Bhavans Indian Education School leaves no stone unturned in its relentless pursuit of excellence and continually breaks fresh ground in the field of education. It has an unerring instinct for doing things differently when it comes to curricular and co-curricular activities. For Bhavanites, the beginning of this year’s summer turned out to be a successful season of spring alluding to the celebrations of joy, renewal, rejuvenation and growth. The one-week-long talent bonanza, ‘Bhavans Fest 2020’, a series of non-competitive events aimed at nurturing the talents of the students of IES, instilling confidence and self-esteem in them and sharpening their skills in performing various onstage and offstage events, was virtually held from July 5 to July 9, 2020. The brilliant students of grades 1 to 12 proudly adorned the virtual stages of their respective classes to flaunt their artistic, dramatic, musical, scientific and culinary skills.
The students participated in the events in four different groups at four different timings. On all the five days, grades 9 to 12 had the events from 8 a.m. to 12.30 in three sessions while the other grades had only a single-session talent shows. Grades 4 to 8 had the events from 2 pm. to 5.30 p.m., grades 3 and 4 had the events in two shifts from 10.45 a.m. to 1.15 p.m. and from 5.30 p.m. to 8.00 p.m., and grades 1 and 2 had the programmes from 5.30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The much-awaited mega event started off at 9 a.m. on Sunday, the 5th of July 2020 when the students of grades 9 to 12 logged into their virtual venues for the events hosted by their class teachers. The first session held from 8 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. was for solo singing and instrumental music. The second session comprising yoga and aerobic lessons was organized by the Department of Physical Education from 11.30 to 12 p.m. This was followed by a video talk by the School Counselor, Ms. Preethi K. Nair. In the afternoon it was the turn of the students of grades 1 to 8 to entertain their classmates with their solo singing and instrumental music.
The frequent visits from Mr. T. Premkumar, the Principal, Mrs. Anselma Tessy Judeson, the Vice Principal, Senior Wing, Mrs. Jaemi Byju, the Vice Principal, the Middle Wing, Mrs. Lalitha Premkumar, the Vice Principal, the KG and Primary Wing, and Mrs. Meenakshi Nayyar, the Vice Principal, Co-Curricular Activities, to the virtual venues were a source of great encouragement to the performing students. The instant and positive feedback given by them vividly evoked a feeling of great pride in the performers.
On July 6, 2020, the online stages of IES witnessed splendid solo dance performances. The young aspiring dancers of IES enthralled their virtual spectators with the rhythm of their feet and the bhavas and expressions on their faces. Grades 9 to 12 had yoga and aerobic sessions from 11.30 a.m. to 12 p.m. They also watched a motivational TED Talk on ‘Being Happy and Living at the Moment’ by Aisha Chaudhari, a seventeen-year-old accomplished artist who was born with an immune deficiency disorder and outlived a predicted life expectancy of only one year.
On July 7, 2020, the Bhavanites went the whole hog to let fashion thrive on the virtual platforms of IES. The budding designers entranced the ardent fans of fashion with their exclusively designed T-shirts and excellent nail art patterns. The idea of fashion was not just limited to different dressing styles. The students of grades 1 to 7 had fancy dress and fancy hairdo activities too. Grades 9 to 12 continued with their yoga and aerobic sessions and a video talk by Dr. Parveen Nazim Parkar, General Physician and Diabetologist, Yiaco Medical Center, Salmiya, was played in the virtual classrooms. She made the students aware of the precautions to be taken to keep themselves safe from the scourge of COVID 19.
On July 8, 2020, the young champions IES stole the scene with their culinary skills. There were activities for making salads, mocktails, milkshakes, biscuit cakes and lemonade, assembling sandwiches and carving vegetables. Some students prepared innovative recipes without cooking, and some even cooked without fire. During their second session, grades 9 to 12 continued with the next level of their yoga and aerobic lessons, followed by the video talks by two alumni of IES, Dr. Ron George M.B.B.S and Mr. Vaishak Menon, an accomplished actor and director. Dr. Ron George in his inspiring talk underscored the importance of remaining focused on ambitious goals and he also enlightened the students about the scope of pursuing studies and careers in the field of medicine. Mr. Vaishak Menon walked down memory lane and shared his experience of being on the stages of IES on various occasions in the past. He thanked the management and the teachers for supporting him throughout his academic life in Kuwait. He emphasised the importance of believing in oneself.
The eventful event of five days was concluded on July 9, 2020. The online stages witnessed the dramatic and artistic acumen of the budding performers. There was an array of programmes specially reserved for the day. The students of grades 9 to 12 had their packed with various performances like mono acting, mimicry, podcast and radio jockey. They attended the final level of their yoga and aerobics lessons as well. The remaining grades had character portrayal and storytelling too, apart from the aforementioned events. During the last session, the parents and the students shared their opinions about the fest and succinctly expressed their profound gratitude to the management and the teachers for organising a grand event of this magnitude.
The fest stood testimony to the earnest endeavours of Bhavans to provide all the possible arenas for its students to strengthen their skills pertaining to their holistic development. Bhavans also believes in the dictum that every child is born with intelligence and artistic sensibilities and it is only the right patronage of the teachers and the parents from a tender age that helps a child emerge as an all-rounder. ‘Bhavans Fest 2020’ clearly exemplified this in every sense.