Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.

9th November, 2013

Photography is a beautiful art. It is beautiful because it makes it possible to capture life's beautiful moments and also has the capability to take you back in time. Looking back at old photographs is one of my favorite past times. The nostalgia is intense! 
Photography is an art which has technical sides too. Skill is needed to capture a perfect picture. Our school invited a trained photographer, Mr. Hemant Dixit, to teach us how we could improve our photography skills. On the first day of our workshop, he showed us some of his photographs and told us how to work with our cameras. He let us wander in our campus and asked us to click 5 photographs. 
We took photos of the trees, the sand, the bees everything that would seem appealing to us.
After that we came inside and he viewed our photos and told us how we could improve our pictures. Mostly we goofed up in the contrast and focus. He asked us to click 10 photos as our homework and our first session came to an end. 
In the second session, Mr. Dixit made us understand the potential and functions of our cameras. We explored the settings and the modes of our cameras and tried to click photos using those modes. 
In the third session we learnt how to take portrait pictures. Mr Dixit told us that it is important for the person whose picture is being taken in an environment in which he/she is comfortable in. Viji Ma'am, our maths teacher, was our model for the photo. We were taught to adjust the camera according to the sunlight. Mr. Dixit in the end gave us some tips to capture perfect photographs. He told us that natural sunlight is an asset and the best photos are captured in the sunlight.
With this session our workshop ended. We learned a lot from this workshop and I hope to improve and develop my skills of photography. 

Till next time :)

Decorating the chariots of Light..!

24 October, 2013

Diwali is widely celebrated in India. It is the festival of lights and also food!
To celebrate the occasion of diwali with our little PYP angels, we decided to teach them to decorate the chariot of light; the diyas. 
The children arrived at 11 and we took them to the badminton court and had seated them. We gave every child one diya and and as we had planned, we assigned 1 DP student to a group of three children. As all the groups had been assigned a student, I and one of my junior, Himanshu, were extra, so we went around the groups helping every child we could. We gave them glue and some decorative material and asked the angles to let their creative side wild and free. 
They decorated the diya's beautifully. After the activity was finished, we took the children back to the classroom. As their diwali gift, we had made paper lanterns and small paper baskets which contained sweets. They were very happy to see their gifts and they went back home with a wide, brightening smile on their face.

Till the next time :)

Medical Camp

6 October, 2013

On the occasion of Diwali, a free medical camp was organized by Nagarjuna Medical Trust. 
We DP students offered to volunteered to help the doctors during this camp.
I helped Dr. Sangeeta who is a pediatrician. I and children have a unbreakable bond! I always end up being surrounded by them. It is a boon :)
Many small children came up for the check up. Most of their mothers cribbed how their child was not eating properly. The doctor prescribed some medicines to them and gave them tonic. My work there was to check the height and weight of the patient. Then I took them to the doctor and give them their medicines. Most of the children suffered from iron deficiency and had poor health. Child mortality in India is very high. I feel more camps and more awareness is needed to protect the children. When the parents came for their ward's check up, we told them the proper diet that their child should have and also made them aware about the necessary medications (like polio drops) their child was going to need. It is important to safeguard the future of our country, that is the children of our nation.
Till next time :)

Gardening

1 October, 2013

Gardening is a hobby for many people. People say that gardening is a source of great delight and happiness. My mother is very fond of gardening. She loves plants and spend her free time taking care and strolling in the garden. I too sometimes like strolling and watering the plants. Its a great work out too. When you are sad or frustrated, gardening is a great way to let it go. 

 Today in school we did and also learned about gardening. I had never done gardening before. So this was a new challenge for me.The DP students and Vijayalaxmi Ma'am went down to the school garden and removed the weeds. Technique was need to pull out the weeds. We needed to tightly grab the weed from the bottom and pull hard. We almost weeded half of the garden. We worked tirelessly for 2 hours straight. We were tired, sweaty and muddy by the end of the activity. It was a great experience. We got to learn a lot of gardening tips from Ma'am. I hope we get to do it again soon!

Till next time :)

Newsletter..!

22 September, 2013

We DP students are given the work to make a CAS newsletter. We all had to contribute our thoughts and ideas into making it. We all published our work in there.
I wrote an article on 'Homosexuality in India'. I like writing. I express myself and my thoughts better by writing them down. I realized my strengths and also realized that if I work harder, I will be able to express my thoughts through writing better. So this is my contribution the the newsletter:
                    
                  Homosexuality in India

Homosexuality is a taboo in India. Indian society looks down upon homosexuality and terms it as 'un-natural'. My question is 'WHY?'. India is a democratic nation with numerous religions and cultures. Why cant the culture of Homosexuality be accepted here? Is it wrong to fall in love with a person of the same gender? Is it a crime to share a bond of trust, faith and have emotional/physical intimacy with the person of the same sex?

Indian society refuses to talk openly about any kind of sexuality for the matter of fact. But recently many incidents have come into the light which inspires the homosexuals population in India and has brought in them the confidence of accepting themselves.

