Sunday, August 29

The basement of CMS Gomti Nagar Campus welcomed 122 students from 14 campuses of the City Montessori School(CMS) for the 2nd session of World Unity Sunday Seminar on August 29 organised by the World Unity Education Department(WUED). The interactive session began at 9.40 am when Ms Priyanka Bharadwaj, Chief Coordinator, Sunday Seminar, instructed campus coordinators to ensure that the participants settled down after recording their attendance with Ms Sangeeta Negi, Assistant Coordinator, Sunday Seminar. The struggle for being among the appellants before the legal luminaries in the 11th International Conference of Chief Justices of the World for peace in the whole world began with the coordinators introducing themselves.


Sunday Seminar sessions are organized to initiate the change in everyone to make them world citizens. Some students from CMS Gomti Nagar Campus were invited on stage to discuss an issues of importance before the audience. Shivani Singh, Class VIII-A, Sapna Tiwari, VI-G, Deepika Pandey, VIII-A, Ananya Swaroop, VIII-A, Neha Mishra, VIII-B, were unanimous in their reasoning that the root of child labour lies in poverty and lack of education. Dr Jagdish Gandhi, Founder-Manager, CMS, has been making concerted efforts towards this goal through the institution, CMS. All of us should contribute to the efforts by giving our best in the direction.

The joy of giving is brought forth through activities like Sunday Giveaway, where participants bring old and used articles to share with their mates. One of the students described how he had drawn cartoons during an uninteresting class. All students accepted that the caricature should be erased after the initial efforts. The forthcoming sessions of Sunday Seminar would organize Sunday Giveaway where participants would share the goods with the poor. This is the idea that can bring about the change that is required. Things need to be changed, but the idea needs to be worked on.

The heavy discussion called for the refreshment break. Since the refreshments were unlimited, there was a mad rush for the snacks, but sadly, the time wasn’t unlimited. Food has been an irresistible commodity, but samosas and pan-cakes had to be put aside or the countdown for the presentation, Law of Seed.

The short story had the message that one has to put in continuous efforts to grow as an individual. It is not necessary that all our efforts would bear fruit; it is important to keep trying to succeed. A comprehension of this law instills confidence and patience in us. We ought to treat our goals as our friends, and failures as stepping stones to our goals. Each failure confronts us with two propositions:
• Change the world
• Change our thinking
It is always easier to change our thinking.

Some videos were shown by Mr Rishi Khanna, Technical Lead, WUED. The video highlighted children affected adversely by war and disturbance in the world. About $1.464 trillion are spent on war every year by the world. Natural disasters as flood were shown to create havoc in the masses. The United Nations Organisation was formed in 1945 to redress the needs of nations, but it failed miserably in its efforts because of the five veto powers it has. It is time to meditate deeply on the problem and form a world government with no veto powers. Students from CMS Rajendra Nagar Campus were invited to give some feedback on them: Aiwaral and Jahnavi, Rajendra Nagar Campus-I and Anubhav Shervani and Medhavi Asthana, Rajendra Nagar Campus-III came up on stage to give some feedback on the movie.

A motivational film by Mr Roopesh Vishwakarma, Graphic Designer, WUED, stressing on the powers of unity followed. The film depicted a race between a few handicapped children for the finishing line. One of the children fell down, and the children united in escorting him to the finishing line, which they all touched together. A lot could be achieved by uniting efforts. An applause from the participants celebrated the victory.

Following this, two groups of 8 students were invited on stage to share a true incident where they sacrificed something for someone, or where they helped someone in need. A student elaborated on how she had sacrificed her studies, etcetra for making her family members comfortable when her parents were away, while someone had once helped a blind woman cross the street. Students from CMS Rajendra Nagar Campus and CMS Gomti Nagar Campus elaborated on how they had helped someone with money, how they had taken someone to the hospital or when they had given blankets to the poor. These are little acts that motivate us to do good and be good.

The session finally came to an end with some promises made. The attendees were made to promise to share their experiences of the Sunday Seminar with their friends, and to wipe off all cartoons and caricatures they may have drawn on school furniture.

(Report compiled by Mr Faisal Zafar Ansari, Creative Writer, WUED)

Brave children

Brave children
Children always get inspiration from superheroes the society puts before them to do things that are unbelievable. Adults are inspired to do the same when they see children being rewarded. It is remarkable how the media plays a constructive role in inculcating the virtues of bravery in children through its paraphernalia. The government of India awards bravery in children by awarding the National Bravery Award for Indian Children. This is given to Indian children for meritorious acts of bravery against all odds.

The award is given basically to inspire others to do similar deeds of bravery. Bravery involves doing what one isn't expected to do. Children aren't expected to save a friend from drowning, Ranu saved her drowning brother along with his friend. She was rewarded for her act of bravery with Republic Day Award on January 24, 2010 along with 21 other children from various states across India for being brave. There were several others awarded for several reasons. Some of them could be enumerated as Gujarat’s Narendra Singh Solanki who rescued his father from the clutches of an alligator with the help of his brother. Mizoram’s Lalrammawia rescued a boy trapped inside a garage which was surrounded by a swarm of wasps. Lalramamawia’s presence of mind saved the boy as he set the doormat of the garage on fire by pouring kerosene oil to drive away the wasps.

These are only a few of the children who acted against their will and their natural abilities. Being brave involved a lot of determination on the part of these children to overcome their will and natural fear. A conscious effort on the part of one’s will power is required to overcome physical pain, hardship or even threat to death. Being brave is thus everyone’s piece of cake. All of us could be brave, any of us could be brave. We only need to overcome the coward within us forcing us not to do these things.