That’s not who I am

I Am Kindness, I Cost You Nothing But Can Accomplish Much

Ananya Singal, AIS Gur 43, XII D

People had turned a blind eye to each other’s suffering; their hearts as if hardened by cement. Nobody was willing to help anybody. “This is perhaps what they meant by apocalypse,” he thought to himself. If only they would listen to him, just this once. Tried as he may to convince others to follow his way, his reputation of an unfathomable pursuit did not help  him much.
But not willing to give up, he knocked on a rich man’s door. “Presumably, he has the resources. It won’t be tough for him to offer a little help,” he muttered to himself. Soon, someone answered the door. “What are you doing here?” snorted the old man, dressed in luxurious finesse. “I am not going to follow your path, no matter what you say.”
“But….but…why?” “Why you ask? Now you want me to be kind and all, which means parting away with my hard earned fortunes. You’d want me to feed the poor, donate large chunks of money, all in the name of being kind.” “No, no, no…you’ve got it all wrong,” wailed Kindness. “This is not who I am, I am not a man of excess. In fact, I am about simple things, like sharing a meal, passing a smile, holding the door for someone. I bet you can do that,” pleaded Kindness. The old man, his presumptions distorted, stood there, raising an eyebrow, “Are you sure that’s all it takes? I wouldn’t have to write a cheque?” “Well you could do that if you please, but you could begin small.” “Very well then, you could sign me on your team.”
Having accomplished one small victory, Kindness with the hope to spread a little bit more moved on. This time it was a sturdy man. Though his bulging muscles gave Kindness quite the scare, yet he decided to give it a try; after all, the world was at stake. “You meek creature! What are you doing here? This is no place for cowardice,” roared the giant. Kindness though a little intimidated, answered, “Coward? Well, that’s not who I am! In fact, I am quite the courageous sorts.” At this, the giant laughingly asked for an explanation. “Well their interests before yours requires a strong will and is not for the faint hearted.” The giant seemed to agree. “You have a fair point here. I am with you,” and saying this he patted Kindness on the back, kinds that nearly sent him tumbling down.
Trudging forward, he came across this young chap - a suave lad, on his way to work. “Oh God! Kindness, you are here again. I’m done telling you I have no time for you. I have my own interests to look into. It’s a cut throat world that works on ‘Survival of the fittest’. If I kept being kind to others, there’s no way I am going to be promoted,” said the young boy. Kindness frowned, and then with some thought replied, “I’m sorry but that’s not who I am. When Darwin gave his theory of ‘evolution’, he did not think of Humans as a selfish species. In fact, he meant that humans cooperating as a whole will help them evolve as a species. Look at ants. They protect each other from predators, surviving together as a species.” The young chap was dumbstruck. But now that he did not have any counter, he gave in, somewhere agreeing with Kindness.
It had been a long day. Now sitting on a bench, Kindness realised he was far more misunderstood than any other  being on the planet. But then humans have always been funny species.

Little pearls of wisdom

Practicing love

Mira Sehgal, AIS Noida, X D

The smell of freshly mown grass, the sound of water gushing down the stream and the soft touch of the pretty, pink flowers makes you drift off to sleep. Your mind makes you dream of the perfect paradise; a place where you want to spend the rest of your life and live peacefully.
You’re right, it’s perfect but fictional (and cliché). It does not even sound plausible in the contemporary world to lead a peaceful life, without any distractions or commotions. We as humans are always trying to join together the bits and pieces of jigsaw that we have created into a somewhat coherent picture. Of course, there are several factors at play that result in the mayhem. While there are individual issues as exam stress, peer pressure, conflicting relationships; issues exist at a macro level too – increasing inflation, growing epidemics, global warming and what not.
While you may not be able to evade the chaos, there is something you can do – cool down your mind. Now, you must be thinking that I will suggest some plain old techniques of escaping bedlam. Well, yes. And no. Methods like yoga, prayer, admiring natural beauty and listening to songs definitely help in such situations, but there is one thing that most people miss out on, and that is practicing positive human qualities like love, compassion and kindness.
Positive values purge us from within, helping us realise the actual meaning of life. It might be love for your pet, your parents or even your hobby! You just have to find something that you truly and dearly adore and find bliss in. Perhaps, it may seem difficult, but is one that will be worth while. So, go ahead and practice love!

