killer (which is much more fun than our version) No one slept before 4.30 in the morning and some didn’t sleep at all. After snatching a mere two hours of sleep and exchanging letters and presents we set off in the morning with heavy bags and heavier hearts. We came back with a greater sense of the world though we did leave in much the same way as we started: Unsure. Unsure of when we would meet everyone again and unsure of how this summit had changed us though it has.
By Cara Tejpal (12)
Other participants: Madhav Kaushish, Minhaj Adil and Sakhshi Mahajan

Fabulous 5

Things We Love About School
1. The Infinity lesson
The godsend…finally! This lesson (like we all know) is actually for clearing doubts, doing catch-up and the like. But do we do that? No, much to the grief of the teachers!! It’s the time when we catch up on the gossip and all the hearsay. Infinity=infinite (FUN?!!) things we can do…but I guess we overlooked the academic part of it!!!
2. The Return To School room, Comp lab, Principal’s office/s
The thing that’s common to all these rooms-they have an AC or as in the case of the Return To School Room 6 ACs (the Conference Room promises not to disappoint)!! These places are much liked, especially after a particularly excruciating session of PE, which involves certain nasty exercises that I won’t bother to mention. Lastly, the Principal’s office…arguably not a place you’d want to visit at any time of the day…AC or not! But on the upside…at least its freezing cold!!
3. PE lessons
Most of us look forward to the days we have PE. It is, for some, a reason for existence…a break for endless days filled choc-a-bloc with lessons that seem to drag on for eternity. In my inexpert opinion, I truly feel that PE is one of the best classes (since it doesn’t require anything to do with trigonometric functions).
4. The Field
Vast expanses of lush green, with a smattering of grass and trees It has been pounded on (time and again) by the feet of many souls who have worshipped soccer (or been forced to take rounds) in the sweltering, scorching heat!! Even so, it is a great place to take a stroll on a rainy day…
5. The Bathrooms
The perfect hideout, gone awry…this is the place we go to, for refuge from the wrath of the teachers, if we are, lets say, not in the learning-mood… Besides this, the bathrooms are frequented in the breaks, incase of the girls, for looking at ones self (and checking that we don’t look like train-wrecks), and for the guys, addressing to their (in many cases) wild tresses!!
Ria Sen (11)
Disclaimer- No offence is intended by this piece whatsoever and though it may appear so, the intention is truly good and in no way malicous.

ROCKSTAR SUPERNOVA

Last year we all saw the show, ‘Rockstar INXS’, where JD won the dream of 15 rockers. This year, on the 6th of July, Rockstar supernova, began. Three rock legends, namely Tommy Lee of Motley Crue, Gilby Clarke of Guns ‘n’ Roses and Jason Newstead of Metallica. With 15 new rockers, we are in for a great season of rock and roll.
This is how the show works: all the rockers perform every week for Supernova, and they along with the help of Dave Navarro (ex- member of Red Hot Chili Peppers & Jane’s Addiction) host the show. The world decides which rocker they want to front this band. Three rockers with the lowest votes have to sing if they want to stay on the show. Already this show has seen some great and not so great performances. 3 rockers have already left the show, Chris, Matt and, just recently, Jenny. So far, most fans are rooting for Toby who seems to have the best chance of getting the gold. But for all we know, it could be any of the remaining twelve. The only way to know is to watch and listen!
By Jahan Adil Nargolwala and Kartikeya Khanna. (10)
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THE PURPOSE OF THE NEWSLETTER

