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School Watch

• Ms Bernedictt from Jeevashram gave a talk on `Environment Awareness and Kindness to Animals'.
  

• Mr. Tito Beniti- the agriculture minister of Italy visited our school on the 15^th of January and spoke to class 10 and 12 on `Conservation of Resources'.
  

• Professors from St. Stephen held a Math Calculus Workshop for class 12th students Friday, the 16^th of January.
  

• On the 17^th of January, a cricket match was held between class7 and 8. It was an astounding win by class 7.
  

• Political science students of class 12 visited the Indira Gandhi memorial on 22nd January.
  

• Career counseling classes were held for class10 and 12 from the 21^st of January.
  

• A farewell for class 12 was held on the 23^rd of January to wish them luck for their future endeavors.
  

• A hip hop concert was held on the 24th of January. The performance was by the arts collective Movement In Motion who had also recently performed at the World Social Forum in Mumbai. It was greatly enjoyed by the students.
  

• A basketball match held on the 4th of February between the school team and a group of enthusiastic parents was won by the school team. (104-46)

Mrs Paro Anand, a member of the Vasant Valley Family visited Paris recently for a children's book fair. She writes about her trip.

Paris-the city of dreams

Paris-the city of dreams, of romance. Also, I discovered quite a hub for children's books. I was invited to attend Salon du Lirre Jeunesse-a children's book fair. It was greatly heartening for me to find that there was a huge interest in Indian children's literature, especially in the contemporary context. No longer were they looking for the exotic orient, but for stories about you and me.

I also did some performance storytelling. The highlight? When I asked, in the course of a story, "So what did the elephant say?" a little blonde French girl piped up _"Haathi mere saathi!"

A wonderful trip rounded off by snacking on snails and frog legs _ and the same wine…au revoir Paris-till next time…

- Paro Anand

Good luck class 12!!!
Mrinalini Ranjan

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Human Rights In India- Distant Dream OR Reality

Dream

This is not meant to be one of those maudlin, over-sentimental articles, which leaves you upset. It is meant to be ponderous, weighty. It is meant to leave you thinking. It is meant to present the stark truth.

Today, in the global scenario the field of human rights is receiving a significant amount of importance. Human rights are essentially a modern version of natural rights advocated by John Locke. These are rights which one receives because one is `human'. And while the concept seems infallible on paper, the violations of human rights are numerous.

They range from hate crimes against various sexual minorities to dowry murders. Recently issues like prostitution legalisation and legislation of homosexuality in India have been in the news. Activists urge the state to consider making changes in the constitution so that these people can live their lives with some amount of dignity.

Dowry murder too is an example of human rights violation. This custom is widely prevalent in Western India. Though the term is self-explanatory, there are shocking intricacies of this custom. It does not stop simply at the burning of a bride. These women often suffer physical, mental and sexual abuse at the hands of their husbands as well.

Even though awareness of human rights has gained ground in India, yet this is only the beginning; a lot remains to be achieved. UN secretary general Kofi Annan said, " Only when people are educated about human rights can we hope to prevent human rights violation, and thus prevent conflict as well."

Aditi Malik, XII-A

My Friend From Eternity

I lay back on my couch,
And gazed at the twinkling stars,
Somewhere in them-
Somewhere deep in one of them-
Maybe there exists
A little girl like me…
Gazing out at `eternity'.
The `milky ways' and universes
Hoping that there would be
Another one like her
Oh! How I wish I could,
Contact her and ask her where she lives,
So maybe I could visit her someday?
All the angels, fairies, elfs and wizards,
Our wonderful childhood friends-
Why are they called,
Figments of fertile imagination?
I know that some day-
And I can wholefully trust my thoughts,
We'll reach them _ perhaps through telepathy?
Maybe we should cross,
The thresholds of mind space-
From cyberspace.

Prakruti Nanda, VI-A

Reality

I write this article because people think I'm crazy as I believe in the law. I believe that the right kind of legislation exists in many parts of the world, and especially in India. I believe in the sanctity of the constitution as well as in the foresight if its makers. And I believe that there is a problem, but one of a different kind.

