THE TROVE 2021-22
MATHEMATICAL CRUSADE 2021-2022
Crusade 2021-22 was organized on 29th January 2022 by the mathematical society of DPS RK Puram. In total, 5 events were organized for classes 6th to 12th– Symphonies for math, Surprise event, Pioneers-Digital Presentation, Codebreaker, and Three Dimensional Quiz –3 of these were live events, while the other 2 were submission events which required the participants to submit their respective entries in a specific time frame. There were 24 participating schools overall.
SYMPHONIES FOR MATH
Symphonies of mathematics provided an opportunity for students to showcase mathematical concepts and theories with the help of music. The event witnessed the beauty of mathematics blended with the melody of notes. The entries were euphonias yet conceptual. The judges for the event were Ms. Niranjani Saxena(alumnus from 2019 batch), pursuing her major in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University. and Mr. Varun Oberoi (alumnus from 2017 batch), working with Boston Consulting Group.
SURPRISE EVENT
This event was organized for classes 6th to 8th. There were in total 23 participating schools. The surprise event was a live event and consisted of two different levels, the prelims, and the finals; these levels and their details were disclosed to the participants at the time of the event.
PIONEERS
‘Pioneers’ was conducted for classes 9th and 10th. There were 24 total participating teams with 2 participants from each school. It required the participants to submit their entries in a given time frame.
CODEBREAKERS
This was a live event. This event was open to students of Classes IX-X. There were 23 participating teams in this event with 2 participants from each team. . The students decoded the Mathematical quote by solving questions based on various mathematical concepts. Vice Principal – Mr. Anil Kathuria and The Head of Department of Mathematics- Ms.Ritu Nayar, also commended and motivated the participants.
THREE DIMENSIONAL QUIZ
The Three Dimensions Quiz, conducted in two rounds, was a test of sharp thinking, trivia, and problem-solving skills. In the prelims, students solved problems based on various mathematical concepts. Participants flaunted their trivia and critical thinking skills in order to win the nail-biting close final round. The final round was a Crossword that brought a pun-based twist to trivia and led to an entertaining final. The event was presided over by members of the MatSoc.This event was for classes 11th and 12th. There were in total 20 teams participating with 2 participants each in a team.
Exun 2021-22 – International IT Symposium
Exun Clan, the technology club of Delhi Public School, RK Puram hosted the 26th iteration of its international technology symposium, Exun 2021-22. This was held during the Exun Week from January 14 to 21, 2022. Every year, STEM enthusiasts from India and beyond arrive at the symposium in order to test their mettle by battling it out with their skills and come together to have some of the most memorable and impactful experiences of their lives which aren’t only deeply engaging but also enable everyone involved to celebrate the essence of technology along the way.
In the opening speech exun.co/opening, the principal Ms. Padma Srinvasan, wished all the participants “Very Happy Makar Sankranti” and welcomed all the participants. She further conveyed, “In the summer of 1992, an idea surfaced in the halls of Delhi Public R.K. Puram and that idea has over the years evolved into one of the foremost high school clubs of our country, Exun Clan. ‘Exun’ is short for Experts Unlimited, and that is what the club embodies: young technology enthusiasts excelling in diverse fields of technology, from research, development, and programming to tech quizzing, debating and design. Members of the club are winning inter- school, national, and international competitions on a regular basis. They also have an alumni network of 350+ individuals at companies and universities around the world, Exun is well connected to the contemporary technology landscape. This is the 26th iteration of the annual symposium hosted by the Exun Clan, with over 25 events ranging from Web Development and Design to Girls In Tech and Locus. The competitive programming event, which was hosted on CodeChef, had over 12,000 participants with over 60,000 submissions this year. Exun Clan’s flagship event of the year, Sudocrypt 11.0 was held from January 10th-11th, is the annual international cryptic hunt where we had more than 1500 participants from various parts of the world.”. At the end, she wished all the participants “Happy Programming” and “Happy Quizzing”.
The Exun symposium had significant international participation for the 2nd year and impressive national participation for the 4th year in a row. Exun 2021-22 was held by the tech enthusiasts of Exun Clan under the supervision of the Computer Science Department of the school. The event was powered by Athena Education and sponsored by CodeChef and Plaksha University. It was held in collaboration with Women Who Code Delhi, Girl Code It, and the New Delhi Space Society. A prominent feature of Exun Week this year were the various Exun Talks and the newly introduced Locus Event.
Exun Talks are a series of interactive webinars and talks conducted by experienced alumni and professionals, from a wide range of topics. The highlights of this year’s Talks series were the experienced alumni of Exun and Delhi Public School R.K. Puram, such as Shashwat Goel, Aditya Sengupta, Prateek Swain, Dev Shaurya Singhal and Ankit Wadhwa as well as field experts like Monojit Choudhary, Jim Plaxco, and Ayush Mahajan. Exun talks were an enriching learning experience for all the viewers. To watch this year’s (and last year’s) talks, be sure to use the following link: exun.co/talks. You can have access to interesting Talks on topics from Natural Language Processing to how to start a bank today (Fintech), Effective Altruism, how a Martian economy would work, and more!
Locus, the most diverse event of Exun 2021-22, was introduced for the very first time this year. In this event, students from participating schools completed a variety of mini-tasks, in a myriad of fields. These tasks contributed to a Locus points tally, and the school with the highest accumulated points was crowned as Locus Champions. Delhi Public School, Vasant Kunj were the Locus Champions at Exun 2021-22.
This year, with 15,000+ participants from 45+ schools and international participation in all events from over 15 countries, Exun 2021-22 raised the bar even higher. Exun Clan along with the Gaming Club — DomainSquare+; Robotics Club — RoboKnights; and Cubing Club — CubXL organized 25 different IT events, along with signature events including an Online Cryptic Hunt — SudoCrypt, a computational linguistics challenge — Turing Test, Competitive Programming, quizzes and crosswords, SpaceTech, Junior and Open Girls in Tech event, and the Build event, with its Designathon, Hackathon, and Unreality subevents.
