Karnataka - Bangalore

An old boy drops in at Florence School School notes

BANGALORE: It was a day to remember for the cabinet members of Florence Public School, R.T. Nagar, when they interacted with famous Florencian, cricketer Sreesanth, recently.

The cricketer paid a surprise visit to his alma mater while recuperating from an injury. The excited cabinet members gathered together to have a tête-À-tête with him. The Indian bowling sensation did not disappoint them and he relived memories of his school days and “batted” with aplomb when the members bowled some “bouncers” at him.

When asked how he would describe his journey through life and his path to being an international cricketer, the answer from Sreesanth was straight from the heart. He said, “The magic words have always been try, try, try until you succeed.” I had a tough time in the beginning. I used to cycle to take part in the State cricket team selections but always returned home disappointed. It used to be embarrassing to answer my classmates questions regarding the selections. I did not qualify for the U-13, U-15 and U-17 State cricket team. But I never lost hope. Failure is a stepping stone to success. I practiced continuously and faced all the challenges that life threw at me. It has been a bumpy ride.”

A student was eager to know how he managed to balance academics and cricket when he was in Class X. “Well, time management was one of the most essential things taught at this school. Academics is an important part of one’s life and hence deserves first priority. Sports in India is unstable (sic) and academic support is definitely needed. In the end, I managed to do pretty well in academics too,” the cricketer said.

Sreesanth said he went blank, when Misbah-ul-Haq’s shot in the Twenty20 World Cup finals travelled to him. “When the ball landed in my hands, I felt a sudden surge of joy and I knew we had made India proud,” he said. Sreesanth told the youngsters to always dream big and not to try to impress anyone. “If there is no door, build one,” he said and signed off.

National Public School, Koramangala, hosted a puppetry workshop for pre-primary and primary teachers of the NPS group of schools. The workshop was conducted by renowned puppeteer Ranganath Rao and his wife Gayatri Rao.

Puppetry has proved to be beneficial in terms of stimulating thinking, developing listening skills, enhancing imagination and boosting the confidence of a child. The workshop was aimed at integrating these elements into the school curriculum.

During the course of the workshop, teachers created and designed various puppets such as glove, string and rod puppets which will be used as teaching aids in classrooms in order to enrich learning.

THE HINDU NIE TEAM

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