Pachmari Adventure Tour

For me, travelling and adventure in is my drug of choice. I am very fond of travelling and adventures. I love to plan and execute new adventures whenever it is possible for me. Adventures teach us a lot of things in our lives in some or the other way.

          Speaking of adventure we proposed our head of school and our coordinator to take us on an adventure tour for a week or so before we get busy with our academics. After discussing it with each other our coordinators decided to turn this tour into a CAS activity and planned a tour to panchmarhi. Panchmarhi is place for the travel loving people and people who are interested in adventures and exploring new places. Panchmarhi is a place for tourism, relaxation and also carries some historic background with many of its places such as the caves.

          Our school administration planned a tour for us with the help of an adventure group who are frequently organizing such sort of camps and tours for schools and groups. After finalizing the tour, the organizers made a day to day plan f the tour which included the details of what all activities we were going to do and what all places we were supposed to visit, and handed over the plan to us. We were also given the contact details of our tour guides who were going to come along us to the adventure camp and the list of what all things to get.

          It was the 24^th of November, when in the morning we assembled at the school for the departure from the school to our destination. All of us were really excited for the tour as it was the last school trip for me and my classmates. Around 11 am we depart from the school in a bus. Panchmarhi, from Nagpur is around 300km by road. It took us more than 6 hours to complete the journey and reach our destination. Nearby to 7 pm we reach our hotel named “Paradise”. After reaching our hotels we were allotted our rooms with our roommates. I was sharing my room with my friends Shafqat, Adwait, Kaustubh and Pranav. We had our dinner and then back to our rooms.

A group photo at the school before we depart

            The other day that was on the 25^th of November we got up early in the morning as we had to leave for the panchmarhi caves. Panchmarhi caves were built by the “Panch Pandavs” the five brothers from the Mahabharata. We, the DP2 students were made leaders of the groups made by dividing all the other juniors and were told to lead them throughout our tour. I had Shiv, prathamesh and akash in my group. All these were the most mischievous of all the students. To handle and guide these kids was a really difficult job, but then I love difficult tasks and I look forward to complete those tasks and I succeed in them. Guiding these kids in such a way was a new task that I undertook. The trek up the caves was risky and in it I had to guide my group well, and as a risk taker I did not panic or didn't get tensed rather I completed the trek full of enthusiasm with my group safe and sound. From the cave we headed towards the B-fall. The fall is situated deep between mountains and we had to go all the way down to the fall. Going down was a difficult task for all of us as there were no proper steps and the surface was a bit slippery. After reaching to the bottom of the fall, I was really excited to go into the water fall. Everybody said don’t go because the water was too cold and I had just recovered from illness, but I am a kind of a person who only listens to his heart. So following my heart I went into the water and I was under the fall for around one and a half hour. After getting out of the water my body was totally stiff and was really cold. I somehow managed to heat up my body. We then returned to the top and boarded our gipsies and decided to go to Dhupgarh, the highest point in panchmarhi. It is around 1400 meters high and is a great sunset point.

Me and my classmate Shafqat at the top of the panchmarhi caves

on our way down to B-fall

          The other day that was the 26^th November we had activities planned for us like zip line and rock climbing. We had to do any one of the activity, so I decided to perform rock climbing as I had never done it before and I felt that zip line was an easy activity to perform. After that we played a bit of football and then headed back to the hotel to pack our bags, have our lunch and depart back to the city.

Under the fall
extremely cold water it was

A group photo at the sunset point

A photo at the top of the caves with my group members
 

          

Abhyodaya World School

Abhyodaya world School is a school which is run by Mrs. Bhagyashree Gandhe along with her parents. This school has students mostly from farmer families or students from families from nearby villages who are not able to pay fees. This school provides education to such students at very subsidized fees. Our CAS coordinator Ms. Vijayalaxmi ma’am informed us about this school and proposed the idea to visit the school for one full day as teachers. We were told to hold periods for the classes selected by us, and we were informed that we have to teach them many various sorts of things. We decided to teach them as per their age. I had selected KG-1 for myself as I believe I am very comfortable with junior kids and can handle them and their naughtiness. I had planned to provide the students some pre-drawn figures to be colored, like, Panda and bear, also I taught them some rhymes and asked them to sing some rhymes they were taught before, very enthusiastically not only they sang it to us but also in different languages like Hindi, Marathi & English. Besides living in the villages and being under-privileged they had a good command on their English speaking and were in discipline all the time.

