Traditional models in clay

The security staff at the entrance of Fort St. George became busy on a quiet Sunday morning.
On May 18, 2008, kids along with their parents started coming in right from 9.30 am. The destination was the Fort museum and the event was a clay modelling competition organised by the museum in connection with International Museum Day.

The huge hall in the portrait section on the first floor was cool though not air-conditioned. The reason was the high roof of the building and the good ventilation.
The theme for the competition was 'Museums as agents of social change and development'. Traditional and heritage models came alive in the hands of children.

The moulds, paints and brushes gave the finishing touches to the models.
"The clay is the same as that of the professional artists use and the museum provided the material to the participants" said a museum staff.

As many as 55 kids in the age group of 7 to 15 years participated in the contest.

You can visit the museum, which houses rich collection of arms, Porcelain collection, numismatics and portrait collection.
It is open on all days except Fridays and National Holidays from10 am to 5 pm.
Contact phone no.: 2567 1127

Ship of the desert on Chennai roads

For the camels from the deserts of Rajasthan, a vacation in Chennai may be like an escape to a hill station, for us!

Newspapers have been reporting the camel rides on the beaches of Chennai. But when the children in a neighbourhood colony in Adyar saw them on the road in front of their homes, they were tempted to go on a ride.
"Twenty rupees for a round trip from one street to the other and back," said the man who accompanied the camels. After a bargain, it became ten rupees.
Children were excited and got on to the camels. Two is a company for camels too!

The two ships of the desert carried two kids each on their backs and sailed on the streets of Karpagam Garden in Adyar.

One of the camels stopped for a snack on its way. Looking at the green leaves of a tree just outside a compound of a house, it took a break for a bite. The children were taken by surprise and looked for parents around. But they continued their ride amidst howls and laughs!

"The ride was bumpy and scary," one of the riders said with sigh of relief once she alighted from the camel.
Getting down from the camel’s back required smart techniques. Tall wooden stool was brought to help the children.

Just not the children, but the passers by and the evening walkers on this quiet colony also watched the camels and the kids riding on them, curiously.
One of the many ways of beating the Chennai heat – adventure on camel’s back!

Scientific link to the ancient Vedas

By Shweta Ashok
Class 11, PSBB, K. K. Nagar

Growing technology had surrounded the lives of every boy and girl with computers, video games, i- pods and what not.
Then what happens to our culture and traditions? This is the prime concern of every parent, nowadays.
But hold on, there seems to be a solution for this too.

A summer camp drew kids towards the Indian culture and traditions, in K. K. Nagar.
Vedic Links is an organization started by ‘Vedic’ Ravi and Jeyaraman in 1982. Since then this organization has been conducting workshops and summer camps for children based on Sandhyavandanam and other traditional practices.

"Its not that the children don’t want to do these activities: it’s only that they want to know the scientific reasons behind everything that they do. Once we explain the reason to them and they are convinced with it they do it with utmost interest” says Ravi, who after finishing his schooling underwent formal training in Vedas.

A surprising fact is that whatever was told by our ancestors regarding culture has a very logical scientific explanation. For example- the reason behind growing tulsi in the house was because tulsi is an antiseptic by nature or keeping kumkum had a even more beneficial use. Kumkum is made of mixing turmeric and ghee where turmeric is the best antiseptic in nature.

Vedic Links teaches its students not only slokas and Vedas but also inculcate a sense of discipline with divine inclination in the children mind. Ravi believes that this will serve them well in future in appreciating our hoary tradition and heritage.

They are also planning to hold a two-day camp to enlighten children based on these traditional practices. Since the children of today are loaded with academic pressures and have less time to spend outdoors, Vedic Links has also started online class through their website www.vediclinks.net to facilitate children to learn whenever they can.

The motto of Vedic Links it that they link old tradition to new values.
"Now a days people strive hard to keep themselves fit by walking, doing exercises to prevent obesity and other ailments. But one equivalent to all the exercises is Sandhyavandanam, which is basically deep inhalation and exhalation” says Ravi.