With many thousands of participants and exciting new game mechanics, Exun’s flagship event Sudocrypt v11.0 was held from 10th January to 11th January 2022. The 11th version of Sudocrypt — an annual international Cryptic Hunt X CTF event, received over 50,000 attempts by over 1500+ unique visitors from 15+ countries across the globe.
On the occasion of the 26th edition of the Exun event, Exun Clan also released the 16th issue of its Annual Magazine — “UnderScore”, available at exun.co/_. This has been the most refined magazine published by Exun Clan.
The members of Exun Clan developed and released an Exun 2021-2022 app designed to deliver notifications regarding the event, prompt releases, deadlines and many more features. Over the course of Exun weeks, 2000+ notifications were delivered through the app and 500+ users downloaded it. The app was available on both Google Play Store and Apple App Store. The app was made by Kavin Desi Valli and Navya Garg.
EXUN WEEK: Schedule
Before the Exun Week started, the Competitive Programming, SpaceTech, and Group Discussion prelims as well as Sudocrypt were held.
On the first day, Friday the 14th, Exun 2021-2022 was inaugurated in the opening ceremony by the school’s Principal. The Principal, in her welcome address, expressed her admiration for the club and the rapid advances its members have made in the IT field. Furthermore, she articulated on the significance of technology and how she herself cannot do without it. Towards the end of her speech, she congratulated the entire Computer Science Department, calling them the backbone of the school, and praised Exun for being one of the most seasoned clubs. The prelims for Open Quiz and pitching round of Make-a-thon were also held on the same day.
On Saturday the 15th, tasks for the DS+ Gaming Prelims event were also held. The Junior Quiz and Crossword prelims and Lockout quarter finals took place as well. We also had our “Why Language Understanding is the Hardest Piece of the AI Puzzle?” Talk by Mr. Monojit Chaudhary on this day.
A screenshot from the “Why Language Understanding is the Hardest Piece of the AI Puzzle?” talk by Monojit Chaudary.
On Sunday the 16th, DS+ Gaming Prelims event was continued and the Lockout event wrapped up with the semi-finals and finals. Group Discussion Semi Finals and the Surprise event were also held. At the end, we also started the wonderful Junior Girls in Tech workshop, held by WomenWhoCode Delhi members and moderated members of Exun. The SpaceTech Finals prompt was released on this day.
A screenshot from the Group Discussion event Semi-Finals
Monday the 17th started with the Cubing Prelims and the Girls in Tech workshop hosted by Girl Code It and managed by Exun members. Surpriseevent and Junior Girl in Tech workshop continued. The day ended with the Turing Test event’s Finals, to great success and prominent international participation. We also had our “Effective Altruism: Why, What and How” talk by Exun alumnus and President ‘19, Shashwat Goel, on the same day.
We started Tuesday the 18th with our amazing “How Not to Design a Martian Economy.” Exun Talk by Mr. Jim Plaxco, an experienced software engineer and prominent space exploration advocate. Cubing event and DS+ Gaming wrapped up with its final and the Day 2 of Girls in Tech’s workshop took place. Junior Girls in Tech prelims started. The Group Discussion and Surprise event finished with a bang. The day ended with our “Effective Real-World Scientific Computing” Exun Talk by Exun & UC Berkeley alumnus Aditya Sengupta.
Wednesday began with Junior Quiz finals and Girls in Tech prelims. Hackathon finals and Make-a-thon round-2 pitching also took place. The day ended with the Challenge Programming event. The “The Impact of Cloud Computing” Exun Talk by Ayush Mahajan happened on this day.
A screenshot from the Junior Quiz Finals
Thursday started with Open Crossword and Build-Designathon finals. The day continued with the SpaceTech Semi-Finals. We had the fantastic “How to build a bank for today” Exun Talk by Exun & Princeton alumnus and Swadesh founder Mr. Prateek Swain. Innovation-Infinitum Viva and Unreality Finals also took place. We finished the day with an exciting SpaceTech Finals round and its judging. The “The Evolving Landscape of Blockchain and NFTs” Exun Talk by Ankit Wadhwa happened on this day.
The day started with Open Quiz Finals and ended with the mesmerizing closing ceremony. The Exun Intro Video 2021-22 was played. There were also heartfelt addresses by Mukesh Kumar, the teacher incharge, and the club leaders.
A gallery of photos from the Exun 2021-22 Closing Ceremony (from left to right):-
Top: our teacher in-charge and mentor, Mukesh Kumar and Alumni Prateek Swain and Shashwat Goel.
Middle: Presidents Ashvin Verma and Somesh Kar, and Director Angad Singh.
Bottom: Director Pulkit Garg.
Full video available at Exun 2021-22 Closing Ceremony.
EVENTS
Group Discussion was conducted in three rounds. A preliminary round had participants express their views on the internet meme culture while also making memes of their own. This was followed by semi-finals, where two groups of seven participants each had to compete among themselves by discussing symptom checking technologies and how the ability to differentiate between AI and humans would decrease due to the advent of metaverse. For the finals, participants were divided into two groups, Vanguard Inc. and Amnesty International where they had to discuss if Google should restart Project Dragonfly. Mr. Sameer Chadha, Mr. Areeb Nabi and Mrs. Amadika Mahapatra, alumni of DPS RK Puram and Exun Clan, were the judges for the event. Shireen Rajora and Vinayak Dhawan were instrumental in the organization of the event.
Our signature event Build at Exun 2021-22 featured three separate sub-events, the Designathon, Hackathon, and Unreality (Game, 2D/3D & Audio Design). There was a huge room to showcase ability and create something meaningful, no matter what the creative interests and skills participants held!
Our flagship Cryptic Hunt x CTF event, Sudocrypt v11.0 was held from 00:00:01 on 10th January to 23:59:59 on 11th January 2022. The event featured exciting levels with a completely new and revamped format. The event theme was revealed by the release of an exciting mythical trailer. The 11th version of Sudocrypt received over 50,000 attempts by over 1500+ unique visitors from over 15 countries from across the globe. Over 150 notifications were delivered over the duration of the event to keep participants updated about the release of hints and announcements. The event was held with the assistance of Mr. Aaryak Garg, an alumnus of DPS RK Puram and Exun Clan. This event was made possible by the collective efforts of Tanmay Arora, Bhuvnesh Nagpal, Shashwat Mundra, Ishir Bhardwaj, Somesh Kar, Kavin Desi Valli and Angad Singh.
