NEWSLETTER
6th March 2006

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SCHOOL WATCH

19th February : Adventure camps start!
22nd February : Class 2 visit to Lotus Temple
23rd February : Class 1 visit to Mughal Gardens
28th February : Science Day
3rd March : Rendezvous: A Musical Evening!

An Enthralling Day with Science!

On the 28th of Feb, we witnessed the amazing dynamics of Science in our school, brought about by our very own students. An action filled day, it was enjoyable for one and all. We kick started the day with numerous displays of experiments and models by the students of classes 5 to 9. The students of class 10 put up remarkable photographs of environmental calamities. Even the busy students of class 12 pitched in by putting up their own ‘Psyntific corner’. If you are wondering what in the world ‘psyntific’ is, it is basically a whole section dedicated to psychology and the science of illusions.
Another major attraction of the science day was the Pet show in which the students of VVS brought their versatile pets to school. From dangerous looking K9s to adorable turtles, we saw the love Vasant Valleyites have for the animal world (never mind the fact that it is still kept caged!).
The day went on with aplomb as the whole school descended to watch the science gurus of class 10 wage a battle of wits against each other in the Science Quiz. Green house won followed closely by Red house.
The war wasn’t over as students of Class 12 took over the battlefield in a war of words with a debate on the controversial topic “Is BT cotton safe?” Minhaj Adil won the best speaker followed by Zoya Brar.
After everything was over, Mr. Kapur called out the names of the winners (names are available on the net), all of whom strutted to the stage and collected their mementoes. The science magazine was then released amidst much clapping and cheering(?!) with the approval and praise of Mr. Kapur.
So ended the Vasant Valley Science day as tired souls trudged back to their classrooms!
Ankit Kishore 12 B

Class 12 Camp: Alaknanda Rafting

This year’s camp was not different from all the rest. We slept in tents, rafted down the Alaknanda, warmed ourselves next to the bonfire and i-podded our way through long and grueling bus and train journeys. The only difference was that instead of stepping out of the bus into our parent’s eager arms with nothing but the thought of going home and having a three hour long bath and an unearthly sleep, we wanted nothing more than to get back onto that bus and freeze ourselves in the moment like a photograph well taken. This wasn’t because this camp happened to be the most adrenalin packed and adventure filled trip out of all its predecessors but because we knew that it was the last one ever and that it marked the beginning of the end of the final chapter of our schooling lives.
It may sound clichéd and flowery but this trip was, in some strange way successful in helping us discover who we are and where we’re headed. It helped me figure out which are the people whom I’ll know and remember twenty years from now and which are the ones which will become just a faint part of my memory rediscovered from time to time in faded class photographs. Despite the evident differences which seem amplified more than ever as we grow up into completely unique individuals, there were moments through out the camp when you couldn’t help but feeling that the person rowing right next to you seemed like a younger brother or an older sister. Lying down on the sand, listening to the Beatle’s ‘Yesterday’ in fifteen or sixteen different pitches, sung by twelve or thirteen hoarse throats somehow sounded like the most in tune and soulful music ever to touch my young ears. The teachers too who came along with us for the trip seemed more like friends than ever before. Mr. Wayne, Mr. Chetri, Mr. Trivedi, Ms. Handa, Ms. Neelkanthan and Ms. Sayam all joined in on our childish humor and intense water fights. They were always there to hear out all the stories of the teenage soap opera that is the school camp and lend words of encouragement and advice much like a close friend. They treated us like adults and gave us freedom and their trust, which we reciprocated with our mostly responsible behavior.
Negotiating tremendous rapids such as ‘The Wall’ and ‘Three Blind Mice’, camping in a different location everyday, setting up our own tents and improvised shelters, sleeping next to the bonfire in the cool beach sand just added to the charm of a camp which would have been special even if it had been in the big field of our school. For once it wasn’t the location of the trip which was its greatest asset but the people who I spent it with, who sometimes feel more like family than just classmates. And as we grow up and move on with our lives, I am sure we will come across a picture of us huddled together, in a moment of true ecstasy, and remember that it is the journey and not the end which brings us true elation and that this trip was one such journey.
Nakul Dev 12 A

