2nd Alumni Meet in April 2009

Hello Everyone,

We're back after a long hiatus with plans to hold an alumni meet in April '09 at school.

Looks like there is a lot of enthusiasm for having the meet. I would urge everyone to go online and take the orkut poll so that we can have a good estimate of how many people will attend the meet.

Hope to see all those who came last time and more!

Cheers!

Anshu

Hello

Hello Everyone,

There has been no activity at our end in almost over a year now. However, the orkut networking site has been keeping VERY busy. We have over 1,100 members there and there is a fairly active community discussing general topics.

I guess it is time for another reunion - hope to organize one really soon! Will keep everyone posted on when and where.

Warmly,
Anshu

Finalizing name of alumni society & website

Hi All:

Niket & a few other people met up this weekend to finalize a name for the alumni society & website.

Then name for society is "Pastiche"
(Meaning of the words are:
1) An incongruous combination of materials, forms, motifs, etc., taken from different sources.
2) A literary, musical, or artistic piece consisting wholly or chiefly of motifs or techniques borrowed from one or more sources. )

The name for the website is pdpsalums.com

If anyone has any other suggestions, please e-mail to us now or we will go ahead with the above.

-Anshu

Speaker Series

Proposal is to start a Speaker Series in school to guide the X, XI & XII students about various career options available after school and how to proceed in order to pursue those.

All those interested please e-mail to me with what topic you would like to cover, best time for you to go to school etc. The ideal panel size would be between 2-5.

Cheers!
Anshu

Career Focus

The best job search site for freshers:
http://www.freshersworld.com/

PDPS Alumni Core Group for forming the Alumni Organization & Website

For all interested in volunteering for the school alumni organization & website, and are commited to the long term cause:

Pls. join the yahoogroup PDPS Batonbearers at pdpsbatonbearers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com for working on this in the days to come.

Memberships will be open only until Sep 10, and after that we get to work!

-Anshu
Medical '94

A Surfer's Poem

PDPS Juniors earning a name for themselves

Check out this Surfer's poem titled 'Fairyland' by Mandita Gupta published in Hindustan Times NEXT's Juniors dated August 11, 2006

A Page from the Diary of Harsha Wadhwani - A Toast to the Alumni Meet)

GIVING BACK TO SCHOOL

Nothing could better guide a student than support from the experienced seniors. This was the main note on which Prabhu Dayal Public School; Shalimar Bagh hosted its 1st Annual Reunion on 15th July 2006. It was an occasion of great joy both for the ex-students and their mentors.

The honorable principal of the school, Mr. Das, whole-heartedly welcomed this attempt on the part of the ex-students and was happy that a new venture is being started for which he has been waiting for so many years. He was happy that some of the front-runner students are working towards the glory of their school.

One of the organizers and ex-student of the school, Dr. Shushank Chauhan elucidated the purpose of the get-together, which was to develop the institution through career counseling for the current students. To Shushank who joined the school in 1985 time flew like anything and now he feels elated that they are getting support from the school in this endeavor.

Mrs. Anu Chikara who is a Science teacher and an ex-student of the same school took an opportunity to speak on the nature of guidance and future assistance that the current students need. She also spoke on the importance of sharing experiences with the juniors.

During the meeting, some of the ex-students shared their experiences with the audience. To Monika Puri who is currently doing M.B.B.S, the school and the teachers made a permanent mark on her life and she can never forget the people who taught her the very basics. However, to Gaurav Gupta who is a chartered accountant, the school makes him feel connected with himself. Whenever he visits this place he can feel the child inside him.

The evening also included game events like musical chairs, tambola and also mouth-watering food. The students and teachers made the event a great success with their mere presence.

HARSHA WADHWANI

A Break

Everyone seems to be in a happy 'vacation' mood ever since the alumni meet has taken place:)
Well, for one I don't really see too much activity going on in either of the two groups except that the bunch of 'forever entusiasts' have their little games going.

I'm going to hold posts for a while now - primarily because blogger.com, and therefore all blogspots, are currently banned in India (following the Mumbai blasts, the Indian government has put this ban into effect). I'll keep track of what's happening on the school/alumni organization front and post it as soon as the ban is lifted!

YES! IT FINALLY HAPPENED!

Ladies & Gentlemen, Presenting to you, The First Ever Alumni Meet of Prabhu Dayal Public School

Hello Everyone

The alumni meet finally happened! Despite all odds the meet did happen as scheduled, on 15th July '06, in the newly renovated Shanti Auditorium in our beloved school, Prabhu Dayal Public School.

