Udayachal Schools

n the fifty years since the launch of Udayachal Schools, there have been many “firsts”. For the Annual Day too, children of the pre-primary, primary and secondary sections performed together for the first time!

11 March happens to be Soonuben’s birth anniversary and we could offer our mentor no better tribute than by having the Annual Day on that day. However, as over 1,300 children participated, we had to have the performances spread over two evenings, i.e. 10 and 11 March, 2005.

Jamshyd Godrej escorts Chief Guest, Dr. Indu Shahani.	Dr. Shahani releases Uday, the school magazine.
Pyramids.	A Koli dance by children of Sr. KG.

Entitled “Visual Splendour”, the programme included diverse items, including a Koli dance and a Spanish dance by the pre-primary children, who enthralled the audience with their intricate dance steps. A Rainbow dance, a Dekhani dance from Goa and an aerobics item termed Merry Springtime Shuffle were performed by the primary school children. Varsha Nritya, Lezims, Mashal, Pyramids, Gopi Nritya and a Chinese Carnival were performed by the high school children. Glow Lights, an item the children of standard IV performed in the dark, was highly appreciated.

Spanish dance.

A Goan village being set up for the Dekhani dance.

As the function was spread over two days, there were two chief guests: on 10 March — Dr. Vasundhara Padmanabhan, Principal, K.J. Comprehensive College of Somaiya, Education and Training and Research.On 11 March — Dr. Indu Shahani, Principal, H.R. College of Commerce and Economics.

Both guests applauded the performance of the children, appreciated the fact that Indian traditional dances were kept alive (as opposed to the ‘filmi’performances put up by most schools and colleges today) and lauded the creativity of the teachers for having arranged all the items themselves: there were no hired professional choreographers. Truly, we are blessed to have teachers who are all-rounders!

The myriad colours of the rainbow in the Rainbow dance.	Krishna on a swing, while the gopis dance around him.
Mashal — A drill performed by the torchbearers of tomorrow.	Chinese Carnival.

A bumper issue of our school magazine, Uday, was also released and it was wonderful to have members of the Godrej family present amongst us for this occasion. With around 3,000 invitees and parents there were several administrative encumbrances, which were sorted out by the three schools sharing duties. From sending invitations and organising seating, stitching costumes and painting the stage backdrop to light and sound arrangements, printing of the magazine, training children for compering, and snack arrangements — the demands were gruelling.

But the nicest part was that, at the end of the day, the programme went off very well, seemingly effortlessly.

Parents held the programme in high esteem and their feedback was both encouraging and motivating. Somebody joked that Udayachal Schools could now single-handedly host the Asian games!