Annual Day 2023

After a long hiatus due to covid we finally got most activities on track. The Annual Day function is always a big deal for everyone at Abhinav. It has been a tradition my mother started that the Annual Day will be not a Teacher-managed event, but a Student Initiative. Since when I was a teenager, I was part of this and today 10 years after she passed, I still strive to make it work as she would have.

After some hesitation, we began working in early January. I wanted to use an outside choreographer just so that teachers will not be burdened. (They are already struggling with post-covid learning difficulties) But then, an outside guy could never do justice to the Abhinav style of doing things. We always keep in mind that the cultural program should be enjoyable to everyone in the audience and at the same time should display as many of the diverse talents that our students have, as possible.

It was a great relief that my G3 students came to the rescue. Almost all of std 9 and many of std 10, 11 and 12 joined the effort to plan, organize, choreograph and also conduct the event. It was a giant task and they pitched in with vigour. (not to mention they were glad to skip classes to do so 😉)

Some of them were the core team, my assistant directors. Tanmayee, Ikshita, Shreya and Swara, took care of every detail of the planning. They helped create every tiny detail of the event. They were helped by many of their friends, notably Adwait, Manan, Manasi, Ashita, Parshav, Piyush, Vaishnavi, and many more. These super kids planned meticulously and kept track of every development. They monitored how the practice sessions were going, contributed their ideas, worked the technology of the audio, video and lighting so wonderfully that the entire show looked perfect.

The teachers took pains to train the participants and the Heads of department - Sandhya Dange, Vidya Bhosale, Pranali Bhole, Pushpa Konde - worked hard to keep the school running smoothly while there was a lot of chaotic activity going on throughout. The principal Shraddha Patil and HoD Aditee Kavathekar kept a watch on the school while at the same time working on the many other infrastructure and exam related activities in progress. The office staff, took every effort to help with the resources while the Bus staff took extra shifts to drop the tired kids home, after practice sessions.

We also gave the Best Student Awards. This award is given for the top students in each learning group. The students are selected on basis of not only their academic performance and attendance but also their participation and achievements in various activities at school. Except for the very young students, we also see how much these students are contributing to the development of their colleagues and to the overall betterment of the school.

This years winners were -

KG - Priyank Shah, Ishwari Malap, Aarya Joshi, Anshal Chavan

I & II - Vignesh Shinde, Swara Malusare, Veeha Varma

III & IV - Kavya Joshi

V & VI - Reyansh Inamdar

VII & VIII - Madhura Modak

IX & X - Sanika Deshmukh, Ikshita Singh, Tanmayee Sapre

XI & XII - Swati Khandelwal

There was some unforeseen problem with seating as the auditorium has strict rules regarding this. I thank all the parents and students who cooperated. I am personally responsible and apologise for any inconvenience caused to some people.

This is the Abhinav Family folks.

I leave you with the highlights of the event with pictures below. You can click on the pictures to enlarge.

Students running the show