The 54th anniversary of India's Republic was celebrated at Udayachal High School. The Chief Guest for the occasion was Captain Andre Aroume, Command Education Officer, Western Naval Command, who took the salute from the Maharashtra Cadet Corps, the Road Safety Patrol, the Scouts and the Guides Platoons. Mrs. Anita Aroume also graced the occasion. Mrs. Smita Crishna presided as Guest of Honour.

Speeches by Udayachal High School students echoed the virtues of great leaders like Lal Bahadur Shastri, Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi, who sacrificed their lives to gain freedom. A Marathi skit depicted the martyrdom of school children under the leadership of Shirish Kumar of Nandurbar, Maharashtra.

Udayachal Primary students enthralled the audience with their rhythmic display and rope malkhamb exercises. In his speech the Chief Guest stressed the duty of students towards the motherland. He said: "Students are the torchbearers of the country and the leaders of tomorrow. They must strive hard to become good citizens".

Parents, teachers and students together applauded our Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. J.N. Godrej, on his achievement of the National Civilian Award, the Padma Bhushan, for his yeoman service to the country.

R.D. Uchil,
Udayachal High School

On Your Mark, Get Set, Go …

You can’t win unless you know how to lose.

The 38th Annual Athletic Meet was held on 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 7th of December at Udayachal High School.

Winners of the Nalanda House are all smiles as they receive the Best House trophy
from Chief Guest, Mrs. Pheroza Godrej.

The Meet commenced on 2 December with a march past depicting perfect coordination of Udayachal students. This was followed by an oath-taking ceremony by all the four House Captains viz. Nalanda House, Vallabhi House, Takshashila House and Ujjaini House, to participate in the true spirit of sportsmanship.

The athletes performed well on the tracks with excellent finishing records. The events held on 2nd, 3rd and 4th were bifurcated in three groups: Juniors, Inters and Seniors. Boys and girls were made to participate separately in the heats. There were events such as races (100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters, 800 meters, 4 × 100 meters and 4 × 400 meters), high jump, long jump, shot put, sack race, needle and thread race, etc.

The spectators were true sport lovers. Both teachers and students also cheered and encouraged the participants of the four Houses. Teachers and students displayed excellent sporting qualities by participating in events especially organised for them.

Vallabhi House leads the march past as Chief Guest, Mrs. Pheroza Godrej takes the salute.

The closing ceremony was held on 7 December. The Chief Guest for the occasion was Mrs. Pheroza Godrej. In simple words she said: “In a healthy body dwells a healthy mind.” Her words of praise, especially for the punctuality maintained in the sequence of events, were a great source of encouragement to us.

Gurdeep Pannu,
Udayachal High School

“N” Ward Science Exhibition 2002-03

Udayachal High School had the honour of hosting the Greater Mumbai “N” Ward Inter-School Science Exhibition, 2002-03. The event was held on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of December with great scientific gusto, with 183 schools in and around the vicinity of Vikhroli and Ghatkopar participating in various categories such as Junior Science Project, Senior Science Project, Teaching Aids, Population Education and Adult Education. Also, there were other co-curricular activities such as Essay Writing Competition, Elocution and Cultural programmes wherein pupils from various schools participated with great enthusiasm.

Mr. J. N. Godrej inaugurating the ‘Inter-School Science Exhibition for Greater Mumbai North Zone ‘N’ Ward. The exhibition was dedicated to the memory of the late Shri Pirojsha Godrej on his death anniversary.

Chief Guest Mr. Jamshyd N. Godrej, and Guest of Honour, Prof. S.L. Narayana Murthy, Dean of Resource Mobilisation, I.I.T., Powai, inaugurated the Exhibition on 2 December, along with Education Inspector, V.K. Wankhede, Deputy Education Inspector, B.A. Sonawane and Assistant Deputy Education Inspector, B.M. Rajput. 2 December was the death anniversary of founder-consolidator Pirojsha Godrej. The Exhibition was dedicated to his memory. Udayachal High School Principal, Evangeline Ranjan, took the dignitaries around the School to have a look at the various projects displayed, all of whom appreciated the hard work put in by the pupils and their teachers.

Prof. S. L. Narayana Murthy, Dean of Resource Mobilisation, I.I.T., Mumbai as Guest of Honour for the inauguration of the exhibition, cuts the ribbon, as Education Inspector for North Zone, V. K. Wankhede and J. N. Godrej look on.

An atmosphere of Science had swept Udayachal. A lot of scientific knowledge was disseminated during these three days. Guide teachers and student volunteers from various schools were well versed with their projects and presented their ideas beautifully. Teachers and pupils from various schools poured in to see the Exhibition, eagerly awaiting their turns in queues. Some pupils even carried their notebooks to jot down important or interesting points.

The performance of the band as also the lezim dance on 3 December was an eye-catching and applaudable one. Prizes for Cultural Programmes were given away by Dr. Vijaya Wad, Principal, Anandilal Podar High School.

The closing ceremony was on 4 December at Shantiniketan, Udayachal High School. It was the D-Day for all the participating schools. The judges had a tough time deciding the winners, as every project was innovative.

A.P. Deshpande, Director, Marathi Vigyan Parishad, B.A. Sonawane, B.M. Rajput, K.N. Shirkande, Principal, Pune Vidya Bhavan, Vidya Raut, Principal, Vikas High School and R.T. Singh, Principal, Hindi High School were present on this occasion to distribute the prizes.

Udayachal High School won the Second Prize in “Teaching Aids Project” (Teacher: Saiseetha Raman) and the Third Prize in the “N” Ward Science Quiz (Students: Deepti Rane, Vishnu Mishra and Abhishek Bhattacharjee). This Exhibition will be a memorable one for all, as each one contributed their best to make it a great success.

