July 26

A lot of new faces were seen on July 26 when the World Unity Education Department(WUED) team met 193 students from 19 campuses and their teacher-escorts for the third World Unity Sunday Seminar at CMS Gomti Nagar Campus Auditorium. The program would not have been possible had Mrs Sangeeta Negi, Assistant-Coordinator, Sunday Seminar, not recorded the attendance of the participants. This was followed by the welcome address by Mr Raza Hasnain Naqvi, Chief Coordinator, Sunday Seminar.

Mr Rishi Khanna, Technical Lead, WUED, stepped in to give a brief introduction of a world citizen. The concept was emphasized by the short movie, You are here: The Pale Blue Dot. The movie depicted our planet, earth, as a pale blue dot in the universe. However small and minute the earth may be in the galaxy, the earth always emerges as the only entity we can relate to. We must visualize the earth as one country, not as a planet divided by the geographical boundaries of individual nations. This is the only way we can survive in the contemporary world plagued by problems as terrorism, global climate change and over-exploitation of nature.
The children greeted another such venture with enthusiasm which showed Garris Davis, a pilot in World War II, who was ordered to bomb a city full of civilians. Devastated at this, he renounced US citizenship to become a world citizen after denying the concept of visa and passport of individual countries. Garry Davis was the first person to acquire world citizenship, several others including CMS founder-manager Mr Jagdish Gandhi have embraced the concept of world citizenship since then.

The guest of honour, Mr R K Bhargava, environment expert, Chairman and Managing Director,______, was welcomed with a bouquet of flowers by Ms Priyanka Bharadwaj. He elucidated on the importance of nurturing children in a safe and healthy environment created by our concerted efforts. As the environment is essential for our survival, we need to take steps as rain water harvesting, water auditing, zero garbage management, energy audit, solar energy, waste paper recycling and waste water reuse.

Abhishek Aneja, class IX-C, CMS Rajendara Nagar Campus-I pointed out that in his presentation, Mr Bhargava had said that rain water harvesting can be done by using technical support. Since some techniques cause pollution and environmental degradation, we should not use technical support for rain water harvesting. The guest made an exit only after honouring those who had put up questions after his lecture with a group photograph with him.

Ms Priyanka Bharadwaj elaborated on the importance of harbouring good and clean thoughts because ultimately thoughts lead to actions, actions make habits, habits make character, and ultimately, our character makes up our destiny. The presentation, Law of the Seed, emphasized that one should have a positive attitude in life, we should accept failures as the stepping stones to success. All our efforts may not bear fruits, but we need to keep making efforts.

The last item of the day was the Sunday Giveaway. A number of articles were lined up on the stairs to the stage. Like last week, this time too, the frenzy among the students was commendable. Classes VI and VII students finished off everything leaving virtually nothing for their brethren from classes VIII, IX, X, and XI.

A music CD and a copy of Peter Pan by J M Barrie were kept apart as prize items. Kapil Agarwal, a student of class XI-C, CMS Rajendra Nagar Campus-I, put forth the question, ‘What do you think of life?’ Devashish Sharma got the CD at last. ‘Name the last book read, your favourite character in it, and give reasons for your choice’ was the criteria for the book, Peter Pan. Angel Dixit, class VII-B, CMS Gomti Nagar Campus got the book when she declared ‘Robinson Crusoe’ to be her favourite character in the book, Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe. She liked him as he was a loving, hard working and independent character.