TGS on the Verge July Aug 2011

8/3/2019 TGS on the Verge July Aug 2011

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This year the newsletter has undergone a makeover, andnow it is on its way to becoming a magazine. So ‘On the

Verge’ will not only publish school news but will publish

myriad ideas and tons of creativity. Much happened since thebeginning of this school year; from the elections for theStudent Council, the symbol of our Democracy to the inter-group debate, expressing ideas. We also have new teacherslike Hariharan sir, Pooja ma’am and Stuti ma’am who bring us

new avenues to explore and experience.

As we read this a lot of things are happening in this worldand beyond the school boundaries. This year our focus is toprovide a perspective, an opinion on issues that we oftenoverlook. For this edition we have child-like but NOT achildish story about Revenge and the psychology of revenge.This and many such different narratives will be exploredacross the next edition.

We would like to emphasise that this newsletter is our voice,

our reflection as a school. So good or bad, all things find

space in the newsletter. With this understanding, I also take

this opportunity to also speak to you as the Head Boy. You

would agree that since a last few weeks our behaviour has

been far from what we can be call ‘acceptable’. All of us have

been have been bunking sports, loitering in corridors, not

reaching class in time, walking into prayers late...the list is

non-exhaustive.

However, let us not quantify our mistakes but try and find a

solution. I believe, we lack a sense of responsibility for our

actions. We are not even conscious of many of our actions;and thus most of our ‘unacceptable behaviour’ is not

intentional but a result of not putting a thought before our

actions. Let us reflect upon what we do, before we actually

do it. Let us take responsibility for our actions. All this

because this school is not the walls, but it is all of us. We

make the school and it is in our hand to make this school a

better community.

Jay Tekwani

with the Editorial Team

Editorial



Contents

4/ Election Fever

6/ Debating Matters

8/ Learning Deutsche9/Baba Ramdev’s Three wishes:

An imaginary interview

10/ Mochikam: a disappearing art

12/ Portfolio

19/ Arches and Niches:

Architecture in India

21/ Revenge: A story

22/ From pigeons to post to e-mail

24/ not boring old math

26/ Dial T3

Editor ial Team: Jay Tekwani, Jay Batavia, Kunal Kamania, Juhi Palan, Aishwarya Gosai

Photographs: Aalok Akbari, Shyamal Vibhakar Distribution: Amar Govani Contributors:Pranav Sejpal, Juhi Palan, Neel Rakholia, Parth Mehta, Aalok Akbari, Rohan Dhamsania, Nishka

Raman, Vishnupriya Jadeja, Prachi Patel, Vaidehi Chotai, Ms. Stuti Vasavda, Ms. Luna Banerjee

Proof reader: Shyamal Vibhakar Teacher advisor: Ms. Gopika Jadeja



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E l e c t i o n F e v e r !T h e mo n t h o f A u g u s t s a w TGS c a u g h ti n e l e c t i o n f e v e r .

Da y s o f c a mp a i g n i n g e n d e d i n ag r a n d f i n a l e wi t h t h e e l e c t i o ns p e e c h e s . No f i r e wo r k s h e r e — J u s t

S t r a i g h t f r o m t h e h e a r t s p e e c h e sa b o u t e v e r y t h i n g f r o m s c h o o l r u l e s o r

t h e l a c k o f t h e m t o d i s c i p l i n e i s s u e sa n d p r o mi s e s a n d a s p i r a t i o n s o fl e a d i n g t h e b e s t S t u d e n t Co u n c i l T GSh a s s e e n - - e v e r !

He r e a r e s o me i ma g e s o f t h ec a mp a i g n i n g a n d e l e c t i o n d a y .

P h o t o s : A a l ok Ak b a r i , S h y a m a l

Vi b h a k a r



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Head Boy Jay Tekwani Head Girl Aishwarya Gosai

Akash Captain Parth Mehta Akash Vice captain Vaidehi Chotai

Agni Captain Devi Jagani Agni Vice Captain Rohan Dhamsania

Jal Captain Harsh Limbasia Jal Vice Captain Prachi Patel

Prithvi Captain Amar Govani Prithvi Vice Captain Raveena Doshi

A nd the Invest itur e Cer emony...



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After the campaigning and the elections, came themuch awaited inter-group competitions. For manyof us, elections mean a series of exciting groupevents and competitions. And what better waycould be there to ‗kick-start‘ such events than adebate competition. Having an innate tendency topersuade, convince and prove our opinion to becorrect, debates have always been a favoriteamong teenagers.

And thus, this long series of events wereinaugurated by a debate competition.In the first round, Aakash competed against Jaland Prithvi against Agni. While arguments comingfrom the ‗for‘ team focused on issues like wastingof time, cyber bullying, threat to privacy, threat toface-to-face interaction and misinterpretations, the‗against‘ team talked about connectivity, earningopportunities via social networking sites and thefact that they are not charged.

Though the debated digressed a little from the

topic by focusing more on the pros and cons ofsocial networking rather than its conduciveness todeveloping society, it nevertheless was an exciting,enthusiastic and an informative debate. I wouldeven say that the arguments put forth by both theteams made the benefits and drawbacks of socialnetworking clear to the audience.

One impressive feature of the debate was that theparticipants were well prepared. Though there wasscope for improvement, the participants should beappreciated for their efforts considering the lesstime they got for the preparation. And as is thecase in any competition or any event, it is asuccess only if the audience is kept engaged, ifthey are kept thoroughly involved in thecompetition. And I must say that this debate didmanage to involve the audience. Far from gettingbored, this was the most enthusiastic audience Ihave ever seen.

