Could Have Been - Reveda Bhatt

“Sometimes, the one who loves you is the one who hurts you the most.” - It Ends With Us.

Found this quote accurate in and out, and, you know, it’s one of the bitter truths of life, but you just have to accept it that way. Although, in a way, it’s a bitter-sweet truth because once you realise that, you won’t care much about the fact that someday, sometime, someone will, and that would be it - you’ll go back to the ones you had to pretend to forget for the one whom you loved just so that he or she didn’t get offended and lose themselves - but; hey, maturity is where you realise how to control your emotions, how to prevent yourself from losing them - and if he or she does, what you need to do is place aside your feelings and just keep one thing in your vision - you!

Even if leaving hurts, just know they didn’t deserve you because you are better.

Me: Thinking…
Intense thinking…
Processing…

“I’d like to take the last of my words back because it’s easy to say that the wound will heal when you forget all about it, but, in reality, only the person going through it knows what it feels like. Nobody, literally, nobody in this world does.”

People say, “It’s easy”, and say, “Maybe you just don’t want to let go.”

Well, don’t you think they would have already tried that!?

Either way, maybe they just don’t want to forget that and change because what if the fault wasn’t in them?

Look, in our lives, people come, people go, but we need to ensure that they don’t take away with them a bit of our soul that once shone in the bright light and made us stronger.

It could have been better like that.

Reveda Bhatt

Grade 9

The Aryan School

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