Several children attend their workshop and enhance their knowledge in Vedas. Many of these children go for regular education in prestigious schools like Padma Seshadri Bal Bhavan, Jawahar Vidyalaya, Kendriya Vidyalaya, etc.

They are very smart kids with different ambitions and dreams like any other child of their age and they enjoy every moment at this workshop too.
"We find this very useful and even understand the maning of slokas rendered in temples when we visit a temple” says Venkatesh with full enthusiasm who is attending this camp now.
Vedic Links is located at: 353/1, Dr. Lakshmanaswamy Salai, K.K.Nagar Phone: 24744188.

Creativity Fest at Crossword, T. Nagar

By Varsha Mohan
Class 6, PSBB School, T. P. Road, T. Nagar

On the 5th of May, I had attended an Arts and Crafts Fest at Crossword in Kuppu Arcade, Venkatanarayan Road, T.Nagar.
It was organized by Mr. Rajashekar, the stores manager and was hosted by Shweta and Shantru. It started off at 6:30 pm with a welcome note and all of us introducing ourselves.

A dozen kids of all ages, from 3-14 came here and had a fun time.
We were divided into two groups, one for the tiny tots and one for the elder ones. We played lots of games and created fun items.

The tiny ones made a small teddy bear, which they got to name themselves. One of the bears was named 'I don't know'. Then they sang a fusillade of rhymes.

The elder ones had to create a Mickey Mouse key chain hanger made out of ribbons, chart paper and thermocol. It was really a messy activity but a load of fun.
There were supposed to be some contests but they didn't have time.

Crossword is also a nice place to buy books and if you have time, just sit and read. Shwetha, one of the hosts, also explained to us about animation and taught us how to draw cartoons, starting with a simple circle. There was time for all of us to talk about our favourite cartoon character, which I stated as Candice or Ferb from Phineas and Ferb, a show on Disney Channel at 4:30pm on Mondays-Fridays.
All of us there at Crossword had a great time creating items for ourselves with unique touches.
I made a lot of friends there and if you go there, may be coming Sunday (May 11) at 6:30 pm, you can also participate.
But don't worry if there is no fest on that day; spend time with yourself, reading books. It'll be nice to catch up with yourself. I had a blast, and I reckon that you'll have as much as a blast yourself.

Odyssey’s new outlet at Abhiramapuram

By Harini, Rohini and Vijay Deepak
Class 6, Sir Sivaswami Kalalaya Sr. Sec. School, Mylapore.

If you reside in or around R.A.Puram / Abhiramapuram, wondering how to spend time these summer holidays and haven't thought of a bookshop, visit Odyssey on St. Mary's Road with your parents. This is situated right opposite the church on St. Mary's road inside an apartment complex. You'll love the outing for sure.

We were asked to review the bookshop as part of our English Enrichment classes and weren't sure how interesting it would be, but once we got in, we realized we had so much to explore, observe and learn.

We decided to focus on the ambience besides the kind of books and other things available in the shop.

Ambience

Situated in a commotion-free area, the shop is air-conditioned, a welcome relief from the sweltering and uncomfortable heat and humidity outside. We felt like staying inside the shop and not coming out of it. There are close to seven wooden tables for customers to sit comfortably on and browse through the books. There is also enough space to move between the book-racks. We liked the background music being played - soothing, soft and pleasant - even as we enjoyed the chill air from the air conditioner. The books are arranged very tidily. There is clean potable water available, on request. There are big, attractive pictures stuck between the shelves on the narrow walls. Beside the cash counter is a small pot structured as a fountain that adds to the feel of the place. Another very useful feature is the kiosk, which contains a database of books. It allows you to check if the particular book you want is available in the shop or not.

