Honours at inter school multi event competition in Pune.

THOUGHT CONCLAVE 2018 AT B.K.BIRLA CENTRE FOR EDUCATION

On the 13 April 2018, 8 students of classes XI and XII along with their teacher Ms. Gandharvi Mukherjee, headed to the Indira Gandhi Airport to board their flight to Mumbai. At the Mumbai airport, they boarded a bus for their onward journey to Pune. As the sun went down, the students arrived at the B.K. Birla Centre for Education for its annual multi-event inter-school competition- Thought Conclave 2018.

After freshening-up, the students ate a hearty dinner, post which they strolled the mountain-locked campus and soon retired to bed, ensuring a good night's sleep before commencing with the busy next day.

14 April started early for the students. After a light breakfast, the Indianites headed for registration and assembled in the main hall for the opening ceremony. The host school principal gave a warm welcome to all the participating schools followed by a detailed description of the proceedings for the day by the event coordinator, Mr. Parnab Mukherjee.

The debate prelims kicked-off along with an art installation event. The quiz prelims took place simultaneously and the creative review event followed. In the debate, Avantika Chodha and Aatif Hussain of class XII received the theme -'This house views the masses as collateral damage', on the basis of which, the pair coined the motion- 'Social Capital versus Corporate Capital'. Shrey Gogia participated in the bridge round section of the debate prelims where he was required to write down his views proposing and opposing the given motion which was - ' This house believes that India is an ideological entity that we narrowly call a nation'.

In the creative review event, Anoushka Basu and Gauri Awasthi of class XI were required to critically analyse and review any one of two poems given to them. The poems were translations of Urdu and Hindi poems. For the Quiz preliminary round, Shrey Gogia and Gauri Awasthi of class XI were given a set of 20 questions to answer, based on general knowledge. The top 6 teams were to be selected to compete in the final stage round!

Sehaj Kaur Bedi and Prabhsimran Kaur of class XI represented our School in the art installation event. The motive of the event was to enable participants to create hard-hitting and impactful installations symbolising the theme given, using simple props and tools. They received material like gravel, bamboo, plates, strands of ropes, a plastic chair, a blank canvas and some clay.

The names of the top 6 qualifying schools who would compete in the Quiz finals were announced and our School was one of them.

The finals commenced and quizmaster, Mr. Mukherjee took over the proceedings. From the winners of the recently concluded Oscars to the creators of allopathy, the questions encompassed a wide variety of subjects. The pair representing our School, which comprised of Gauri and Shrey, gave a tough fight to the other teams.

The Indian School's debating team, having Avantika, Aatif and Shrey successfully made it to the semi-finals and further qualified to the debate finals opposite the host school, B. K Birla Centre for Education. The motion here was- 'This house believes that the state has no right to dictate love and sexuality". Opposing the motion, our team debated eloquently and explicitly expressed their views and opinions. This was followed by the block and tackle round where Avantika was the speaker. After an intriguing round of intense debating, the competition came to its last chapter- the prize distribution ceremony.

There were many schools that participated in the event, including outstation schools like Sunbeam School Varanasi, Mayo College, Birla Vidya Mandir Nainital, DPS Varani, Singapore International School Mumbai along with many local schools of high repute.

Our School won many laurels- 1)1st Runners Up: Debate 2) Best Motion Construction: Debate 3) Judge's Choice Award: Art Installation- Prabhsimran Kaur and Sehaj Kaur 4) Creative Review 3rd position- Anoushka Basu 5) Best Quizzard- Gauri Awasthi

The evening comprised the principal's dinner for all the participating outstation schools where the students enjoyed a sumptuous meal. The students woke up with the sun the next morning to catch their morning flight back home from Mumbai.

The trip was an enriching one. It provided exposure and experience to us as we strengthened our skills and moved another step ahead towards making our School proud.

Gauri Awasthi, XI-A.