At the Club Fest 2019

The Club Festival took place for the first time yesterday, Saturday, the twenty-third of November. Everything was different, there was a festive atmosphere and there were new faces (as we had many participants from various schools who were taking part in different Student-Club driven competitions). For me, it was a particularly gratifying moment as two students who were once members of the CLICK Photography Club of the school (of which I am a member) won the first prize! It was also a great moment to have with us our own Child-Climate Activist, Ms Ridhima Pandey, a twelve-year-old from Uttarakhand who has filed a complaint at the United Nations Climate Action Summit to protest lack of government action on the climate crisis. It is most heartening to see how our young children are more concerned about climate change than we adults are! The month has incidentally seen air-pollution levels reaching alarming levels, often spiking the safe levels in Delhi NCR at times reaching ppm levels exceeding 750 points.

The whole event on the day was based on the need to protect the environment and as such the trophies were made out of recycled products and the pens were made out of recyclable paper with seeds at the end of the tube. The organizers of the event, student leaders of various clubs had also decided to do away with plastic bottles and instead use glass bottles to serve drinking water.

The high energy level of the students and their teachers was evident throughout the day and I was able to capture a few moments of these, whether it was the team at the registration desks or those who were there to provide guidance. 

And the "behind the scenes" hero of the day was Sankalp Sir who has been leading the student clubs. It was a daring decision to open club-related activities to other schools. Seen in the above snap are Sankalp Sir and Ridhima's father.

Of course, Tushar managed to sound a bit formal on the Public address system, which he did rather well.

I was able to get a snap of Atmaj, a very active member of the student-club of the school and Arnav with his camera, who also happens to be my student. They were both very shy about getting their snaps taken.

There were a few stolen moments when it was possible to take a quick snap with Anoushka and Kritika.

I caught Manas and Tejas, enjoying some popcorn  (of course, I helped myself to some). The squint, affected by Tejas is contrived, the Ostriche's attempt to escape from danger by poking its head into a hole in the ground. Look-you can't miss the teacher's eyes, can you?

Varun was trying to enter the room where participants had to work out the "Trolley  Problem". By the time I reached the venue, the trolley had already left the station!

A couple of snaps of the soul food provided by the in-house club, the Grub-Club is shown above. The food was of course of the best kind!

It was indeed a pleasure to see Lavanay in the school after some time. He is planning to get into formal film-production.

It was a joy to take a snap of one of the most dynamic and energetic program leaders, Dr. Kevin Patrick during the award ceremony.

The happy winners of the Tasveer photography competition were Rishay and Eeshan, both of whom were once members of the CLICK photography club of the school. They were awarded their trophies and certificates by Ms Rashmi Choudhary and Mr Prasenjit Bose.

I am posting a few more snaps of the day, some more ramblings and some more vignettes. Yes, and while we were having our Club Events, a few students were preparing for a Biology CBSE Presentation in the Biology lab under Tannu Ma'am's guidance.

Veer was busy editing his story-board for the Tasveer photography contest hosted by the CLICK club. Unfortunately, his laptop hung up at the last moment and simply refused to budge! Fortunately enough the data was safe when we restarted it.

Waiting for the entries to come in, Mr Prasenjit and Ms Rashmi were in a conversation regarding the criteria for judging the entries. They were, incidentally our judges for the photography competition, and we are thankful to them for their support.

Aadya for once was busy typing something on her laptop. She probably wasn't aware of me when I took the snap - she's glad I did though!

A heated debate took place between our school and Shri Ram school. It was an interesting debate that had the intensity of an Oxford debate. In the end, it was the Shri Ram school that won the argument.

The play that came towards the end of the award ceremony was very well scripted.It kept the audience spellbound.

Pollution is a Mindset that the CBSE and NCERT should address.

One day we might need gas masks to live!