Usha Yadav and Shilpi Gupta are two women in Illahabad who are in love with each other. Usha is not ashamed and does not hesitate to talk about her homosexuality. She believes that she is unique and is made differently. She confesses that Shilpi understands her and loves her deeply. But Shilpi's family was not ready to accept their relationship, thus they both ran away. Police found both of them when Shipil's family filed a case against Usha, blaming her for the abduction of their daughter. Usha is still standing strong and fighting for her love. She not planning on giving up on her relationship anytime soon. 

Many individuals turn to Homosexuality because they somewhere in their life receive a trauma from the opposite sex. Like in the case of Taniya Chauhan and Jaya Varma, who now have tied the knot by vedic rituals. When Taniya was a little girl, her father abandoned her and her mother. She was hurt and distressed. And as she grew up, the hatred for her father grew too. She somewhere started to generate hatred against the whole male community. On the other hand, Jaya's little sister was raped and murdered by some men in her village. Here trust and faith in men from that day was shattered. Both of them couldn't have a relationship with men as there was no trust in the relationship. 

Then both of them found each other and are happily married.

Another homosexual couple, Dr. Nari Rajat and Nurse Anjani Rajat are married to each other and are planning to adopt a little baby girl. Both of them are very much in love and share a strong emotional bond. Homosexuality is not just liking a person who has the same body, its about having the feeling of love for that person. All the emotional that are experienced in a heterosexual relationships are also the same that are experienced in a homosexual relationship. 

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code criminalized homosexuality in India. This law was challenged. But it did it no good. India law still considers homosexuality as a crime. 

The LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexual, transexuals) community in India is slowly becoming more and more confident. In Mumbai, there are night clubs who organize special parties for LGBT's. Also, many gay pride parades are also being carried on the streets of Mumbai and Delhi. 

Novelist R. Raj Rao, who is a homosexual himself, says "I just wanted to be accepted by the society. I am not different from other people, its just that I love men".

When I see these people, I see hope. I see hope for the future of the LGBT community of India. Homosexuals are not the different from the normal people. Different sexual preferences doesn't define who or what you are. And it is not a reason for being treated differently or as an outcast. Indian Society needs to open up and discuss issues like this. And also stop treating Homosexuality as a taboo. Because they are not different.

Till next time :)

The knowledge of our cultural heritage is what has made our country shine in the world and it is Hindi that has preserved it.

20 September, 2013

14th September is celebrated as 'Hindi Divas' because on that day the Constituent Assembly of India adopted Hindi to be the official language of India. 
Hindi is the essence of India. It is a language which is spoken and known in almost all parts of India. It is our national heritage.
Lately, we have been devouring Hindi. We are forgetting the importance of our national language. What are we if we lose our essence? What if we lose hindi? We need to realize the importance of Hindi and strive to retain its authenticity. 

We celebrated Hindi Divas in our school on 20th September, 2013. Our job was to plan and organize this program. We made a formal invitation card inviting all the teachers and Director sir to join us in the celebration and also prepared banners promoting Hindi. 

We started the program by a prayer. Then, Himanshu, one of our DP1 student, carried the program forward by quiz competition in which the participants were given Hindi words and had to convert it into english and vice versa. Also the participants had to convert english proverbs into Hindi! There were some real brain teasers in there!
CBSE principal Mr. Nair recited a poem in Hindi named 'Secular Machar' (secular mosquito). It was a hasya kavita and was very enjoyable. 
Students were then called up upon the stage to recite poems in Hindi. I participated too. I recited a hasya kavita named 'Bhartiya Rail'. Everybody seemed to enjoy the poem! 
After the kavi samelan, we wrapped the program.
Organizing this event was fun. I learned a lot from my teachers. My creative side was put to work while making the invitation and also while reciting the poem. Also my hindi vocabulary improved! The program was a success. 
Till next time :)

We find delight in the beauty and happiness of children that makes the heart too big for the body.

4 September, 2013

Children make you want to start your life all over again. Truly said..! Children are a gift of god. So innocent so fragile. I have recently started grow fond of small children. Just watching them play is delightful. And their wild imagination will sweep you off your feet!

For CAS this time children from a public school had come to our DY Patil International School to interact and study with our PYP children and we had to guide them. We started the day as we had planned. We first had a small prayer after which we escorted them to the classroom and introduced ourselves. 
The children were very sweet and pretty small too! Then groups were made. In my group I had Mahesh, Ganesh, Reshmi, Kaustubh and Lavaynya. 
We taught them what are good manners and also told them how to file papers. As an interactive activity we brought actually props like tooth brush and napkin to help them understand better. The children were happy and eager to learn what was being taught to them. They participated actively. 
After this session, we took them to the AV room and showed them a video of a story named "The boy who cried like a wolf". The children enjoyed the movie. We also taught them the poem 'Brush Brush your teeth'. It was truly a wonderful day.
When the time was over, we escorted the students back to their vehicle, thanked the teachers and those little sweethearts were gone. 
I wish I could be a kid again. No worries at all. Their innocence is priceless!

Till next time :)