The chair, Gopika ma‘am, asked the team FOR thetopic to make their point. Raveena Doshi was the firstto come up on the mike. Raveena emphasized onwomen‘s qualities. She believed that they aresincere, perfect and to the point; but if they didanything outside these qualities, they would beconsidered incapable. She stated that only 10% ofworld‘s income is earned by women and only 1% of the world‘s property is owned by women. Thereby,

making a strong base for her team for the rest of thedebate.Devi Jagani, the captain of Agni group gave somevery strong examples like Indira Gandhi and IndraNooyi to defend here point. The German chancellor isalso a great example of a very powerful woman. Deviquoted ―If all men are born free, why women are bornslave‖. Thus, countering the proposition. NishkaRaman was the next speaker from Prithvi. Shestrongly stated that all popular women had succeed just because of their opposite gender. In short, shewanted to convey that it is extremely difficult forwomen to progress without men‘s support. Shreya

Vaghela was the next from Agni. She believed that―Evolution is not an overnight process, it is a slow anda gradual process‖. She then elaborated the pointand hammered it into the judge‘s head. Shreya gavea very interesting statistics about women. Did youknow that 57,000 more women achieve mastersdegree in various fields then men?Jeshika countered with a very valid point. She saidthat women are progressing in educational fieldsbecause of their parent‘s mindset. Then she gavesome statistics to end her speech.Bhoomi Patel focused on women‘s achievements inco-curricular activities. . On a lighter note, it was said

that Ekta Kapoor has brought television sets toalmost every Indian through her famous serials.Jay Tekwani made a very impactful speech. Heasked – why are most of our mothers housewives, isit by choice or by compulsion? This baffled theopposition completely.Elf Patel stood up to the challenge and stronglybackfired. ―After all, men are in this world because of women‖. Then the teams questioned each other.Judges also questioned the two teams for the lasttime. And finally it was the time for results! Agni stoodon 300 points while Prithvi stood on 301 points. Thishad been the closest debate so far. It truly was very

engaging debate!

DEBATING MATTERS: THE INTER-GROUP DEBATES SEMI-FINALS

JAL V/S AAKASH

MOTION : This house believes that in the opinion of the house, social networking is not conducive to

developing society .

For The Motion : AKASH Against The Motion : JAL

MOTION : This house believes that in the opinion of the house, in a man’s world, a woman cannot evolve.

For The Motion : PRITHVI Against The Motion : AGNI

WINNER : JAL

WINNER : PRITHVI

AGNI V/S PRITHVI



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Both groups seemed eager to plunge into thedebate confident in their arguments and research,but while Prithvi seemed to have its viewpoint inplace with statistics and specifics, Jal appeared tobe floundering and had to resort to rhetoric which

after some time metamorphosed into a sparringmatch between the two captains.

The other participants on both teams appeared tohave been overshadowed by the aggression oftheir leaders although they certainly had theirarguments and deliberations in place.

The cross-questioning soon translated into a merry-go-round of clarifications and contentions. Jal keptstating that sustainable development is possible

and cited examples to support their argument.Prithvi on the other hand strongly stated that theyfelt sustainable development, although desirablecan be nothing more than a utopian ideal.

The stalemate was broken by the judges‘questions which required both teams to scrutinizetheir respective standpoints. This may well havebeen the turning point: contrary to all expectations,Jal won the debate.

The audience enjoyed supporting their group andparticipated well in all phases of the debate by

asking thought provoking questions to the teams.All the debaters showed promise.

Here‘s looking forward to a debating culture…..

With the first rounds out of the way and Prithvi andJal in the finals for 1st and 2nd positions, it wasAakash and Agni battling it out for the 3rd and 4th. Theatmosphere in the dome was charged and the teamsas well as the audience were looking forward to somespirited debating. Boy, did they get what they hopedfor. There was a brief a small explanation of the topicfor the audience‘s benefit so that over the course of the debate they would be able to formulate thought-

provoking and stimulating questions to ask the teams.The debate started off with Aakash making theopening. They developed their stand quite well,dissecting the motion and then stating their case.Their argument had many facets but the mostimportant arguments they raised were based onthings we already know. They stressed that freedom – or liberty – was an unalienable human right, furtherextending that in the defence of these rights when allelse fails taking an extreme approach becomes nighnecessary. They also pointed out that to fight forwhat is rightfully ours is human nature and that in theface of oppression, the rising of the oppressed is

hardly a vice. They took examples of history mostlysaying that Bhagat Singh, Rajyaguru and Sukhdevwere called ―extremists‖ by the British, yet we idolisethem, have their portraits up on our walls and makemovies out of them. If what they did was a vice, ithardly makes sense to do what we do.Agni also laid out their case quite well. They madesome very new and interesting points saying thatviolence, which is a by-product of extremism, not onlycauses lives but also causes damage to theecological environment around us. They also tookexamples of the past saying that a moderateapproach, historically, has been more effective in

protecting one‘s liberty; citing Gandhiji as the primeexample. They even mentioned Anna Hazare and hisfast as a means to constitutional reform. Anotherargument that by the team was that patience is an all-conquering virtue and a moderate approach coupledwith this patience would definitely protect one‘sliberty.One of the most impressive points made was thatGandhiji‘s ―fast unto death‖ was in itself a form of extremism. The judges‘ as well as the audiencequestions really tested the conviction of theparticipants. To conclude, although the debate went atad astray from the topic at places, the audience got

to witness a lively and spirited debate .