The title says it all, "Pollution" is indeed, "a Mindset", an attitude and a way of thinking. This is with reference to the recent smog that engulfed the Delhi NCR, (and of course other areas) forcing schools to be shut down what with the AQI levels spiking across the 500 mark. The people of Gurgaon felt they had to do something, make their voice heard as the authorities seemed to be interested in other things, and they gathered at the Leisure Valley Park to express their concerns and anger at how the pollution was being handled.

At the gathering, a few experts explained how it was not just stubble-burning (although, undeniably, it remains one of the major reasons), that was behind the deadly smog. They spoke about how the burning of garbage was, in fact, a very important reason for the presence of smog. Strangely enough, burning of garbage seems to be the easiest way for disposing of garbage lying in front of our houses. During my morning walks, I find numerous piles of garbage burning on the way as early as 5:45 a.m. These piles include plastic, paper, and many other substances which let off noxious fumes besides the dense smoke given off by piles of leaves. It is sadly deeply ingrained in the mindset of people that consigning garbage to the flames is the easiest way of solving problems. The message that even burning leaves releases the carbon dioxide trapped them into the atmosphere does not seem to have reached most of the people living in the country. During the winters it is common to see people lighting discarded tyres and plastics to warm themselves in. The fumes and gases coming out of burning tyres and plastics are so nauseating and yet you find scores of such fires throughout the country. Somehow, the burning of piles of twigs, leaves, wood, and tyres seems to have become an institution for socialising.

The presence of stinking garbage left untended is again a cause for concern. How then do you condemn the burning of garbage knowing very well that stinking and rotting garbage also releases noxious fumes, methane thrown in? That I guess is another Mindset problem. First and foremost, the segregation of waste starts at home. Bio-degradable waste should be separated from non-biodegradable waste. Bio-degradable waste should be disposed of in green-coloured garbage bins while the non-biodegradable waste is put into the blue coloured bins. Well, most of us don't do it. We lump the bio-degradable waste with the non-biodegradable waste. Waste management is one of the most important mindsets of people living in advanced societies. In fact, Waste Management is an important science that can promote and protect not just healthy lives but also sustainable development. Garbology, as this science is concerned, is one of the most important revenue-earning projects in the 21st century. Garbage is gold and yet we treat it like rubbish! The methane released from decomposing biodegradable waste can be used to produce electricity. Rare metals can be extracted from E-waste and re-used. Paper and rags can be recycled to make paper, while plastic can be used to make roads. Garbology can be a multi-million dollar industry and it requires people with the right mindset to understand this. It is only when people see "financial gain" in processing and recycling garbage that we will begin to see fewer piles of stinking garbage all over the city.

Quite a few people will disagree with the idea of pollution being more of an attitudinal problem than a physical problem! One might state that it is easy enough to rant and scream about stubble-burning, without actually taking any action to prevent it, which, I agree, is a fact! We often turn a blind eye towards such instances believing it to be 'another's problem'. Today, unfortunately, air pollution in Delhi NCR is because most of us have this attitude. Attitudes, however, can be changed through education, but to do so we need to have a specific curriculum that addresses the issue. Environmental Sciences (E.V.S.) should be taught as a separate subject and not, "infused" in the NCERT syllabus. In fact, this should be taught as the General Studies paper at the senior levels and the marks should be counted even at the Board levels. It is only if we take up the whole subject seriously that we can hope to have a younger generation that is more aware of the environmental issues than we are.

All might not be lost, however! If all schools like mine could attempt to develop a culture of respect for the environment, and awareness of what each one of us needs to do as stakeholders, then surely, things will change! It all begins with telling students to leave no trace, in other words not to litter or drop leftovers from meals, wrappers and scraps of paper. The poster, a photograph of which I have posted above was made by students of the middle program and it very clearly describes the process for making our environment liveable. They say charity begins at home, I would say that awareness about the environment starts from school!

At the Right to Breathe Rally

When I opted to be part of the right to breathe rally at the Leisure Valley today, little did I know that there would be so many people at the venue. I had taken my nephew Aadi with me hoping that he too would learn about the importance of spreading awareness about pollution and good it was!