Our theme revolved around gamer girl Pushpagandha Kar (aka PushpaGG) and the chocolate factory which was now hers to run. Build was held during the Exun Week, after which the qualified teams had a chance to showcase their creations in a pitch to our esteemed judges. For Designathon, we had Exun ‘16 alumnus Mr. Anirudh Goyal, Exun ‘14 alumnus & Microsoft UX researcher Mr. Gyan Lakhwani, and Microsoft UX researcher Ms. Sabhyata Jain; for Hackathon, we had Achal Varma, an alumnus of Exun ‘12, and Kabir Goel, an alumnus of Exun ‘20; for Unreality, we had Mr. Aravind Ashok, an alumnus of Exun ‘20 and Bhavya Khandelwal, an alumnus of Exun ‘19. It was held through the efforts of Somesh Kar, Angad Singh, Kavin Desi Valli, Sneha Chandra, Aarshia Gupta, Adi Mathur, Shreyansh Agarwal, Pulkit Garg, Damini Rana, Aryaman Chandra, and Ashvin Verma.
ExML was our signature cross-disciplinary Machine Learning event where there was a rich variety of unusual and enthralling machine learning paradigms to learn about and use.
The prelims for ExML 2021-22 were divided into 2 tasks, both of which test problem solving and machine learning prowess! The deadline for this round was the 13th of January 12:00 PM IST. All qualifiers then headed to the final round. The cumulative points over tasks were used for ranking the participants. The contest was held on the popular machine learning & data science platform Kaggle. During judging, there was an emphasis on data science quality, tangible results, and data ethics. We had Mr. Sagnik Anupam, an Exun ‘20 alumnus Sagnik Anupam, as our judge. The event was led by the efforts of Shubhankar Gupta, Bhuvnesh Nagpal, Shaurya Srivastava, Yash Jha, Advitya Singhal, Neil Sindwani, and Mannat Kaur.
For our signature SpaceTech event, Exun Clan collaborated with the New Delhi Space Society, the New Delhi Chapter of the internationally prominent space advocacy organization National Space Society (USA) to give students the opportunity to explore the realms of space and it’s concurrence with technology. The theme for this year’s SpaceTech event was the exploration of Jupiter’s moon, Europa. For the prelims, participants had to devise innovative methods to create a tunnel digger and ice excavator to create space for the habitat. The event culminated with 7 semi-finalist teams designing a thermal management system for the habitat inside Europa’s surface, and 4 teams qualifying to the finals, all of whom received prizes, including an international independent team. We also awarded a special award to an all-girls team which we noticed performed extremely well and decided must be awarded. Our esteemed judges for this year’s SpaceTech Event were Mr. Antonio Fowl Stark, Asia-Pacific Coordinator for the Space Generation Advisory Council and longtime space advocacy promoter amongst high schoolers, International Space University-affiliated Mr. Anderson Wilder and Parmesh Saini, with experience in space technologies and systems, as well as Exun ‘20 and NDSS alumnus Mr. Shiv Sethi. This event was led by Sneha Pandey, Shireen Rajora, Ashvin Verma, Rudraneel Sinha, and Aryaman Chandra, and made possible by the well-appreciated efforts and inputs of Tanmay Arora, Aaahana Mehrotra, Mannat Kaur, and Ananya Mangla.
SpaceTech 2021-22 Finals Pitch
SpaceTech 2021-22 Semi-Finals Pitch
Our signature Competitive Programming event saw the participants face a plethora of problems based on logic, algorithms and data structures. They were evaluated on the basis of the time they took to solve the problems. The online round saw more than 11,000 participants, including 350+ international participants. The event was hosted as a rated contest on CodeChef, a prominent competitive programming website. The CodeChef team, notably Mr. Nishant Shah and Mr. Arjun Arul, assisted us throughout the process by giving suggestions on and testing our problems. The event was led wonderfully by Vishesh Saraswat with assistance from Sarthak Mangla, and efforts by Aujasvit Datta, Harshikaa Agrawal, Vedant Singh, and Neil Sindwani were well-appreciated.
The Lockout event featured 8 nail-biting contests between the qualifiers. The event was conducted as a knockout style tournament, and the contestants were seeded by their prelims performance. The Competitive Programming event served as the preliminary round for this event, with the top 8 participants from India qualifying. This event was made possible by the collective efforts of Vishesh Saraswat, Sarthak Mangla, Aujasvit Datta, Vedant Singh, Harshikaa Agrawal, Neil Sindwani, Shaurya Srivastava, and Darsh Sikka.
The signature Challenge Programming event featured 5 tasks for the participants to attempt in 3 hours. Each task consisted of its own twist: only one submission was allowed for task 2 and points in task 4 were based on the number of correct submissions in distinct programming languages. Task 3 consisted of creating a program to play the popular board game, Battleship, and points were distributed based on their program’s performance against other participants. The Competitive Programming event served as the preliminary round for this event, with the top 16 participants from India qualifying. This event was made possible by the collective efforts of Vishesh Saraswat, Sarthak Mangla, Neil Sindwani, Aujasvit Datta, and Vedant Singh.
The Gaming event, organized by DomainSquare+ focussed on the abilities of gamers to adapt to different situations as they were presented with games like Diablotical, Smash Karts and Roark’s Attack on Titan. The event was organized by Aryan Daga, Kunwar, Naunidh and other members of DomainSquare+.
The signature Turing Test evaluated participants’ abilities by putting them through a series of problems based on several computational linguistics paradigms. We received prominent international participation and winners, and appreciation from notable international experts. The event was made possible thanks to the efforts of Vedant Singh, Sarthak Mangla, Shashwat Mundra, Harshikaa Agrawal, Neil Sindwani, and Aaahana Mehrotra.
