NEWSLETTER
3rd December 2004

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SCHOOL WATCH

Wednesday 17th November - The Inter Zonal Athletic Tournament was held. Gobind Singh Tandon won 2nd prize in the high jump category, Tanvie Hans won 3rd prize in the 100 meters.
Thursday 18th November - The15th Founders Day was held. The Inter Zonal Tournaments were held (under 19 boys and girls); both teams from VVS got selected for the Inter Zonal Tournaments.
Monday 22nd November - Inter House (boys and girls) hockey begins.
Tuesday 23rd November - Inter Zonal Cricket Tournament was held. The VVS athletic team goes to Patiala to represent the North Zone in the CBSE Inter Zonal Athletic meet.


Junior School Kids say "Aloha"!


Russian boy tapping it away.

Thoughts From Junior School

This year’s Founder’s Day was a blast, and it’s certain that it was way better than any we ever had! Colorful, exotic and purr-fect are words which best describe it. Did you know that these amazing global dances were being practiced since August? No wonder it turned out successfully! The performers looked glamorous on stage and the parents could not recognize their own children taking part in the Japanese dance as their faces were white with face- paint. They looked ghostly! The Arabs of Class 1 brought the house down. Foundation had a whale of a time doing the Calypso. The Highland Fling took our breath away. All in all, it was definitely a night to remember!
Abhilasha Sinha & Juhi Bahl, V-B

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 MINUTES

An extravagant display of colours and culture, this years founders day was truly worth the wait. I think I speak for all the students of class 10 when I say we weren’t exactly ‘thrilled’ at being left out of Founder’s Day, and to add insult to injury we even had to sit through extra classes while the rest of the school practiced for Founders Day and the blaring music ringing in our years to remind us what we were missing. However, I must admit that they managed to put up a brilliant performance without us.
Now that we look at it, the amount of planning that went into making this Founder’s Day such a success seems daunting. Research on the various intricacies related to each dance must have been endless. Each dance required precision planning for the costumes, choreography, lighting, coordination, the right order, the right students and most importantly - practice. I daresay they got enough of that. All in all, I guess all the hard work finally paid off.
Almost, and I stress on the word used here, more entertaining than the actual show was the state of the school approximately 3 hours before the real thing. Students changing into their costumes and getting their make up done, (in some cases teachers forcing the students to change into their rather ‘ethnic’ costumes) testing of the sound system, lighting, stage placements and the preparation of the exhibition. Of course there were the teachers trying to control the younger ones who had gotten completely carried away with the excitement around the corner.
Once again full credit to everyone involved in piecing the show together. It truly was like a guided tour through the beauty, grandeur and diversity that every country has to offer.

Arjun Srihari, X-C

Names of 2004 Excellence Awardees:

Class 5 : Abhinav Parti, Arjun Badal, Mallika Pal, Varun Datta, Ramya Ahuja, Meghna Mehdiratta, Ishita Sethi, Tejasvita Singh, Diya Puri
Class 8 : Arjun Dev Shastri, Ketan Sharma, Mahi Kunjamma Titus, Nikhil Ledlie, Pritika Rai Advani, Ridhika Aggarwal, Siddhartha Bannerjee, Tarunima Prabhakar, Soumya Srijan Dasgupta, Vishal Jeet
Class 10 : Akul Mehra, Arjun Srihari, Shiv Mohan Dutt, Divij Gupta, Nakul Dev, Charvi Singh, Saksham Karwal, Madhav Kaushish, Udit Mahajan, Sakshi Mahajan, Svati Goyal
Class 12 : Ashutosh Kumar, Vidur Kaushish, Vidur Bhargava, Yaman Verma, Rohan Arora, Megnaa Mehtaa, Arjun Nagpal, Simit Batra, Aditi Malika, Swati Soof, Sheekhar Saran, Nisheeta Labroo, Nipun Sharma

Excellence Awardees speak out:
Charvi Singh: I am extremely happy and delighted that my effort has not gone unnoticed.
Akul Mehra: It was the proudest moment of my life, on which I will remember forever.
Divij Gupta: It came at the right time. Hopefully it will give me just the right push for my boards.
Rohan Arora: It was in my destiny man!
Ashutosh Kumar: It feels great. I worked very hard for it.
Nipun Sharma: I have done justice to the school motto!
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CELEBRITY OF THE MONTH:
Yaman Verma

Winning all 5 subject awards this month has made Yaman Verma the celebrity of the month. We had a chance to get his views on this, along with his other achievents. Here’s what the braniac had to say.

Q: 85% each month, excelling in all your majors, taking part in various debates and not to mention being the Head boy- how do you cope with the pressure?
A: Pressure? What pressure? I don’t take any pressure to perform well.

Q: You’ve been receiving award after award for so long now- Does receiving an award still surprise you or is it just ‘another one to add to the shelf’?
A: Every award is special. And besides, it’s not like I win that many. (A little too modest?)

