The Duchess of Cambridge shares her DofE experience

Did you know that HRH The Duchess of Cambridge is a Gold Award holder? Read about what her DofE experience.

"I started my Duke of Edinburgh's Award while I was at Marlborough College, completing my Bronze before getting my Gold Award while I was in the sixth form. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is such a great way for young people to grow in confidence, learn new skills, work as part of a team and have great fun along the way. While getting my Gold Award was challenging at times, it is one of my most memorable experiences from growing up, and I could not recommend it more highly."

Beauty Away from the Metropolis

Aakashi Kotoky, Gold Award holder from Maria’s Public School, Guwahati is sharing her Residential Project experience.

For my Residential Project I went to Sakunabari, a village that is located near Sonapur on the way to Nagaon, Assam, for 5 days and 6 nights. During this period I stayed in a small household consisting of four family members who welcomed me with open arms.

During the period of my stay, I visited different households and asked various questions relating to the daily lives of the family members. The daily life in a village is very tough; it starts very early in the morning as the full advantage has to be taken of daylight before darkness descends. While I was there, the heads of the families were preoccupied with different agricultural activities for the next agricultural year and hence they could not give me the time to the extent I desired. Nevertheless, I managed to collect valuable information on the pros and cons of life in a village.

Their current problems include lack of medical facilities, a school quite far away, irregular supply of electricity, and the absence of clean drinking water, besides the lack of suitable transport facilities. While living with the family I learnt many new things and tried to adapt myself to the village life. It was my first time to visit an unknown place and live with unknown people for a few days. The experience that I got can never be completed while living in the cities. At first, I thought that it would be quite difficult to live among strangers, but it proved to be wrong. The experience that I gathered and the knowledge that I could receive from the members of the family will help me go a long way throughout my life.

While interacting with the village folk I was pleasantly surprised to observe that even in the absence of basic amenities the residents appeared to be quite happy compared to their urban counterparts. To my mind, this may be attributed to the absence of any form of pollution, a constant touch with nature, a uniform standard of living and a spontaneous desire to be involved in community welfare.

During my visit to this village, the female members of the house gave me valuable tips on the art of making pithas, laroos and other traditional Assamese delicacies. Being farmers predominantly, they had access to vast areas of land on which they raised various crops as well as domestic animals such as cows, goats, pigs and birds. The most interesting aspect of my visit was the greenhouse, where various ornamental plants and flowers were grown, most of which was sold in the nearby market at nominal prices. I gave them some advice on marketing methods such as growing hybrid plants, the use of manure for healthier growth and the arrangement of flowers to make attractive bouquets with a view to obtaining a higher price for their labour. I must confess that my brief visit was an eye opener to the horizons of rural life and my interactions with these simple people and my experiences will remain etched forever in my memory.

I sincerely thank IAYP for giving me this opportunity to explore myself better, as through this Residential Project I have learned to adapt to unknown conditions and find out new ways of survival while being away from the comforts of my regular life .This programme also opened new horizons for me to polish my skills with confidence.

Residential Project at a Spiritual Retreat

Mridul Upadhyay, Open Award Participant attended SPIC MACAY International Convention for his Residential Project. Mridul is presenting here a report on his Residential Project.

The 3rd International Convention of SPIC MACAY was held from 31 May to 6 June at IIT-Mumbai. SPIC MACAY (Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Amongst Youth) is a voluntary movement that organizes events (over 5000 annually) of classical music and dance, folk arts, crafts etc. in educational institutions through the world. The annual conventions of SPIC MACAY, with more than 300 chapters in India and abroad and thousands of volunteers working selflessly, is a Mahakumbh or a spiritual retreat. The annual convention has acquired international status from the past three years, when delegates from other countries also joined hands. 