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BOOK REVIEW:
READ THIS IF YOU HAVE, OR WOULD LIKE TO HAVE, A BRAIN

“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
Jonathan Safran Foer
From The Back Cover:
Nine-Year Old Oskar Schell is an inventor, amateur entomologist, computer consultant, Francophile, letter writer, pacifist, amateur astronomer, natural historian, percussionist, romantic, Great Explorer, jeweller, origamist, detective, vegan and collector of butterflies.
When his father is killed in the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, Oskar sets out to solve the mystery of a key he discovers in his father’s closet. It is a search which leads him into the lives of strangers, through the five boroughs of New York, into history, to the bombings of Dresden and Hiroshima, and on an inward journey which brings him ever closer to some kind of peace…
My Take:
This piece of popular literature is a book-lover’s hidden treasure. I stumbled upon it accidentally on one of my inconspicuous visits to the Senior School Library. It appears to be an amateur writer’s failed experiment, but if one is bold enough to try to read it, one realises its true potential (hence the expression: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”).
In Foer’s second novel (the first, “Everything Is Illuminated”, is in the process of being made into a major Hollywood movie), he uses interesting styles of writing, graphics, pictures and abstract illustrations randomly throughout the book to convey the spirit of what he is talking about. In case you’re not convinced, another positive factor is that Foer was born in 1977, which makes him almost as young as the actors on hit teen soap operas like The OC (yes ladies, 16 year old “Seth” is, in fact, 29). Thus, he writes in a way that can be understood by the younger generation, without patronising the reader.
In my view, it easily surpasses other works of contemporary literature like J.D.Salinger’s “Catcher In The Rye”, Mark Haddon’s “The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time” etc. It has a subtle edge to it, and is not for unimaginative people who prefer to stick to more literal and conventional renditions.
If you’re looking for a good way to pass the time, to immerse yourself in modern literature, or simply to broaden your horizons beyond badly-written English textbooks, this is definitely the book for you.
Saranya Misra 12 A


Soap review-General hospital

What do you get when you put together desperate two-bit actors, very bad graphics and a hotel on fire?? Take a wild guess… General Hospital. General Hospital has been around for a couple of DECADES (or at least it seems so) ….don‘t buildings burn down by then??? Does anyone really care for a stupid hotel that’s been on fire for at least 25 episodes? And have the producers never heard of FIREMEN??! If you think that this show is better than ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’, think again. And don’t tell anyone because you might just be shipped off to a mental asylum. Its hard to believe that this show had been rated as America's top show once upon a time (probably around the time television was invented…)and that most of it’s viewers consisted of the elderly and Simon Cowell(now that I can believe). Let’s face the facts: there is no hope for this show. No one really knows why it’s still on television. All we know is that if you want to remain sane, never watch Star World at 4pm on weekdays… it might just scar you for life.
Anandini Rathore, Diva Gujral and Ashrika Kohli

School Lunch

The regularity with which one groans at seeing what there is for lunch is astounding. The lunch served on the customary black or red plastic trays has always been known for its flavorsome ‘dessert’ and not so flavorsome lunch. Admittedly, the food is not all that bad and once in a while people fight over it and all the lessons we have learnt on sharing are temporarily thrown out of the window. However, some of the meals could be improved but at the end of the day we just come back home and eat (and eat and eat).
One just wishes that there could be some imagination and creativity instead of the same menu every week. Perhaps plastic spoons should be supplied as eating with a spoon made out of foil tends to increase the amount of aluminium intake rather than the food intake. A lot of people throw their food out of the windows- further illustrating the fondness for school lunch. We students, though, should understand that we cannot have our favorite food everywhere we go. A canteen may not be a bad idea but then how many of us will actually eat school lunch and how many of us will have pocket money leftover at the end of the month? It has been suggested that non-vegetarian dishes should be served. Though not a bad idea, non-vegetarian food spoils in hot weather and our school nurse will run out of  ‘digenes’ far too quickly.
We don’t want (honestly!) fast food served at school, but surely healthy meals don’t have to be boring? If we could just get something different now and then, everyone could be happy.
Akbar Iqbal 10

Hi5: Unveiled and Exposed!