Just to give you a quick summary:


Core Team: Dr. Shashank Chauhan, Aman Sareen, Abhisek, Nikhil, Sagar, Rahul, Niket, Monika & Vaibhav
No. of People who had confirmed presence: 125
No. of people who actually showed up: 300+ (After 240 people had already arrived, the core team members stopped taking contributions)
Estimated funds generated (& spent): Rs. 12,500

The Core Team with Das Sir, Anu Ma'am & Mrs. Bhardwaj

Now, needless to say, all the work at the ground was done by Shashank & his team.
Time was short, and things to be done many. Nonetheless, in al this melee, the event, which did have a few shortcomings, was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone who was present.







The registration desk was manned by --------. Have a look at all that they had to manage!

The Registration Desk

I am presenting below an edited excerpt from Shashank's post on orkut/yahoo about this event:

Shashank writes that 'making 5000 people dance to his tune (he was the DJ during 'Pulse'-for the uninitiated, 'Pulse' is the annual, and really really rocking, multi-dimentional meet organized by AIIMS and invites participation from over 12000 medical students across India and other SAARC nations) was easier than making 300 people listen to him! Well! Well! For those of you who want to don the mantle of the organizer next year, this is a useful tip indeed.





Shashank (in the black shirt) with Das Sir and teachers.







However, Mrs. Anu Chikara, a PDPS alumna herself, and a teacher in school currently, helped him throughout the event to make the unruly mob listen to instructions every now and then. So, don't panic - help is at hand!:)




That's Mrs. Anu Chikara taking charge

Like I mentioned earlier, there were only a handful of alums working for the meet. This did lead to a few problems - like obvious shortage of manpower in handling the stalls, organizing the musical chairs event, food distribution & procurement, et al. But, for this being the first effort, and that too one attracting overwhelming participation, 'sab khoon maaf':)



People trickled into the auditorium as late as 6 p.m. Well! Well! That's Indian Standard Time for some people:) But as long as they came, 6 p.m. was fine as well!







People trickling in - This is the Shanti Auditorium

Some people didn't get a place to sit!

The class notes were read out as well. Anu Ma'am, Monika & Vaibhav were the ones to initiate this. I sure am glad that this was done since people came to know who was where, doing what!

As it is, many people were surprised to learn that majority of the alumni (class notes also included those who were not present in the meet) are in IT.


The game session followed the Class Notes update. The core team had planned for Tambola & Musical Chairs. Now how these guys managed sooo many people for musical chairs is anyone's guess! Nonetheless, here are the winners both the games (all names to be filled in gradually)
Tambola First (Full House) prize Winner: ------ Won 2 movie tickets to PVR for the Tuesday 7:40 show to 'Golmal'
Tambola Second, Third prize Winners: ---- Won Parker Pens
Musical Chair Winner: ------
Musical Chair Runner-Up: ------



The Open House was really - an Open house! The 2004 batch alums appeared to be in a real 'mastiwala' mood and fully utilized the cordless mike Shashank had brought along. They sang songs - yes yes - songs! 'Purani Jeans', 'Pal' and 'Summer of '69' simply ruled the roost!
Others went around chatting with their teachers. Some students went to their classrooms and clicked pictures there. I am sure they would have loved that classroom now, what with no tensions of a teacher coming in to ask them what they were upto, and questions about Organic Chemistry!

All in all, the general feeling was the everyone enjoyed every bit of their time there. Some students remarked that the school premises have improved a lot! I guess waiting until the Shanti Auditorium was renovated was, after all, a good idea.














Das Sir (Shashank in the background)
Mr. Parshottam Das, Principal of PDPS, remarked, "It was an evening well spent".

I am sure all present had similar views to share! Here's a look at all the teachers present:

(From Left to Right:)
Mrs. Ruchira Panda, Mrs. Anu Chikara, Mrs. Annie Mini George, Mrs. Shubhra Gupta, Mrs. Anita Aggarwal, Ms. Shanno & Mrs. Parminder kaur

In the end, everyone seemed to have a lot of fun and looked forward to participating in the next alumni meet.

















Three cheers for all alumni who participated and made this event a grand success!
Hip Hip Hurray!
Hip Hip Hurray!
Hip Hip Hurray!