The International convention focusses on providing a unique atmosphere to delegates with an emphasis on the Guru-Shishya model. The convention aims to provide a holistic experience in line with classical Indian tradition and participants follows certain rules and regulations like consumption of holistic food, not using mobile/camera and early morning wakeup etc. The convention aims to bring the lesser known and often underappreciated art forms, and the associated artists back into the spotlight. Arts forms like Paper Mache, Puppetry, Kudiyattam and more are probably not as famous as others but they are without a doubt equally significant in the amount of skill and hard work that goes into them. The convention serves as a great stage for these artists to earn the respect and appreciation they deserve while attracting people towards these lost art forms. 

The unique experience of the week-long "Aashram-Vaas" for nearly 1,800 participants from home and abroad was unforgettable, where the normal day started at 4 am with Naad-Yoga, the practice of music; Hatha Yoga, the Yogic exercises; and Dhyaan Yoga, or practising meditation; followed by "Shram-Daan" or cleaning up the surroundings. After it the most unique feature of the convention: the 3 hour long intensive workshops every day by renowned Gurus of classical music and dance, folk theatre, painting, handicrafts and much more. Based on what we learnt during this period we got a chance to perform in front of everyone on the last day. 

On various days, the afternoon sessions and lecture demonstrations had Qawwali by Warsi brothers, Sattriya dance performance by Guru Ghanakant Bora and his talented disciple Anvesha Mahanta, Odissi by Sujata Mahapatra, Bharatanatyam by Praveen Kumar, Kathak by Prerana Shrimali, Mayurbhanj Chhau by Ileana Citaristi, classical Hindustani music by Pt Vinayak Torvi, screening of Malayalam film Kathapurushan followed by interaction with 16 times National Award winning film director Adoor Gopalakrishnan, an illustrated lecture with Puppet show by Dadi Padamji and an inspiring talk by the renowned painter Akbar Padamsi.

Another unique feature of this convention was the overnight music concert which started on the night of June 5, 2015 from 8 pm and go till 6 am in the morning of June 6, 2015. Renowned artistes like Balamurali Krishna, Aswani Bhide Deshpande, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Wasifuddin Dagar performed during the overnight concert. On the last day, the participants were taken on tours to different heritage sites in the city like the Kanheri Caves, the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and many more.

All in all, the week-long convention facilitated hundreds of participants not only the awareness of our classical art and culture but also its ethos, the deeper and subtler meaning and values, inspiring them to become better human beings. Click her for pictures

Photography has developed my sense of colour balancing

Mridul Upadhyay, Gold Award participant from the Open Award Centre is sharing his experience as he learns photography for his Skills section

I was introduced to the Award programme during my visit to Sri Lanka to cover the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. I applied as Open Award Participants for Gold Level and set my goals, which I have completed now. 

Photography was my goal for the Skill section. I was interested in photography because of my artist friends, who helped me develop a sense of colour balancing and framing. Previously, I was able to take average frames from a point-and-shoot camera but DSLR camera opened more opportunities with 'Manual' mode.

When I first started photography, I was very puzzled about aperture (A), shutter speed (S) and ISO. I call this the "Illuminati triangle of confusion" because they're all linked to each other and I couldn't differentiate the effects between them by reading.

But one thing made it easy for me. Eyes! Our eyes pretty much work the same way as a camera. The light passes through our pupil, via the hole of the iris, and focuses it on the retina.

SHUTTER SPEED

The pupillary light reflex is the reflex that controls the diameter of the pupil, in response to the intensity of light that falls on the retina of the eye. In other words, when you stare at something bright, our iris shrinks and the pupil becomes smaller, so less light penetrates through. 

"So shutter speed is the time for which you want to keep your stutter open to allow the light to pass through to the camera sensor." The higher the shutter speed, the more light is allowed through. When you are taking a picture in a place that's terribly bright (like directly under the Sun), then your picture would be overexposed (way too bright). So don't forget to reduce your shutter speed.

