The four days of SPICE -- Day 2, Second half

Just before lunch, the quiz pairs from each school had to answer an elimination round. The top four teams would then be shuffled into four mixed pairs. After lunch, we had the second session of the day, on Human Rights, by Mrs. Rita Banerjee, who had earlier moderated the Inter-Faith Dialogue. Interacting with us and taking our ideas, she defined 'human', and listed the qualities of a human being; then she defined 'rights' and listed examples of rights. Then she finally defined human rights. She showed us videos of United Nations campaign adverts, with a separate ad for each of the 30 Rights from the UN Charter. She made some of us perform an impromptu skit to showcase a common violation of one of these Rights. She divided the other girls into groups to write short poems on changing the current status of enforcement of Human Rights. Of the 30 Rights, the Right to Play, which most of us didn't know about, delighted all of us. We received many new ideas and information regarding our basic rights and the responsibilities that come with them. We felt empowered after the session. The session was extensively interactive which made it very interesting. Personally, I felt happy because Mrs. Banerjee appreciated the way I presented my views.
Then we had a tea break. The next event was the Quiz: and the top four were Carmel M.A.M.C. (us!), Carmel Steel, Carmel Gariahat and Carmel Jorhat. After the shuffling, I was paired with a student from Steel. The quiz topics were the Bible, General Knowledge and any one from a list comprising Science and Technology, History and Geography, Literature, etc. Team C comprising Gariahat and Jorhat won with 55 points. Both of them were pretty knowledgeable, and the Gariahat girl aced the Bible quiz. My team D came second with 30, which incidentally I achieved on my own which is a bit of personal consolation. My school partner won the bronze paired with a Jorhat student, as Team A. Ms. Sangita Jayal from our school conducted the Quiz, helped by others from our unit as well as other units. Then we had another short break, after which we gathered in the auditorium again for the Evening Prayer which was arranged by Carmel Gariahat and Kutra and consisted of songs, beautiful pics and hymns. Dinner was next, which was rice, dal, curries and fish for this day.
Just like the previous days and the days to come, the Animators were to gather for a meeting while we were to sleep -- but a disturbing thing happened to our unit. There was this hole, not very big, in our room (my classroom) which we had jammed up as nicely as we could. But we saw that there were big black ants coming out of it in an endless stream and ants all over our stuff. While other schools got ready to freshen up and sleep, we lugged out our luggage and unpacked stuff while the workers pulled out our bedding. The whole empty floor was then cleaned, smeared with gammaxene and dead ants were swept out. Meanwhile we opened another room just at an angle from ours (which is actually the music room) and moved our luggage there. There were three cots there for some teachers who were supposed to stay but changed plans later. We arrived at the decision not to move back our luggage as it had food and delicate material like costumes, cameras, CDs, etc. After our original room was dry, some bedding was put back in there, steering clear of the side with the hole. Some of us slept there while the others slept with the luggage on the cots there.
Because of all this, our unit was late for the campfire, which we had to hold in the hall around a symbolic fire, thanks to weather. Each unit performed or conducted games which had little prizes (chocolates, etc.). We conducted a game in which everyone had to identify brand names from their slogans. Everyone joined the songs and dances. I danced myself crazy. :D
After all this, we also had to do final rehearsals for our Song and Dance events the next day. There was also the Extempore Speech event which required calmness of mind. And guess what? I was in all three. There was also the Collage event, good thing was that none of our unit was in all four.We slept as quick as we could, ardently hoping for the best. My, that was a long day, but as we were to find out later, definitely not the longest.