Other Pictures of the meet

----, Mr. Das, ----, Mrs. Anu Chikara, Mrs. Anita Bhardwaj






Picture 1






Vaibhav reading out Class Notes.

You can see Mrs. Anu Chikara in the background.

Picture 2

People trickling in







Picture 3









Another look at the registration desk

Picture 4

Some attendees- All smiles







Picture 5








More alumni

Picture 6

Shanno Ma'am, Mrs. Anita Aggarwal, Mrs. Parminder Kaur






Picture 7










Mrs. Ruchira Panda, Mrs. Anniemini George, Mrs. Sheela Gupta

Picture 8

---- & ---- trying to click the person clicking them






Picture 9









----- with Mrs. Bhardwaj

Picture 10

ALUMNI MEET ON 15th JULY '06 AT SCHOOL

Hello Everyone,

This is the final intimation for the first ever alumni meet to be held at the school tomorrow, i.e. 15th July 2006, Saturday.

During the meet, we would also discuss forming a formal alumni organization. Your active participation is solicited.

To see who all have confirmed attendance so far, please visit List of attendees
To see what the agenda of the meet is, please visit Agenda for the Alumni Meet

Invitation: If you do not have an invitation yet, do not worry. All alumni are welcome. You can bring guests too.
Cover charge: There is a 'cover charge' of Rs. 50/person, and snacks will be served. If you would like to contribute more, please do so since this amount will be used for completing the various formalities for forming the alumni organization.

Please also note the name of team members working on the alumni meet. Feel free to contact them for any suggestions/ help etc.

Dr. Shashank Chauhan: Taking care of paper work (for alumni organization), prizes, music & sound, banners, and supervising some decorations etc.

Aman Sareen (batch 2000 - Non medical): Taking care of all catering (snacks, cold drinks, water etc).
Abhisek (2005): Taking care of all the print work, tickets and receipts, attendance etc
Nikhil (2005): Taking care of decoration
Sagar (2005): Taking care of decorations
Rahul (2005): Taking care of decorations

Cameraman (Digicam): Tarun Chawla

NEED VOLUNTEERS:
a) Camcorder/video camera
b) Man the registration booth

I'm sure Shashank & team can do with more hands - so whoever wants to volunteer, just send him a mail/ give him a buzz.

Have fun everyone - the 'D' day is tomorrow... don't forget to post pictures and write in detail about the meet!

Have a great time everyone!
-Anshu Bhardwaj
Medical '94

Formal Alumni Organization

Good news for all those who want a formal organization for the alumni.

Dr. Shashank Chauhan, whom we appointed as the offical alumni representative, has finalized the details with the school, alongwith six other alumni.

I am pasting his post on orkut & yahoo groups below:
QUOTE:
Hi all,
During the meeting with Das Sir, we discused about forming a formal organisation - dedicated to the PDPS Alumni. A self sustaining, registered organisation.
Here we all can discuss the pros and cons of it.. and let us decide whether to form such an organisation or not?

Why an organisation? - A group of dedicated alumni (office bearers of the organisation) is needed to ensure the smooth and long term success of the dream that we all have. It will take care of its own expenses and it will be acountable for same.

Objectives of the organisation were discussed -
1. interaction,
2. Share experiences with each other.
3. Help current and ex-students in career orientation/ counelling and overall betterment,
4. To give suggestions to the school authorities for the betterment of the school.
5. To help the school in implementing a project as and when required.
6. organising Guest lectures, small summer camps, student and parent counselling etc etc.
7. Organising quarterly/half yearly meetings by the Office bearers to discuss different issues.

(More suggestions are required in this field)
Eligibility:
All the students who have passed out 12th from PDPS can become a member of this organisation.


All are invited to kindly give their views...
UNQUOTE

So, people, please come forward and send in your suggestions.

-Anshu
Medical '94

Agenda for the meeting (Proposed)

AGENDA FOR THE FIRST ALUMNI MEET

VENUE: SCHOOL AUDITORIUM

TIME: 4 P.M. ONWARDS

3.45 p.m. – 4.15 p.m.: Registration

4.15 p.m. – 4.30 p.m.: Welcome note & setting of the agenda by Das Sir

4.30 p.m. – 4.45 p.m.: Setting the agenda for discussions on forming the Alumni Organization (Main Agenda of this meet): Spearheaded by Dr. Shashank Chauhan

4.45 p.m. – 5.30 p.m.: General Body Meeting (of the Alumni Organization)

5.30 p.m. – 6.30 p.m.: Open House

Question & Answers session for

a) Teachers & Alumni

b) Current Students & Alumni

c) Any interesting experiences that alumni want to share with all present members (Reading out of Class Notes can be another idea - one person from each batch can talk about all members from his/her batch – where they are currently, their background, areas of special interest etc.)

