13th Dr. Amidas Goradia National Debate at The Indian School.

The 13th Dr. Amidas Goradia National Inter-School Debate in English was held at The Indian School on 5th November, 2014. The event saw overwhelming participation from over 28 prominent schools from across the country. The multi- format debate aimed at assessing the speaker on all genres of debate, namely, Turncoat, Extempore with visual linkages, Tag debate, the Modified Cambridge format and the Block and Tackle.

Mr. Parnab Mukherjee, independent media analyst, curator and performance-consultant was the moderator at this prestigious event, which is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Amidas Goradia, ancestor of our chairman and the first allopathic doctor to qualify in India ( 1863).

After the lighting of the ceremonial lamp, chairman, Mr. Prafull Goradia welcomed the participants, their teachers and the chief guest, Mr. Patrick French, eminent British writer and historian who knows India like the back of his hand, as it were.

Chief guest, Mr. Patrick French, recounted his school days as a young debater and attributed his choice of profession to the experiences garnered at the time. Although born and brought up in Great Britain he refused the offer of knighthood because he felt it might weigh down his research work in India, due to the colonial connotation it would carry. He truly exemplifies his core belief, "Wherever you go put yourself in the shoes of the local people to live a richer life! "

Mr. French emphasised how dissent is essential for the triumph of debate. He narrated how a body of celebrated minds sat over a few years of discussion and dissent before they could arrived at creating a Constitution for independent India. He entreated that we may disagree but that should not prevent us from expressing our views. He said that it is vital to develop the art of public speaking for it enables us to put across our views clearly and confidently.

The eminent panel of jurists Mr. Parnab Mukherjee ( Chair Judge), Mr. Chandan Kumar and Ms. Divya Trivedi adjudged the winners based on their spontaneity, instinct, interpretation and also their capacity to link the topic with contemporary times. The preliminary round was a combination of extempore and turncoat. The teams fiercely showed their prowess at skillful thinking, dexterously switching sides at the press of a buzzer, arguing 'for' and then counter- arguing their own points!

Sunbeam School, Bhawanpur (Varanasi), The Indian School (Delhi), Springdales, Pusa Road (Delhi) and Don Bosco School (Delhi) made it to the semi-finals for which the topics were This house believes that Marx has lost out to the supermarket and This house believes that Bollywood's idea of a biopic is adulatory and therefore a farce

Eventually The Indian School (Delhi) and Springdales, Pusa Road (Delhi) qualified for the final round. Both teams spoke on the topic This house believes that the mainstream India's depiction of Kashmir conceals much more than it reveals.

Apart from School trophies, The Prafull Foundation awarded cash prizes of Rs. 5000/- each to four meritorious speakers Shivansh Malhotra (Springdales Dhaula Kaun), Devika Vir (Vasant Valley, Vasant Kunj), Ishitaa Sengupta (Gyan Bharti) and Rakshit Mittal (B K Birla, Pune). The prizes are meant to be inspirational, encouraging students to pursue their lines of thought and belief.

The Winners Trophy was won by Springdales, Pusa Road while the runners up trophy was awarded to The Indian School. Ritwik Saha (Springdales, Pusa Road) and Pranati Haldia (The Indian School) were adjudged the Best Speakers.