BBC School report :2nd Milestone

International Literary Boundaries Broken At Milan Mela, Kolkata, India

From Charles Dickens to Chetan Bhagat, from Valerio Massimo Manfredi to Vikram Seth, literature converged at Milan Mela from 26-31st January 2012. The Calcutta Literary Meet was held by the British Councli to celebrate the bicentenary of the 19th century writer, Charles Dickens.
The event was inaugrated by novelist, poet, librettist, translator and humourist Vikram Seth and author Sunil Gangopadhay.Side by side, the Annual Kolkata Book Fair also commenced on 25th January, 2012, with Italy being the theme this time. To commemorate the theme, a model of the Leaning Tower of Pisa was built and a special stall was set up which contained books by Italian authors put on display.
The British Council invited contemporary writers all across India to this event like Chetan Bhagat, Amish, Shirshendu Mukhopadhay and Vikram Seth. Archaeologist, professor at Luigi University at Milan and writer Valerio Massimo Manfredi's visit to India saw him speaking on how literature gets strengthened by history.
Besides the famous authors, the umpteen number of books also grabbed the attention of the masses. It has almost become a tradition for more or less the entire population of Kolkata to visit the annual Book Fair in the twelve days it is held. The tremendous crowd did not deter the visitors from buying their favourite books, or even checking out their favourite stalls. The children flocked to the Dante and Mark Twain pavilions.
We had our students from DPS Newtown attending the Reading Room session. They were Sushmit of Class-VII and Nilabro of Class-VI. Sushmit said, "I liked the stalls put up by British Council and Oxford. We had Scarlett Cook from the British Council reading a chapter from Oliver Twist." Nilabro said that Vikram Seth came to introduce his new book, 'The Rivered Earth'. They liked the fact that the Meet was advanced and better administered.
Most of the cities were not left behind in this attempt, be it Jaipur or Hyderabad ,as in the words of Jai Arun Singh, writer and blogger, "It gets a bit tiring. Almost every city and town wants to have a literary festival of its own."
Despite being only two days apart, The Jaipur Literary Festival and The Calcutta Literary Meet were on completely different idealogies. The Jaipur Literary Festival was based on authors and literary figures while The Calcutta Literary Meet was more on books and publications. For Calcutta, it was a significant first.

COMPILED BY:- BBC School Correspondants from DPS Newtown, Kolkata-Sayanti, Semanti, Anmol.

Greener Future Beckons DPS Newtown
At a time when nature is revolting against humans,it is up to the students to make a difference . As a responsible organisation,DPS Newtown has adopted sustainable development.
One of the foremost steps taken by the students is litter management.Despite having dustbins, students need to be more aware about waste disposal methods.
The school's Eco-Club students are striving hard to bring about a difference by segregating bio-degradable and non-biodegradable wastes. This endeavour of the student spilled on to the neighbourhood where they participated in a 'Cleanup Drive'.
Students after being interviewed were of the opinion that lack of cleanliness is due to lack of awareness. Nayanika of class IX , after witnessing a sapling plantation program in school , feels that such activities are necessary as well as easy for the students to participate.
As part of the national Inter-DPS Documentary Competition and an EVS project the students took a trip to Kolkata's largest waste disposal ground(Dhapa) , where they had an insight into waste disposal methods . This was an eye-opening experience. The students were influenced and had a urge to make a difference to the society. The Annual Day theme on the 26th November,was 'Prakriti Parikrama' , where the issue of conserving the environment was mooted.
The school Interact Club has taken it upon themselves to provide a greener future for the students by introducing activities like composting and gardening and making DPS a plastic free zone. Aniket, president of the Interact Club says," With everybody's co-operation and combined effort, we hope to make the best out of waste, leading to a cleaner society."


News compiled by BBC School Reporters from DPS Newtown- Anmol, Sayanti, Semanti, Sukanya.

Let KOLKATA surprise you!!

Delhi may have all the power, Mumbai may have all the money, Bangalore may have the best weather but only Kolkata has all the hearts...a city that breathes and lives with its people......Love U Kolkata....for me its not just a city, its not just my home....but the best days of my life!

Update from Hillcrest

Hello all at DPS

We have been working on a few mini projects this term, including learning all about Indian food, and creating some British menus and recipes of our own cooking to send over to you so that you can see that side of our culture. We will be sending these over shortly.

We have also been looking at the climates of both of our countries, comparing that of India to our own and recording our findings in a graph. We will also send you this soon!

Christmas

Hope all is well at DPS! We have been looking at your posts and are very excited to see all of the things that you have been getting up to.

We have had a very busy term at Hillcrest and things have been a little hectic in the build up to Christmas - our favourite time of year! We are all preparing by putting up decorations and writing Christmas cards to each other - in fact, we have written some for you too and you will receive them shortly! Christmas is a very special time in the UK and many houses are decorated with lights, putting up trees and exchanging gifts. We all have 2 weeks off at Christmas, so you won't be hearing much from us!

Theatre Workshop at DPS Newtown

The Theatre Club that is set up in our school by Ms. Anjana Saha [Vice-Principal] after the visit from the U.K. The Theatre Club consists of twenty seven members.

The students are all from the eleventh grade. They conduct their meetings every Thursday from 2pm to 4pm. The students are working on Macbeth.