This article will reveal to the readers what goes on inside the mysterious league of extraordinary writers: the editorial board. We start off with our editor, Svati Goyal. To many she may seem sweet, helpful and studious, but we are the ‘lucky’ few to whom her real personality has been revealed. She winds up at headquarters in a huff, about 20 minutes after the latecomers. We question her, asking where she was, and she diverts our enquiries with piles and piles of work, and with the usual cry of ‘you guys! The printer is coming today and we have finished NOTHING!’ At this point a few of the younger reporters have to calm her down, which is, of course, a Herculean task.
With 5 people holding on to her to keep her from fainting, Svati then collapses into a chair. She assigns work to the passing board members, and throws all the non-board members out of headquarters.
After Svati has promised us all that she is not going to collapse in a heap on the floor, her rounds begin…we do not mean, of course, that she changes anything we have written when walking around headquarters. She only glances at the computer screens, and checks whether we’re toiling under the numerous assignments we have been given. Then she sits right back down next to the air conditioner, and thinks up ingenious ways to torture us. Yes, that’s Svati. All the same, Svati is the only reason the newsletter actually runs. Without her frequent swooning, the rest of us would never be as responsible and dependable as we are today. So we owe all our numerous successes to our dear editor. WE LOVE YOU SVATI!!
(To be continued...)
Your‘admirers’
Diva, Soumya, Mahi and Akbar (10)

Teacher’s Training Programme on “Environment Pollution and Innovative Methods to Estimate Various Levels of Pollutants”

“Is the Earth in danger? No….it has survived for over 4.5 billion years and will continue to do so. It is the human race that we are worried about!”
These were the haunting words of Prof. Arun Attri as he kicked off the morning session with a seminar on Environment: Essential Concepts. This was part of the teacher’s seminar being held on the 8th of August. Presiding over the event, was Jill Carr-Harris, the Secretary (Ex-Officio) of LEAD India. Her impassioned speech on the dire necessity to act on important issues such as Global Warming, expressed her ardent views on the subject of India’s development. The mid-morning session included an interactive seminar with Dr. Saumitra Mukherjee on the topic of water pollution. The subject of soil pollution was amply dealt with by Dr. A. L. Ramnathan. In the afternoon session, Dr. Krishan Kumar talked about noise pollution with interesting additions on the functioning of the sound level metre. The workshop was concluded by short presentations from two of Dr. Attri’s students at JNU: Kamna Sachdeva and Chumbamenla Jamir.
All in all, it was an enlightening session with some of the brightest minds from the School of Environmental Sciences, JNU.
By Svati Goyal (12)

The joys of being stuck in an airplane (Part 2)

Disclaimer: All events in this story are true. They may be fragments of various things that I have seen over the years combined together and might be a little over exaggerated but they are true.
I start packing up my things to get ready for landing when a sixteen or seventeen year old girl bursts into tears. Her father and her brothers coming rushing to see what has happened and in she (in between her heartbreaking sobs) tells them that the boy next to her (who she’s been talking to for the whole flight) has asked her where in Delhi she lives. The father lifts the boy (who is about eighteen years old) y his collar and is about to give him a thrashing when the crew (Completely frustrated by now) come rushing to help. The boy says that he has done nothing but the crew still has to physically restrain the father and his brothers. The captain (saves the day) by announcing that we are about to land and that everyone should take their seats. The father promises that they will resolve this matter later at Delhi and threateningly tells the boy that if he runs, they will find him. The flight (with a few bumps) arrives at the airport and I rush towards the exit (well not rush but follow the line) to the exit hoping to get out of the plane as fast as possible. However it is not as easy as I thought it would be. There are two (small and almost broken) buses waiting to take us to the terminal. One is completely full and extremely crowded so I go towards the empty one when I am told that it is for first class passengers only. I wait for another bus and it arrives pretty quickly however to my dismay this too is for first class passengers (even though there are none left) standing in the blazing heat I wait for the bus, which arrives around ten minutes later. Half the plane clambers into the bus falling all over each other. Upon reaching the terminal we go towards the immigration counter but are greeted by a mass of people waiting to get their turn. There are only two counters running but I notice that the rest are open and the officials are chatting to each other with not a care in the world. I am told that they are on their “lunch break” (which is odd since its only 10 in the morning.) We get into the shorter Q and after half an hour are almost through when we see a sign saying “Foreign passports only” We are quickly ushered towards the other Q. At this point I am totally frustrated and I know things can’t get any worse. For the first time in a very very long time they don’t get any worse, and after almost two hours of standing in Qs we are back in India. (Oh joy) …
By Bhavik Singh (9)

It’s raining fish!!!

