‘Chunauti 2023’: Renowned Indian sarod player graces Delhi school’s cultural spectacle 

Apeejay School, Saket, organised ‘Chaunauti 2023’, a two-day interschool cultural extravaganza to encourage young students to display their creative talents in music, dance, and literary events. Students from nearly 25 different schools from across Delhi-NCR assembled at the Apeejay school premises, decked in colourful costumes, to participate in the event.

Renowned Hindustani classical musician and sarod player Pandit Biswajit Roy Chowdhury graced the occasion as the chief guest. He was accompanied by a distinguished panel of well-known experts from different fields to judge the competition.

Pandit Chowdhury said, “It is an honour to be attending this wonderful event. I am very happy to have been given this opportunity to be with you all. Best wishes to all the competitors. While everyone will not win prizes, remember, you all are winners because you have got a wonderful school and teachers to guide you.”

Sujeet Eric Masih, principal, Apeejay School, Saket, formally welcomed the chief guest with a momento and thanked him for his presence. In his inaugural address, he thanked Apeejay’s Founder-Chairman Dr Stya Paul, highlighting his “vision of excellence” and his only daughter and incumbent Chairperson Mrs Sushma Paul Berlia for making Apeejay Education “a name to reckon with globally”. He also expressed his gratitude to members of the management board including Mr Nishant Berlia, Co-promoter, Apeejay Stya & Svran Group and Co-founder and Pro-chancellor of Apeejay Stya University, Mr Aditya Berlia, Co-promoter, Apeejay Stya & Svran Group and Co-founder and Pro-chancellor of Apeejay Stya University, and Dr Neha Berlia, Co-promoter, Apeejay Stya & Svran Group, Pro-chancellor, Apeejay Stya University and Joint Secretary, Apeejay Education.

Talking about the event, the principal added, “This is an amalgamation of talent of different children from different schools in line with the idea of ‘vasudhaiva kutumbakam (the world is one family)’.”

To mark an auspicious beginning, ‘Chunauti 2023’ began with a ceremonial lighting of the lamp alongside a melodious ‘vandana’ sung by the school students.

‘Students showcased impressive quality of work’

‘Chunauti 2023’ comprised 15 cultural competitions spread across two days, of which 12 were held offline and three online. These included La Rime (French), Hindi poetry competition, dance, ‘Emotions and Expressions’, ‘Shizen Landscape’, Amrit Yog Utsav, ‘Rusty’s Characters Come Alive’, music and vocal event, Sanskrit speech competition, food carving competition, ‘Style My Bag’, and ‘Economico Varanastra (Union Budget preparation)’.

Apeejay Saket student Ayushman Gupta from class X, who participated in the ‘Emotions and Expressions’ explained the unique concept for the competition. “We had to dress up and enact historical personalities. I copied John F Kennedy’s speech and body language for this. I binge-watched his speech to learn his mannerisms and accent. I had a great time performing like him.”

Mehreet Kaur from Apeejay School, Panchsheel Park, who impressed the judges with her French poetry recitation for ‘La Rime’ and won the first position, shared her experience and said, “It was great fun to dress up and recite the poem with props. I am thankful to Apeejay Saket for organising this event.”

Class VII students from Apeejay School, Noida, Rajlakshmi Pradhan and Ira Tripathi, who created an exquisite handbag from scrap material for ‘Style My Bag’ competition, shared, “We used old calendars, newspapers and handmade stickers and other recyclable items. We also used some 3D materials. It was lovely to see so much creativity around us and we had a great experience!”

Meanwhile, students from classes VII and VIII from Apeejay Saket — Nidhi Rao, Advika Ranjan, Kanishka Gupta and Akansha Yadav — enthralled the judges with a Marathi dance as part of the folk-dance competition ‘Thirkan’. “Our dance teacher Anu ma’am choreographed it. We practised for nearly a month. We were nervous when we went on stage but our performance went really well.” The group won the second position in the competition.

The judges equally appreciated and enjoyed all the performances. Dr Geetika Johri, faculty, School of Vocational Education and Training, Indira Gandhi National Open University, said, “I judged RapSo’quy (soliloquy in rap). I thank the Department of English for inviting me. I was amazed to see the talent in students. The quality of work that participants showcased, and their approach impressed me a lot. I thank the school and the principal for organising such a creative event.”

Added Dr Garima Tiwari, associate professor, School of Law, Bennett University, “I love students’ presentations in ‘Emotions and Expressions’. They put in a lot of effort in not only choosing the right costume but also delivering the right dialogues and bringing out the emotions.”

Sonali Biswas, a PhD student at Jawaharlal Nehru University and co-judge, remarked, “This was an interesting way to get students to learn history. Apeejay did a great job in motivating students to come out of their comfort zone and take up the challenge to perform in front of so many peers and judges, which will help them in the future.”

The event turned out to be a grand success and students were awarded exciting prizes. Among the schools, Shri Venkateshwar International School was awarded the ‘Ustad Mushtaq Ali Khan’ rolling trophy instituted by Pandit Debu Chaudhuri for winning the maximum prizes in the music and dance competitions.

The overall winner trophy was bagged by Springdales School, Dhaula Kuan, Delhi.

‘Chunauti’ was initiated by Apeejay School, Saket, in 1997 with a belief that education is more than what transpires within the four walls of a classroom. Held annually, it aims to provide a platform to students to explore creativity and engage with peers and teachers.