E Pluribus Unum January 2021
This edition marks the beginning of the second year of E Pluribus Unum. The articles in this edition give a peek into the past and present of the United States of America. The world watched the transition of power after the US Presidential Election, so did our young authors, who nonchalantly wrote their views on this transition. Enjoy the book and movie review you may consider to read or watch.
Please click her to read: E Pluribus Unum
VUCA CHRONICLES, DECEMBER 2020
The children are perceptive of the happenings around them, they draw inspiration and are mindful of their surroundings. This edition evokes these qualities of our young minds. They have paused and admired the co-existence of nature and science. Aliens too have found their way in this Pandora and our children have ventured another dimension beyond the Earth.
Read here: VUCA CHRONICLES
THE BUTTERFLY TIMES: November 2020
Children’s Day is celebrated on 15th November as a tribute to Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru who was fondly called ‘Chacha Nehru’. In this November edition of The Butterfly Times the children pay tribute to him by penning down about his life. They have also written well informed articles on environmental issues and entrepreneurship. Poems and short stories by our little poets and story weavers make the reader want to read more!
Read here:THE BUTTERFLY TIMES
Conversation with Devaki Jain, author of 'The Brass Notebook'
In conversation with Devaki Jain
Sometimes in the meanderings of life, we chance upon a personality who is so tall that irrespective of our age we inadvertently say, “that’s who I want to be when I grow up!”
The conversation held on the 9th of January 2021 was hosted by Col Gopal Karunakaran, CEO Shiv Nadar School, was organised by the parent Book Lovers Club. It was well attended by the parents and students from all three campuses and members from other book clubs in Gurgaon.
Ms Devaki Jain is such an inspiring personality, her journey through the past 9 decades is what we may have read of in books and seen in movies. Sheer grit and determination to go on have seen her through rough waters. She never allowed missed opportunities and moments that slipped by, to deter her, her basic philosophy of life to dream on, converted every push backwards to a jump forward. Her memoir, is a candid, no non-sense and “as it is” story of her life. A comfortable and carefree childhood to struggles as a young student abroad to putting forth her ideas globally is a testimony to her grace and ability to learn.
Devaki Akka, is a firm believer of the power of dreams, as ‘dream time is when we are most inspired’. Dreams create ideas and ideas lead to conquer nations! Ideas are the tools that one needs to conquer. Her conquests professionally are well documented all over the internet, what came through in this conversation was the grit and sparkle of the Devaki essence. This essence is the belief that we as a nation need to claim our heritage, without getting archaic or blind to the dogmatism over the years. This heritage of our culture as a people is our intellectual legacy, where India could teach the world ‘how to be modern’. The gift of the brain (intellect) is either given to us genetically or may be sought through training and learnings. It’s up to the individuals to garner this resource for progress and equality. Her thoughts, intellect and ethics were shaped by the Gandhian Philosophy, thinkers, intellects and leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Kamaldevi Chattopadhyay, Durgadevi Deshmukh, Swami Vivekanand, Vinoba Bhave, to name a few. Akka is a fan of Julius Nyerere! And often quotes Fatema Mernissi.
Ms Jain introduced the term “feminization of poverty”, a disparity of incomes between the genders, wherein the women are at an increasing disadvantage. Her work with the UN over the years serving on various panels had established her a stalwart on the ails of issues of equity, democratic decentralization, people-centred development and women’s movements.
Her memoir, The Brass Notebook, is a must-read for the India of today to understand how the previous generations have worked to smoothen our paths.
Further, is the book review as written by one of the SNS Book Lovers Club member, Ms Deepa Dutta;
Padma Bhushan Devaki Jain’s memoir, The Brass Notebook, is my first read of the year. Thanks to my daughter’s school book club organising an author meet (virtual) with her yesterday, I read it through the working week just so that I wouldn’t feel lost at the meet…More so, since up until now, I had not read any of her works…
An octogenarian now, you might generally know that Devaki Jain is an acclaimed economist with a huge body of work in the field of women upliftment and empowerment. What you wouldn’t know is the very unconventional, full life she has led so far. Her memoir is a no-holds-barred account of her life, experiences, choices and decisions.
Born in 1933, here was a little girl from the usual orthodox Brahmin family who could mount elephants, ride horses, go on safaris at a very early age. She thwarted attempts of her family to marry her off when she turned eighteen, accompanied her father to London on his official trip when she was twenty-two, stayed back in a boarding house to further explore the city, and eventually took up a course on economics and industrial relations at Ruskin College in Oxford. Here onwards, the memoir opens up about the life Devaki led in the UK, staying at hostels, washing dishes at restaurants to pay for her expenses, hitchhiking in Europe, going on a road trip from Oxford to Delhi driving a Land Rover along the way, her boyfriends and her infatuations, her own sensuality and her brushes with physical intimacy, molestation at the hands of her recruiter. Upon her return to India, she narrates how she took up a teaching job at Delhi’s Miranda House; went on to firm up her work on economics, leading to feminist economics; hobnobbed with the think tanks, who’s who of India and the world; helped build socialist India, becoming a strong voice on land reforms and social movements, mobilising southern and erstwhile colonised countries to stand up to the west…
All these for a woman born in the 1930s! Many, many, many Indian (and elsewhere too) women can’t think of doing all these even today! I remain astonished, awed at how she broke every convention along her way. And most importantly, I gape at how she is so unapologetic, guilt-free about them all – be it leaving her kids in the care of her husband while attending conferences abroad, or even getting pregnant before marriage and going in for abortions.
