Art – A Medium Of Expression

Visual Arts (VA) is one of that subject that I always look forward to in school. What I like about it is that we are not told what to do, but we are given the opportunity to do what we want. Sometimes it became hard for me express through art, I didn’t understand how to proceed. I thought I didn’t have the patience of doing one thing over and over again, but that paradigm about me had been changed by attending few classes.

I was confident with my skills in doodling and abstract drawing. However, I still can’t paint/draw human figures. We were learned to do clay moulding, which I already had experience doing. Next up was wood carving. The most tiring experience of all time. We were given a piece of wood, we had to polish it and carve what we want with specialized tools. Greatest trouble was figuring out what to carve. Longest trouble was carving. However much I despised carving, I didn’t give up. I attended all the classes, even when I had chances to skip and not carve. The outcome was beautiful, according to me. It was so much better than my expectation. The relief after completing was the best feeling ever. We had spent months on carving and printing.

Throughout all this, we were also asked to keep a diary. A personal diary, not for writing but drawing. I also have a dairy filled with my drawings. Then we had a presentation of our work throughout the year, when my dad saw my stuff and appreciated me, I felt so proud.

Then we had to paint different sized blocks in three primary colors (red, yellow and blue) and neutral colors (black and white). It is a very tedious job, but not much of skill is required as the woods have to be painted only in those colors. I was thankful for my colleagues to help me out with the painting, it would be finished on time.

Another important thing that I learned was that, if I my work has been influenced by someone than it is necessary for me to acknowledge them – otherwise it would be academic dishonesty.

Also, the way art is interpreted is very subjective. There are chances that what I find appealing, someone else might find it saddening – mostly depending on their context. Hence, it is very important for one to keep in mind other cultures and society while expressing, hurting their belief would be an unethical way of expression.

I understand art, I don’t have to think for a long time about what I want to do. If I really want to do it, the idea will already been formed inside me. Everyone has an artist in themselves, I am proud to call myself an artist.

Personal Profile – Khushi Shah

My name is Khushi Shah and I study in 12th standard. I have been in Fountainhead since 4th standard, so one can easily imagine the number of memories and experiences I have with this block of building that I now call my second home. Unlike many students, I love coming to school. Not just for friends, but I also enjoy the study (though only at times).

My biggest talent that my friends and family have helped me identify is my ability to balance sports and studies. I am a regularly play soccer and I am known as a sportsperson by everyone. When I go for tournaments, I miss a lot of days at school and IB is tough if you miss a single class. Hence, coping with studies, attending practice sessions and managing social life – all very imperative – was difficult but fun in its own way. Because, by the end of the day I was felt satisfied with the productivity as no time had been wasted.

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There are a lot of things that I enjoy doing. I love reading, listening to people, spending time with friends and family, eating favorite food, meeting old friends, making new friends, exploring new places and many other small things that help make the bigger picture.

 

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The concept of delayed gratification was something I was very good at maintaining. However, now I do what I like first and not what is necessary. I need to work on that which will help me as I save the pleasure for later and get the work done before with good quality.

I want to be involved in a local NGO that helps underprivileged children or does something for the environment regularly. Perhaps, also a random act of kindness. I have done all of these and I would continue doing them in the future, with more involvement.

My outlook on life? Well, I would say just be happy. Don’t complicate stuff and do what makes you happy. I am still working on that myself, I have trouble enjoying the present all the time. I have realised recently that I am a more happier person than I was and that’s an achievement.

There’s something that I really bothers me and would love to do something about that. The generation gap. I know that it’s inevitable but there are so many repercussions to those difference of thoughts. Families fall apart, divorces take place, fights, suicides and many other things. All of these because everyone wants to hold on to what they think is right and not even listen to what other person has to say. I make sure that there is minimal issues because of difference in views. We usually come to a consensus that both agree upon.

There are so many things that I wish to do but haven’t done yet. Go on hikes on uncharted routes, adventures such as skydiving, learn new sports(surfing) and travel alone at least once. All in all, I make sure that happiness is not a destination, it is a way of life.

