School remembers Uttarakhand victims, slashes fest cost

KOLKATA: True to their ethos of thinking beyond the obvious, LakshmipatSinghania Academy celebrated their fest, Abhilakshya 2013, with a difference this time. The school donated Rs 6 lakh to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund for the Uttarakhand victims.
"The students cut down the entertainment cost consciously so that they can come to the aid of the Uttarakhand victims.We did away with the guest performer this time to help the victims," Meena Kak, principal of the school, said. Along with a great percentage of the budget allocated for the fest and in-house collection, the teachers too gave away a day's salary for the noble cause.
Organized once in every three years and consisting of a wide range of on-stage and off-stage events, the four-day cultural extravaganza, which was based on the theme of women empowerment, kick-started on July 15 on the school premises.
Some of the innovative off-stage events which took place on the first two days included computer game designing Oops and Power Point, Counter strike, Planet programme, Collage and installation art contest, 3rd Eye for budding photographers, Take One, a short filmmaking contest and paper mosaic. For the sports enthusiasts, there were Net Results (volleyball), Dodge (dodge ball), Checkmate (chess), Acquaholic (swimming) and Howzzat (indoor cricket) contests.
The on-stage events held at Kala Mandir on July 17 and 18 included Wordsworth, an English vocabulary quiz,Reincarnation: a new perspective, where students brought alive historical or legendary characters of bygone eras through one-act plays, Beat Busters, a karaoke contest and Step-up, where students performed fusion dance. , Juke Box, showcasing the talents of school bands and Tap Toes a Western dance contest for juniors.
The highlight of the event was The Glorious Razzmatazz, the visually spectacular fashion show on the theme of 100 years of Bollywood. Different schools took the cheering audience down memory lane through the different milestones in Bollywood be it blockbusters like Sholay, DDLJ or Lagaan heroes like SRK, Amitabh Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor, Dev Anand, Rajesh Khanna or divas like Nargis, Madhubala, Hema Malini, Kareena Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha to name just a few while paying their tributes in their own inimitable style. Special mention must be made of Pailan World School where the participants wore clothes made of jute based on their own designs.
"We have blended the curricular and co-curricular in the fest. Our fest is not just about fun, there is learning as well. The quiz was based on words, the computer games test the tech quotient of the young minds," added Kak.
As in previous years, this time too a huge number of students from as many as 18 schools including Akshar, Apeejay School, DPS New Town, DPS Ruby Park, The Heritage, South Point High School, Indus Valley World School, DAV Public School, Shree Bharati, Mahadevi Birla World Academy, RN Singh Memorial, St Xavier's Collegiate School and Institute of Cerebral Palsy among others participated in the fun-filled fest.
The overall winner of Abhilakshya 2013 was Lakshmipat Singhania Academy with Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan as first runners up and DPS Ruby Park as second runners up. A special prize was given to The Institute of Celebral Palsy for their active participation in Abhilakshya.
The prize distribution over the participants and the audience now sat back to enjoy the much awaited guest performance by local band Single Units which the students said was a perfect end to the fest.