Uniting for a kick-start – the daily morning ritual called ‘assembly’
While lost in
the nostalgic sound of school bell; another regular routine bringing a fresh,
new day at school caught my attention. Starting the daily schedule with
prayers, hymns, songs, thoughts, news, school anthem while hoping for a good
day ahead, these assemblies played an important energizing role. Waking each
one’s sleepy mind and preparing it for the session of the day undoubtedly
spelled out a lot of work.
Initiated
with an aim to bring all students together, promote exchange of thoughts and
information, provide a platform to address the entire crowd and sing anthems to
celebrate the pride and glory of school, these assemblies were a blend of many things
together. With ‘interesting’ and ‘not so interesting’ features of the assembly,
this timely management of a daily morning show certainly deserved credit.
A school that
encouraged its students to excel in every possible domain, we got the
opportunity to participate in assemblies right since our primary days. With a
new class conducting the assembly each day, the schedule offered an equal
chance for every division. Hoping to bag some exciting portion, while
contributing ideas as a team; planning and practicing for assembly was total
fun.
During the
primary grades, this planning was in safe hands of the class teacher. As
innocent and sincere kids, our job was to follow the instructions and wait for
praises! Eliminating fear of speaking over the microphone, our teachers always
encouraged every student to participate. Practicing, enjoying, worrying when
the assembly proceeded in a flawless manner; it offered fame, happiness, pride that
lasted all day long.
Hearing our name
in assembly was the greatest highlight as we hoped every friend, teacher and
classmate took a note of our performance! Being happy about the task assigned for assembly, several days were spent soaked in its stories, both at home and
school.
In senior
years, as the baton of planning, executing, conducting and presenting a class
assembly was transferred in our hands, it changed the entire experience. Hunting
for ideas, searching for novelties, discussing contents and deciding participants
offered total entertainment. Topped with several arguments as we struggled to
find a solution, our teachers were undoubtedly essential for the final verdict.
Interesting features like news, puzzles, and jokes always encountered
competition while dry sections like thoughts and articles struggled to find
participants.
Set against the
backdrop of innovative themes, famous characters, interesting stories or novel
plots; introducing the flow of items in an assembly was the most challenging
task. Experimenting with unique ideas such as television series, movie story, a
talk show or an interview, it was always exciting to look at compering ideas by
different classes.
Hosting the assembly as a compere or reading out
news as a reporter were my favorite activities, as I prayed to bag this role
during every turn of our class assembly.
So, while
conducting and participating in an assembly was an enjoyable experience,
listening to assemblies presented by others appeared extremely difficult!
Instructed by teachers to stay disciplined and appreciate the efforts of others
taught us the role of audience. Staying silent and lending a patient ear to the
person over mic was undoubtedly the first step towards success. It made us
realize that the journey of a successful presenter starts from the audience!
Though we
usually heard this morning assembly from our classroom, one designated day of
the week brought us closer to it, as our entire class stood in the school hall.
Fearing to be within the visible radius of Principal, this important day
demanded all possible attention and discipline hidden deep within.
While singing
the school anthem every passing day, I never imagined there was so much power
in its words back then. With boredom and compulsion, as we joined in its tune
as a regular chore, its rhythm and melody feel wonderful today.While
remembering those beautiful moments at school, singing anthem with friends proved
to be one of the best experiences of school life.
Wish we could
record a video of our assembly at that very moment or capture images of the
regime at that very instant. Though it is not possible now, melodious memories
of this assembly shall always play the nostalgic tune.
Let’s think
about these wonderful assemblies we all had in school, though we were forced to
pay attention back then, we shall thoroughly enjoy them today!
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