APERTURE

Stare at the room around you for a while. Slowly focus on an object in front of you. Keep doing it. Now, do you realize how everything around the object is blurred (the object becomes more prominent). But when you want to see a group/crowd/landscape, the same eye allows you to see everything clearly. That's exactly how aperture works.

Basically, aperture controls the depth of field in focus. When the aperture is greater, the depth of field of an image is shorter. In other words, the object in front of you is clear and the background is blurred out.

Aperture also controls the amount of light that reaches the image plane because aperture acts as the entrance of our eyes. Like our eyes, the pupil is the hole that allows light through in our eyes. 

"So aperture is the shutter size which you want to keep open for a particular time (shutter speed)." 

Aperture is calculated in stops (the size of the hole that allows light in). Same as the pupil of our eyes, the bigger the hole, greater the aperture, and more the light that passes. But here's the confusing part: aperture is measured with f/numbers on the camera. The smaller the f/number on your camera, greater the aperture: the more light that reaches the image plane, making the image brighter and more blurred background (less depth of field).

ISO

It is the measure of how sensitive your camera is to light. Basically, the image sensor, the one that controls the ISO, is the component that changes the camera's sensitivity and transforms the light into an image.

The higher the ISO, the more sensitive it is to light. Therefore, the camera sensor can capture images in a low-light surrounding without a flash when using a higher ISO number. But you need to give something if you want something. Higher sensitivity adds "noise" (grain) to your picture. The fine dots that make the picture look pretty bad.

So, my advice is to always stick to the lowest ISO number of your sensor. Basically, it produces an image with the highest quality and minimal noise! It also retains the most details of an image.

Also there are a set of rules for composition like rule of third, golden triangles and spirals, leading lines and leaving space etc. But photography is also more than rules.

So in a nutshell, shutter speed controls the amount of light; aperture controls the depth of field, and amount of light; ISO allows you to take pictures in dark areas without a flash, but it creates noise. Photography is all about balance of these three.

Don't worry if you still haven't gotten the hang of these three. Play around with your camera and you'll soon see how easy it is. It worked for me!  Click for few more pictures

The Award made me a better person

Yuvraj Geet Singh Chopra, Gold Award holder from Delhi Public School, Gurgaon received his Gold Award on 16th July 2015 at the Annual Gold Award Presentation Ceremony.  Yuvraj shares his experience during the Award Journey.
The Gold Award ceremony organized by IAYP, India was held on 16th July 2015 and I was one of the Gold Award recipients.  The entire journey for the completion of the Award was an amazing experience for me. I learnt a lot from it and hope to incorporate the values learnt from it in daily life as well.
There were five parts to the Award, each of which was to be performed and recorded in order to achieve the Award. Those categories included Skill, Physical Recreation, Adventure, Community Service and a Residential Project.
My Skill was vocal music. I practiced every day, performed in a lot of events and competitions for my school and otherwise, and my vocal skill has developed a lot since Day 1. I am now a very good singer and will be pursuing music after school as a hobby too. Under Recreation, I used to go to the gym periodically, due to which I have become a healthier and fitter person. My 'Adventure' included taking a wonderful trip to some islands, where I practiced Para-Sailing, Snorkelling, and other activities. The sheer thought of doing the rides was exhilarating! I also taught the students of the DPS Shiksha Kendra as part of Community Service and I cannot describe how happy I felt teaching the challenged young minds of our society. In fact, I liked it so much that even after the completion of the Award, I still continue to teach at the Shiksha Kendra.
I, along with my friends also visited a village called Ghamroj in Sohna as part of the Residential Project. We visited the homes and farms of the villagers living there, analyzed the current facilities of the village and then had a conversation with the village Sarpanch regarding improving the facilities of the village so that the people could achieve better lives and livelihood.
In conclusion, I have had a wonderful experience and I will cherish the moments I had throughout my life.

My Days with the Award

The Young People of today are vocal. They want to talk about their experiences, their likes and dislikes and interests. The Award Programme encourages Young People to speak their minds. Let us hear from Dev Suri, Gold Award Holder about his experiences...