There are about 10 people to show you around and help you find what you want. We appreciated the sweet manners of the people working in Odyssey, when they spoke to us. We are also very thankful to them because they answered the questions we asked them about the bookshop, patiently. Helpers and sweepers help maintain the shop neatly. The toilet was very clean.

Also tell your dad there is ample parking space available for cars and bikes.

Books

The books are categorized based on the topic and arranged at eye-level . It helps the customers to pick up their desired books without much of a strain. There are different categories of books such as fairy tales, colouring books, comics, young fiction, toddler, reference, self-improvement, astrology, biology, biography, autobiography, humour, computing, business, management, profit, popular classics, non-fiction, coffee table books Tamil books, CDs. These captions are painted boldly on wood. There are books on art and architecture, leisure, home and garden, food and drinks. Indian, French, Italian and Russian dictionaries are also available, some with their CDs.

Some magazines like Outlook, Femina, Womens Era, India Today, Profit and others are also there. There is a small section right near the entrance where the latest arrivals and best-selling books are displayed.

If you are hunting for a good gift for an anniversary, birthday or some special occasion, head here. There are greeting cards, lovely gift articles like bowls, glass tumblers, colourful clocks in interesting shapes-square, rectangle cube, cuboid and triangle, stationery items such as Oliver pens, Ink bottles, stick notes, colour pencils, pens, beautiful greeting cards and colourful papers, leather accessories, picture books, Barbie dolls, cars, files and folders, electronic toys, toys for toddlers, gift wrappers and globes. There are stylish bags in jute that your mom and sister would love to possess. There are also perfumes for men and women. And don't forget to check out the separate section for CDs and DVDs which contain Indian and international audios and videos.

Oh, and before we forget, just a word of caution. If you are taking your little brothers and sisters along, keep a watch on them. There are brittle gift articles made of glass and ceramic displayed in a way that they can easily reach.

Some of the books that grabbed our attention are the Harry Potter series, Secret Seven, Famous Five, Fantastic Four, Angel Barbera, autobiographies of great people like Mahatma Gandhi, the Amar Chitra Katha series, Ramayana, besides gift items like the Barbie dolls, the three rows of beautiful glassware, show-pieces, bracelets and the small gift sets which reflected the rainbow's colours.

Here are the highlights of the interview we had with the manager of the store, Mr.P.Sajith. He was very patient with all the three of us shooting questions.

Questions Asked To The Manager

1. How many branches do you have in India?
We have 26 branches and this is the latest one.

2. Who are your competitors?
Landmark

3. Do you have branches which are higher than this in area ? Where?
We have two formats - Regular and Express. Regular format stores are over 6000 sq.ft. in area and Express format stores are lesser. In Chennai, the Annanagar and Adyar branches are the Regular format stores.

4. When was this branch in Mylapore started?
It was started on April 11th, 2008.

5. What is the reason for setting the shop here?
It is a residential area and we get a good number of walk-ins, especially during weekends

6. Are there programmes for children?
We had a few as part of our opening celebrations and are planning some more in the near future.

5. Are there plans to open more shops?
Yes, there are plans in the pipeline to open another 40 shops all over
India.

6. What are the books that children like the most and buy?
Amar Chitra Kathas and fiction stories. Adults buy books on health and fitness, home and gardening and food and drinks. They also buy Coffee Table books.

7. What are the working hours of this shop?
10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

8. Do you have regular customers?
Yes, we do have regular customers.

9. Do you like your job, and why?
After my Graduation from New College, I took this as a part-time job and realized that I loved working here. This is my first job and I have no plans of changing over.

10. Who owns the Odyssey chain of stores?
This is owned by Deccan Chronicle and the General Manager is Mr.T.S.Ashwin.

14. Finally, why the name 'ODYSSEY'?
Odyssey means 'journey' and 'discovery'. That is what we intend this shop and the experience to be for our customers.

Thank you very much for your time.
It's my pleasure.

So, friends, this shop is certainly worth your time.