Saiseetha Raman,
Udayachal High School

Teachers Turn Actors!

A Swiss couple, Andreas and Elayne Phillips conducted a Drama workshop at the Udayachal Primary School on 8 and 9 January, 2003.

Andreas is a “grammarian”. He held a demonstration lesson on the present continuous tense with some of our Standard IV students. The students participated whole-heartedly and Andreas even commented on their proficiency in the English language. This was followed by a discussion and feedback from teachers who had been silent spectators (for once!) during the session.

Andreas's wife, Elayne, has specialised in Speech and Drama. She gave us valuable insights into putting up little skits for students. She started with warming-up exercises, which broke the ice among all staff members as all the Pre-Primary and Primary teachers participated together, many of whom have joined School this year itself.

We learnt different theatre techniques like voice modulation, rhythmic movement and building up stories. She even gave small groups a word each to enact. It was amazing to see how complex words such as joy, obedience, transformation, integration and gratitude were enacted by the groups while others guessed the words. Imagination was at its best!

At the concluding session, the teachers were divided into two large groups. One of the groups got a long strip of blue cloth (many dupattas joined together) symbolic of a river, while the other group got a brown one that represented mountains. Each group had to weave a story around the river or the mountain. The story had to be based on a community, which had a problem, and how they solved that problem.

Teachers, in good camaraderie, wove stories, prepared their own dialogues and took up a role each. We behaved like children, lost our inhibitions and respected each other's ideas. There was a lot of spontaneity and humour. We saw the creative side of our colleagues as never before! Last but not the least, team spirit prevailed and the entire session was a success.

The Udayachal Primary School was indeed fortunate to be among five schools in India to seek knowledge from Andreas and Elayne.

Snehalata Ramachandran,
Udayachal Primary School

Annual Day

The immense Indian peninsula exhibits within its bounds a variety of festivals, which play an important role in the social bonding of Indians. Festivals here revolve around changing seasons and legends. It was this rich legacy that the Udayachal Pre-Primary School chose as their theme for their Annual Day function on 24 January, 2003. Jessie Vas, Principal, Jamnabai Narsee School was the Chief Guest for the occasion. The School chose to call it "Celebrations". More so as it also happened to be Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Jamshyd Godrej's birthday.

Udayachal Pre-Primary School students performing Indian folk dances
at the Annual Day function on 24 January, 2003.

The students, four and five-year-olds, performed Indian folk dances. They traversed North, South, East and West with different dances and traditional costumes. To create this rich tapestry on stage, teachers and parents worked like busy bees making props and costumes. Weeks of preparation went into the making of this evening.

Starting with the winter season and Christmas, they went on to spring with Holi. The rains brought the Coconut Day celebrations followed by the harvest dance, the Dandiya for Navratri and the diya dance for Diwali.

Students were bubbling with joy to see their enthusiastic parents, who turned up in large numbers. The spirit of love and togetherness echoed through the evening as they sang the finale song:

… “We have many different customs
and believe in different things,
but we are all brothers and sisters
happy to be together and sing…”

Tanuja Kantak and Diamay Menzies,
Udayachal Pre-Primary School

Proud Winners, All!

Udayachal Primary School students who won at the Mumbai Suburban Inter-School Athletic Meet in December 2002 at the Sports Authority of India Sports Ground, Kandivili, Mumbai. (L-R): Anushka Rajan, Saish Sawant, Hiral Panchal, Rohit Ramachandran, Nidhi Sajnani, Shreyas Murali and Priyanka Dicholkar. Shreyas was also the gold medallist in Long Jump (3.50 metres). Standing behind (L-R): A. Balasubramanian, Physical Education (P.E.) Teacher, Binaifer Chhoga, Principal, Udayachal Primary School and R. Vispute, P.E. Teacher.

Binaifer Chhoga, Principal, Udayachal Primary School and A. Balasubramanian, P.E. Teacher with Primary School students (L-R): Saish Sawant, Sujith Palia, Anushka Rajan, Rohit Ramachandran, Nidhi Sajnani, Piyush Panchal, Hiral Panchal, Shreyas Murali, Priyanka Dicholkar and Bhargav Mistry, who won at the Milo Ryan International State Athletic Meet at University Stadium, New Marine Lines, Mumbai in December 2002.

Congratulations!

Trupti Helegaonkar, student of Udayachal High School, Std. VIIE, won the first prize (under 12 girls) in the “Sailing Regatta” known as Navy Day Regatta organised by the Indian Navy for the Sea Cadet Corps.

Savira Rodrigues, student of St. Joseph’s High School (Vikhroli), Std. VI, and daughter of Constantino Rodrigues, Paint Shop, Security Equipment Division, Plant-17, has performed brilliantly in her school sports. She stood First in 400 meters races, First in 100 meters races, won the Best Girl Athlete Trophy and also the Individual Championship Trophy. Keep it up!

A Kicking Success

Canver Rodrigues (13), son of Wendell Rodrigues, Machine Shop, Plant-9 and Standard VIII student of St. Francis D’Assisi High School, Borivili, was selected in the boys under 14 category of the Maharashtra State Soccer Team at Pune from 9 to 11 December, 2002. Later, he participated in the National Inter-School Soccer Championship held at Jammu between 18 and 22 December, 2002, playing right half and delivered a splendid performance.

Canver developed a passion for the game when he was barely six. He has been leading his School team since the last five years. His idol is none other than Briazilian soccer star, Rivaldo. His inspiration comes from his father as well as his coach, Farria Xavier. He aspires to play for the Indian team in future. The Godrej parivaar wishes Canver all success.