For The Motion : AKASH Against The Motion : AGNI

MOTION : T his house believes that in the opinion of the house, extremism in the defense of liberty is not

a vice.

MOTION : This house believes that in the opinion of the house, sustainability does not go hand in

hand with development .

For The Motion : PRITHVI Against The Motion : JAL

Reports: Rohan Dhamsania, Juhi Palan, Jay Batavia,

Luna ma‟am; Photos: Aalok Akbari

GRAND WINNER : JAL

WINNER : AGNI

DEBATING MATTERS: THE INTER-GROUP DEBATES FINALS

AAKASH V/S AGNI JAL V/S PRITHVI

“Prithvi seemed to have its viewpoint .Jal appeared to be floundering”



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We have a new teacher for German at TGS. To have a new teacher with us makes us want to know

about him. We were all very keen to know about him and his background in knowing different

languages. These are a few questions we asked our new German teacher, Mr. HariharanSharma…Prachi Patel and Vishnupriya Jadeja

Learning Deutsch

What made you choose German as a

language you wanted to acquire? Are you

fluent in any language other than German?

I was impressed by Germany as a country rightfrom my childhood. “Made in Germany” was a

very impressive seal that I came across and I

wanted to learn this language only out of

curiosity. Later it turned out to be a good

decision and I mustered a lot of courage to go

about my path all alone as there was no one in

my family or relations who could be of any

help to me whatsoever. I went on to do a

postgraduate degree in German Philology from

Mumbai University along with completion of

all the semester exams from Goethe Institute,

Mumbai. I know Russian and have a

Certificate and Diploma in Russian language

from AIIRL, New Delhi. I am fluent in

around 5 Indian languages and I have learntSanskrit too, which helped me a lot along my

way. I tried my hand at Chinese and Japanese

too but I could not make much progress

because of various preoccupations.

Can you please tell about your experience in

Germany? How long have you stayed

there?

I was in Germany (the erstwhile German

Democratic Republic) as a German Interpreter

for M/s Toyo Engineering Corporation for

their projects in Petrochemical Complex, in

Schwedt, GDR for around 5 years before

returning to India to join the Kodaikanal

International school, Kodaikanal, South India

as a Teacher of German for IB.

Have you always been a teacher? What

other schools have you taught at?

Before going to Germany I was a Germanlanguage teacher for the Indian Navy as well

as for M/s Mazagon Docks Ltd, Mumbai. I



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got a lot of private exposure to teaching Jr

College (11th and 12th Graders) students who

came out with flying colors after being

unsuccessful in their exams. I was also engaged

as a German teacher and translator for several

organizations and institutions in Mumbai before

and after my experience abroad. I had a longstint as an administrator and part time teacher/

translator for the multinational Steel company

M/s Essar Steel Ltd for their academy at Hazira,

Surat Dist.

What do you expect your students to know

by the end of this year in German?

A student who has sound common sense and

puts in a little hard work, should be able to

have a „good working knowledge‟ of German

language. In a matter of around 50 hours of training, such a student should be able to speak

in simple German and express his/her feelings

and emotions without any difficulty.

Interviewer: Hello and welcome to the show,

Interviewing India. Today we have with us Baba

Ramdevji! Namaste Baba Ramdevji!

BR: Namaste!

Interviewer: So, Baba Ramdevji, it is heard

that you had made 3 wishes and your wishes

were fulfilled, can you please tell us about the

wishes?

BR: Sure, why not. I had made 3 wishes and 1 of them has been fulfilled. The first wish was to

become famous. Now, you must be thinking,

why does a yoga preacher want to earn fame?

But, don‟t get me wrong, I want fame for the

good of my country‟s people. If I become

famous then, people will support me for my

various campaigns against corruption and black

money; and the more the people support me,

more powerful and effective would be my

campaign!

Interviewer: Wow! What great thinking! So,how was this wish of yours fulfilled?

BR: The recent fast of mine, didn‟t it make me

famous? Everybody knows me now. Anna

Hazare made me join his team and after that I

decided to fast and that did make me very

famous with a lot of people following and

supporting me now.

Interviewer: Oh, that‟s good. Now, tell us

about your second wish, what was it about?

BR: Oh, my second wish was about retrieving

the 400 lakh crore black money of India lying in

the Swiss bank.

Interviewer: And that didn‟t get fulfilled right?

BR: No, sadly it didn‟t; the black money couldn‟t

be retrieved.

Interviewer: Instead, allegations were made of

you turning black money to white money, right?

BR: No! No! These allegations are completely

incorrect; I do not change any black money to

white money. Neither do I have any black money.

Interviewer: But, then various political leaders

questioned about how you got the money to build

your ashram?

BR: All the money I use for building my Ashrams

are from donations. Secret Donations.

Interviewer: Oh! I see... and you don‟t need to

pay taxes for donations, right?

BR: No, donations are not to be taxed, andwhatever I have are donations from my numerous

supporters.

Interviewer: OK, so your second wish was not

fulfilled. You couldn‟t bust the people who have

black money in Swiss Banks and you yourself

were busted with allegations of black money

against you. The wish really took a U-turn!

BR: I wish to talk no more about it.

Interviewer: So now, about your third wish.