I am immensely grateful to my school Jodhamal Public School, Jammu for initiating me and motivating me to participate in the IAYP programme. After going through assorted adventurous journeys, village visits, conducting events and developing distinct skills I was beginning to see myself as a teacher or trainer in the IT sector.

It was a memorable day for me when I received the prestigious Gold Award in 2014 at Delhi, awarded by former Chief Election Commissioner of India, Dr SY Qureshi .Throughout the programme I welcomed the exposure to different lifestyles via the village visits and developed a positive perspective towards the development of society - overcoming the negative attitude that I had earlier. I realized that it is programmes like the IAYP that really make the difference and challenge others with the question: "If we can, then why can't you?", thus creating a web of people who care for preserving the ecosystem. I myself motivate others to take up this programme which helps in the development of life skills and as a way to render services to the society at a young age.

All around us we see that the growing corruption, scams, violence and other issues have created pessimism in people; but these are the people who mostly stand and stare. It is time for the young minds of our nation to take some action by being a part of this programme, for nurturing optimism towards the eradication of such evils, for developing a character or combination of skills and emotions that will create better human beings as light of hope for our planet. It is necessary to realign our perspective towards life and to find the meaning of our existence in the ecosystem, to strive for the betterment of our future and conservation of environment and its inhabitants, and this is where the IAYP programme has definitely helped me, because a change of perspective is all it takes to see the light.

Raja Randhir Singh - Chief Guest at Gold Ceremony 2015

Randhir Singh, former Olympic-level trap and skeet shooter and now sports administrator, is currently the Honorary Member from India on the International Olympic Committee. He is a 1979 recipient of the Arjuna Award. He was educated in Yadavindra Public School, Patiala and earned a B.A. in History (Hon.) from St. Stephen's College, Delhi.

He comes from a family of sportsmen and sporting administrators. He made his competitive senior shooting debut as an 18-year-old when he was part of the winning trap shooting team at the Indian National Championships in 1964. His team defended the title the next year, and he won his first national individual title in 1967 in skeet. He went on to win multiple titles at the national level in both skeet and trap shooting.  He represented India Internationally for 31 years from 1963 to 1994, which is the longest representation by any sportsman in India.  He became the first Indian shooter to win continental gold at the 1978 Asian Games in Bangkok. On home soil four years later, he won team silver at the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi.

He represented India in six Olympic Games from 1964 to 1984 and he also competed in four Asian Games from 1978 to 1994, winning a medal of each colour.  He also represented India at the Edmonton Commonwealth Games (1978) and won a Bronze Medal.

He is the winner of the Olympic Order (Silver) Award 2014 from the International Olympic Committee, Merit Award (2006) from Association of National Olympic Committee (ANOC), Merit Award (2005) from Olympic Council of Asia and Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award (1979) from State Sports Award -- Government of Punjab.  He was Founder Secretary General of the Afro-Asian Games Council (1998), and helped lead the organization of the only Afro-Asian Games in Hyderabad in 2003.

He was involved in bringing the 2010 Commonwealth Games to India, and had been the Vice Chairman of the Organizing Committee.  He served the Association of National Olympic Committee (ANOC) (2012-2014) as Vice President. He was the Secretary General of the Indian Olympic Association (1987-2014), Secretary General of Olympic Council of Asia since 1991, and member of the International Olympic Committee from 2001 - 2014, and member of the Association of National Olympic Committees Executive Board (2202-2012 and 2014). Recently he was re-elected for the sixth time as the Secretary General of the OCA. He has also served as member of the World Anti-Doping Agency Foundation Board (2003--2005) and on the following commissions: Olympic Games Study Commission (2002--2003); IOC Sport for All Commission (2004), IOC Women and Sport Commission (2006); IOC Coordination Commission 2010 - Ist Youth Summer Olympic Games,  Singapore 2008; Foundation Board Olympic Truce Foundation (2006) and Wada Foundation Board (2003-2005).  He was a member of the Governing Body, Sports Authority of India, Govt. of India (1987-2010).

