Thursday, October 6, 2011

The four days of SPICE -- Day 3, First half

The most eventful day of the Congress dawned: there was the usual Morning Prayer and Meditation, this time by the Jorhat unit, followed by a breakfast of luchi and a different potato curry. Then we had the first session, on Man and Environment, which was in two parts. The first part was by Sister Kiran, the principal of Carmel Steel, and the second part by Mr. Bardhan, a vice-principal of Hem Sheela School. Then we had a tea break.
Next, all the units had to present reports of the Club activities in their respective schools. Creative freedom was given for innovative methods of presentation. Almost everyone had a PowerPoint and narration. Some added songs, dances, skits, etc. The Rourkela unit integrated dialogue and dance into their report. The Keorapukur unit presented it in the form of news-reading like on television. The Keorapukur unit was the only Bengali-medium unit present, and thus were praised for presenting their report in flawless English.
Following this the competitive events of the day began, with the Original Song and Extempore Speech in quick succession. Lots were drawn for the order of performance, and our school was the sixth to sing. The theme of the Original Song competition was 'Peace and Environment'. 8-member teams from each school had to present a song that they had composed on the theme. We, Carmel M.A.M.C., sang an ode to Mother Earth and emerged the winners. Carmel Steel came second.
Our song team's uniform was appreciated by several visiting friends. It was a Scottish-inspired costume, with an off-white full-sleeved ruffled shirt and a green and black-based checkered flat-front straight skirt, knee-length. The shirt buttons matched the skirt. We wore our hair in tight ponytails at the back, accessorised with thin leather-band watches on our right wrist. We wore black stockings and identical black ballerina shoes. There was no break before the next event and I had to do the Extempore Speech in my Song costume. It was troublesome to sit up there in that skirt for so long. :/
Extempore Speech was a mixed team event with two participants from each school mixed into two-member teams. The teams had two minutes of preparation after which each speaker spoke for one minute. I was paired with a nice young girl from Kurseong (We made good friends with the Kurseong and Jorhat units and are still in touch with them.) My team's topic was 'Be the change you wish to see in the world'. I spoke first and well, but my partner's speech was too short. However, the other student from my school won the gold along with her Kharagpur team-mate. My personal luck was bad in both mixed events that I was selected to participate in. After the Extempore Speech event, everyone gathered for a group photo, and then each unit took a group photo. Then it was time for lunch. However, we had drawn lots again and our unit was to go first in the upcoming Choreographic Dance event. To avoid dancing on a full stomach, we had taken extra breakfast and decided to skip lunch. So while the others went to lunch, the 8 dance girls from our school went straight to get dressed for the Dance.
Attendees of SPICE Club Regional Congress Eastern Province 2011 at Carmel M.A.M.C., Durgapur
They include sisters and teachers from the various schools, attending students, and organizing volunteers from the host school. Backdrop: High School building and central garden of Carmel M.A.M.C.

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