Republic Day - Rishona Chopra

The very thing that decided the law and order of our country was brought into effect on January 26, 1950. The Constitution Of India, comprising 470 articles, grouped into 25 parts, with 12 schedules and  5 appendices. It has been amended 25 times! For us, it is a day full of hope that our next generation will be able to make this country improve and be better. For me, as a student, this day inspires me to make my country proud. Whether it is as a doctor, teacher, engineer, social worker, donator, prime minister or even the president. In every way I want to make my country a better and joyful place. I believe that many people aim very high but if we look around us, the ground is not clear. The actual grim reality lies around us which more of us don’t look at. And even without being associated with the government we can do our bit to make the change. My grandparents live in a colony and while I had gone to visit them I saw the children of the construction workers play nearby. So, I went down and I became their friend. Everyday, they used to come near our gate and I used to offer them a pack of chocolate biscuits. I don't know if they remember me but those memories make me so happy! Therefore, all of us can play our part in helping our country be a better place.

I would conclude this piece of writing by spreading the message to all my dear friends “ Every Indian should now forget that he is a Rajput, a Sikh or a Jat. He must remember that he is an Indian.”- Sardar Vallabhai Patel 

Rishona Chopra
Grade VI

Gyanshree School

Letter from Bhairavi Jani with ❤️

Dear Leaders and Members of My Good School, 

My school’s motto was: “Youth Shall Rebuild the World.” Our entire education process and curriculum was centered around the thought that learning is a life-long activity and schools must prepare students to be life-long learners. Understandably, the teachers too would teach with a method that nudged curiosity in us and inspired action. Often, the learning was done outside the classroom with well curated,long or short excursions. We had our own student parliament, elected by the students, every year. We fought elections with much fervor and the elected student government was given significant empowerment to decide on school rules, holidays, academics and student festivals and activities. 

 

When at school, India was not some distant idea for us, she was a person, fully present in our lives. We understood our relationship with our country from experiences both academic and otherwise. I think our founder’s vision was to prepare the young to act constructively for society, nation and the world, whenever and however the opportunity presented itself.

 

What I learnt at school became my talisman in life. I looked at each opportunity professionally or personally to unlearn and learn constantly. Life has now become my school. Therefore in 2014, when I decided to drive across India for 51 days with three friends, there was not much hesitation in my mind and heart. I had done this kind of learning for several years, through travel and meeting people everywhere. What I discovered in those 51 days and also from my travels for over two decades form the beating heart of my first book: “Highway to Swades – Rediscovering India’s Superpowers.”

What Highway to Swades expedition taught me was that our country is full of amazing people and their wonderful stories. Stories of love, harmony, peace, enterprise, nature, creativity, knowledge, commitment, inclusion, heritage, culture, assimilation, individualization, community, wellness, beauty, sacrifice, rituals, food and the arts. I call them India’s superpowers and the book tells stories of Indians from across the country and all walks of life who live and strive for these superpowers. 

 

What writing this book taught me was that we each have our own superpowers and we can call them to action for ourselves, our loved ones and for society at large. One of my superpowers is to listen and the other is to write and therefore I continue to engage with Indians everywhere and of all ages to understand more about who they, what they do, why they do it, what are their aspirations and dreams etc. This gives me immense hope as I think as a people we may be content but at the same time we are ambitious for our future as individuals and as a nation.

 

It is with this thought, that I want to engage with all of you, to listen more, to have meaningful dialogues and to see if individual or collective action is possible for what we care deeply about.

 

Looking forward!

 

Love,

Bhairavi

Find it all in this journey across 🇮🇳 

The River of Dreams

Power of Enterprise

Power of Nature

Power of Heritage

Power of Creativity

Power of Knowledge

Power of Food

Power of Beauty

Power of Wellness

Power of Assimilation

Power of Inclusion

Power of Individual

Power of Community

Call to Action

More when we meet Bhairavi at My Good School 

Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war - Reveda Bhatt

The renowned English poet John Milton once wrote in a letter to English General Oliver
Cromwell- “Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war.”

The fact that the majority of the world demands justice by sole means of war forgets that
there is a concept of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, known as peace!
The word peace is derived from the original Latin word ‘pax‘, which means a pact,
an agreement to end the war.

Trust me, it’s not as tough as it seems to be; there are millions of people who’ve lost their
lives to violence and many who’ve lost their beloved ones to brutality.

It’s all a perspective-based scenario, a country which loses its soldiers to another
considers them to be martyrs while the other one calls them terrorists, who, instead of
fighting to create peace, get rested in peace.

We, people, do not understand that the peace created after the war is not exactly

‘real peace’ but a helpless and tarnished aftermath of the most severe form of violence. We
do attain peace. We are left with no choice.

On the other hand, the victory procured by maintaining peace is totally and wholly different,
it does uphold happiness and agreement.

Our latest witness of violence was the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which was heartbreaking. On the one hand, Russian President Vladimir Putin constantly sent orders to attack Ukraine. At the same time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wasn’t ready to order his military to back off and surrender. Therefore, I guess we have all seen the aftermath with our own eyes.

Peace was always an option for them, and cooperation was an option for them, but they chose
war, and war it is, then.

Coming back to the word ‘peace’, apart from being a pleasant word, it also refers to a
peaceful society and a beautiful world.

According to Lao Tzu‘s famous saying:
If there is peace in the world,
there must be peace in the nations.
If there is peace in the countries,
there must be peace in the cities.
If there is peace in the cities,
there must be peace between neighbours.
There must be peace in the home if there is peace between neighbours.
If there is peace in the house, there must be peace in the heart.

Thank you!

Reveda Bhatt

The Aryan School, Grade 9

This is a post from her speech at school.

Experience - Jyotirmay Nag

When my teacher told me to do a short role-play of our real hero and a great freedom fighter Chandra Shekhar Azad to celebrate our 75th Independence Day, I became very excited as he is the true example of freedom and inspiration of millions of Indians. 

We can never forget his sacrifice for our country. He loved his country more than anything. I was glad to play a short role-play with such a great person. I learnt the dialogues and practised with my teacher through voice calls and video calls.

My grandmother and my mother helped me to dress up and to make the video. It was such a wonderful experience for me. We all should remember the sacrifices of our freedom fighters as because of them, we are enjoying our freedom today.

We should never do things that harm our country. We must think of how we can make our country more beautiful and a peaceful place to live.

Jyotirmay Nag

Class V

The Fabindia School