Tree of Life festival

One of the treasures of this city is its beaches.
The Marina and the Elliots have different features and the visitors to these beaches are also different.

What kids and adults do at the Marina is different from what happens at the Elliots.

But our beaches do not have those trees we find on the beaches of Kerala.
So what?

Prakriti Foundation recently held the The Tree of Life festival in Chennai and kids were also part of it.
They created the trees on the Elliots beach. For the contest titled 'Nature and I'. Many created the Fort. And a few created all the elements of nature - Sun, plants, volcanoes, rivers. On the plots allotted to them for the evening.

There were all-kids teams, family teams, school teams and a band of friends, a few of them were college students.
But they all were concerned about the nature.Kids were discussing about the climate change in the North. Cold waves and avalanches unusual to our country bothered them, among themseleves.

Kids host community festival

Chennai has become a home for community festivals.
Mylapore Festival, Samathuva Pongal in Tiruvanmiyur and the city level Chennai Sangamam take place around the Pongal time every year.

How about an exclusive kids community festivals, thought Nandini and Shruthi of Kilpauk.

A day after Pongal was their choice. A day of traditional games, contests and performances. They called it Pongala 2008 - The Kids Thiruvizha.

Shruthi of Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Chetpet and Nadhini of Bhavan Rajaji Vidyashram, Kilpauk, both students of class 9 organised this festival on Damodaramurthy Road, a quiet extenstion close to Asprin Garden.

Parking area of a residential apartment became the venue for the kolam competition! Colourful Rangolis on a treated ground looked wonderful.
Yes, they treated the ground the traditional way with cowdung mixed in water, the previous night.

The kids created handmade banners, thoranams and mascots for the fest. Suri and Bhooma depicting the Sun and the Earth stood proudly on poles specially made for them. And a creative sport 'jallikattu' where mock bulls got decorated in a relay race!

Kummi and traditional dances, pot painting contest, kabadi, kho-kho, slow cycling...
Ah! what a day it was for the kids and the supportive audience!
The giveaways to the winners were just certificates. But passionately designed by the kids.

Want to borrow the idea from them? Sure. But exchange your ideas too if you have organised such a fun event in your colony!

Smart ways to stay safe

Do you know that there are rules for touching?

Differentiating between a good touch and a bad touch helps to keep yourself safe.
And how do you learn it?

Here is an audio book - 'Tickles and hugs...'. This book is an initiative of Tulir - Centre for the Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse. It is a production of Karadi Tales, who have many other audio books to their credit and is supported by Action Aid India.

Actor Revathy has lent her voice, who also released the audio book recently at Landmark Book Store, Nungambakkam.

Shobha Viswanath has scripted the story, which revolves around episodes of abuse and how a child needs to report them to a trustworthy adult.

So, its time to wake up to the alert thrown by your body, when someone's touch is not right.

This audio book is priced Rs. 125 and is available at leading book shops and from Karadi Tales, 3A Dev Regency, 11 First Main Road, Gandhinagar, Adyar. Phone : 2442 1775 / 2442 3728

Onam at The Atrium, Thiruvanmiyur

By Pallavi Balakrishnan
Class 7, Sishya, Adyar.

Every year Malayalees all over the world celebrate Onam between the months of August and September. It is a festival, which has no boundaries of caste, creed or even religion. It is a harvest festival.

There is an interesting story behind this merry festival. The story goes that long ago Kerala was ruled by a wise, kind, just Asura king named Mahabali or Maveli. He was popular with the people but Indra, king of the gods, was afraid that Mahabali would attack his kingdom and rule over the Gods. Hence, Indra asked Lord Vishnu to destroy the king.

