Pepsi-South Breeze School Basketball Tournament 2003

Recently, an inter-school basketball tournament was held at the Dhanmondi Wooden Floor Gymnasium. Jointly sponsored by Transcom Beverage and South Breeze School, both boys' and girls' teams from different schools participated in this tournament. Twelve schools participating in the boys' tournament were: St. Gregory's School, SFX Green Herald, Scholastica, South Breeze, Sunbeams, BIT, St. Joseph School, Maple Leaf, European Standard School, Sunnydale, Bangladesh Navy School and Fariduddin School. The girls' teams from six schools, namely South Breeze, Sunbeams, Maple Leaf, Scholastica, Sunnydale and BIT also participated in the tournament.

The tournament started on the 20th of September. It was inaugurated by education minister, Dr. M. Osman Farooq. Other distinguished guests present were Major General (Retd.) Z. A. Khan, President of Bangladesh Basketball Federation, Mr. Salim Chowdhury, Secretary General of Bangladesh Basketball Federation, Ms. Zeenat Chowdhury, principal of South Breeze School and others.
The tournament lasted for nearly two weeks. There were at least two games each day. Hundreds of people flooded the gallery each day as they came to watch their schools take on other schools and to encourage their players. Each afternoon the gymnasium would be filled with the ear-piercing shriek of the referee's whistle, the steady pounding of the ball on the wooden floor, and of course the mad cheering of the wild crowd! The lively slogans of the South Breeze crowd, the enthusiastic cheering of the Sunbeamers, the energetic drumming of the Maple Leaf people and loud din of the Scholastican supporters, banging bottles against the railings were a
few examples of the wild cheering.

After all the exciting matches in the preliminary rounds, the top two boys' and girls' teams reached the finals which was held on the 4th of October. The girls' teams of South Breeze and Sunbeams met in the finals, while in the boys' section SFX Green Herald and St. Gregory's School made it to the finals. Unbeaten in any previous match, St. Gregory's School clinched the championship title by narrowly defeating Green Herald by 80-78 in a breathtaking match. The trophy just slipped out of the hands of Green Herald who had taken a healthy lead. But the Gregorians made an amazing comeback in the last quarter of the game. In the girls' match, South Breeze defeated Sunbeams 35-22, thus securing the title of unbeaten champions.

The State Minister for Finance, Shah Mohammed Abul Hossain, witnessed the two final matches and handed over the medals and trophies among the players. The principal of South Breeze school, Ms. Zeenat Chowdhury and Executive Director of Transcom Beverage, Mr. Golam Quddus Chowdhury were also present among the guests.

Before the prize distribution ceremony, the State Minister for Finance addressed the players. In his short speech, he expressed his delight in watching the games. He also added that he was especially pleased to see girls coming forward in such areas as sports. Then he handed out the prizes to the players. The ecstatic crowd cheered loudly as their schools came forward to receive the trophies. There were two crests for special achievement throughout the tournament. Among the boys, Pullak of St. Gregory's won the player of the tournament award and among the girls, Turfa of South Breeze was adjudged the best player.

-- By Nusrat

Omikronik Rupantor

Omikronik Rupantor is a book that has impressed me greatly. The book contains 9 short stories and all of them are science fictions. And to my opinion, Md. Zafar Iqbal can write them best. The first story is Ahammak and it is about an idiot scientist called Ricky. He is a great scientist and very proud of himself. He accomplished to go to the future. But there he finds out that there is none to welcome him WARMLY.

The next story is Somoyer Opoboloy. In this story, Riga, a computer programmer, determines to reveal the mystery of a disaster that happened two hundred years ago.

Bish was a very shocking story for me. It has a very sad and shocking ending. In this story, Kim Jiban, a scientist, discovers that men are being controlled by another species. But how? That's the reason of my shock. Groono Robot is a story in which some ridiculous scientists create a robot that is similar to a man. They want these Groono Robots to be in all professions that men do.

Onishchit Jogot is a sad one. Professor Raukh finds out that there is another world alongside ours. One is uncertain between them. So the people of the uncertain world decide to kill the old Professor in order to protect themselves.

Swapno. In this story Julian sees a dream and then accomplishes to find out that his life is a dream also! Shocking, ain't it? Ami Ribak is about a person called Ribak and his robot who is very vulnerable! So the vulnerable robot suddenly appears instead of Ribak!

Norok is another shocking one. Shoo, an astronaut, has to die in order to save the other astronauts. But her sacrifice becomes useless as the other astronauts die except one. But afterwards Shoo succeeds to punish the killer! No, it's not a ghost story.

And the last one is Omikronik Rupantor. Men had to computerize themselves (!) when the Earth became unworthy to live in. But Elen, an astronaut, lived in the space (sleeping) for several years and so she was the only one to live as a man. It's a sad story. Omikronik Rupantor is a book full of surprising, sad and shocking stories. I hope all readers would like this book. Gyankosh Prokashony first published this book on February, 1992.

-- By Fahmina Nahid

Campus News

AKSD Defeats BIT…

AKSD defeats Bangladesh International Tutorial(B.I.T.) in a 7-a side Soccer Tournament held at the AKSD ground on the 24th and 26th of September. Green Herald, ISD, B.I.T. and AKSD were the only schools taking part in the tournament. The later two made their ways to the final game.

