Makar Sankranti - Khushi Badgeri

I am a student at Billabong Thane.

Reflections on how am I getting ready to face the world?

"Preparation is an essential thing to face the world. Everybody is preparing for their future. Without preparation, no one gets success in their life. We all need courage, confidence and calm when problems arise to face them. I am building my confidence, interacting with many people, being brave, exploring new things and having new experiences. I am also trying my best to be calm and understanding which is very important." -  Shristi Khulal.

"Every person in the world needs to face something until their death, whether it is easy or hard for them to face through life. I'm getting ready to face the world by targeting my weakness and studying to improve them, but if I need to face something, I am willing to face it. I'm scared about the future, but I will try my best to overcome this and focus on my studies. After completing my study and I will search for a job, or I will find a way to make money. After earning money, I will full fill my parent's dream even though I want to help orphan people." - Mankumari Rai.

"We all live in a selfish world in which everyone needs to prepare to face difficulties in life. As for me,  I am still unsure about the world outside there because I am living in a well-protected environment where I have no difficulty. Here all the necessary facilities have been provided to me. And I am very grateful for it. I have been trying to be brave, so I cannot be beaten by anyone in the future. How to be strong enough to face the difficulties which will come up in the future? I am trying to learn it from my seniors and staff, who have already been through many life difficulties. From there, I can not make any mistakes; I have to face challenges." - Monika Singh Pundir.

"Everything changes with time, so we also need to change ourselves to be able to face the world. I am also getting ready to face the world by managing my time correctly, being polite and humble with others and, most importantly, being self-confident enough to speak for myself." - Jeni Sherpa.

"I am still not ready to face the world as I have not been that confident in front of many people. But if I am ready to face the world, I will have to become brave, stronger and confident to speak in front of the world. It will become easy for me if I am not shy or become an open person. I can face the world easily."- Manisha Rana

How are you going to change the world? - Tenzing Dhekyong N

We can change the world by avoiding being judgemental when we judge other people; we can sometimes shift the blame off to ourselves and may not be tackling the real issues. 

Try to view life from the other person's point of view so that we can better understand where they're coming from. As long as we stay open-minded, we'll be able to make a lot more changes for the better. 

We can even look for volunteering opportunities.  Volunteering is a great way to find people who care about the exact causes you do & give back to your community.

Tenzing Dhekyong N

Pestalozzi Children’s Village India

How I am preparing to face the world - Nishan Karki

The upcoming world is going to be very different compared to the present. To live in a new world, we should be fully prepared now. I am also going to prepare myself well to face the world. I will be the best person for myself. I will choose my words wisely before speaking and do my work with dedication and focus. I will always try to do and say good things and avoid bad things.

Nishan Karki
Pestalozzi Children's Village India

How am I preparing to face the world? - Januka Basnet

Life is short; we were gifted this life only once to face it optimistically. No one should regret that they have not lived their life to the fullest.

Let's do something worthy; let's do something which will leave a mark on your existence. Let's face your life with a coy smile and let the world remember you as a warrior.

There may be some bad times and good times. Remember the good ones and learn from the bad ones. Try to have a good companion who will remain till the last breath.🖤☺️

Januka Basnet  
Pestalozzi Children's Village India

How am I preparing to face the world? - Anchal Mehra

Firstly I want to face the world by doing the things like something good, which I still need to do. The most important thing for me by which I want to face the world by working hard in my studies and to be successful in my life so that I can make my family proud of me, and in my life; many people think that I can't do anything, and I am not strong enough and all, so I just want to prove them and show them I can do something in my life. I am strong enough for myself. 😊

Anchal Mehra
Pestalozzi Children's Village India

Simplicity - Shilpika Pandey

Poster courtesy Rishona Chopra

Simplicity is such a simple word but is it easy to follow? In this world of materialistic magnetism, how easy is it to adorn simplicity? 

Simplicity is grace, dignity, ability to be yourself in the most natural way, to live life simply, unaffected by others' judgements. 

From the way we converse, wear attire, carry a mobile phone, travel, and exhibit our lifestyle to the way we deal with everyday situations, and play our roles respectively, everything

would need to be simplicity personified.

Surprisingly it's easier to be complex, articulate, clever, and pompous than to be simple, as the latter demands genuineness, grounded and a real persona. 

Parents really need to bring up their children in a grounded manner so that these children grow up to be empathetic, genuine individuals who know how to carry themselves with simplicity in all spheres of life, despite the privileges around them.