"Human rights in India" is by no means a paradox. The opposition seems to be quoting the UN with great fanfare, so I will do the same. The UN Human Development Index puts India very low. However the report states that rights in this country are "good", the problems, as I said, lie elsewhere.

Human right violations in this county are not for want of good legislation, but due to lack of people who follow the law, or those who refuse to do anything but whine about HOW BAD the law is without even knowing WHAT the law is. The examples above are all of cases where there has been violation of LAWS, not HR violations. Deprivation of education is NOT an HR violation, and neither are dowry deaths. Any murder is a crime, and all criminals need to be punished. But a crime doesn't have to be linked to human rights violations

My opposition also speaks extremely highly of certain "activists" who are trying to legalize prostitution, homosexuality, and who "urge the state to consider making changes in the constitution." These activists go to court and ask the judiciary to change the constitution—NEWS FLASH- the Judiciary PROTECTS the constitution, the PARLIAMENT amends it. These activists seem to have no sense of procedure, even though I am sure they are aware of the procedures.

Awareness of human rights has existed in India for over 200 years. The rights in the constitution are more than JUST human rights. Fundamental rights are greater, more explicit, and cover more than human rights. SO lets not bring ourselves down to JUST human rights. As citizens of this country we are entitled to more

Yaman Verma-XII-C

MUSIC REVIEW

Modern Rock Album by various artists

This album is a compilation with some of the best modern rock groups in the world. We begin the album with `My Sacrifice' by Linkin Park from the Album Somewhere I Belong. We drift through a series of excellent rock songs ranging from Staind to Creed to Avril Lavigne and all the way to Oasis as this album encompasses every facet of the world of modern rock. Songs like Little by Little provide a stark contrast from the `hard rock-bordering on metal' Creed. This album has happy songs, sad songs, angry songs and hurt songs. It has the drum beats and the guitar strings that make modern rock what it is. And they have the feeling that makes rock immortal, as it will always be

Rating 4 ½ out of 5

Yaman Verma-XII-C

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Agriculture's Advance into the Past

Recently students of class 10 and 12, attended a talk by Mr. Tito Barbani, who is the Agriculture Minister of the region of Tuscany in Italy, about the necessity of biodiversity, agricultural diversity, food sovereignty, sustainable agriculture, and reverting back to the old organic, orthodox method of farming. He touched upon the failure of the industrialised agriculture model stressing on the ill effects of pesticides and the undefined effects of GMO's (genetically modified food grains).Mr. Barbani has been working with the Ministry of Agriculture of Tuscany since five years. They have succeeded in banning pesticides and GMO's with the aim of conserving their health and biodiversity. Instead, they resort to measures of organically regulating the crops and pest control. Mr. Barbani had come to India to participate in the World Social Forum, where he represented an alternative system of production, beneficial to small farmers and the future of food and agriculture, which had already been presented in Cancun in the World Trade Conference, but to no avail. He is against the idea of globalisation as he strongly feels that it would rob a nation's identity of its agricultural produce. In India, he has been working with Dr. Vandana Shiva, who has been working for the same causes since 1987, when she founded the organisation of `Navdanya'.

By Svati Goyal X B

Mission Mars 

            Mars is named after the Roman God of war.
Mars is called the ‘red planet’ as it is covered by rust, leaving the planet with a red look. 
A day on Mars (24 hours, 37 minutes) is about the same length as a day on Earth, but a year on Mars (669 days) is almost twice as long as one on Earth.
A person who weighs 50 pounds in Earth, Would weigh 19 pounds on Mars.
Students and researchers at MIT are designing a space mission for nice to learn about the effect of Mars-level gravity.
While Earth has one moon, Mars has two-Phobos and Deimos named after the horses that pulled Mars’ chariot.
The study of Mars’ geology is called aresology.
Mars has a giant canyon system called the Vallis Marineris, which is as big as the US.
NASA geophysicist Horton Newsom is studying a meteor strike in honor, Maharashtra, for comparison with data gathered by the Spirit mission.
Rocks on Mars have been named after cartoon characters like Barnacle Bill and Scooby Doo.
NASA will name the Gusev Crater in memory of the doomed space shuttle Columbia’s seven astronauts, including India-born Kalpana Chawla.
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, set to take off in August 2005, will go one step ahead of Spinit by taking high-resolution measurement of the planet’s surface from orbit.