Karma Kitchen – Growing in Generosity

I had heard about Karma Kitchen and its concept, but this was my first time volunteering for it. I had gone to Mumbai all the way from Surat for volunteering. I was a bit worried in the beginning as I was spending 3 days (travelling + volunteering) plus I knew none of the organisers and other volunteers, I knew just one cousin sister.  I was terrified because befriending new people wasn’t my cup of tea. In the morning of 1st May we were all strangers and to my surprise, by the end of the day, I had made 20 different friends of all ages. This way my paradigm about myself broke, I never knew I could make friends so easily.

What is Karma Kitchen? Imagine a restaurant where there are no prices on the menu and where the check reads $0.00 with only this footnote: “Your meal was a gift from someone who came before you. To keep the chain of gifts alive, we invite you to pay it forward for those who dine after you.” That’s Karma Kitchen, a volunteer-driven experiment in generosity.

Planning for the event had begun months before but there were few decisions that could be made only on the event day. I was in department of serving and decorations. The restaurant had to be decorated, so we had all the decorations ready by the night. To make the posters, cards and charts were tedious and hence we had divided the work amongst the few of us. However, there were many decorations that we had to do on the spot at the event which we realised were mandatory. It got a bit hectic with so many volunteers looking for something to do and the idiom “Too many cooks spoil the broth” striked me in that moment as I could relate it well to the situation.

Karma Kitchen in Mumbai was just for 1 day, in Ahmedabad there is Seva Cafe with the same concept and is open everyday. I inquired about Seva Cafe and got to know that they were breaking even financially, and this was just on a local level, if it was introduced in the global market, it would suffer a great loss. Hence, this concept was to be applied locally to create a global significance, otherwise people will not understand the concept but just grope for the free food.

The ethics of pricing food is at question here. The grains that the chapati consist is because of the farmers that worked day and night to harvest them. Then the manufacturers who clean them up and make them edible for us to eat. The vegetables in the salad and the sabzi are also because of the small scale farmers that grow them and sell them, pricing them according to the market demand than their own requirement. The water company that associated, the cooks, the servers and the cleaners – all have a contribution to the food that one eats. Hence, how is all that priced? Is it practical to calculate a price for the contribution and the sacrifices that are made by various people for providing food to someone they are never going to meet probably?

When guests are done eating, we give them an empty envelope. They are supposed to put in whatever amount they think appropriate for the next guest to eat, as their food has been paid by the previous guest.

This ripple effect of kindness is never ending, it gives me hope that there are good people left in the world. There are so many stories and memories from the experience of volunteering that I am never going to forget. There are so many inspiring people to meet, new friends to make and explore the realm of selflessness.

 

Serving and cheering the runners is the best part!

“Out on the roads, there is fitness and self-discovery and the persons were destined to be” – George Sheehan

 

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SURAT CITY HALF MARATHON

Waking up early-morning at 4:00 AM made me feel stressed. I reached the venue by 5:00 AM. The roads were all empty and blocked due to the marathon. Runners had started gathering at the venue, but i couldn’t find any member from our school team. Later, one of the organizers came and informed me that our AID station is 12 Km away and our school team has already reached their. I got so frustrated that why didn’t sir inform us about it before hand? But then when I reached at the AID station I was more amused. We were supposed to get a proper tent,  but we ended up getting few tables under which there were water puddles. It was a matter of concern for me because dengue and malaria was spreading in our city and the water puddles increased the risk of raining too. But, as a team we thought of a creative solution, by covering the puddles with chairs. We were getting bored because none of us had anything to do. We didn’t even get our music player, which made the time go more slow. Now that the marathon was going to start by 6:00 AM, we started to unlock the bottles. DSC_0790Waiting…waiting…waiting… for the runners to come. And the 1st runner arrived at 6:45 AM. Fast runners usually don’t prefer having water bottles is what i think, as he didn’t take the water bottle. But when the whole bunch of runners came, we started offering them water and they did take it. We were cheering them to get motivated and boost up their confidence to complete the marathon and not stop running. And when I was back home, i realized my voice box isn’t in a good position now. 😛 While the runners were coming, I saw 2 runners from whom 1 uncle was of 80 years old and 1 uncle was blind who was in his 70’s. I couldn’t describe how happy i was when i saw them. I just forgot everything and I started staring them. They weren’t running, but they were walking fast. And the best part was they weren’t the last ones. There were still 60% runners who were behind these two people. At this age, being this fit is commendable. Plus, while providing water, the runners thanked us….I felt really good because i could help them at that moment. Coming to an end, the other AID station was giving a head bath to all the runners. The water used was fresh. Standing there, i was thinking about how the fresh water was being wasted and what are the environmental causes of it. What i thought was we could have used Hard water to give a head bath and save the fresh water. The runners really enjoyed the marathon. Even we enjoyed it so much. CHEERING THEM WAS THE BEST PART.  

