Friendship - Aryama Shukla

Life is a long journey, and your friends make it more cheerful. When you're sad, your friends make you smile, laugh and giggle and make your life fun. They help you to avoid obstacles in life. They support you when you are in need, and you should too. Not only that, but they also play with us and encourage us to do the right thing. We are stronger together. Some of my good friends are Janya, Mishika and Aarohi. They have the power to make me happy just by talking to me!

 Besides humans, I have other friends too, some of them are animals and books. When I am in my house, I usually get bored. One day,  when I went to visit my big brother. I saw a dog !! He was named Jacky, and he was white in colour. I loved to play with him. He was very soft. Even though I cannot understand his language(he can't understand my language too :) ), my younger brother, my elder brother and I always understood him. I loved to go to my big brother's house to meet Jacky from then onwards.

 Let me tell you a small story about how books became my friends. I was getting bored one day, so I asked my mother, "What should I do, Mom". My mother said, "Beta read books. They will become your best friends, and you will never get bored throughout your life". After some days I tried to read a book, slowly I started reading at a faster pace, and from then the journey of reading books started. I now love reading books :). That is how books became my friends.  

Aryma Shukla
Grade III
Gyanshree School

Giving - Rishona Chopra

 

Based on the chapter 'giving' from the book Is Your Child Ready To Face The World by Dr Anupam Sibal.

When God blesses you financially, don't raise your standard of living. Raise your standard of giving.

                                                                                                                   - Mark Batterson

It is true what Mark Batterson has said, we should give not only when we are rich in our everyday lives, we should raise our standard of giving, it may not be just giving money, even giving a toy to a person who needs it or a book is an act of giving too! 

A small act of giving could mean everything for a person. Giving not only makes the other person happy, but it makes us happy too. As said, ' make others happy, and you will be happy in the same way ' give and give, and you will feel better.

Bill Gates, one of the wealthiest people in the world, still has a kind, generous heart. When we are super rich or famous, we tend to become more competitive, and while doing that, we sometimes forget about the value of giving. Giving did no harm to Bill Gates; in fact, he has succeeded as a better human being. This isn't supposed to mean that we only give when we are super-rich; we can give as we wish.

We can give hope, love and happiness, and that is, in fact, faithful giving. When we give, we shouldn't expect the same from a person. We should give from our hearts.

I donate the things I don't need anymore to a suitable NGO. That, too, is giving. It doesn't mean that those things I am giving are dirty or nasty; they are as good as new. This brings a smile to the poor and my face too. Looking at one more advantage is that my room is better organized!!

Rishona Chopra
Grade V
Gyanshree School

Friendship - Aanya Kumar

We all have friends, and among them, some friends are very close to us, and we love calling them our best friends. But what exactly does friendship mean? Friends make us feel secure, comfortable and we feel happy to be the way we are. We are not hesitant while sharing our secrets or emotions with them and make them our confidantes. What should we do to strengthen our bond with our friends? We should be loyal to our friends. Also, a friend should not feel insecure with us. The responsibility of maintaining our friendship is not only on us, but it is a relationship based on mutual trust and respect. Friendship is a virtue to be learnt because true friends are always there by our side, supporting us.

Aanya Kumar

Gyanshree School

Grade- V-A

Making Others Happy - Jahnvi Kumar

 

This is all about Making Others Happy & even though this will be a concise post, I hope you will enjoy it...

No need to talk about the good sides of a person. Only make them feel that they are touching the heights of greatness, of grace. You could find your happiness in the smiles of others.

Be The Reason For Others Smile.

Happiness lies in making others happy.

Thank You!

Jahnvi Kumar
Grade VI
Gyanshree School

Friendship - Avantika Subramanian

Friendship is a connection between two people who would do everything to protect you and have fun with you, and it makes you feel better. I have experienced something similar. I was coming to school when some kids made fun of me. I started crying because I was pretty sensitive back then. I went to my class, put on my bag and put my head down. My friend noticed this and told my teacher. She told me that my name was unique and there was no reason that I should cry. That made me feel better. I told my parents that this had happened. They told me that it was okay and I shouldn’t cry. I am speaking about this story because my friend noticed that I was crying. Your friend will help you too because they are our friends and help us when needed. In conclusion, we must cherish the Friendship we have with people who make us laugh and help us when in need.