Lord Vishnu went to Mahabali’s court in the guise of a poor Brahmin named Vamana. Mahabali thought that he could give his people anything they asked for so he promised Vamana to give him whatever he wanted. Vamana said that he wanted as much land as three footsteps would cover and the king laughingly asked him to pick which piece of land he wanted. Suddenly Vamana became so big that in one step he covered the whole Earth and in the next step, the rest of the universe. When asked where to keep the third step Mahabali meekly bowed his head for Vamana to step on. Vamana granted Mahabali a boon before pushing him into Paatala (the Underworld). The boon was that every year Mahabali could visit his people once on Onam.

This year the women of 'The Atrium' a residential campus in Thiruvanmiyur celebrated Onam.
They began the celebrations with a 'Pookolam' competition. Pookolam is a design of flowers made on the floor.

The a few ladies presented songs in Malayalam. There was also the traditional 'Kayy Kotti Kali'.This is a dance event by women. They move in a circle clapping hands with each other like in Kollatam.The program ended with a traditional Kerala lunch called 'Sadhya'.

Founder's birthday at Sri Ramakrishna Mutt

By S. Sruti
Class 8, P. S. Senior Sec. School, Mylapore

The 145th Birthday Tithipuja of Sri Ramakrishnananda,founder of Sri Ramakrishna Mutt,Chennai, brother-disciple of Swami Vivekananda was celebrated with special pujas at the Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore on August 10, 2007.

The Math was built in the year 1897,the year when Swami Vivekananda came to Chennai.The math has completed 200 years of service.

The day began with Aarthi and Bhajans at 5 am and went on with theTemple Pradakshina, a special Puja with Vishnu Sahastranama Chanting and a Homa.

Prasadams of Laddus and fruit salad were distributed. Annadanams or free lunch was offered to the poor on the occasion.

A CD on Sri Sarada Devi was released. The movie was shown at the Old Auditorium of the temple at 1.00 pm. After the show, a melodious Devotional Music by the young artists of Brhaddhvani, Chennai followed at Swami Ramakrishnananda Hall. The Kumkum Archana took place in th evening.

At 7 pm, discourses were given by Swami Abhiramananda in Tamil and by Swami Gautamananda in English. Heavy discount on the Mutt's books was offered at the old temple. Stalls were put up at the math where cassetes, CD's and books on Bhagwad Gita, Spiritualism and Personality Development were sold.

Sixty kids on this song show

By Anjanaa Aravindan
Class 6, Akshayah Matric. Hr. Sec. School, Velachery

When Pied Piper of Hamelin played his pipe, one hundred and thirty two boys and girl followed him, singing along.

When storytellers Krishna Iyer and Jeeva Ranghunath led a show with a few others on the stage, 60 kids were singing along at the Music Academy. The 'Sing Along' show held on July 28, 2007 was the 60th show of 'Sing Along'

Children from Krishna Iyer's music school 'Vocalz' were part of the show 'Pied Piper of Hamlin'.

Sing Along was started with the idea to give all children the freedom to participate in dance and singing, when the show goes on the stage. The audience is not just mere onlookers, but is part of the show.
On that day's show there was a lot of music, dance and fun that filled the air.

If you have missed this show, you can mark your date for the repeat show on November 23 and 24, 2007. But this programme will be a little different. It will be welcoming Christmas by singing carols with the 'Pied Piper.

Mathematician Ramanujan soon on the silver screens!

By Shruthi Rajaram
Class 9, Vidya Mandir, Mylapore

Alladi Centenary Foundation in Chennai, had organized a talk on the much acclaimed mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, on Sunday, August 5,

The math lovers spent a splendid evening, relishing the talk. Prof. Krishnaswami Alladi, mathematician – professor of Mathematics at the University of Florida, addressed the gathering with an informative speech.

He took the audience through a journey of Ramanujan's life history. He talked about interesting incidents in the scholar's career.

