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I am for my country

The founder of Atmiya Vidya Mandir H D H Hariprasad Swamiji Maharaj says that every child should be first and foremost a true patriot. Exhibiting this conviction loud and clear, all members of Atmiya Vidya Mandir celebrated the 64TH Independence Day with gaiety and fervor. The exquisite stage decoration with tricolor fabrics and flower arrangements […]

The Merchant of Venice of William Shakespeare By “All-Star Production”

August 19, 2010/0 Comments/in AVM Updates, Creativity, Students' Creations /by AVM Teachers

The Merchant of Venice is classified as an early Shakespearean comedy, more specifically, as a “Christian comedy” and it is a work in which good triumphs over evil. For Grade XI – Science and Commerce, the new academic year began by performing this most appreciated and loved play of William Shakespeare – The Merchant of […]

I am for my country

August 20, 2010/0 Comments/in AVM Updates, Value Based Education /by AVM Teachers

The Merchant of Venice of William Shakespeare By “All-Star Production”

August 19, 2010/0 Comments/in AVM Updates, Creativity, Students' Creations /by AVM Teachers

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I am for my country

August 20, 2010/0 Comments/in AVM Updates, Value Based Education /by AVM Teachers

The founder of Atmiya Vidya Mandir H D H Hariprasad Swamiji Maharaj says that every child should be first and foremost a true patriot. Exhibiting this conviction loud and clear, all members of Atmiya Vidya Mandir celebrated the 64TH Independence Day with gaiety and fervor. The exquisite stage decoration with tricolor fabrics and flower arrangements was not only creating a perfect environment for the solemn celebration but also communicating the enthusiasm of Atmiya family to make it grand.

The celebration commenced with recitation of a few patriotic verses by the anchor of the show Yash Pachhigar, the Vice Headboy. The honorable guests Mr. Pavan Kumar who is the external faculty for Science from Vision IIT and Fuaji (Mr. V.D Patel) were invited on the stage to hoist the flag. It was followed by singing of the national anthem and national song.

Mr. Pavan Kumar addressed the students wishing everyone on the occasion of this National Festival. He reminded students that everyone has to do their bit to take the country ahead on the path of progress. Through his speech, he conveyed this important message that freedom does not mean absence of rules and regulations, he explained the students that freedom means bearing responsibility as a part, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially.

Students of Std III and IV displayed a spectacular show of mass drill, the audience was amazed to see their synchronization. Moreover, students of Std V, VI and VII were equally stunning while moving perfectly using hand and body gestures to accompany the song lyrics ‘ ………is mitti ko tilak karo, Ye dharti hai balidan ki’.

The next event, but certainly the best event of the day was the formation of Pyramids by the students of Std. VIII, IX, X AND XI. Well trained by the P.T. Masters, with the beat of the music, the boys rolled and curled, transforming themselves into blocks of little Pyramids. Their team work was symbolic of perfect coordination wherein every link is vital. The show was applauded.

To add flavor of great patriotism to these enthusiastic students, Pranav Sir sang a stirring, thrilling and rousing song ‘Mere desh ki dharti’. After this, Fuaji (Mr. V.D Patel), in his speech appreciated everybody’s effort to make the celebration splendid. He also persuaded the students with example of Dr Verghese Kurien (Father of the White Revolution in India) for preparing themselves to contribute in the growth of the country. The critical task of putting these zeal clad performers in sequential positions was accomplished by Prabhudarshan Sir and Ritesh Sir, as they were the judges.

The Triumphant heroes of the day were the Suhradams – the Orange House students. Immaterial of winning or losing, various performances did bring the boys together in a spirit of brotherhood and patriotism. The bonds of brotherhood were strengthened once again in honour of Independence Day.

The eventful day came to a glorious end with the rendition of the National Anthem sung in unison with gusto.

The programme concluded with the distribution of sweets.

Written by: Seema Madam

The Merchant of Venice of William Shakespeare By “All-Star Production”

August 19, 2010/0 Comments/in AVM Updates, Creativity, Students' Creations /by AVM Teachers

The Merchant of Venice is classified as an early Shakespearean comedy, more specifically, as a “Christian comedy” and it is a work in which good triumphs over evil.

For Grade XI – Science and Commerce, the new academic year began by performing this most appreciated and loved play of William Shakespeare – The Merchant of Venice. It was a great learning experience for all the students of Grade XI. Right from the time the play was introduced, read, analysed and understood there was no end to their excitement. Each and every student of XI – Science and Commerce appealed to let them stage the play.

Everything was professionally planned and the work began. They named themselves professionally as “All-Star Production”. The Directors, Co-directors, Editors, Costume Designers, and Music Director were appointed. Then started the audition for the casts of the play. After taking the audition the following were selected as the casts of the play:

Antonio – Kishan Viradia

Bassanio – Bhadra N. Parikh

Portia – Atmiya K. Patel

Shylock – Jay Tailor

Gratiano – Siddharth Shah

Lorenzo – Sarveshwar Viroja

Nerissa – Roneet Chaudhary

Jessica – Kishan A. Patel

The Prince of Morroco – Anand V. Patel

Tubal – Harsh Patel

Salarion & Saliano – Hitesh Yadav & Mitul Patel

Servants – Ashish Pandey & Dipen Reshamwala

Dukes of Venice – Sarthak Jariwala, Karan Patel, Mihirbhai

Lawyer – Rushi Patel

Doctor Balthasar – Atmiya K. Patel

Director – Sarthak Jariwala

Co-Director – Kishan A. Patel

Narrator – Mantavya Patel

Music Director – Abhishek Rathore

Costume Designers – Robin Patel & Suharadam Nayak Sir

Property Managers – Krunal Vakil, Gavravbhai, Atmiya Kalavadia, Robin Patel, Ravi Patel

Students learnt many things apart from relishing the Shakespearean English. For example,

1. Friendship requires sacrifice. Antonio risks his fortune–and later his life–to help Bassanio win Portia.

2. Appearances are deceiving. Neither the gold nor the silver casket contains the key to winning Portia. Instead, it is the plain lead casket. Shakespeare expresses this theme–appearances are deceiving–in a message inside the golden casket. It says, “All that glisters [glitters] is not gold”.

3. Revenge ultimately destroys its perpetrator. Shylock seeks revenge against his enemies, but it is he who suffers the downfall after Christians unite to trick him. Perhaps he would have had more success if he had pursued justice instead of revenge.

4. Jews suffer bigotry and other forms of mistreatment because of their religion and race. Christians alienate Shylock simply because he is a Jew. In ancient, medieval, and Renaissance times, Jews almost always encountered prejudice from non-Jews around them. (Helped in enhancing students’ knowledge of the rivalry between the Jews and the Christian)

5. Women can be just as competent as men, maybe even more so. Portia, disguised as a man, speaks eloquently in defense of Antonio and persuades the Duke of Venice to rule in Antonio’s favor.

Moreover, they learnt that the real evil in The Merchant of Venice was the corrupt value system of the principal Christian characters who are, of course, representative of people in Shakespeare’s time.

After all the learning, analysis, preparation and rehearsal, the play was professionally staged on 27th July, 2010 in the Auditorium of the school in front of the students of Grade VIII, IX & X and all the Teachers, the Principal, the Housemasters and the Hostel In-charges.

The best thing about performing “The Merchant of Venice” was that each and every student of Grade XI participated wholeheartedly in one or the other roles. They enjoyed every moment of it right from the introduction of the play till its final performance on the stage.

Hopefully, everybody enjoyed the play to their heart’s content.

Written by: Paras Sir