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Focus on Al Ain: Investiture ceremony at Indian School

THE Al Ain Indian School has appointed its Students' Council for the 2003/04 academic year at an investiture ceremony at the school's premises. The ceremony was attended by staff and students only and Indian School Principal Mrs Neelam Upadhyay handed out flags and badges of honour to the new office-bearers who took the pledge of solidarity from the headmasters and headmistress.

Chithra Sugathan Sheela and Anand Narayanan, both of Grade XII Science stream, are the new Headgirl and Headboy, respectively. They each delivered an acceptance speech and promised to live up to the expectations of everyone who had bestowed the authority of the positions upon them.

Anju Kishore Asarpota and Sharif Dost Mohd, both from Grade XII Commerce, are Assistant Headgirl and Headboy, respectively.

Currently, the student body at the Al Ain Indian School numbers some 1,200 students from Kindergarten to Senior Secondary level (Grade XII). The school is affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), New Delhi, India, and is the only centre of examinations of this Board in the Capital of the Eastern Region. Students take the All India Secondary School Examinations for Grade X and the All India Senior School Certificate Examination for Grade XII of this Board. In Grade XII, there are Science and Commerce streams.

After passing the Grade XII Board Examinations, most students join graduate level courses in various disciplines in Indian universities. However, some have embarked on undergraduate courses in the US, UK, Australia and Canada.

Membership of the Students' Council is a great honour and many incumbents have continued their career in engineering and medicine. One of the school's recent academic achievements occurred when Chithra Sugathan Sheela, the newly appointed Headgirl, topped the Grade X Examination (March 2002) of CBSE among girl students in the UAE and was ranked second overall from among 41 schools of the UAE who participated in the examinations.

The school demonstrates strength in extracurricular activities and also in 2002 won the Champions' Trophy of the Youth Festival 2002 (cultural, arts and literary competition) conducted by the Indian Social Centre Al Ain.

Chilanka 2003

CHILANKA 2003, the fifth annual event of Sariga School of Dance and Music, was held on May 8 in the pool garden of the Buraimi Hotel. Chilanka, by the way, means ankle bells which are an essential ornamental feature worn in any classical dance. The Sariga School is completing five years in the Garden City, although its home base is in Fujairah, where the school has been in operation for 14 years.

The prime movers of the Sariga School of Fine Arts is Kalasadanam Sethu and Mrs Sheeja Sethu. Kalasadanam Sethu started his formal training in dance in Pattambi, Kerala. After six years of formal training there, he moved on to Madras which is considered as a South Indian centre of higher learning in fine arts. There he studied under the famous gurus Natyakalaratnam Guru Sreedhar and Guru Dharmaraj of Bharathiya Kalamandir. Kalasadanam is a member of various professional organisations including the South Indian Cine Dancers and Dance Directors' Association, but he is interested in training in different dance disciplines and certainly at the Buraimi show the classical items were particularly captivating.

Mr Sethu is a perfectionist and students will be aware that he practises Karate and has a fourth Dan Black Belt in the discipline. At the present time, Mr Sethu conducts regular training sessions four days a week including lessons at the Indian Social Centre, which is a great supporter of the initiative.

The number of children participating in the Chilanka annual dance festival is increasing year by year. The first event was in 1999 with 22 children and this year there were 72 performers. The age rage is from five to 15 years. All attend various schools in Al Ain and are mostly from the Indian community. An audience of approximately 1,200 attended, who listened to the welcome address by compere Sasi Stephen and inaugural addresses by VIP guests Jim Crawford, Principal of the Al Ain English Speaking School, and Mr Chandrasanan, Asianet Radio. The programme comprised 16 items, ranging from modern cine dance performances to classical items, which were the highlights of the evening, but every performer really deserved the memento that they received at the end of the show.

Various institutions and commercial establishments in Al Ain have been generous in sponsoring the Chilanka festivals since their inception. These include Al Fara'a Constructions, KM Trading, Lulu Centre, Advanced Medical Laboratory, Falcon Electronics, Pirelli Tyres, Zenith Training Institute, Al Nasser Jewellery, Al Ain Express Travel Agents, UAE Exchange, New Al Ain Medical Clinic, Farooq Stores, Jubilee Electronics, Pharma Land.