The play, Macbeth, starts with a war. Hence the students had to act out a war scene. They were divided into groups of three. First the students discussed issues related to war. For example what one soldier would feel for another soldier in the opposition, where the battle would be fought, what types of weapons would be used. The discussion was highly animated and we received some really different and well thought out answers.
The students were given black chart paper, paint and scissors and were asked to prepare weapons to enact their scene. However, they had to add the Indian touch in terms of weapons used and where the battle would be fought.
They were given time to prepare the weapons after which some hilarious and patrioitic acts were put up.

The response from the students has been highly encouraging and they have loads of ideas in mind. We hope to keep the spirit enthused and carry the theatre club ahead.<!--[endif]-->

Cleanliness Drive at DPS Newtown

‘Service before self” being the motto of Delhi Public School Newtown, we the members of the DPS Family work jointly for the holistic development of every child. Considering the fact that ‘Health is Wealth’, our administrative staff pays special attention to the hygienic conditions of the school because the real treasure from each child comes out only when they enjoy a happy and healthy environment in the school.

As a part of the School’s routine cleanliness plan, the Housekeeping Staff works in two shifts—one group working from 7am to 4 pm and the other from 8 am to 5 pm. During the morning hours before the school starts there is a check up of the corridor, toilets and staff rooms. The Assembly area for the morning assembly is also prepared.

During the school hours, the staff is always on their toes to give service as and when required especially in the Pre-primary and Primary department where the students though are given the basic training on maintaining healthy habits, are yet to develop them because of their tender age.Special rounds of cleaning and vigilance is done after the two breaks. This is to ensure cleanliness within the school premises and to check the misuse of water as a resource. The corridors and wash rooms are given another round of mopping and toilets are flushed to keep away from unhygienic conditions.Another thorough cleaning session starts after the school gets over. The female members of the House keeping staff gets into the dusting and dry mopping activities , collecting the garbage into big recyclable polythene-bags while the male members goes for the wet mopping of the rooms.Various cleaning agents used are Spiral R-2 for floors, Harpic or R-6 for wash rooms and Collin or R-3 for glass stains. Phenyls and room freshners also find great application.Each classroom is provided with durable dust-bins, though the segregated dust bins are yet to be provided. The garbage is collected in bulk from each class room and is regularly dumped into the Garbage dump site for the Municipality to dispose them off properly.Cleaning action during the holidays are different as thorough cleaning is done by scum machines. Pest control activities are also undertaken often.

Carnival Zephyr 2011

Delhi Public School Newtown organized the Carnival- Zephyr on 3rd and 4th December 2011. It is an event that the students as well as the teachers eagerly wait for....

Highlights of this fun-filled event are as follows- interesting games stalls put up by different classes, mouth-watering food items, exhibition stalls and last but not the least our ISA Stall.

We have four houses named after four famous rivers namely, Ganga, Brahmaputra, Narmada and Godavari.

These houses showcased special assemblies on both the days. The theme for these assemblies was India - the Land of Diverse Cultures. The traditions and the rich cultures of our country were displayed by these houses.

Godavari House showcased the Southern part , Ganga House beautifully portrayed the Western part , Brahmaputra House made us aware with the Eastern side and Narmada House depicted the Northern part of our country.

The ISA Stall was also set up for the parents and other visitors to know about the exchange programmes that are taking place in our school.

The grand finale of the event was the traditional Chinese Lion Dance. It was a brilliant performance and with that we came to an end. The wait begins again.....

CHECK OUT THE TRADITIONAL LION DANCE VIDEO!!!

The Two Bards- Both Ours

Delhi Public School Newtown proudly hosted a symposium on the two world famous bards Rabindra Nath Tagore and William Shakespeare.

Class XI students participated in this session and made a huge success.

To say a little bit about Rabindra Nath Tagore, he was born in the year 1861,

a leader of the Brahmo Samaj, which was a new religious sect in nineteenth-century Bengal and which attempted a revival of the ultimate monistic basis of Hinduism as laid down in the Upanishads. He was educated at home; and although at seventeen he was sent to England for formal schooling, he did not finish his studies there.

Although Tagore wrote successfully in all literary genres, he was first of all a poet. Among his fifty and odd volumes of poetry are Manasi (1890) [The Ideal One], Sonar Tari (1894) [The Golden Boat], Gitanjali (1910) [Song Offerings], Gitimalya (1914) [Wreath of Songs], and Balaka (1916) [The Flight of Cranes]. The English renderings of his poetry, which include The Gardener (1913), Fruit-Gathering (1916), and The Fugitive (1921) were some of his famous works.

Besides these, he wrote musical dramas, dance dramas, essays of all types, travel diaries, and two autobiographies, one in his middle years and the other shortly before his death in 1941. Tagore also left numerous drawings and paintings, and songs for which he wrote the music himself.

He won the Nobel Prize for his collection of poems known as Gitanjali in the year 1913.

Annual Day[DPS NEWTOWN]- Prakriti Parikrama

DPS NEWTOWN celebrated its Annual Day on 26th November 2011. The theme was Prakriti Parikrama or Coming Back to Nature.

The backdrop and the props were all prepared by our students. The theme was related to Mother Nature.The paintings had a touch of the famous Warli Paintings.

The Warli culture portrays one of the best examples of man - environment interaction.

Nature is considered as mother by the Warlis. It is central to all their customs and traditions.

The ritual paintings were usually done inside the huts. The walls are made of a mixture of branches, earth and cow dung, making a red ochre background for the wall paintings. The Warli use only white for their paintings. Their white pigment is a mixture of rice paste and water with gum as a binding. They use a bamboo stick chewed at the end to make it as supple as a paintbrush. The wall paintings are done only for special occasions such as weddings or harvests.