                                As we arrived at the school we were welcomed by the kids by giving flower bouquets and chanting prayers at the assembly, giving speeches. The way they delivered their speeches and the welcome prayer I felt so proud about my country that I was speechless. After the assembly we headed to the respective classes we selected according to our convenience. For the first period I had planned to interact with the kids so that I get to know about them and they feel comfortable, because according to me if a little child is not comfortable with you he or she will not be able to talk to you the way he or she does with the other familiar to them.

                                For the second period as I had specified in the introduction I gave them worksheets with uncolored images of different animals etc. at that instance I discovered that almost all of them were multitalented, because the way they colored those images was way better from what I used to do at their age and also from what I see in other schools. One problem I faced during the coloring session was that when any of the kids would ask me about “what color he/she should fill in was”, because I am really bad at all these activities.

Me taking a look at the coloring sheet of a KG-1 student 

                                Then came the third period in which I asked the kids if they were interested in learning poems and rhymes, and the answer for them was a combined enthusiastic “YES”. So I taught the famous English rhyme which every student learns in the beginning of their schooling “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. As I finished with the rhyme the kids asked me if I would want to hear a rhyme from their side. I said yes, why not. They started with an English rhyme first, they finished it, then a Hindi rhyme; they finished it and then a Marathi rhyme. I was stunned to hear all these rhyme from students who have just started their schooling.

The kids while the rhyme session

                                After this session it was time for lunch, and as I mentioned before they were in discipline all the time. They headed over to wash their hands as per their classes turn-by-turn and in a line, and then over to lunch. At the lunch area the kids sat down and started with the prayer to thank god that he gave them food to eat.

                                After the lunch we headed over to our respective classes again for the 2^nd half of the day in which I had planned to make the kids play a bit and also play along with them. The kids played football dodge ball etc. after the sports session we divided all the students of the school in two groups and took them to the hall where we had planned to show them some videos according to their age, like the juniors were shown so animated movies about good habits and all, and the senior kids were shown some educational videos.

                                Overall this activity generated teamwork in me and also I got an experience of sharing my knowledge with the kids. Also I liked the behavior of the kids and I would definitely want to visit the school again.

                                  

A goodbye picture with some of the students of Abhyodaya World School

                                  

Attending Dance Workshop and Dance Performance on the Final Day of the Workshop

It was a fifteen day dance workshop organized by the best choreographer of our city along with his team and I was one from the crew. In this workshop we had different batches for different age groups and also batches divided like in beginners, toddlers, advanced, and ball room dance. In these batches we were supposed to teach different forms of dance to the people who had enrolled for the workshop. Before the workshop had commenced we had decided on what songs to teach and also set the routines beforehand. We allotted the batches within the group members and I had got a toddlers and one advanced batch to look after. I had a lot of responsibility on myself as i had to make the routines thought perfect and also be perfect myself.

After the fifteen day energy filled and tiring workshop we were all set to rock the stage with the dance performances we had made and allotted to different batches. These fifteen days were the most exciting fifteen days I have ever experienced. In these fifteen days we had practiced putting in all our efforts into it to make the final show a big hit. We had set routines on 13 of the most loved tracks in India. It was really difficult to teach to people who had never danced ever before and was a very risky task to take these people on to the stage.

