Pranayam Camp

Early in Grade 11, we attended a pranayam camp every morning for a week in school where we practised different forms of pranayam and benefited from it immensely.

At first, everyone was like why pranayam? Doesn't school have anything else that is more fun? How about football? But as we progressed into the camp, we learnt a lot. Pranayam benefits us in so many ways where we become healthy individuals with regular pranayam exercises. This weeks camp was a brilliant experience and we loved every minute of it. Pranayam was a new challenge to all of us and some of the forms weren't easy! We had to bend from every possible angle and hold a position for a lot of time... it was not easy! But we were committed to the exercises and did not give it up!

In all, it was a week filled with inner peace and tranquillity. A week with less stress, and a new outlook to life.

  

Leadership Camp

This year I went to my first leadership camp in february 2013. My classmates had been there before and told me all about it. Naturally, I was excited because they described it as an experience that would be unforgettable. Leadership camp was a 5 day camp where we have to rough it... LITERALLY!! No TVs, no internet, no beds to sleep on... only nature, tents and more nature. The perfect camp like experience.

The plan was in place, the activities were decided; the class was divided into 2 groups and we are supposed to work collaboratively with each other to complete all the given tasks. The first day started and we were made to watch a movie about leadership and tough decisions where it is a question of life and death. Later, we were asked to reflect upon the movie and how it can change our way of thinking and what can sometimes be the right decision to you but not for others.It was a typical dilemma of two different outcomes from two different decisions and it the process to being a better decision maker had already begun.

Next day we had to test ourselves physically with a fun yet important paintball game. It was important because we had to make critical decisions immediately. Our aim was to capture the opponents flag and return it to our base. During the course of the game, I came across skills I never knew I had. I was surprised as to how well we were able to communicate with each other and work effectively... Also, we showed perseverance and commitment to complete the game and win it which was an important outcome from the game according to me. After the paintball game, we continued onto an obstacle course called the discovery course and rightly so. It wasn't easy but I understood the face that nothing in life that is worthwhile, comes easily; one has to work towards achieving everything they want and hard work always pays off.

Next day, our third and final task took place... The hardest one yet... We were to survive a night in the wild with limited resources. We were allowed to carry only one water bottle and food which we had to cook with whatever that was available and let me tell one thing - NOT EASY at all!! I mean, how can an urban person survive on a bottle of water with limited food? Surprisingly, we could survive which was a victory in my heart because it was a new experience but our commitment to the task made us complete it.. Sure there were few hurdles but which task doesn't? The art of finding our own way with a compass and a map was shown to us and we had to find our way back to the school trekking through the steep hills in the night! It was a memorable experience and now I know what my classmates meant. I was more aware about my strengths and weaknesses and I grew as an individual and that was the best part about this camp.

The entire group that attended the camp

Roughing it in the wild where we had to plan our resources.

  

WORLD PEACE CONGRESS

On January 11th-12th a team of 5 students went to Mumbai for a first ever world peace congress by children and for the children of India and abroad organized by  NES International School in Mumbai on 11^th Jan to 13^th Jan 2013. Indus team presented a power point presentation on the topic ‘Our School’s Planned Contribution to the World Peace’ on the first day of the congress and was awarded with the ‘Global Peace Award’ for the strong interest in social initiatives such as spreading peace. School students from across the world discussed the importance of global peace at the first-of-its-kind World Peace Congress for students. The first day of the Congress, which was held at NES International School, Mulund, was attended by 29 schools, with about 8,000 students participating in a peace marathon, a peace march and a flag rally, apart from several academics events.

“Peace is a fundamental requirement for the world and with this objective, we have decided to introduce World Peace as a subject for our students,” said R Varadarajan, chairman, World Peace Congress and president of NES-SVB group of 50 schools. Ian Chambers, regional director of International Baccalaureate (IB) Asia Pacific, emphasized on the role of education in shaping perspectives and bringing about world peace.

Mr.Tom Oliver, founder president & CEO of the World Peace Foundation, Berlin, Mr. Pule Malefane, consul General of South Africa, Dr. Eric Zimmerman from Israel, Mr. Whitney Sterling from Germany, Ms. Kia Scherr from USA and Lieut.Gen.Satish Nambiar ,UN representative  in USA ,Prin. Kaisar Dopaishi, President of South Asia International Baccalaureate Association  and many other eloquent speakers  addressed the World Peace Congress. Our School team actively took part in the Group Discussion, Panel discussion, Peace march, Peace Pledge and all other activities of WPC.

Along with this, I managed to secure the first place in the essay competition on the topic world peace which had a word limit of 2000 words where we could write about our generalized perspective of world peace.

In all, the congress was an overwhelming event which thought us the values of working together as a team to discuss an issue of global importance and I have become more aware about this issue which requires immediate attention.

The team receiving their awards and global peace prize

I was awarded the world peace essay competition 1st place

Visit to Mokila village

On 21st September we visited the nearby village called Mokila where we took the task of teaching the students there the basic English alphabet. The divisions were made grade wise and along with my 4 other friends, we took charge of the 1st grade.

We were 5 of us and had to take care of approximately 30 kids so we quickly made divisions in order to make the teaching easier. THIS wasn't easy at all! The first problem which was the biggest problem- Language barrier. They spoke a tribal language which we couldn't decipher so it was not easy to teach them but this did not stop us from completing our task because we were determined to teach them what we had planned. It all began when we gave them a sheet to try and complete the alphabet tree, we wrote the alphabets on the board and asked them to repeat after us and write it down as they learnt the pronunciation. Some grasped it immediately while some did not understand it immediately and this became a challenge to us because they were not able to understand us nor were we able to understand what they said.

I think towards the end it was a great activity for us and for those amazing kids because not everyone has the opportunity to obtain the basic necessities of life and one of them is a good education and I think the school at Mokila is doing a great job in trying to give them a basic education and we must try to help them in their mission of spreading literacy.

At the same time I learnt a lot in this activity where I came to know that language is not always the need for communication, the will to learn something is the driving force in everyone's  life. It made me feel happy when I could complete this task and help those children in getting a better education. It helped me realize the true meaning of helping someone and also that determination is the only way one can complete a task.

Indus Inter-school sports fest

Indus recently had a inter school sports festival on the 11th of september till 13th of september where the principal asked the 11th graders to help in organizing this event when we were free. In the beginning, I actually thought of this as a chance of getting free periods but as I got more involved I realized that it wasn't an easy job. It was a new challenge for me. I had no idea how big a task it is to organize such an event. My initial job was to welcome the schools and guide them towards their tents where they had to wait for their events.

Day 2 of the fest and we were pretty excited today!! There was a chance for learning something new again. Today we were to help organize the basketball event where we had to write the scores, pass the results on to the announcers desk and get the schools in immediately for the event. It was not as easy as it looks... The school kids could be quite stubborn about some things like standing where they felt like and doing what they felt like. I helped in planning the basketball event as well.

Later in the day, we were asked to help out in the football event. Now, football is my favorite sport and I was looking forward to seeing how our school does in the tournament. Although, I had no idea about organizing this event. So I helped the team pep up for the football match and convince them that they could win. What I did not realize is that I enjoyed guiding them and helping them, It made me feel satisfied and it did not matter if they won or lost after that because they put in everything they could.

The event came to an end and I wanted to reflect upon what I had done and what I had learned... It told me a lot about myself and made me realize that helping organize this event made me learn the art of organization, team work and probably leadership to some extent. I think (Even though it hasn't been long since i started IB) I am beginning to enjoy the IB way and I think I will know more about myself through little things like this.... Like they say little things contribute to a success on a large scale....