On 20th February, 2019, the benediction ceremony of class X was organized at the school atelier by the students of class IX. The highly enthused students of class IX made it a grand ceremony with speeches, music, dance , games and ramp walk. After the customary ritual of placing lit earthen lamps by each of the students at the bottom of the temple of Goddess Saraswati installed in the reception, the students were offered 'a sweet' each as 'prasad' and they bowed down at the feet of their teachers one after the other and took their blessings. Each of the students of class X, were escorted to the venue by a class IX students having adorned the student with a sashe of chart paper carrying titles like, 'The Adorable', 'The Cricketer', 'The Genius', 'The Inventors', 'The Cosmopolitan' etc etc.depending upon their personal inclination and obvious display of their interest. Principal madam, in her speech wished the class X graders,' all the best and expressed her desire to have longer association with them by promising them the best educational guidance to face all the challenges of the world. This was followed by brief speeches by their class teacher, Mr Chirag Thakkar and their subject teacher, Ms Kalpana Unnikrishnan. A very touching song was sung by their Gujarati subject teacher, Ms Naina Parmar.
There was a game of 'Treasure Hunt' wherein the class X students were divided into four or five groups and send having received a clue, they went hunting in different directions, some to the school ground, some to the library on the first floor, some to the front area of the school etc. One of the groups that had gone to the school ground were the first to return with the treasure and each of the group members were gifted with a pen each by the Principal. Food and soft drinks were served as the program flow continued. The game of 'Antakshari', a dance performance by class IX students and a chorus song sung towards the end drew the curtain over the celebrations.The students of both classes IX & X along with their teachers swayed to their heart's content to a series of peppy music and took pics flanked with their friends and teachers. Towards the end, the Principal was escorted to the first floor and standing at the edge of its railings, she was made to unfold a huge roll of paper scroll tied with a satin ribbon so that it dropped down revealing the words,'All the Best to students of class X'. It was indeed a great moment as this gesture was very cute and apt for the occasion. What made this simple gesture so special was the amount of work behind the making of the scroll with a tint of yellow pastel colored chart papers with its borders as burned to give it the appearance of old yellow pages of a book.
Summing up, the day was great, filled with nostalgia, fun and excitement!
