9TH GRADE SCHOOL EXCURSION 2023. AHMEDHABAD, GUJARAT.

It was a hot day and everyone was frantically driving through the Chennai city traffic to make it to the airport on time. We joined our friends and the terminal was abuzz with chatter. Everyone had fished out their old cameras and polaroid’s for the occasion. After rummaging through every shop in and around our gate we finally boarded our flight. After a two-hour flight filled with refreshments and fun, we reached Ahmedabad. No one had prepared us for the scorching temperature that day.

After boarding our buses, we played songs and sang and danced for till we reached our hotel. We formed our groups for our rooms, hoping to be with our friends. After freshening up we visited the beautiful Atal bridge over the Sabarmathi river. Our guide briefed us about the history of the architecture of the bridge. We peered over the bridge and gazed at the still waters as we sipped on our sprites and coca colas. The bridge was an exhilarating structure decorated with colourful tarps on the ceiling. After walking across it we headed back and took a lot of memorable group pictures on the steps beside the water.

Later that day we headed to a streetside bazaar to do some shopping. The sky was dark and calm but the street was lit up and filled with people. There were several vendors selling jewellery, clothes, food and indigenous items like bells and artefacts. The clothes shops were vibrant with native patterns and colours. Everyone joyfully looked for souvenirs for their parents and siblings. We had fun buying beautiful pieces of jewellery and bargaining for a better price.

After a late night, we snoozed through our wake-up calls and frantically rushed to breakfast. Luckily it was a 2-hour ride to The Amul Dairy Factory, and we could catch up on our sleep. Once we reached the factory, we saw enormous machines processing milk. We headed towards the main building and steered clear of the milk trucks passing us. We were fascinated to watch a documentary about the history of Amul. We journeyed through the entire factory, peering through the glass frames to watch butter and milk powder being processed. The guide briefed us about all the various processes involved in the production. On our way out we stopped at a small canteen for refreshments. We were jostled by each other as each of us tried to be the first ones to buy ice cream, lassis and water bottles. We gazed at a spectacular peacock as it was perched on a nearby building.

We had a delicious lunch at a Guajarati themed restaurant. It was now time to visit the Science City. This was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. The first exhibit we visited was an enchanting aquarium with a beautiful underwater tunnel filled with a vast variety of fishes. We then entered a huge building shaped like the earth. It was an Earth Exhibit featuring all the aspects such as volcanoes, earthquakes, agriculture, tsunamis and human anatomy! We scattered all over the place in small groups reading all the signs and trying the cool user-friendly experiments at every floor. We had fun as we tried cycling with skeletons, walk through a model of the human heart and tried starting off simulations of a tsunami. The next exhibit was about robots and the fascinating subject of artificial intelligence. A guide took us all around the building and showed us many cool robots such as ones that could perform surgery, climb walls, personalize shopping experiences, work in space, print 3D figures and even ones that could fight or play football.

It was now time to unwind after a long day. We all sang, danced and partied with the teachers joining us as well! After jiving to Natu Natu it was finally time to eat and we had worked up quite a good appetite. A few of us decided to continue the parties in our respective rooms, testing the teachers’ patience one more time.

We packed our suitcases and checked out the next day. After a heavy breakfast we visited the historic Gandhi Ashram. The Ashram was filled with relics and precious information preserving Mahatma Gandhi’s life. We were overwhelmed to see Gandhi’s spinning wheel, his own house and read the story of his entire life. Some of us decided to dress to the occasion and sported kurtas of various colours.

After a meal at our hotel, we headed towards the airport. No one could believe that the trip had ended so quickly. We cherished our flight back and made memories we would never forget. We definitely did a very good job of getting under all the flight attendants’ skin that flight. After reaching Chennai we were glad to see our parents and knew that this trip was the best first excursion we could have asked for.
This trip showed us how fun and patient our teachers were and we are thankful to them for tolerating us and making this excursion unforgettable.

– By Tasha Neethirajan of Class 9C

10TH GRADE SCHOOL EXCURSION 2023. Lucknow

The class 10 students of Sishya were taken to Lucknow for our excursion. It was a magical three-day trip from the 6th to the 8th of September 2023.

We reported at Chennai Domestic Airport as early as 4:30 a.m. After we landed in Lucknow, we took a bus to our palatial hotel – Ramada Plaza which was followed by a hearty meal.

We then hopped onto a bus – singing and dancing our way as we reached the ‘Bara Imambara’.

On 7th September, we set out to the beautiful Janeshwar Mishra Park, where we spent quality time. We then had our lunch at Hyfa Continental and went to LuLu Mall, which is one of the largest malls in India.

8th September was our last day in Lucknow and we had to spend the morning in our grand hotel. We bid goodbye to Lucknow and a few hours later we found ourselves flying over the Marina Beach.

