The Fun We Had Before the Science Exhibition

- by Urjit Kushalkar – XC

Hey guys, I started to type all this today because my teacher told me to write on it. So today's topic is about the science fair that we had last year… So I don't remember what exactly had happened the last year, but I can relate a few interesting incidents. So let's get started. This was the first day of the making of all this ‘decorating’ stuff. I remember that it was a Tuesday when I saw Pradnya’s dad and mum standing near one of the classrooms on the first floor. I, of course, to be polite, went to them and started to talk to them as they had always been good to me. So I inquired about why they were at school. They told me that there was going to be an Interschool Science exhibition. And here I was, always interested in helping others and also poking my nose into other people's business! They told me that they were going to make a model of a spaceman or an astronaut and a big Solar system. I was pretty much interested in this job. So I asked them if I could assist in this job and they were like, “Yeah, why not? Then it all started.

So first Uncle got a carpenter who got us a huge wooden frame of 6x6. And we put a humongous cartridge on it and started to paint it black. (of course, as the universe is supposed to be black) Till then I had thought painting to be an easy process but No…… it was not at all easy. We started to paint at 4:30pm and it lasted till 8:30pm. In all the excitement, I had forgotten to inform my parents that I was in school itself. And, you can imagine... they had imagined the worst. They were frantically calling everyone for information about me. And here I was, cool as cucumber, enjoying every moment. It had been quite a bit of work and we just left the board right over there to rest for the night. Even my favourite Westside T-shirt got marks on it!

Well now day 2… Well, this was going to be a rather interesting day as it had all the promises of being a day out of the classroom, involving every sort of activity except study. I woke up early in the morning all excited, had a bowl of cereals, wore my school uniform and stepped out of the house walking towards a new day. So when I reached school I took a look at the canvas that we had painted. It was in a good condition. I attended the school lectures and in the recess I came down to see whether Pradnya’s dad (Uncle) had come and to my delight, he had, and was sipping a hot cup of tea. I greeted him and after a while we took the board down and started to paint it again. Of course, this time, I had an old Reebok sports T-shirt with me so that I do not get anymarks on my school uniform. This time, Uncle chose blue as we have a bit of blue in the nebulae and in some galaxies. A boy named Shubham also joined us. We both helped to complete the galaxies. Uncle had made all the planets using different sizes of beach balls. Well, it was rather interesting to take a look at those balls as they were so amazingly painted with all those details in them. It was really wonderful. Then we helped him put all those balls, rather planets, on that piece of canvas. When we were doing this job our headmistress and our ex-supervisor came and applauded our amazing work. After this all was done I still waited in school. It was almost 3:30pm in the afternoon. I went to the school’s old staff room. And there were still students in there, they were making some superb charts. Over there I met another school teacher who requested me to help in the making of the charts. As I had no other work, I joined them. Over there I found out that some of my classmates were helping in the job.This was a very good example of teamwork. After all the charts were made, we went on the corridors and superglued them to the walls. They looked magnificent. So the work was all completed and we looked forward to the great day…

Now here it comes - the day. I woke up and got dressed up and came to school. There were many teachers there. Most of them were from our school and some were from, as I correctly recognized, from other schools. I remember that near the office we had a wonderful Rangoli drawn… It was of course of the man himself, the greatest scientist Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam. I remember that the canteen was set up on the ground floor, near gate no. 2. I remember that I just ( I don't know why I went down that very day to meet him) went down to meet our canteen head (informally our favourite Pandit Kaka and Kaki) and a magnificent sight greeted my eyes. It was another Rangoli! Well, it was not just a Rangoli but was a massive 12X12 feet creation of Art. It just gazed and gazed like Wordsworth, but alas, I cannot describe the sight in words. I just stood there for a few moments to let that amazing sight seep in. That was the day when I understood that my school… (Explaining it in words is nearly impossible for me). Well now the other school students started to arrive in their respective buses. We volunteers (of course not me, as I always like to work in the background ) started to help the other teachers. My friend volunteers, were helping all the students to setup their projects in their respective classrooms. The volunteers had to maintain discipline and could not afford to have any chaos or else… (you know what Shirke Sir will say). Well the place where the program was going to be held was now almost filled with students and teachers from different schools. I went to the music control and started to play some instrumental music so that the atmosphere stays pleasant. The program started at around 11:00am with the flight of the Tejas jet( It was made by our loving Tejas Sir, a born artist) and the Lezim and the other performances started. After this program was completed we all went to the center hall where the stage was set up. The Headmaster of the school said his welcome speech. There were some speeches by the other teachers.I was enjoying all this as I was constantly with the supervisor of our school, carrying all the bags and the papers for the speeches.There were 2 people, rather 2 interesting people, the Guest of Honour and the Chief Guest, a Scientist and an ex- Chancellor of Mumbai University, and I was very happy to hear them speak and help them to their car. Both of them had told us many things. Inspiring things. I had my camera with me so I have many of the memories in pictorial form. Well I don't remember much of the other two days except for the final day when my friends had a dance and an award function.

All in all, it had been a memorable occasion, one that will remain with me for many years to come.