Dolly Roy, June Maliah and Kiran Uttam Ghosh at a recent CRY-sponsored programme. Picture by Aranya Sen

CRY (Child Relief & You) turns 25 this year and its flavour of the season is the chakri, or spinning-wheel. The silver anniversary calls for celebration, and CRY is going about it in its own unique way. According to Soha Moitra, assistant manager, youth and volunteer action, CRY: “We are starting an intense mass awareness campaign on child rights in our 25th anniversary year, which we are using as a launching platform.”

She emphasises that in spite of many NGOs working in the child relief sector, more than 111 million children in India are still deprived of their basic rights. The key to this problem lies in spreading awareness among the masses so that there is a collective action by individuals to enable people to take responsibility for the deprived Indian child.

Conscientious and caring citizens can do these kids a world of good by signing a CRY free-a-child chakri and receive a batch in return for a nominal amount. The campaign was kicked off in April, and is all set to culminate on Children’s Day in November, when a staggering 1 million signed chakris would be exhibited across Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore along with celebrity endorsements and performances.

The aim is to present a charter of demands to the powers-that-be. The demands include the following — all persons under 18 should be defined as children, an increase in expenditure in child health and education, prohibition of child labour, ensuring that all children pass Class X and the national policy for children should be comprehensive and in line with the constitution and the United Nations Convention of Child Rights.

The chakri was chosen as the motif because it symbolises children and fun, is universally recognised among all ethnic groups in India and is dynamic in nature and therefore indicative of the movement. It is also analogous with the spinning wheel of the Indian freedom struggle.

CRY has already approached institutions like St Xavier’s, JU, Presidency, NUJS and other schools and colleges, inviting them to be a part of this movement. Volunteers have already begun the mass contact programme whereby they explain the charter to people and collect their signatures, satisfying the dual purpose of sensitisation and support.

So don’t be surprised if you see CRY volunteers in popular city hangouts, chakris in hand, approaching you for signatures. A minute of your time could dramatically improve many lives.

— Aritro Ganguly

Surging ahead

The 32nd Indian Oil-Servo National Inter-school Rowing Competition was held recently at the Lake Club, Rabindra Sarobar. Teams from other states like Tamil Nadu and Manipur also participated.

The competition was inaugurated on June 20. The games began the next day. The knock-out stages were held in the morning and afternoon. The finals were on June 26.

In the junior girls and senior girls’ section, Modern High and St Michaels, Chennai, emerged champions, while in the junior and senior boys’ category, South Point and National High School were the winners. In the junior boys’ section abacus, Chennai were close runners-up.

The chief guest for the finals was Sunil Dutt, union minister for sports, who announced that the education fees for the members of the top three teams in each category, will be borne by the central government for the next three years.

But he made the parents promise that they would spend more on their children’s sporting activities. Dutt also promised that his government would try to make it compulsory for all schools in India to include sports in their curriculum.

After the prize distribution, the minister met each member of the top three teams in each category. At the end of the day, the participants had a good time boogeying on the dance floor. The club authorities had organised other events as well during the six-day tournament.

On June 20, a choreography competition followed the opening ceremony. The third night was party time. June 22 witnessed a musical quiz. The next day, a two-hour quiz was held by TTIS in which Lake Club B were the champions, followed by St Michaels, Chennai, and Modern High. On June 24, there was a career-counselling session for the participants. And it was the favourite antakshari on June 25, which had to be cut short due to the over-enthusiasm of some participants.

— Subhajoy Roy, Mitra Institution,
& Asif Alam, Asutosh College

Members of the drama club of Calcutta Girls’ School present Shakespeare on the school grounds on Monday. The second act of the evening was a dramatised version of the short story Easter. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Festive spirit

Ten schools, eight hundred participants, three days of fun, games and excitement. The platform was set, the stage was built and the sun shone brightly on Zeitgeist 2004, the Ashok Hall annual school fest. With the off-stage events hitting the bull’s eye on June 27, the on-stage events added colour on June 28 and 29, at Kala Mandir.