You are invited to open a free account at Hi5/Ringo/Zede/Birthday Alarm.
When was the last time anything in this world came for free? These friend networks are no exceptions to the rule. Almost EVERYONE knows about Hi5, Ringo, Zede or Birthday Alarm; and almost everyone is a member of at least one of these. Sure, they may seem quite helpful and necessary, what with keeping a tab on all of your friends’ birthdays, maintaining a friends’ network that expands as you make more new friends and also getting to know more people or more about people. But these popular forums have one thing in common; they all sell our personal information to sponsoring companies for “research” purposes. So without your permission, all your personal details are sold to complete strangers and one can only imagine for what purposes. Recently, a case of abuse was also reported. A girl’s photograph from Hi5 was taken and morphed onto a body for an adult website.
Find it hard to believe? Here are some excerpts from Hi5’s privacy policy:
1. Hi5 may combine information about you that we have, with information we obtain from business partners or other companies. Once you register with hi5 and sign in to our services, you are not anonymous to us. Hi5 collects information about your transactions with us and with some of our business partners. Hi5 automatically receives and records information on our server logs from your browser.
2. We may use your profile information and photos on the hi5 website and when we send emails. Additionally, when you send email invitations to join hi5, we may use your email address.
3. Hi5 may set and access hi5 cookies on your computer. Hi5 lets other companies that show advertisements on some of our pages set and access their cookies on your computer.
4. In the course of serving advertisements to this site, our third-party advertiser may place or recognize a unique ‘cookie’ on your browser.
In this age where all of us are constantly on the net, we need to understand the threats being made to our privacy. Whether it is denying a website from sending a cookie to restricting your personal information for foreign use, we need to be aware of what we are getting into.
The solution is not to just close your account, you can continue being a member of any of these sites; just make sure you change your Privacy Policy to actually protect your privacy!
Jaagriti Seth and Svati Goyal (12 C)

 
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Class 3 Camp: Siddiqui Nagar

We left school at around 7:00. After a long journey, we reached the campsite at lunchtime. After that we put our luggage into our dormitories and then were divided into four groups. Two groups went on a tractor ride and saw the village and a brick factory while the other two went for sand modeling and artificial rock-climbing. That night we had a talent show. The next day we inter-changed our activities. That night we had a disco and danced till late in the morning. We had a lot of fun. The next morning we went for a nature walk. When we reached the camp we loaded our bags and left. We had a lot of fun and everybody was happy to see their parents.
Vishrut Nanda (3 C)

Class 4 Camp: Jim Corbett National Park

This February we went to Jim Corbett National Park for our adventure camp. We were extremely excited and really looked forward to our trip. We camped in the wilderness near a dense jungle. We stayed in huge tents with our teachers. Our camping area was beautiful as it was surrounded by hills. The day we reached, we trekked to a nearby village and we saw green fields full of crops like wheat and rice. The next day, on the way to the river Kosi, we went through green, enchanted woods. When we reached the river there was a lot of algae and moss. Inside the river, everyone started splashing water on each other. We had a fantabulous time. After that we went rafting. It was the first time for many of us. That night, after eating dinner we saw an extremely sad movie called ‘The Ghost and the Darkness’. Many of us started crying and left the movie in the middle. The next day we left early in the morning for the safari. We saw many animals like sambhar, barking deer and spotted deer. Unfortunately, we didn’t see a tiger even though we saw fresh pug marks of the tiger. We went to Kalagundi by bus and saw Corbett’s house and his dogs Robin and Rosina’s grave. We then went to a waterfall which wasn’t very large but a grand sight. It was a fantastic experience and we all wished we could go there again. The last night, we had a mid night feast and a gala time. We had a great time at camp and are already awaiting our next trip!

If I were a Kite

A Dragon Kite, I would surely be,
Brave, courageous and fiery red,
Spitting poison into nasty beasts,
“But only if I were a kite!”
I would soar very high through the dazzling blue sky.
Like an eagle,
Always brave and patient,
But never forget my main value,
“To always make people laugh!”
Be cheerful and happy
And encourage other kites to fly
Talk to the moon and stars
As I go on my path into the sky!
But I’m surely not a kite as of now,
Not soaring high in the vast blue sky,
But still this thought that I’m not a kite,
Doesn’t stop me from imagining that I can be one,
And of course talking to the moon and stars from my
balcony at night!
All this and much more !
Still I’m not a kite,
And I wonder when I’ll achieve my dream?
And am patiently waiting for it to come true!
Vasudha Dixit (5 C)

