School NSM 2009 : First hand account

As I write this I am sure many editors are busy sharpening their blogposts with mindblowing vocab and pin point precise grammar . ….Here goes my first hand account of this school NSM….

Right from the day we had started looking for the venue Rohit always had this suspicious look on me that being a Rathore from Jodhpur I will escort him to the desert of Rajasthan so had happened whenever he tried to push for Srinagar,Leh,Laddakh or Jammu as a destination , I had something or other from Raj which scored above, Finally we kind of settled down to choose Udaipur because it has got everything from lakes ,royal Palaces, greenery and hills and I am sure this consensus satisfied both of us .

Although a shorter journey compared with Goa we were ready with our stuff of playing cards , CDs and IPODs and as usual Nikhil did wonderful arrangement for on the House facilities. We took over three bogies of train and were singing and dancing throughout as if we were birds just set free from cages.

We landed in Udaipur well in time and were greeted at Trident with traditional Aarti , Tika welcome . Everybody was overwhelmed by the scenic beauty and royal ambience in and around Trident.

Well people told me that Conference schedule was bit hectic as this year we had this combined presentations by sales and editorial for frontlist titles…..thanks to award winning idea of Diyasree as compared to the previous year the presentations were more interactive this time round.

On the final day of presentations I had this herculean task to hold back 140 people for corporate quiz , you have to believe me if you see the pictures time and again I had to pose as crucified Jesus to hold back audience and participants , who were shouting I know!!...I know!! at the top of their voices.....

All the product presentations went on really well ,,,tough time for the judges to choose best presentation.

Then their was Business Ideas session where in a short span of time teams were really able to sell their !deas to the judges ,,,,I hope Sanjeev is putting some money on the prize winning idea.

Days were engaging ……evenings were equally entertaining …..with party games ,,,this was first time I had won an award for guzzling beer ….otherwise its generally fat restaurant bills or some tough words from my wife.

The cultural evening during the Galla dinner was really touching as the folk dances really struck the chords with people and they just cant help but get on the dance floor and perform with the folk artist .

Finally the DJ party and I could see almost everybody on the dance floor but the people who stole the hearts of crowd were Abhishek and Shilpi ,,,,they almost recreated the famous song of ‘Hum’ the Jumma C**** number on the dance floor .Perfect ending to three eventful days.

Finally… as I had promised, Rohit , I hope I have delivered …..

few strange things which I would like to mention ….Thank heavens that their were no ghost sightings this time but here was one “other Rohit” which used to get activated only in the evenings after 8 pm and will just refuse to go back to sleep till he is forced to do so …and “the other Rohit” was doing things which “Rohit” we know from 10.00 am to 06.00 pm can never do…and then there was this “other Naveen” who can bring life to any party once he gets hold of mike, he can organize games, beat the full time DJ with the mixing of songs, get everybody including the most non interested parties to the dance floor ,,,,Please let me know if any of you had these sightings of “the others” other than what I have noticed.

Well that’s all from me for this NSM……

Prashant Rathore

Coming soon……… many more blog posts by ……….Saumitri….Gitesh…Diya …. …..Jaydeep

A History of Ancient and Early Medeival India date with Osmania University

I am overwhelmed”, exulted a teacher after witnessing the presentation by Professor Upinder Singh. The teacher had come with many of her students to attend the launch ceremony of the student edition of Professor Singh’s A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India on 7 August at Osmania University, Hyderabad. And she took no time to invite the author to her college to conduct a workshop for teachers on ancient Indian history.

The launch function was well attended by many from the academia, including Prof. T. Tirupati Rao, Vice-Chancellor, Osmania University, Prof. K. C. Reddy, Chairman, A.P. State Council of Higher Education, scholars and teachers not only of history but also of other humanities subjects, and students. The auditorium, which seats 250 people, was full to its capacity.

In his opening statement, Prof. K. C. Reddy, who was the chief guest at the function, said that history had mostly been written on the basis of the conviction and opinion of historians; this was, however, a book that extensively used archaeological evidence to make its point. He concluded by stating that the book is a remarkable contribution towards the development of the study of ancient Indian history.
The guest of honour, Vice-Chancellor Prof. T Tirupati Rao, thanked Pearson Education for choosing Osmania University as the venue for the event. He added that since the university is also the proud host of the 70th Annual History Congress (30 December 2009–1st January 2010), association with a book of this stature would definitely add to the university’s prestige. Quoting the importance of history as subject, he added that the book comprehensively discusses a vast span of time and space through an engaging narrative structure.

The programme began with Professor Singh’s presentation, which was as visually spellbinding as the book itself. Each of the pedagogical features of the book was present on the slides and Upinder explained the reasons for their inclusion. Professor Singh remarked that she had wanted to write a book that would interest students in knowing the subject. She said that most of the currently available (so-called) textbooks had never been written as textbooks for students fresh out of school, and were actually meant for specialized research.

Amit Kumar