Republic Day Celebration 2012

Actor Dhamu, our Chief Guest arriving

Mr Dhamu being received by our children and teachers

With the children

A section of the parents during the Parents Meet

Hoisting the flag with Mr. Dhamu

Dance by Class VII

Guests taking the Pledge

Prayer Song

Dance by Class VII

Karate in full swing

Mr Dhamu's address

Finalist (Ilayas) from Class VII in the Inter-School Yoga Competition

Finalist (Harishankar) from Class VI in the Inter-School Yoga Competition

Dance by Class V

Teachers and Staff with our Guests

                                

                                              Republic Day Post Event Report         26.01.2012

We started our program at 9.15 hrs. Our Chief Guest - Actor Mr. Dhamu reached our school at 9.10 hrs. The program started with Parents – Trust management Meeting in presence of Mr. Dhamu, Managing  Trustee Capt. Nandkumar along with Ms. Sabita Currimbhoy in charge for school & Mr. Saseendran Admin Officer.

Our Chief Guest pointed out many  things about the value of education, discipline, dress code and about extracurricular activities. This session ended on a nice note and all parents were reminded of their obligations and duties.

All parents, honoured guests and students were warmly welcomed  by Emcee  Master. Pragadeesh of VII std followed by the regular school prayer led  by a few students of class V.

After the prayer Master.Ameen of VII std escorted the chief guest Mr.Dhamu to hoist the flag followed by all assembled taking  the national pledge.

List of events in order:

1.     Tamil Thai Vazthu -  5^th std.  students guided by Ms. Rajapriya.

2.     Kodi Padal -  girls of class VI  guided by Ms. Grace .

3.     Dance (Hindi song)  -  7^th std. girls guided by  Ms. Anusuya & Ms. Grace.

4.     Dance (Tamil song) -  5^th std students guided by Ms. Majeeda and Ms. Kalai Selvi.

5.     Hindi Patriotic Song -  7^th std. students guided by Ms. Madeena.

6.     Karate demonstration -  assorted students guided  by Karate  Master Sensei  Murali.

Our Chief  Guest Mr.Dhamu appreciated our students performances, and the good co-ordination of the events by the Teachers, during his speech.

Our Guests of Honour Mr. Kishore Reddy  and Mr. Vijay Sambrani delivered their valuable speech and conveyed their happiness in being with us.

During the parent meeting conducted at 9.15am, We also conducted a Yoga Competition for I std. to VII std. Our Special Judge was  Ms. Jyoti Shanbag. Our Chief Guest  Mr. Dhamu along with the guests of honour distributed Prizes to the Winners. Winners of 6^th standard and 7^th standard students (Harishankar & Ilyas) demonstrated their favourite asana on the stage  guided by our Yoga Master Mr. Vajravelu

Guests were received at the gate and escorted to their seats by Teachers Ms. Shobana & Ms. Reavathi.  Ms. RajaPriya  along with two students welcomed the guests with sweets and  national flags to pin on their clothes.

The entire program was co-ordinated by Ms. Subha.

Mr. Krishnan arranged the sound system at the stage. Our security person along with our two maids did the seating arrangement.

The cultural program ended with Vote of Thanks by Mr. Pragadeesh and  the National anthem was sung by the students at 12.00 after which the students dispersed. This was guided by our games teacher Ms. Vennila

Pongal CelebrationsP

Pongal being cooked

Ameen of Class 7 welcoming the children for the celebrations

Pongal O Pongal - LKG

The old and the new.. note the RBK Tee :) Class I

Village belles :-) with pots of pongal walk by a sad farmer who has none! - Class II

Modern kids groove to village beats ! Class III

Traditional sing song

Girls swirl to pongal music

Crow - Joining in to taste the Pongal

A rough draft - Rangoli in progress

 The finished product. Rangoli

A rangoli message... Global warming !!

Whoops... end of the game ! Joyful Kabbadi :-)

Students and staff at Gurukulam celebrated the harvest festival ‘Pongal’ in style. Kids from kindergarten to class VII entertained the school with celebratory scenes of pongal from the villages to the city. The traditional mingled with the modern as girls in silk sarees with flowers in their hair danced to folk tunes and boys in jeans and T’s jigged to the latest mod numbers – all sung by the children themselves. Little kids dressed as Cows, tossed their heads to shouts of pongal O pongal. Teachers cooked pongal ( a mix of rice, pulses, jaggery and spices) the traditional way over a wood fire which was relished by all.

The boys competed heatedly for honours at Kabadi while the girls made beautiful (rangoli) patterns on the ground using coloured powders, flowers and earthen lamps.  It was difficult to judge the best so full honours were given to all.