Amongst the 13 song I had performed in 8 of the dance performances. It was really hectic at times when 3 to 4 performances used to come in one row. I had to exit the stage then change into the other performance’s costume and enter the stage again within no time, and even I had to keep my energy level high and had to make sure I do not let my energy fall loose on the stage. Also I had a duty to look after the toddler’s batch i had got. I had to assemble them on the stage for the performance. Also as the kids were too small to perform all by themselves, I had to be in the front to prompt the steps to the kids so that they don’t forget them on the stage. With all these responsibilities i had to look after my performances too. i would thank my mentor Mr. Pavan Mangoli to make me so capable that i could take on this workshop and also to give me this opportunity at this age.

being a lead in one of the performances.

A performance with our mentor and th ecrew

Me addressing the class  

a photo from the concluding performance of the entire show.

Creating Sportsmen all Around

What other people find in poetry or art museums, I find it on the sports field. On the 15 of January our school had begun with the school’s annual sports meet. We as CAS students had taken the initiative to organize the event by ourselves with the help and guidance of our physical education teacher Mr. Manoj singh. All the CAS students were divided into groups of 2 or 3 and handed over the responsibility of class wise athletic events by our team leader and this way we experienced how to plan large scale activities and how to work collaboratively with others.

                              I was teamed up with my classmate Tanmay. As I am the Head Boy of the school and my teammate is the sports prefect we had a lot of responsibility on our shoulders for the event and this was a new challenge for all of us. We were also assigned to the events of classes 6^th to 8^th. The events of the classes we were given were on the final day of the annual sports meet, so we had time to spend on other preparations for the meet and also to make the ground ready for all the events.

                              On the first day of the meet it was the day for the primary and pre-primary kids events to be held. The time we entered our school premises there was a very different and jolly mood amongst all the students. We had reported our in charge for the event and grabbed all the details of the day plan and the schedule. While working we constantly checked if all the teams were working according to the plan.

 Volunteering and helping the activity incharges for
shot-put discuss throw. 

                              Second day- it was the time for the classes 1^st to 5^th. We had to collect all the students for the event and inform all the participants about when and where they had to assemble. All the students from 1^st to 5^th were really excited for their events and the higher class students including us were waiting eagerly for their events which were the next and the last day. all students were cheering for their respective houses and teasing the opposition house.

                              Third day- Now it was the time for the main events which were the high voltage higher classes. None of us was prepared physically for the events as we had not even played or practiced since 3-4 months, so everybody started warming up and praying too. Not only we were excited but the whole school was excited for the events because they knew these were the best of all events and the most memorable once, no one wanted to miss the fun. Our class had the most of the best sports persons in the school including me and my teammate Tanmaya for the event organisation. We had taken part in all the activities to make our house the winner for the fourth time in a row.

  

Overcoming the fear of water

Swimming is a confusing sport, because sometimes you do it for fun, and other times you do it to not die. As swimming is in the must to learn list and I did not know how to swim, I got an opportunity to learn swimming when our school announced swimming as an activity for us for one day every week.

                                As I was a non-swimmer I was really scared to get in the water rather I had a kind of phobia of getting into the deeper waters. As soon as I got to know that we have swimming as an activity for us every week I decided to take up the challenge and made it a point that I will learn to swim, by hook or crook. With me there were many such people who were not ready to take up this activity, but then we were motivated by our teachers and elders that you should be able to swim for many certain reasons. Also in the same time period there were floods at Jammu & Kashmir in India and i got to know that many people died in the floods because of not able to swim.

                                On the first day we went to the swimming pool along with our sports teacher Manoj sir. After reaching there we met the instructors over there who were going to train us for swimming. We got ready for the activity and headed over to the pool. Almost everyone from our school who were there for the activity were trained for swimming or at least they were able to swim. Watching them I said to myself that “If everyone can, even I can”, and I got into the pool. The instructor segregated all the students in groups as who were able to swim and who were not. After making groups the instructor started with the training session. First of all he made us to do some simple drills like peddling in the water and float our bodies on the surface of the water.

                                The next week we went to the pool the instructor told us to do the same drills but do it quickly and for a shorter period of time than from the first day. After we were done with the drills our instructor told us that he’ll see if we could even hold our bodies for some time in the water. I was able to hold myself and swim a bit for about half a minute. And then the instructor told us that next week he’ll just make us swim.