Martian soil might be like Hawaii’s.
The Martian soil may resemble the volcanic soil of Hawaii.
After flexing its mechanical arm and finding some puzzling chemistry in a patch of Martian soil, the robotic rover sprit began investigating the composition of a rock named Adirondack on Tuesday with two science instruments and a microscopic camera.
Scientist at the Jet propulsion laboratory in Pasadena, California, said that they were pleased and puzzled over the soil test results. X-rays enemies by the surface soil indicate a chemical composition mainly of silicon and iron, with smaller amounts of sue fur, chlorine and argon.

Kanika Vohra, VII-B 

Shadows

The sea sighed on, the man sat on,
But he wasn't alone for long.
There came a man dressed in grey,
His countenance terrible as a storm in May.

"I am!," He boomed, "The warrior of the wind,
The hurricane blasts at my whim.
No foundation shall ever stand,
When I attack the sea or land.
Defeat me none ever will,
I am the storm's power to kill."

The old man smiled, and looked away,
To silence the storm there was a way.
Yet he said, "It is not for you I seek so long,
I will find one undestructably strong."

The sea sighed on, the man sat on,
But his quest was not complete.
Disappointed brain gave away,
The old man was at his feet.

"Who is there?!"
He turned around,
Startled to hear footsteps sound.
As he turned a man there stood,
Dressed as the night in a murky wood.

He did not proclaim himself as great,
Nor did he herald his victor was fate.
The man in black quietly spoke,
"I am the shadows of dark hope.

I exist where light is bright,
In the King's court, the common brewery, all alone I fight.
I fight the fire, ice and wind,
And there Queen Nature's whims.
Alone I stand to fight the sun,
Till night has gone and day has come."

The old man smiled and looked away,
To kill the shadows there was no way.
So he said, "It is for you I seeked so long,
I have found one indestructibly strong."

Ages will come and ages have gone,
Yet the shadows live on for long.
In light or dark, dusk or dawn,
They are truly indestructibly strong.

And even when the sea sighs no more,
The old man is gone and dead,
When time himself has gone to bed.
The shadows shall still fight on,
The shadows shall still fight on.

By Ashutosh Kumar
1st prize English Poetry Wirting Competition

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The Science Summer School at Trinity
College, University of Melbourne

The theme of the Science Summer School this year was "ingenuity", and it certainly lived up to that. I say this because of the way in which the teaching was done _ it was truly a stroke of ingenuity! It made the students sit up and listen in, often leaving them yearning to learn more. This was made clear by the number of students who would go up to professors and ask questions after class _ often even exchange e-mail addresses for future correspondence.

This "ingenious" new addition to teaching was visuals - no class was all theory. Everything that was taught was then reinforced with what was usually a practical. It meant that everything I learned, I could then see come to life in the form of an experiment. Be it chemical bonding, radioactivity, or DNA fingerprinting, everything was seen. So anything you hadn't understood, you then watched and it all became clear. For those classes where experiments were not possible (like the lecture on marsupials, for instance) visual aid came in the form of a slide show.

The teachers were also much more informal _ some even came to class in shorts and T-shirts! This made the student feel more at home with them. Though some might imagine that this approach may be abused by student's misbehaving, in fact it was not. Rather, they tuned in more… I mean who would you rather listen to _ a teacher? Or a friend?

The course was quite intense due to the short time within which it was held (only 2 weeks). However, the organizers made sure that the students got healthy breaks from classes, such as a musical one night, a trip to town on another, and a weekend away at camp.

All in all, I'd say that it was one of the most well organized events I have ever attended, and a truly enriching experience!

Rati Seth - Class XII - B

EDITORIAL BOARD

Swati Sood, Rishab Sareen,
Svati Goyal, Saranya Misra, 
Arnav Sharma, Varini Sharma, 
Ashish Aggarwal, Anna Ahmed and 
Yaman Verma

Sports Desk

Rohan Arora

Editor
Ashotosh Kumar

Down Memory Lane