Saturdays are holidays and yet over 2,000 people showed up for Mahadevi Birla Shishu Vihar’s annual winter carnival, Candy Cane Lane, with lots of food stalls and goodies counters open for all to enjoy along with fun activities and games. Parents and friends turned up in massive numbers to make an enjoyable day even more fun as alumni of different batches turned up their nostalgia entering their beloved school portals
Photographs by Soumyajit Dey
The winter carnival is held every year barring the two years the school missed out on the event owing to pandemic. “The idea is to sensitise the next generation and make them more compassionate towards those who may not be as privileged while also encouraging the children to have fun. The students contribute actively to the success of the carnival with a great deal of enthusiasm because they know that all profits will be given to NGOs that work with those less fortunate,” said Joyoti Sengupta who has been teaching history at the school for almost 28 years
Phuchka, dosa, pav bhaji, momo stalls were set up for attendees to grab a bite while the children themselves selling various food items that they had prepared, Chocolatey delights in the form of various baked goodies as well as hot chocolate were made by the students, they even made sandwiches and corn among other tidbits that they had made at home to be sold at reasonable prices that would then be directed to charities
A host of fun activities were laid out where every stall had a unique game set-up, like one stall had a paper boat game, the basketball hoop was made available for anyone who wanted to net the ball, balloon shooting was another fun activity that several engaged in, while the bouncy castle was a firm favourite among the young ones. Some of the students even dressed up in costumes to get guests to take selfies with them and the music was chosen by patrons who came up with a coupon and chose a song, some students even set up a stall where they made beautiful temporary tattoos for those present
Four girls from Class 8 had set up a stall selling anklets for just Rs 50, the concept was anklets according to your Zodiac sign. They were hoping that they would get the profits but once they found out that whatever money came from their stall would go to an NGO, they happily accepted, making 200 anklets in various designs. The girls worked hard for two weeks on the anklets and they were even prepared to make more if they ran out by the end of the carnival. “It’s amazing what our school is planning on doing with the funds, we wanted the profit for our hard work over the last two weeks but more than the money, it feels good that we might be able to help someone else out,” said Aarshi, one of the girls at the stall
Several other items were present like handmade soap, fashionable stationery, accessories and even several handicrafts like bags, wooden serving trays and spatulas amongst several other things. Parents enjoyed their time at the school and expressed their joy at what the school was doing organising such a fun and engaging carnival. The school’s initiative to send all proceeds towards charity received a thumbs up from parents as well
‘It’s great to be back in school, it feels very nostalgic, we missed the fest during our last years because during the pandemic. But the winter carnival was something we always looked forward to because the whole school buzzes that day and it’s so much fun,’ said an alumnus from the 2021 batch. ‘This year, we have had a massive turnout of over 2,000 people, guests, parents, alumni included, the funds raised are really going to help those NGOs that we work with and we can proudly say that the fete has surpassed all expectations,’ said principal Sonali Sarkar (in black and white saree)