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Providing water and cheering the runners.

 

Me 💁🏻

“The only joy in the world is to begin.” –  Cesare Pavese

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“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” – Dalai Lama

Hi, my name is Disha Sarawagi. I aspire to stay lively and happy throughout the course of my life. I have met a lot of people whom I found are really inspiring and motivated me to make a difference in the society, by coming across unknown people and knowing the story of their lives in this small world. And I being a Co-founder of the NGO, finally started with a small project known as EHDAS (Every human deserves a smile). This was my first step towards enjoying my life, by doing what i wished to. My ambition arrives from making people smile and seeing people smile. Across this, I love talking, travelling places and taking part in every bit of the opportunity i come across where I can take the leadership role by either organizing an event or leading an event.  

 

Apart from all this, I really love reading about the real stories of unknown’s and books about life lessons, that are inspiring. This habit of me makes me question of everything I’m doing and makes me question almost everything that is their in the universe. I love doing things practically rather than just doing it theoretically. I enjoy the life lessons I learn through my own experiences i come across each and everyday. This has made me more reflective towards my own-self to lead a better life. I believe that the most important thing to do in every phase of your life is to bring joy to your own-self. This will definitely make you enjoy your life and to be happy is all that matters. Talking about all this, I think it makes me a more positive and confident person and I appreciate this quality of mine. Also at times after long working hours at school from studying, it becomes difficult for me to do anything else that I enjoy doing. So, I take-off a day on sunday and enjoy everything I love doing like cycling, eating good food, spending time with friends etc.

 

At the end, I really want to do something for my own country India, that I love the most. Not just by a small NGO but by bringing all the NGO’s together and making it a big organization where all of them work towards the same vision. This way I can and I will make sure that at least one sector of education is improving drastically by changing the lives of thousands of people in a positive way. This is what I love so I know if i can be successful, I can also make my ideas and thoughts to be realistic in the future.

 

Activity 10: Tree Plantation Drive | Service

I have always been a cowardly, overcautious kind of a person, which automatically translates into caring A LOT about taking care of the environment, lest one day it stops taking care of me.

I enjoy and appreciate nature’s prowess and beauty, and through this CAS activity, I was able to give back to nature in a small way. We went on a tree plantation drive arranged by Nature Club Surat and planted trees in Kendriya Vidyalay School in Piplod.

I initially thought it was going to be quite a boring activity that I would do just for the sake of getting over with CAS, but the whole experience so much more than that.

Going to KV School, I saw the wild plants in the playground, and the tall trees on the perimeter of the campus, I realized how natural beauty can make even a seemingly desolate place (a government school, on a rainy Sunday, early in the morning) appear to be an oasis. Being among all that greenery in the centre of the city was a very unique experience, because it made me realize, that all over the world, places of great natural beauty are being transformed into concrete jungles to suit the needs of human beings, that we are destroying the plant for our convenience, and that this is highly unethical.

With this thought in my mind, when I actually started transplanting the bird-friendly trees into pits and then filling them up with mud, I felt like I was taking a step (albeit a very small one) towards making a difference with regards to an issue of global significance. All cities desperately need more green places: not just to serve as lungs for the atmosphere, but also because human beings often needs respite from the harshness of concrete and traffic and noise, and there is no better place for the respite than nature’s green lap, surrounded by the majesty of trees and the chirping of birds. I am glad I was contribute to taking our reality a step closer to this ideal.