It felt really great to see so many people gathered at Leisure Valley to campaign about the deadly air-pollution that has had Delhi NCR in its choking grip. It has become apparent that it is only the people of the country who can rise to the challenge and bring about a change in society. The problem of air pollution can only be solved through advocacy, awareness and education. The smog that we have been witnessing in Gurgaon lately, I learned from the rally, is the result of many factors. While stubble-burning continues to be a major cause, there are many other factors such as unpaved dusty roads, burning of garbage, construction work, and of course burning of garbage. Even garbage disposal is an important factor that ends up in deadly smog. Gurgaon incidentally has a very poor garbage disposal system. The decaying organic waste sends clouds of toxic gases like methane gas and other allergens into the air. 

What I witnessed today at the Leisure Valley in Gurgaon is an indication that the common people have had enough of government inaction against air pollution. This so far peaceful campaign could lead to further agitation by the common people who are fed up with the poor quality of life in Delhi NCR. They will not stop from taking steps to bring pollution under control. Examples of people rising to the occasion, building roads, putting out garbage fires when the fire-engines took too long to reach the fire and even collecting garbage are becoming more and more common. Even raising voices of concern, organizing rallies and campaigns matter today.

It was a pleasant surprise, moreover to see Tushar, my student holding the school banner high in the air. I was taken aback, initially to see so many people wearing gas-masks similar to the ones people wore during the second world war in the battle of Britain. One hopes that things might never lead to the wearing of gas masks, after all, we are not living in times when Chlorine gas was used break the deadlock between two different armies.

Memories are made of these!

Out of the blue, when one of my students, Vikas Thakur asked me for a softcopy of a photograph from the year 2003, I was in a tizzy! I recognised the snap as one I had taken in the year 2003, on a Kodak camera the Mr Anil Virmani had decided to allow me to purchase. It cost the school all of ten thousand rupees. The camera had a maximum resolution of not more than 1.3 megapixels. I remember him telling me to check out on its white balance. I, however, remember the day quite clearly now. Madam Shiela Dixit, the chief minister of Delhi had decided to organise a rally on the importance of cleanliness involving all the Government schools in the area. I remember helping the students prepare slogans for the occasion. We rallied forward and shouted slogans about the importance of cleanliness. It was a moment of fun and I strode forward holding this rather diminutive camera in my hands. The police personnel accorded me condescending respect and all the other organisations seemed to want to have their photographs taken. But then what matters most is that I was transported to a time many years back. I will probably not be able to identify Vikas in the photographs though I am thankful to him for asking me to send him the same. Time flows and we realise, on looking at photographs about how we were then and how we felt then. One person I remember from this snap is Subodh. I wonder what he is doing these days.

It has been many years since I took these snaps and I can't hel[ but feel emotional about how time has passed, the water flows and we never cross the same river twice! My formative years were spent in the Dhanpatmal Virmani Secondary School and I cherish the things that I learned while working there.

These photographs certainly transport me to a time that once was and will never be! The year was 2003, about sixteen years ago. It is difficult to imagine how fast time flows, and today when I went through some of my old data, I went through a lot of memories that I had almost forgotten. I would like to, however, thank Vikas for being a trigger for re-kindling my memories of all those years ago. I wish him all the best in whatever endeavours he has and am thankful that I have something to show him.

What my visit to The Sultanpur National Park taught me

One Smoggy Morning at the Sultanpur National Park

The weather cleared up yesterday, the second of November, and I thought that it would be the right time to make a trip to the Sultanpur National Park, barely fifteen kilometres from my house on the New Railway Road, Gurgaon. My plan was to reach the spot before seven in the morning and so I left at about a half past six in the morning.

By the time I reached the National Park, however, the weather had worsened. It was a non-working Saturday and I had thought of getting some good snaps of migratory birds like ducks and black-necked storks, but then it was not to be! The smog was so bad that even the sun was barely glowing! I had two alternatives, either return home or slog it out and hope to capture some of the resident or local bird species perched on the tree branches lining the footpaths.