Prose-writing, poetry-composing, cartooning, graphiti-painting, snakes and ladders, and more comprised the first day’s fun. Day two witnessed events like Blabbermouth, That’s-Ur-Q, Monster’s Ball and Stagecraft. Ashok Hall and LMB stole the show in Noise Banned, the western music contest.

The best was saved for last, with events like Mogoj Loadshedding. Ashok Hall sang superbly in the eastern music category, Rhydhun. Euphoria, too, were hot favourites. The topic for Party Animal, the mock parliament, was ‘Is police a law-breaker or law-maker?’.

In Wrestle Mania, a panel discussion was organised on whether Indian students’ preference of going abroad for higher studies is good or bad. The last event, D-Lusion (western dance) was the most awaited. The use of chairs, umbrellas, swords and lamps was common.

The fest lived up to its motto of “where the sun never sets”. In western dance, Ashok Hall emerged the winner, followed by GD Birla and Mahadevi Birla Sishu Vihar. In western music, LMB was the champion, followed by Ashok Hall and Calcutta Boys.

In Indipop, Ashok Hall led. Next were LMB and DBPC. Calcutta Boys was declared the winner in Impact, while LMB won the quiz. The mock parliament saw Calcutta Boys emerge victorious, followed by LMB and Ashok Hall. The host school was declared the overall winner, but they handed over the trophy to runners-up LMB.

— Asif Alam

Kudos to…

…The 150 volunteers from Balika Shiksha Sadan, Calcutta Girls (non-interact), Don Bosco Park Circus, Shri Daulatram Nopany Vidyalaya, Pratt Memorial, Our Lady Queen of The Missions, St James and St Joseph’s College, Bowbazar, who participated in the month-long Each One Teach One project, which covered five centres this year. Children at Nabadisha, teaching centres in and around police stations, run by the NGO Vikramshila with support from Calcutta Police, were taught. A screening of Spiderman — the dubbed version — was organised at Nandan. The kids were also given food packets. A cultural show of, by and for the kids was held at St Joseph’s College auditorium for the grand finale. The effort won the Interact Club of St Joseph’s College the best project award at the Interact District Council meet, Manzil.

…Nine rank-holding students from the eastern region, who were felicitated by the council members of The Institute of Company Secretaries of India. The 19th Regional Conference of Students Company Secretaries was held recently, on the theme of “in pursuit of excellence”.

…A cross-section of students from schools and colleges who had come together for the annual programme of the Mriganayani Cultural Centre. Ananta Anandadhara also marked the inauguration of Mriganayani Dance School. Students of Classes VI and VII from various schools presented Tagore’s Chitrangada to an almost-packed house. Most of them were on stage for the first time. There was complete silence as the group of 25-30 students performed the one-and-a-half-hour dance drama. Even three-year-old Souvik Bose, who has just started nursery school, matched steps with the others to perfection.

…Siddharth Wadehra, 19, who conducted an inter-house quiz competition at Union Chapel School.

…Art of Living, for celebrating Guru Purnima with a satsang by Vikram Hazra, who leads several rehabilitation and development programs in the northeast and is coordinator of the countrywide youth leadership training programme, and other senior teachers, who led 3,000 people in the recitation of bhajans. Shashank Jaiswal, guitarist in the organisation’s youth band Mantra, a student of University of Galmorganshire, Wales, who had helped arrange AOL founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s visit to Scotland last month, also shared his experiences during his stay with “Guruji”.

Coming up…

Us and Them, a Theatrecian production, will be staged on July 16, at Gyan Manch. The play deals with a contemporary world where war is just another word and escapism is just another way, the fate of the world lies in the hands of powerful politicians, but the core problem is in the complexities of human relationships. This play is by an all-teen group. The directorial duo comprises Aditya Vikram Das and Jinku Sen, both Class XII students. The play is produced by Gargi Sen, a college student.