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CAS Trip: Vansda

“I have a new appreciation for farmers and laborer as they work the day and night for such a small income.” When our school planned to go to a plantation site I was mesmerized as it was my first CAS trip. We were been told to take things seriously as they will be evaluating our performance. I was getting jitters as the day was arriving near. My goal were clear to just give my best efforts to make a change in our society. What I thought about are plantation activity was to sow plants but in reality it was much more though than I ever imagined. Gradually I found my feet while working.  The experience of the trip was amazing, we got time to bond with our colleges and had a gala time. We only worked for 3 hours as I was too exhausted to work anymore. I wonder how those laborer work whole day and night for a very little income to feed their family. My motive behind working so hard is to bring a slight change in society which will hence lead to big one. I was able experience and also recognize my strength and weakness in terms of physical and mentally.  I also explored the challenges faced by laborers over there. Even how hard they were working to grow plants. As it was a collaborative event we all classmates worked together and planted trees to make the globe evergreen. At last all I want to say that it was a remarkable event with some learning outcomes and fun time with my friends. I and my colleagues were appreciated from the work we did and make the forest look more beautiful.

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Learning Python on Codecademy

Computers have become an integral part of our lives, now we are literally surrounded by it everywhere and that’s why it is important to learn things about computers. One of the major aspects people learn about computers is computer language and programming. So I decided to learn the computer language Python and use it to do programming. This will help me in my future and I will also learn new set of computing skills. From the beginning I was passionate about computers and learning new things about it this also helped me to take this to initiative to learn Python. Using the website codecademy I started learning the language. Initially it seemed pretty easy, doing an exercise daily was not so tough however as I progressed the language became difficult and the exercises became even tougher. This activity was difficult because I did not have a room for actually clarifying my doubts by a teacher. I had to independently search all my doubts on internet and do the exercises. I had the room for cheating while solving exercises by copying programmes from the internet but it didn’t and worked honestly. One more thing was difficult was time management because we had a lot assignments from school sometimes it was hard to manage time and do my exercises, but i made a timetable for myself which helped me organize my activity and kept productivity on top form. After completing 50% of the course I found out that the other half is paid so I was not able to continue. However whatever I learnt helped me with other exercises kept online. This course of programming not only taught me new skill also improved my mathematical and analytical skills. It made me more focused in a way, as when we have a bug in a programme we have to look carefully and find the bug out.Screenshot_32 Screenshot_31

Tree Plantation Drive – Nature Club

In trying to contribute my part towards the nature, I ended up stepping out of my comfort zone, into mud! I have always hated monsoons for the gloomy and humid atmosphere that they come with, and the puddles they leave us with. In spite of I hating even the idea of getting wet, I participated in a plantation drive held by Nature Club, going by the pure thought of serving mother nature. On the first Sunday of July, I chose to wake up at 7 AM, tackle heavy rains and reach KV Central School at 8.00 AM sharp, joining fellow classmates. I had a very simple goal in my mind : to utilise this opportunity to the fullest by consciously making efforts towards saving and serving the environment, as a volunteer.

I wasn’t planting trees for the first time, I went to a tree plantation last year too. Hence, I knew the basics of planting saplings. But the twist here was that we weren’t planting saplings for shrubs, plants or bushes. We were planting the saplings for trees that would grow huge in terms of size and volume. This meant that there were changes in the sizes of the holes and the sizes of saplings itself. Consequently, we had to collaborate and join hands to plant every single sapling. As it was raining heavily, there was an additional hurdle we encountered : the holes constantly filled themselves up with rainwater. How ironic it is, removing one force of nature for the betterment of another! Coming back, we now had to become quicker and more efficient to drain rainwater outside, plant the sapling, cover it with soil , ensure it had good support and check that it isn’t getting crushed. So, to plant one single sapling, we had to demonstrate our skills and work together efficiently and effectively.

I knew that on an individual basis, my work would not affect the environment’s status quo to a huge extent. However, at the same point in time, a quote crossed my mind “ I maybe a one single drop, but together, we are an ocean!”.  This ocean here that I am referring to, is the engagement of people on a global basis, trying to show the ill effects of climate change, and how they can be mitigated through a task as simple as planting trees(afforestation). The negative effects of climate change have been seen and acknowledged by people across the world, implying how it has become an issue of global significance. Increased percentage carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can be tackled through planting trees who take in carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. Cutting down of trees for various purposes have brought us increased temperatures. Unless we practice afforestation, climate change remain an issue of global significance. Hence, I think that this experience was a service for our environment.