The saying it’s raining cats and dogs now seems to be old, in Kerala it’s raining FISHHH!
When the dark clouds burst on Thursday afternoon, the kids of Manna-(a village in Kerala) came out to get wet, but instead of water, they saw pencil thin LIVE FISH falling from the sky.
Don’t believe us?!? Nor did we the first time we heard about this! But experts confirmed this miracle. There were so many of them that people were collecting upto 30 of these “Gifts from God” (as the locals claimed them to be) each. At first no one noticed, but soon people began to observe slushy objects on the ground flapping around for want of air.
There have been incidents of animals and crabs falling from the sky, but never actually live fish. Scientists say that high velocity winds sweeping the earth’s surface tend to pick up light objects including these fish. According to experts they stayed alive in the clouds and then finally came down with the rain. They also say that these look like parals, a regular fresh water lake and river variety. This is not an illusion, it’s not a hoax. Live fish and other things can actually fall from the sky! Believe us!!
By Vanshika Wadhwa and Kunal Datta (9)

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The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed

(1st Prize- winning essay)
Mortal minds are like water, they take the shape of the container they’re in. Mortal principles are like ostriches, they bury their heads in sand when a challenge approaches. Mortal egos are like space, they are vast, infinite and without substance. Mortal promises are like the fog, they lifts when sunlight shines through.
In any successful regime, the stage is littered with an epic army, a Machiavellian, an advisor, a few orators, the chained renegade and a mindless pulsating mass going through the clockwork motions of life with a blind eye to the cancerous growth of despair spreading rapidly through every stoic soul. The very idea that thousands of people are controlled by one man or one elite group which is neither the smartest, nor the strongest of the lot is quite ludicrous. However, the fact remains that there have been and still are human conditions such as described above that have sapped and subjugated the economic and social strength of the masses.
An oppressor would need to possess no conscience (at least, not a particularly loud one), no confidence and an uncanny knack of always pre-empting the next move of the opposition. Still a dictator’s greatest power is derived from the facile doubts of a confused population. The general public has a tendency to believe their existence only if pointed out to them. The general aimlessness and discontent of the masses which is ever present only augments when the living conditions tend towards ‘utterly dismal’. A benovolent ruler would never have let the situation reach this point, a wise ruler would work towards it alleviation dent an oppressor will convince the masses that it is their fault, worsen the situation and remain fat rich, and even more insecure.
This historical trend boils down to base human nature. The human psyche is a dangerous playing field but when harnessed is the most potent weapon. Man is riddled with doubts about his goals, his beliefs and his working ethic. It is a fragile glass palace reinforced with the ego and a blow in the right direction will destroy the complete foundation. A man without a voice is like a dead seed sowed in an infertile field. An oppressor would work towards stealing the voice with which the oppressed would protest. That is done by manipulating the human mind which is on a perpetual basis of admitting its failure.
Heroic possibilities turned to sorry achievements, the emancipation from the yoke of the abscission of hope and the subjugated resign themselves to a life of complacent futility. An oppressor would work towards the destruction of every fiber of determination in the human mind, but only by germinating the seed of diffidence that exists in each oppressed man.
No one at the end of the line would dare to walk the edge, and no one living the existence of a slave would muster enough self respect to protest. Though some views try to show how when all is lost man rises to the challenge, but the truth remains, when all is lost, your worst enemy, guilt, will find some worse torture.
Men will search for a hero, will find a degenerate and then choose the path of an ignoramus. An oppressor will be that degenerate, who will murder the spirit of the man who turns a blind eye towards him. An oppressor will hail the death sentence for disobedience, bribes for resistance, promises for protests, anger for ridicule, and absolute devastation and ruin for the mind that pays him homage.
By Svati Goyal (12)

