Mody School team, comprising four scholars participated in ACROPOLIS, a multi-faceted bouquet of online events organized by Mount Zee Litera School, Amritsar. We were among 25 premier schools to take part in the Turncoat format of Debate, Extempore, Discursive Writing and Poetry Writing on the 16 and 17 of October 2021. Ms. Sujata Bhatt was the teacher-chaperone.

ACROPOLIS commenced with the teams being given a virtual tour of Amritsar with special focus on martyr, Sardar Udham Singh and his prolonged stay in the city. The opening ceremony also saw a fervent address to the youth by Chief Guest, Dr. Jagpreet Singh, Head Master, Doon School, Dehradun. This was preceded by an introduction by noted journalist and academician, Mr. Pronob Mukherjee, to the variety of competitions that would be part of the Litfest.

Our team was as follows:

Extempore: Anshika Kumari (XII Science)

Turncoat: Nandini Shekhawat (XII Science)

Discursive Writing (Prose): Naishadha Srivastava (XII Humanities)

Discursive Writing (Poetry): Taiba Bhullar (XII Humanities)

Anshika spoke eloquently on the given statement ‘Imagine No Forests’while Nandini expressed her views on the topic ‘Machismo and Deeply Entrenched Patriarchy will be Impossible to Root Out.’ A novel introduction to the discursive writing contest included an hour-long film with four segments which the participants were shown. They then had to express their reactions through a piece of writing with relevant inputs and nuances. It was a challenging task, given the intricacy of the film but Naishadha rose to it wonderfully. She won the Second Prize for an exceptionally mature and amazingly insightful essay that captured the essence of the movie.

All participants performed with elan and came away with an experience that will definitely add to their academic portfolio.