6.30 p.m. – 7.00 p.m.: Games (Musical Chairs or Tambola etc)

7.00 p.m.-7.30 p.m.: Tea

7.30 p.m.: Closing Remarks by Ms. Bhatia

(Alumni should refrain from honoring teachers in a special manner, however, they can share class experiences)

Ideas for the meet and Points to accomplish during this meet:

Ideas for the meet:
a) Interaction with alumni- In addition to enabling ex-students to meet with teachers, students from IX-XII should get at least an hour to interact with the alumni.
b) Career counseling through Open House Part I. We can set up information booths (esp. for IT) where current students can ask the ex-students how they reached the jobs/ institutions they are in now
c) A talk / panel of alumni- 2-3 alumni can speak about their experiences as well- this could be as a panel or individual speeches. We can start with class notes for the first meet.

Things needed / participation for the meet:

a) Name tags: Blank stickers on which alumni/ students/ teachers should write their names, year & stream (for students & alumni) and names and subject (for teachers).

b) Alumni Meet Batches: We can get small round batches made with the school logo on top and 'First Alumni Meet' written beneath it.

c) Registration Sheet: All those who are participating should verify that all information mentioned on the registration sheets is correct (These will be the same that I circulate to all alumni every month). For those alumni whose names do not appear on the registration sheets, they should fill in the most updated information about themselves and their friends/ batch-mates etc.

d) Banner outside the school (to be put up at the earliest): Banner stating

‘Welcome to the First Alumni Meet’

Venue: School Auditorium

Time: 4 p.m. onwards

e) X, XI & XII Class Student Facilitators: Students should be involved as facilitators. Interested students can be asked to come on 15th to meet alums.

Follow up after the meet:
a) Interaction after the meet: With the help of the database, current students can individually write to any alumni to seek advice or they can send collective e-mails to pdpsalums@yahoo.com. Alternatively, they can post their queries on the blog http://pdpsalumni.blogspot.com/ and we could respond to them.
b) Subsequent Annual Meets: We should have one annual meet on a large scale

c) Smaller group sessions/ mini meets: Interested alumni can indicate their availability for smaller talk sessions to be held in school throughout the year. We can host a small panel discussion every 2-3 months with 5-6 alumni so that students can keep meeting with alumni. This will help not only in understanding what career options to pursue after school but also in job search at a later stage. There are at least 50-60 alumni in Delhi, and they can be invited on a rotational basis. Plus those of us who travel, like everyone in US, can also come down and give a small talk.

d) Specific agenda for the next meet: can be drawn up in consultation with other students/ teachers/ alumni.

DISCLAIMER: THE ABOVE SUGGESTIONS HAVE TO BE RATIFIED BY THE SCHOOL AUTHORITES. THESE HAVE ALREADY BEEN SENT TO THEM VIA E-MAIL. DR. SHASHANK CHAUHAN WILL REPRESENT ALUMNI (ON OUR BEHALF).
-Anshu
Medical '94

Format for introductions

Hello Everyone,

For ease of updating the database that I maintain, please follow the below format while mailing me any information:

FORMAT:
Name: {First name/ Surname}
Graduating Batch & Stream: {e.g.: 2000, Non-Medical (E.D.)}
Further Education (List course/ college): {B.Sc (H) Maths St. Stephen's, MBA IIM}
Current Employment/University (if any): {Infosys/ IIM Ahmedabad}
Current Industry: {IT/ specify also if still studying}
Current place of residence (city/country): {Colombo, Sri Lanka}
Webpage/site (if any):
Phone No./ E-mail id:

If you think you have sent me incomplete information earlier, please update it and resend. The mail ids are:
pdpsalums@yahoo.com, pdpsalums@gmail.com

Cheers!
Anshu
Medical '94

Select News about the school

Hello All,

I decided to establish this post to write about the various competitions that PDPS students have won/ participated in over the past couple of years. While this list is by no means exhaustive, I will keep adding articles as and when I find any. All readers are invited to contribute!

