English medium school's cultural programme:
A touch of patriotism

14th February was made an extremely memorable day for 9 well-known English Medium Schools, who participated in the Daily Star organized event styled 'English Medium School's Cultural Programme'. Held at Jatiya Natyashala of the famed Shilpakala Academy, it promised to be an exciting occasion.

The show's main concern was not only to promote awareness about our culture but also showcase the talent that English Medium Schools have, when it comes to culturally motivated performances. In fact throughout the event, this idea was brought to the fore, proving that English Medium School's are as culturally-enriched as their counterparts, despite popular contradictory opinion.

The function kicked off when the children gathered to sing the national anthem. As the lines flowed through their lips and filled the whole place, spectators could suddenly feel a growing sense of patriotism, a feeling that would be nurtured and spurred throughout the evening. Afterwards Mr. Mahfuz Anam, the editor of Daily Star, took the stage and then delivered his welcome speech, during which he reminded everyone about the caliber of the English Medium School students, reminding us how they achieve highest marks in the world in many subjects and how they could be ambassadors of our culture for the world. He also lamented the fact that English Medium School students have not lost their heritage, their culture or their sense of belonging. Finally he concluded by adding that he hoped this event would provide the perfect platform for such schools to enhance and boost their public performances and there would be more such shows in the future.

Students of Maple Leaf then took the stage and performed ' O Alor Pother Jatri'. It was a beautiful performance and the students seemed confident and well rehearsed, not missing a step. This set the stage for the things to come and the crowd sat enthralled, applauding at every chance, not missing a step.

Then 'Durgo Mukhir Gaan' was performed, which was yet another great performance. B.I.T carried out this well and lapped up the applause that followed it. B.I.S came next and the students danced to the tunes of 'Drishti Shobuj Mathe'. This was another memorable performance, with the girls dressed in yellow, wearing flowers on their head and carrying various instruments and things from the start of the dance. Their practice and hard work paid obvious dividends, as they carried on the performance beautifully.

The pupils of Seabreeze then gathered in force and took centre-stage. As the cheers for the last performance died down slowly, the music started and the children began to sing 'Ai Bangla Robi Thakurer'. Some folks in the audience joined along with them and the pride that we all have in our culture was glaringly evident. As that ended, Oxford International School then had the spotlight on them, as they showcased their talent by performing a folk dance, styled to the some traditional bangle folk songs. This was a very good performance, one that displayed patriotism on every possible level, especially during the conclusion when our flag was held up. The host for the evening was quick to emphasize how the performance had shown true Bangladeshi Semitism.

Green Gems then performed the very powerful song 'Ekta Konte Hajar Konte Konte'. The children displayed strong vocals and the performance could easily have been described as being very vivid and extremely powerful. The reason for the show, instilling patriotism, and showing the cultural side of English Medium Schools came alive, particularly during this performance.

Sunnydale then performed Micheal Jackson's 'Heal the World', a song that promoted harmony, co-existent and the need for co-operation in order to survive in this world. It was executed quite well and also was a very moving performance. Playpen then gave another very beautiful performance as they performed yet another folk dance. They were confident, calm and had worked hard on their moves and thus they gained a loud applause.

St.Jude's then sang 'Banglar Gaan' which was yet another memorable performance. This was followed by a few more performances, by which time everyone was already enveloped in the love that they felt for their country and culture, a love which felt suppressed for a long time and was now being expressed freely.

One of the men behind this event's success, Mr. Saleem informed us how they were planning to increase the number of school participating in the event, in the near future. He also said that this provided a sort of a competition among the schools as the best ones would be selected to perform in the Nation Builder's of Tommorow, Award Function.

Salwa Islam, a class-V student of Seabreeze expressed her feelings about the show summing it up in a few words. 'It feels great. I'm very happy'. Beckoning some of the Playpen's performer's from the make-up room, they came and had quite a few words to say. They expressed their excitement and added 'We got to prove ourselves to our classmates who didn't think we could carry this out and also got a chance to show our patriotism', exclaimed Raisa, Mehbooba, Tahmina and Sigma (class-VII) in complete unison.

At the end of the day, everyone present knew that they were witnesses to something very special, something that would lead to greater things in the future. They children had a lot to prove, more to themselves than to anyone else. Everyone who took part and everyone present would head back home, more proud of their culture than ever before. English Medium School's proved, with style, that they were as much in touch with their culture as just about anyone else. It was a proud moment.

By Osama Rahman
Photo: Star

Sgt Zahurul was a pivotal figure in the Agartola conspiracy case, which was involved in acquiring weapons from the Pakistani Occupying force. The Sgt is considered one of the first Martyred liberation fighters.

This drawing competition was held divided into two sections. The first section dealt with kids from the fourth grade and below while the second section dealt with kids ranging from the fifth to the eighth grade.

Over 200 children participated in the two-hour long drawing event. The younger kids in the first section were not given any specific topic to focus while the older ones were given the topic “Amar Desh” (my country).

Four participant from each section were chosen as winners and five from each section where chosen to receive special prizes from the family of the Sergeant.

The winners from the kids section are: Ishrat Jahan, Shihab Ahmed, Anika Tahsan, ASM Sufian. The special prize receivers were: Junaidul Islam, Ankur Saha, Nitu Saha, Romiz Fariha, Humaira Kabir Badhon.

The winners from the older kids section are as follows: Taufiqul Alam, Mehnaz Ahmed Momo, Shahab Ahmed, Mubaser Ahmad. The special prizer receivers were: Muhammad Nasim Ahmed, Shahrier Islam, Rumanuz Zaman, Sadia Sultana Prity and Joya Rani Das.

All the participants in the event were given gifts and special certificates in the event.

When galaxies collide

The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are the two largest in our cosmic neighbourhood, with the former 100,000 light years across, which is still only half the width of the latter.

According to the most detailed measurements yet, scientists have discovered that our solar system, the Milky Way, is moving at 600,000mph, 100,000mph faster than originally thought. The speedier rotation also means its mass must be similar to that of Andromeda, around 270 billion times the mass of the sun.

It means that the gravitational pull the Milky Way exerts on its neighbouring galaxies is stronger, meaning a collision would happen sooner than expected.

Our solar system is around 28,000 light years from the centre of the Milky Way; Andromeda is around two million light years away.

The research, presented at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, California, argues that the collision will happen around the same time our sun is due to burn up the last of its nuclear fuel, within the next seven billion years.

It is thought rather than planets and stars colliding, the two galaxies will merge to form a new, large galaxy.

Experts say the galaxies will stick together and eventually all the stars will die out, and it will become one huge, dead galaxy. Of course, those who are reading this need not worry. It won't happen in this lifetime. Possibly.

Friends…

She sat alone by the window,
Feeling the cool breeze on her face.
On this very day, she had met her soul's true friend.
They had done so many things together,
Washing-up the dishes, cheating while math exams,
Learning to bake a chocolate cake and threatening the school bully.

But now it was only one of them.
Friends never stay forever; they always split apart in different ways.
They may even become stars in the sky,
Leaving their friends on earth…

By Afia Jahin

A beautiful gift

On the empty envelope,
The rose lay regally,
Its red bestowed a stark disparity
Upon the white of its bed sheet.

Hesitantly, I caressed the petals,
Soft and velvety and delicate
They felt under my thumb.

A mild fragrance oozed out
Of the soul of the rose,
Radiating the message of love
From its anonymous sender.

By Upoma Dutta

Tech trvia

Google is so popular worldwide, earning £3bn in income during 2008, that it has been claimed 750 megawatt-hours of electricity could be saved every year if the home page was changed from white to black.