AVM sings the glory of Gujarat!

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high……. 


Where the world has not been broken up into fragments…………
When the great poet Rabindranath Tagore wrote these lines, hardly had he
thought that his words would take shape of reality in Gujarat. Gujarat,
the ‘Land of the Legends’ which leaves behind impressions with
footprints on the sands of time. Life is a Celebration for those who
live in Gujarat, a place where Gods chose to exist! Hence Sundaram House
unfolded the astounding features of ‘Garvi Gujarat’ in the first week
of this November.

Throughout this week, during morning
assemblies, members of Sundaram House showed informative presentations,
enchanting videos and explanatory speeches in order to make the students
aware of the rich heritage and unique culture of Gujarat.

On
Monday, to begin with, students were shown a video-clip about the
Gujarat Development Model, which explained and showed Gujarat as India’s
fastest developing state, stating Gujarat’s commendable achievements.
The next day, a captivating and much convincing PowerPoint presentation
was shown on the topic, ‘Contribution of Gujarat in the fields of
Science and Literature’. Students acknowledged the role of Vikram
Sarabhai and Pranav Mistry in the field of Science and Technology. On
the third day of this week, students were shown some videos related to
the contribution of Gujarat born leaders in the Freedom Struggle and
politics. Legendary personalities like Gandhiji, Sardar Patel and
Narendra Modi were praised for their inspiring lives.

On the
following day, students got the opportunity to watch a video clip which
showed Param Pujya Swamiji mentioning in his speech that Gujarat is a
pious and the most sanctified land as it has been the ‘chosen land’ by
saints, deities and religious Gurus of India.

The week was
concluded with highlights of other remarkable and fascinating features
of Gujarat, its cultural significance, historical places and temples and
architecture. Through speech and video, students were made aware about
the vast natural resources and its rich, cultural heritage which has
endeared Gujarat and Gujaratis even to the rest of the world.

Additionally,
in the assemblies of junior students, there was much fun with glimpses
of marvelous features of their motherland Gujarat. Each day of this
week, brought some valuable information to these little young minds.
They acknowledged much information and facts about food, music,
religion, custom, traditions of Gujarat. Most noticeably, the last day
was extremely fun-filled for them, as the junior group of Sundaram House
presented a scintillating Garba Dance.

Thus the students of
Atmiya Vidya Mandir realized and rediscovered the charm and charisma of
Gujarat, where the future is expected to have in store, days full of
peace, prosperity, wealth and immense beauty of culture, tradition and
nature.

Truly, let’s all sing together…JAY JAY JAY JAY GARVI GUJARAT!!!

सम्मान – आत्मीयता का प्रथम चरण

होता हो… सम्राट वही, जिसके शीर्ष पर ताज है,

पर प्रतिष्ठा, पूंजी, पूर्णता का, सम्मान कब मोहताज है?

आज यह जगत जहाँ खड़ा है, वहाँ से एक और विश्वयुद्ध की हद, महत दूरी पर नहीं है। क्या आप बता पाएंगें कि, संसार में वैमनस्य का वर्धन क्यों हो रहा है ? क्यों द्वेष अपनी पराकाष्ठा पर है ? वैर क्यों इतना पोषण प्राप्त कर रहा है?

प्रश्नों की इस शृंखला के जिम्मेदार प्रत्युत्तर के रूप में, पूर्णरूपेण उच्छृंखल(बेलगाम) हो कर, सर उठाए जो खड़ा है, वो है – असम्मान।

रत्न मत ढूंढो, यहाँ तो दीपक जलते हैं, ये तो वो जगह है, जहाँ मानव ढलते हैं।।

समाज में भ्रातृत्व एवं आत्मीयता के पुनर्स्थापन हेतु कटिबद्ध, कामयाबी के दस वर्षों को पूर्ण करने जा रहे, योगी डीवइन सोसाइटी के एक उपक्रम – ‘आत्मीय विद्यामंदिर’, जो कि अपनी प्रार्थना सभा की एक विशेष शैली के लिए भी जाना जाता रहा है। विद्यालय के ‘सत्यम हाउस’ द्वारा निर्देशित सप्ताह ‘सम्मान – आत्मीयता का प्रथम चरण’ (Respect – First step of Atmiyata), गत कार्तिक मास के कृष्ण पक्ष की पंचमी से दशमी तक (13 से 18 अक्टूबर 2014) मनाया गया।