Rama within

The festival of lights is here and may everyone’s life be lit with light of knowledge, happiness, love and togetherness for eternity. As we revel in the victory of Lord Rama today, I want to share the life of Lord Rama which was full of adversities and challenges, yet the one full of victory and celebrations. Even with his Godly powers, Rama was born and lived like a normal human being. And it is this fact, that makes his life exemplary and worthy to emulate. Every time you will feel like complaining about problems in life, remember, Rama’s life was not an easy one too. Born as a prince, he was exiled to live in forests for no fault of his own. In the forest, his wife Sita gets kidnapped by Ravana. In the search of Sita he wanders into far off islands of Bali (now Indonesia) and Cambodia, fights battles for the local kings only in the hope of finding his wife. Down South in India, he meticulously builds an army who can help him fight demons. When finally he kills Ravana and is crowned as a king, he had to denounce Sita because of his Raj Dharma as a king. At individual level, this is no easy life for any human being, yet Rama survived it all. His biggest strength in all his fights for truth were his values, that kept him going. Respect (he never blamed anyone for his exile and he even bowed down before Ravana as a mark of respect for his intellectual abilities), humility (who can forget that he ate Shabari’s bers), patience in adversity, perseverance and hope, truth and ideals, Rama upheld all these amidst great personal sufferings. He has shown the limitless abilities a human being has. This Diwali, as we light diyas in our homes, let’s discover our abilities and make an attempt to awaken the Rama within.

Light in lives

Just six days to Diwali and we can see lights all around us. Magnanimous architectural wonders bathed into the iridescent glow. Such spectacle takes my thought to the unified relationship between Diwali and light. They both symbolise the victory of luminosity over darkness, victory of good over evil. But this Diwali as I celebrate Rama’s victory, I also wish to rejoice victory of the man who brought light into the lives of people living in modern times... Alva Edison, the inventor of incandescent light bulb. Think of it...all these scintillating spectacles even the humble LED in your home, would it have been possible without this most significant invention of modern times? No. That’ s why I decided to write a small eulogy to this great inventor, an inspiring human being, a child home schooled as he was considered difficult by the world, a teenager on continuous quest of learning, designing and innovating something new and meaningful, an optimistic young man who infamously said, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.” Hope, the inner quest, the will to win, the tenacity...all that Diwali teaches us, this man exemplifies in being. As I reflect, I find numerous parallels between the life of Lord Rama and Thomas Alva Edison. Both were brought up by exceptional mothers who instilled them with values. Lord Rama is an epitome of patience and perseverance and so was Thomas Alva Edison. Legend goes that Edison scouted almost the whole world leaving no resource unused, leaving no material untested to finally arrive at the carbon coated cotton filament for making first bulb. Lord Rama enlightened the lives of people helping them dispel the darkness within and Thomas Alva Edison dispelled the darkness outside. Their inspirational life is the lamp to lit the light within.

GT M@il

Dear Editor,
This is in reference to ‘Gandhian way of life’ on page 6-7 of The Global Times edition dated October 14, 2019. A number of events commemorated the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi in AIS Vasundhara 6. Students created posters based on truth and non-violence. They wrote poems and presented their opinion on the Gandhian philosophy. They celebrated this event by dressing up as Gandhiji as well as performing nationalistic songs. Gandhian values were stressed upon and the need for value-based learning was explained to the students. I felt extremely honoured and privileged while conducting all these activities and events. Students also took an oath to follow in the footsteps of their beloved Bapu.
Ritu Nagar, AIS Vas 6, GT Jr Teacher Coordinator

Dear Editor,
This is in reference to ‘Missing the old ones’ on page 6 of The Global Times edition dated October 14, 2019.
At times, certain things reel us back into the past and surround us with nostalgia; this article was one of those things. From the mention of each cartoon character that we had absolutely adored as a child, to what the problem is with the new cartoons that we can’t relate to, this covered it all. Skimming through the edition I couldn’t stop myself from pausing on page 6. A very creative graphic had captured my attention, and not just because of the way it was made but also because of what it portrayed: the childhood that we all miss, the one which seems to be slipping from our hands a little more everyday. Each line and each word felt like it was being spoken by a million voices of our generation. This article went beyond than just being a piece of writing, it became an emotion instead. Thank you GT for giving us such a platform to be in; for writers like me and for readers like us all.
Manasvi Kadian, AIS Gur 46, XI J