Laurels at Knowledge Convergence, a national inter school competition at Mayo College Girls' School.

Our elation was infectious as 12 of us, all students of classes 9 to 12, along with our teacher Ms. Mithu Ghosh, boarded the Ajmer Shatabadi on the 1st September 2015. We were on our way to participate in the Silver Jubilee Memorial Knowledge Convergence, hosted by Mayo College Girls' School, Ajmer. Our School was amongst the select 18 schools invited from across India.

We reached our destination at around noon. One of the leading institutions for education in our country, Mayo Girls is situated on the Mayo Link Road, opposite its brother school, Mayo College. We were told that the government paid taxes to the school for using that road! All of us were eager to know more about this fascinating establishment. After freshening up, we were whisked away to the School Mess where a scrumptious lunch awaited us! Post-lunch, the boys, Yash Sharma , Shubham Airi, Ritwik Arora, Mubhashir Ali and Tanmaye Kohli left for the Mansingh Palace, one of the premier hotels in Ajmer, where they were lodged for the duration of our stay. Meanwhile, us girls Pranati Haldia, Himanshi Saini, Prathistha Kohli, Payal Seth, Simran Narula, Simran Khurana and Saumya Saxena were excited at the prospect of experiencing dorm life in the girls' dorm, Meera House.

After resting a bit, we were shown around the campus by some of the girls at MCGS. We were surprised to know that the school's Coat of Arms had been designed by Lockwood Kipling, renowned writer Rudyard Kipling's father! Our tour ended at the 'Harsh Kumari Complex', where we registered for our respective events. After an early dinner, we went back to our quarters so as to get a good night's sleep. The next day commenced with some of us visiting the Saraswati Temple situated inside the school compound. The English and Hindi debates were scheduled at 11am. Meanwhile, the multimedia team, consisting of Tanmaye, Yash and Himanshi , started work on their project after receiving the topic, ' Adversity causes some men to break, while some men to flourish'. The movie was to be compiled and showcased in the coming days. Payal , Saumyaa and Pranati took part in the Hindi debate based on the Cambridge Format. The topic for the debate was 'Brahshtachaar mukt sarkaar maatr ek naara hai. The team eloquently put forward their views in favour of the topic. Meanwhile, the English debating team of Pratishtha , Shubham and Pranati confortably sailed through the preliminary round. Shubham navigated the turncoat round in style and nimbleness. He was given 15 minutes to prepare his topic, following which he put forward a convincing speech to the audience. Pranati, on the other hand, spoke extempore wherein she had only 2 minutes to prepare on the topic, 'The gloomy tree and the reluctant moon'. Thereafter, she made a persuasive speech impressing one and all. Much to our joy, our team was amongst the top 4 teams that qualified for the Semi-Finals! The English dramatics team put forward a heart warming script on the topic, chosen from a list given out the previous night, 'Now is the winter of our discontent.' The talented actors of our school: Simran Narula, Saumyaa , Pratishtha and Ritwik were much applauded for their efforts. The next morning saw the semi-finals for the English multi-format debates. While Mayo College Girls' School team was pitted against Welham Boys' School, Dehradun, our team faced tough competition from Bishop Cotton School, Shimla.The topic for our pool was 'This house believes that UN@70 is a metaphor for American, Russian and Chinese one-upmanship.' However, the debate wasn't as simple as it looked. While the lead speaker had to speak for the given motion, the second speaker had to speak on a slightly modified topic as an extra element was added to it, while for the third speaker , some elements were removed from the modified motion. The lead speaker then had to sum up the debate keeping in mind all the three motions! Our team proposed the motion and won over the hearts of the audience. Simultaneously, the preliminary round for the quiz took place. The Indian School's team consisted of Simran Khurana, Mubhashir and Ritwik. They effortlessly managed to secure a place amongst the top 6 schools, and started preparation for the finals that were to take place on stage. In the finals, our team secured the 4th position. We were happy to have learnt so much from this quizzing experience. On our last day in Ajmer, the award ceremony took place. The Indian School contingent made its presence felt by winning several prizes. The English debate team won the third position in the English Multi-Format Debates, Saumyaa Saxena was adjudged the 'Most Promising Speaker- Preliminary Round (Hindi), Ritwik Arora was adjudged the 'Most Promising Quizzer', while Pranati Haldia was awarded 'Best Speaker Semi Finals-English Debate' as well as the 'Best Speaker English Debates-Overall.' Indeed, a very proud moment for our School. We are thankful to our School for providing us such an opportunity. It is such endeavours that truly make us realise that knowledge, indeed, is power.