Confluence 2015

We, a group of 16 students, were fortunate to avail the opportunity of representing The Indian School at Confluence 2015 held at Singapore International School in Mumbai on 16 October, 2015. We were accompanied by Ms. Gandharvi Mukherjee, our teacher, who guided and supported us through the trip. On 14 October at 4:30 pm, our fun-filled journey began as we boarded the train to Borivili from New Delhi railway station. In the company of friends and in much excitement, the sixteen hour train journey passed swiftly and comfortably. We reached Mumbai on the 15th morning and headed for the GCC Hotel and Club, Mumbai. We settled in and rested for a while, after which we went to the host school for lunch. Two students from the Singapore International School (SIS) were kind enough to show us around their beautiful campus. Later in the evening, we returned to the school, where a sumptuous dinner and barbeque awaited us! Moving back to our hotel, we called it a day.

The next day, proved to be an eventful one! The opening ceremony was a pleasure to watch. There were dance and music performances which mesmerised the audience. The highlight of the ceremony was the speech by Mr. Parnab Mukherjee, moderator of the debate. He not only spoke of the importance of debating but also talked of the paradigm shift within debating nowadays. Mr. Mukherjee explained that the old classic debate format is considered to be elocution and not debating anymore. He recommended newspaper reading on a daily basis to keep oneself abreast with current affairs. He stressed how this habit could come very handy while debating. He revealed that preparation for a debate could not be done at short notice. It needs to be backed with regular reading inputs through the year. Next, participants were escorted to the various venues for their events. Twenty reputed schools from all over the country competed in Confluence 2015. Just to name a few, Dhirubhai Ambani School (Mumbai), Childrens Academy, Sunbeam School (Varanasi),Genesis Global (Delhi) and Hiranandani School (Mumbai). Sejal Bansal and Vani Bhalla of class X were all set to represent our School in Impressions- the Art Competition in the junior category for Cartooning, while Himanshi Saini and Aanchal Juneja of class XI participated in the same event in the senior category. Priyansh Agarwal (class IX) and Vatsala Banerjee (class X) took part in the junior category of Innuendo-Craft a Poem Competition while Avni Bhatia (class XII) and Surabhi Sanghi (class XI) competed in the senior category. Incubation-the Creative Writing Competition saw the enthusiastic participation of Avantika Chodha and Arham Mehta (class IX), while Simran Narula (class XI), Tushar Seth (class XI) and Sangeet Khanna (class X) competed in Inquisition-the Quiz Competition. Shubham Airi, Sakshi Lohia of class XI and Pranati Haldia (class XII) participated in Instil-the Debate Competition. Our efforts were applauded by all present . Vatsala Banerjee took the first position in the junior category of Innuendo, while Vani Bhalla was declared winner of Impressions. Pranati Haldia received the the Best Speaker-Extempore award. We were quite overwhelmed with our harvest of prizes! It was indeed a matter of great pride for all of us as we were able to bring honours for our School. We are thankful for invaluable opportunity and we will strive to bring many more such laurels to our in School in the future too. -Avni Bhatia and Pranati Haldia (XII-C) with inputs from Ms. Gandharvi Mukherjee.