छह दिनों तक चले समय के इस दौर में सत्यम हाउस के छात्रों, शिक्षकों और सदस्यों का पूर्ण उत्साह और उमंग के साथ योगदान रहा। बताया गया कि वास्तव में सम्मान सभ्य समाज का एक आवश्यक अंग क्यों है? इसकी उपस्थिति से क्या लाभ है और अनुपस्थिति से क्या क्षति ?

“सम्मान व्यक्ति का नहीं, व्यक्तित्व का होता है”

‘सम्मान’ विषय पर आधारित इस तरह के कथन, नई-पुरानी सभी तरह की कहानियाँ, कविताएं, प्रेरक-प्रसंग एवं चलचित्र प्रस्तुत किए गए। अच्छे कार्य की प्रशंसा होनी ही चाहिए, फिर चाहे वो किसी कुख्यात व्यक्ति द्वारा ही क्यों न किया गया हो, वह व्यक्ति फिर से ऐसा कुछ अच्छा करने को प्रेरित होगा। और इस तरह से उसका जीवन सामान्यता की ओर अग्रसर होगा। किसी को सम्मान देने के लिए प्रौढ़ता, प्रतिष्ठा और पद आवश्यक नहीं बल्कि योग्यता, प्रतिभा और सुजनता होनी चाहिए।

सत्यम हाउस ने इस बात पर भी विशेष बल दिया कि सम्मान केवल सजीवों का ही नहीं बल्कि भावनाओं, संवेदनाओं और उम्मीदों का भी होना चाहिए। आपसी सम्मान से समाज में सोहार्द का पनपना और उससे समय, धन, ऊर्जा का सदुपयोग होना स्वाभाविक प्रक्रिया है। समाज विकास के पथ पर अग्रसर होता है। सम्मान, आज के समय की मांग है।

हाउस द्वारा किए गए सम्मान के महिमा-मंडन को प्रशंसको द्वारा सराहा तो खूब गया, किंतु इस विनम्र प्रयास का मूल्यांकन तो आधारित होगा, प्रशंसको के वर्तन में आने वाले परिवर्तन पर।

लेखक:  पुष्पक सर

TED Talks week by Shivam House

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a global set of conferences run by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, under the slogan “Ideas Worth Spreading”. It offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world’s most inspired thinkers, and an opportunity to curious souls to engage with ideas and each other. They address a wide range of topics within the research and practice of science, culture and academic topics, often through storytelling. The speakers are given about 18 minutes to present their ideas in the most innovative and engaging ways they can. Speakers range from Malcolm Gladwell, Al Gore, Gordon Brown, Bill Gates, Mike Rowe, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and many Nobel Prize winners etc…Shivam House had the opportunity to explore and spread the awareness of some of the most happening and cutting edge technology of the world with all. The house stands by a strong belief that ideas can influence and inspire a change in attitudes, lives and finally, the world. Some of the videos shown to children were as mentioned below:

Children were astounded to see the videos and listened to the talks with utmost curiosity. Every day after listening to these talks they expressed their curiosity by asking a lot of questions to their teachers in the class. They were inspired and promised to explore the site ted.com to watch more videos and get more information of things happening around the world.

Incidentally, it was a matter of honour for the house that 8th October, Wednesday, marked the 82nd anniversary of the Indian Air Force. On this day, all were introduced briefly to the history and achievements of this glorious establishment and some videos were shown that highlighted the contribution and might of the Indian Air Force.

Thus, students’ awareness, thinking capacity and imagination grew many folds.

Written by: Shivam House Team

Funfair – October 2014