The three day trip was an absolute transition from the southern coastal city to the northern ‘darbar’. A big thanks to all the teachers, who took good care of us and made it a memorable trip.

– By R. DAKSHATA of Class 10B

11TH GRADE SCHOOL EXCURSION 2023. Udaipur, Rajasthan.

Excursion. Just the word brought so much excitement to us eleventh graders as we were informed of the four-day trip that we were going to take to Udaipur, Rajasthan. The prospect of being able to see the rich culture and history that binds Udaipur made us beg Time to go a little faster until the day we took off from the Chennai Airport.

Our first day of travel on the 5th of September was a flight to Bangalore, a five-hour layover at the airport, and another flight to Udaipur. We landed at Udaipur promptly at 4:30 p.m. On the bus ride to Radisson, we sang and danced. We organized a cake-cutting for our Teachers Day and celebrated them as we danced through the entire evening. After dinner, we hit the bed for a good slumber.

The next day, we visited the City Palace and Fateh Sagar Lake. The exhibits inside the Palace told us all about the wars that were fought by the Maharanas, the weapons used, and the way the Palace was built to accommodate both the King and Queen. We also visited Saheliyon Ki Bari, or the garden that was built for the royal ladies. It had a swimming pool and the greenery inside was breathtaking. That evening, we filled our bags with mementos during our shopping at the local market.

The third day was our most strenuous one. After a 2 hour long bus ride and an hour long trek, we saw the marvelous Kumbalgarh Fort. We could see the plains that stretched for miles around it from the very top of the fort. The Jain Temple was unlike any other. The architecture and craftsmanship of the temple was unlike any other. We marveled at it in complete awe.

Our last day at Udaipur was so bittersweet. We had got used to the views from our rooms and playing cards all day, but we had to check out in the morning, before we visited the Maharana Pratap Museum. We learned all about the life of Maharana Pratap through interactive robotics and lights exhibits, posters and paintings and the life-like models.

After lunch, we boarded a flight to Mumbai, which was delayed by an hour. This delayed our flight from Mumbai to Chennai by an hour. The excursion had gone by too fast and reaching Chennai made us wish that our trip had lasted a little longer.

– By Deeksha Anand of Class 11c

12TH GRADE SCHOOL EXCURSION 2023. Jaipur.

As much as studies play an important role in an individual’s life, it is the memories one makes in school that remain, as one fondly looks back into their childhood. To aid in making these memories our school took us on an excursion in the last year of our school life which also marks the end of a chapter in our life, the chapter of childhood. We as a class stored this memorable trip as we embarked on this week-long journey of our excursion. The one strict restriction imposed on us, however, was “no phones allowed”.

Pink, the colour of friendship is ironically the colour of Jaipur as well. We left on the flight scheduled on the 4th of September at 10:40pm after dusk with smiles and excitement for our first and last trip from school to the Pink city of India – ‘Jaipur’. On the first day, all of us set out to explore several parts of the Pink city- first on the list was the City Palace – one of the most artistically constructed monuments with incomparable Rajputana architecture, where the king still resides and we were awestruck by the four gates which represented each of the four seasons. Following this visit, we took a short hike to Jantar Mantar- an astronomical observation site which proudly shows the vast knowledge of Indians since ancient times. While on the bus, we had a glimpse of the Hawa Mahal and Jal Mahal.

The next day we started off on a 150km journey by bus to Pushkar and Ajmer. To reach the first destination – the renowned Brahma Temple, we traversed through the vibrant and crowded pathways of Pushkar after which we proceeded towards the Pushkar lake. During our journey, the sight of the Aravalli Range intrigued us. Later, we ventured out and walked a few kilometres to reach the Ajmer Dargah the atmosphere was similar to that of the temple. This proved to be a rather pious and secular journey. Exhaustion had over taken us on that day.

On the final day of touring, we paid a visit to the extravagant Amer fort, landlocked by hills and the marvellous architecture left us spellbound. To reach the fort, we took a truly mesmerizing and terrifying elephant ride that created a core memory through this trip. On our way to the fort, we saw the Kesar Kyeri which is famous for its lights and fountains and the Amer Fort boundary. Post this, we sauntered through the tiny streets to reach the Stepwell – Panna Meena Ka Kund. In the evening, we were given the opportunity to wander the streets of the local bazaars – Bapu bazaar, Nehru bazaar and Johri bazaar where we purchased Rajasthani souvenirs.

To commemorate the ending of our trip, the teachers had organized a party for us.

Although, studies allow us to reach heights of success these memories are the ones to last us a lifetime of happiness. Therefore, as we boarded onto our flight to return home though we felt emotions of sadness, we all knew that these memories that we created through the trip would be everlasting. The trip, although quite short; or so it felt, was in a way rejuvenating as we returned to start the process of studying again.

– Compiled by: Harshika Sipani, Ankitha S.B and Shreya. R of 12 ‘A’