In the Open Quiz, the preliminary round was conducted on Zoom, with an online finals where they were required to answer a number of exciting questions on a varied topics ranging from computers and technology to gaming to recent events in the world of IT. The quiz was played through a unique grid based system with the “Infinite Pounce and Bounce” in play throughout the event.
This year, we added a Junior Quiz event to encourage rising quizzers from the tech circuit and beyond. The event featured a similar format with the prelims and finals being held live on Zoom. The quizzes were conducted by experienced and prolific quizmasters Mr. Udit Malik, an Exun ‘19 and DPS RKP alumni, and Mr. Pranava Dhar, an alumnus of DPS Noida. Both the quiz events were conducted and moderated by Pratyush Vempati, Sneha Chandra, Tanmay Arora, Angad Singh, Shashwat Mundra, Ashvin Verma, and Vinayak Pachnanda.
In the Crossword event, the preliminary round was held on Forms, while the finals were held live on Zoom, with clues involving humorous puns relating to the field of technology. The event had a nail-biting finish and the intuitive and witty clues received appreciation from participants. The event was conducted with the assistance of Mr. Sumay Mishra, an Exun ‘19 and DPS RKP alumni, along with Mr. Udit Malik, an Exun ‘19 and DPS RKP alumni, and Mr. Pranava Dhar, an alumnus of DPS Noida. The event was made possible by the efforts of Aarush Semwal, Tanmay Arora, Sneha Chandra, Angad Singh, Shashwat Mundra, Ashvin Verma, and Vinayak Pachnanda.
We also held our signature Locus event for the first time ever as part of Exun 2021-22. We had all-around fun & interesting tasks, functioning similar to online CTFs, in a myriad of disciplines and having many interdisciplinary tasks as well, such as our hybrid 2D & 3D logo design task. There were a total of 26 tasks, from disciplines all over the technology spectrum which were both a learning experience for many who did not have prerequisite knowledge of the tasks, and also a way to explore the vast fields of technology in a simple manner. We had a number of innovative and new tasks, which could be attempted by a participant of beginner to intermediate skill. Locus tasks went beyond the scope of traditional tech events, having unique ones such as the Motion Design abstract arts tasks, and the Crossword Picture-themed questions. We also collaborated with partner clubs RoboKnights and Domain Square+ to create tasks, and added to this was a sponsor task on Liberal Arts by Athena Education, in which we saw a huge number of participants. The event was loved by the participants and the positive feedback received was immense. The administration of this massive event and tasks was handled spectacularly by Kanishka Verma and Pratyush Vempati. Tanmay Arora, Kavin Desi Valli, and Angad Singh helped in the making of the Locus website. Garv Jain, Manan Jindal and Adi Mathur helped splendidly in the managing of tasks and handling queries.
The website for the Locus event.
Cubing Event, the first day started with war of speed with three solves by each and the average of the three was taken for shortlisting them for final. A total of 30, 10 from 2×2, 10 from 3×3 and 10 from Pyraminx were selected for finals. The winners differed by just 0.02 seconds for the closest fight for the cubing title ever in the history of Exun. The events were conducted by Aaditya Kakkar, Shashwat Shankar, Sannidhya Rai and other club members.
We held our signature Girls in Tech and Junior Girls in Tech events with an aim to increase female representation in Tech fields and provide girls with a platform to showcase their talent as part of Exun 2021-22. In collaboration with the not-for-profit organization ‘Women Who Code, Delhi’, Exun 2021-22 featured two interactive workshops and a unique Junior Girls in Tech event. The theme for this year was creating Graphic User Interfaces, wherein a standard GUI library for Python; Tkinter was used. The event consisted of two initial interactive workshops to familiarize the participants with the required pre-requisites after which, the preliminary round had participants submit responses to coding challenges whereas the finals required them to make interactive programs on social-welfare and resource-planning based prompts.
We also had a collaboration with Girl Code It, an international NPO, for our Girls in Tech event. The theme for this year was front-end web development. The event consisted of two initial interactive workshops to familiarize the participants with the required pre-requisites after which, the preliminary round had participants participate in a live quiz, whereas the finals required them to make an interactive redesign of common websites. These events were made possible by the collective efforts of Shireen Rajora, Sneha Pandey, Aarshia Gupta, Sneha Chandra, Kanishka Verma, Garv Jain, Shaurya Pratap, Kavin Desi Valli, Shreya Nirvan, Aadibhav Prasad, Aanya Yaduvanshi, Ananya Mangla, Aaahana Mehrotra, Pearl Dhingra, and Ashvin Verma.
Screenshots from the Junior Girls in Tech Workshop.
Screenshots of the Junior Girls in Tech Workshop & Live Quiz
The Surprise Event this year consisted of three rounds. The first round was an amalgamation of various mini-tasks ranging from meme-making to crosswords, to technical fields like hardware and cryptic hunts to creative fields like design and audio. The semifinal round featured a tribute game relay which included games like Tetris, Google Feud and Wikirace. The final round involved the much-loved Exun’s version of the Game of Life. This game led the participant on a journey as a new entrant to the school and Exun in class 9 and completing various tasks and challenges with the aim of becoming the future president of the club. The event was judged by Mr. Aaryak Garg and Mr. Aravind Ashok, alumni of DPS RK Puram and Exun Clan. The event was conducted with the best efforts of Aadibhav Prasad, Aarush Semwal, Pratyush Vempati, Bhuvnesh Nagpal, Tanmay Arora, Aryan Daga, Somesh Kar, Ishir Bhardwaj, and Shashwat Mundra.
A screenshot of the Semi-Finals of the Surprise Event
To increase the level of excitement and thrill of participating in an “online hardware” event, our Hardware event aimed for a new angle of approach through a unique team-based task format. Students had to compete against other schools in a PC building simulator that had a dynamic pricing system that reflected the situation from real life, which was hosted online. Participants also had to participate in 2 other tasks, including Docker / Podman review which was certainly unique and hashing to reveal codes that related to Exun, for example; the phrase ‘We not I’. The event was judged by Mr. Aditya Singh, an Exun ‘20 and DPS RKP alumni. The event was possible thanks to the efforts of Hitaarth Soni, Saksham Raheja, Kavin Desi Valli and the Hardware Department.