We women, especially Indian women, bother too much about society, its norms, relationships, marriage, childcare. We spend a crazy portion of our life ‘balancing things’, working around our aspirations to ‘suit’ others. Lives of Devaki Jain and such other women should teach us, women, why we should be unafraid, unapologetic…disregard archaic customs….follow our dreams…
NEW PARENT ORIENTATION 2021
Nursery parents for the Academic Year 2021-22 were invited for the first Online Orientation session on December 4, 2020. It aimed at building a shared understanding of our vision, values and establishing a lasting connect with the child's alma mater.
The orientation began by welcoming the new parents, providing them a platform to interact with the Senior Leadership and to know each other. It was followed by sharing the journey of the foundation, its philosophy, ethos and about all the initiatives taken by the foundation.
The Parent Partnership Program was shared which emphasizes on the strong connect between the school and the parents. The program values our parents as ambassador and spokesperson through belief in the shared vision and also welcomes their feedback in its endeavour to work towards school’s health and happiness.
VUCA CHRONICLES, NOVEMBER 2020
The November edition has diverse contribution by students, showcasing their brilliant writing skills. Their minds wandered into the world of words and gave the readers good reads, driving inspiration from the lives Madam Curie and APJ Abdul Kalam to voicing their opinions on Human Rights and Gender Inequality. The young minds have penned it all to show how they view the world.
Bringing Smiles on the International Day of the Differently Abled
On the occasion of the “International Day of the Differently Abled”, 3rd Dec.2020, the Shiv Nadar school in collaboration with an NGO “Bringing Smiles”, gifted a wheelchair and a hand rickshaw to differently-abled persons. Mr Vinay Pratap, Commissioner of MCG and Ms Monica Sagar, our Principal, had the humble privilege of handing over these to the affected persons. These rickshaws were procured by the NGO "Bringing Smiles", run by a one-man army- Mr G.R. Malhotra, who identifies the intensity of need and facilitates this funding and distribution.
S_shakt Club under the able guidance of their mentor, Ms Devyani Ghosh and some women of the Nathupur basti, Gurugram and Sanjay basti, Motibagh Delhi, helped raise substantial funds by selling their handmade gift envelopes, Diwali deeyas, knitted mufflers, caps, and other woollens.
Shiv Nadar School, Noida amongst the Top Five Schools in Inter School Geeta Chanting Competition 2020
Chinmaya Mission takes the initiative of preparing children for life through the study of the
‘Geeta’. Geeta Chanting Competition is organised every year for all levels. The purpose is self-discovery and understanding of life in its totality based on the scriptures of the ‘Bhagwad Geeta’. Chanting, studying, knowing and living are the stages involved in imparting the knowledge.
The students from the Noida campus won the following positions:
Anuhyaa Trilokyamangalam of Grade 10 bagged first prize in group D for the second time.
Shashvath Arun Ram Grade 10 received a consolation prize in group D.
Shiv Nadar School Culminates Ability Week with Open Forum on “Inclusion in the New Normal”
Shiv Nadar School Noida celebrated a week of solidarity, the Ability Week from 1st to 4th December 2020. Celebrated every year, this week gives a platform to all engaged stakeholders to work together in finding and implementing solutions to calibrate the recognition and inclusion in mainstream homerooms. This year’s theme, where the students and teachers participated vociferously, had an overarching focus on “Inclusion – In the New Normal” that significantly impacts the lives of our children with special abilities.
The Ability Week culminated through an open forum addressing the queries of parents, educators and guests. The panel consisted of esteemed professionals working in the field of Special Education Needs and Counselling from prestigious schools across the NCR and abroad.
The rationales discussed on the Open Forum ranged from providing opportunities to stakeholders in discussing perspectives on the prevention and control of reparations during this pandemic phase; understand expectations, roles and contributions of the different stakeholders in support of children with special abilities; update knowledge and share experience on progress of technology and other resources in this new inclusion; promote ways of accelerating the implementation of actions for better learning.
The session was attended by parents, staff members of Shiv Nadar School Noida, Faridabad & Gurgaon along with staff members of several other schools.
Watch the Open Forum: Inclusion in the New Normal
FUNKAAR 2020 @ Middle School
Anchored in the belief of continuous learning, this year’s Funkaar for middle school was celebrated on the new learning platform. Funkaar is designed to develop the students as 21st century learners, through the inter-disciplinary experiential learning practice followed by our school since its inception.
Funkaar week was celebrated with an approach of integrated learning making connections during the synchronous and asynchronous engagements. Interesting and novel activities were woven in each domain – language, math, social science and natural science with the underlying theme of creativity and aesthetics. The learning design helps students to explore a theme by way of art, survey, research and reflective methods.
The week culminated with student led workshops and lecture demonstrations by art faculty. The inter-school competitions designed for ‘Academic Festival’ gave the Funkaar week an exciting closure.
Watch Here: FUNKAAR WEEK PREVIEW