Avantika Subramanian

Grade V

Gyanshree School

Never Give Up Hope - Anvesha Rana

                                                            

"Hope is the last thing ever lost."

Life is a unique journey filled with twists and turns, preaching and learning, hardships and mirth but the thing that remains constant in life is that we keep moving forward. In order to remain balanced on a cycle it is essential to continue pedaling, but how do we move on if all our energy has been already drained ? How do we overcome problems and welcome a new phase ? Sometimes in life we may feel dejected, we may feel as if we have lost a battle but it is in these dark moments that the mind unravels, turns the pages and creates a new future all because of hope. There is no medicine or tonic as powerful as hope. Hope is trust mixed with love and faith, along with belief. Hope can make someone live again, it can teach someone to smile again and it can inspire someone to be good again. 

Our history is a witness of people who demonstrated extraordinary hope. Professor Stephen Hawking is a name that demands not only appreciation but immense respect for achieving the impossible when all the odds were not in favor. Other people who taught us to be the same whether God is with us or not are Lorenzo, Augusto and Michaela Odone. They sent the message out loud that parents of children with ALD should not give up hope and expect their child to die, instead they should find ways to stop the spread of this fatal disease. Another girl Jody Miller suffered from RE, her only treatment was a radical surgery that involved removing half the brain. Her parents understood the need but they thrusted in all their efforts to make the surgery as safe as possible, today Jody is a school teacher and lives a wonderful life. 

When we look at children suffering from rare diseases, we see that each day is a torture, each injection is pain and every hospital looks no different than death yet these young kids put on a brave face and smile, yet they seek the day when they will recover and yet they wait for the moment when they will also be able to do things normally. When such kids can understand the meaning of life, when they can keep hope and anticipate a fun day, why can't we ? 

Anvesha Rana, 

9-B, 

Gyanshree School

Are your thoughts free - Rishona Chopra

Often people say things that hurt us and then capture our thoughts. 
Like, when someone says, “you are not good at drawing at all. I am much better.” These things hurt us, and then we usually start criticizing ourselves. Their thoughts about us capture our thoughts. What people say about us is not necessarily who we are. 
We are who we think we are, so if we start thinking about ourselves as someone else thinks, our thoughts are not free. We are not free at all.

So people can say what they want to, of course, if they say something we must see if what they are saying is true but if not then don’t think about what they say because if your mind doesn’t have free thoughts, then you are not free and if you are not free then how will you be happy and if you are not satisfied then how will you feel peace and if you have no peace then you don’t have a wonderful, happy and peaceful life. And I’m sure all of us want a happy life. Don’t we?

Rishona Chopra Grade V Gyanshree School

Making Others Happy - Rishona Chopra

Reading from Is Your Child Ready To Face The World?
By Dr Anupam Sibal

Rishona Chopra

Grade V
Gyanshree School, Noida

Making Others Happy - Aanya Kumar

In the reading session on 16/1/2022, I understood that Making others happy makes you happy. 

In the words of Mother Teressa, "Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier." Truly making others happy, the smiles light up our day. One such person who made others happy was Charlie Chaplin. You must remember how he made you laugh in his TV shows or another medium.

His father died, and his mother developed a severe illness when he was of very little age. The pain he experienced made his mind divert to humour. By hiding his pains and making others smile, he became happier himself.

As most people say, make others happy, and you will be satisfied. We should practice making others happy by simple acts such as giving old clothes or food to those who need it. It makes them happy, and that light upon their face enlightens our day.

Aanya Kumar

Gyanshree School

Grade V

Making Others Happy - Rishona Chopra

 

Based on the chapter Making others happy from Is Your Child Ready to Face the World by Dr Anupam Sibal.