BR: Oh! My third wish was about winning the

In her assignment for the English class, Vaidehi Chotai writes an imaginary interview with Baba Ramdev,

the Yoga Guru and would -be politician and activist, in the tradition of satire...



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votes of the people.

Interviewer: Votes?

BR: Yes, votes of people. I wanted people to

vote for me as their leader. I wanted to and

still want to become the people‟s leader, I

want to bring about many social reforms in the

country, I want to end corruption and retrieve

all the black money lying in foreign backs.

Interviewer: Wow, what great ambitions, truly

like a leader! Anyway, so this wish of yours

remained unfulfilled, right?

BR: No, it didn‟t. I was really sorry about it.

Interviewer: But you did get the most votes

from the people, right? Last month, the Forbes

released and you did rank first and got themost votes for the „King of Black Money‟

position, right?

BR: No! No! No! People are very innocent.

They have just been poisoned by the Congress

Leaders; throwing allegations at me and

publicly telling them that I am a „Dhongi

Baba‟ and I am very corrupt. All this isFALSE! Congress Leaders just got scared of

me because of me going on fast to retrieve

their black money from the Swiss Bank. They

are the real corrupt ones!

Interviewer: Hmm... I see. Thank you very

much Baba Ramdevji for joining us this

evening. And we are very sorry for you Babaji

that only one of your wishes came true. Thank

you again and Shubh ratri!

Mochikam:

a disappearing art

Vaidehi Chhotai (with theguidance of Ms. Puja Chauhan)

This column is about the „Disappearing arts of

India‟. Many art and craft methods, which were

predominant in the earlier times, are now

disappearing because of the lack of dignity of

labor in the Indian society. Arts and craft such

as leather work, pottery, weaving, barbers etc.

are now being considered as „lower caste

labors‟. The other reason for the disappearance

of art and craft in today‟s world is substitution

of these arts and crafts by modern methods

using machinery. These arts are actually very

scientific and require a lot of skill to practice it.

So to rediscover these arts, Pooja ma‟am and I

went to a mochi. Mochikam is now one of the

disappearing arts in India. Leather work and

tanning (the process of preserving animal skin)

is the oldest form of art known to humanbeings; before pottery, weaving, spinning etc.

Early humans saw that animal skin was indeed

more thick and strong than the human skin and

they thus started using it for various purposes to

protect feet, to keep them warm in winter etc.

Leatherwork is actually science; the whole

process of removing leather to tanning is full of

scientific processes which came as a result of

observation and experimentation.

We went to Das bhai, one of the rare mochis in

Rajkot. He makes fantastic leather shoes with

utmost skill.

list of India‟s 10 most corrupt people was



11

When we went there he proudly showed us his

creations compiled in a photo album, they were

actually great products; very fine, well finished

products. He showed us the tools and methods

he used to create such good shoes. He showed

us how he cut leather, finished it and folded it

skillfully into a shoe. He used to use all typesof leather for making his shoes. The leathers he

used were from Chennai which was famous for

its leather.

Das bhai actually comes from a village called

Dhrol. Dhrol was famous, in earlier times for

mochis. He had come to Rajkot before 7 yrs to

get more customers and was getting much

more customers than he used to get in Dhrol.

When we asked him about the number andtype of customers he got, he said that he did

get a lot of customers because of the fine,

finished cheap leather shoes he sold. The shoes

he sold were of a lesser price than that of big

companies and of the same quality. He also

said that he got all types of customers,

including people with foot disabilities.

For example, he had a regular customer who

had one of his feet smaller than the other. In

fact, persons with special needs require custom

made products of the kind that Das bhai and

other such independent artisans are able to offer,

unlike the uniform products of chain stores.

We also met Das bhai‟s son there. He has alsotaken up mochikam. When we asked Das bhai

the reason for his son taking up mochikam, he

said that, it‟s hereditary and he is proud of

continuing their business. He also said that they

are respected a lot by everyone around, because

they are one of the rare mochis here and that is

also one of the reasons why his son took up this

business!

He was so proud about his work, he also

enjoyed it a lot, and his face said it all — theexcitement which he had for explaining us stuff

could not stay hidden!

When asked about „mochikam ‟ in today‟s

world, he said that it is really disappearing. He

said that one reason for the decline of mochikam

is the lack of craftsmen. People are not willing

to work so much, give so much time and energy

for this skill. He said that it took him 24 hrs to

make just a pair of shoes. One more reason for

people not taking up this art is because there areno good academies or schools where people can

be taught these skills.

Also, substitutes for mochis, machines, are now

example, sole fitting.

At the end, he showed us some steps he used to

make shoes, and looking at that, I realized that it

really needed a lot of skill and practice. He did it

all so smoothly and skillfully without making

any mistakes…

Das bhai has been working in Rajkot for the past

seven years. He moved to Rajkot in search of more

work .

being used in big commercial factories. Most

factories follow the method of division of labor.

Which means, the workers do not make the whole

a person does only one step in the process, for

of shoe themselves, instead there is a division wher ein



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Portfolio

As part of our aim to showcase student work we will be bringing you a portfolio of work(writing, art, photography) by our students. This month we feature the photographs of AalokAkbari of IBDP2. If you have work you would like to share with the school community write to

us:



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14



15



16



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ARCHES’&‘NICHES: Architecture in India

―Architecture‖, the word always sounds quite richas it contains quite heavy weight of variousaspects that exist in universe. Aesthetics playsits role within various domains in the house ofarchitecture; such as art, science, geographyand considering its scope and depth, culture,philosophy and spirituality too.