“As Ramanujan’s fame spread, another mathematician Hardey, invited him to England to work with him. Ramanujan was not sent because of the fear that arose in his mother who was later convinced by a dream in which the Goddess of Namakkal assured a safe future for him. However, the latter part of the story still remains a doubt.!” He said

A very interesting piece of information given by Prof. Alladi was his experience when he witnessed a play on this great Indian personality called 'Partitions'.
David Freeman wrote a script titled ‘The first class man' on the life of Ramanujan, which won the Tribeca Sloan Award - 2007.
Sloan Foundation provides awards in the form of grants for the development of worthy scripts into film productions. So, there is every possibility of this stage production
being made into a movie (not a documentary) in near future.

This play focuses on the Hardy-Ramanujan formula of partitions and the reason behind its discovery. Prof. Alladi briefed about these formulae and has also suggested a few modifications in the accuracy of Ramanujan's character in the play, since he was also in the panel during the discussions about the script.

Maths genius Ramanujan will be on the silver screens soon!

Yo-Yo masters keep kids enchanted.

By Anusha Parthasarathy

Kids TV channel Pogo, organized a three day yo-yo show in various parts of the city. The first show was at the Chennai Citi Centre on July 7 evening. Two yoyo masters from China performed various tricks with yoyos, keeping children enthralled from 6 to 9 pm.

Two of these masters, who exhibited their mastery over the yoyo at the Citi Centre, by performing various mind boggling stunts for three hours to an awe struck audience of kids ranging from a small 2 year old to 12 and 13 year olds, all glued to their spot.

Cartoon Network Enterprises, the consumer products division of Cartoon Network, is increasing its range of Pogo merchandise. It has introduced the latest 'Blazing Yoyo' with the tagline ‘Take Control.’ This has eight kinds of yoyos that can be used as a game and as a stress buster and appeals to adults and children. Two of these kinds are named ‘Speedy Eagle’ and ‘Fire Warrior’. They, along with Pogo’s promotion, have called eight Chinese yoyo masters to perform for kids all over the city to promote their product.

The yoyo comes in different colours. Red, blue, black, yellow among others. There are a total of thirty tricks that can be performed with each yoyo. Though, it does take a bit of time initially to learn to get familiar with the tricks, once one gets a hang of it, it is a very fascinating game to hold on to. The yoyos are priced between Rs.149 – Rs.649.

At the show, a comperer was keeping kids informed about their next moves. The masters in their striking white uniforms kept the audience entertained throughout showing the ‘Blazing Yoyo’ logo, between breaks every twenty minutes,. They did a range of moves from the ‘Three leaf flower’ to the ‘Brain Teaser’ and a very complex one being the ‘Home Run’.

Says Swetha.S, one of the children the show; “I loved the yoyo masters. They were totally amazing! I went there along with my cousin at 6.30 and I stayed till eight at night. I didn’t want to leave but I had to. I am going to buy one and try to learn the moves like the masters!”

They masters seem to have indeed hit a ‘Home Run’ with the kids!

Fun trip - the Science way

By S. Sruti
P. S. Sr. Sec. School, Mylapore, Chennai

We had a wonderful fortnight this summer. We spent the fortnight on a one day - one place concept.
The Nehru children's cultural association had organised a science field trip to different places in and around Tamil Nadu. When I read about this programme in the newspaper, I was very much interested in the concept.

On our first trip, we were taken to central ground water board and meteorological society. We learnt different ways recycling dirty water, conservation of ground water and rain-water harvesting techniques.

At meteorological department we learnt how to measure weather, how to determine the type of weather. They also showed different apparatus for measuring weather.

The second trip was to IIT-Madras, Dept.of Aerospace - Rocket and missiles lab. They explained how rockets were made and models of aeroplanes were shown.
We were also shown an electronic model of the generation of waves. We went to other places - M. S. Swaminathan Research institute, Dept. of Environment and Water resources, IIT-Madras,Dept.of Ocean Engineering, Devadass Astronomy Observatory. I saw Saturn, Sirius, Venus, moon and the Sun through a telescope there.

