The Annual Dr. Prem Kirpal Memorial Inter School Art and Poetry Competitions – ‘Art Poetica’ was hosted by DPS RK Puram recently, in loving memory of the former Chairman of DPS Society, Dr. P.N. Kirpal.

Students from 31 schools took part in the competitive events, ‘Blend Art’, ‘Artistic Poesy’, ‘Lyrical Canvas’, ‘Lime in Rhyme’, ‘Inverse Rhapsody’, and ‘Stage-A-Verse’. The events provided the students with a platform to showcase and express their abilities towards literature and art. The overall winners of the event were Springdales School, Dhaula Kuan.

Blend Art involved recitation, dramatization, and capturing the essence of the poem in a painting or a sketch. In Artistic Poesy, participants were provided with a series of pictures and were required to compose a ballad on them.  Lyrical Canvas had participants capturing the predominant feeling from a line of a poem. Inverse Rhapsody was in an innovative competitive format where participants in duos expressed a dominant and an opposing emotion from a poem that was provided to them. In Stage-A-Verse, students wrote a script offstage in verse on a visual prompt and enacted it on stage.

Lime- in-Rhyme required the participants to create limericks based on verbal inputs within a time frame and recitation on-stage.

The Chief Guest of the function was Mr. V.K. Shunglu, Chairman of the DPS Society and DPS R.K.Puram Managing Committee, accompanied by Mrs. Shunglu. Member of the DPS Society and former Chief Justice of India, Honorable Justice B.N. Kirpal was the Guest of Honour and was accompanied by his wife, Mrs. Aruna Kirpal.

Other prominent dignitaries who graced the occasion included the Vice Chairman of the DPS Society and Member of the DPS R.K. Puram Managing Committee, Rear Admiral M.M. Chopra; Honorary Treasurer, DPS Society and Vice Chairman of the Managing Committee of DPS R.K Puram, Mr. Pramod Grover; Members of the DPS Society and of the Managing Committee of DPS R.K Puram, Prof. B.P. Khandelwal, Ms. Namita Pradhan, Ms. Vrinda Sarup, Dr. Kiran Datar ;Members of the DPS Society, Dr. Usha Luthra, Ms. Shovana Narayan ; Members of the Managing Committee of DPS R.K Puram, Prof. Dr. Harsh Wardhan, Dr. Sudipta Ghose; Sports Director DPS Society, Dr D R Saini. Also present at the event were Mrs. Amita Mishra, Principal DPS International and Mr. Anupam Jagga, Principal DPS Bulandshahr. The guests were welcomed by the Principal, Ms. Vanita Sehgal and the Heads of the English and Art Department, Dr. Atika  Dayal and Mr. Amit Rajput

The Principal, Ms. Vanita Sehgal, began her welcome address by quoting Plutarch, ‘Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks’. She traced the journey of the event, which started as a tribute to late Dr. Prem Kirpal, and has now become one of the most popular and anticipated events of the year. She extended a warm welcome to the special guests who graced the event. She quoted Neil Gaiman that, ‘Every book is a dream that one holds in one’s hand’, so any individual who says one lifetime is not enough to do all one wants has definitely not read a book. She said the proverb ‘The pen is mightier than the sword’ is absolutely true as the writers and artists have the power to dispel gloominess and bridge cultural and generational gaps but they shouldn’t misuse or underestimate it. Lastly, she thanked the organisers Ms Atika Dayal, Mr. Amit Rajput, Ms. Sonali Dash, Ms. Abha Chona, Ms. M Sudeshna, Ms Sudeepta Chatterjee as well as the students for their hardwork.

The cultural programme consisted of a beautiful theatrical performance of Sophocles’ ‘Antigone’ by the students of DPS R.K. Puram. The theatrical play was an extravaganza and enacted to perfection by excellent actors in impeccable costumes. Following this, Mr. V.K Shunglu and Justice B.N.Kirpal released the Annual English Literary Book, ‘The Bubbling Cauldron’.

The Chief Guest, Mr. V.K. Shunglu, addressed the audience by imparting a very important life lesson about power corrupting individuals, and advised that we should not let power accumulate but rather exercise it in a plural form. He commended and highly praised the high quality performances in the play.

Winner’s table-

NAME OF EVENT	NAME OF SCHOOL	POSITION
ARTISTIC POESY	Dps ,Gurgaon Cambridge Foundation School, Rajouri garden Summerfields School	1ST 2ND 3RD
INVERSE RHAPSODY	Bluebells International  School Dps,  Vasant Kunj Dps International	1ST 2ND 3RD
LIME IN RHYME	Dps, Noida Dps, Greater Noida Dps, Mathura Road	1ST 2ND 3RD
STAGE-A-VERSE	Springdales, Pusa Road Dps, Vasant Kunj Mount Carmel, Anand Niketan	1ST 2ND 3RD
LYRICAL CANVAS	Tagore International Cambridge School, Noida Holy Child Auxillium School	1ST 2ND 3RD
BLEND ART	Springdales, Dhaula Kuan Dps, Indrapuram Ahlcon International	1ST 2ND 3RD