As a student at school level one should have abasic understanding of the integration of allthese aspects mentioned above before steppinginto this field; not only in terms of pursuing‗B.Arch‘ or ‗M.Arch‘ but also as a part of his/her future, personality and life.

Many of these aspects are taught as part of theacademic curriculum in this discipline. Thougheach of these has its own significance anddepth, philosophy and spirituality are what make

up the intangibles and which cannot becompromised.

History and heritage have given us a treasuretrove of great artefacts and monuments whichhelp us study the intangibles because they havebeen designed keeping the spiritual aspect inmind.

One of the oldest treasures of architecture arethe Gothic churches – examples of how physicalstructures spread divinity and spirituality using a

combination of natural elements, ‗light - The‗Stained Glass Windows‘. The windows areplaced so as to create an equal spatial balanceon the wall with the concrete portion. All thewindows are constructed with colourful glassand painted with a particular kind of paint, so asto create a semi transparent layer on the glass.This particular intensity and opacity of coloursallows light to enter the room within certainlimits, creating a kind of subtlety: in other wordsspreads ‗Divine Light‘ which creates theambience/aura/atmosphere for worship.

Though stained glass painting is purely a visualart, its incorporation into architecture shows us

In this new column beginning with this issues,

our Art teacher Stuti Ma’am, will tell us about architecture in India .

that the focus was on divinity and spirituality,as well as aesthetics.

India is a land of spirituality and philosophy – how can we miss discussing the fabulousarchitecture that our forefathers have giftedus? Some of these gifts are labeled as ‗HinduTemple architecture‘ and ‗Step Wells‘!! HinduTemple Architecture is one of the mostdynamic and happening movements in thehistory of Indian architecture. Right from theancient era till now, the basic design oftemples has remained same more or less thesame, although innovation in terms of designand structure has not been lacking.

There is very strong philosophical reasonbehind the particular identity of Hindu

Temples in terms of their architectural design.That is appreciation, importance, respect andstrong belief in god and to place him in theform of a deity or ‗murthy‘ systematically witha sound protection. To serve this purpose theancient architects came up with a verysignificant design which is followed to thisday.

While designing a temple, several parts ofTemple architecture are considered –

Jagati, a kind of platform or terrace

upon which the temple is raised

An example of Gothic architecture. Courtesy:

www.gargoylegothica.com and www.templenet.com



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Mandapa, a pillared outdoor hallwhich is the main entrance to theshrine/sanctum

Antrala, the middle portion of thetemple leading from the Mandapatowards the deity

Garbha griha (Womb Chamber)where the deity is placed

The garbha griha is sheltered by ‗Shikhara‘ or ‗Vimanam‘, a rising tower form over it. Theparticular structure itself shows intense in-volvement with god and spirituality.

Step wells were designed with the purpose ofdealing with the problem of scarcity of water,which has been perennial to the western partof India since ages, especially in Gujarat and

Rajasthan. The technical aspect and develop-ment of this design itself may take up anotherlong and elaborate write up.

Many step wells contain beautiful, intricatecarvings based on the philosophy of life; forexample ‗Amrit Khumbh‘ (symbolic pot of theMany step wells contain beautiful, intricatecarvings based on the philosophy of life; forexample ‗Amrit Khumbh‘ (symbolic pot of thenectar of life), ‗Kalp Vriksha‘ (the wish/desire

yielding tree) and ‗Navagraha‘ (nine planets)along with gods and goddesses.

These depictions are said to attract villagers forworship during marriages and other ritualisticceremonies. Even today there are somecommunities who hold wedding ceremonies atthe same place.

It is believed that the temperature inside the wellused to remain about five degrees lower thanthe outside. It is one of the reasons the ladieswho used to come to fetch water, spent sometime there and used to worship gods andgoddesses depicted on the various levels.Though these carvings relate more to thesculptural aspect than architectural, theycontribute to the element of worship and

spirituality, similar to the stained glass windowsin Gothic churches.

Today, when world is rocking with fast tracktechnology, how aspects like philosophy can beincorporated into architecture has become anissue! But it is an undeniable fact that philosophyhas its own place within this domain along withscience and technology.

More on this in our next issue!!

Hindu temple architecture has developed over two thousand years. It has evolved within verystrict boundaries and rules based on religious texts. The architect had to observe the basicproportions and rigid forms as prescribed since centuries.



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RevengeNishka Raman (Grade 8)

I w a s go i ng t o g i v e h i m de a t h . T h a t w a s t h e o n ly so l u t i o n; w h a t e l se d i d he d e se r v e ? My

f r i e nd ha d go t d ea t h , so w o u l d h i s k i l l e r. I h a d i t a l l se t , a nd i t w a s o n ly a ma t t e r o f h o u r s

be f o r e t h a t k i l l e r d o g a nd h i s f r i e nd s w o u l d f a ce t h e i r unf o r t u na t e do o m.

