Ritanjali Hastir, Associate Editor, 12th May, 2016, Shimla
Creativity is like a soldier loyal till you die. Everyone is born creative but very few remain so by the time life is in its full swing. To polish the writing skills of students a workshop on creative and poetry writing by Dr. Meenakshi F. Paul, double gold medals in English – M.A. and M.Phil was organized where she shared her valuable advice for students when it comes to writing.
She said that it is not possible to teach how to write since it is something inbuilt. Various topics such as element, plot, characters and unity of time, action and place were explained to the students. The workshop was extremely entertaining as through her voice modulation she spell bounded the listeners and the whole auditorium was brought to life with laughter. She simplified the entire art of story writing to make it look like something very tempting and entertaining.
After the workshop all the students were filled with new confidence and were set to take up the writing competition that was held thereafter. It was based on two categories – prose and poetry writing. In Category A students from Classes 9-10 and in Category B Classes 11-12 participated.
Students from various schools including Auckland House for Boys and Girls, St. Edward, Monal, Chapslee, DAV New Shimla, DAV Lakkar Bazaar, BCS, Chelsea and St. Thomas participated.
The judges for the day’s competition were Chriselle Fernandes John and Dr. Meenakshi F.Paul. Chriselle John is a writer & teacher who has taught in CBSE & ICSE Schools in Mumbai. She has also completed her Advanced Diploma in Creative Writing from Symbiosis University, Pune. She ia also the author of the Book “Heart Escapedes”. Dr. Meenakshi F Paul is a Professor of English at the H.P University. She has published several articles & book including a volume on Bi-lingual poetry.
The guest of honour for the competition was Dr. Attey Prim, who is a creative writer & poetess. She retired from H.P. Agriculture University, Palampur as an Associate Professor in the Department of English.
Results of competition were as follows:
Poetry writing, Category A winners included St. Edward first, Auckland House for Girls second, Chelsea third and consolation prize to BCS. Category B – winners included DAV New Shimla first, Chelsea second, Auckland House for girls third and consolation prize to St. Edward.
Prose writing Group A – winners included Auckland House Girls School first, St. Edward second, BCS third and consolation prize to Chelsea. Group B – winners included Auckland House Girls first, BCS second, Chapslee third and consolation to DAV Lakkar Bazaar.