Class 5 Camp: Beasi

We could hardly wait till we reached. Though the journey was long and tiresome we knew there would be a reward at the other end. When we reached Beasi we were amazed to see the lovely scenery. The gurgling river dazzling in the sun, the swishing waves leaving beautiful impressions on the sand. It was breathtaking. Then we were allotted in groups of 7 to our tents. Every evening we spent around the campfire sharing jokes, acting, singing, dancing and performing skits. What an incredible experience river rafting was!! Mickey Mouse and Three Blind Mice were especially enjoyable. It was fun rowing all by our selves under the guidance of our instructor. In and out of the swirling waves we went down the river Ganges. We also went for a four hour long trek when we heard some amazing sounds which I can never forget like the sounds of various mountain birds and the soft rustling of the lush trees and the trotting of an unseen creature. The dip in the holy Ganges after the trek was incredible. The teachers also joined us in some water fights, which were lots of fun. We had also had a sand castle making competition! As a reward we got a whole packet of sweets. Food at the camp was a delicious blend of Indian and Western.
Being our last camp in Junior School, there seemed to be a sense of anticipation for the events waiting ahead and also some sort of acceptance regarding our circumstances. Personally, we had not reconciled to the fact that this was our last camp in junior school. However, we were determined not to let that get in the way of any and all enjoyment headed our way. All to soon, the 3 awesome days came to an end. All in all it was a great experience and a camp we will always remember.
Sharanya Thakur & Vasudha Dixit

Class 5 Lords of the Sand Castles!

Class 7 Camp: Dak Pathar

For this year’s camp, we went to Dak Pathar (Dehradun) “not” loaded with cameras, walkmans and ipods in Volvo buses. On the bus ride we danced to Rang de Basanti and Bluffmaster songs and ate loads of tuck. When we reached, we divided ourselves into 4 groups for activities and games. We went for rappelling, river crossing and trekking. We played soccer, cricket, badminton and volleyball and at night we performed plays around the campfire. There was a group of people who FREAKED us out by spreading a rumour of seeing a lady ghost in a white sari and red bangles. We left camp with happy, sad and eager faces in the Volvo buses, still dancing, playing and eating!
Mallika Pal and Megha Mehdiratta (7 B)
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Class 8 Camp: Camp Panther

For camp this year, Class VIII went to Camp Panther at Rishikesh. It was packed with fun and excitement. We left Delhi on the 20th of February 2006, which was a Monday. Usually a universally hated day, that particular Monday was one we all looked forward to. We were divided into three buses, and according to most, the bus rides were almost as fun as the rest of camp. We stopped at Cheetal Grande for a light breakfast, and soon carried on to camp. Our destination was a gorgeous encampment, a true luxury camp. On reaching we were given a briefing, and then allotted our tents (which had attached bathrooms, with which we were quite pleased). Having consumed lunch hungrily, we were divided into three groups, each of which went for a different activity- a nature walk, rappelling, or a series of outdoor activities (which consisted of pitching tents, making bonfires and tying knots). We woke up early the next day, went for exercises, ate our breakfast, and then went for the activity we had all looked forward to: River rafting. We enjoyed it thoroughly, of course. The next day was also spent rafting across dangerous rapids. We left Rishikesh for Delhi the next day, again stopping at Cheetal for a meal. We also made VVS camping history: instead of reaching school later than the intended time, we actually arrived earlier!
This camp was a memorable one. It was filled with laughter as well as tears, fun times as well as sad ones, and I can easily say that none of us will forget it anytime soon!
Ayesha Malik (8 C)

Class 10 Camp: NEHRU INSTITUTE OF MOUNTANEERING
Redefining ‘fun’?

They say “All good things come to an end”, maybe that’s why we all felt like this year’s camp was never-ending.
We left for Uttarkashi on the 19th night from the Old Delhi railway station. The train journey, followed by the eight hour bus ride to reach NIM raised quite a few grumbles... “Too much traveling.” (Akbar Iqbal); “It was extremely bad.” (Aneesha Dass).When we finally reached the institute, we were all…disappointed. There were no tents; we were to reside in rooms. The official-in -charge candidly informed us, there was to be no ‘intermingling’ of boys and girls-which led us to wonder what exactly they thought we would do…At night we were actually locked in corridors…“It was like a jail.”(Ansh Karha); “Tihar jail is better” (Harshvardhan Singh).The food at NIM deserves special mention…“The food was the same everyday” (Rochisha Shukla) “No comments” (Kalyani Krishnan).But Wonjun Chang describes it best... “Bad.” There were some ‘ups’ to the camp too. We had a night out where we slept in tents and rock-climbing and rappelling proved to be fun. River crossing was perhaps the epitome of fun we had this camp-we got to walk through the water and take dips in the river (apparently whatever we wished for when we dipped would come true). Most of our wishes did come true-camp ended. All in all, the students have to say…“Camp was a disaster.”(Karshan Sharma); “Boring” (Nikhil Ledlie); “It was military camp” (Disha Brara); “It was the worst camp I’ve ever been to” (Shatrunjay Devvrat) and to sum up the ethos of what we felt…“Ï don’t like camp” (Karanvir Singh).Although, the teachers who accompanied us maintain that camp was ‘fun’, we wonder what their definition of the word really is…
Nikhita Venkateish (10)