I p ut i n a ny t h i ng t h a t w o u l d ma k e my b r o t h mo r e f i l t h y a n d st i n k y a nd dr e a df u l. My mo m

a nd da d w e r e li ngu i st s a nd ha d go ne f o r a l i t t l e t w o - d a y t r i p t o r e se a r ch o n me di e v a l

Engl i sh . T h i s o n ly l e d t o my p r o f i t ; no w no o ne c o u l d st o p me f r o m p r e pa r i ng my d e a t h

ma k e i t . T h r e e b la c k c unni n g, gr e e d y d o g s o f t e n h a ng a r o u nd t h e c o r n e r d ust bi n i n t h e

t o w n p a r k . I h a d go n e t o t h e pa r k w i t h Br u no . I h a d le f t h i m o n t h e ga r d e n be nch w i t h a bi g

p i e c e o f bi s cu i t . Ju st me t e r s a w a y t h e r e w a s a st a l l se l l i ng bi s cu i t s; I bo u gh t so me a n d

r e t u r ne d t o t h e be nch . Ju st i n t i me t o s e e t h e me r ci l e ss d o gs l o o t i n g p o o r Br u no o f h i s

f o o d a nd i nj u ri n g h i m a t t h e sa me t i me . T h e p a r k sw e e p er h e l pe d me d r i v e a w a y t h e d o gs.

Go o d Mr s. Ha t h a w a y p h o n e d my p a r e n t s a nd t h e b lu e c r o s s a mbu l a nc e . M y p a r e n t s i n t u r n,

ca l le d t h e do g ca t ch e r s. We t o o k Br u no t o h i s v e t e r i na r y h o s pi t a l o nl y t o r e a l i z e t h a t my

cu t e , l i t t l e , p la y f u l p up py c o u ld no t su rv i v e . T h e d o g- ca t ch e r s w e r e co mi n g i n t h e

I l e t t h e st i n k y b r o t h I h a d ma d e bo i l . I p ut i n so me c hi l i p o w d e r , so me mo r e s pi c e s, a l i t t l e

o r a nge j u i c e , a nd f i n a l l y so me t o x i c di s h w a s hi n g l i qu i d . I p ut i n e v e r y t h i n g w i t h o u t

t h i n k i ng. I e v e n p ut i n su ga r , bo d y l o t i o n a nd t o o t h p a st e a n d so me b lu e be r r i e s . I sa c r i f i c e d

a c ho c o l a t e o f mi n e be ca u se I k ne w ch o c o l a t e w a s h a r mf u l t o d o gs. I t h o u gh t o f p ut t i n g

so me v i n e ga r a n d o n i o ns t o o . T h i s t h i n g sme l l e d d r e a d f u l y e t i n t e r e st i n gl y t o x i c ; i t

e mi t t e d y e l l o w f u me s. I o p e ne d t h e k i t ch e n w i n do w s f o r v e nt i l a t i o n a nd co v e r e d my

mo u t h w i t h a h a ndk e r ch i e f j u st t o b e o n t h e sa f e r si d e . T h e y e l lo w smo k e bl ew a w a y . My

p o t i o n w a s br o w ni sh - p ur pl e a nd t h i s i s t h e be st I ca n d escr i be t h e sh a de w h i c h i t bo r e .

As I h a d r u n o u t o f t h i ngs t o p u t i n i t , I sw i t ch e d o f f t h e ga s su pp ly .

w a nt t h e sme ll o r t h e st e a m t o be t o o o bv i o u s. I p o ur e d t h e mi x t u re i n a bi g t w o l i t e r

bo t t le w h i ch w e nt i nt o t h e r ef r i ge ra t o r .

A co u pl e o f h o u rs l a t e r , I po u r ed t h e l i qu i d i nt o a t r a y a nd w a s p le a se d t o f i nd t h a t i t w a s

a l mo st o d o r l e ss. T h e l i qu i d , t o my su r p r i s e , i n a f e w mi n u t e s, dr i e d a n d r e s e mbl e d a b i g

t h i c k bi s cu i t . T o ma k e t h e sme l l o f t h i s i ne d i bl e d i sh I h a d pr e p a r e d be t t e r , I sp r i nk l e d i t

w i t h so me v a ni l l a e sse nce . If a ny o ne w o u l d f i n d t h i s so l i d d e a t h p o t i o n; I t h o u gh t ; o new o u l d mi s t a k e i t f o r a h o me ma d e v a ni l l a bi s cu i t ! I cu t t h e bi g ch u nk i n t o p i e c e s a n d p la c e d

t h e m i n a co n t a i n e r .



22

f r o m, I sa t o n t h e gr a ss a nd w a i t e d ea ge r ly bu t pa t i e nt l y f o r t h e

me r c i l e ss mu r d e r e r s t o c o me , a nd h e lp t h e mse l v e s t o t h e i r o w n e n d.

t h i s , bu t w h a t e v e r h a d h a p p e ne d h a d ma d e my p la n w o r k . Ni c e l y . T h e d o gs gr o a ne d a n d

t r o t t e d o v e r t o t h e be nch w i t h t h e i r h ea v y s t o ma ch s d a ngl i ng f r o m t h e i r bo d i e s. T h e

d o gs se e me d a bi t d a z e d , a nd t h e y l a y d o w n o n t h e gr a ss a n d f a i nt e d . I w a i t e d , st i l l a s a

r o c k . Pe r h a ps I w a s no t sa t i s f i e d . It h a p pe ne d sl o w l y a nd v e r y st e a d i l y ; I sa w t h a t t h e i r

bo d y ce a s e d t o mo v e u p a n d d o w n a s t h e y h a d do n e a f e w se c o nd s a go .

Assu mi n g t h a t t h e y h a d st o p p e d br e a t h i n g, I ca u t i o u sl y go t u p f r o m my p l a c e a nd w a l k e d

o v e r t o t h e do g s a n d t o u c h e d o n e o f t h e m. No r e s po n se .

