When I see a glass half full... - Rishona Chopra

When I see a glass half full, at first, I think the glass is half empty. Instead of looking at the positive side, I look at the negative side by saying that the glass is half empty. It's very catchy, isn't it? Always look at the negative side of every situation.  

Little things in life make a difference. When I see a glass half full, I always try to change my thoughts by thinking that the glass is half full, not half empty. Little exercises prepare you for big ones. Slowly by slowing when we learn to control our negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones, we attain mindfulness. Whenever you think of something negative, try to change it to the opposite. Slowly you will get used to it, and the positive side of every situation will be pretty straightforward. 

The most important part of this glass is that it is refillable, whether half full or empty.

Rishona Chopra 
Grade VI
Gyanshree School

When I see a glass half-full… - Shambhavi Nautiyal

It makes me think about who drank the first half and then thought of wasting the rest, but then it comes

to mind that it could be that someone would drink it later on. If that’s not the case, it makes me think of the quote, “Look at the glass half full, and not the glass half empty.” We must focus on what we have and try to make the best of it.

If we concentrate all our incredible and precious energy on the glass half empty, meaning what we don’t have, then all our time will be gone, and ultimately, we will be left with nothing. So, it’s of utter significance that we never stop trying, and we are aware that the most opportune moment is now. It is the only thing we can be sure of having, so it’s essential to strike a balance, to know what we must do and what we need to do, appreciate what we have in life, cherish it, find our calling and invest our time in it.

Thinking of the glass half-full gives us hope in life, hope that we can manifest, whilst wasting our time thinking about the glass half empty, only discourages us. This what I feel is that whenever we think about the lucrative opportunities and possibilities we could grab in the past, thinking of it to be a perfect time, we must remind ourselves that the same could be happening to us right at the present moment and use our anxiety the right way, by striving for it in the present.

Even if it didn’t turn out the ‘right’ way, we could still make it right because God is always with us. This way of thinking makes our minds bend to different conditions without getting anxious.

Hence, when I see a half-full glass, it assures me that everything is going to be alright.

Shambhavi Nautiyal

Grade VII

Ahlcon Public School

When I see a Glass half full... - Anvesha Rana

When I see a glass half full,

I see some yarn left in a ball of wool

I look at the little food on a plate,

And a few words on someone’s slate

I yearn for the small giggle, 

When I see a tiny insect wriggle. 

Little it may be but not weak it is, 

Less it may be but not short it is,

More we might have but do we need it? 

Aren’t we pleased with what we gave it?

May it be half empty or

It can also be half-filled, 

It is what our perception is, 

   Do we complain about the loss 

     Or be grateful for the most? 

   A Glass Half Full is not just a lesson

     For Perspective or pessimistic thoughts, 

   It is a teacher with no chalk and duster

    But with just water,

        It can pass on Responsibility and Gratitude, 

Simply with its carefree attitude. 

Anvesha Rana, 

Grade 10-B, 

Gyanshree School

Sudha Murty - Rishona Chopra

Sudha Murty was born in 1950 in Shiggaon in north Karnataka. She has written nine novels, four technical books, three travelogues, one short story collection, and two non-fiction pieces, including How I Taught My Grandmother to Read and Other Stories. 

Other books by her are - Grandma's Bag Of Stories, The Magic Of The Lost Temple, Grandparents Bag Of Stories, The Upside Down King, Gopi Diaries, The Man From The Egg, How The Sea Became Salty, How The Mango Got Its Magic, The Sage with two horns, The Magic Drum and many more.

Wise and Otherwise, initially published in English, is now available in several Indian languages—Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Oriya, Bengali and Kashmiri.

Wise and Otherwise is a book about heartwarming stories with a touch of reality. This book gives a clear account of her work and approach to it. An accomplished storyteller in Kannada, Sudha Murty wrote for the first time in English to inaugurate a fortnightly column in the New Sunday Express. She focused on her experiences, travels, and encounters with ordinary people with extraordinary minds.

From stories of honesty to humbleness, from humanity to rudeness. About a boy's honesty despite such poverty. Greediness despite richness. The opposites meet, and the harsh truth is shown. This book encounters real-life stories that leave a profound mark on our minds.

Rishona Chopra
Grade VI
Gyanshree School

Responsibility - Rishona Chopra

Responsibility is vital in a classroom, not only for students but for teachers too. Responsibility is taking ownership of one's actions. It is to accept your mistake, help around and work hard. Responsibility assumes that you are the cause and the solution to the problem. When we take responsibility, we should take it with total commitment and honesty. We shouldn't have a responsibility to others but to ourselves too.

At my earlier school, we did an activity, not a movement but a daily exercise. Every day, after lunch, we had to clean the class. We got duties of dusting, sweeping and mopping. Whoever finished their commitment would get to play outside. This taught us responsibility; my favourite task was to mop the floor. If you try it once, you'll realize it's fun to mop the floor, unlike sweeping. Even cleaning the bathroom is an excellent duty, well, only if it's a small one!

An important part is responsible for our actions. We all make mistakes and some wrongdoings, and instead of covering them up with thousands of lies, we should make it easy with one truth and take responsibility for our actions.

Rishona Chopra
Grade VI
Gyanshree School

The Tribal Warriors Of Bharat - Rishona Chopra

'In this, our 75th year of Independence … we needed quality literature around our great tribal freedom fighters. This book is a genuinely commendable start in that direction.

—Arjun Munda, Minister of Tribal Affairs

Our first war of Independence was not in 1857.
In fact, tribal mutinies against the British began at least 75 years before the 1857 revolution. These battles were fought with traditional bows and arrows and spears and predated the reported political movement that came to the fore in the latter part of the nineteenth century.