Q: Is Astha Garde a future Yaman Verma?
A: She is a very capable girl. I’m sure she’ll achieve a lot in the years to come- probably more than I have.

Q: Some people claim you’re arrogant and stuck up. How would you react to that?
A: I’m arrogant, but not stuck up. (That’s what you think)

Q: What do you do for leisure?
A: I like to watch TV, read books, listen to music- the usual.

Q: What would you like to say to your fans?
A: I have fans? Well I sure would like to meet them.

Akanksha Chawla

If There Was No Gravity

If there was no Gravity,
Imagine what a sight we’d all be!!
If you’d think ‘Oh! What fun! No Gravity!’
I don’t agree with you, quite frankly!

We’d all go bizarre,
Floating into galaxies near and far,
The thought actually, boggles the mind,
To live without Newton’s glorious find!

We’d all be up there,
Doing everything chaotically, up and about in the air,
But just don’t think about yourself without gravity,
Think about the whole world in levity!

Do you actually want this, honestly?
Don’t think it’ll be fun, trust me,
All because there would be no gravity!

Mallika Pal, 5-B

If there was no Gravity,
We wouldn’t be standing.

If there was no Gravity,
Planes wouldn’t be landing,
For all of us would be floating in the air,
Trying to reach the ground in despair.

Imagine sleeping in a floating bed,
Imagine your cap floating off your head,
Imagine going to school in a floating bus,
Imagine all the frolic and fuss!

Wouldn’t it be funny chasing your food?
Floating away from your teacher-how rude!
Funny flying with birds left and right,
Flapping wings with all our might.

All this fun would be a treat,
But I’d rather be standing firm on my feet!

Brea M Dutt, 5A


Class 9 and 11 girls...jazzing it up!

Founder’s Day Jazz Dance

The 18th of November finally arrived, and a 2-month long effort finally paid off in a matter of a few minutes. The glitz and glamour put up on stage was backed by a colossal amount of hard work. From the day practice began to the final day, all us jazz dancers, worked extremely hard to put up a good show. And now that we come to think of it, I’m really going to miss the run-throughs and practice sessions. But of course, Founder’s day was a rocking Event.

Rhea Maini, 11-C

What is matter ?

Does it really matter.
But since Mrs.Sharma has asked
me to write,
I’d better get it right.
Liquids like water,
We can drink them in,
Not just water, but coke, limca and gin.
Gases make the atmosphere,
From the northern and
southern hemisphere.
Soilds are hard , an example is steel.
Another if you want is the vegetable in
your meal.
So, I think I should end this with
small ‘ thank you’,
Matter is one real important lesson,
which all should do.
 
Manika Gaur, 6 C

Book Review ‘The Rule of Four’ By Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason

Hypnertomachia Poliphili; an ancient Renaissance text written by an elusive Francesco Colonna proved to be the toughest puzzle to crack and embedded in his cryptic clues was the Rule of Four: a device that led his readers to a crypt whose meaning and purpose was shrouded in doubt and rumors.
Five centuries later in Princeton, two students are the closest to unraveling the true meaning of the hypnotic text, when suddenly put on hold by an unexpected murder right on campus.
A spine chilling, sinister and profound account of early Renaissance keeps the readers engrossed. A must read for those who like the occasional tingle in their spine.

Svati Goyal, XB
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English Poetry Writing Competition

The Needed Child
1st Prize

When he died she could not cry
Yet no one met her with a sympathetic eye
No love was shown, neither pain nor scorn
As without mindless effort another widow was born

Bathed in white denied integration
Festooned with dullness, pain and isolation
Who was left to fight her fears
Who would come to dry her tears

Withdrawal of her loved ones, their apathy it stung
As life recoiled and turned moribund
And as slowly sanity eluded her she demanded help
When a boy invaded the silence with a gruesome yelp

He rushed to the widow with his eyes streaming
As a muffled story emerged amongst desperate screaming
He had lost his parents to a brandished knife
And now the untouchable prayed for his damned life

Getting involved in an upper-cast feud
His life was resigned to death and servitude
And now as a crowd assembled ready to take
His life if misery, a manifestation of a mistake

But the widow choked with estatic sighs
Fed on the helplessness of the child with starved eyes
With a warm embrace she led him out
Unperturbed by abuse, torches and shouts
And with eyes punctuated with tears she cried,
This is my son, he is my child…
Baisakh Chakraborty, 11-C

AN HOUR TO SUNSET
2nd Prize

An hour to sunset
60 minutes of freedom
Dishes were done
Clothes too, were washed and hung
The woods beckoned
She flew down the beaten track
Tender feet unaware of sharp stones
Breath reduced to short gasps
No stopping till she reached her destination.

And in a minute or less
She was flying once more
Bony body perched on a slab of wood
Feet outstretched
Tracing a perfect arc in the sky
The swing creaked beneath her
She flung back her head
Masses of emerald green leaves
Crooned and hummed before her
And then they were gone
Replaced by thick, stuffy clouds
And back to the green
Then back to the white foam.