I had planned to spend barely an hour at the National Park but ended spending three hours! Instead of doing a half-way tour, I ended up doing a whole circuit! However, I guess I would not be wrong to state that it was worth it as I was able to capture some prime examples of inter-species cooperation including an emotional contact between Asian Antelopes.

The Sultanpur National Park is an enclosed area with many species of birds and mammals living there. It would be a treasure trove for scientists willing to study how different species of animals and birds live together in an enclosed environment sharing dwindling resources of food water and space. There are, incidentally many Asian Antelope and Oxen vying for limited resources. Of the dogs, however, I spotted none although I did spot a male Antelope with an injured right flank.

A matter of concern, moreover, is the rampant loss of trees and the absence of water bodies beside the main lake in the National Park. A reduction in the number of ponds and other water bodies would result in reduced numbers of migratory birds arriving at the Bird Sanctuary. Also rather surprisingly, a number Iron Pilings had been bolted into concrete foundations to construct hides for birders to be able to take photographs of birds in the lake. Unfortunately, this construction activity, coming so late in the year could also have scared away migratory birds coming in to nest! The need of the hour is to grow more trees and get more water into the area. Replenishing the dried-up ponds with water and planting more trees will make the National Park more viable for migratory birds to settle in for the winter. If this is not done, then the Government might have to write off Sultanpur National Park, de-notify it so that apartments might be built there.

Anyway, who cares about forests, wetlands and scrublands! All that people care for today are real-estate lands, land from which more money can be made from constructing residential flats than from entry tickets to a National Parks. There are, today more casual visitors in National Parks than those who’d really like to spot birds! You get more of couples, married or ready to get married coming over for a chance of a quick hug or a snuggle amongst the trees, noisy families coming over for a change from the hustle and bustle of the city with the only motive of having ‘fun’. They often end up scaring away wildlife leaving nothing but clod heaps and garbage heaps for the unaware to trip into!

What caught my attention on this the trip was the tenderness shown to each other by the Asian Antelopes, the tolerance shown by the Parrot towards the squirrel that seemed to have taken over the former’s nest, and the patient manner in which the Egret waited for the Ox to turn over the grass so that it could pick on the insects. This rather comfortable inter-species relationship speaks volumes about what we need to do in order to build up a culture of tolerance amongst ourselves!

Jacobin Cuckoos, Green Pigeons and Cormorants spotted at the Sultanpur National Park

When I visited the Sultanpur National Park, I thought I would be able to beat the fog and the mist in the morning. The light wind had dissipated the smog and I believed that I would have a one hour window from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. But then this was not to be as the smog returned with a vengeance masking the rising sun in a thick blanket of smog. Strangely enough, I have noticed that this year there have been fewer birds. One reason could be the poor air quality in the region.

Looking at the poor visibility I decided to make do with the birds within closer reach, those that would somehow not require much light. In fact, I was attracted to a parrot that was peering into a bird-house from which peeped a squirrel. It seemed to be glaring at the squirrel probably because it wanted the bird-house for itself!

I have taken umpteen numbers of photographs of common pond Herons but this one caught my attention. The fluffing of its feathers and the contortions that it went through gave it a well, "different look"! The image of a Redstart clinging on to a cage for a sapling was a consolation for not getting to photograph the Northern Shovellers that simply stayed out of bounds.

The Cormorant trying to catch whatever warmth it could get from the weak sun made it lazy enough to allow me to approach it easily. Its eye-make-up seemed to loom large in the view-finder.

And if that was not enough, I have decided to add a snap of a Jacobin Cuckoo from my previous visit to the National Park. I had not been able to identify it previously but then after browsing through my book, I felt I should add it to this post.

Seeing green pigeons was a rare treat as I was seeing them after quite some time. Green Pigeons used to be a common site in Gurugram in times when there were more trees. It is believed that Green Pigeons rarely alight on the ground, preferring to perch on the branches of trees out of reach of predators.