Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Another feather in Adi’s cap

Adi is in 2nd grade now and this academic year is coming to an end. He will be 8 in May and I would like to summarize the year that passed by for Adi, for it was special in many ways linked to his academic achievements. On a meek note, let me begin by saying that his truly won a couple of competitions held in school but the cream of the cake has been the Science Olympiad foundation SOF tournament which is a qualitative and quantitative assessment of kids at the national level (for more details refer SOF) in order to build up the scientific and IT talent pool. Hmmmm it’s too early to use such complicated terms for him but as of now I am proud of the way he cracked it.
Well! There is short story behind this. Sometime in October, one day he returned home from school and very casually asked me for some money. Money! I heard and I bombarded him with a thousand questions. He took out his diary and showed me the note which was about the SOF. I had no idea what it was then and the note said, please register for cyber, science or maths Olympiad exams by paying some XX amount for each. Adi pestered me to pay up for all three, but I flatly refused and told him to enroll only for science and maths. Well the little man was counting chickens before being hatched and he was already dreaming of the three laptops which is the award for the topper of SOF and that meant ranking within the first 500 (national level lemme stress) in the first level test after which you get selected for the second level and if you rank first at all India level then you get a laptop and cash award from some eminent personality of India  and my boy wanted that (High ambition for the little body and mamma dear cannot bear to see her little boy carry such heavy load) . And so the next day I sent him some money and asked him to promptly get back the remainder. But the little man turned out smarter than the dumb mother. He paid up for all three and bought a chocolate for his girlfriend and himself with the rest of the money and came back home without a sign of remorse. The mad me whacked him exactly thrice for not obeying and vowed to send the exact amount in future!!
Coming to the point 
The First level SOF took place in the months of September, October and November.
Adi ranked 241 at all India First level for the Cyber Olympiad and 438 for science Olympiad respectively and got selected for the second level in both.
His second level Cyber result is out and ladies and gentleman, mamma is proud to present her 57 ranked boy even though his truly self is depressed that he did not stand first and will not get a laptop. But Mamma and dada are very proud of his achievement as he has no idea what it means to stand 57th at All India level and he is entitled for a cash award for being within the first 500.
The second level science Olympiad result will be out in a couple of days I will keep you all updated about the same.
Hope I wasn’t bragging but I don’t care even if I was in this matter  as this blog is for my kids.
Buuri nazarwaale aapka mugh kaalle!!! Will translate the meaning of this sentence in my next blog ;)

Edited to Add : Update on Science Olympiad second level results and guess what people
He ranked 2nd at All India level :))) and his dream came true. A laptop as the prize for the genius ;) and mama is soooooo haaappppy :X:X


Below are the cumulative records of the same mostly for my reference later ;)
Cyber First level result

Science First Level

Cyber second level

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Sports Event at our Apartment

Busy was the word for February. Generally, the sports day until last year was held on the Republic day in our apartment but by some means we pushed it further and had our yearly sports event towards the end of Feb. Few of us took initiative to plan the event and instead of a single day event, we decided to make it a sports month. Badminton and table tennis matches were planned; mails and notices were sent out for enrolments. Many came forward to participate. Lots were drawn and dates were fixed for the matches. All of a sudden there was excitement in the air. The normally sluggish atmosphere in the apartment was bursting with activity. I was delighted to watch people carrying badminton rackets day in and out practicing for their matches. Some played for the fun of it while others were actually good at the game. Life is absolutely beautiful when people get together to enjoy even if it means for many a couch potato to dump their lazy mode to get some butts moving. Also a Walkathon along with kids sports event was planned for the D day. Breakfast was outsourced from Adyar Ananda Bhavan. We did face some hitches in putting together breakfast for almost 140 people, but thanks to the active involvement of the president of our committee, things fell into place. Walkathon was scheduled to start at 7 A M in the morning and the first batch was for senior citizens. All were up and there much before time and their faces gleamed like little excited kids. Me and couple of others were volunteers where each of us were assigned different jobs. Some had to note down the lap timings and others had to watch if anyone were breaking rules. Few of us were at water points serving water, aerosol, glucose and bananas. In one word fun!! All done, people were hungry for breakfast and Adyar’s mini tiffin which consists of one crispy masala dosa, one idli, one vada, pongal, kesaribhath, 3 chutneys and sambar at Rs.45/- was more than welcome for every one. After breakfast it was time for kids events and this is one area where you never need to push for. Kids are always excited when it comes to sports. We had planned one event for each age group, but they all wanted more. It was amusing to watch the little kids perform and the treat for our eyes was the men’s frog race which was planned on spot for the fun of it. It was hilarious to see them do it all wrong!!!
Ok ,Will leave you all with some snaps.

Start Point for Walkathon




Water Point





The Winner of ladies walkathon