Literary Week showcasing by senior school, classes 9 to 12 on 3 April'2013

That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you're not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong. F. Scott Fitzgerald

To culminate the weeklong program the senior school students presented an amalgamation of assorted presentations from the different language departments of the school on 3, April13 in the school auditorium.

The show began with the Hindi department. India is the land of heroes and gods, and this was the theme of the Hindi poem Bharat Mata ki Lori by Divraj Dinesh, enacted by students of classes 9 and 10. The poem depicted the plight of Mother India, and how her sons seek to rescue her. The idea of nationalism and patriotism prevailed.

A powerpoint presentation was shown to showcase the highlights of the School trip to the Jaipur Literary Festival in January and sessions attended there. Encounters with literary figures in the course of the trip caught the imaginations of the students, in particular, the Dalai Lama, Mahasweta Devi, Javed Akhtar etc.

2013 is the bicentennial of Pride And Prejudice by Jane Austen. The novel portrays a world in which society takes an interest in the private virtues of it' members. Ausense and her times believed that individuals are social beings and that their happiness is found through their relationships. The central characters Darcy and Elizabeth are only freed of their pride and prejudice when their dealings with one another help them to see their faults and spur them to correct.

To celebrate this, the students of class X and XI, Ojasvi, Hema, Lizza, Aman and Priya dramatised chapter 5 of this memorable novel. Elizabeth Bennet, the main protagonist came to life as costume and dialogue transported the presentation.

3 students of our School, Meghlayana, Nakul and Snigdha went to Japan on a student exchange program for 10 days last academic year. In a comprehensive power point presentation the students described their experience in detail. An excerpt from the presentation:

In Japan, we learnt a lot about Japanese culture and also got to know how adversely the country had been affected by the earthquake and tsunami which had hit there. Not only was the country's infrastructure affected, but also the economy due to baseless and harmful rumours which resulted in the dwindling number of tourists. Many people lost their loved ones too.

However what struck us most during our trip is that the Japanese are indeed very strong people who recovered very quickly. They took necessary steps to reduce the damage caused by natural calamity and restored what was hurt.

Our Japanese hosts made us feel very warm and comfortable from the very first day and we also learnt the importance of punctuality from them.

**The next presentation came from our French students, Tanupriya, Sukriti, Ishita, Arunima, Mehar, Gursimar , Riya Akshat and Arshdeep who sang the song "J'ai pas vingt ans" by Alizee

Chorus J'aime pas l'habitude! J'aime pas quand a dure! J'ai pas vingt ans... J'ai pas d'attitude... Meme si j'ai l'allure! J'ai pas vingt ans... Et des talons aiguilles: un talent de fille, Melodie du vent... Je change comme je rime, cachet d'aspirine, On est vieux a vingt ans... Moi j'ai le temps!

Translation I dont like the habit! I dont like when it lasts! Im not twenty I don't have the attitudeEven if I may look the part! Im not twentyAnd high heels: a girls talent Melody of the wind I change like I rhyme, A brand of aspirin One is old at twenty Me, I have the time!

German-born British and American Booker prize-winning novelist and screen playwriter, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala who passed away on 3 April 2013 was paid a poignant tribute by class 12.

Ruth Prawer was born in Cologne to Jewish parents Marcus and Eleanora Prawer. Marcus was a lawyer who moved to Germany from Poland. Her father was accused of communist links, arrested and then released and she witnessed the violence unleashed against Jews. The family was among the last group of refugees to flee the Nazis in 1939, emigrating to Britain. In 1951 she was delighted to be swept out of it by an Indian architect, Cyrus Jhabvala, her soulmate and husband and she made India her home till she moved to New York in 1975.

Her dozen novels and 8 collections of short stories (and other stories published in the New Yorker and elsewhere) won Jhabvala the admiration of the sternest critics of her time who thought she beat all other western novelists in her understanding of modern India. Her literary awards included the 1975 Booker prize for her eighth novel, Heat and Dust. It was her fiction that brought Messrs. Merchant and Ivory to her. In the early 1960s, when the 2 men were preparing to collaborate for the first time, they approached Ms. Jhabvala to write a screenplay based on her novel The Householder, Thereafter she worked with them in several movies, Heat And Dust, Room With A View, Howards End, to name a few.

The students screened clippings from some of her films. They also staged a dramatised reading from Jhabvalas short story The Aliens to give the audience a flavour of her style..

An invigorating morning of presentations came to an end with an immensely encouraging address by the Vice Chairperson, Dr. Nayana Goradia.

Report by Ms. Sonia Mojumdar.