The next day, we were taken to MIT - Chennai, where we learnt aero-modelling and designing.
At Aavin we were shown to calculate the S.N.F of milk. They also showed this with an experiment.
We saw a variety of rock samples and came to know about formation of earthquake, tsunami- how they occur, types of waves under tsunami, etc.
We also went to Fossils Wood Park and Granite Quarry, Thiruvakkarai. We saw the formation of fossils and we had a lovely trekking in the rocky hill.

In the evening we went to Neyveli and stayed there for a night. The next day we learnt about different types of coal and its types. They showed us models and took us to the mines.
We also went to Kalpakkam and learnt about radioactivity. At last we went to Anna University and got information about biotechnology and microbiology. We had an enriching experience. I look forward to go another time for it was useful and fun.

Car Festival at Triplicane
By H. Adithya
Class 5, D. A. V. Girls’ Sr. Sec. School
Gopalapuram, Chennai

The car festival of Sri Parthasarathy temple was held at Triplicane on May 7, 2007 near the lord. This festival is celebrated every year.
The pujas commenced early at 6 am.. There were thousands of visitors for this festival.

The chariot was pulled by hundred to two hundred people. A few people including the temple priests were there inside the chariot.

The chariot was decorated beautifully. Four lions and two Dwarapalakas (Nala Kuvera and Mani Giri Vas) could also be seen on the chariot. Small hand made chariots having idols of Gods were carried by small children living in that area.

Many people, who were walking alongside the chariot chanted the Vedas and other slokas (Nalayira Divya Prabandham). People residing in the area decorated the ground with big beautiful rangolis. Salt and pepper were offered on the ground when the chariot moved on the road.

The chariot went around the Parthasarathy temple passing streets South Mada street, T.P. Koil street (Gangai konda Mandapam where pooja with fruits and flowers was performed to the Lord. Dry Fruits was then distributed to the priests.), Singrachariar street and car street.

The chariot finally arrived at its place. People were given chance to worship the Lord with the help of steps available.

The car festival celebrated in Parthasarathy temple every year is a wonderful experience.

Air Show in Chennai
By G. Sneha
Class 7, DAV Girls’ Sr. Sec. School, Gopalapuram.

Indian Air Force celebrates Platinum Jubilee this year. As part of the celebrations, the Air Force organised an air show on April 22, 2007 for the general public at the Marina Beach.

The pilots showed their abilities in handling planes and helicopters.

The show started at 5 pm. There were various items, which included planes (emitting colours) flown upside down and parachutes bearing the Air Force flag.

The most interesting item was the heart shape made by the planes out of the colours they emitted.

However, the most appreciative effort of the teams was the planes not colliding with each other inspite of moving at a high speed and going very close to each other. Then the helicopter pilots put on their performance.

Various kinds of fighter planes took part in the show – the Jaguars, Deepaks and Surya Kirans. There was a loud applause from the audience as the Saarang team of helicopters moved in different directions.

People gathered in large numbers to watch the show. Those who live in areas close by the Marina Beach, like Triplicane, watched the show from their terraces.

The show ended with the parachute divers showing their skills at diving from a great distance above. It was the show of the Akash Ganga team who did the para jumping

Some of them had the Air Force flag attached to their parachutes. Sometimes two or three parachutes moved very near to each other.

They finally landed on the Marina Beach safely. This was a wonderful experience and the performance was fantastic.

Many folds make a book
By Pratiksha Kannan
13 years.

When young Shivram Narayanan folded papers, he created butterflies, cranes and elephants.

He still creates them and did so at the Oxford Bookstore in Nungambakkam, Chennai. He was releasing his book on Origami, a Japanese art of paper folding. Before the release of the book, the children gathered at he show enjoyed watching Shivram making many items in paper.