They fight – she said
Leaves tussled against the clouds
Launching their diamond spears at them
The clouds retaliated
White cotton stuffed the branches
Suffocating them
The clouds, she thought – It is Ram
Pure, white and eternal
And the green – eyed monster
Could be no one but Ravan.

The battle continued
Clouds maneuvering for a better shot
The leaves hissed and sent forth
Venemous green snakes
She watched
Secure in the knowledge that Ram will win.

Then suddenly the sun sank
Clouds burst at their seams
Streams of blood issued forth
Pink, orange and finally red
The clouds were gone

An then filled the air
A scream
Which she couldn’t recognize as her own
The leaves had won.
Akanksha Srivastav, 11 B

The Dreaded Samurai
3rd Prize

With cracked paint and broken soles
A great tale this picture hides
With a face peaceful and flat
The true story’s far from that.
The man’s name is Batusai
The dark and deadly samurai
And on his sword remains still
All the souls he wished to kill.

And at his side was an evil steed
To whom his victims he would feed
This creature the horse was lightning fast
An evil shadow his aura cast.

Loads of Shogun temples cried
Begged pleaded, sacred code defied
Ahh, run its Batusai!
Flee you fools, run, fly.

Once a prince Komurasay
Said “the demons sword I will defy
Even though his mind was right
All knew he’d lose the fight.

Like a tidal wave fell the night
No one but the prince in sight
But then he heard a demonic cry.
It was the dreaded Batusai.

“So you wish to pick a fight!
Don’t worry boy you’ll die tonight”
He unsheathed his deadly blade
A deadly cry of war he made.

He charged the prince with demonic speed
His eyes were bright as if full of greed
The sword he – was blood red
In a second the prince was dead.

Somewhere a bow went crack
Something shot into his back
He slayed his assailant quick and fast
Too late the poison arrow had been cast.

It had all been an intricate plan
Drawn up just to kill the man
So it was Batusai was dead
None to fear, none to dread

Now you know the hidden story
Of his fame, his fall, his glory
But always will be known Batusai
The great, dreaded samurai.

R.N. Jaidev, 10-C

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The Trip To Mayo

Minutes before the Maths exam, the cricket team was told that they will be going to Mayo College over the weekend to play a series of friendly matches.

Our first match was with Mayur, which is just outside Mayo. Their cricket ground was astonishingly well maintained. Surrounded by three low ranges, it was a beautiful sight. The lush green field and uniformly cut grass was definitely a ‘cut’ above our Vasant Valley field (which is surprising considering they’re in the heart of Rajasthan). Though a relatively low scoring match, the scorecard did not reflect the true intensity. Winning the toss we elected to bat and put up a low total. However, it was a closely fought match with our bowlers keeping their batsmen on a tight leash and Trijat taking 5 quick wickets. Unfortunately there were not enough runs for the bowlers to play with and Mayur won with an over or two to spare.

Though disappointed we began to prepare for the all important match against Mayo. The Mayo ground was even more impressive. It was a large ground, again well maintained with beautiful green grass and a bouncy track. It had the aura of an old stadium. It was truly an experience playing in Mayo as they had certain traditions which made it feel like we were playing at Lords at the highest level.

We walked onto the field, ambassadors of our school, with determination and the will to win. Though we could not post a strong total, it was definitely defendable (anyone notice the striking similarities between our cricket team and the Indian team). Unfortunately only 1 wicket to fell (though arguably not the only one that should have fallen) and Mayo won comfortably by 9 wickets.

For some it was also nice to finally see the school their father or grandfather had attended. I for instance, saw my grandfather’s name on the roll of honour when we had lunch in Jodhpur house. We had a great time, made new friends, played cricket and missed an exam! What more could one ask for?

Arjun Srihari, 10 C

A Walk in the tulip Gardens?

Editorial Board

Yaman Verma, Rhea Maini, Saranya Misra, Jaagriti Seth, Arnav Sharma, Varini Sharma
Svati Goyal, Nakul Dev, Arjun Srihari, Akanksha Chawla, Shiv Nath Katariya & Saira Dayal

Sports Desk
Rohan Arora

Editor
Ashotosh Kumar

Busted

"Ashutosh is Mrs. Mala Singh’s Kumar"
Resham Dang having some problems with the family tree.
"Did you revise for Standard Test?"
Shiv Nath Katariya- boy does he study?
"I climbed up a lift."
Ragini Hazari steping up the vocabulary.
" You saw detroit vs. pistons?"
Adhiraj Singh showing the true class of an NBA fan.
"Let's make pairs of threes"
Naina Gupta with a mouth full of numbers.
"Why don't you start the family"
Arushi's way of telling Shamim to get the Gerald Durell Collage organised.
"Shut Up and talk"
Abhishek, can't make up his mind.
"If I die kill me"
Sara taking revenge on herself.
"You have a hand on the back of your back"
Sara Hussain confused about her body parts.