As we complete 75 years of Independence, it is only fair to acknowledge that a parallel freedom movement existed in our far-flung villages and jungles, away from the mainstream freedom movement recognised in the books of history.

The Tribal Warriors Of Bharat shows how we see only those we are shown, but behind the freedom of India, there are many unseen soldiers or, shall I say, fighters whose stories were never heard. 

I haven't read this book, but after reading the synopsis and the first few pages and meeting the author, I am super excited to read about it!!

Rishona Chopra
Grade VI
Gyanshree School

God the creator - Nishan Karki

God is the divine power who gave us many qualities like wisdom, kindness and empathy. We should take advantage of these qualities to maintain peace worldwide.

If we keep the peace, we can live a happy and simple life with fewer demerits and more benefits.

We should thank God or the creator for filling us with these qualities.

From: Nishan Karki
Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2022 at 21:21

--

Shelja Thakur
Pestalozzi World Local Alumni Coordinator and Senior Student Liaison Officer
https://pestalozziworld.com/about/where-we-work/indian-village/

Inspired by:

The Superficial Rosy-ness - Reveda Bhatt

http://www.freestockphotos.biz/stockphoto/17731

“We all love roses, and when I say that, I mean the blooming ones because nobody even cares a bit when they seem to wilt!”

You know, the usual-a rose-too common but never seems to get outdated. The emotions hiding behind this flower are too many to comprehend. They stick out everywhere-in happy moments as well as in sad ones. When seen in and out, it sometimes even portrays the human character of being multifaced-tender and mild on the outside but painful or raging on the inside, just like a human heart could be!

Like any other flower, roses go through the stages of life where first, as a growing bud, they are provided with everything they need to grow. They struggle through the part of their lives to fully mature, and later, some are plucked by us as we gaze at its brilliance and find a place in a vase, and we keep it till we can gain something out of it-a pleasant smell and a decent look.

Happy till it serves us with all that, and then, once it ages, it’s thrown back into the environment was cut off from before because it’s no use now. Then, there lies the depressing vase, empty, just waiting to take over the life of another. This cycle keeps on going because sometimes it’s easier to keep moving in the same process over and over again rather than risking all of it and jumping off it having no idea where
you’ll land.

Fun fact: The look of the rose we get is also superficial. How?

Once the old, raging flower petals wither and fall off, rather than the bud that once swayed proudly with its colourful petals, there just stands a stem with thorns waiting to hurt you!

Reveda Bhatt

Grade 9

The Aryan School

The Spooky Indian History - Oshi Singh

Image courtesy www.eduvast.com, used by Oshi Singh for representation only.

It all started on a fine day when the English men made their first visit to India. When we welcomed them to our land, our fields and our culture, unknown what lies ahead. Gradually the visits became more frequent. It was about when they started collecting taxes from peasants and got their Farman issued from Aurangzeb, and in no time, they were writing our destiny, dictating what to do and what not to do. 

The focus of children who went to pathshalas to gain knowledge shifted to scoring. The children who were taught on their pace and capability to grasp a concept now just had a year to understand and do a test on it without knowing or learning the practical usage. Not only that, they were now dealing with India's religious, economic and political matters. The country that invented zero made the first university in the world and already knew that the Earth was round before the world was now called "uncivilized". It was the darkest hour of all Indian's lives but don't you worry because Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Rani Lakshmi Bai and many more heroes were now to rescue! 

The Revolt of 1857, The national movement and the Dandi March were some events that changed Indian history. How can we forget 26 November 1949, the day when the Indian Constitution's draft was finally ready, and precisely within 2 months, we had our Constitution ready. Although we lost some of our brothers and sisters on the way. We were now an independent and free nation. 

We have come a long way. About 72 years ago, people discussed giving everyone equality, uplifting minorities and universal adult franchise but look around you now. What do you see? The misuse of all these rights granted to us. The rights which people who might have no relation with you were fighting just so you and the future generations don't need to struggle like them. So that everybody can express their true selves but what we see nowadays is people telling or instead yelling at each other and claiming that they have the right to free speech, so they can speak pretty much everything that comes to their mind. 

Now, why don't you it some time and thought? Is it really fair? Fair to those who fought and put their lives and family at stake on a hanging cliff just for us. No right? So why don't we promise to cherish and respect these noble souls for all they have done for us and never misuse these rights given to us, all thanks to them. As the saying goes... 

"Always respect what you  have before life teaches you to love what you have."

Oshi Singh
VIII D 
Gyanshree School 

Reference:
https://www.eduvast.com/general-knowledge/national-law-day-2022-date-history-objectives-and-preamble/

Cause and Effect - Priya Gupta

My pencil puppet gives me #joyoflearning

Reading The Art Of Focus at The Sunday School. Chapter 27, Humility and finding God, the Creator. #God #Humility by Gauranga Das.

Cause and Effect: Rationalists will concur that there needs to be a cause for an effect.

Puppet: Another example is a puppet show. When we see puppets dance (the effect) beautifully in the story narrated, we deduce that there is a puppeteer (the cause) entertaining us from behind the curtain and running the show. It’s foolish for the audience to think that the puppets are dancing on their own. It’s equally foolish for the puppets to think that they are independent and that they are the source of entertainment. In fact, they are instruments of entertainment. Just like puppets, we are instruments of God, aided by a body with its five senses and the subtle elements (the mind, ego and intelligence).

Priya Gupta
Pestalozzi Childrens' Village
Dehradun, India