I si ghed. T HEY WERE DEAD. St ar i ng a t t he cor pses; an ev i l smi le t o o k char ge o v er my

e x pr e ssi o ns. I f e l t p o w e r f u l, l i k e I w a s t h e o ne w h o k n ew e v e r y t h i n g.

f a st a s I co u l d , a n d r a n f o r my l i f e . My f e e t l e d me h o me i n e x a c t l y t w o mi n ut e s. Pa n t i n g, I

go t i n t o t h e h o u se a nd lo c k e d t h e do o r . I d ump e d my b o d y o n t o t h e so f a a n d t r i e d t o

r e l a x .

o v e r my mi n d l i k e f i r e . T h e r e a l i z a t i o n w a s sl o w , bu t p o w e r f u l. I w a s r u nni n g a w a y . I w a s

r u nni n g a w a y f r o m a c r i me I h a d co mmi t t e d . I w a s gu i l t y o f mu r de r .

Gu i l t o v e r p o w e r e d me . A su d de n f l a s h ba c k o f w h a t I h a d d o n e , r e mi n d e d me t h a t I mu st

cl e a r a l l pr o o f s. I r a n a ga i n, t o t h e k i t c he n, I w a s he d a l l t h e bo t t l e s, sp o o n s a n d v e sse l s

t h a t I h a d use d. I w a sh e d t h e m a ga i n , so t h a t t h e y n o mo r e sme l le d o f my f a t a l mi x t u r e

bu t o f d i sh - w a sh i ng so a p . I spr a y e d t h e k i t ch e n w i t h t h e sce nt o f a n a i r - f r e sh e ne r , a nd

ch e ck e d f o r a n y o t h e r e v i d e nce o f my d e e d.

My p a r e n t s w o u l d be a t h o m e by d i nne r . I ne e d e d r e st . I c h a nge d i n t o m y p a j a ma s , t h o u g h i t

w a s st i l l o n l y s e v e n . Ly i n g d o w n o n my be d , I p o n d e r e d o v e r my c r i me . No , I a m no t a

c r imi na l , I assu red my se l f . Or may be I am. I w as f ee l i ng gu i l t y , t r ue . Bu t I slep t .

d e se r v e d w h a t t h e y s uf f e r e d ? I sl e p t i n pe a c e . T h o u gh I st i l l k ne w t h a t qu e nch i n g y o u r

br o k e n my h e a r t , so I br o k e t h e i r s .



23

At 5 pm on 12 February 1911, the first comercial flight of the world carrying air mail

flew from Allahabad to Naini. The plane was piloted by Henry Piquet. The Humber-

Sommer biplane carried 6,500 letters. This was a historical moment in Indian History.

In 2011, we celebrate a hundred years of this event. Postal services in India have grown from 19011 to 2011.

We have come a long way. Let us trace the journey from pigeons to post to e-mail:

Pigeons: This method of mailing was mostly used by the rulers and was applicable only for short distances.

The pigeons were trained in the palace itself.

Foot runners: This method was used by the rulers and also by wealthy people. Foot runners were given the

letters and asked to make them reach a certain place at a certain time. If they fail to do so they will have to

face a less salary.

Horse dawk and Camel dawk: This method of postal service was again used by the rulers and wealthy

families. The riders of horses and camels used to travels 100s of km without taking rest; so that they could

deliver the mail.

Catamaran mailman: This was the first method of its kind. People who wanted to send a letter to someone

who lives far but share the same coast of the river, could send their letters via rivers. His was again used by

the rulers and wealthy people. The poor people were actually the catamarans.

Mail carriage, Bullock cart mail and the Bullock cart train: These are very similar methods where people

who used to ride the bullock carts used to transport the mail and even big parcels. This method was used by

everyone no matter whether the person was poor or rich.

Rail mail: This is the method that is used till date. Letters are transported through railways on trains.

Everyone used this means to convey their feelings to people far from them.

Sea mail and Air mail: These were very costly in early days and many people who could not afford it.

Therefore it was restricted to very important letters and official communication.

Mail van: This means was used by almost everyone but it was not very effective and was costlier than mail

runners or Horse and Camel dawk and therefore it was not very much popular. It was only used for intrastate

mail service.

E-mail: The last but probably and hopefully not the least is the e-mail. These days anyone can use e-mail and

that too for free and that too from anywhere. Even India Post has initiated e-Moneygrams and other e-

services.

From Pigeons to Post to E-mailPran av Sejpal (IBDP2)

The flight from Allahabad to Naini took just 13 minutes and was greeted by a huge crowdas it landed. Piloted by Henri Pequet, it was a demonstration flight for an exhibitionorganised to ''advance'' the knowledge of Indians about the airplanes and flying.



24

In t his column on M at hemat ics , Par th M ehta (A Levels) will be

writ ing about M athemat ics and NOT the same olf bor ing subject that we dread so much...There is much more to M athemat ics as

you will see …

Hey f r iends! Welcome to t he f ir st ever regular column on M at h inthe history of t he TGS M agazine. Some perceive M ath as adreadful monster that swears to ruin five years of high schoolwhile others perceive it as a wonderful subject that finds itsapplication in virtually every other discipline. Well it doesn't really

mat ter which league do you belong to, since M ath, in my opinion, isneit her! Wondering why do fools like me f ind M at h "int erest ing"? Ibet you'll find your answer in this column, since I will be writingthis column round the year with the sole intention to illustratewhat M at h really is and how cool it can r eally be!