Make-a-Thon, BISCUITS and Innovatio-Infinitum were hosted by RoboKnights. Make-a-Thon was, an event based on designing and simulating innovative systems with the application of robotics and engineering, was held on a customized simulator prepared in house by Adi Mathur . BISCUITS-Build and Simulate Circuits- a 2 day circuit hunt event saw overwhelming participation. A Lego-based simulation event was also held on Virtual Robotics Toolkit for students in 6th-10th, It was judged by Ahaan Birla. The BISCUITS was judged by Danish Bansal and Pranshu Malik, former Presidents of Roboknights, whereas the Make-a-Thon was judged by Aniansh Raj, Danish Bansal and Pranshu Malik, former Presidents of RoboKnights. The events were made possible thanks to the efforts of Rian Borah and Yash Sinha, Gaurav Jain, Shashwat Raj, Advitya Singhal, Kshitij Gupta, Adi Mathur, Anubhav C.,Yashas Gogna, Tanishq Gogia, Jasnoor Kaur, Swarnika Bhardwaj etc.
The Computer Science Department- Mr. Mukesh Kumar, Ms. Hema Jain, Ms. Sangeeta Rana, Mr. Mohitendra Dey, Ms. Shalini Harisukh, Ms. Sarika Kaushal, Ms. Anjana Virmani, Ms. Nandini Dasgupta, Mr. Shekhar Sharma and Mr. Ajithkumar K.G- as a team efficiently organized this grand event along with the support of the Technology Team composed of Mr. Thomas C.A., Mr. Diny Mathew, Mr. K.V. Joseph, Mr. Shankar Giri assisted by Mr. Ram Kumar and Mr. Ramjas.
The student team was led by Somesh Kar, Shashwat Mundra, Ashvin Verma, Sarthak Mangla, Angad Singh, Pearl Dhingra, Aryaman Chandra, Pulkit Garg, Ishir Bhardwaj, Rudraneel Sinha, Vir Malhotra, Damini Rana, Shireen Rajora, Kavin Desi Valli, Tanmay Arora, Sneha Chandra, Vishesh Saraswat, Vinayak Dhawan, Aarshia Gupta, Bhuvnesh Nagpal, Garv Jain, Sneha Pandey, Pratyush Vempati, Kanishka Verma, Aadibhav Prasad, Saksham Raheja, Shreyansh Jha, and Hitaarth Soni. The extraordinary efforts made by members and adhocs alike were truly what made the event possible and were greatly appreciated by everyone. We also appreciate the advice and support of our alumni, those who came as judges, gave Exun Talks, Ananay Arora, and everyone else who contributed to the success of this event in any way, including by participating.
We thank you with all our hearts for being a part of Exun 2021-22, and hope to see you again!
The Overall Trophies were given to the following schools:
• First: DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL, VASANT KUNJ
• Second: DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL, DWARKA
• Third: DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL, NOIDA
The SudoCrypt results are as follows:
The individual results of the events are updated on https://lnexun.com/.
Econox ’21
Exun 2021-22 _ Under_Score v16.0
YOUTH IDEATHON
Samyak Kapoor of XI H successfully qualified for a spot in the top 100 of the youth ideathon. This is an independent competition organized by thinkstartup and affiliated with CBSE and MEPSC for school students with an entrepreneurial mindset and a drive to pursue their passion.
Samyak Kapoor has been awarded a merit certificate (top 0.2% of all participants)
IGNITE AWARDS
Samyak of class 11 H successfully participated in a National Level Competition – “IGNITE” organized by the National innovation fund. Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE competition is an annual national competition to harness the creative and innovative spirit of students. Samyak submitted a project based on an artificial rain system to solve the crisis of disproportionate rainfall in India by man made means.
LANGUAGE FEST 2021-22
“Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
Language Fest 2021-22 was hosted by Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram on 28 January 2022 via the virtual Google Meet platform with the objective of celebrating linguistic flair and talent. The competitions witnessed the participation of schools across India. A total of 44 schools participated in a vast array of activities. The event was jointly coordinated by teachers of the Hindi, Sanskrit and Foreign Language Departments.
German
“Just a Minute: Monologue Competition” : This was an online event held for Classes IX-X. Participants had to deliver minute-long speeches on a range of pre-decided topics. The esteemed jury members Ms. Reema Chauhan and Ms. Kavita Gandhi, judged the students on their performances on the basis of their pronunciation, creativity, elocution, fluency, and usage of props and costumes. Fifteen schools participated in this event and impressed the audience with their innovative, unique performances.
Poster making competition : This was an offline submission event for classes VI-VIII. The participants made a poster on any one of the topics that were already shared with them. The entries were made on A-3 sheets and the artist chose his/her medium of expression. Each participant submitted 1 poster. The esteemed jury members Ms. Manisha Buttan and Ms Reema Chauhan , judged the posters on the basis of creativity, originality, aesthetic, visual appeal , clarity and relevance to the theme. Eighteen schools participated in this event and sent their posters.
Spanish
“Just a Minute” was an event held for Classes IX-X. The participants from 15 schools were asked to formulate and deliver a speech on one of six pre-released topics within a minute. The jury consisted of Spanish aficionados Dr Mayuresh Kumar and Ms Shruti Agnihotri. The students, who were judged on the basis of their originality, fluency, pronunciation and adherence to the time limit, delivered mesmerizing performances and left all in awe of their linguistic prowess.
Poster making competition: This was an offline submission event for classes VI-VIII. The participants made a poster on one of the pre-released topics. Students displayed their artistic skills through an array of posters. The jury consisted of Spanish aficionados Dr Mayuresh Kumar and Ms Shruti Agnihotri. 16 schools participated in this event and sent their beautiful posters and amazed us with their extraordinary artwork.
French
“Just a Minute” was the French competition for Classes IX-X. Participants from 25 schools delivered eloquent minute-long speeches on a variety of given topics. The jury comprising Dr Shubhra Gupta and Mr Manmeet Singh, both renowned names in the field of learning and teaching French, assessed the participants on their innovativeness and imagination, fluency and pronunciation, voice modulation and content delivery.