 

Last but not the least, I would rate this activity amongst the top as I think I did something meaningful while stepping out of my comfort zone. After all, stepping out of your comfort zone is exactly when your life begins!

 

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Tree Plantation Drive

What activity can give one more pleasure than planting trees and helping to keep the nature clean in this thrilling beauty of the monsoon season? The “Tree Plantation Drive” was a fun, informative and satisfying activity for me. In this activity we had to plant trees in K.V Central School, Surat with our friends and teachers. The main reason I wanted to participate in this activity was that, I wanted to do something for the nature like cleaning the environment, planting trees, or showing awareness to the community about the present condition of nature. I thought that this activity could be the first step for me to achieve my goal/ambition.

Now, that I’ve performed this activity, I think that I have successfully been able to grow in a new skill, which is ‘environmental care’. Well, I have always hated to be surrounded by especially ‘mud’ – it used to make me feel gross, nauseous and it was really irritating for me. The jest in this  activity was that, that the entire activity was primary focused on mud; such as digging hole in the mud, placing the plant in the mud and then cover the plant roots with mud, like everything we did was somehow related to mud. This made me extremely regret my idea to participate for this activity because it was becoming very hard for me to take part with the others, initially. However, when I saw my friends performing the activity with such enthusiasm, I tried real hard to persuade myself into taking an initiative, and in no time I was enjoying the activity with my friends.

The biggest challenge that I faced was when I decided to plant a really big tree. Well I don’t know what got into me, and I suddenly decided to pick the biggest tree in the lot, and plant it almost half the way around the school. The only support I had in this ‘stupidity’ was that I wasn’t alone. I had two of my friends, Vinit and Shasvat and some of the strangers we met there to help me. We started with picking up the plant and transporting it to the back of the school, which wasn’t very far, but with the plant in the hand it seemed we would take ages to reach there, it was that heavy! So Vinit and I, somehow reached there with the plant, and ‘then’ we found out that there was only one big pit empty, and unsurprisingly that pit was completely flooded. Well we obviously weren’t professional planters and consequently we were not at all in a good mood, so we just cut the plastic cover around the plant and tried to fit it in the pit, but just when we thought our work was done, BOOM! – the plant just fell off the pit to the ground, like it wasnt being able to stand still, because it had no support to the ground. In this situation we had two choices a) Just the leave the plant there and go back home or b) Struggle really hard to remove the water from the pit and plant the tree again. Well, we were completely satisfied in choosing option ‘a’ but our ethics came in way so onwards we went with option ‘b’. We tried to remove the water from the pit chance by chance and by then we had Shasvat joining us too. We might have taken approximately 10 mins to TRY to remove the water, but whatever tactic we used, the pit was really very big and it would take us ages to remove the water. Thus we decided another stupid idea, to dig a pit of that size by ourselves; and hence Shasvat and I got to work. It was very hard and challenging for us to dig a pit of that size and to make matters worse, it was raining quite heavily, and as every second passed, we thought again and again to quit, but we were extremely dedicated to our task, and so, after some time we were able to complete digging the pit. Then it was the easy part in which we had to just place the plant the attach it to a stick, but digging up that pit was a real challenge for us and only because we worked collaboratively were we able to complete the task by ourselves.

Well, during this activity the biggest ethical considerations in our mind were that we weren’t supposed to dirty the surrounding, by throwing plastic (which were used in covering the plants) around or just leaving any tree unplanted, and I think I have tried my very best to achieve the ethical considerations. In short, this activity was amazing and I had a lot of fun in being around nature. I was also able to remove my perception that mud is gross; which I’m completely confident about as I was covered in mud the whole time and I was actually having fun.  

Taking everything into consideration, I believe that I’ve completed my goal/ambition of helping nature. I hope that I will soon be given chances now and then to complete further steps of this fantasy.

 

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