The four days of SPICE -- Day 2, First half

I had set the alarm for 4 am, as 92 girls were sharing 2 showers. I was already a bit hungry: the previous night's dinner, though rice-based with enough curries etc. that we consumed in enough quaintity, it was taken earlier than most of us usually take dinner. Anyway, the second day was here, and we were to become acquainted with the routine that we would get used to by the end of the Congress. We freshened up at lightning speed -- after the long queue for the shower -- and rushed to the hall for the Morning Prayers at 6:30. The Rourkela Carmel students arranged the prayer and meditation session, which included songs and beautiful videos. By the time it ended, we were pretty hungry, and had a sumptuous breakfast of luchi and  dum aloo.
Then we had the day's first session, which was a Talk On Peace by Ms. Anindita Home Choudhury, an alumnus of our school and a vice-principal of a nearby school. She had her higher studies in Physiology, and teaches Biology in her school. She is also an educationist, and has spent time at the Drury University in the USA in this regard. The most interesting thing is that I have known this lady by face for a long time, as some teacher of importance at her school, as her school is often the centre for different competitive examinations that I answer. As I didn't know her name or anything else about her, I had no way of knowing that the nice teacher from HSM School I met several times was the person who would be coming. Her talk was engaging, and she spoke on a change in attitude towards problems, as in realizing how petty even the biggest of our problems is in the greater scheme of things. Her PowerPoint had lots of clever pictures which I intend to look up on the internet and collect. She interacted amiably and was comfortable to talk to. She also gave out two activity sheets, one to fill in our thoughts about peace in words or drawings, and the other to think and write down the differences in the attitudes of our heart and mind regarding the issue of peace. She looked at some of the sheets and asked for them to be read out. The 'heart' responses were more emotional and impulsive with more ambition than the more rational 'mind' responses. Unfortunately there was no time for all to share, which was a sad but inevitable thing in all the other sessions too.
Then we went downstairs for tea (and cookies!) break. I don't drink tea or coffee, so I attacked the cookies right away. Butter cookies, yum! Then we returned to the auditorium for the Local Unit Report Presentation, where each school reported on their SPICE Club activities in their own localities and within their schools. The reports were presented in creative ways. Almost everyone had a PowerPoint, and some included skits and dances. Carmel Keorapukur presented it in the form of news-reading like on television, which was interesting to watch. The next event was the first competitive event of the Congress. It was the Inter-Faith Dialogue. Each school was alotted a religion before the Congress, and one representative had to prepare a 6-minute speech on that religion. Lots were drawn to ascertain the order in which they would speak. The session was moderated very efficiently by Mrs. Rita Banerjee, who was also to be our resource person for the day's second session. My school's speaker drew 10, and had to go last. She had to sit there on stage and listen to each and every person before she could speak, poor thing. We were given Christianity. The Kharagpur speaker won this event. We didn't get a medal in this event; though our speaker spoke pretty well, it was not good enough for some very fiery ones that other schools delivered. The results, though, were declared in the second half: I mention them here as I'm going to write by event.
Then we went for lunch, which consisted of rice and a few curries, some veg and some non-veg, and dal.

The four days of SPICE -- Day 1

At 3 in the evening I reached the school. At 5 the Cabinet including me marched into the hall followed by the guests. Then I went to dress up as a Man for the Prayer Service skit of the Inaugural Session. The skit was very much appreciated. However, I could not change back into uniform in time for the Club Pledge and Anthem. Later students of different classes presented cultural programmes. Our Councillor For Education delivered the Inaugural Speech and read out a message from the Provincial Superior. Then all other than the participants staying back left. After dinner there was an Introductory Session which Ms. Bela, an Animator of Carmel Gariahat conducted in the form of a game. Each student was given a chit. There were equal numbers of chits, each with the name of an animal. No one was allowed to speak, you could only make the sound of that animal, and find others making the same sound as you to form a family. Then the whole family introduced themselves. I was in the Dog Family. Then we went to sleep. Our unit slept in my classroom. We went to bed full of anticipation.


I could not update before because of internet trouble. I went back to school today after a well deserved holiday on Monday. More about all the exciting events in the subsequent posts.