The B.I.T. team played really well under the supervision of the coach Mainul Haque Chowdhury. The players who went to the game were Nazib, Raisath, Hasnat, Khalid, Shamine, Saad, Rubaiat, Mohammed, Amit and Samiur. The manager of the Mashroor Haider also did his job well in the tournament. The B.I.T. players played with great effort but lost the tournament by only one goal.

Though the B.I.T. Soccer team lost this tournament, but still they do not lose hope to win the upcoming tournaments, and looks forward to take part in them. After all "A winner is not one who never loses, but who never quits."

-- By Zia Ashraf

CGS book fair 2003!

Many of us love reading ­ I know I do. Yet, we all have different choices on what we like reading and what we don't. So a place where loads of books are available, and all WE need to do is choose is simply heaven.
Chittagong Grammar School (CGS) has once again staged a 'Book Fair' to celebrate the importance and role of books in our lives. This time the general theme was "Harry Potter", which many of us are familiar with. Last year's book fair (held in October in the span of five days) was a huge success, and this year's one was an even bigger hit than expected.

This year's book fair was held on the 25th and 26th of September. The highlight of this and last year's book fair is that everything, I mean EVERYTHING, is being done by the students here. Last year the senior most class, class 11, took care of the organisation; this year the new class 11 shared the responsibility with class 12 (although the majority of volunteers were still from 12). CGS believes in including such Extra-Curricular Activities to promote the minds of students, and encouraging them in other fields apart from studies (after all ­ "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"). Many of the volunteers this year staying back and helping out have exams starting (A Level exams) from mid October, but are still participating enthusiastically. Talk about being All-Rounders!

The book fair in itself was a highly organised affair. The students followed with a frenzy week of preparation, where even in the midst of all the hustle and bustle we still found time to squabble over the most insignificant details, like how to decorate the books on the shelves!
We set many teams up with students in charge ­ Ushers (to show people around and take care of parents, parades, awards, etc), Sales Team (to basically sell, keep track of books sold and prices, doing inventory work), Entertainment Team (to take care of announcements and parade as people from 'Harry Potter'), Accounts Team (taking in the money and handing out change, keeping record, and most importantly not losing any money!) and the Art Team whose basic task was to decorate the entire hall room as the magical Harry Potter
world ( a job done excellently; somehow Naureen, who is the leader of the team, of Class 12, manages to produced the exact desired effect ­ now that's what I call REAL talent!).

On the evening of the 24th, we had everything set in place for the book fair the next day, and after a prep talk from Mrs. Ispahani (Academics Director and also main organiser), we went home - tired but anticipating. Last year, when volunteering, I was with the senior sales team and had to put up with the challenge of selling books to customers who were determined to get their every penny's worth. This year I had decided to stick with the "Accounts" team at the last minute, and I had no idea what it would be like!

The first rush of customers threatened to almost overwhelm us. We were taking in vouchers, taking money, getting mixed up about change and getting confused about who had paid and who hadn't! There were twelve of us manning the accounts, each couple in charge of a specific class for a specific amount of time. My partner and I finally managed to find an organised method to collect money and hand over the correct books to the respective customers, and so managed to handle the whole thing with style. It was a huge responsibility cause if any money was messed up, we would be held responsible for it!

Overall, the book fair was a huge success. Students from other schools also put in appearances and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Volunteers got the chance to experience the thrill of working "inside" a project. All the organisers and the volunteers relaxed afterwards by having a celebration party to let off steam. Exhausting work, but nevertheless fulfilling to the end.

-- By Jennifer Ashraf

The Rock Runs Down

"Finally, The Rock has come back to Hollywood!"

The Rock, a.k.a The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment is back on Hollywood with a new movie. The man who electrified the fans on wrestling started his movie career as a monster in The Mummy Returns, and then as the action figure of The Scorpion King. But with his latest release, The Rock's essential acting skills are tested.

'The Rundown' is the latest released movie, featuring The Rock, Christopher Walken and Seann Scott Williams a mixture of action and comedy, and is bound to catch the spotlight. The Rock stars as Beck, who is on a mission to rescue a lost recruit (Scott). On the way, they have their own rows along with the fights deep down in the Amazon. You can witness it, when Scott says, "Give me another chance Beck."

The humorous reply comes from the cold voice of The Rock "I'll give you another chance to shut your mouth!"
The movie is an overall entertainment, and another big step of The Rock, to becoming a leading actor in the Hollywood. Scott has done a great job too, who did a more serious role than his previous one in American Pie.
And Christopher Walken is widely known for his movies, as well as his performance in a music video of Fatboyslim 'Weapon of Choice'.

The Rundown is well placed in the 'Yahoo! Movies' top chart at number one this week. The critics have rated it A-, a pretty good achievement for a family action film. However, the rising success of the most electrifying man is leaving a tiny dark hole in some hearts.

It is worrying news for the WWE fans that The Rock may not return to the arena. He is signing new contracts, and is also signed in to act the role of the animated character Johnny Bravo. The seven-time champion, however, has left a big part of him in his home of wrestling, and nothing is confirmed yet.

You could go ahead and enjoy The Rundown as a movie, and witness the gradual steps taken by The Rock in his new journey after accomplishing 'absolutely everything' in his previous voyage in the WWE. Will the man, who is predicted by some to become a new Arnold Schwarzenegger of Hollywood, go on top of this industry? Well, for now, we have to smell what The Rock is cooking with The Rundown.

-- By Azhar Chowdhury