In the previous chapter, we read about Compassion. Little acts of Compassion can change someone’s life. The most beautiful act of Compassion that might look very small but is actually difficult is making someone happy. 

There are so many problems in life; I am not talking about those minor problems like a fight with someone or things like that. I am talking about significant issues like, at a very young age, a person had a severe illness and had to undergo several surgeries! That is a natural and essential problem. 

The key to making someone happy is simply hoping! In all tough times, all one needs is hope. Like in the above example, imagine what the child must be going through. What you can do is just give him hope that he can survive, and he will. If you can do that, then you are a doctor! Not one who heals people physically but one who heals people emotionally.

I have never done such a big act, but I have made a few people happy. When one of my friends got severely hurt and was crying, I helped her by giving her first aid and then giving her emotional strength as other children made fun of her for crying. I told her that it was ok; such things kept happening, making her happy.

The most significant act of kindness and Compassion can be making others happy, and the key to doing that is to give someone hope.

Rishona Chopra Grade V Gyanshree School

Making Others Happy - Ananya Bhatia

Ananya Bhatia is from Ahlcon Public School, a Grade 9 student, and her hobby is reading books. #BrewingKnowledge
#JoyOfLearning
#MyGoodSchool

Hear her read passionately Chapter 10 Making Others Happy from the book Is Your Child Ready To Face The World?

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

Find Your Calling - Prarthana Rastogi

Your career is what you're paid for, Your calling is what you're made for.

                                            - Steve Harvey

Finding your calling means following your passion and doing what you feel happy about. Everyone has their calling. You may have found it but not know about it or you might have to find it . Your calling says a lot about who you are and what you want to be. We shouldn't push ourselves to do something in which we have no interest; we should follow our dreams, which makes us happy from within. Parents should help their children with their calling and support them whatever their children see their future in. Everyone wants to become successful in the future but what makes them different is how are they successfully portray what are passionate about. When a child wants to do something unique they shouldn't be discouraged. Parents shouldn't put pressure on their children if they don't want to become someone their parents want because it can lead their child to go in depression. Someone wants to become a doctor, engineer, sports person and many more. Like me, I want to become a sports star. I love playing sports. I am passionate about basketball, badminton, skating and cricket. My parents always support me in contributing in their way to become what I want to and I'm really happy and feel lucky about it. 

Prarthana Rastogi 

The Doon Girls' School

Making Everyday A Celebration - Rishona Chopra

You can make each day a celebration by being happy and by being kind to others!!

We usually celebrate on special occasions like festivals, birthdays, anniversaries and more. I’m sure you love celebrating and even I do. But why? Now your answers could be the following:-

• Get time to spend with your family

• Get to watch TV

• Eat tasty food

In the above examples you can see that in these celebrations you watch TV, eat tasty food etc. But is it necessary that in celebrations you need to watch all those TV shows and eat  unhealthy food? No. A celebration is something when you spend time with your families and be happy and be compassionate to people. So what do you think? Can you make each day a celebration? Yes you can. You can make each day a celebration by being happy and by being kind to others!!

So be grateful and thankful everyday and it is itself a celebration!

Rishona Chopra

Grade - V

Gyanshree School

Happiness - Rishona Chopra

Happiness, as we all know, is a feeling where we feel pleasant, jolly and satisfied, but where do we get happiness.

All of us want happiness in our lives, but there are so many bad things happening in the world; how on earth can we be happy? Here's the answer, we don't get happiness from things and situations. Even the worst thing in the world can have a positive side!! So if we take a look at each case from a  positive angle, we can easily be happy.

To understand it better, let me tell you a story-

Happiness is everything

Once there lived a young boy named Jack. People said that his luck was never on his side, and he was also known as the unlucky boy. 

Once in his exam, he broke his pencil, and it took him 10 minutes to sharpen it! The other day in the park, he fell several times and from that day till the next few weeks, he was not able to play. Such minor unlucky instances made Jack very sad. It was like his happiness was lost.