The Time Is Nigh

After a long wait and lots of rehearsals, the SPICE Club Regional Congress is finally here. Today at 3pm, I will be at school with all my stuff. The Inaugural Session is going to be hectic: I have to change costumes twice in half an hour. Can't divulge too much about the Congress now, though. I will write loads of posts once I'm back (after 11th afternoon). I can tell you though that the theme colour that we were given for our dance is orange, and the religion we were given for the inter-faith dialogue is Christianity. Each school got a unique colour, and two schools got each religion. Being the hosts didn't give us any advantage in the competitions, which is both a good and a bad thing :D.
I'm sure you've noticed the SPICE Club Special look of my blog: all dressed up in the Spread Peace Improve and Conserve Environment get-up. It is going to stay until I finish reporting about the whole Congress. That leaf is the club's logo, and also our SPICE Club badge. It is green, with gold border, a white dove, and gold inscription: 'Spread Peace Improve Conserve Environment'. I also changed the whole colour scheme of the blog to fit the mood. I'm participating in dance, singing, quiz, extempore and the Inaugural Session, so wish me luck. Staying at school day and night and meeting Carmelites from other Apostolic Carmel Eastern Province schools is going to be fun. Ta-ta!

More experiments

Some more of my wallpapers. Here's #36:

It's half-experimental and half-planned: texture was planned, colours and effects were done on the job. Now #37:

It looks like something under a microscope, I think. Result of bold thoughts, tired mind and lots of time. Next, obviously, is #38:

It came to me while playing around with pictures: I was having laughs, converting stuff from Cartesian co-ordinates to polar or vice-versa, and dabbing colours randomly, when I had a nice ring-like shape of rainbow colours on a bluish base. So I started working with those colours, and did a little more of co-ordinate fun, and discovered the waterfall-like possibility. Then I used several masks and blending modes for the effects. I did the horizontal mist lines to reduce the vertical effect of it. I still think it's a bit too much, but I didn't want to overwork it.

Ooh, that was a long story. #39:

I was looking at all the available custom shapes, and the hands fascinates me. I just started drawing them randomly. I was dozy and some gathering nearby played really disturbing loud music, out of tune, and my head went buzzing. That prompted me to do the ripples. It was all in grayscale, when I had some real ideas and decided to actually make it a wallpaper. I made a few layers between my shape layers and experimented with very basic colours and diverse brush modes. It looks shocking even to me.

I didn't know that I remembered so much about the process until I started writing, heh. #40:

I was experimenting with the watercolour filter. Some day if I have patience I'll try to make something that looks like a real watercolour. I started a few times, and figured out more or less how to get the basic effect, but I never had the patience to sit with it for long enough to finish it. The filter is very gradient sensitive, and so unless I account for every layer with it's own required brush settings, I won't get much graded effect.

Adios for today, subsequent wallpaper updates probably won't come this frequently or in so large batches. I was making up for the absence, during which I made so many that I have lots not uploaded yet instead of the usual one or two. Also, wallpaper page is updated till #34. Alignment issues are not solved yet, so that will continue to be a slow process.

Death has a far reach

A woman lost her husband. I didn't know her. Neither did Callye, from who's blog I got the news. But the news travelled, and the blogger world is mourning with this food blogger and her family. Thousands are making the peanut butter pie that Jennie's husband loved, to celebrate his life and honour his memory. Thousands are touched by his last dance with his daughter.

The news of deaths of happy, innocent people just like yourself is a sad thing to come by, even if they were far away from you and absolutely unknown to you in  life. When I heard of Jennie's loss, I had the same sinking feeling that I would have if it were someone I knew and honoured in their lifetime. I thought of the family's immense, unthinkable sense of emptiness. Sympathy comes to me, but empathy eludes me, because I am lucky. It eludes me because I want it to: never anywhere does anyone want to have the direct experience that would acquaint them with how it really feels. But it comes. It strikes when one least expects it, leaving a giant black hole in one's life. One has to move on. Among all those who mourn, the degrees of sadness varies greatly. For some it is a parent or a child or a sibling, a family member or a friend, for some it is one close to a friend; for some it is a neighbour, or the nice person one met at the market every week and didn't know the name of. For some, it's a stranger who one somehow feels for. Everyone mourns accordingly, and take proportionate time to move on. But in spite of these differences, death leaves a mark. In spite of assurances of a better place, of immortality, of union with the divine, death is a blow. A massive blow.

