Swami and Friends: The Value of Friendship - Oshi Singh

You often hear people saying school life is the best. Wonder why people say that? Well, maybe because we spend the most fun and memorable moments of our lives in school with our friends. Gradually, we stop thinking about catching up with our old friends when we grow older. We keep making new friends and forgetting about the old ones.

Friends have one of the biggest influences in our lives. Having a good and faithful friend is the most valuable treasure one can have. Next week we will be reading a fascinating book by RK Narayan, "Swami And Friends". The story takes place during British rule in the year 1930. The story is about a group of friends living in Malgudi and their friendship. The story's young protagonist Swami and his friends teach us many valuable lessons about life, like celebrating & accepting our differences, the innocence of youth, and the importance of friendship in one's life.

I'm looking forward to reading RK Narayan's first and one of the most famous books.

Written by Oshi Singh

Gyanshree School, Noida

Making Mistakes, Accepting Flaws - Arav Agarwal

Based on the chapter Making Mistakes, Accepting Flaws, from the book is your child ready to face the world by Dr Anupam Sibal.

We are humans, we tend to make mistakes, and we should accept the mistakes. We should reflect and learn from our mistakes and not repeat the same mistakes.

Let’s take the example of Thomas Edison. When he invented the light bulb, he failed 999 times! Then in an interview, he was asked how was it like to fail 999 times. He said, “I did not fail 999 times but only found 999 ways of how not to invent the light bulb.” Every time he made a mistake, he learned from it and improved. Imagine if he had given up and not learned from his mistakes, our life would be without light.

We should not expect everyone to be flawless in everything. There is a beautiful story in this book called the two pots. It teaches us that we should see goodness in our flaws. We should accept it, and mistakes are a part of our growth in our life.  

Name: Arav Agarwal
Grade: 5C
Billabong High International School, Thane

Making Mistakes, Accepting Flaws- Aanya Kumar

 

In the reading session on 19/12/2021, I understood that we humans tend to make mistakes. We are often told that making mistakes is wrong. But mistakes aren’t crimes. It was new learning to me that Thomas Alva Edison failed 999 times while spreading light across the world or inventing the light bulb. A journalist asked him how it felt to fail a bundle of times when he was finally successful. He replied that he had not been failing all that time, but he learned 999 ways by which a light bulb could not be made. So, it is okay to make mistakes but not to repeat them. 

I have made many mistakes, but my parents have always encouraged me to learn from them. I know that I will continue to make mistakes, but that will give me the wisdom to be a better individual. As the saying goes, “Learn from your mistakes”.

Name- Aanya Kumar

Grade- V

School- Gyanshree School

Respect - Tamanna Solanki

Tamanna Solanki

Respect is the most recurring human value among all other human values. It is of two types: self-respect (self-esteem) and respect for others. I think we all learn it by experience. It can't be inherent, but it is learned very early in life through various experiences. It is as simple as acknowledging the presence of the other being. Mere recognizing and accepting the point of view of the other person and giving him or her due consideration is showing respect. We can be respectful of anyone's deeds, opinions, rights, dignity, decisions, likes or dislikes, etc.

Before learning how to respect others, I, rather, naturally go through a journey to recognize how it feels to be respected. I simply feel respected when my parents listen to me, when they ask my opinion on trivial family matters, when my mentors acknowledge my curiosity, doubts and responses. I feel respected when my friends consider my opinion and collaborate and cooperate with me now and then. And all these things taught me to be respectful to others irrespective of their age. This develops self-esteem, which also gives us confidence and courage and a very positive feeling. 

Most of the time, when we respect others, we are likely to get it back. But, I feel we can never be certain that giving respect ensures getting respect. As the saying goes, "Respect is not demanded; it is commanded". So, for commanding respect, we need to become worthy of others' respect. Since we are living in a society, respect for others is a must value to inculcate. And this can be done only when we respect ourselves first.

In the end, I would like to say that respect is a vital human value that is necessary for adapting to social behaviour and, therefore human survival.

Tamanna Solanki 

Class VII

The Fabindia School