HOROSCOPES

Aquarius: While flirting with a hippopotamus, you will laugh so hard you’ll choke to death.
Pisces: You will study for the wrong chapter of Physics, but will still do well. Unluckily for you, your Physics teacher will think that you have cheated, and will give you a zero. Good luck with that.
Aries: Travel is written all over your palms. You will go to Chhatisgarh for a hunting trip, but will end up at Palampur. Unluckily for you, this month, Krypton does not reign over your sign, and thus you will meet no one who wears his underwear over his pants.
Taurus: You will be exclusively chosen by the govt. of Delhi to protect the president’s hairpiece.
Gemini: You will go to a foreign land and meet your evil twin brother, but people will think that you are the evil one, and will banish you to the land of Palampur.
Cancer: You will be diagnosed for a deadly disease. Your hair will also fall out due to excessive chemotherapy.
Leo: You will meet with a man who has fallen off the edge of a cliff, survived and is hiding from the police. He will bear an odd resemblance to the man with no intellectual capacity and the ability to jump unnecessarily high who you fell for last month.
Virgo: You will win a beauty pageant and will win the title of Ms. Palampur. Unfortunately, the Cadbury’s people will think that you are a cow.
Libra: You will be blamed for the death of your Aquarian friends, and will be sentenced to 5 years in Mrs. Krishnan’s office.
Scorpio: You will get sudden urges to look up ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ in the dictionary, but will fail miserably. Your friends will think you are weird and will abandon you.
Capricorn: You will go on a field trip, and get divided into pairs. Since you are too popular, you will not get a partner, and will be left alone to the hands of embarrassment.
Sagittarius: You will have a race with a man eating tiger, and at the end of it, you will be eaten. R.I.P.
By Anandini Rathore, Kunal Datta, Ashrika Kohli, Vanshika Wadhwa (9)

The Asian Domination of Animation

Flash kicker, Ranma ½, Ninku, Full Metal Alchemist, Dragonball Z, Pokemon and even one about Hanuman, we are in the animated era. This is the age where real humans are taking a back seat to Avatar and a hundred shows like it. With their mouths and voices in perfect unison and their abnormally large eyes as well as their tendency to think out loud (probably done to keep mouth movements to a minimum), Anime, as it is called has surely taken the world by storm.
Nowadays, every cable network has to have its share of animated cartoons. Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and the ever so famous Animax are just a handful of the channels that show these cartoons. From the fast paced football action of Flash Kicker, to the air bending of Avatar, they have captured the imaginations of many.
By Soumya and Akbar (10)
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BUSTED

“Hey ! Look at that dead fly, its moving !!”
Anonymous, would you like to contact Ghostbusters?

“Jon Bon Jovi is Bon Jovi’s dad right?”
Sonya Bhan, Maybe he is his great uncle!

“Is she fairer or am I darker?”
Megha Rawla, now that’s a toughie!

“Who is the best tennis player you know of?”
“Tiger Woods”
Tushar Aneja, try watching ESPN once in a while!

“What will you do if I move your house to Kerela?”
“I’ll bring it back to India”
Tushar Aneja, pay attention in geography next time!

Abbreviated Artists

Does Karanvir Singh know his music? The past few weeks, we patiently sat with this very musically inclined character, and asked him some questions related to music band names.
So here it is, – the ode to Karanvir Singh, his music, his humour, and his vivid imagination (not to forget his wonderful habit of carrying little Gaurhari Sanghi on his shoulders and running all over the Senior School building).
1. So what do you think R.E.M. stands for?
“Really Enlarged Mucus.
2. And P.O.D.?
“Precipitating Orange Dog.
3. What about A.B.B.A?
”Are Black Bandits African?
4. What’s the first thing you think of when you hear AC/DC ?
A Child’s Diaper Change
5. And RATM?
Rare Anancondas That Mingle
6. RHCP!!
Remember him? Chander Paul!
For devastated fans here’s a little consolation in parting: The authors of this article, do know what the names of these bands really mean..
R.E.M - “Rapid Eye Movement.
P.O.D- “Payable On Death
A.B.B.A. - It’s an acronym from the initials of the first names of the band members
AC/DC - Alternating Current/Direct Current (from the back of Angus and Malcom Young’s mother’s sewing machine.)
R.A.T.M- Rage Against The Machine.
R.H.C.P. Red Hot Chili Peppers.
So here’s a thought for you : don’t call yourself a crazed fan before knowing your abbreviations!
Mahi Titus (10) and Sara Chatterjee (9)

