Meet and Greet with Deepti Mehrotra

Learning Forward Podcast Season 10 Episode 16, produced by the students at My Good School, where passion meets education. The My Good School Program is brought to you by the students and interns who spread the joy of learning, focusing on reading, writing and speaking.

Meet and Greet is our event to celebrate the work and writing of authors and guests who join us at our Sunday School, hosted online weekly. In this edition, we speak with Deepti Mehrotra, whose books are published by Rupa Publications Pvt Ltd and are available worldwide.

History narrates tales of courageous, brave, patriotic men who sacrificed their necessities to fight for a more significant cause. Still, while highlighting the men down the ages, we often undermine the women of the past who had performed more dangerous deeds and fought for causes which ameliorated the lives of later women. Her Stories: Indian women down the Ages is not just a novel but a keepsake where the tales and stories of Indian women are preserved. It is a way to hear those unheard of and appreciate their efforts for women at large. Consider this beautiful conversation where Dr Deepti Priya Mehrotra deciphers her book. This podcast is an ode to all these Indian women down the ages.

Anvesha Rana - Host from Gyanshree School

Dr Deepti Priya Mehrotra - Author of Her Stories: Indian Women Down The Ages

Jugjiv Singh, Rishona Chopra - Guests

Available on our website www.DilJeeto.com
https://diljeeto.com/episodes/meet-and-greet-with-deepti-mehrotra-100

War and Peace - Aria Gupta

We all can agree on one thing, which is that war is a horrible, horrible thing. It was a war that tore our country apart, which is how the Britishers were able to take advantage of us. It also takes the lives of innocent people, leaving their loved ones in immense pain.

If war has such negative consequences, then why does it still happen?

What’s even worse is that they try to cover up their greed and selfishness and say they’re doing this for the people or justice.

How can they say that they’re doing this for the people if they end up so traumatised and malnutrition after a war?

Instead, they should live peacefully and try to share resources; there is no denying that humanity is trying to achieve that. The United Nations has prevented many conflicts between Countries from arising. But humans should try harder to avoid war and encourage peace to live happily and peacefully without violence.

Aria Gupta
Grade VI
Gyanshree school

Visit to SchoolEducation.com - Rishona Chopra

"A book is a gift you can open again and again."

- Garrison Keiller

I WAS SHY AND QUIET when I first joined My Good School. I still remember when I was the first to join and then realised that I immediately left the meeting and joined when other people were there! 

Looking back at that time, I understand my changes and how I have learned to open up quickly and be confident. It's the perfect environment for anyone who loves reading, writing, drawing, blogging, podcasting, creating, or participating in discussions. They provide many opportunities and experiences that can really help you (they did help me!). 

Writing to just pass my time or to express my feelings has been my favourite thing to do. The Joy of Learning Diaries is a website where students can post their reflections on My Good School's reading program every Sunday. They can literally post anything they want. We publish the Joy Of Learning Diaries, and our blogs go in an extensive diary where many students can post. Just by listening to the name, you know it's a diary full of reflections, learning and joy!

The Sunday School, as it is fondly known, is the weekly session where students read books, reflect on them and learn. We have both the Hindi and English sessions where we simultaneously read three books, and by the end, we can see the connection between them. 

The website, www.schooleducation.com, sums up the whole idea really well. When you open the website, it gives you such a bright, warm and happy feeling! It feels pretty welcoming too! Several options come up when you open the website. The first one is "Good Schools".

As you scroll down, you see the school song. It has a great beat, it's easy to learn, and it's something you can sing along to any time you want. Next up is our learning programs:

These are the seven steps to joy.
 1. The Good Schools Alliance
 2. My Good School is our Sunday School, where we read, write and reflect!
3. Happy Teachers, which is a program for teachers.
 4. My Guide Inside, a program held by Christa Ma'am, we explore our inner voice and learn to face daily issues much better.
5. Kidspreneurship is a program where we learn entrepreneurial skills to help us for life.

6. Dil Jeeto, which means "Winning Hearts". We do bring a smile to everyone's face with our entertaining podcasts. 7. Last but not least, Slooh is where we explore space and its beautiful sights.

The next page is Internships. The word sounds heavy-duty and tiring, but it is definitely not. It is fun. Earlier, my weakest subject used to be Computer Science, and now it's definitely one of my most vital points. I have learnt to make posters, videos and several other things.

The page beautifully sums up all the benefits of our program and what we do.

Then comes the page about our Book Cafe. It tells about the My Good School Book, which was why this program started in the first place!

It also details the Bookshop - The English Book Depot, established in 1923, which has served the education sector for 100 years, with a maiden bookshop at Dehradun. Our inherent strength is in offering a delightful book-buying experience for the family. In 2010, EBD acquired the brand Book Cafe.

Last, we have OER, which is Open Education Resource. This page lists documents that tell us all about our school in detail. 

This website is indeed detailed and quite well-maintained. You can all visit it here:
https://www.SchoolEducation.com

It has been an awe-inspiring experience, and I recommend joining this program. It has been quite enjoyable for me to be on this journey of joy, learning and passion. As said, this is the place where passion meets education!

Rishona Chopra
Grade VII
Gyanshree School

Advice From An Owl - Rishona Chopra

Hello, my dear friends! I am an owl. Through all these years, I have been sitting right outside your window, looking and observing you. My family is out there, hearing each of your foolish conversations and looking out for those creative inventions of yours. Speaking of inventions, I must say, your inventions clearly show your witty evil brain. First, it was those nets and then it was those obnoxious guns. Why, do you have nothing better to do than to kill us?

Moving on, as I told you I have noticed you and I believe it's time I give you some inputs. First off, you humans speak too much. It is much better to listen trust me. Wherever you go, you keep talking; half of it is absolute nonsense. And even if you talk, you forget to hear. Many of you just hear the other person and don't really listen. You just stay quiet waiting for your turn to talk and running through your mind what you're going to say. My! That is quite disrespectful, isn't it! 

Second of all, you have made your life quite difficult. All you do is practically sleep all day. Nothing like what we do! You have robots doing your work, the autocorrect correcting your spellings and online dictionaries to tell you the meaning. And don't even get me started on your means of entertainment. Our owl community presents an entire dance for entertainment and all you do is just turn on your television and watch some overly dramatic shows on it. How many of you, go to watch classical dances for entertainment or have a cosy family night playing charades and cards? 

Television is quite fascinating, I must say. I also watch it from your balcony when the curtains are open but it's important to spend time with your family doing something fun together. 

Last but not least, you should always be prepared. Most of you are not prepared for change. Here's one owl rule you must know - Always be alert for your predator. And your predator is almighty change. It is something some of you never adapt to but remember change in constant and if there is no change life would be rather dull and boring!

Rishona Chopra
Grade VII
Gyanshree School

Unity - Shambhavi Nautiyal

Our Unity should be such that we should be willing to combat any injustice and be conditioned to pay heed to our conscience and presentiments. Our Unity should be balanced but deliberate. There is 'unity in diversity', just as Jawarhal Nehru said. There is Unity in us accepting our differences and rising above them. Forgiveness strengthens our Unity.

Once we accept each other just as we are, we stop getting bugged by our differences. If we are one, we can overthrow the tyrants and free ourselves from oppression by mutinying.

As they say, in today's scenario, the majority wins, so we must ensure awareness about what is going for real, not misinformation. This happens through our education system; a sound education system can proceed to feed the masses with the correct and legitimate information, and then the schools can follow to produce a bright and brilliant future for the country. However, if the opposite happens, then that system's products will become hostile, despotic and haughty individuals who only want to spread their influence and mindset to the entire world. Hence, we should favour what is righteous and not believe any fraudulent information available under the sun!

We can be a reliable asset to society, uniting whenever we need to overthrow any deviousness out there.

https://www.joyoflearningdiaries.com/2022/12/the-power-of-love-shambhavi-nautiyal.html

https://www.joyoflearningdiaries.com/2022/10/what-have-i-learnt-from-my-good-school.html

What does Unity mean to you, and do you think it is pivotal?

L.I.T.M.

You know how it is when people tell you that you are not setting your aim or wasting your time having fun-the most common one being- "You can have fun later on when you have achieved everything you want."- Well, what is this everything? 

As the word suggests, what is the main point is that-does it owes any boundary? 

Well, yes, it does, but the feeling is so strong that we succumb to it into thinking that it is endless.

The sea of desire is too deep, but only if you find it in yourself to control yourself can it be controlled. Live in the moment, not thinking about the next, and you’ll realise what’s life!

This common definition of life is not right because life does not have a definition.

LIFE IS NOT A STAGE to wait for. IT IS A FEELING to live in!

Live in the moment = L.I.T.M. = Let It To Marvel.

Reveda Bhatt

The Aryan School

Being Human - Tenzin Jambey

Having a good brain, two hands, two legs, two eyes, and a good outlook doesn't make you a human. Being human means being kind to humans and other living beings like animals, birds and insects. Being human means having a kind, gentle heart and personality with a  positive attitude toward everything. Some people have no mercy and love for people, and they do kidnappings and murders. People are killing people than just thinking about the way of treatment given to animals; these people are no less than a monster who has no mercy and love for anything except themselves. A good human has a kind and open heart that accepts other living beings as their own family, and they give love and care; they have mercy upon all living beings, even microorganisms.

I remember the saying of a great monk who once said that he feels sad and pitied to take steps because it kills microorganisms which can not be seen. 

We can not be called human until we feel humanity, humanism and tenderness upon living and non-living. We all should have mercy and love upon everything. At least let's be human with a kind and soft heart with gentle behaviour rather than being a monster with no compassion and love. 

Tenzin Jambey
Pestalozzi Children's Village India