Mid. Sem. Mark

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We reached the Mid Semester mark. Examination starts next week. We conducted a quick review of our 'Hits' and 'Misses' - on where we did excellent and where we would have done differently if we could have a time-travel to the past :-) We look forward and remind ourselves what Vivekananda said,"You are good, but be better."

It rained heavily for last few days but not this morning. The ground was wet. Accordingly, there were restrictions on exercises conducted. Mr. Soumen Mandal, P.T.I., Gymkhana, IIT Kharagpur led the training. One notable point of today's session was collective yell. The trainer said, "We are ..". We together said, "Strong" or "Physically fit." It was fun. It perhaps was also a technique of our trainer to work on our mind and lead us to good health, by increasing our resolve.

We shall meet again on 05-10-2013 after mid-sem. exam.s and one National holiday. We wish our student members the very best for the exam. All of us will miss these morning work-out sessions for next two weeks. Two videos of today's session convey two different themes (Video 1, Video 2). Few pic.s of the session are also shared.

For whom?

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We had deadline for one special activity today. While one may consider that the regular health exercise is designed for our own benefit, the special activities are to reach out to the larger section of the society. The day before yesterday we received mail from some of the student members. They requested to extend the deadline after mid-sem. exam. to come up with a full-hearted performance. They are now somewhat occupied  with class tests and preparation for mid-sem. exam.

We immediately conveyed to all about the deadline extension. This is not to say that service to community can wait. We told ourselves the following.

We want all of us to do well academically. This is not being selfish if we think that a better result will lead us to a greater position which in turn will give us greater power to serve the community. The capacity building - a healthy body and mind, a brilliant academic result are for whom? It is to be of use to all and not just for own self. Therefore, let us give our best for the exam. with right motivation behind us. Let us then give our best to special activities which can also test ourselves, as we approach them, if we are doing fine on the motivation part.

We expressed our deep appreciation of the effort of our fellow students in NSS, another EAA program of similar student strength, as found in their blog posts ( Link).

Today, Mr. Sudhir Kumar, P.T.I., Gymkhana, IIT Kharagpur conducted the training (Video Link 1, Video Link 2).

Clap, Clap

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The 14th September session had something new. We are having Physical Training Instructors (P.T.I.) from Gymkhana, IIT Kharagpur training us in rotation. The special about the exercise conducted by Mr. Gyan Swarup was what the title of this post says. Many of the exercises conducted had clapping in unison. The synchronism, the sound of clap done together, made us all feel as one unit. The nine hundred of us in the field merged our individual identity in the team. It was a great experience. Video excerpts (Video 1, Video 2) and pictures of this session follow.

 

Chicago Address

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Some of the student and faculty members of the team participated in the week-long institute program of 150th birth anniversary of Vivekananda. This ended on 11th September, the day Vivekananda delivered his famous 'Chicago Address' in 1893 in the world conference of religions. There were play, movie, lecture, musical evening during Sept. 07-11.

The 9th September program had a special flavour. Director, IIT Kharagpur from administration side and Vice President of Students Gymkhana garlanded the Vivekananda idol. Then all of us walked together along a 2 KM stretch, from Gymkhana to Kalidas auditorium where there were presentation from students and keynote speech from Mr. Tarun Goswami, City Editor, The Statesman. We heard from Mr. Goswami excerpts of Vivekananda's Chicago address.

 "If the Parliament of Religions has shown anything to the world, it is this: It has proved to the world that holiness, purity and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character. In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreams of the exclusive survival of his own religion and the destruction of the others, I pity him from the bottom of my heart, and point out to him that upon the banner of every religion will soon be written in spite of resistance: "Help and not fight,""Assimilation and not Destruction," "Harmony and Peace and not Dissension.""

In today's (11th Sept., 2013) work out session, we had Mr. Soumen Mandal, senior most Physical Training Instructor of students' Gymkhana. It was a great learning experience for us. We captured excerpts of this session in two videos available here (Link1, Link2) and also in embedded player given below.

Few pictures from the work-out: