I am responsible for - Aria Gupta

I take full responsibility for whatever mistake I have made in the past, even if it's just a spelling mistake. For me, they are not something to regret but to accept. We all make mistakes; there is no such thing as a 'perfect person'. The good thing about mistakes is that they can teach us essential values that nobody else will.

Our class was recently assigned a group project to do in Science. My group decided to make the task so fancy that we couldn't complete it in time, thus getting a big, fat zero. I learnt that we should make things easy and beautiful simultaneously. Even though this error will probably affect my grade, it doesn't matter as long as I learnt something.

It's beautiful if you make an error like this; everybody makes mistakes.

Aria Gupta
Grade VI
Gyanshree School

I am responsible for... - Rishona Chopra

There are quite a few things we have control over. We often try to grasp something we cannot control. We notice and try to change others, their habits and choices. When, in reality, we only have control over ourselves. Another aspect is understanding that we are responsible for ourselves. Our decisions are purely ours. 

Often, we try to blame others for our reactions. If I submit my project late, I blame the internet, but was it really the internet's fault that it stopped working and that my project was lost? Should I have been more proactive and worked on an offline platform or saved my work?

I have also noticed that I start blaming others for my own mistakes unconsciously without realising it. 

When we get sick, do we not blame the weather for changing? Do we think that our immunity should have been stronger? Do we think that this weather change is caused by us humans only? Most of us blame the weather as if it is controlled by someone, not us. 

Life is like a book, and we are the author. The book takes a turn of events, but it all happens before the author, and the conclusion is the author's choice. Several characters in that book influence and help in the formation of the story, but it is the author's thinking that makes the difference. 

I am responsible for whatever I do and any action I take. I am responsible for myself. 

Rishona Chopra
Grade VII
Gyanshree School

Mindful living is important in present time - Tenzin Jambey

With time everything is changing; we see development and new infrastructure set up. The living standard of people is also changing, and with the way of living standards, people's minds and the method of executing actions are too changing. We must be very mindful about our activities and words in today's world. 

Our one action can cause heavy destruction; with one step, our identity can change. With one step, we lose our trust, friends, and loved ones. Before doing any work or even speaking to somebody, we should ask ourselves whether we are doing the right thing. We should consider the effects and consequences, but many people still do something wrong even after knowing it is wrong. 

Humans get many emotions like greed, selfishness, and desire to possess. That's why it becomes difficult sometimes to have control over our actions. How strange we human beings are. Aren't we just for the sake of fun and enjoyment? We put everything, even studies, aside? This all originates in the mind, and we should adopt good habits so that lousy thought can die at the place where it was created. 

Good thinking leads to the execution of good actions, and good actions would lead you to a happy life. Indeed, we don't have control over our emotions but can control our actions.

Teenzin Jambey
Pestalozzi Children's India Village

My Graduation Day Experience - Tenzin Jambey

Middle School Khremeteng Tawang is located in a lovely place in Tawng district in Arunachal Pradesh, and it was a government school still; I never felt it like some people say about government schools. My old school was one-tenth of my Ann Mary School at Dehradun.

Middle School Khremeteng is a small school with a playing ground in the middle; during assembly hours, the rising sun scene used to be much like Paradise. The total strength of the students there was less than 100, and here in one class, students exceeded more than 100. I was so attached to my school, the teachers, friends, seniors, peon aunty and other staff. My love for my old school can not be expressed in words, people love thinking of the future, but it makes me feel good when I think of my past time. The school here at Dehradun is different from my old school in the way of teaching, the school environment, people's way of speaking, rules and regulations, and almost everything else. After seeing this week's reflection topic, the happy memories of my childhood in my old school flashed back. The name of my school is Govt. 

I hated the word Sunday and holiday then, but now I wait for Sunday; it proves everything changes with time. The starting time of school was 8:30, but I would reach at 7:00 and wait for everyone to come; it used to be fun spending time alone at school in the winter morning, and the cold breeze would make my body shiver. I would often take a page from my notebook and make an aeroplane out of it and watch it flying into the air; I still remember my math teacher, Rai sir, who would pull my ears till they turned red in colour for taring pages he would tell me the value of paper. Yes, it was a valuable lesson for me. 

The total strength of students at my new school is 1000+, and it is difficult to know and make everyone my friend, but I still remember the names and qualities of each student of my old school. Sometimes I feel like hugging my childhood friends and shedding happy tears. It was them who made my childhood days Wonderland. I will never forget the games we used to play marbles, matchbox cards, coins, 7 stamps, gilli danda, chor police, cock fight, hopscotch, hoop rolling and many more. At that time, we knew very little about mobile games and entertainment. We would entertain ourselves by saying filmy dialogues. It was a government school, as I said, that's why we used to get lunch meals on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and eat food with friends on the same plate friends in the same plate with raw chilli and chips packet was what I enjoyment really meant for me. 