Class 10 chilling out at NIM!

Class 6 Camp: Shivpuri

At six a.m. in the morning our tired parents brought us excited children to school. At six thirty a.m., the buses left for Shivpuri with the excited chatter of class sixes who were going to have loads of fun in Shivpuri. We stopped for a quick bite at Cheetal Grand and then headed towards the mountains. After reaching a certain point we took out all our luggage and loaded it into a raft. Then we rafted across to the Shivpuri Beach Camp. First the do’s and don’ts were explained to us. Then we went into our tents and later enjoyed activities such as Tug-of -war and singing songs next to the bonfire. Of course the food we had at dinner was delicious, and then we had a good night’s sleep as we had a busy day ahead of us. The next day we were divided into different groups: some went for kayaking, others went rafting.
While kayaking we took rounds of the Ganges and even played around and swam in the river. While rafting we wore life-jackets and paddled around with ores in our hands, steering our rafts towards rapids such as Crossfire, Butterfly, Three blind mice and Return to Sender. The next day we had rope-course activities (after our morning trek). The activities included rappelling, Flying fox, River-crossing and Burma Bridge. All were equally fun and exciting. The evening was particularly thrilling, as there was a forest fire at the top of the mountain. The fire was quite close to our campsite but, of course, it didn’t reach us.
In the morning we packed our bags and headed towards our buses. We had a great time in Shivpuri and we couldn’t wait to tell our families about everything we did at camp.
Akhila Khanna (6)

Class 8 : Peek-a-boo
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That kite

I saw a kite sailing by,
Through the dazzling blue sky.
It was floating around on a
blue bowl,
Like a playful little soul.
It was jazzy and bright,
That little pink kite.
It made my heart soar,
And I wanted to be aboard.
Ragini Kothari (5 C)

My cat is very fat,

It likes to sit on a mat,
It likes to play ball and bat,
He says I am going to eat that rat.
Riya Kothari II C

Ten rabbits holding arose,
But only nine are going to pose.
Nine elephants are having fun,
Dark sun-glasses keep out the sun.
Four pandas look so sweet,
Enjoying a picnic treat.
Jahnvi Toshniwal II C

Class 9 Oars up!

Class 9 Camp: Sattal

The Sattal camp may have not been such a hit with us as compared to the current class10’s but it was still exciting. However, we have to admit our third class train journey was better than the camp. First off was the extremely tiring overnight journey and we didn’t even get an hour of sleep when we got there, but to highlight the main aspects of camp (leaving out all the sentiment and controversy) there were the tedious activities like rappelling and rock climbing then the barely tolerable one like ghost stories ,the fun ones like the trip to the village where we had to find our lunch (this is one of our personal favourites), kayaking, the waterfall trip, and river crossing, the death defying ones like playing soccer with waste and the treasure hunt trek…..and lastly the incredibly stupid and funny ones like the night trek to the haunted lake and the levitation scam and lets not fail to mention the MONKEYS displaying their lifestyle habits (one of them actually urinated on us and the rest of them just raided all our food). But after all of this camp finally came to a peaceful end, some people were delighted, some people were sad; others were just relieved to be back. But altogether it was an awesome experience!!
Anandini Rathore and Vanshika Wadhwa (9)

Delhi Darshan

I went with my class for the Delhi Darshan to see all the monuments in New Delhi. I enjoyed myself a lot. First, we passed Delhi Haat and other buildings such as Jindal House. We even saw the Reserve Bank of India, Doordarshan and All India Radio buildings. Finally, we passed the beautiful Parliament house. From there we went to India Gate, where we stopped and got down to see it more closely. We could see lots of Indian soldiers’ names written on each brick. There was a soldier’s hat and his gun kept in the middle of the monument. Our teacher told us that they keep a wreath of flowers there and change it everyday in the memory of the soldiers. It was a delightful trip, and I had fun learning about the city I was born in and am being brought up in.
Aastha Kamra (5 B)

