DAV ICE-Breaker activity

Ok, now the Ice is broken :) :)

It was a super hit and the response was just amazing!!

Before I could start I would like to thank Abhishek, Vaishnavi and Jagan for guiding us. We were 5 volunteers met at DAV Public School at Velachery at 9 and all of us were very excited, it was the first activity for Myself, Dhanu, Varun, Dhru but we made it a success!

Mrs. Rama Devi had perfectly arranged for everything in time and 2 teachers volunteered to help us. When we entered the auditorium the students were already seated waiting for us! We decided each one of us will be taking a particular responsibility, these were the following:- (Dhanashri (Scorer), Dhruv (Timer), Varun (Photographer), Vivek (Host), Myself (Questioner))

To start with, Vivek gave a perfect crisp opening speech which really made the whole crowd more interested. Then we started with the activity where each team had to put up a play based on the topic that they picked. Following where the topics we had chosen and thanks to Dhanashri for coming up with some brilliant one-liners.

1) King of Garbage takes the whole world.
2) My life is genetically modified.
3) Trees of today, fossils of tomorrow.
4) Animals are to be loved, not to be eaten.

All the children were so charged up preparing for the play and each one of them showed so much energy when they put up the show. I am uploading all the pics in Picasa, will be sending soon. You can see by yourself. We had lot of fun time filled with laughter and also it was a thought provoking time to all of us.

Dhruv, Dhanu, Varun being fresh freshers showed so much initiative and interest. Varun who claims himself to be amateur photographer has taken some very good pics, unfortunately he is not in any pic :(.. next time we will not forget to take your pic Varun... After our event was over, students just surrounded our hero, Vivek and begin asking lots of questions.

At the end of the day I really felt there is so much more to do. If its DAV, creating awareness is of a less job I think, but tapping their energy towards right direction is important, for example there was this boy who is doing a project on using reflection of lights using mirror that can be used in streets to avoid using more Post lamps! Its an energy saving project!

We need to plan out more creative activity in DAV school, this is what we learnt from the Ice-breaker, they are aware of most of the stuff but as a team we need to come up with more brilliant ideas that is activity oriented.

Green Idol signature petition activity in marina beach on 26-07-09

Monsoon Story: Lokesh Joshi

Monsoon

Monsoon always had a special place in the heart of Rajasthan. It gives us the relief from intense heat of summer. It changes our whole environment in matter of minutes. One can easily observe the joy & happiness on the face of any living being at that moment.

I would like to share few memories of my childhood which are deeply engraved in my heart. When rain drop falls on the hot sand you get a magnificent fragrance, it’s the most soothing smell for the soul. Peacock comes out on the ground spreads it wings rain and dances in the rain, the whole world is bedazzled by this spectacular phenomenon. Monsoon is the time when our state becomes colorful, we cherished every single moment of the rain.

No Monsoon

As a result of global warming day by day the span of monsoon is reducing. The year I left my home town we never had any rain, I missed it a lot. We all look up in the sky in a hope to see a small trace of the cloud, it’s a long sometimes a never ending wait. With every passing year temperature is rising, ponds are drying out, ever lasting droughts many more disasters. I request everyone from bottom of my heart to step up and take the essential measures to bring back the symbol of joy and happiness -Monsoon.

Name: Lokesh Joshi

Email: lokeshjoshi00@gmail.com

Monsoon Story: Rajesh Sankar

MONSOON agaya, when i am in 4th std, I use to go to school by walk , it is just 4km from house, NO FACILITY , while going to school almost 2km there is a canal the water flows in monsoon and after few months too.

The story is my dad was with railways, he brought a umbrella me to go to school after a long long long request, PROBLEMS

My friend given an idea to catch fish from the canal, the idea was keep your umbrella open and hold it upside down and dip in to the canal, you can see the fish get in to the umbrella, because the water is very very fresh, when required fish got in just lift umbrella and catch fish. i did it and got so many fish. but you have to forgot about umbrella, it is damaged, my father shouted with me, there after no umbrella and I have been to school without umbrella, if the rain I will be very happy to play in rain water and I enjoyed the rain very much.

after a long gap I had been to my native I traveled with an auto I really felt very bad about the canal it is filled with plastic waste, water is there but with one chemical lair, I was very eager to give a massage how? Remember you may live without problem but remember if you really like your children or next generation... they are going to suffer. REMEMBER SCHOOL ALSO NO THER.