The Foreign Language Department also organised an offline Poster Making Competition for Classes VI-VII on various topics of French. 25 schools participated in the competition.
हिंदी
एक पल कहकहों भरा
एक पल कहकहों भरा कार्यक्रम में विद्यार्थियों को किसी प्रचलित विज्ञापन को हास्य का पुट देकर उसे एक नए मौलिक रूप में प्रस्तुत करना था अथवा अपना स्वयं का एक मौलिक हास्य विज्ञापन बनाकर उसे प्रस्तुत करना था। यह प्रतियोगिता कक्षा नवीं तथा दसवीं के विद्यार्थियों के लिए थी। इस प्रतियोगिता में दिल्ली तथा दिल्ली के बाहर के 23 स्कूलों ने भाग लिया।
दिल्ली पब्लिक स्कूल, रामकृष्ण की भूतपूर्व हिंदी शिक्षिका तथा सीबीएसई की रिसोर्स पर्सन श्रीमती कौमुदी शर्मा तथा दिल्ली पब्लिक स्कूल, रामकृष्ण पुरम की भूगोल विभाग की पूर्व विभागाध्यक्षा श्रीमती रूपा दास निर्णायकों के रूप में उपस्थित थे। कार्यक्रम के संयोजक डॉ. अनंग सक्सेना व श्रीमती मीनू सिंगल थे।
बचपन की कहानी कठपुतली की जुबानी
कक्षा छठी से आठवीं तक के छात्रों के लिए “बचपन की कहानी कठपुतली की जुबानी” नामक प्रतिस्पर्धा आयोजित की गई थी। इस प्रतियोगिता में देशभर से 27 प्रतिभागियों ने भाग लिया व प्रतियोगिता के निर्णायक के रूप में हिंदी भाषा में विख्यात विशेषज्ञ, श्रीमती करुणा शर्मा व श्रीमती संतोष कुमारी उपस्थित थे। हिन्दी विभागाध्यक्ष श्रीमती सीमा मेहता एवं कार्यक्रम समन्वयिका श्रीमती डॉ पी चिन्ना ने निर्णायकों व सभी प्रतिभागियों का अभिनंदन किया। प्रतिभागियों को उपप्रधानाचार्य डॉ अनिल कुमार कथूरिया, प्रधानाध्यापिका श्रीमती रश्मी मल्होत्रा और कंप्यूटर विज्ञान विभाग के प्रमुख श्री मुकेश कुमार की उपस्थिति और प्रेरक शब्दों ने प्रोत्साहित किया।
संस्कृतम्
पात्रपरिचय:
कक्षा नवमी एवं दशमी के लिए आयोजित ‘पात्रपरिचय:’ प्रतियोगिता में प्रतिभागियों द्वारा श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता के किसी भी पात्र को आधार मानकर उसका अभिनय किया गया। माननीया अमला ठुकराल, दिल्ली पब्लिक स्कूल रामकृष्ण पुरम की भूतपूर्व संस्कृत विभागाध्यक्षा प्रतियोगिता की निर्णायिका थीं। उनके साथ माननीय डॉo राजेश कुमार, पी.जी.डी.ए.वी महाविद्यालय में सहायक-प्राध्यापक ने भी प्रतियोगिता का निर्णय किया। आयोजन में संपूर्ण भारत से 23 विद्यालयों के छात्रों ने भाग लिया। मुख्याध्यापिका माननीया रश्मि मल्होत्रा महोदया ने निर्णायकों का स्वागत करते हुए अपना आभार व्यक्त किया, और प्रतिभागियों का उत्साहवर्धन किया। विभागाध्यक्षा माननीया सीमा मेहता ने भी निर्णायक मंडल की ओर कृतज्ञता प्रकट करते हुए प्रतिभागियों को शुभकामनाएँ दीं। सभी प्रतिभागियों ने पात्र के अनुरूप वेशभूषाओं में विविध पात्रों का उत्कृष्ट अभिनय किया। अन्त में संस्कृत विभाग की अध्यापिका माननीया रूपाली महिन्द्रु ने धन्यवाद ज्ञापन किया।
गीता-श्लोक-गायनम्
छठी से आठवीं कक्षा के लिए गीता श्लोक गायन प्रतियोगिता आयोजित की गई। इस शास्वत ग्रंथ के गहन श्लोकों ने सुनने वालों को मार्गदर्शन दिया और संस्कृत के सौंदर्य का प्रदर्शन किया। प्रतिभागियों ने द्वितीय एवं तृतीय अध्याय के श्लोकों को पहचानकर गीता में प्रवीणता दिखाई और उन्हें सुरों में पिरोया। भाषोत्सव की इस प्रतियोगिता के निर्णायक श्री दीपांशु कौशिक,संस्कृत अध्यापक तथा वेदज्ञाता, एपीजे स्कूल फरीदाबाद एवं श्री पुनीत त्रिपाठी,वरिष्ठ कार्यकारी अधिकारी, भारतीय-ज्ञान परंपरा विभाग, NIOS द्वारा किया गया | इस प्रतियोगिता में देशभर से 19 प्रतिभागियों ने भाग लिया |
Valedictory
The Valedictory Ceremony of the Language Fest 2021-22 took place on the virtual platform on 4 February 2022, and began with the lamp lighting ceremony.
The Principal, Ms Padma Srinivasan extended a warm welcome to Ms Gitanjali Shastri, an advisor in the German Embassy at Delhi in the capacity of an economic development and cooperation advisor, and also a parent alumna, as the Guest of Honour. She also welcomed Mr Prateek Trivedi, (bhaiyaji kahenge?) as the Chief Guest for the day. She conveyed her heartfelt gratitude to the guests for gracing the occasion with their presence. Ms Padma Srinivasan concluded her address by encouraging the students and appreciating their tireless efforts, and wished them all the best in all their future endeavours.
This was followed by a performance by the proficient singers of the Western Music Society D.P.S. R.K. Puram, who left the audience spellbound with their sensational song ‘Yes We Can.’ The talented artists of the school’s Indian Dance Society exhibited an exquisite performance and they set the stage on fire with their compassion and love for Indian dances.