MY BIG FAT INDIAN WEDDING

That time of year has come where most of us are carted off to meet our fourths cousins’ sisters’ niece at a wedding. For me it is a terrible time of the year as I end up wearing the weirdest of clothes (no offence to those who like multi colored kurta pajamas) and end up eating myself silly (which I should certainly not be doing). This is not a satire of an Indian wedding but instead it is merely a view through my eyes. I arrive at the destination (which is a farm house at least an hour away from civilization) guided merely by an almost unreadable and irrelevant map at eight thirty ‘sharp‘ just as the card tells me to. I stand there in the blistering cold and around forty-five minutes later the grooms car rolls through the driveway. We are greeted warmly by our distant relations and my cheeks are almost pulled right off my face. We walk in and wait for the other guests to arrive. As I stand there (once again in the cold) I notice the set up of the area. It is typically an Indian wedding. A large variety of meat set ups (investigated by a quite a few insects) are set up in one corner. The bar is open to all and there is a dance floor for those who are too drunk to know what they are actually supposed to be doing. The 'barat' comes strolling in at nine thirty and a few are showing their enthusiasm by actually trying to dance. Their hands are sore and bruised as they have been carrying presents for the newlyweds (Note: These presents shall be passed on later during another cousins wedding). Then they come towards a large canopy and the official cameraman is trying to take pictures of everyone. This is pretty much impossible as people avoid the blinding floodlight yet he keeps prompting everyone to look his way. By ten forty five majority of people are on the dance floor and are egged on by a crooner who is singing the worst songs. Still there is one thing that surpasses all these, that one thing that binds Indians together and a major feature at all Indian weddings food. The sight of twenty people raiding a food stall and fighting over the last chicken tikka or eating tons of low quality ice cream really takes the cake. By now I am pretty sure that either everyone has gone home or too drunk to notice so I go to the corner somewhere and fall off to sleep.
Bhavik Singh (9)

The Rainbow Flower

Once upon a time there was a flower named colourless who lived in a huge garden. In that garden there were many other flowers too. The problem was that all the other flowers used to laugh at her, because she had no colours at all!
One night suddenly she hard a soft voice speaking to her that said, “Why are you crying, colourless?” Colourless lifted her head and saw the queen of flowers. She bowed and said, “Your majesty, all the flowers keep laughing and teasing me just because I have no colour.”
The queen said, “Well than close your eyes till you do not finish counting ten.”
In that time, the queen waved her magic wand and chanted a spell. When colourless finished counting she had got all the colours that were in the rainbow. She thanked the queen. The next morning all the other flowers were amazed to see that colourless was nowhere to be seen, but they saw the most beautiful flower sleeping in colourless’ place. When she opened her eyes, they exclaimed, “Who are you?”
“I am Colourless”
They all then said in a chorus, “No, you are the most colourful flower in the whole garden; we will call you ‘The Rainbow Flower’
Jahanavi Srinivasan (4 A)
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Senses of Humor (Lame Jokes)

“A doctor opened a man’s skull and found two parts to his brain. He said that the right one was right (alright) and the left one was wrong”
Cracker : Mukund Sharma
“Why did the one armed man cross the road?
To get to the second hand shop”
Cracker : Akbar Iqbal
“There were three ants and the one on the left said that there were only two. Why did he say that?
Because he was lying”
Cracker : Unspoken Hero
“The early bird catches the worm, but I don’t like worms so I’ll be late”
Cracker : Abhay Singh
“What did the book shop say to the mobile phone?
Buy my books before they ‘cell’ out.”
Cracker : Jahan Nargolwala
“Why are you so short?”
“Because greatness comes in small packages”
“But you aren’t the complete package, are you?”
Cracker : Karan Sangwan
“What would our school be called if it was totally empty?”
“Vacant Valley School”
Cracker : Varun Sharma
“What do you call a sheep without legs?”
“A cloud!”
Cracker : Varun Sharma
Kunal Datta (9)

Hey Now! You're an All Star,
get your game on, go play!