1. PACE FORUM 2004
Shreya Kaul won the Best Interjector prize in the North Zone debate competition of the annual national inter-school debate in which a total of 50 teams enthusiastically debated 'Girls Lives: Are boys and men partners or obstacles?'. The debates were held in partnership with the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, which is the world's largest international source of funding for population and reproductive health programmes. The focus of the PACE Forum 2004 was on the girl child in keeping with the PACE objective of sensitizing students to global issues such as gender bias.





You can read more on this in the Hindustan Times' article


2. September 2005- Zonal Folk Dance Inter-school Competition
The school hosted the zonal folk dance inter-school competition in which 15 schools participated.

3. SOS Children's Villages of India
The school is an active participant in the Young Ambassador Programme run by the SOS Children's Villages of India.

4. Inter District Cultural Competition 2005-2006

• Mrigank Singh won the 'On the spot' painting competition in the 'Junior Boys' category.
• Kanika Rajpal won the II prize in the Poetry Recitation (English) competition in the 'Senior Girls' category
• Kashish Chawla won the I prize in the Poetry Recitation (English) competition in the 'Junior Boys' category

(This information is available on the Department of Education site)

5. Winners Track 2004
The memory skills of Shobhit Sharma won him the first prize in a talent award ceremony organized by Winners Track, a motivational and personal mastery organisation



For more information, please read The Hindu article.

Alumni Meet

Hello Everyone

The alumni meet has been fixed for 15th July, 4 p.m. onwards. It will be held in the school auditorium.

Please post/ mail any suggestions/ ideas that you might have to make this maiden event truly memorable!

So far i have around 80 confirmations - to check if your batchmates/ classmates are coming, pls. check the link Updates to the first alumni meet

Have fun!
Cheers!
Anshu
Medical '94

Contests

Started with a short series of boggle contests on both groups...lets see how many participate - though I have my hopes really low on this one...

6/23/06
And yes, I was right about the contests being akin to a 'No Show' movie. Not a single soul participating!

Anyways....
Cheers still!!!!
Anshu
Medical '94

Alumni Website

We started the alumni website suggestions posts today. Naren is going to lead on the technical front. And it is heartening that the yahoo group has already seen many a lively discussion on this idea. Hope we can make a fantabulous site!

6/24/06:
We've formed the core team for the website. We hope to get it up and running in the next couple of weeks.!

3 cheers to the PDPS Spirit!
Anshu

Apropos School Website

As we all suspected, there was a school web-site (rather a web-page) that was set up some time back.... it is now defunct! And unfortunately, the domain name www.pdps.com and www.pdps.net are no longer available.

Now that the school authorities know about this, they are working on making another website for the school. And I feel really honored that we, the alumni, have been asked for our suggestions, and can actually contribute at this stage to the school! This I think is a great idea since we can now step in with our suggestions in full force. For a while now the alumni group has been pretty active - the success of which I must attribute to the youngsters who have recently matriculated from school- so the time is ripe to throw our hats in the ring too!

To begin with, I guess the site should cover the basics like every site does:
a) History of the school
b) Academics & School structure (which is PDPS's strength)- this can include syllabus for classes, an academic calendar, information about houses, honor board etc.
c) Prospectus & Admissions Information
d) Current happenings in the school- from the current student point of view - can include school tours, class picnics, any other events taking place in school, new ideas given by students for any activity etc
e) Details about Staff Members & Teachers
f) Extra Curricular Activities - A special section needs to be devoted to this since our school children win a lot of competition in a variety of fields
g) School's involvement in social activities - if there are not many activities that we are actively involved in, then we should start getting children involved.
h) Online Bandwagon (e-version of our school magazine - now defunct, but efforts to revitalize which are on!)
i) Student's Academic Progress (parents can log in to check their ward's progress report)
j) Alumni News (yes yes..we should be there as well!!). This can be added as a 'Class Notes' section where information about alumni can be updated by one chosen Class correspondent for each class (e.g. I can volunteer for the batch of 1994)
k) Details on individual Conferences, alumni meet, fete etc etc etc
l) Last, but not the least, Discussion forum for current students on any topic they wish to ask teachers, alumni or other fellow students with a special section devoted to career counseling!

To my mind, the last section serves the most important role else the site is nothing but a motley of a whole lot of only sometimes useful stuff!

Hope we can have a lot to contribute here!

Cheers!
Anshu
Medical '94