In 2000 he was awarded a D.Litt. in sports science from Lakshmi Bai National Institute of Physical Education, Gwalior, India.

GOLD AWARD CEREMONY 2015 - July 16th

Achieving your Gold Award is a really big step in your young life. It shows that you have the ability, focus and determination to achieve. It shows you have done your share to achieve all-round development and at the same time are open to learn from what the future has in store for you. So it's only right that you get a proper celebration for your achievement. Our Gold Award Ceremony is designed to celebrate this achievement.
We are happy to announce that Raja Randhir Singh, former Olympic-level trap and skeet shooter, is the Chief Guest and will present the Gold Awards to the successful participants at the Annual Gold Award Ceremony on July 16, 2015 at India International Centre, New Delhi.
You can soon expect to receive an invite to GAC 2015 and your presence will make this event memorable.  Ceremony details can be checked here.

A journey towards self- transformation

Gold Award aspirants from St. Mary's School, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi took part into Residential Project in March 2015.  They called it A Journey towards self-transformation.  Read their experience about this project.

A path towards change may have obstacles and difficult situations but the path leads to the creation of life changing experiences. Eight Award aspirants and four mentors went for a Residential Project on 24th March, 2015. The aim was to familiarize our selves with the lives of the children, women and men of Azadpura, near Orcha, Bundelkhand and to raise awareness about education and health.  The area is largely neglected by the government in the areas of education and health.

Some words spoken by our mentors helped the bonding and communication with the twenty students of the Azadpura School and the community. Children with eager glittering eyes were hopeful that a beautiful future was round the corner.  Classrooms filled with small children with big dreams colored our thoughts of them. The first thing that came to our minds was connectivity and so we started with circle time and some music, which made the environment comfortable for all of us. The only obstacle we felt at that moment was the reticence on their part to participate freely. Through this particular obstacle or block in our first step we understood that there was something lacking on our side. We realized that we hadn't devoted enough time to get to know each other. That particular time to think and grasp other's problem and issues was missing. The space which defined the time to think was missing.  

The lack of understanding and bonding with the community propelled us to conduct a transit walk to discuss various issues with the community. The discussion raised issues of their present condition and the problems that they were facing as well as their limitations. 

On the second day we conducted a drawing session with the children to allow for some creativity. The children made some awesome drawings reflecting their individual feelings, likes and dislikes. Creativity was further enhanced when we played some music. Eventually every inch of the class was filled with happiness and creativity and the children were active stakeholders in creating this little change. Our aim to create bonds with the community was not limited to the students/children. We indulged in a cooking session with the women of the community. The group was divided into two and along with the community women we cooked a healthy and a love-filled meal.  To make every one more comfortable, we played some folk and Bolloywood tunes. Such is the power of music that the women soon started singing and dancing alongwith us. Over lunch the conversations covered a wide array of topics such as lifestyle and family structure to gossip and Bollywood. 

To impress the importance of formal education and to invite the community for the sports day that we had planned, the medium of street play (nukkad natak) was used. The theme of our play "shiksha humara huk hai" made it easier to redefine the word education. They received the message that we wanted them to join in the fun and expressed their willingness to participate. This was our third step in creating awareness for a more involved and participative future through school and education not only for children but also for older men and women. In the evening we introspected on the day's activities and how to work better in the coming days.

The sports day was a huge success. The day started with a Volleyball match that brought us closer and strengthened our bonds with the community. This was followed by a 50m race, 100m race, banana race and the obstacle race. There was a surge of excitement and enthusiasm from the participants and the audience. We also organized the special berry (ber) race for women. We replaced the lemon with the berries as we wanted to use the available resources which would bring them closer to us.  The main thing which could be spotted was that all resources used on the sports day and other activities were the resources of the community which was another way of empowering them. Handling the sports day was a huge activity, but we felt extremely rejuvenated and happy on seeing the brimming smiles on the faces of those who won and those who participated. While the winners were acknowledged with medals and certificates others were given a participation certificate for their exemplary efforts. 