                                I was really excited for this week as I knew that I can swim a bit and today we were just going to swim in the pool. the whole time in the pool I struggled to swim and eventually was able to swim for a satisfactory distance.

                                Also with all these trainings we had a lot of fun with our instructor and our sports teacher playing some games In the pool which were taught us by the instructor and also our sports teacher. Overall doing this activity was a huge success as I was able to swim and go into the deep waters without any phobia or fear.     

                                 

In Search of New Talent

Talent is what everyone has. The maker has provided every one of us with some or the other talent, and it is this talent that we need to find in ourselves and polish it. People carry different talents within them, some sing, some dance, some are good in playing any of the musical instruments, some carry talents in the field of sports. In search of new talent we, the DP 2 students were asked by our teachers to organize a talent hunt for the primary and the middle school children and we were asked to take this task as a CAS activity for ourselves. We accepted to organize the talent hunt program for the children.

          The next day we sat in group and planned the schedule for the program. All of us divided the work within the group and started the work immediately as we did not have much of time to organize the program. I was supposed to arrange the kids according to the order and according to the areas of their respective talents. Firstly I made a visit to every class to make a list of the students were participating in the talent hunt. Then write down the names of the students with their type of activity, for example dance, singing, mimicry, poem recitation and many more. Then I made an order for the performances of the students and the time they were allotted for the performance. Then I took a final print copy of the order of performances and gave it to the other people in the organizing committee. For my help, my classmate kaustubh was kept with me. After the show started I had to be at the backstage to arrange all the children according to their performances. I was sending all the kids one by one so that no confusions take place and everything goes on well and smoothly. I had kept kaustubh at the front of the stage so that he arranges the children one by one after they are done with their performance. I also faced some problems while the program like some of the children were missing from the backstage and some were not in the proper order as I had arranged them so then I had to arrange every single child once again. One more duty for me was to send the respective kids who had won prizes for their performance to the stage to collect their prizes and get them back. After all the hard work, team work and the problems that occurred we successfully finished the program and were praised for the work we had done without any help or guidance of the teachers. 

Even a Champion Needs to Get Trained to Make a Come Back.

Dance is the hidden soul of the body; Dance is the coordination between Mind, Body & soul. For me dance is the oxygen of my life, dance is what I am from and dance is what I am made for. It’s been 7-8 years I am into dance, but in the beginning I was not at all interested in dance, but then it is said that a good teacher gets the best out of you and polishes you like a diamond to make it sparkle more, the same is with me my dance teacher saw the potential in me and created interest in me for dance. He taught me everything about; dance and all the technicalities and all of it.

                                There was a time when I was totally away from dance due to my studies and school. There was about 2 years of gap that I wasn’t dancing. When I was introduced to CAS as an essential part of the IBDP, I decided to start dancing again as CAS motivated me to do so. I immediately contacted my dance teacher to know if he was taking regular classes, and luckily he was taking classes just near to my residence. From the next day itself I went to him and also made him aware about CAS, after I told him about CAS he also took it very positively.

                                Starting dancing again wasn’t an easy task; I had to start from zero. Because my body wasn’t habitual as I wasn’t doing anything for my fitness. I had an inner feeling that I can do it, I can dance again, and I was ready to take up all possible efforts to get on the floor again. Also I needed motivation which was provided to me by my parents, my dance teacher and also my friends, they were the people who believed that I can make a comeback if I take it on my mind. It was 6 days a week and one and half hours to two hours a day I used to go for the classes.            

                                Day by day I started pushing myself to improve my skills, my talent and was also successful in doing so. I started getting trained for dance and was very thankful to CAS to give me a chance and motivate me to dance again.

                                Now I am really confident about myself that I am a really good dancer and can give my best in learning anything. And also I know that if I decide to do something I will do it for sure. Today I am so confident that I can not only dance but also spread the knowledge about dance and teach it to other people and make bring out new talents.