India Week

Day 5 Grand Finale

2011-11-18T15:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our last day, the Grand Finale. We are going to end the week with a big celebration

And yet, we conclude another glorious week at ISH. India Week has ended in style with a splendid Grand Finale! All parents, teachers and students witnessed a variety of performances. These included “Dress up as a famous Indian person!” by all of Grade 5, a demonstration of the tabla by Avish from Grade 8 and Akash from Grade 3, a healthy yoga routine by all of Grade 8 led by Mr.Harpal, a fashion show by various girls from Grades 6-12, and last but definitely not least, a teacher’s dance! You read it right! The dance was a huge surprise to all of us fellow students and parents. It was very good! Posted by Nikhil, grade 6

Day 4

2011-11-17T03:27:00.000-08:00

I would like to share a video from yesterday which shows the potter at work.

Early Childhood

The Early Childhood section went on a field trip to various places of worship as a part of the India Week Activities. The field trip involved visits to the Temple, the Chapel and the Mosque located within the ICRISAT campus. The students learnt that the Indian population follows many religions. They learnt that all three places have things in common such as they are all places of worship and that you have to behave in a respectful manner when you are in these places.

Pictures...

Middle and High School

Greetings to the readers of the blog! Today was a one-activity day. Want to guess what it was? A trip to Purana Haveli! It was the one of the Nizam’s palaces. Know who were the Nizams? Seven Nizams ruled Hyderabad for two centuries. The Asaf Jahi rulers were great patrons of literature, art, architecture, culture, jewelry collection and rich food. The Nizams ruled the state until 17 September 1948. So, this was one of their palaces.

After a quick snack, we entered the place. We had a guided tour, but 3/4ths of the tour was completed by ourselves. Oh boy, there were SO-MANY-ARTIFACTS! We looked at all of them and they were all made up of jade, silver, gold or diamonds! Phew! The ruler must have been some kind of multi-billionaire! One model of the Osmaina University was built with 100 kg’s of pure silver! And there were:

Keys
Mirrors
Cups
Thermometers
Scissors
Trophies
Telescopes
Rings
Lighters…

…And 29 other artifacts! Amazing! We started at 9:50 and came back at 2:30, so there wasn’t time to do anything else. Amazing! Astonishing! Marvelous! Stunning! Spectacular! (Ok, I’ll stop. Bye!)

Now for the pictures.

Day 3

2011-11-16T14:25:00.000-08:00

Middle and High School

On Wednesday, ISH's newly formed Model United Nations club, run by Mr. Akula, conducted a simulation of a debate. Delegates from 8 different states of India came together to create a resolution regarding the issue of corruption in public institutions. The meeting was chaired by a grade 10 student. The participants included students from grade 9-12. Posted by Rohit, grade 10

Hey guys! Welcome to Day 3 of India Week! We had regular classes and had a pretty adventurous English class! We had to make a crossword with 14 random words chosen from a paper given out by a student.

We learned about the mandolin and even heard Mr. Patrick play it! Then we had our break and after that all of middle school got together and started painting diyas! I learnt that we had to pay Rs.7 for each diya we paint and they would be sold. All the money would be given to charity. It’s a good idea, in my opinion.

Grades 3, 4 and 5 were playing hockey inside the MPH. Did you know hockey is the national sport of India? (Yeah, I know, all of you probably know it.) It definitely looked fun!

So, I learnt a lot about India and its culture and some things that it took of other cultures.

Hmmm! Interesting! Posted by Nikhil, grade 6

At the Art Pit, three grade 7 students were humming the words of the song "Bhaarat Humko Jaan Se Pyaara Hai." Ms. Meera, who was going for Mehindi, was singing along with them. It sounded so good. I was curious to know what the song is about so with the help of grade 10 student we Google'd it and here are the lyrics in Hindi with translation to English.

Translation by Tavishi, grade 8 student.

Bhaarat humko jaan se pyaara hai   (We love our own country more than own lives)
Jabse nyaara gulistaan hamara hai   (Since we came to India it's our only home)
Bhaarat humko jaan se pyaara hai   (We love our own country more than own lives)
Jabse nyaara gulistaan hamara hai   (Since we came to India it's our only home)
Sadiyon se bhaarat bhoomi duniya ki shaan hai   (From centuries India is the pride of the world)
Bhaarat maa ki raksha mein jeewan kurbaan hai   (To protect or mother country we sacrifice our lives)
Bhaarat humko jaan se pyaara hai   (We love our own country more than own lives)
Jabse nyaara gulistaan hamara hai   (Since we came to India it's our only home)


Ujade nahin apna chaman
Toote nahin apna vatan
Mandir yahan
Masjid yahan
Hindu yahan
Muslim yahan
Milke rahein hum pyaar se Jaago

Hindustani naam hamara hai
Sabse pyaara desh hamara hai
Janmbhoomi hai hamari shaan se kahenge hum
Sab hi to bhai bhai pyaar se rahenge hum
Hindustani naam hamara hai
Sabse pyaara desh hamara hai

Assam se gujarat tak
Bengal se maharashtra tak
Jaati kai hum ek hain
Bhaasha kai sur ek hai
Kashmir se madras tak
Keh do sabhi hum ek hain 
Aawaaz do hum ek hain Jaago.