Simplicity doesn't mean letting go of the good things one is fortunately blessed with but being gracious enough, thankful enough for it all and not letting that affect one's behaviour in any unacceptable way.

The Sunday School 8th January 2023 - Elizabeth Philip

While reading A Wedding to Remember from Sudha Murty's book Wise and Otherwise, we found a reference to her novel Mahashweta.

What is a novel?

A novel is a long-written story about imaginary people and events.

(Collins dictionary)

a long printed story about fictional characters and events

(Cambridge dictionary)

an invented prose narrative that is usually long and complex and deals mainly with human experience through a usually connected sequence of events

(Merriam Webster dictionary)

a story long enough to fill a complete book, in which the characters and events are generally imaginary

(Oxford dictionary)

The novel is a genre, or kind, of literature. It is fiction, which means the writer invented the story.

https://kids.britannica.com

One thing leads to another. Now, we need to know what genre and literature mean. 

Let's start with literature.

Literature is writing that is usually considered to be a work of art. It differs from written works such as cookbooks, travel guides, or how-to books. Those are meant only to provide information. In general, literature communicates ideas of lasting interest. A writer of literature takes special care in choosing and arranging words. Some common types of literature include novels, poetry, and dramas.

Read more…

https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/novel/390589#

Let's move on to genre.

A genre is a specific type of music, film, or writing.

https://www.vocabulary.com/

Here's the link to help you determine how genre is pronounced.

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/genre

A genre (from Latin: genus) is a style or type of music, literature, movies, or other media. Some genres (styles) are used in more than one form of art or communication. For example, fantasy and science fiction are used in literature, movies, and television.

https://kids.kiddle.co/Genre

Now that you know what literature and genre mean, would you like to read more about some of the genres in children's literature?

Go ahead…

https://www.harpercollins.com/blogs/harperkids/childrens-book-genres

This is enough for today! You know that a novel is longer than a short story.

How long is long, and how short is short?

You'll be getting more information about short stories and novels…soon!

- Elizabeth Philip
More about her work: 
http://champions.prathambooks.org/2013/09/pratham-books-champion-elizabeth-philip.html

What You Believe Is What You Achieve - Rishona Chopra

Our lifestyle relies on it – the quality of our thoughts, feelings, attitude, habits, personality and finally, our destiny. This means what we believe has a dominating influence on our future. We cannot afford to hold a single wrong belief. Society spreads limiting beliefs like Anger is necessary, Happiness is in achievements, Stress is natural, People and situations decide how I feel, and so on. Believing "anger is necessary", we used anger repeatedly. Although we set such a belief in our mindset, does our destiny know about this belief? It is simply influenced by our thoughts. Each thought of yours affects us, what we think we do. My thoughts full of anger come out in words; my words can influence my actions.

For example -
Due to some reason, I was angry at someone, and I started shouting at them. The situation didn't calm down, so I started hitting them. Without thinking, my thought became my words, and they became my actions. I began to respect it again and again. Soon, getting angry about the most minor things became my habit. Slowly, it became my character, and then my destiny followed along through karma. It becomes too late when we realise it has become our character because, at that stage, you simply can't reverse yourself without karma following along. You could change, there is a possibility, but your past actions won't. Therefore, start with your thoughts. Improve your thinking, and soon your positive thoughts will become your destiny.

Rishona Chopra       
Grade VI
Gyanshree School

Responsibility - Rishona Chopra

Responsibility is taking ownership of one's actions. It is to accept your mistake to help around and work hard. Responsibility is accepting that you are the cause and the solution to the problem. When we take responsibility, we should take it with total commitment and honesty. 

At my earlier school, we did an activity, in fact, not an activity 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 duty 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 a cool duty, well, only if it's a small one!

Every relationship with friends or family brings a sense of duty and responsibility. Each family member has a duty, a responsibility to fulfil. For example, a child has the duty to help with chores, study and work hard; likewise, other family members must fulfil their jobs. A little compromise from everybody always results in something great or, in this example - A happy family. 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 could make it easy with one truth and take responsibility for our actions.

Sometimes we are insecure about handing over responsibility to others. We seek to keep responsibility for ourselves. Check if you hesitate to pass on duties to other people. Even I feel the same. I feel hesitation in giving responsibility to others. The only thought that helps me improve is, "What if other people start feeling the same hesitation? Won't I feel bad?"

Giving responsibilities can only be done with a bridge of trust and confidence. If you trust the person and feel confident about yourself, this bridge can be crossed.

Rishona Chopra
Grade VI
Gyanshree School