Every teachers and peon aunty had a great love for us, and I loved the way they used to love and care for us. During those time, time really flew like a kite in the sky, and I didn't even realise that I had reached class 5 after the finals were over; one of my teachers told us that we needed to give a test and the students who will pass in an exam would be taken for a trip to Shillong, but this wasn't the actual case it was actually the selection test, the selection of students for Pestalozzi. After one month or two, I got a message that I got selected and had to say goodbye to my friends. 

On the last day, they all hugged me with all their power and strength as nobody knew whether we would meet again or not, and yes, it did happen; I still didn't get to contact my few friends. 

Their last word was, " Jambey make a cut in my hand, and it would serve as a friendship mark", and I told them ", it's not always necessary to let the world know how much you love somebody " I told them I would miss them and promised to never forget them.

This is the story of my graduation day experience at my old school. On the last day of school, all these memories kept distributing me till late at night; even now, when I see the word friends, their faces come back to my mind.

Tenzin Jambey, Pestalozzi Children's Villiage India

What Restrictions Do - Reveda Bhatt

Restrictions put on children make them disciplined. Now, that would be the common opinion.

But do I support it? 

No.

I don't because there shouldn't be restrictions stopping children from doing acts. It should be their morals. Putting restrictions, now be it for their good, makes them question, "Why?" Not getting a proper answer to it just makes them feel more attracted towards the thing restriction was put on because, as we all know, absence makes the heart grow fonder. Then the child just feels like he or she is being stopped from living fully now. That is the worst feeling. 

On the other hand, a child inculcated with morals has a sense of what's right or wrong because it's not for the restriction but for the teaching experience!

Therefore, I firmly oppose the idea of putting restrictions because discipline comes from the inner core of your character, which you've maintained not due to being feared but due to having your morals.

Reveda Bhatt
The Aryan School

Enjoy the essence of boredom! - Rishona Chopra

Being bored is something which many of us consider something which should not happen. As my mother fondly says- "An empty mind is a naughty one. " 

Being bored is quite good, and utilising that time of boredom well is a talent. 

The first thing that most of us do when we are bored is either pick up the phone or a book. Which is better? None. 

Just doing nothing boosts our creativity for many things. I was just lying on my bed doing absolutely nothing, and this really humourous idea came to my mind for a novel. 

This doesn't mean we should never do anything, but it simply means that we should take a break sometimes just do nothing. 

Therefore, we must take a break and learn to get bored without actually being bored!

Rishona Chopra
Grade VII
Gyanshree School 

Understanding - Anvesha Rana

Understanding is not just about learning but also about living. When others confess their mistakes, lies or problems to us, we often turn a blind eye towards them and do not listen. Still, we need to be humble enough to understand what they are going through, be kind enough to give them a shoulder and be trustworthy sufficient to accept their reality. Treat others the way you wish to be treated. Each person deserves love and affection just the way we do.

Understanding is not a simple task; it requires the power to trust and tolerate and the necessity of being thoughtful while observing the simplicity at the heart of the matter and eventually giving in honestly to love. If we can understand, then we can trust. If we can understand, then we can be patient; if we can understand, we can tolerate and understand; only we can love.

At My Good School, understanding is experienced at its core. We initially listen to each other and then begin to understand one another. This is followed by a bond of trust, tolerance and humility, and as time passes, we begin to treasure the standard tie of love that connects us all. Understanding is the foundation stone for building upon the structure of love.

In the Mahabharata, an incident occurred during the Gurukul days of the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Guru Dronacharya, the teacher of the princes, had to leave the gurukul for a fortnight due to some urgent work; hence, he had called upon all his pupils and asked them to complete their lessons by the time he returned. All students finished their work and did some extra tasks as well. Guru Dronacharya returned after a fortnight and called his pupils to the classroom; one by one, he individually asked them to come forward and inform him how many lessons they had completed while he was away.

Someone said three, someone else four, others 5 and so on; the teacher beamed at his students as he looked at them with love. At last, he called Yudhishthira, the eldest son of the Pandavas, and Guru Dronacharya was sure that Yudhishthira would have done more lessons than everyone else. However, when asked the question, he answered that he had only done one sentence. The teacher was shocked and yelled at him that in a fortnight, he could only do one sentence; Yudhishthira apologised but repeated that he could only understand that sentence. The other pupils were shocked as they saw their Guru mercilessly scolding Yudhishthira. However, he stayed rooted in his words. At the end of it, when Guru Dronacharya finally asked him what the sentence was, he confidently replied, “Control your anger and Guru ji, it took me 15 days to learn how to control my anger, so I could only complete one sentence.” Guru Dronacharya stood in awe and appreciated Yudhishthira, for he had understood the power of understanding, an ability not yet attained by many of us.

Anvesha Rana

Grade 11 

Gyanshree School