ISH invited a potter and bangle makers to show the students how to make them.

Early Childhood and Elementary School

Children were excited to see the potter turning out some wonderful pots on the potter's wheels. Also, the kids learned about the important Indian symbols and Indian States and did related activities in class.

Here are some pictures...

At the end of the day teachers were rehearsing for the grande finale. Can you guess from the picture what they will be performing?

Welcome to India Week at ISH!

2011-11-15T22:14:00.001-08:00

Welcome to India Week! I’m going to be your blogger for India Week and you can know about the whole week’s happenings right here. So, our day started with an assembly in the MPH. The whole secondary and elementary school was there and Mrs. Leela started the week (and the day) with an introduction and then handed Mr.Gallenger the mike. He shared a couple of jokes with us and then… the week was given its start.

Since I’m in middle school, my classmates, two other classes and I learned we were going to Suraiya’s Boutique, a weaving shop founded by an octogenarian (80+ years old). It has widowed and uneducated weavers trying to stop the eradication of a special type of weaving brought by the Mughals a long time ago. The octogenarian‘s dad was also a strong freedom fighter for India. In the place, we learned a lot about types of materials used by the weavers in textiles. The fabrics they used were cotton, silk and polyester. There were certain thicknesses of the thread used too: fine, medium and thick. Fabric is used clothes, sofas, curtains, etc. They used traditional old fabrics, which were woven on hand looms. They could have used a power loom, which is automatic, but they do it manually. About the types of fabrics used, cotton is used for its heaviness in stability, and lightness for comfort. About silk, it’s very soft and it comes from a cocoon of the silkworm. And there’s screen-printed fabrics, which are made on a screen and printed on cotton. For this, a power loom is used. There was also an ancient way of making clothes: Khalamkari. Khalam means pen and kari means art. The artist used to sit draw on clothes with special types of inks, made from plants. For example, to make orange, red and brown was made by a flower called flame of the forest. To see how the clothes were made, we went to another room. There people were using charkas and spindles to make the fabric and the clothes. Then, I had an interview with the octogenarian! I learned that she started this because she already knew this art and she used to work with many governments. I also learned that she was doing it to revive the ancient art. Her father was a strong freedom fighter and he supported Gandhi, went to jail and only wore khadi made by them. What a man!
Then we returned back to ISH. But the day wasn’t over yet. After lunch, we watched a movie called Lagaan, which means tax money in Hindi. After, we went home. What a day! I surely enjoyed it!

Posted by Nikhil, grade 6

Below are some pictures from Day 1

Day 2

2011-11-15T22:14:00.000-08:00

What is happening today in Elementary? While walking through the early childhood section, I heard students' voices from around the corner which drew me closer to where they were sitting. Aha, Oooh... The movie was just starting and they were having fun. Early Childhood teachers decided to show the movie "The Four Friends" during this Week. Posted by Ms. Akula

Grades 1 and 2 went to Shilparamam while grades 3,4 and 5 went to Salar Jung museum.

At the museum, students saw many artifacts made of materials such as ivory, wood, marble, metal (Armor and weapons), cloth and porcelain. They saw beautiful creations owned by Yusuf Ali Mir Khan A.K.A Salar Jung the 3rd. He owned many creations such as the famous veiled Rebecca, the musical clock that strikes every hour. I hope you can visit it sometime. Posted by Aparna, Anthea and Aprajitha (Grade 5)

Middle and High School

The day started with a student’s dream (during school, I think): Free time! The whole school had about 2 periods worth of free time! But, the happiness was short-lived. Not!!! Middle school students sat together and painted diyas (lamps). After a break, we had a choice of doing clay modeling or cricket. I chose cricket. After an exciting match, the outcome was that we lost. GRRRR! But good job to the other team (if they are reading it). The Rosy School, another school, came to play cricket with us. They were kids of about ages 7-8. Meanwhile middle school was doing all this, elementary were on various field trips, such as Grade 1 and 2 going to Shilparamam. In the afternoon, we had a painting competition and everyone had to pay Rs. 150 for charity. That’s a very thoughtful… thought. Summing up, I can hazard a guess that the teachers were very busy today!

Posted by Nikhil, grade 6