The Chief Guest, Mr Prateek Trivedi congratulated the principal and teachers and appreciated the efforts put in for the success of the Language Fest 2021-22. He commented on the important role played by languages in Indian culture and marvelled at the students’ fluency in various languages. He emphasised that events like the Language Fest successfully showed that language is not just a medium of communication, it is a cultural and social entity which reflects the people’s thoughts and ideas. Mr Trivedi also applauded the students and encouraged them to continue to celebrate the beauty of languages and cultures by planting the tree of language and spreading its fruits in society.
The Guest of Honour, Ms Geetanjali Subhedar-Shastri began her address by congratulating the school for organising the Language Fest despite the trying circumstances. She said that her primary message to the students was to never let language take a backseat as one’s choice of words and how one presents them solves many problems of day to day life. She shared her personal experience with engaging with the German language and said that there was no end to learning. Ms Subhedar-Shastri emphasised that language thrives in usage, and also encouraged the students to always learn from their mistakes. She also said that while foreign languages were important, it should never come at the expense of neglecting our own languages, an inherent part of our identity and being. She concluded by quoting Flora Lewis and Bharatendu Harishchandra to emphasise how languages act as an eternal embellishment to our persona. She wished all the participants a bright future ahead.
Glimpses of submissions by the students were then presented to the audience. This was followed by the announcement of winners for the various events along with glimpses of the winning performances.
The Vice Principal, Mr Anil Kathuria, addressed the gathering. He thanked the Principal for giving the opportunity to conduct the event and for her constant motivation and guidance. He welcomed the Chief Guest and the Guest of Honour and thanked them for their valuable presence. Mr Kathuria commented on how the Language Fest gave an opportunity to the students to learn something new and that made them all winners. He concluded by congratulating the heads of departments and the teachers for putting their full efforts and making the event successful.
The Headmistress, Ms Rashmi Malhotra began her address by mentioning that the purpose of the Language Fest was to share the wealth and knowledge regarding various languages and cultures amongst all the people. She thanked the Principal for providing the platform to organise the event. Ms Malhotra also extended her gratitude towards the esteemed guests for gracing the occasion with their presence and sharing their words of wisdom. She also thanked the entire team of teachers and students who had worked extremely hard in putting together the show.
The vote of thanks was delivered by Ms Seema Mehta, Head of the Hindi and Sanskrit Departments. She thanked the Principal, Ms Padma Srinivasan, for providing a golden opportunity to the students for showcasing their talents. She mentioned that the programme was made successful by the participation of 44 schools. She thanked the Chief Guest and the Guest of Honour for taking out time from their hectic schedules to encourage the students. Ms Mehta also thanked the Vice Principal, Mr Anil Kathuria, the Headmistress, Ms Rashmi Malhotra, the Supervisor, Ms Vinita Gupta, Activity Incharges Ms Abha Chona and Ms Kaveri Dhar, the art and music departments as well as Mr Mukesh Kumar and the technical support team. Finally, she thanked the teachers of the Hindi, Sanskrit, French, German and Spanish departments for their hard work without which the event would not have been possible.
The valedictory concluded with the National Anthem.
The results of the various events are as follows:
Art Poetica 2021-22 Results
Theatron 2021-22
THEATRON 2021-2022
“We must all do theatre to find out who are and who we could become” – Augusto Boal
The Annual Inter-School Theatre Festival, Theatron, was organized by the Expressions Theatre Club of Delhi Public School R.K.Puram on the 15th of January, 2022. Theatron had an all-time edge with 66 schools from all over India participating in the event with tremendous enthusiasm, bringing together young, vibrant minds to celebrate the essence of theatre .It was a symbol of triumph and a testament to keeping passion alive in tough times.
This year, the event was held virtually wherein the participants had shared pre-recorded videos of their acts and the same were judged on the online platform. This year Theatron featured nine distinctive segment – Stage-A-Thon, Nukkad ki Goonj, Ads-Act, Poem Enactment, Thespian Coliseum, Prop-o-sition, Mime, Standup Comedy, and Dance Drama. The much-awaited ‘Theatron 2021-2022’ commenced with the Principal’s address, followed by a short presentation.
The Principal Ms Padma Srinivasan addressed the gathering by highlighting the role theatre plays in one’s daily life and how it is not merely a way of letting go of one’s inhibitions but also an extremely important way of nurturing and cultivating one’s personality with essential values.
She expressed her gratitude towards the jury members for their valuable time and efforts.
She appreciated the efforts of the teacher-in-charge Ms. Sanya Taneja for being the driving force behind the endeavour. She commended the efforts of the theatre club members for demonstrating the club’s organizational efficiency in conducting the event through inventiveness and ardour. She also introduced the club’s upcoming project, “12 Angry Jurors” as a prominent milestone in the creative journey of Expressions Theatre Club.
This was followed up by a short presentation showcasing the activities conducted by the club and its accomplishments over the course of the year. The presentation was a delightl to watch, with the viewer instantly connecting with the club’s heritage and understanding it’s ethos. The class XII members of the Expressions Theatre Club introduced the prolific judges.
The encouraging words of enlightenment from each of the accomplished personalities added to the exuberance associated with the festival.The judges applauded Delhi Public School R.K Puram for its immense regard and admiration for theatre. They emphasized on the need for theatre to be inculcated in all students as it embeds the values of empathy, dedication and grit in them. They advised the students to engross themselves in the craft while performing and to enjoy the process.The event concluded with a vote of thanks by Ms. Sanya Taneja where she thanked the Principal for being very supportive of the theatre club.Theatron hosted nine sub-events with a jury of 18 members.
Stage-A-Thon (Stage Play) -The prolific Mr. Gourab Ghosh and Ms. Mala judged the event. Stage-A-Thon successfully merged the two pillars of creativity: Writing and Theatre. The base pillar of Writing was elevated to another level with the help of its counterpart Theatre within a span of mere 3 minutes; the act presented a versatile array of emotions. The participants fully immersed themselves in the lurching sea of dramatic emotions in their presentations.