You are all very much familiar with ratio and proportion, aren't you? But what if I claim that we don't really “understand” ratios?Let's take an example. If your teacher asks you to make a scaledrawing of our solar system on the whiteboard of your class,almost everyone would think that it's a piece of cake. All you haveto do is switch on your laptop find out the diameters of the Sunand the nine planets, and make note of t he distances betweenevery two planets. Now, say you are drawing the Sun and Pluto.Diameter of the Sun is 1.4 x 109 met res and that of Pluto is 2.3 x 106 met res. The average distance between t he Sun and Pluto is 5.9 x1012 met res. Hence, on your scale drawing, the distance betweenSun and Pluto should be approximately 4,000 times larger that thediamet er of t he Sun, since (5.9 x 1012 divided by 1.4 x 109)approximately equals 4,000. Thus, if the circle that you draw onthe whit eboard for the Sun is say 10 cent imet res in diameter, youwill have to draw Pluto (10 x 4,000) i.e. 40,000 centimetres awayf rom the Sun. 40,000 cent imetres equals 400 metres! So we needTHAT big a whiteboard. Which whiteboard in the world has alengt h of FOUR HUNDRED M ETRES? Haha.

Now you might be thinking that we could also have drawn a circlefor the Sun smaller that 10 centimetres in diameter. Let's evaluate

this sit uat ion. Suppose our whit eboard is a very large one wit h alength of say 4 metres (a whiteboard of 4 metres is a VERY long

Not boring old math...

H

O

W

F

A

R

?



25

whit eboard indeed). Then, assuming we are using the ent ire whit eboard to draw the solarsystem, it is reasonable to take the distance between t he Sun and Pluto on our drawing tobe equal t o 4 met res. Now, the diameter of t he circle we draw for the Sun should be 4,000times smaller that 4 metres. Therefore, we will have to draw that circle (4 divided by4,000) i.e. 10- 3 met res, which is equal t o 1 millimet re! Too small! And, forget about the Sun,

let 's think how small would the circle for Pluto be. Since it has to be a scale drawing, thecir cle would be (1.4 x 109 divided by 2.3 x 106) which is approximately 600 times smallerthan t he circle for t he Sun. The circle for Pluto would thus be (10- 3 divided by 600) i.e. 1.7 x10-6 metres or 1.7 microns in diameter! You just cannot draw that small a circle (or evena dot ) wit h a pen, can you? Pluto would be M ICROSCOPIC if we make a scale drawing ofthe solar system on a four metres long whiteboard. Haha.

So, using rat ios, the simplest of all M ath concepts, we realize that it is IM POSSIBLE tomake a scale drawing of the solar system on a whiteboard. If we try to ensure that all

planets are visible, we need a board as lar ge as 400 met res and if we t ry t o squeeze inthe solar system in a normal sized whit eboard, planets like Pluto would be so small t hatthey w ould be invisible to the naked eye. W asn't that fun? And, above all, wasn't t hatsimple? We study M ath everyday, yet , of ten, we fail t o understand or appreciate thebeauty of M athemat ics! Oh well, before we end, just a small quest ion for you to ponderupon. Every year, substantial, significant work in a few disciplines round the world isawarded with the highly prestigious Nobel Prize that was initiated by the scientist whoinvent ed dynamit e: Sir Alf red Bernard "Nobel". India, too, has produced Nobel Laureates inPeace, Economics and Physics. Ever wondered why doesn't t his world acknowledge

mat hemat icians with a Nobel Pr ize in M at h? Well, unfortunat ely, Alf red Nobel's wif eran away w ith a mathemat ician! LOL Editor’s note: This last is a myth and not a fact. Alfred Nobel had never married and so had no wife.

So you think this diagram you see in your text books is to scale?



26

D ial T3 :Airport of the future

Neel Rakholia (IBDP2 ) writes about

Delhi’s new Terminal 3 and new sustainable technologies

Recently, I happened to visit the New

Delhi Airport Terminal 3. I was totally

mesmerized by the state-of-the-art

infrastructure. The glass, the indoor

plants, everything had a contemporary

feeling to it. However, what attracted me

the most was the sustainability of the

building. We, as Indians, often stress

upon aesthetic appearances while

judging a building. However, with

sustainability fast becoming the need of

the hour, we need to change our

perspective and need to be more

environmentally conscious. The New

Delhi Airport may just be the beginning

of this change.

The Airport redefines sustainability in

various avenues. Water management is

one of them. The Airport area has

numerous water-harvesting structures.

These hold rain water and thus reduce

water requirements. Also, the waste

water management recycles water and

uses it for air-condition cooling i.e.

Heat ing, Vent i lat ing, and AirConditioning (HVAC), toilet flushing,

horticulture and construction activities.

Besides this, there are many provisions to

reduce emissions as well. T3 is highly energy

efficient because of features like: Natural day

lighting, use of construction materials & interior

finishes with high recycled content, use of

environmental friendly vehicles and use of

battery operated vehicles for transferring

passengers from one terminal to another and

baggage transport. The numerous varieties of

plants inside the building also help keep the air

clean and minimize emissions.

‗Immense possibilities—to breath fresh.‘ sums it

up really. T3 certainly serves as an inspiration to

India‘s drive towards sustainable infrastructure

and sustainability as a whole.



Documents

TGS on the Verge July Aug 2011