CONGRATULATIONS

It is a matter of great pide that eleven sudents of present class X of our school have been awarded Open Merit Junior Science Talent Scholarship for the year 2005-06. This examination is conducted by the Science Branch of Directorate of Education. A total of 150 students from all over Delhi are awarded this scholarship. Six students from our school are placed among top 100 students and thus are eligible for higher scholarship amount. They are-
Natasha Jha, Siddharth Banerjee, Parthasarthy Penna, Ragini Ahluwalia, ShellyThareja, Shreya Singhal
Those placed between 101 &150 rank are- Rohan Jain, Rochisha Shukla, Nikhil Ledlie, Rishi Sikand, Sonal Narang

Lame Jokes

· Why are there so many Johnsons in the phone book? They all have phones
· What do John the Baptist & Winnie the Pooh have in common? Their middle name.
· What does Mozart do now that he is dead? He decomposes....
· Two sausages are in a pan. One looks at the other and says “god it’s hot in here, and the other sausage says “OH MY GOD IT’S A TALKING SAUSAGE!”
· What did the apple say to the orange? Nothing stupid, apples don’t talk
· There was a lawyer that was talking to his client who just committed murder. He said “I have some good news, and some bad news. The bad news is that you’re getting the electric chair.” His client said “That’s terrible!! Well, what’s the good news?” The lawyer said “I got the voltage lowered.”
· What is the last thing that goes through a bug’s mind as it hits a windshield? His butt
· What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t work? A stick
· Famous last words of a mafia hit man... “Who put the violin in the violin case?!”
By-Jahan Nargolwala (10)

The class 11 love affair

It is not an unusual sight to see Ms. Krishnan walking purposefully towards the class 11 alcove to enlighten us with words of wisdom. Sincerely, I am not trying my hand at sarcasm, the words are truly wise yet how much we listen to them does depend. So whether it was broken clocks we are talking about, or graffiti on the class boards, we’ve been told off for it all. Long hours were spent while listening to the authorities telling us how to improve and why we should improve.
In the past, our class has successfully gained the title of the worst class in the school and no matter what we are told some things never change. It is this eternal love affair between the authorities and class 11 that makes one’s life so interesting. Everyday one can look forward to a volley of shouts, a pile of reprimands and a load of worldly knowledge. Perhaps in the three month break, we were sorely missed and now we are constantly showered with love.
My aim was not to gain sympathy from the rest of the school, yet it is a plea to show ‘the authorities’ that we are not all that bad. Like all other love affairs this is one which makes our life worth living and helps us to look forward to a new ‘adventurous’ school day.
By Arushi Chak (11)

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EDITORIAL BOARD
Anandini Rathore, Ashrika Kohli, Bhavik Singh, Kunal Datta, Sara Chatterjee, Vanshika Wadhwa, Akbar Iqbal, Avanti Gupta, Diva Gujral, Jahan Nargolwala, Mahi Titus, Soumya Dasgupta, Tarunima Prabhakar, Akanksha Chawla, Amba Kak, Arushi Chak, Ria Sen, Saira Dayal, Minhaj Adil, Jaagriti Seth, Nakul Dev, Nivedita Venkateish, Samad Ali, Saranya Misra

Sports Desk : Arjun Srihari

Editor: Svati Goyal