That night Jack wanted to cry all his pain out, and he called out to his mother and said, "Mum, everyone calls me the unlucky boy, and it really isn't my fault, and what did I do wrong that my luck never supports me?" His mother, surprised, told him, "My dear, your luck was forever on your side; you just had to take a look from another angle. When your pencil broke, didn't your teacher give you extra time to sharpen it?" Jack said, "She did". His mother said, "Well, then you could have used that time to calculate a few questions too, right? Jack, realizing what his mother said was true, happily cried out, "Yes, and when I got hurt?" "When we get hurt, it helps our body grow stronger!" said his mother. "Oh yes, mum, yes. 

Thank you for making me realize that," said Jack, smiling.

From that day, Jack was never unhappy and found little joy in everything!

So even if a thing doesn't have a positive side, don't be sad; you can be happy by thinking about the 

the solution to that problem!

Rishona Chopra

Grade V

Gyanshree School

A new world to bring - Rishona Chopra

If you look at the world now compared to the past, you might find the present life easier, but you will also notice that the world's culture and spirituality are lost. 

There was a lot of respect for culture and religion in the past. Everyone looked forward to religious festivals and ceremonies, but most of us hardly care about culture and faith in the present world. Most of us have forgotten that we have a family to spend time with. We look up to social media to communicate and share things. Most of us have forgotten that social media is just an app. We have our family and friends, some real people that actually understand our feelings. 

Apart from that, there is also a lot of unemployment in the world. People are greedy for money, even businessmen! Despite having more than enough, they still want more! People with greed pay less to their employees and don't control their spending. 

Now, it's your choice. What would you like - a spiritual and happy world or a lost and greedy world?

Every small step can make a big one.

Rishona Chopra

Grade V

Gyanshree School

Appreciation - Darshil Sunil More

Name - Darshil Sunil More
Billabong High International School Thane
Grade - 5 A

Appreciation - Anushri Palnitkar

Appreciation is a feeling of gratefulness.

Appreciation makes us feel valued, responsible and acknowledged. 

It gives us confidence and motivates us to work hard. 

My Sweet Family - Mokshi Nagar

This is my family. I live in Lunawa. My family is a joint family. There are ten members in my family. My grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, uncle, aunt, two cousins, my younger brother and me. I call my grandma Dadi and grandpa as Dadu. I love my family very much. We help each other and take care of each other. I have made a family tree to show you, my family members. Family is like a tree that holds its branches as family members throughout its life. We learn values like caring, responsibility, being helpful to others etc. Life becomes easy and happy with the family. 

Mokshi Nagar 

Class III

The Fabindia School

I am who I am - Linisha Agarwal

A person’s character should not be judged by their marks or the amount of wealth he or she has or by their looks. The deeds and personalities are what makes a person good.  I won’t be talking about where I come from, who my parents are, which school I study in or what class am I in or what my age is. Because these are things that just represent me but not define me. 

My character is what defines me.

Why do you want to be like others?

I me

I am who I am

I do what makes me happy.

I live for myself, not you.

U may not agree with me…

But I am not seeking your approval.

I am happy with all that I am!

Don’t let anyone decide what you will do?

You do what you want to do!!!

Just be yourself, don’t think how others will think. Be what you are. Why change? Why look like others or be others or copy others?

Can’t you be real you, we are much more beautiful than actresses, they look beautiful because they are in a mask, a mask of makeup. In reality, some of them are or might be really horrible. And if you think wow they are so thin then don’t imagine yourself to be like them because they do hours of exercise and their diet is way too less. So don’t imagine yourself like them, just live your own beautiful life.

If you say, I am so fat, see she is so slim. Then ask yourself, “why am I thinking about her body? I am cute this way but if I think I am too fat then exercise”. Why judge your body while seeing others?

Can you imagine if everyone in the world looks the same! Can you recognize each other? If not, then why be like others. Would you like it if there were two Jimin in South Korea… I would hate it!

Be you and stay you!

- Linisha Agarwal
Class 6, The Doon Girls' School Dehradun