Totto-chan - Simar Kaur

My reflection post reading Totto-chan. 

What are the similarities and differences between Totto-chan and Simar?

Totto-chan is a free-spirited person who loves to find joy in the most mischievous and different activities. Even though, I try not to engage in playful activities, I love to try new things. Totto-chan is not outcome-driven. She likes to live in the moment and enjoy something to its extent. However, I am very much outcome driven and am a future-oriented person. She wants to just go for things. While, I am someone who creates a list of pros and cons in my mind even before taking small steps and think of worst-case scenarios and best-case scenarios and all the possible outcomes of taking that step. And thus, I take a long time to make even the simplest of decisions. I wish I were more of a spontaneous person like Totto-chan but growing up seems to get in the way of that.

But nonetheless, I try. I try to take chances and just go for it. But at the end of the day, I try to safe steps. Despite many differences, Totto-chan and I have some similarities in the Venn diagram above.

Why did Totto-chan need to lie to her mother about the dress despite knowing she wouldn't get scolded?

Even though Totto-chan was aware that her mother is a very patient and considerate person, she felt the need to lie to her mother about her torn dress. I believe that our parents, despite their patience, are our parents. They are the force that drives you to do good deeds so they are proud of you. However, when something terrible happens, many of us ought to lie to them to not upset them and clear our names off. According to some people, Totto-chan lied for her mother's sake so she wouldn't get upset on hearing about her favorite clothes getting torn. According to others, she lied for an hour's sake to avoid getting blamed for tearing the dress. But according to me, her reason for lying to her mom was a mixture of both. She didn't want to upset her mother and did not want to be the reason for her mom's disappointment. And thus, she chose to lie.

Many children lie to their parents even for the most minor things, but the ultimate truth, they are superheroes who have their ways of finding out everything. Their superpowers make us tell the truth without realizing it. The same thing happens with me. I have a bizarre habit of smiling vivaciously whenever I lie about something. For some reason, it also happens when I say the truth but get asked if I am lying. For instance, whenever I start watching YouTube without telling my mom at a time when I'm not supposed to watch it, and my mom comes and asks what I'm doing, I manage to change the screen, but the vast (and unflattering) smile on my face gives it all away. I perceive that as a superpower because as a kid, I am lovely at making stories for not doing something when its anyone other than my parents. But my annoyingly honest nature gives it away at the end of the day…

Written by Simar Kaur, Gyanshree School at Noida

A class with the Headmistress - Rishona Chopra

Today we had a substitute class with the Headmistress. For a second, I was scared, thinking she would scold us but the period turned out very fun!

I thought we would do Math and other written work, but ma'am told us that she wanted to listen to us talk, so for a while, we spoke to her and showed her our art files, and she patiently listened to us. She was like the headmaster in Totto-chan, who listened to her patiently. 

Then ma'am asked us which period we liked and why science was the most favoured period. So she started discussing the life cycle of a silk worm and how wearing silk kills silkworms. She shared how we should raise awareness about this. This also tells us about one of Dr Sibal's values - be the change you want to see in the world. So first, we should stop wearing silk and then tell others to do the same. 

Today was my first time having a class with the Headmistress in the school, and it was also the best class ever.

Rishona Chopra
Grade VI
Gyanshree School

Compassion - Arav Agarwal

Is Your Child Ready to Face the World?

After reading the chapter compassion in the book called Is Your Child Ready to Face the World? by Doctor Anupam Sibal, my reflection on compassion.

Compassion means understanding others' suffering and helping them just like Princess Diana and Mother Teresa did.

I learned the word compassion in the lockdown when I was reading a book called Planting Seeds by Thich Nhat Hanh. There is a chapter in the book called understanding and compassion. The chapter starts with a promise "I vow to develop compassion to protect the lives of people, animals, plants and minerals. The chapter says people like doing different things; suppose you want to read a book and your friend wants to play tennis, you can just read the book later and go out to play tennis with your friend. This small act of understanding and compassion will give your friend joy and make him happy, and you will become satisfied.

After reading that chapter, I realized that everyone was practising compassion and helping each other in the lockdown. We used to practice compassion by helping in household and office work and supporting each other as everything was closed. I also showed compassion and helped my parents in work by cleaning the house and helping in cooking. My parents understood that I couldn't meet my friends, so they played games like cricket, badminton and chess, which I play with my friends. Also, the vendors were very understanding and compassionate, and they used to deliver things quickly and also arranged if they didn't have that thing. Teachers practised compassion by rapidly adapting to online learning and making it fun for us, and being patient in teaching us.

We don't need to do something big to show compassion. Small acts of kindness will show compassion and make a big difference. Everyone can be compassionate; we don't need a superpower to be compassionate. If we do a small act of compassion, we can make a big difference in the person's life which we don't realize. As rightly said by the fourteenth Dalai Lama, "If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion."

Name: Arav Agarwal

Grade: 5C

Billabong High International School, Thane