2005 saw the eastern All Star team end a three year winning streak for the West with a 125-115 victory and all time favorite Allen Iverson stealing MVP honours. They were back with a bang this year, although the game on the whole seemed much more competitive.
The best thing about the All Star game is that it acquaints basketball fans with a very different dimension of the game, one they are sure to look forward to and remember. The kind of basketball played provides watchers with a superior perspective of the sport, the brightest stars of the Eastern Conference pitted against the best performers of the West, this is the kind of stuff fans die for, and to add to the verve you have the three point shootout, the rookie challenge, skills challenge, shooting stars and the ever popular slam dunk competition. Moreover to top it all there were performances by the Houston Symphonic Orchestra and Destiny’s Child this year. The Toyota Centre at Houston came alive for the weekend starting on the 18th of last month.
The game started amid loud cheers, as Tracy Mcgrady helped the West dominate a very one-sided first half on his home court. The second half however saw a turnaround; Lebron James helped the East recover from a 21 point deficit to actually win the 2006 All Star game. James, who scored 29, clinched the MVP award to disappoint hopeful TMac fans.
Apart from getting fans glued to their TV screens the All Star game gives players an opportunity to go out on to the court and have some fun, play the game the way they love to and show off the skills that make them who they are, something sport in India has seemingly failed to accomplish. That in essence is the true concept of sport, a lost paradigm that events like the All Star aim to relive.
By Minhaj Adil (12)

An Ode to Alternative Rock

The fifties were the hippie age, the sixties was when rock was born, the Beatles with their pop(py) songs ruled the seventies, the eighties was M.Js domain and the nineties were surrendered to boy bands like Backstreet Boys and N'sync.The twenty first century marks the emergence of techno and trance so what is left is alternative rock. This genre has been sidelined and overshadowed despite its immense popularity.
Alternative Rock was born in the 60s with pioneers like the Velvet Underground leading the way with the sole purpose of breaking free from hair metal and pop which were dominating the scene back them,. Encompassing any thing that fell into the category of “honest artful music” it soon became subdivided into different types of music like rock, gothic rock, punk rock, rap rock and the like.Its definition changed as quickly as time only to develop and metamorphasize.
Nirvana with their 'Nevermind', Metallica two decades old and still ruling the charts. Currently the “alternative scene” is ruled by bands like Green Day with their new album “American Idiot” a tribute to all with some taste in music(sorry, I swear by them).Right from the new international anthem 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams' to their less heard of 'Time Of Your Life' (from an earlier album) to the amazing 'Wake me up when September Ends' (with an awful video might I add!!) to their somewhat rebellious 'Longview'. Green day is a pioneer of sorts.Other players on the Alternative scene range from the Killers with their 'Somebody Told Me' and Mr.Brightside mix of metal and rock to the somewhat more sensitive Switchfoot and Lifehouse.Linkin Park(LP) another heavyweight in this arena contributed majorly to the advance of this art form.With Hybrid Theory catapulting to success Meteora and Hybrid Theory Remix strenghthed their stance.If we started to name the bands and their songs which have suddenly cropped up in the Alternative scene the list would be endless. I conclude saying that, be it with their superior lyrics, different instruments, limitless diversity in sound alternative rock rules, so pop (yuck!) lovers, oldies followers make way.
Alternative Rocks here and its here to stay!
Nivedita Venkateish (12 C)

Crash (Drama) ***1/2

What do you get when you put together a debutant director and an eccentric storyline? A wonderfully enthralling film that deals with a subject that’s as old as the hills – racism. Paul Haggis recreates a day in the life of an average LA citizen, complete with white versus black conflict that continues to rip apart the social fabric.Starring Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Ryan Phillippe, Brendan Fraser, and Matt Dillon,, in this intense drama, you have people shedding their biases and people oscillating between trust and distrust. Racial stereotyping is still a scourge and tolerance still a far cry in post-modern societies. Crash proves that racial equality in America is still just a dream. Crash probes, shocks, frustrates and humors to create a film so contemporary; you just can’t miss it.
Avanti Gupta (10)

EDITORIAL BOARD
Anadini Rathore, Ashrika Kohli, Bhavik Singh, Kunal Dutta, Sara Chatterjee, Vanshika Wadhwa, Akbar Iqbal, Avanti Gupta, Diva Gujral, Jahan Nargolwala, Mahi Titus, Soumya Dasgupta, Arjun Srihari, Jaagriti Seth, Nakul Dev, Nivedita Venkateish, Samad Ali, Saranya Misra

Sports Desk: Minhaj Adil

Editor: Svati Goyal