Nukkad ki Goonj(Street Play) – Mr. Vipul Kalra and Mr. Ashish Sejwal were the judges for the event. Nukkad ki Goonj is an art form combining entertainment and the ever-important need to recognize the plight of society. Street play as an art form inculcates the fuel and fire to imbibe characteristics prevalent in our daily lives and present them with passionate and energetic emotion. The participants were given three to four minutes to exhibit their skill and prowess.
Ads Act (Advertisement enactment) – Mr. Andrew Hoffland and Ms. Swati presided over the event. Ads-Act reflects the influence of media by which it enthrals us and keeps us captivated. The target was to get the audience to engage zealously and draw attention to the product, something exquisitely shown by the young students in the short span of three minutes.
Play o Poem (poem enactment) – The admirable Mr. Neel Sengupta and magnificent Ms. Jyotika Singhal judged the participants who took the best of parallelly similar worlds. It was an enthralling symphony of poetry and theatre that showcased the skills of the participants in the Play o Poem event. A string of tales opened up two or three minutes of raw and uncut emotions, displaying the limitless skill of the performers.
Thespian Coliseum (Shakespearean monologue) – The event was judged by pioneers like Ms. Payal Nagpal and Dr. Poonam Trivedi. Thespian Coliseum event rekindled the flame of William Shakespeare’s evergreen legacy of soliloquies. Shakespearean monologues are renowned for their expressive emotions and the blunt intentions of strangely relatable characters. It was an exhilarating mixture of theatre and soliloquy in a span of 3 minutes, where the mind met action and the combined result was a spectacle to behold.
Prop-O- Sition (Movie- Making) – The event was skillfully judged by Ms. Anurupa Roy and Ms. Manpreet Kaur. Prop-O-Sition was a recorded movie-making event where participants used the intricate beauty of visual art to convey the narrative of action and its consequences in three to four minutes. An unconventional methodology that has evolved and changed drastically over the years, Movie-Making is a detailed process of communication with abstract props; visual representations; sound and stimulations.
Mime – The event was presided over by Mr. Rajan Chawla and Ms. Roshni Shripad; renowned for their emotive magnificence. Mime was a recorded event wherein the picture of silence prevailed but was worth a thousand words, all in three minutes. Stripping away the shackles bound on imagination, the mime allowed emotions to speak more than words and let the raw, expressive nature of human emotion prevail over the clamour and vociferity of speech.
Standup Comedy-The event was judged by theatre practitioners like Mr. Rochan Mathur and Mr. Gaurav Verma. Standup Comedy was a three minute recorded event; a truly enriching act that blows a breath of fresh air to those immersed deeply in the world of powerful, emotive solitude. It reaches out to the audience, with relatability being its essence of success with humour on the side. The participants credibly showcased their sense of humour and ability to see the funny side of otherwise dire situations.
Dance Drama- The event was presided over by acclaimed dancers and performers Ms. Anu Rawal and Ms. Soumya . Dance Drama was a recorded event where participants expressed emotive tales with each step and curve moving in tandem with each twist in the story. Drama and dance have traditionally been integral parts of dramatic history that go hand in glove since a long time back. Dramatic dance employs theatrical narrative action to showcase the power and ingenuity of two emotive arts in a mixture of immense splendour.
VALEDICTORY CEREMONY
THEATRON 2021-2022
The Valedictory Ceremony for Theatron 2021-2022 was organised on the 30th of January 2022. The auspicious Lamp Lighting ceremony marked the inauguration of the Theatre Festival, Theatron 2021-2022. The ceremony commenced with the Principal’s address.
The Principal, Ms Padma Srinivasan addressed the gathering by welcoming the Chief Guest, Ms. Neena Gupta and Guests of Honour, Mr. Imtiaz Ali, Mr. Amit Sharma and Mr. Vikrant Massey. She applauded the efforts of all the participants and encouraged them to continue upholding this enthusiasm. She commended the efforts of the teacher in-charge Ms. Sanya Taneja and the students of the Expressions Theatre Club for hosting Theatron Thirst for Theatre 2021-22 at an all-time zenith of a national event with 66 schools participating from all over the country through a virtual medium. She congratulated the entire team for their tireless efforts.
The event was graced by the presence of the Chief Guest, the much acclaimed and experienced television actress- Ms. Neena Gupta. She emphasized on the fact that theatre had had a big role in shaping her career as well as the profound impact it had on her life. She spoke eloquently about the necessity of discipline in the ever-broadening horizons of the constantly changing world we live in today. She called theatre the greatest of all the art forms that is required for holistic development and congratulated all those who seized the opportunity of participating in Theatron, making her love for theatre evident.
The Guests of Honour, all renowned artistes with immense experience and success in their fields- Mr. Imtiaz Ali, Mr. Amit Sharma and Mr. Vikrant Massey graced the occasion with their presence. Mr. Imtiaz Ali spoke vividly about theatre, his views sending waves of encouragement to all the club members. He concluded by expressing his heartfelt wishes to all the participants who had taken part in Theatron and commended the club’s efforts for providing the platform to all theatre enthusiasts. Mr Amit Sharma passionately described how theatre was very close to his heart and encouraged the students to follow their passion with such creative endeavours. Mr. Vikrant Massey expressed his fondness for theatre and how he vividly remembered wanting to do it. He told the students to take a plunge into the ‘creative side of life’ by immersing themselves into it to experience fulfillment .
The students of Delhi Public School R.K. Puram then presented a short movie which displayed an in-depth sight into the world of artistes and highlighted the significance of essential attributes such as humility and respect.
Finally, the much awaited moment of glory had arrived- The announcement of the results of Theatron 2021-2022. The photos of the winners, along with snippets of the winning performances were displayed.
The valedictory ceremony concluded with a vote of thanks delivered by the club incharge, Ms Sanya Taneja. She encapsulated the true essence of theatre by quoting Vanessa Redgrave who compared the importance of theatre to water, which in itself is a prerequisite. She appreciated the fervent passion for theatre in every person associated with Theatron 2021-22. She congratulated the winners and participants. She expressed her heartfelt gratitude towards all those who had contributed to the success of this event with such grandeur and fervour.