Name: Rajesh Sankar

Email: rajeshsankarnv@gmail.com

Monsoon Story: Dhanasree Jayaram

Like any other school kid, I used to consider the journey to school during the rainy season quite refreshing on the one hand and unpleasant on the other. Walking through the muddy lanes with a useless umbrella and travelling in a school bus whose windows never shut fully and hence water splashing on everyone's face inside the bus were indeed beautiful experinces. But by the time I reached school, my bag and uniform would be completely drenched with water. The smell of the soil and the leaves are still very vivid in my mind. Our class being almost an underground one with very little provisions for the sunlight to peek through, remained dark throughout the day. This implies that the teachers were forced to switch on all the lights to take class. However, even the electricity was deemed a luxury during the rainy season....generators were meant only for emergency purposes.

In a state like Kerala, scorching heat was nearly 'fiction.' This is a state that receives both South-West and North-East Monsoons. Yet nowadays, places like Wayanad, an agricultural hub, faces severe drought during six months of the year. The suicide rates are rising steadily.

I've just returned from Chennai to my homeland for vacation. The day I landed here, I thought Kerala (Thrissur) was as hot as Chennai. Though pre-monsoon showers have begun, they don't last longer than an hour or two hours. I can't hear the frightening thunder or the sparkling lightning. In fact, for the past few years, Thrissur has been receiving far less rainfall than the normal rainfall. Monsoons have been receding pretty abruptly.

And for a change, monsoons in Kerala have been creating havoc rather than creating life. A modernized, apparently well-planned city like Kochi remains flooded throughout the rainy season. Even a 10-minute heavy rainfall can bring this wannabe metropolitan city to a standstill. This was not the case around 10 years back. Despite the heavy rainfall, no towns used to face any major problem.

Times are changing. Rainfall has also decreased and the systems have also collapsed. Kerala is no longer a "GOD'S OWN COUNTRY.'

Dhanasree Jayaram
dhanasreej@gmail.com

Monsoon Story: Abhishek Jain

This is about the holy Ganga.

This February, I was traveling from Chennai to Lucknow. Kanpur comes in between and that’s where Ganga intersects.

I was very excited that I am gonna see the Ganga for the first time. I was very excited and I started discussing about Ganga with the fellow passengers. They told me that Ganga comes in its full breadth (about 1.5 KM wide span), in Kanpur. They told that how fully flown the Ganga used to be and that pinch is missing now a days.

I was a bit worried to hear that, but thought at least the view should not be like other rivers. To my utter disappointment, I was wrong.

Ganga was flowing only half way through its full breadth. There were crops grown right in the middle on the Ganga. Kids were playing, Excavation machines were being used.

This was February, Monsoon had just passed by and summer had not begun yet. Are we gonna living in a house and say, Ganga used to flow right below my house?

pictures I took while on train, tell the story themselves.

Monsoon Story : Jagan

My native place is Beerpoor, a village in Andhra Pradesh. The population of this village is around 2000 people.

Just to make this story short and also meaningful, I will highlight the issue as we are talking about monsoon.

Behind our house in the village there is a pond and in my childhood with all my cousins we used to go for swimming and myself for bathing as I don't know swimming. But in the recent times when I have visited my place I have noticed there is no water in the pond. Whereas that used to be reason most of our cousins came to that place previously.

I feel so disappointed that as we are witnessing less amount of rainfall in the monsoon period we are missing out the fun in my native place. Imagine the situation of people in my village who depend on pond for various reasons in their day-to-day life.

Regards
Jagan

Address:

Jagan Mohan Vangapelly

S/O. Ramchander Rao

Post: Beerpoor

Mandal: Sarangapoor

Taluqa: Jagtial

District: Karimnagar

Andhra Pradesh 505454

Mail: jaganmohan.vangapelly@gmail.com

Greenpeace Chennai Volunteers first meeting on 26.04.09