Convergence, 2014

On 23 July, 2014, three of us, students, Vikramaditya Bhatnagar, Pranati Haldia, and Avni Bhatia, went to The Air Force School for the much fabled Convergence 2014. Our group, accompanied by our teacher, Ms. Charu Bhatnagar, were well prepared with the theme of the event - the Centenary of World War I and the Ghadar Party, and 75 years of Gandhijis return to India. As all three of us are students of history, this suited us well.

Pranati and I participated in a turncoat debate and in extempore speaking respectively, and later as a team for a quiz based on the themes. Avni, on the other hand, participated in a poetry- writing competition.

We spent the bulk of our travel time to the host school with our noses buried in our history books, scouring them for any last minute information that might be helpful at the event. Being the nervous adolescents we are, we repeatedly quizzed Charu maam for facts we were needed to clarify. On reaching the grand auditorium of The Air Force School, we continued our discussion amongst ourselves on the World Wars. This discussion continued until the competition finally began. Avni left for her venue, whereas Pranati and I remained in the auditorium.

As the judge of the day, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee ( not in any way related to the President, as he himself told us with a grin), announced the rules, and all those present in the room listened with rapt attention. The bombshell dropped when he said that the participants for the turncoat debate got twenty minutes to prepare. Meanwhile the participants for the extempore could come to the stage and be ready to collect a chit containing a word. But this would be handed over only when the previous speaker would start speaking. A two-minute was expected of us. Thus, I realized with a sense of impending doom that I got only two minutes to make a speech on a topic which could be as arbitrary as Hitlers moustache!

When our Schools name was called Pranati took centre stage and delivered a brilliant speech, both for and against the topic Those who forget history carelessly eventually repeat it ! I picked my brain, trying to compose a speech, from random ideas that popped in head after reading the word confront written on my chit. Pushing all thoughts of nervousness to the back of my mind, I grabbed the microphone just as Pranati finished and tried to sound as confident as possible!

After refreshments, we proceeded for the quiz. We had a rather tough time with it, and apparently, so did all the others. We gave it our best shot, as it were before heading back to our School after the invigorating morning!

- Vikramaditya Bhatnagar XII - C