I write this because he was a fellow human being -- loved, cherished, honoured and cared for, just like we all are, and will be missed deeply by those close to him; because the news of his passing brought a sudden solemnity to my day: this post was to be a celebration of my exams ending. Death, however far away, does that to me. I contemplate the nature of death whenever I hear of one. Even if predicted, it actually happens in the blink of an eye . Here last second, now here no more. How can I ignore this occurrence in the lives of a happy family, in the life of a fellow blogger? But all I can do is leave a comment on her blog, and write a post in here to show my sympathy. Rest in Peace, Mikey, and may your family have the strength to recover, and continue to keep your memory alive.

Wallpapers Galore, but with regrets (31-35)

I'm putting up loads of wallpapers today, overdue from my absence. However, I cannot update the Wallpaper page, as it is a time-consuming job.

31: Random experiment with filters: looks like some futuristic environment-saving thingie.

32: First attempt at sceneries. Drew a rough sketch with a light brush and applied mosaic and other effects.

33: One of my favourites, and the definite winner with my Mom. I didn't draw the kingfisher. I modified an internet picture. I'm going to try that more often: composition-based wallpapers, y'know.Worked hard on this one. Lots of brushes, filters, blending modes and editing. Still isn't perfect, but I didn't want to risk overworking it. And yes, I know I can always keep a copy and do it, but I don't have a clear idea what to do yet.

34: I learnt a lot about paths from a tutorial. The black and gradient-based background and the curves are (partly) from there. Then I added my own schemes to it. The pointillizing, the rings, lines, lighting effects and stars. Applied lots of new knowledge about layer handling too. I extensively used shape layers, fill layers and masks. One of my most technical ones yet. I can actually recreate it almost to the tee.

35: Ooh, chillies. Another whimsical one. Was playing around with radial gradients.

Life comes in the way

I haven't been touching my computer much these days. It takes longer than usual to do any work on the bad internet, so I need longer free hours to get anything like blogging done, which I don't get. Here's something fun to keep you occupied: Join RuneScape.

Also, my half-yearly exams are on. I'm trying to catch up with my online life too, but I keep falling behind. There's the SPICE Club Congress too, after the exams. I'm participating in the dance, quiz, singing and extempore competitions, and in the inaugural programme that we are doing as the hosts. So lots to do, and till then blogging can only happen once or twice a month.

Travians Rehab

I'm back from the Travians rehab that the universe forced on me. A series of troubles plagued my cyber life for some weeks, and I used it against myself as an excuse to quit Travians as I'd been meaning to for a long time. I quit for the same reason i quit Travian: I don't like playing unless my efforts bear fruit, and in these 'peopley' games the others whom you inevitably need to succeed have lots of expectations from you. So there, nothing but RuneScape now. That is one multiplayer RPG I can play alone and still enjoy. I can't afford to tailor my schedule to gamers who have loads of time on their hands. Somehow, I don't know how. And forgive me for any missing y's in this post. That key is not working well as ants chewed on the spacer layer between the circuit and the keys. It's happened with the g and m before. I just need to get used to applying extra force on y as well.

He fell on a log and found a root...

... a square root.
I fell on a link and found an awesome math webcomic Spiked Math. It's a comic, in colour, where all the jokes are based on mathematics. Being more topical, it is tougher to do (an understand) than general humour, but nevertheless great fun. The site comes with a commenting system akin to blogs, which often adds to the fun and results in follow-up jokes, and many non-math people can enjoy the comics because of others explaining it to them in the comments. The artist is Mike, who's own favourite webcomic is xkcd. He has a ranking system of other webcomics, and his list is a valuable source of more funny comics. He does his comics with MS-Paint: the art is not exceptional, but the jokes surely are.
Speaking of webcomics, I found several sites that regularly explain xkcd. Since there are several, you'd better Google 'explain xkcd'. There are similar ones for several other webcomics too. I'm serious, there really are. Really. I'm not being irrational here. I'm not pi.