Fun Clubs
The first week of December brought in cheer, laughter and camaraderie amongst the staff at NPSI. The middle and senior leaders came together to create various fun clubs which were organised everyday for the staff on a rotational basis. With specific time allotted for each activity, faculty members got an opportunity to attend a variety of recreational activities and to connect with their peers through these online fun clubs.
The Principal Ms Sudha Balan and Ms. Vijayalakshmi Shankar conducted their club on ‘Mindfulness – A journey towards happiness’. The sessions focused on creating different mudras via different configurations of our fingers by which we are tapping into that powerful energy. Certain mudras like Prana mudra, Varuna mudra, Prithvi mudra, Apana vayu mudra etc., were performed to highlight their amazing health benefits and how our health is literally in our hands. This was followed by the Guided meditation led by Sadhguru and Isha kriya, that brought in calmness, peace and balance. In the words of the participants, it was an enlightening experience.
The Karaoke fun club, organised by Ms Mallika Padmavathy looked to nurture the talent of singing and appreciating music. With the participants favourite karaoke numbers in hand, MS Mallika witnessed enthusiastic participation from the staff members. With disco-themed backdrops, some preferred to sing solo while others hummed to their favourite songs in groups.
Ms Nalini B and Ms Jayalakshmi M brought in a twist to the art of paper folding with ‘Storigami’. They weaved in the skill of storytelling and the beauty of Math along with Origami to offer an interesting session that saw teachers try their hand on origami while learning a new skill that could be employed in their own classes. Several participants expressed their interest in taking this session into their classroom soon. Ms Radhika Madhavan and Ms Swarnalatha Venkatesan organised the ‘Busy Brains and Mirthful Memes’ club, intended to exercise the brain and laugh out loud to relax. Simple yet interesting activities witnessed teachers activate both sides of the brain. As participants engaged in these seemingly simple exercises, they realised it wasn’t as easy as they thought. Fun and laughter prevailed. Mirthful Memes was an absolute laugh riot with memes of different kinds including plight of teachers, online classes shared. The club truly brought cheer to the existing routine.
‘The Trio’, organised by Ms. Indumathi K K, Ms. Prabha Venkatesh, Ms Indu Kasthuri sought to encourage teachers to connect with their colleagues and share lighter moments. The Trio consists of three segments – Travel Diaries, The Pet Club and Humour Club. With Travel Diaries, participants travelled through time to revisit memory lane and shared their travel experiences. Pet Club witnessed teachers share interesting stories and photos with their pets, facts on their pets followed by a fun quiz testing their knowledge on pets. The session was relaxing and enjoyable. Humour Club was a narration of a personal story titled ‘Behind the Scenes’ that kept all the teachers wondering ‘what happened next?’. A riot of laughter ensued at the end of the session.
Word Wizard, conducted by Ms Ranjani Ayyar and Ms Aishwarya Rangarajan saw participants engage in word play. From creating innovative stories by connecting seemingly disconnected words to speaking on the spot, the session saw teachers create rib-tickling narrations. Participants had a blast as they connected with each other and let their hair down.
Ms Chaitali Avinash conducted ‘Mandala Art’, a session that witnessed participants create some beautiful art pieces. Varied emotions from wonder to surprise and pride were experienced by staff members as they quietly worked on their art under Ms Chaitali’s guidance. Many reported feeling relaxed and calm through the exercise.
The Fun Clubs initiative is yet another effort at NPSI to better staff wellbeing and bring cheer into their routine.