Christmas Celebrations at Gurukulam

Angel Gabriel with Mother Mary

Angel Gabriel brings the good tidings

3 Wise Men coming to visit Baby Jesus

Choir by our Children

Christmas Tree and Manger

Captains and Vice Captains of our School Houses

Christmas Celebrations at Gurukulam :-)

Mr Bushan, one of our Sponsors visited us and joined in the celebrations.


In his words:


"It was nice meeting all staff. You all are doing great job in upbringing of these little innocent children. 

I would only say that every child is different & they are good in different field. We all need to cultivate that speacility within him/her and make them excel in that field. I am sure school must be working towards that direction.

Merry Christmas & Happy New year to Vishal, Capt, All staff & lovely children. May God bless All."

New Uniforms for 2012 :-)

On the 18th of Dec 2011, all our children received New Uniforms :-)

Sailing Event - Merchant and Professional Regatta

Our 7th grade children, participated in a lovely Regatta at the Royal Madras Yacht Club on the 10th and 11th Dec 2011. 


It was fair weather, lovely winds and great company :-)


Our young sailors enjoyed themselves, apart from learning this challenging sport of sailing - thanks to RMYC.

Children's Day Celebration 2011

Fancy Dress 

Prize Distribution

Tailing the Elephant

Songs by our 7th Grade children

It was a fun filled Children's Day Celebration on the 14th Nov 2011.


Our children had a whale of a time with games, songs, fun and prizes :-)

Visit by Shailu Shuresh

On 20.11.2011, Ms Shailu Suresh of  "Om Vedic Heritage Centre" Singapore, www.omvedicheritage.com.sg visited our school and spent a whole morning with our children...


She gave a wonderful talk and an interactive session on "focus" to the children of 7th grade.


In her own words:

‘GURUKULAM’: THE INSPIRING PATH OF AN ALTRUIST

I am sure all of us agree that unquestionably education is significant for one’s overall growth. When any child fails to acquire the basic skills needed to qualify for well-paying earning opportunities and escape poverty, he/she will also fail to function as a productive and responsible member of the society.

Sadly, but not surprisingly, even till today in many very low-income and underprivileged families, children are much less likely to be in school than children from more affluent families. My path crossed the path of an altruist who even as a child became sensitive to this inequality that existed and continues to exist in the society. Being inspired by the ‘goal directed force’ within Captain Nandakumar, I saw myself automatically being drawn towards becoming part of this great cause and help prove with significance (in scientific terms), the hypotheses that ‘the cost of educating children far outweighs the cost of not educating them’.

Hence, a visit to the ‘gurukulam’, a school started by Capt Nandu in 2004, that offers Free education to children from very low-income families in Panayur and Kovalam villages in Tamil Nadu became essential and I was there for a day on 19 November 2011.

I must say that reasonable inferences can be made even on the first visit to the gurukulam, from just observing the school premises, administration, good policies and most importantly key outcomes such as the behavior and attitude of the ‘gurukulam children’. Apart from the regular provisions for school children such as teaching and learning material, stationery, uniform, play material etc, I noticed that great attention was being given for the overall growth and well being of the child by providing extra-curricular activities such as karate, yoga and exclusive yatching lessons even.

Many children who do attend such free schools receive inadequate education because of poorly trained, underpaid teachers, overcrowded classrooms, and a lack of basic teaching tools such as textbooks, blackboards, and pens and paper and here I noticed that all these key aspects were well studied and taken care of. Important aspects such as ensuring that teachers do not physically or mentally abuse children, ensuring the quality of food being served to the children, provision of a library etc were all being looked into with great attention to detail. Children are even motivated to be better citizens of tomorrow by being trained on good values and principles in life by means of personalised motivational talks, ‘How to Live’ classes and effective tools such as awarding the child ‘+’ points or ‘-‘ points based on his behaviour, attitude etc.

So I must say that this effort witnessed by me in my 1-day trip, has two messages for me and the public:

i)     It is not a good idea to just observe from a distance as if this mission were just Captain Nandu’s and his team’s, but you and me can also become part of it by devoting ourselves (contributing in time, service, money etc to the best of our capability and capacity) and make our lives more meaningful and purposeful.

ii)   Having seen such models of ‘Increasing the welfare of fellow citizens through seva’ we too can lead an altruistic path by freeing our heart from any self-centered desires and devote ourselves in believing that we live for other people’s sake.

Last but not least credit for this exemplary service rendered to mankind/to our fellow but less fortunate brothers and sisters, goes to Captain Nandakumar and his other committee members for their commitment and visionary and administrative abilities.

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