Shivram's interest in Origami originated on a rainy evening, when he started folding papers to make models, following a basic book on Origami. The art fascinated him so much that he went on to make original models like the Indian God Ganesha, the maharaja and the yuvaraja. He went on to conduct shows in Origami. "In one of my shows, a visitor started chewing up the 'Ori Chips' I had made - Potato chips like Origami chips. I had created them by folding tissue paper." said amused Shivram

A class 12 student, Shivram who used to live in Chennai, is now studying in Goa. He has a lot of other interests too. He has been a student of 'Vikku' Vinayakram, an internationally acclaimed ghatam player. (Ghatam is a percussion instrument, a clay pot). Shivram also plays the flute and guitar. He entertained the children at the show with a song on Origami composed by him. Then, the children joined along in the chorus "Mountain folds, valley folds ...". The basic folding techniques of Origami was introduced to them, through the song.

At the show, a few samples of Shivram's paper creations were hung on the walls. The irresistible Ori - chips were also among them.

His book titled 'Fold In Fold Out' is well laid out starting from the basics of origami and proceeding to the author's original creations. The procedure is in simple drawings and words that even a beginner can understand the techniques.

Printed on handmade hard sheets, the book is priced at Rs. 225. Shivram can be contacted
at origamishiv@gmail.com

Paint a ‘ther’ contest

Have you been to temples during the festivals? Most of the temples have annual festivals, normally lasting for ten days.

The main temples in the city of Chennai have festivals like ‘ther’ (temple car) and ‘teppam’ (float festival). When it was the Panguni festival at Sti Kapaleeswarar temple in Mylapore, it was real festivity for the people of the neighbourhood as well as from the other parts of the city.

The ‘ther’ is usually given a clean-up of dust and a fresh coat of paint before the festival. It is drawn by thousands of people on all the four ‘mada veedhis’ and brought back to the place where it is parked during the rest of the period in the year.

This year, a contest for kids to draw and paint the ther was organized on the next day morning. The contest began at 7.30 am and there were a bunch of kids waiting to register for the contest. They squatted on the carpet spread in front of the ther and unfolded their art kit. As the contest was going on more kids from the neighbourhood went back to their homes and brought their kits to take part in the contest.

After an hour, about two dozen kids had painted the drawing of ther. When they were hung on a clothesline, there were too many miniature thers on the spot.

Some had drawn just the ther and some had captured the entire scene with people looking at the colourful ther.

What more? The top five best entries received a Board game on the epic Ramayana, as prizes. The drawings of the board game are by the eminent musician and artist S. Rajam. The next best five drawings were also awarded prizes. A card game on Ramayana and a storybook.

Did you miss this contest? No worry, there are many more interesting contests and events coming up. You can take part in them during the summer holidays

By Abhishek Narayan
Class 7, P. S. Senior Sec. School, Mylapore

Last Monday, on March 19, I briskly got up from bed and read in the newspaper that it was solar eclipse day and there was a special session at the B. M. Birla Planetarium, Kotturpuram.

I asked my father if he could take me to the to see the eclipse. He agreed and in ten minutes we were at the planetarium. As soon as we got there the staff people gave us a mask to see the eclipse.

They said that the mask was the welders’ glass 14 and it would lower the power of the radiation by 1 lakh times.

We also saw the eclipse reflected on a white board through the telescope.
The staff told us that only 24% of the eclipse could be seen in Chennai. They added that the duration of the eclipse was from 6.04 to 7.21 a.m. It was surprising to see many children on early morning at the planetarium.

To a question as to how the small moon could obscure the big Sun, the staff answered patiently. The Sun is 400 times bigger than the moon and also 400 times father from the earth. So the Sun appears small and the shadow of the moon could obscure the Sun, which appears to be much smaller than what it is.

We were given some biscuits to enlighten us on eating during eclipse.
They also had put up an information display about the eclipse. The session was very useful.

If you missed it, mark the next occasion in your diary.

The next is a lunar eclipse. It will occur on August 28, 2007 and a similar session is arranged at B. M. Birla Planetarium, Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Centre at Gandhi Mandapam Road, Kotturpuram.
Phone : 24410025 / 24416751