The sports day was followed by the construction of a sand pit. From tilling the ground in hard sunlight, to finally leveling the land and painting the boundary, we were able to relate closely to the working conditions of men and women who work in the field. 

The task required hard work and vigor to strive and complete it. On completion of the sand pit we were filled with joy & the cherished sense of finally being able to give back profitably to the society. It also gave us a sense of satisfaction as we had succeeded in not only creating bonds with the community but initiating this faith in them, that they could be active catalysts in society. 

Developing bonds, conducting dialogues, understanding problems and providing incentives were our reflections from the residential trip. Even though the journey to achieve the trust of the community was a difficult process, we learnt how perseverance eventually brings victory.

When we are sensitive and considerate about the needs and emotions of people, we are able to accept them as our own and create a difference. The IAYP Residential Program taught us that success consists of creating bonds in the most adverse situations & moving from failure to success without loss of enthusiasm.  Click for pictures

IAYP Adventurous Journey Trek

On 27th February Award participants of Sarala Birla Academy, Bangalore escorted by three school teachers and two professional trainers left the school after breakfast at 8:30 and headed towards Kudremukh near Chikmagalur, which was our trekking destination. We reached there at about 7:30 in the evening.

Next morning assembled at 6:30 and after breakfast we left for our trekking spot. We trekked for 18km-20km up and down a hill. Although our trek was tiring, all of us manged to complete it successfully. We also clicked some elegant pictures on the way. We had a bonfire that we enjoyed, listening to songs and chatting with friends. We had a sumptuous dinner and went to bed by 10:00 as we were rather tired.

Next day after the breakfast we went to play volleyball in muddy water and it was great fun. We got ready by 11:30 and had an early lunch and by 12:30 we left the place and headed back to Bangalore. Thanks to our school authorities and the teachers incharge for organising this trek. Without their support it would not have been possible to experience this wonderful rous Adventusuch Journey. Click for pictures

Bronze Level Adventurous Journey to Camp Wild, Dhauj - A Report

We were truly excited about the adventure journey that we were about to begin. We started from our school in Sahibabad at 7 am and reached Camp Wild at 10:00 am. After a light breakfast we went up the hills and started two major adventure activities - Rock Climbing and Rappelling, both of which we thoroughly enjoyed. At 2:00 pm we came down for lunch, filled up our water bottles, and went up the hill again for 'flying fox'. We learnt about the different types of knots involved in flying fox such as Colwich, thumb knot and figure of 8, also known as universal knot. Having learnt about the safety measures, we started enjoying the adventure activity. At 8:30 pm we went for a short night survival walk, which was followed by a lively conversation about the uses of these activities in wars, environmental degradation and carbon footprints. After this intense physical and mental work out, we came back to our cottages for a good night's sleep.

The next day started with the morning exercises. We completed a fun-filled obstacle course including activities such as Tarzan swing, Monkey crawl, Burma Bridge, Cat walk etc. Later we hiked, climbed a hill and participated in team building activities. With that, our adventure trip came to an end. We packed our bags and left for school with many sweet memories. The best part of this trip was that we not just enjoyed several adventure activities but also got to learn a lot about the safety hardware involved in all these activities. We really appreciate the able guidance of our mentors and teachers who made the IAYP journey memorable for us. We have not just developed our skills further but have also learnt time management, setting smart goals and the importance of involving oneself in community service. This programme has certainly helped us to recognize our strengths and our social responsibilities. No wonder each one of us has now grown into a skilled person because of the holistic approach of this programme.  Click for picture 

A report from DLF Public School, Sahibabad